[Spoiler: BGII] Blocking Timestop

BaldursCat

Right, in BG2 there's a...

Lich hidden in a sarcophagus in the Crooked Crane Inn. EVERY TIME my party go to kill the thing casts timestop before they even get a shot off, which leaves them (us) screwed

What am I doing wrong? How do I block it from casting?

Dogmatix

Usually damaging the enemy interrupts spellcasting (if I remember correctly). You may also try to dispel any combat protections from the lich ("Breach" would do the trick) before you let your tanks in. If you can't damage him, I would suggest you delay fighting this particular fight until you've managed to get some more levels.

DecrepitDragon

Not sure there is a way to stop it - it may be a scripted event when he appears.

I got around it by lining some summoned monsters along one edge of the walkway to his tomb (making sure a character could pass freely), then initiated the encounter with a hasted character. As soon as the lich appears, I'd pause, then run the character back to the party, that I'd left in the top right corner of the map.

The Lich then wasted his meteors and mazes on skellies rather than me. After that I got into what is still a tough fight, but easier without the damage from the initial onslaught.

Been a while since I last had this fight so the details escape me at the moment, but I do remember it being a very hard fight. Hope this little helps.

TJ_Hooker

DecrepitDragon said:

Not sure there is a way to stop it - it may be a scripted event when he appears.

I got around it by lining some summoned monsters along one edge of the walkway to his tomb (making sure a character could pass freely), then initiated the encounter with a hasted character. As soon as the lich appears, I'd pause, then run the character back to the party, that I'd left in the top right corner of the map.

The Lich then wasted his meteors and mazes on skellies rather than me. After that I got into what is still a tough fight, but easier without the damage from the initial onslaught.

Been a while since I last had this fight so the details escape me at the moment, but I do remember it being a very hard fight. Hope this little helps.

I think you may be thinking of the wrong lich fight, as I'm pretty sure the one in the crooked cane inn takes place in a really small room. Most of what you said still applies though, just instead of running to a far corner of a map, just have you character flee back up the stairs into the inn. Some people might consider that kinda cheap though, as I'm pretty sure you can really easily abuse that by sending one character down the stairs, waiting until he starts casting a spell, and then run back up the stairs, causing the lich's spell to fizzle (a process that you could probably repeat until the lich is out of spells).

ankheg

You can't use breach against a lich. They are immune 1-5 level spells (except remove/dispell magic). There are many way to stop them. The easiest is using sunray (and false dawn).

moody_mage

If none of the above is for you simply go away and gain a few levels then come back again. You'll be somewhat awed about how easily you'll take him down.

ankheg

Well, there is a solution with that particular lich...

There is a sword in the chamber of crooked crane... it has the Sunray ability/day

DecrepitDragon

TJ_Hooker said:

DecrepitDragon said:

Not sure there is a way to stop it - it may be a scripted event when he appears.

I got around it by lining some summoned monsters along one edge of the walkway to his tomb (making sure a character could pass freely), then initiated the encounter with a hasted character. As soon as the lich appears, I'd pause, then run the character back to the party, that I'd left in the top right corner of the map.

The Lich then wasted his meteors and mazes on skellies rather than me. After that I got into what is still a tough fight, but easier without the damage from the initial onslaught.

Been a while since I last had this fight so the details escape me at the moment, but I do remember it being a very hard fight. Hope this little helps.

I think you may be thinking of the wrong lich fight, . . .

@TJ_Hooker - You are, of course, correct sir. I bow down to your superior memory, ( or googling ability ). The engage and run, engage,run, techniques, still a good 'un though.

ryuken87

I think the easiest way to disrupt the casting is to hit the lich with an AoE spell not targetted on the lich itself.

MERLANCE

When he appears, press the talk button on him, but dont actually talk to him, start another action before you get to him. Then pound on him while he is still blue to you. Click talk again as needed for more time.

BaldursCat

ankheg said:

Well, there is a solution with that particular lich...

There is a sword in the chamber of crooked crane... it has the Sunray ability/day

Ah, so

the first attempt should probably be a. sneak in, b. retrieve super-impressive sword, c. leg it outta there, d. give sword to your Pali, e. let the evil lich have it!

Thank you for your tips, all. I think I may be been trying to take on too much to soon here.

Dogmatix

ankheg said:

You can't use breach against a lich. They are immune 1-5 level spells (except remove/dispell magic). There are many way to stop them. The easiest is using sunray (and false dawn).

Thanks for the correction on the Breach+Lich part, didn't remember this anymore.

ZanathKariashi

Use the universal anti-lich spell...Polypmorph self: Mustard Jelly (OR the cloak of the sewers for non-arcane types). And then laugh maniacally as you bludgeon him to death with your gloopy, magic immune fury.

grafix456

Use an inquisitor (Kelorn/Player) with carsomyr, and that should kill it.

