Skip to content

SCS Mages Halting Progress

AndrewKellyAndrewKelly Member Posts: 16
in Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
I don't know where else to turn for assistance.

Long-time veteran player here. Finished the first and second games too many times to recall. (Ashamed to admit I've never finished ToB before, and don't know how the saga ends yet. I'm always totally bored or burnt out after going through BG1 and BG2 that I end up quitting shortly after starting ToB...)

Anyway, I'm now trying to complete a saga playthrough, as I've never played the EEs, or regular ToB. As I found the game to be relatively easy, even on "insane" mode, I'm using SCS for this playthrough.

So, 400 words later, here's my issue:

I'm stuck on the battle right before entering the Cloakwood Mines, where you fight two NPC mages, and a couple of fighters. I can't get through the stoneskins.

I know how one is typically supposed to get through stoneskins. With breach. But my party is level 5-6, and no one has access to 5th level spells. I can't enter Baldur's Gate yet to acquire the scroll.

Any tips?

I don't want to use any cheese tactics.

Comments

  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    You could try casting Dispel or Remove Magic on them, but the odds of that working aren't in your favor. I honestly think trying to remove buffs in BG1 is a waste of energy, until/unless you have an Inquisitor, Yeslick's unerring innate Dispel Magic ability, or arrows of dispelling.

    You can make the casters waste their spells on summons such as skeleton warriors or wand summons, or even on yourself if you've protected yourself with potions, spells and/or items. You can also still hurt the mages with weapons and spells that deal elemental damage while their Stoneskins are in place. If you can focus (ranged) fire on the mages the Stoneskins should be gone sooner rather than later, but for that work you'll need the warriors out of the way somehow (dead, away, or debilitated, Blindness still works on Drasus when he's enraged).
  • ArtonaArtona Member Posts: 1,077
    IIRC, you can charm non-Drasus warrior (however he's called), and he can soak some of their spells. Drasus drinks potion of magic blocking (or something similar) at the start of the battle, so it won't work on him, but the other guy doesn't.
  • AndrewKellyAndrewKelly Member Posts: 16
    The guy in full plate throwing axes seems to be easily susceptible to horror. I can tank the other fighter or cleric or whatever it is.

    It's the two stoneskinned mages giving me issue. I can backstab one right before the fight starts and the buffs go up (but this seems cheesy to me...)

    I'll have to try more elemental damage or something. Certainly never successfully landed a dispel magic with Viconia or Baeloth.
  • ArtonaArtona Member Posts: 1,077
    Another idea: you could buy from bartender in Ulgoth's Beard Greater Malision and Emotion: Hopelessness scroll. Their minor globes of invulnerability won't protect them.
  • AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,533
    Not sure how applicable this is to your party, but one thing I love to do in BG is to storm my enemies with fireball-like effects. My typical setup would include two party members with a bow using arrows of detonation; two mages using fireball spells or fireball scrolls; two other party members using potions of fire breath or potions of explosion. This usually wipes enemy groups pretty fast, but it relies on your having the arrows, scrolls, and potions. Also not sure whether SCS enemies are smart enough to counter this.
  • SomeSortSomeSort Member Posts: 859
    AndrewKelly said:

    It's the two stoneskinned mages giving me issue. I can backstab one right before the fight starts and the buffs go up (but this seems cheesy to me...)

    Cheese is obviously subjective, but this seems like the stereotypical use-case for backstab for me. Thieves have the worst damage output in the game, and in exchange they get one combat skill that lets them open the conflict with a crippling strike against the weakest / most unprotected / most strategically valuable target. And then afterwards they're stuck back in "sucks at combat" mode.

    I mean, if your backstab only kills on a critical and you're reloading over and over until you get that, that's pretty cheesy. But just the act of backstabbing mages to open combat is kind of the whole point of backstab, IMO. It's like a berserker popping rage to avoid status effects; that's what you have the rage for.
  • UnderstandMouseMagicUnderstandMouseMagic Member Posts: 2,147
    What's your party?

    I'm not being dismissive, but this isn't a difficult fight. It's set up for you to be able to win it. They are standing around, just waiting for AOE spells coupled with ranged attacks to kill them. You can prepare before you face them.

    Do you consider that "cheesy"?

