Sooooo I'll eventually get up to it in my posts, but I just wiped hardcore to the Ascension final fight; what in the world are the typical strategies for party play here? I never felt as though I were in control of that fight, with the lower member of the 5 going to... Injured, I think, and not even very long before potions and such got her back up. I know that a PfM scroll normally goes on Abazigal, but beyond that, it seemed that trying to manage the amounts of crazy coming out of each member was too much.
Here's my usual approach (which isn't in any way original - most of that stuff is just what Alesia would do, with the added benefit of more party members:
First of all, timestop effects (especially time traps) are supremely powerful in the beginning if you have Balthazar at your side, which I highly recommend (I've never done the battle with a hostile Balthazar, so I can't be much help here) - just DO NOT use any as soon as Amelyssan joins the battle. I'm presuming that you're playing on insane without extra damage here, so Amelyssan will appear as soon as one of the five goes down. If you have time traps or timestop, you can to the following things way easier ( of course, be fully buffed (especially against fire damage) and protect all of these buffs with SI:A, Spell Shield, Entropy Shield, ISOM etc.)
a) use both protection from magic scrolls from Ribald, one on Abazigal, one on Sendai - they shouldn't get to use a single spell
b) make sure that whoever Illasera is targetting has "The Reflex" equipped to neutralize her dispelling arrows
c) You can use a circlet of mind control from the illithid city to get control of Sarevok if he's hostile - will work 100% of the time (though you have to turn on him and kill him eventually, or Amelyssan will stay immortal)
So, if you do this, you have Ilasera, Gromnir, Yaga-Shura, Sendai and Abazigal to deal with - Ilasera will use her etherealness so you will need to keep track of her, pause a lot, make sure she doesn't get to hit an unprotected party member, swap around the Reflex. Sendai and Abazigal are mostly neutralized, Gromnir is just a physical fighter, Yaga-Shura will throw some fire bombs and be very resistant to damage early on. Keep up hardiness, physical protections and the like - the five will still deal a ton of damage. Ideally, you would want to bring all of them to "Near Death" during initial timestops/multiple time traps, and Balthazar on your side can help with that (depending on your installation, he's propably immune to timestop or at least can be). If you can't quite get there, I still recommend doing that - keep your party alive, healthy and protected, bring them to near death one by one. You may have to kill Illasera a bit early if she keeps switching targets - if you pull off the rest, she's propably going to be the most annoying foe. Once they are on low hitpoints, bring them down one by one, which will keep Amelyssan, once she appears, stunned and unable to do much. Usually, I kill Ilasera first and Yaga-Shura last as he will take more damage the longer the fight takes - don't forget to also kill Sarevok now if you have mind controlled him.
Now, it's crucial to keep your aura clear on your Bhaalspawn - and keep a very close eye on Amelyssan with the sound turned up - as soon as she starts an Alteration spell (starting with the words "Praeses" and a little white ball as a casting animation if I recall correctly), you need to use "focus" or you might very well die to teleport + greater whirlwind attack (you can also try to keep up PFMW 100% of the time if your character has access to that - also note that her timestop casting time is faster than regular timestops, so you will need to react quickly). Other than that, this is a damage game - dispel divine mantle + divine protection (you can use wands of spell striking to help with that) and keep going after Mel with maximum damage. Don't think that the battle is over once you make a clear transition to the final phase - she can still destroy your main character. I really recommend reading the Ascension readme + her detailed abilities so you're prepared for all the things that could happen.
In most installations, the final Ascension battle will be BY FAR the hardest part of the game, even if you're prepared - once I started playing with Ascension, I started shaping my party around that battle, because it's so much more demanding than most other things in the game. You're certainly not alone with your troubles - the first time I did this I got utterly destroyed as well and it took quite a few attemts and a lot of reading regarding strategies for that battle to get it down to a point were I dared tackle it in no-reload mode again. It definitely takes some practice. I've also never had to do this battle without time traps, and doing so would propably make a huge difference.
The last two times I ran that fight, the Five went down easily enough; the only part that caused any trouble was when Melissan summoned a horde of demons after they dies. Not no-reload, but this fight wasn't one I needed to reload on.
Preparation: Aerys had Project Image and Wish, so that let the party maintain a suite of buffs essentially permanently - Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, Protection from Magical Energy, Spirit Armor, Remove Fear, Protection From Evil 10' on everybody. Plus 100% or more fire resistance on everybody without using spells, and 100% or more lightning resistance on everybody with a combination of gear and spells.
Then apply the spells to Balthazar and add even more buffs for the big fight. Including party-wide Improved Haste from a wish. And some fire-immune summons. Only Cernd wasn't at least on the sixth row of portrait icons, and at least two party members had their portraits entirely full. Also, set up my Chain Contingencies - triple Incendiary Cloud targeting self on first seeing an enemy, for both mages. This was 2.5, so that meant the self-targeted spells ignored MR.
