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Minsc and the Amazons (with a question about Berserk)

LordRumfishLordRumfish Member Posts: 937
edited December 2016 in Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
Heya peeps. So, in classic restartitis (in my defense, shaman wasn't even available before) I have started a new game of BG:EE with a sorcerer PC and a secondary shaman PC (secondary because of the stronghold issue in BG2:EE). I went through the Nashkel mines, Minsc quaffed an oil of speed when we took down Mulahey, and there was still plenty of duration left by the time I got to the surface. Often I leave the amazon encounter for later, because it is fairly difficult at lower levels. However, Minsc was still hasted, so I thought, "Why not try it?"

I sent Minsc speeding up there and he was basically upon them before dialogue started. I ran him between the two ranged combatants and, on a whim, made him berserk. Now mind you, Minsc was decently well equipped here for being low level. Ankheg plate, ring of the princes, dex bracers. So, the two ranged combatants took the bait and switched to melee weapons while the clerics cast some spells. My other characters joined the battle, but the closest cleric shrugged off the first Blindness I cast on her. The clerics got some spells in aimed at Minsc... and they did nothing whatsoever. Minsc had killed the archer at this point and was lighting into the dart-thrower.

I finally landed a Blindness on the closer cleric and set my sights on the next cleric, having everyone interrupt her. Minsc ran off in his berserk rage after the dart-thrower when she had morale failure at really low HP. The rest of the team managed to control the clerics and I blinded the second one, spelling doom for them. Minsc finished off the dart-thrower, and then I let him cool off from his berserk state before bringing him back to the party.

Anyway, aside from that being probably the easiest kill of the amazons I have ever had, I had a question about Minsc's berserk special ability. Does Minsc get the same sorts of immunities during that state that berserkers or barbarians have? It seemed like their Hold Person spells and such were just having no effect. I could have gotten lucky on the saves, I guess, but I was curious.

Comments

  • AdaJAdaJ Member Posts: 154
    edited December 2016
    LordRumfish said:

    Does Minsc get the same sorts of immunities during that state that berserkers or barbarians have?

    In a word: Yes.
  • FrancoisFrancois Member Posts: 452
    Yeah, my impression is that it's pretty much the same except you lose control of him as long as you're in combat mode. I rather enjoy that; it feel like a real rage. Just make sure your companions are not too close to him. It's great against sirens in BG1 (lighthouse area). It gets better in BG2 where his rage immunity to level drain + racial enemy make him a vampire-killing machine.
  • FrancoisFrancois Member Posts: 452
    I also love shamans. The limited selection of good spells makes the sorcerer-style casting very useful. Summon insects, and later insect plague, are instant-win in many situations.
  • LordRumfishLordRumfish Member Posts: 937
    Francois said:

    I also love shamans. The limited selection of good spells makes the sorcerer-style casting very useful. Summon insects, and later insect plague, are instant-win in many situations.

    Yeah, I was just looking over the spell list in the Adventurer's Guide PDF to refresh my memory, and I am definitely excited about the insect swarm spells. Spellcasting is difficult to impossible when affected by them, not even taking into consideration getting interrupted by ongoing damage.

    For 3rd level spells, I figure Summon Insects and Dispel Magic are shoe-ins. I'm not quite as sure after that. Is Invisibility Purge worth it, y'think? Especially considering there might be True Seeing down the road. I'm also curious about how exactly Call Lightning works, and if it is worth it or not. It seems like you would get the first bolt aimed at an enemy when it finishes casting, and then sometime during the next turn (not round, turn) a random enemy somewhere within the huge radius would get struck by any follow-up bolts. I'm a patient guy when it comes to the duration, but just how big IS that radius? Is it going to be striking enemies halfway across the map?

    I'm almost certainly going to pick up Call Woodland Beings at 4th level, why wouldn't I want a summoned creature, and a group heal, and a dominate, and a confusion, and a dispel, and... you get the idea. I'm pretty well sold on Death Ward and Defensive Harmony. Plus, shamans get Spirit Fire, I know from using M'Khiin a little that it's quite good. Negative Plane Protection doesn't last long enough to suit my tastes (I could just send in Minsc or Korgan berserking), and I might have access to a cleric anyway. That leaves me looking between Poison (a fair single-target damage spell if it wasn't for the abysmal range), Animal Summoning I (summons are always somewhat useful, but this one doesn't impress me), or Neutralize Poison (a quick 10 HP heal that also gets rid of some status conditions). I'll give it some thought.