Tinter

Enter room, throw azuredge.

If you are going to face a spell bombardment, your mages and clerics should have spells available which will make it more survivable. If you send in one or two buffed party members first, they can take the initial attack, then the rest can come in for offensive support.

ambrennan

MERLANCE said:

When he appears, press the talk button on him, but dont actually talk to him, start another action before you get to him. Then pound on him while he is still blue to you. Click talk again as needed for more time.

Or just admit to the fact that you are cheating and use SK to make the party immune to timestop and whatever else he might throw at you (imprisonment/maze).

JMikeA

Protection from Undead scrolls and magic resistance (Viconia/Carsomyr). Actually I'm not sure the scrolls work well for liches (they are great on demi-liches so maybe).

darkkhaine

well, there are plenty tactics angainst lichs, but it depends on the party you have. On my last install with tactics mods (and scsII installed), i had to wait level 13 to face them.
You can't block timestop, but you can stop every attack the lich throws at you : Protect from magic weapon, from magic energy, spell immunity. These immunities last at least 3 rounds (i play with spell revisions) so a sorceror for example can be immune to anything the lich does (which by the way is the best class to face these creatures for me).

The other solution is to disrupt his casting, with wand of breach/pierce magic for example, if he's protected. Again it depends on the protection he's casting on himself (i played with scs2 wich makes him autocast lots of protective spells at the begining of the fight so i don't remember which spells it casts)

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ShadowTiger

Well here is a tip that makes timestop much less deadly. Cast invisibility on all of your guys (invisibility 10' radius is the easiest way). Then during the timestop the lich will just sit around and cast spells that aren't very dangerous.

If you don't have that spell yet, you can probably just send in one character with invisibility potions instead.

A potion of magic protection or magic blocking will also be useful in such a fight, again sending in one party member first.

gunman

AFAIK, that lich cast the following spells: time stop, gate, horrid wilting. So even if you get immunity to magic, that shouldn't protect you from the pit fiend....

The cheapest way to deal with it would be to send in just one guy protected from undead. The lich should just stand there and do nothing, but I didn't test it

karnor00

I'm pretty sure liches can see through invis innately, tho invis would work against any other mages that cast timestop.

With SCS installed the protection from undead doesn't work particularly well - the lich still summons balors and the like to kill you.

Best method I found was protection from magic on one person while leaving the rest of the party outside. Then the lich really does stand around doing nothing, even with SCS installed.

Only downside is that there are only 2 protection from magic scrolls in the game (I used one for each demilich!).

ZanathKariashi

Polymorph Self: Mustard Jelly...or Cloak of the Sewers Mustard Jelly......100% immunity to magic, deals magical blunt damage....Dead Lich.

zur312

breach doesn't dispell liches unless you have mods (liches are immune to every 1-5 level spells but dispell magic but they are much higher level than you so there is probably 5% chance)

and without 7th level arcane spells for destroying liches defence you can't do anything (scsii tactics)

Tyranus

That Lich is there to reward explorers, while punishing low level parties. The weapon you get as a reward for the kill is perfect at the stage you come back to the main city and are considerably higher level.

Flashheart

For some reason, when I fight that Lich, the first thing it does is Gate in a Pit Fiend right next to itself. The Lich, recognising that fact that it isn't protected from evil, proceeds to unload its arsenal of spells (during a timestop) at the Pit Fiend. The Pit Fiend eventually succumbs to the power of its summoner, and the now spell free Lich succumbs to my party's overwhelming laughter.

Kaltzor

The only way I can think of that could do anything (but most likely won't) would be the 5th level spell of Spell Immunity and choosing to protect from Alteration which Time Stop falls under... I wonder, has anyone tried that?

elminster

Kaltzor said:

The only way I can think of that could do anything (but most likely won't) would be the 5th level spell of Spell Immunity and choosing to protect from Alteration which Time Stop falls under... I wonder, has anyone tried that?

I just tried it with ToB. I had myself cast timestop while Aerie had spell immunity:alteration active. In that case it didn't protect aerie (she was frozen like the rest). Maybe it would work differently with an enemy, but I doubt it.

Wisp

The only way to be immune to Time Stop is via an opcode (#310). The player has no way of being affected by this opcode (in the unmodded games). Spell Immunity does not help.

zur312

protecting from time stop is easy
just hit mage with something so he can not use his spell

for liches fast rubyray + breach sometimes work
but in unmoded game breach is not the best spell vs liches because liches are immune to spells level 5 and lower

Flashheart

I once modded the third element of Khelben's Warding Whip to be a Breach spell - so that I could deal with Liches. It was tense waiting for the third round to kick in.