The battle: Target the mages with dispels immediately. Sendai's defenses go down, so Aerys aims a stream of fiery death (Big Metal Rod/scorcher ammo) at her to keep her from casting anything. Abazigal still seems to have PFMW up, so I have Balthazar hit him with a Dragon Fist. The melee goes after Illasera, but switches to Gromnir when she goes ethereal. Gromnir goes down first, and they switch to Abazigal; he dies moments after Melissan arrives. Switch to Illasera, and Sendai burns. Then Illasera goes down, then Yaga-Shura falls - did you know this incarnation isn't immune to fire?
Finally, with Sarevok near death, Melissan finally summons her solars. She was off balance the entire phase and unable to act because we killed her minions so fast.
On to phase two - Melissan and summons. She adds a bunch of demons to the already present solars, and Anomen takes a lot of heat in melee. Since I didn't roll Hardiness in my wish sequence, his physical resistances are garbage, and I'm not quick enough with the full-heal potion. OK, then. Rod of Resurrection and switch to sling mode instead because he can't put the red dragon armor back on. Focus on the fallen solars, then the demons. See a succubus charm coming at Anomen, equip the Shield of Harmony long enough to negate that, then the succubus dies to a Dragon's Breath. Demons get low, Melissan casts Divine Mantle. No instant Breach available due to spell cooldown, but that's OK; Mel dispels her own defense with Divine Cleansing before I can get around to it in a futile attempt to dispel a Flail of Ages slowing. And after that it's pure beatdown. Slings and +4 bullets for Aerys and Anomen, Gesen Bow for Nalia, standard melee for everybody else.
It wasn't any sort of deep strategy. Just buff to the skies and apply overwhelming force. If you kill the Five fast enough, Melissan is a complete non-factor in the first phase.
Preparation: Seven spike traps and six Delayed Blast Fireballs (from the Magic Flute HLA). Plus there's a spider in the pic - must have used a summon item.
The battle: The traps I placed for Abazigal take him out instantly. The traps I placed for Sendai hit Yaga-Shura instead for basically no damage. Keldorn then focuses on her with a dispel and the scorcher ammo. A Teleport Field sends him over to the side platform, where he holds aggro for all of the left-side enemies and Mel herself. Meanwhile, the rest of the party gangs up on Gromnir and then Illasera.
Once those two are down, focus on the Fallen Solars, then Yaga-Shura, then Sarevok. But throw some attacks Mel's way to keep her occupied. And a Ring of Energy hit when I hear a casting sound, to prevent Time Stop. Melissan's down to Near Death by the time the last of the Five fall, but restores back to full health for phase 2 anyway. That part's worse, with the demon horde. Korgan dies and is resurrected twice, Rasaad dies and I don't manage to raise him before the battle ends.
I replayed it twice, experimenting with different trap placement and tactics. While traps on the bridge can hit her, Sendai has +4 Luck - which means that a 20d6 spike trap deals less than 25 damage on average. Even a full seven of them won't take her down. The enemies on the right are the ones you want to hit with traps, particularly Abazigal who you can insta-kill with enough spike traps. (Luck modifiers for the enemies/allies in the Throne: Bodhi +1, Illasera +2, Sendai +4, all others zero)
But on both of those replays, I got through phase 1 just fine. I quit in phase 2 once (might have won anyway if I played it out), and played through for the win the other time.
Some other notes from that experiment and from looking at things in NI:
- Attacking Melissan during phase 1 is a waste of time, unless you're doing it to disrupt a Time Stop attempt or something. There's no way to prevent her from healing to full and summoning a bunch of demons at the beginning of phase 2. The best you can achieve by beating her down is to take her out of the fight briefly. Better to kill members of the Five, which also takes her out of the fight briefly.
- Phase 2 is hard. Probably harder than it's supposed to be. Melissan gets five Gate spells on Insane (one on Tactical, three on Hard), each of which summons one or more demons. Then, after a few rounds, she gets one more Gate. The possible summons: 34% alu-fiend+succubus+2 cambion, 33% nabassu+babau, 11% marilith, 11% glabrezu, 11% balor. The kicker? Most of the demons get their own Gate spells (of varying quality), which they're generally scripted to use on arrival if there aren't too many enemies already present. But that check for "too many enemies" doesn't count enemies that haven't finished gating in, so the demons Mel summoned see a total of one enemy on the board and all use their gates. Voila! A giant mob of demons for you to fight. (At least, I think that's how it works. If I'm right ... )
- You get five rounds between activating the last pool and the final fight cutscene starting. A perfect time for your shorter-duration buffs.