    It would help to know more about what you want to do and what you are able to do.
  • WatchForWolvesWatchForWolves Member Posts: 183
    AndrewKelly said:

    I know how one is typically supposed to get through stoneskins. Focus-firing your entire party so that they go down in few rounds.

    FTFY

    And don't forget the elementally enchanted weapons like Ashideena or Varscona.

  • AndrewKellyAndrewKelly Member Posts: 16
    edited May 2017
    Artona said:

    Another idea: you could buy from bartender in Ulgoth's Beard Greater Malision and Emotion: Hopelessness scroll. Their minor globes of invulnerability won't protect them.

    I'm purposely trying to avoid the TotSC content until I'm almost done with BG1. Some of the loot it adds seems a bit unbalanced in the vanilla game.

    AndreaColombo said:

    Not sure how applicable this is to your party, but one thing I love to do in BG is to storm my enemies with fireball-like effects. My typical setup would include two party members with a bow using arrows of detonation; two mages using fireball spells or fireball scrolls; two other party members using potions of fire breath or potions of explosion. This usually wipes enemy groups pretty fast, but it relies on your having the arrows, scrolls, and potions. Also not sure whether SCS enemies are smart enough to counter this.

    Indeed. The fireballs, potions of explosion, and the one arrow of detonation I had are all being used in this fight.
    SomeSort said:

    AndrewKelly said:

    It's the two stoneskinned mages giving me issue. I can backstab one right before the fight starts and the buffs go up (but this seems cheesy to me...)

    Cheese is obviously subjective, but this seems like the stereotypical use-case for backstab for me. Thieves have the worst damage output in the game, and in exchange they get one combat skill that lets them open the conflict with a crippling strike against the weakest / most unprotected / most strategically valuable target. And then afterwards they're stuck back in "sucks at combat" mode.

    I mean, if your backstab only kills on a critical and you're reloading over and over until you get that, that's pretty cheesy. But just the act of backstabbing mages to open combat is kind of the whole point of backstab, IMO. It's like a berserker popping rage to avoid status effects; that's what you have the rage for.
    Yeah, I can take out one of the mages easily before the fight doing this, but backstabbing an NPC before the fight begins feels cheesy. I know the fight's coming.
    UnderstandMouseMagic said:

    What's your party?

    I'm not being dismissive, but this isn't a difficult fight. It's set up for you to be able to win it. They are standing around, just waiting for AOE spells coupled with ranged attacks to kill them. You can prepare before you face them.

    Do you consider that "cheesy"?

    It would help to know more about what you want to do and what you are able to do.

    It's the most difficult fight I've encountered in the playthrough thus far. The minor globes trigger instantly at the start of combat, preventing the fireball damage. Stoneskin also triggers instantly, preventing ranged damage. My sorcerer just isn't fast enough to spell thrust two minor globes (and obviously can't be fireballing at the same time...)

    And while it's easy to disable the axe throwing fighter, the other guy has absurd saves and has resisted everything I've tried on him. He's also really, really hard to hit.

    And yes, I consider tossing AoE spells at non-hostile NPCS before a fight to be cheesy. Same with backstabbing them. That's how I beat the first two games originally, and it felt pretty hollow.
  • AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,533
    AndrewKelly said:

    Indeed. The fireballs, potions of explosion, and the one arrow of detonation I had are all being used in this fight.

    And there are foes left standing after that? :open_mouth:

    Fireballing their a***s was all I believed in and now it's been torn to pieces :(
  • ZilberZilber Member Posts: 253
    Well, the thief's the scout, so you know the fight will start. Taking out one target is his/her other task
Sign In or Register to comment.

2025 Overhaul Games, a division of Beamdog. © 2025 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Baldur's Gate, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, Baldur's Gate, Wizards of the Coast and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries, and are used with permission. Hasbro and its logo are trademarks of Hasbro, Inc. and are used with permission. © 1998 BioWare Corp. All Rights Reserved. BioWare, the BioWare Infinity Engine and the BioWare logo are trademarks of Bioware Corp. Black Isle Studios and the Black Isle Studios logo are trademarks of Interplay Entertainment Corp. Atari and the Atari logo are trademarks owned by Atari Interactive, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.