What items to get before Chapter 7/Throne of Bhaal? (spoilers)

broshimo

Currently wrapping up chapter 6, and since this is the last time I've access to Athkatla, are these items worth it for the rest of game? Sling of Everard, Vhailor's Helm, Helm of Brilliance, and the level 9 scrolls at Adventure Mart. I've 42k gold with 20 reputation so the costs range from 5838 (Helm of Brilliance) to 15750 (Sling of Everard).

Sling of Everard is probably a luxury but Aerie is a sling user and Jaheira rotates between tank and summoner. Also, I've read that there are a few enemies immune to weapons of +3 and lower.
Helm of Brilliance is nice to have but are liches and other undead still a threat in chapter 7 and Throne of Bhaal? A second casting of Sunray would be awfully nice to pair with Daystar.
I think Black Blade, Chain Contingency, Shapechange, and Time Stop would be fun to cheese through Project Image/Simalcrum but I've no idea how common those scrolls are dropped in chapter 7 and beyond.

My team consists of pc berserker (9)->mage dual wielding longswords, Jaheira, Minsc, Keldorn, Aerie, and Imoen.

dunbar

Indeed +3 weapons are 'the norm' in ToB (just like +1 in BG1 and +2 in SoA). However, it's not like ToB is a desert island - there are plenty of places and opportunities to buy or otherwise acquire anything you might need (it can be played as a stand alone game after all).
Also, remember that you will still be able to access Watcher's Keep, so any items that you think may be useful in ToB can be cached in WK before you leave SoA.

Skatan

dunbar said:

Also, remember that you will still be able to access Watcher's Keep, so any items that you think may be useful in ToB can be cached in WK before you leave SoA.

Wow, never thought about that. Granted, I extremely rarely play ToB but the next time I do, I'll keep this in mind and use that vendor to sell to so that I can re-buy stuff later.

Regarding the OP, I'd say Vhailor's heml is a nice item for some characters. I prefer to use it with something like archers to double out their damage (and called shot). But in the end the smell of cheese reaches my nostrils and I stop using it :P The sling of everard is a staple goods in my parties since I often end up with 2 or 3 sling users, so I'd say you can probably buy that one and some scrolls. I don't remember the scrolls available in ToB since I play it so rarely so I wouldn't take the chance to not buy them if you want them.

dunbar

@Skatan You don't have to sell and buy back, just leave all your accumulated 'stuff' in an easily accessible container in the top level of the keep.

Skatan

I understand @dunbar, but selling is many times preferable early on to accumulate enough gold for the more prioritized items (str belt, staff of rynn, vecna, blade of roses, scrolls, vhailor's, DoE, scarlet or whatever). Then at later stages when money is no longer really needed, I can buy back items if I want. items I know I want to keep I will of course not sell and instead stash. One example would be if I sell ie Belm/Kundane because I am not using Jaheira/Haer'dalis or another in need of a speed weapon, but later on suddenly switch NPC for some unforeseen reason.

Borek

broshimo said:

Currently wrapping up chapter 6, and since this is the last time I've access to Athkatla, are these items worth it for the rest of game? Sling of Everard, Vhailor's Helm, Helm of Brilliance, and the level 9 scrolls at Adventure Mart. I've 42k gold with 20 reputation so the costs range from 5838 (Helm of Brilliance) to 15750 (Sling of Everard).

Sling of Everard is probably a luxury but Aerie is a sling user and Jaheira rotates between tank and summoner. Also, I've read that there are a few enemies immune to weapons of +3 and lower.
Helm of Brilliance is nice to have but are liches and other undead still a threat in chapter 7 and Throne of Bhaal? A second casting of Sunray would be awfully nice to pair with Daystar.
I think Black Blade, Chain Contingency, Shapechange, and Time Stop would be fun to cheese through Project Image/Simalcrum but I've no idea how common those scrolls are dropped in chapter 7 and beyond.

My team consists of pc berserker (9)->mage dual wielding longswords, Jaheira, Minsc, Keldorn, Aerie, and Imoen.

There's a small quest that opens up a Merchant in Saradush that sells the vast majority of scrolls up to and including level 9's, so once you hit ToB you can pimp out your casters assuming you have enough cash.

There's a couple of Liches in ToB, but undead are not very widespread so i wouldn't worry too much about a 2nd Sunray item specifically for them. There's a ton of Vampires in Ch.6 when you go to clear out Bodhi's Lair though. Most of the best weapons are from Watchers Keep, should be more than enough to equip preferred weapons for you team of at least +4.

I've never been as short of cash as you seem to be though, but i do like to do some stealing. Even as a good party you should, at the very least, use Imoen with potions of Master thievery to clean out the Drow Merchants, but i guess you are past that. Can also easily justify ripping off the Shadow Thieves fence/merchant should you feel the need.

UnderstandMouseMagic

Couple of things to mention.

Get any special items made by Cromwell that you might want done (gesen bow is a must surely for Imoen).
Get more money.
There's a kind of Cromwell in TOB to upgrade stuff but it costs a lot of gold.
Sling of Everard.

xzar_monty

Your 42k of gold seriously make me wonder about what you've done. Just wonder, not question or criticize. Ordinarily I have bags of gold at that point, and nothing to spend it on.

broshimo

Thanks everyone. I actually finished all the chapter 6 quests a while ago, and was going through rest cycles to use up the Limited Wish one-time options (sans level 9 spells) while waiting for the Fighter Stronghold quests to conclude.