In short, my experience on the Five? Just kill them. Endgame parties have a lot of firepower, especially when you pull out all the stops in buffing. I wasn't even trying to chain-disrupt Melissan in KWF; it just happened naturally as my party crushed one target after another.
OK, focusing some extra attention on the two mages so they can't cast helps a lot. And getting Balthazar on your side is an enormous boon. You can talk him over to your side if your protagonist has 19+ wisdom (a potion and the ioun stone allows this for all but Wizard slayers) with exactly the right options, or more easily if your protagonist is good and/or has a paragon reputation.
... OK, I ran the math on the demons. Melissan's initial summons amount to an expected total of 11.75 demons. If each of those gets in one round of gating, those secondary gates only amount to about an additional four demons. But balors are disproportionately likely in the secondary gates, because succubi gate them in. The expected number of balors more than doubles from 0.55 to 1.384.
The "too many enemies" condition on the demons' gate spells specifically counts demons with the "enemy" allegiance. If that number is at least the maximum of 3 and the number of party members, they won't use their gates. Gating in your own demons won't count toward this, as they have the "good but red" allegiance. Though the fallen solars do count if they're still alive, because their race is DEMONIC.
... which just led me to realize something. The "Control Demon" pool power works on the fallen solars. I've never used it before, but that seems like a way to make them less scary. Mel has her own version of "Control Demon" to take them back, though.
I am currently looking for the Book of Ignorance. (NToSC Mod) I have been told (in game) that it is in the Solitary Valley in the Fire Leaf Forest. However I am having difficulty finding the Valley. Does anybody know the co-ordinates for it?
If they're flagged as critical items, you can't sell them at any standard shop; selling critical items requires a special flag in the shop that isn't set anywhere by default. If they're not flagged as critical, you can sell them practically anywhere.
If they're flagged as critical items, you can't sell them at any standard shop; selling critical items requires a special flag in the shop that isn't set anywhere by default. If they're not flagged as critical, you can sell them practically anywhere.
So far nobody will buy. I can't see why they would be critical. I suppose that they could be to a druid as there aren't many +2 clubs around.
I have some Plate Armour Duragon's Plate [MAPLA001.ITM] which is usable by my PC, a berserker, but is not usable by Kagain. I have looked in NI to find out why but cannot fathom out why. I am beginning to think that the problem could lie in Kagain's cre file.
Any thoughts? I tried to attach the itm file but was unable to do so.
It's those kit unusability flags - specifically, being unusable by "generalists". That flag applies to everyone with the "base class" kit, such as a multiclass or a vanilla fighter.
As designed, this is usable by the following in the standard class/kit system:
- Priests of Helm, Lathander, and Talos
- Beastmasters and Archers
- Berserkers
- Blackguards, Cavaliers, Inquisitors, and Undead Hunters
- Dual classes with one of the above kits
- NPCs with null kits and a class that can wear plate armor; Ajantis, Coran, Kivan, Shar-Teel
Also, it looks like the identified description is missing, so there's no easy in-game indicator of what this plate actually does. A terribly-designed item.
It's those kit unusability flags - specifically, being unusable by "generalists". That flag applies to everyone with the "base class" kit, such as a multiclass or a vanilla fighter.
As designed, this is usable by the following in the standard class/kit system:
- Priests of Helm, Lathander, and Talos
- Beastmasters and Archers
- Berserkers
- Blackguards, Cavaliers, Inquisitors, and Undead Hunters
- Dual classes with one of the above kits
- NPCs with null kits and a class that can wear plate armor; Ajantis, Coran, Kivan, Shar-Teel
Also, it looks like the identified description is missing, so there's no easy in-game indicator of what this plate actually does. A terribly-designed item.
Thanks. I think that I just won't use it. Probably better to save an edited version Durlag's Plate done by myself with that file name.
However for future reference, how would I get rid of the generalist flag? I can get rid of all of that line or none. If I got rid of all, would it be useable by the specialist mages? It looks as if it is designed not to be edited.
In Near Infinity, you can easily alter the flags individually. Go to the "Edit" tab, select that "Unusable by (n/4)" entry, and you see a series of checkboxes. Check or uncheck them each individually.
As for specialist mages using the armor ... they'd have to have a class that can wear plate, like fighter/mage or cleric/mage. Pure mage specialists would be locked out by virtue of their class. The only part that would feel wrong about zeroing out that eight-bit block is that it would allow Archers ... which this item does already.
Unless there's some specific flavor reason to do things differently, I'd recommend using the same kit usability flags as standard plate mail: the flags set are Shapeshifter, Avenger, and Barbarian in the first block, Stalker and Beastmaster in the second, Archer in the third, and Kensai in the fourth.
