Shield of Harmony, Psionic Immunity?

ObsidianShade

Apparently, the Shield of Harmony also protects against Psionics, though nothing in the description would tend to indicate that. I had Mazzy carrying the thing though both the Underdark and Watcher's Keep, and she didn't once fall prey to Mind Blast, and the shield was the only thing I can think of that would account for that immunity, and she took a lot of attacks, given that I'd use her as bait to get the illithids in a choke point where the rest of my party used mass missile fire to take them down, so she was very exposed to it.

I don't know if this is a bug, an unknown effect of the item, or a mod altering it. Can someone else confirm this?

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ObsidianShade

I suppose I should have tested the shield out with another character to find out, but given the same attacks wrecked the rest of the party if they were exposed to them, the shield does stand out a bit suspiciously. I didn't have her wearing anything else that really had anything to do with saves or mind control.

At one point, she was occupying the undivided attention of 4 ullithids at once, and never broke stride. I used her to grab their attention, then stand and fight them face to face at the end of narrow passages while the rest of the (Hastened) party poured archery into them at a distance. Her AC was low enough (-14 or so) that they had trouble hitting her with their melee attacks which are the INT drain, I believe, though it did happen a couple of times, but they never were able to get in that second attack that would have killed her. While she, and the rest of the party would deal with the one in front, the rear ones would be spamming away with Mind Blast, and I never once had it affect her. Sometimes, she'd be even more exposed, as would be fighting Umber Hulks who'd charge in ahead of the flayers, meaning that there was even more time exposed to psionics as they were queuing up in a line to get to her.

ObsidianShade

I'll note that Korgan who was equipped in much the same fashion did get stunned, leading me to also think it was the shield at work.

ObsidianShade

Just did some testing, going back to the Chapter 5 starting area, where there are three of the things just north of it. Evidently, the shield does not grant any kind of immunity, as equipping it didn't help other characters, nor did it make a difference with Mazzy and Korgan making saves. I'm guessing that before, Korgan might have just gotten an unlucky save. (I think that 1s always fail in BG II, right?) Speaking of Luck, Mazzy does have an item from a mod (Mantle of Waukeen) that grants the Luck effect, so that might have prevented her from ever rolling a 1?

SirBatince

Psionics are just a simple stun effect. I am positive the shield grants immunity to such effect.

ObsidianShade

Well, to test it out a bit ago, I removed it from Mazzy, and handed it to Jaheira, and twice she ended up stunned and brain eaten by the three, while Mazzy and Korgan were unaffected. I only ever had Korgan fall victim to their attacks once, and that was relatively early in the underdark campaign, and that was originally what made me think the shield was the difference.

What happened might have been that in the heat of battle, Korgan was Confused rather than stunned with Mind Blast, and that enabled the flayers to get close enough to eat him. The shield *definitely* does protect against that effect.

Grond0

The shield protects against hold, charm and confusion - it doesn't protect against stun. However, Mazzy's personal sword (sword of Arvoreen) does protect against stun, so if she was using that she would never have been affected by psionic blast. Arbane's sword also protects against stun and can be used by many characters.

ObsidianShade

I wasn't having her use either of those, since I reconfigured her weapon proficiencies to longsword in EEK, getting rid of her original sword and bow. For most of the underdark and Watcher's Keep, she was using Vampire Hunter+5, which is a longsword that does extra fire damage, and offers immunity to level drain as well as gets a bonus against vampires. Because I thought it gave a immunity to psionics, I had her carrying the Shield of Harmony the whole time, even though she had enough points in Two Weapon Style to dual wield. The shield was also just too useful against all the Dire Charm and Domination being tossed around by the fiends--or so it seemed at the time...

At the moment, she's got Vampire Hunter in one hand, and Foebane in the other one as the group gets ready to confront Bodhi one final time.

sarevok57

the mind flayer attacks make you make a save vs spell with a -2 penalty, so if your save vs spell is a -1 you cannot fail the save, even if you roll a 1 ( in the bg games you don't automatically fail if you roll a 1, that is 3rd edition nonsense that still bugs me to this day)

so with the right buffs and items ( and the fact that mazzy gets great saves for being a Halfling) there was probably a chance that her save vs spell was -1 or lower, so then she couldn't fail the save, hence the reason why she may have been kicking some mind flayer but

ObsidianShade

Seems to be a mod item...ran across it by accident while looking for that lair that Clara/Hexxat wanted to be taken to, except I thought it would be any crypt except the one right next to the entrance, which led to me checking every single crypt in the graveyard, and blundering into this thing. I will say that it seems to do more than 1D4 fire damage, often averaging 8 or 9 points worth, making it even more OP. Of course, there was a lot of things that also ignored fire damage too.

Vampire Hunter is a very useful weapon for those who seek out vile vampires and put an end to their existence.

STATISTICS:
Special Abilities:
+4 damage and +4 thac0 vs vampires
User is immune to level drain when equipped.

THAC0: +5 bonus
Damage: 1D8 +5, 1d4 fire damage
Damage type: slashing
Weight: 2
Speed Factor: 0
Proficiency Type: Long Sword
Type: 1-handed
Requires: 6 Strength

sarevok57

I would say that is definitely a mod item, there are no longswords +5 in SoA, infact there is only one longsword +5 in ToB ( although I don't know about the new npcs though if they add more ridiculous items to the ToB game)

but I do remember finishing hexxat's quest a long time ago and I never recall finding a +5 weapon there, I do remember a +3 dagger though

ObsidianShade

I installed a bunch of mods without checking to see what they added or where, so every now and again, I run across something like that. One of them added that +4 throwing axe from TOB for sale in I think Trademeet. I often had Korgan using it, but his main weapon is still Stonefire+3 which I bought at the Coronet as soon as I could afford it.

My Swashbucker uses Celestial Fury and that +4 shield from the Drow City, since getting UAI.

Jaheira seems to be an underperformer, despite being well equipped with two good scimitars, and lots of attacks per round. Part of that is I don't have enough high end armor increasing items left over to really max her out, so she takes a lot of damage, meaning I tend to keep her next to Imoen to protect her while casting. Right now, Vicci has more kills, but that's largely due to mulching entire rooms full of undead at once via turning, some liches aren't even immune. (I EEKed her alignment to Neutral)

Immy, however is my champion Demilich eliminator, thanks to being the only one who can use Spell Immunity.

Chidojuan

Pretty sure that the Vampire Hunter is from Freedom's Reign, a mod by one of the greats @CoM_Solaufein .

ObsidianShade

I don't think I have that one installed, but he has a fair amount of mods out, so I'm sure it's one of them. Excellent sword, I will say--Mazzy will probably carry it through TOB, as it really doesn't become obsolete.