    Iron Skins at 5th is going to make her tough as nails, and she's already no slouch. Insect Plague is clearly amazing. True Seeing is a staple, and all that. My 4th choice here might be Pixie Dust, I know it's just normal Invisibility and not Greater but the long duration could let me completely scout out a zone with my whole team before deciding where to plant myself and start fighting. Magic Resistance might come in at number 5, aside from being a buff I have heard that you can debuff a high-MR creature with this. Free Raise Dead just for being a shaman.

    Higher than this, and I guess I'm getting into BG2:EE... but it never hurts to think about the future.

    At 6th level spells, Dolorous Decay looks amazing. Is it amazing? I hope it's amazing. It has a casting time of 1! Heal is a no-brainer. Pick number 3 seems like it's in some tight contention. Harm could be great, or it could be hard to pull off. There are 3 different summoning spells here, which one is the best out of Animal Summoning III, Conjure Animals and Conjure Fire Elemental? Something tells me it's the elemental, even though bears are pretty cool. Fire Seeds seems a bit subpar, and Wondrous Recall doesn't seem all THAT wondrous, really. Is Physical Mirror worth it? Shamans get Spiritual Lock, which is a nice single-target "save-or-lose" effect.

    Finally, the capstone spells at 7th level. Shamans get Ether Gate, their very own Maze variant. I'm having trouble narrowing these down, they all look pretty useful. Creeping Doom for sure, and Earthquake because that's the kind of game I'm playing here (AOE crowd control and damage). Shield of the Archons looks pretty cool. Then there's HLAs or something. Baaah, I guess I'll figure it out when I get there. I've only played BG2 up to the end of the Underdark, and never ToB really.


    Hmph. I've gone and talked too much. =P
  • FrancoisFrancois Member Posts: 452
    I got call lightning but I don't use it much. I used it a bit when I first got it, but it only works outside. I also got dolorous decay but I don't use much offensive spells and save my castings for when necessary.

    Insect plague and creeping doom are great. Only problem is the relatively slow casting and the time it takes for the swarm to reach the target. I am in ToB, and I discovered that the swarm is effective even when the target is in time stop.

    I am not playing a shaman charname, but for my present game I EEKeepered Dynaheir and then Aerie to shaman. I mostly use her to summon spirits and for protection spells. I have Minsc and Wilson as my frontliners who both have a habit of getting carried away in battle. For 5th level spell you get recall spirit, which is like raise dead. It's great to have that and Heal and chaotic command almost at will. Regeneration is useful, because in ToB enemy fighters can often damage your tanks incredibly fast.

    I think my next playthrough I will play a charname shaman that will be more melee and damage oriented.
  • LordRumfishLordRumfish Member Posts: 937
    So, I've decided to use a teensy little mod: removing the XP cap. Of course, it's still not THAT easy to make XP in BG1, so I am methodically going to each map section and exploring the whole thing (I would have done this anyway maybe, but in a normal game there might have been some half-finished zones I never double back to).

    It seems like every time I try to find Captain Brage, I forget just how far off the beaten path he is. By the time I stumble across the right zone, I've basically stopped looking for him and I'm just exploring the map. This was my reaction on finding the zone again (and going the wrong direction, subsequently fighting tasloi and junk):


  • LordRumfishLordRumfish Member Posts: 937
    edited December 2016
    Miriadne finally has Fireball now! My heroes and heroines raced up a level when I fought the sirines and cleared Black Alaric's Cave, as I expected. I've cleared the southwest quadrant (everything south of Candlekeep, but not crossing the road from Beregost / Nashkel), and now I've set my sights on the southeast quadrant (sans Durlag's Tower; Coran needs to have Trapfinding at 100 before I set foot in there, and that means one more level of thief). Fireball is everything I knew it could be (I was killing kobolds 10 at a time in the northern part of the Nashkel Carnival), but I find myself wishing I had more than 3 of them. Dynaheir is supplementing with Skull Trap (does this feel backwards to anyone else? I normally associate Dynaheir with fireballs and sorcerers with Skull Trap), although I've got Dynaheir set up with a bit more utility on her list so she can't do exploding death quite so often. Besides, who wants to have their PC outshone by Dynaheir? ^_~

    That doesn't mean I gave Zakana'we no opportunities. In the southeast zone with the big gibberling encounter, I set up one of the classic Entangle/Grease/Web/Writhing Fog killing fields and let Minsc draw the stragglers in to the slaughter (btw, have you ever seen a slowed creature trying to cross a Grease spell? It's kinda sad). I also used this setup for some of the various mercenary/assassin encounters we ran across. One of the plus sides to this setup, even though it takes multiple spell castings and requires waiting around, is that it uses lower-level spell slots. If the enemies have too many HP for one full run of Writhing Fog (which is 1 turn, which means 10d3 cold damage, 20 damage on average), you can either rinse and repeat or you can supplement with ranged attacks. I only tend to pull out tricks like Horror and Glitterdust when I'm taken off-guard or maybe waylaid by enemies. If I know a big fight is coming, Zakana'we casts Bless just before we walk in. Oh, Zakana'we has also learned Summon Insects, and it does good work against a single target. I am looking forward to tripping up some spellcasters with it.