With this particular item I cannot check or uncheck them each individually, however when I reverted back to the original item, unaffected by other mods I discovered that once the generalist line was deleted, the armour was only usable by all dwarven fighters except barbarians and all dwarven clerics. I believe that is what was intended as it was sold as dwarven armour.
It isn't usable by other races.
There are indicators of what the armour does in the store that sells it, so not quite as bad as immediately apparent.
It is +2 Plate that adds 3 to Constitution, so rather overpowered, but it is VERY expensive, 30,000 gold pieces so only available in the end game. Imagine having a dwarf with 19 Con. Give him the tome and the morningstar that both add 1 to Con. Then add this armour! A con of 24 without potions!
As in a lot of modded items, the strings are messed up probably due to the fact that it comes from a VERY old mod, probably pre-Weidu, certainly pre-EE.
So, much to my unbridled joy, I'm starting to get a little time to play again. However, it struck me that I can no longer remember the exact cut-offs for thief skill points necessary in BG1EE.
I know that you need 100 Find Traps and 85 (I think...) Open Locks if you're doing Durlag's Tower, but given how many boosting potions there are available inside the tower itself, I'd like to squeek by with just enough points to handle (almost) everything outside Durlag's.
Does anyone remember what you need? I want to say 80/80 Find Traps/Open Locks should be sufficient.
I am creating a party of Berserker, Barbarian and specialist mage.
I am considering dualling the Barbarian to Thief. Barbarians cannot wear heavy armour anyway.
My Berserker to Cleric. Doing this I have all bases covered: thieving, and both types of magic.
Dual class barbarian at 6 or 7 and Berserker at 9.
Firstly is that a suitable course of action.
Level 6 or 7 for thief?
Would it be better to multiclass either the fighteer/cleric or fighter/thief.
I presume that it might be necessary to recruit a tank when I dual-class the barbarian?
I'm not too interested in power-gaming, however due to installation of some quest mods succh as Drizzt Saga, the level cap is a bit higher than normal. [For those mods, it needs to be] I've forgotten by how much.
My thoughts ...
- Barbarians aren't allowed to dual-class in the standard rules. I suppose your mods cover you here.
- You can get along without thieving for the wilderness sections of BG1, but you'll want those skills as soon as you start venturing into dungeons. Even the Nashkel mines have unavoidable arrow traps, that will be painful if you can't disarm them. Level 6 as a fighter is pretty easy to reach by that point, while level 7 is a bit of a stretch ... but that APR boost at level 7 is a very big deal. The only real reason to dual early at level 6 is if you're constrained by the BG1 experience cap and trying for a fighter 6->thief 9 grandmastery build. I'd aim for a level 7 dual here.
- Needing to recruit a tank when you dual the barbarian? What makes you think the barbarian was a good tank in the first place? Sure, they have extra HP, but they can't wear heavy armor, and heavy armor is the key for an early game warrior tank. Barbarians are great tanks in the late game when their physical resistance comes in, but that doesn't even start until level 11. The extra movement speed goes great with a skirmisher style and the thief dual for backstabs, though.
- Going without healing in the early game? That's rough. I ran a no-spellcasting party once; their healing options in BG1 were two instances of Bhaalspawn CLW, one instance of paladin LoH (Ajantis), one 20 Con regenerator (Kagain), potions, and a protagonist that could regenerate with Buckley's Buckler after she picked up the Con tome. That was ... barely enough. If your only class with any healing options is a level 9 dual, then you're looking at even less healing power early on, and you'll feel the strain. The fighter/cleric would probably be better as a multiclass.
@jmerry
That makes a lot of sense. I could of course recruit Tenya. She is quite tough as a cleric once she has items/potions to raise strength. The extra strength means better armour.
Thinking of dual classing the barbarian to thief, a second rage would be useful so level four, six and seven all have their merits, even eight for a further rage. Experimentation needed I think.
I have bought a +2 knife in Ulgoth's Beard, probably from a mod, but not sure about that. It is called "The Necro." It is only useable by evil necromancers and purportedly gives unlimited use of the following spells: Animate Dead; Skull Trap; Vampiric Touch; and Wraith Form. However Wraith Form is the only spell that works. Does anyone know which mod it is from as I would like to make a bug report?
Can anybody tell me how I could make it do what it should?
Google couldn't help.
Is it the wielder or the target that gets instantaneous death?
In theory, charisma changes reaction adjustments for each point above 12 all the way to 25: https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Charisma
However, in practice, I don't think there's any interaction in the game where a chrisma higher than 19 does anything if you don't have a low reputation (that would be the exception - more information here: https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Reaction ). Since merchant prices don't improve after getting to 20 charisma, I think that 20 charisma is the highest that you will gain any realistic benefit from.
