Party Morale Guide

Maciasz

I have been searching for a thorough guide on the "secret" morale stat of the various party members, and I simply could not find one. Could anyone please direct me to such a guide or post one here?

karl_maulder

So, depending on what you tell your companions, they either take a hit, or boost to their morale meter. This mostly affect two of your companions, namely Annah and Dak'kon, though.

I'm not entirely sure if you actually need to boost Annahs morale to be able to romancing her. But if there is such a requirement, the ones i can remember is:
Conforting her when entering Fell's tattoo parlor, telling her you'll protect her.
When facing Ravel, tell her that you could fall in love with Annah.
Don't betray Pharod with her present.
And be nice to her when or if she interjects in conversations, never insulting or patronizing her.
After leaving Ravels plane, you can romance her, when using the talk command to her, (there is some kinky stuff and a kiss), which net her some extra points of resistance to fire (if i remember correctly).

Now, depending on how you treat Dak'kon, his blade can morph. To do this you need to treat him bad, and tell others that he is your slave (requires that you learnt about his past), and when he comes with suggestions, tell him to be quit. But don't sell him as a slave!
Refuse to kill the dying gith woman at the lower ward (near the foundry).
And be an arrogant prick when talking to the gityanki in the lower ward area (arrogant to Dak'kon that is).
Whenever talking to Dak'kon, and he doesn't want to talk further about something specific, force him to do so anyway. This will change his karach blade to the kinstealer.

Or, you can tell him about the city (Sigil) beeing structured, without him seeing it (the "perhaps you're flawed" option, which requires a Int of 14 i belive).
Ask him to teach you his language, and talk to any githzerai in the hive, which will unlock two more keywords you can use when talking to Dak'kon, to learn about his past. One path in the conversation leads to 6000 xp, while the other is a dead end, and you can't go back, so be observant when talking to him.
After you find your severed arm, you can go back to Fell, and ask Dak'kon to translate for you. Ask him about your arm, and your former companions, which will let you accuse Dak'kon of lying to you (you need to be able to speak Dabus to get this dialogue), which will unlock a new dialogue option.
Kill the dying githzerai woman near the foundry (lower ward), but be merciful.
And lastly, you can learn the way of zerthimon, which will require you to first learn the arts, and master the 8th circle! (requires 18 Int and a wisdom of 19). This changes his blade from chained, into the streaming blade.

Edited the somewhat unreadable text

fkirenicus

IIRC, there was in the PST: Tweak pack by Qwinn (requires the original game, I'm afraid) an option to display party morale on the character sheet. E.g. Dak'kon: "Morale: 20"

(after learning the way of Zerthimon described by Karl above). 20 is the top score for morale in AD&D 2nd edition as far as I remember.

Maciasz

Thank you, but I could still use a proper guide, if one is available. Furthermore, how can one get Dak'kon to have low morale AND finish the Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon?

fkirenicus

In that case you'd need high INT and WIS and be kind to Dak'kon regarding the Circle, but a total a** otherwise.

Maciasz

What about other party members? The Dan Simpson guide has a few instances of mentioning actions that will affect morale in one way or another, but I could find no concrete list.

rapsam2003

I don't think there is a concrete list. In general, figure out what each party member likes and then act accordingly.

bizarro__stormy

The one thing that really bummed me out when I played the original version was that, despite how nice I attempted to treat Dak'kon, I could never "unchain" his Karach blade. I now *know* that this was most likely because of a bug with how the game treated morale. So on my good EE version play-through I'm hopeful I can finally get his streaming blade. That being said, I don't recall getting the 6000 exp message mentioned in the spoiler above. Is anyone aware if it's exceedingly difficult to get his streaming blade, or can I overcome a blunder or two?

karl_maulder

@bizarro__stormy Difficult to say, since you can't view your companions current morale number (without mods), and second, the karach blade only change if the said morale is attained, and at specific levels (fighter level + morale). Meaning you have to complete certain conditions before each crucial level up.
I'm not 100% sure of which of these conditions you actually have to fulfill, but, if you do everything that is written in my spoiler (above), before the last weapon change, you will get the streaming blade, i guarantee it.
According to Fkirenecus post above, option 5 might be enough.