    I am continuing to enjoy the sorceress / shaman run. Lots of spells per day + no memorization = fun. I admit that I have not been bothering to use the shaman spirit dance, but if I'm up to the next tier of animal spirits I may give it a try soon and see how it does. The percentage chance of success seemed too low at level 1, so I decided I would revisit it when Zakana'we was higher level.
  • ArthasArthas Member Posts: 1,091
    JuliusBorisov said:

    @LordRumfish This question is covered in a wonderful NPC guide by @elminster : http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=195278341

    "For the two turns (2 minutes in real-time) that it lasts it increases his strength and dexterity by 2 and increases his total health by 15. It also provides immunity to charm, panic, sleep, confusion, maze, level drain, hold, and feeblemind. However, in combat situations you will lose control of him so its best used with caution. Also the 15 health that he gains will be removed when the effect ends, so make sure to not have less than 15 health with him while he is going berserk."

    Also, if you have a Priest of Tyr in the party, she can make so that Minsc, even using the berserk ability, stays under your control.

    explain the tidbits about the priest of tyr please
  • WarChiefZekeWarChiefZeke Member Posts: 2,669
    I love pixie dust as a spell personally, mass invisibility let's you position your characters for ideal the first combat round and that can mean more than a powerful spell sometimes.
  • LordRumfishLordRumfish Member Posts: 937
    So, I've cleared all of the southwest areas, all of the southeast sans Durlag's Tower, and all of Cloakwood. I've gone over the forest zones east of the Friendly Arm Inn except for the bandit camp (I was rushing through some of these areas earlier in the game in order to reach Coran and Yeslick). I haven't gone north yet, so there are ankhegs and zombies yet to go before I reach the city of Baldur's Gate. For all that I've done, my PCs are only level 7 (I kind of expected this to happen though; I know the XP is concentrated with the sirens, the basilisks, the ankhegs, and the Cloakwood; I guess Ulcaster School and the one spider forest is alright too). I am starting to lose out on Dynaheir's spell progression for putting off Baldur's Gate for so long, since the only level 4 spell she knows is Fireshield. However, my OCD completionist streak is rearing its ugly head, so she will have to wait for a few zones longer before I buy her some new spell scrolls. I think I will leave Ulgoth's Beard tied together with Durlag's Tower, though, so that can wait until Coran has 100 Trapfinding, maybe even longer.

    Fireball is a useful spell, but Writhing Fog has it outnumbered on uses per day. Zakana'we continues to be a useful spellcaster even as Miriadne begins leveling the playing field (and the battlefield). Dynaheir helps out with double-Fireball shenanigans sometimes, and even Yeslick has been known to toss a Glyph of Warding into the mix when he isn't summoning the undead (in the most lawful and good of ways, of course). Minsc and Coran don't really need any help with their kill counts, and Yeslick doesn't do too shabby either.

    My hope is that once I finally do get to Baldur's Gate, I will have Coran ready to thief up every part of the city (I am holding off on my final loot run of Beregost and Nashkel too right now). I often feel like I miss things in Baldur's Gate, and I am determined to scour every inch of the city on this playthrough. I may have to rely on single-target spells a bit more than AOEs within city limits, so Minsc, Coran and Yeslick will no doubt be quite handy.

    Oh, one extra note: Coran was amazing all throughout the Firewine Bridge ruins. He often found opportunities to single-handedly take out 2-3 kobold commandos, starting with a nice backstab using Varscona. With all the twists and turns and narrow corridors and traps, Coran was by far the MVP of that whole mess. Luck may be a lady, but Coran was the *man.* ^_~

    P.P.S. - I wonder if an "underground" themed party would work? I know Viconia is constantly talking about the differences between the surface and her home, and Yeslick makes a lot of similar comments. I don't know that Baeloth or Kagain make much commentary that way, but perhaps they would suit the theme as well. Anyone else have any thoughts on the matter?
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