Note that most relevant interactions where reaction score does make any difference at all are mostly in early BG1 or in SoD - and most involve just very, very minor quests.
In theory, charisma changes reaction adjustments for each point above 12 all the way to 25: https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Charisma
However, in practice, I don't think there's any interaction in the game where a chrisma higher than 19 does anything if you don't have a low reputation (that would be the exception - more information here: https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Reaction ). Since merchant prices don't improve after getting to 20 charisma, I think that 20 charisma is the highest that you will gain any realistic benefit from.
Note that most relevant interactions where reaction score does make any difference at all are mostly in early BG1 or in SoD - and most involve just very, very minor quests.
Thanks. I know a few in early BG1 where charisma of 18 is needed for the best outcome, but didn't know about BG2.
I think pretty much all the BG1 quest outcomes depend on the reaction score, rather than charisma directly. While 18 charisma may be needed early on to get the best result, that's not necessarily so once you've got reputation up.
I think pretty much all the BG1 quest outcomes depend on the reaction score, rather than charisma directly. While 18 charisma may be needed early on to get the best result, that's not necessarily so once you've got reputation up.
Comments
We defeated the Demonknight but no helm of opposite alignment.
Also no assassins when we leave the Demonknight room.
Is this because we haven't accepted the quest from the dwarf at Ulgoth's Beard?
There was no problem with my last run.
I have opened them in EE keeper and only the NTDEATHK has the Helm of Opposite Alignment.
First of all, timestop effects (especially time traps) are supremely powerful in the beginning if you have Balthazar at your side, which I highly recommend (I've never done the battle with a hostile Balthazar, so I can't be much help here) - just DO NOT use any as soon as Amelyssan joins the battle. I'm presuming that you're playing on insane without extra damage here, so Amelyssan will appear as soon as one of the five goes down. If you have time traps or timestop, you can to the following things way easier ( of course, be fully buffed (especially against fire damage) and protect all of these buffs with SI:A, Spell Shield, Entropy Shield, ISOM etc.)
a) use both protection from magic scrolls from Ribald, one on Abazigal, one on Sendai - they shouldn't get to use a single spell
b) make sure that whoever Illasera is targetting has "The Reflex" equipped to neutralize her dispelling arrows
c) You can use a circlet of mind control from the illithid city to get control of Sarevok if he's hostile - will work 100% of the time (though you have to turn on him and kill him eventually, or Amelyssan will stay immortal)
So, if you do this, you have Ilasera, Gromnir, Yaga-Shura, Sendai and Abazigal to deal with - Ilasera will use her etherealness so you will need to keep track of her, pause a lot, make sure she doesn't get to hit an unprotected party member, swap around the Reflex. Sendai and Abazigal are mostly neutralized, Gromnir is just a physical fighter, Yaga-Shura will throw some fire bombs and be very resistant to damage early on. Keep up hardiness, physical protections and the like - the five will still deal a ton of damage. Ideally, you would want to bring all of them to "Near Death" during initial timestops/multiple time traps, and Balthazar on your side can help with that (depending on your installation, he's propably immune to timestop or at least can be). If you can't quite get there, I still recommend doing that - keep your party alive, healthy and protected, bring them to near death one by one. You may have to kill Illasera a bit early if she keeps switching targets - if you pull off the rest, she's propably going to be the most annoying foe. Once they are on low hitpoints, bring them down one by one, which will keep Amelyssan, once she appears, stunned and unable to do much. Usually, I kill Ilasera first and Yaga-Shura last as he will take more damage the longer the fight takes - don't forget to also kill Sarevok now if you have mind controlled him.
Now, it's crucial to keep your aura clear on your Bhaalspawn - and keep a very close eye on Amelyssan with the sound turned up - as soon as she starts an Alteration spell (starting with the words "Praeses" and a little white ball as a casting animation if I recall correctly), you need to use "focus" or you might very well die to teleport + greater whirlwind attack (you can also try to keep up PFMW 100% of the time if your character has access to that - also note that her timestop casting time is faster than regular timestops, so you will need to react quickly). Other than that, this is a damage game - dispel divine mantle + divine protection (you can use wands of spell striking to help with that) and keep going after Mel with maximum damage. Don't think that the battle is over once you make a clear transition to the final phase - she can still destroy your main character. I really recommend reading the Ascension readme + her detailed abilities so you're prepared for all the things that could happen.