Regarding my low amount of cash: the items I listed in the OP are the only items I considered worthy of purchase. Most of it was already burned at Cromwell; only Crom Faeyr, The Wave, and the Shadow Dragon Scale Armor remain. Also, added the BGTweaks mod to make them creation available in Throne of Bhaal. Other recent purchases are level 8 scrolls + scrolls of protection from magic, Defender of Easthaven, and Robes of the Good Archmagi. Acquired Robes of Vecna and Shield of Balduran before Chapter 4. Recharged Wand of Cloudkill in chapter 2 (~10k for cheesy fun). Just recharged 2 wand of fireballs (for mage disruption) and a wand of summoning (~15k). Hoarded every named item I could find, so the only items remaining and willing to sell are some short swords and a couple longbows. After all those purchases/sales, is that still a low amount of cash?

Damn, forgot to kill off groups of Cowled Wizards while waiting...

UnderstandMouseMagic

broshimo said:

Thanks everyone. I actually finished all the chapter 6 quests a while ago, and was going through rest cycles to use up the Limited Wish one-time options (sans level 9 spells) while waiting for the Fighter Stronghold quests to conclude.

Regarding my low amount of cash: the items I listed in the OP are the only items I considered worthy of purchase. Most of it was already burned at Cromwell; only Crom Faeyr, The Wave, and the Shadow Dragon Scale Armor remain. Also, added the BGTweaks mod to make them creation available in Throne of Bhaal. Other recent purchases are level 8 scrolls + scrolls of protection from magic, Defender of Easthaven, and Robes of the Good Archmagi. Acquired Robes of Vecna and Shield of Balduran before Chapter 4. Recharged Wand of Cloudkill in chapter 2 (~10k for cheesy fun). Just recharged 2 wand of fireballs (for mage disruption) and a wand of summoning (~15k). Hoarded every named item I could find, so the only items remaining and willing to sell are some short swords and a couple longbows. After all those purchases/sales, is that still a low amount of cash?

Damn, forgot to kill off groups of Cowled Wizards while waiting...

Not really I think.
A few of those items I don't buy but arrows are my weakness. Always buy all the dispelling and detonation ones I can. And if I don't do WK I don't have much more money.
Like you, I charge all the wands.

Borek

broshimo said:

Thanks everyone. I actually finished all the chapter 6 quests a while ago, and was going through rest cycles to use up the Limited Wish one-time options (sans level 9 spells) while waiting for the Fighter Stronghold quests to conclude.

Regarding my low amount of cash: the items I listed in the OP are the only items I considered worthy of purchase. Most of it was already burned at Cromwell; only Crom Faeyr, The Wave, and the Shadow Dragon Scale Armor remain. Also, added the BGTweaks mod to make them creation available in Throne of Bhaal. Other recent purchases are level 8 scrolls + scrolls of protection from magic, Defender of Easthaven, and Robes of the Good Archmagi. Acquired Robes of Vecna and Shield of Balduran before Chapter 4. Recharged Wand of Cloudkill in chapter 2 (~10k for cheesy fun). Just recharged 2 wand of fireballs (for mage disruption) and a wand of summoning (~15k). Hoarded every named item I could find, so the only items remaining and willing to sell are some short swords and a couple longbows. After all those purchases/sales, is that still a low amount of cash?

Damn, forgot to kill off groups of Cowled Wizards while waiting...

Well, considering you've got most of the items from SoA you'll ever need the gold isn't terrible, but you have to bear in mind Cespanar items are more expensive to make, up to 20k gold per craft, so that 42k will seem very low before long IMO. That doesn't include the cost of buying high level scrolls for your casters. Of course the nice thing about ToB is you will gain a lot of +3 "trash" weapons and plenty of magical armour that sells for good cash, but personally i'd want to go in to ToB with at least 150k stashed, sounds like a lot but you have multiple Mages who will need high level scrolls, that gold will disappear really quickly.

broshimo

@Borek

Took your advice on stealing some items... and can't stop myself. It started with Rogers' potions, then I remembered the steal-sell exploit with fences.

Now I have 130k gold.

bob_veng

it's good you bought scrolls. you can spend allyour money, you'll be fine.

UnderstandMouseMagic

Just thought I'd post this as just finished Suldenesselar.

You can get scrolls of,
Time Stop
Meteor Storm
and
Gate

in suldenesselar, they are lying around in the houses you have to enter, either on the tables or in cupboards.

broshimo

UnderstandMouseMagic said:

Just thought I'd post this as just finished Suldenesselar.

You can get scrolls of,
Time Stop
Meteor Storm
and
Gate

in suldenesselar, they are lying around in the houses you have to enter, either on the tables or in cupboards.

Throne of Bhaal is covered in thick layers of cheddar now that I've multiple scrolls of Time Stop. Forgot about them against Irenicus, but I can't help using Vhailor's Helm/Project Image->Time Stop when I'm in a pinch.

I should use Gate more often. Seems to have great synergy with Protection from Evil 10' always being up