In most installations, the final Ascension battle will be BY FAR the hardest part of the game, even if you're prepared - once I started playing with Ascension, I started shaping my party around that battle, because it's so much more demanding than most other things in the game. You're certainly not alone with your troubles - the first time I did this I got utterly destroyed as well and it took quite a few attemts and a lot of reading regarding strategies for that battle to get it down to a point were I dared tackle it in no-reload mode again. It definitely takes some practice. I've also never had to do this battle without time traps, and doing so would propably make a huge difference.
An overview of the strategies I used:
Kill It With Fire:
Party: Aerys (protagonist, Dragon Disciple 31), Anomen (Fighter 7-Cleric 39), Cernd (Shapeshifter 31), Isra (Cavalier 34), Jaheira (Fighter 24/Druid 21), Nalia (Thief 4-Mage 31).
Preparation: Aerys had Project Image and Wish, so that let the party maintain a suite of buffs essentially permanently - Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, Protection from Magical Energy, Spirit Armor, Remove Fear, Protection From Evil 10' on everybody. Plus 100% or more fire resistance on everybody without using spells, and 100% or more lightning resistance on everybody with a combination of gear and spells.
Then apply the spells to Balthazar and add even more buffs for the big fight. Including party-wide Improved Haste from a wish. And some fire-immune summons. Only Cernd wasn't at least on the sixth row of portrait icons, and at least two party members had their portraits entirely full. Also, set up my Chain Contingencies - triple Incendiary Cloud targeting self on first seeing an enemy, for both mages. This was 2.5, so that meant the self-targeted spells ignored MR.
The battle: Target the mages with dispels immediately. Sendai's defenses go down, so Aerys aims a stream of fiery death (Big Metal Rod/scorcher ammo) at her to keep her from casting anything. Abazigal still seems to have PFMW up, so I have Balthazar hit him with a Dragon Fist. The melee goes after Illasera, but switches to Gromnir when she goes ethereal. Gromnir goes down first, and they switch to Abazigal; he dies moments after Melissan arrives. Switch to Illasera, and Sendai burns. Then Illasera goes down, then Yaga-Shura falls - did you know this incarnation isn't immune to fire?
Finally, with Sarevok near death, Melissan finally summons her solars. She was off balance the entire phase and unable to act because we killed her minions so fast.
On to phase two - Melissan and summons. She adds a bunch of demons to the already present solars, and Anomen takes a lot of heat in melee. Since I didn't roll Hardiness in my wish sequence, his physical resistances are garbage, and I'm not quick enough with the full-heal potion. OK, then. Rod of Resurrection and switch to sling mode instead because he can't put the red dragon armor back on. Focus on the fallen solars, then the demons. See a succubus charm coming at Anomen, equip the Shield of Harmony long enough to negate that, then the succubus dies to a Dragon's Breath. Demons get low, Melissan casts Divine Mantle. No instant Breach available due to spell cooldown, but that's OK; Mel dispels her own defense with Divine Cleansing before I can get around to it in a futile attempt to dispel a Flail of Ages slowing. And after that it's pure beatdown. Slings and +4 bullets for Aerys and Anomen, Gesen Bow for Nalia, standard melee for everybody else.
It wasn't any sort of deep strategy. Just buff to the skies and apply overwhelming force. If you kill the Five fast enough, Melissan is a complete non-factor in the first phase.
Wee Cant Spell:
Party: Magpie (protagonist, Fighter 24/Thief 28), Haer'Dalis, (Blade 40, no memorized spells), Keldorn (Inquisitor 34), Korgan (Berserker 40), Mazzy (Fighter 40), Rasaad (Sun Soul Monk 40).
Preparation: Seven spike traps and six Delayed Blast Fireballs (from the Magic Flute HLA). Plus there's a spider in the pic - must have used a summon item.
The battle: The traps I placed for Abazigal take him out instantly. The traps I placed for Sendai hit Yaga-Shura instead for basically no damage. Keldorn then focuses on her with a dispel and the scorcher ammo. A Teleport Field sends him over to the side platform, where he holds aggro for all of the left-side enemies and Mel herself. Meanwhile, the rest of the party gangs up on Gromnir and then Illasera.
Once those two are down, focus on the Fallen Solars, then Yaga-Shura, then Sarevok. But throw some attacks Mel's way to keep her occupied. And a Ring of Energy hit when I hear a casting sound, to prevent Time Stop. Melissan's down to Near Death by the time the last of the Five fall, but restores back to full health for phase 2 anyway. That part's worse, with the demon horde. Korgan dies and is resurrected twice, Rasaad dies and I don't manage to raise him before the battle ends.
I replayed it twice, experimenting with different trap placement and tactics. While traps on the bridge can hit her, Sendai has +4 Luck - which means that a 20d6 spike trap deals less than 25 damage on average. Even a full seven of them won't take her down. The enemies on the right are the ones you want to hit with traps, particularly Abazigal who you can insta-kill with enough spike traps. (Luck modifiers for the enemies/allies in the Throne: Bodhi +1, Illasera +2, Sendai +4, all others zero)
But on both of those replays, I got through phase 1 just fine. I quit in phase 2 once (might have won anyway if I played it out), and played through for the win the other time.
Some other notes from that experiment and from looking at things in NI:
- Attacking Melissan during phase 1 is a waste of time, unless you're doing it to disrupt a Time Stop attempt or something. There's no way to prevent her from healing to full and summoning a bunch of demons at the beginning of phase 2. The best you can achieve by beating her down is to take her out of the fight briefly. Better to kill members of the Five, which also takes her out of the fight briefly.
- Phase 2 is hard. Probably harder than it's supposed to be. Melissan gets five Gate spells on Insane (one on Tactical, three on Hard), each of which summons one or more demons. Then, after a few rounds, she gets one more Gate. The possible summons: 34% alu-fiend+succubus+2 cambion, 33% nabassu+babau, 11% marilith, 11% glabrezu, 11% balor. The kicker? Most of the demons get their own Gate spells (of varying quality), which they're generally scripted to use on arrival if there aren't too many enemies already present. But that check for "too many enemies" doesn't count enemies that haven't finished gating in, so the demons Mel summoned see a total of one enemy on the board and all use their gates. Voila! A giant mob of demons for you to fight. (At least, I think that's how it works. If I'm right ... )
- You get five rounds between activating the last pool and the final fight cutscene starting. A perfect time for your shorter-duration buffs.
In short, my experience on the Five? Just kill them. Endgame parties have a lot of firepower, especially when you pull out all the stops in buffing. I wasn't even trying to chain-disrupt Melissan in KWF; it just happened naturally as my party crushed one target after another.
OK, focusing some extra attention on the two mages so they can't cast helps a lot. And getting Balthazar on your side is an enormous boon. You can talk him over to your side if your protagonist has 19+ wisdom (a potion and the ioun stone allows this for all but Wizard slayers) with exactly the right options, or more easily if your protagonist is good and/or has a paragon reputation.
... OK, I ran the math on the demons. Melissan's initial summons amount to an expected total of 11.75 demons. If each of those gets in one round of gating, those secondary gates only amount to about an additional four demons. But balors are disproportionately likely in the secondary gates, because succubi gate them in. The expected number of balors more than doubles from 0.55 to 1.384.
The "too many enemies" condition on the demons' gate spells specifically counts demons with the "enemy" allegiance. If that number is at least the maximum of 3 and the number of party members, they won't use their gates. Gating in your own demons won't count toward this, as they have the "good but red" allegiance. Though the fallen solars do count if they're still alive, because their race is DEMONIC.
... which just led me to realize something. The "Control Demon" pool power works on the fallen solars. I've never used it before, but that seems like a way to make them less scary. Mel has her own version of "Control Demon" to take them back, though.
They are only usable by druids and since I have an evil party yhey are of no use. Is there anywhere that I can sell them, or should I just dump them?
They are quite valuable if I CAN sell them
So far nobody will buy. I can't see why they would be critical. I suppose that they could be to a druid as there aren't many +2 clubs around.
They come from a mod. A lot of mod items are a bit iffy.
Any thoughts? I tried to attach the itm file but was unable to do so.
When editting the item could see no problems.
As designed, this is usable by the following in the standard class/kit system:
- Priests of Helm, Lathander, and Talos
- Beastmasters and Archers
- Berserkers
- Blackguards, Cavaliers, Inquisitors, and Undead Hunters
- Dual classes with one of the above kits
- NPCs with null kits and a class that can wear plate armor; Ajantis, Coran, Kivan, Shar-Teel
Also, it looks like the identified description is missing, so there's no easy in-game indicator of what this plate actually does. A terribly-designed item.
Thanks. I think that I just won't use it. Probably better to save an edited version Durlag's Plate done by myself with that file name.
However for future reference, how would I get rid of the generalist flag? I can get rid of all of that line or none. If I got rid of all, would it be useable by the specialist mages? It looks as if it is designed not to be edited.
What makes it unique is that it adds 3 to Con.
Too overpowered.
As for specialist mages using the armor ... they'd have to have a class that can wear plate, like fighter/mage or cleric/mage. Pure mage specialists would be locked out by virtue of their class. The only part that would feel wrong about zeroing out that eight-bit block is that it would allow Archers ... which this item does already.
Unless there's some specific flavor reason to do things differently, I'd recommend using the same kit usability flags as standard plate mail: the flags set are Shapeshifter, Avenger, and Barbarian in the first block, Stalker and Beastmaster in the second, Archer in the third, and Kensai in the fourth.
With this particular item I cannot check or uncheck them each individually, however when I reverted back to the original item, unaffected by other mods I discovered that once the generalist line was deleted, the armour was only usable by all dwarven fighters except barbarians and all dwarven clerics. I believe that is what was intended as it was sold as dwarven armour.
It isn't usable by other races.
There are indicators of what the armour does in the store that sells it, so not quite as bad as immediately apparent.
It is +2 Plate that adds 3 to Constitution, so rather overpowered, but it is VERY expensive, 30,000 gold pieces so only available in the end game. Imagine having a dwarf with 19 Con. Give him the tome and the morningstar that both add 1 to Con. Then add this armour! A con of 24 without potions!
As in a lot of modded items, the strings are messed up probably due to the fact that it comes from a VERY old mod, probably pre-Weidu, certainly pre-EE.
What next? I assumed that it had to be returned to Wostok. He's not at the Temple of Helm.
Hi @Wise_Grimwald
Which mod adds the serpents of Abbathor quest?
It is Ascalon's Questpack. However, I have the answer from other sources. Thanks.
I needed to talk to Emerson not Wostok.
I know that you need 100 Find Traps and 85 (I think...) Open Locks if you're doing Durlag's Tower, but given how many boosting potions there are available inside the tower itself, I'd like to squeek by with just enough points to handle (almost) everything outside Durlag's.
Does anyone remember what you need? I want to say 80/80 Find Traps/Open Locks should be sufficient.
I am considering dualling the Barbarian to Thief. Barbarians cannot wear heavy armour anyway.
My Berserker to Cleric. Doing this I have all bases covered: thieving, and both types of magic.
Dual class barbarian at 6 or 7 and Berserker at 9.
Firstly is that a suitable course of action.
Level 6 or 7 for thief?
Would it be better to multiclass either the fighteer/cleric or fighter/thief.
I presume that it might be necessary to recruit a tank when I dual-class the barbarian?
I'm not too interested in power-gaming, however due to installation of some quest mods succh as Drizzt Saga, the level cap is a bit higher than normal. [For those mods, it needs to be] I've forgotten by how much.
- Barbarians aren't allowed to dual-class in the standard rules. I suppose your mods cover you here.
- You can get along without thieving for the wilderness sections of BG1, but you'll want those skills as soon as you start venturing into dungeons. Even the Nashkel mines have unavoidable arrow traps, that will be painful if you can't disarm them. Level 6 as a fighter is pretty easy to reach by that point, while level 7 is a bit of a stretch ... but that APR boost at level 7 is a very big deal. The only real reason to dual early at level 6 is if you're constrained by the BG1 experience cap and trying for a fighter 6->thief 9 grandmastery build. I'd aim for a level 7 dual here.
- Needing to recruit a tank when you dual the barbarian? What makes you think the barbarian was a good tank in the first place? Sure, they have extra HP, but they can't wear heavy armor, and heavy armor is the key for an early game warrior tank. Barbarians are great tanks in the late game when their physical resistance comes in, but that doesn't even start until level 11. The extra movement speed goes great with a skirmisher style and the thief dual for backstabs, though.
- Going without healing in the early game? That's rough. I ran a no-spellcasting party once; their healing options in BG1 were two instances of Bhaalspawn CLW, one instance of paladin LoH (Ajantis), one 20 Con regenerator (Kagain), potions, and a protagonist that could regenerate with Buckley's Buckler after she picked up the Con tome. That was ... barely enough. If your only class with any healing options is a level 9 dual, then you're looking at even less healing power early on, and you'll feel the strain. The fighter/cleric would probably be better as a multiclass.
That makes a lot of sense. I could of course recruit Tenya. She is quite tough as a cleric once she has items/potions to raise strength. The extra strength means better armour.
Thinking of dual classing the barbarian to thief, a second rage would be useful so level four, six and seven all have their merits, even eight for a further rage. Experimentation needed I think.
I have killed the three druids Storm, Zosya and Blackberry.
To get the Ring of Mental Defence, do I have to have Xzar in the party as I already have a necromancer in the party?
Can anybody tell me how I could make it do what it should?
Google couldn't help.
Is it the wielder or the target that gets instantaneous death?
https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Charisma
However, in practice, I don't think there's any interaction in the game where a chrisma higher than 19 does anything if you don't have a low reputation (that would be the exception - more information here: https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Reaction ). Since merchant prices don't improve after getting to 20 charisma, I think that 20 charisma is the highest that you will gain any realistic benefit from.
Note that most relevant interactions where reaction score does make any difference at all are mostly in early BG1 or in SoD - and most involve just very, very minor quests.
Thanks. I know a few in early BG1 where charisma of 18 is needed for the best outcome, but didn't know about BG2.
Thanks