Ettercaps

Jagger2010

I have been ambushed several times by 5-6 Ettercaps and wiped out in every attack. I am a necromancer level 5. My team includes lvl 5 Khalid, lvl 4 Jaheira, lvl 6 Imoen, lvl 4 Xan and lvl 5 Statue/Brandwen. Nothing seems to work against the ettercaps. I have tried a variety of magic without results. I can't win hand to hand battles. I tried running away and was snared with some sort of webs and then killed. I am new to the game and having a blast but I just can't beat these ettercaps.

So what are the weaknesses of ettercaps? What are the best tactics to use against them? How to I survive the next ambush when I am surrounded by 5-6 ettercaps?

StummvonBordwehr

They are a pest - but mostly when they swarm you.

To avoid that you need

1) someone to soak up the punches: a tank.
In your setup that could be Khalid or Jaheira.

2) Dress your designated tank in your best gear:
Full plate
Ring of protection +1
Belt of blunt protection
Shield +1
(Guessing youre in Cloakwood by now)

3) have the rest of the team use ranged weapons (4 * slings and a shortbow for Imoen)

4) make the tank scout ahead, while the rest trail behind

5) proceed with caution

6) get to know where the web traps are - or use free action on your tank.

7) avoid getting your party webbed (step 4 is important here) - the extra range of the solings also helps.

8) have your tank attack them one at a time, trying to lure them out one by one

This is pretty much it. Most of bg1 can be handled that way... but its still onde h.... of a game. I have enjoyed it for 16 years, and thanks to beamdog now on iphone.

Best of luck

Grond0

They are a tricky enemy and I'm not surprised you're losing if you're trying to fight them hand to hand in that ambush. You might want to note a couple of things:
- the web trap is nasty because ettercaps are immune to web. They don't produce the web themselves though, there's a trap on the left hand side of the ambush area. Imoen could find and disarm that trap at the start of the fight to let everyone run around more easily, or you could just make sure you stay at the top/bottom/right of the area.
- ettercaps have good saving throws, so aren't easily affected by spells. You might be better off using things like magic missile and acid arrow on them though you could try horror (as a necromancer enemies have a penalty of 2 against your use of necromancy spells).

Their biggest weakness though is that they have no distance attack. If you want to micro-manage your party you could have everyone running round while you pick them off with missiles and damage spells. You might find that hard to do without practise though and an easier option is to aim to collect all enemies onto the best protected of your characters (use potions and spells like chant to improve their defenses). Do that by getting any of your party not immediately engaged well out of the way. Then while anyone being attacked by an ettercap runs in circles, have your tank attack the chasing ettercap to transfer its attention to them. Once you've collected them all up the tank can run around (as they are well defended it doesn't matter too much if the ettercaps get the odd attack in ), while everyone else uses missiles and spells.

If you want to make things really easy of course then you could travel invisibly. That spell lasts 24 hours, so Xan can make 3 people invisible then rest for 8 hours and make everyone else invisible. That makes it easy to disarm the trap, cast some initial spells and get everyone in position before starting the fight with the ettercaps.

sarevok57

StummvonBordwehr said:

They are a pest - but mostly when they swarm you.

To avoid that you need

1) someone to soak up the punches: a tank.
In your setup that could be Khalid or Jaheira.

2) Dress your designated tank in your best gear:
Full plate
Ring of protection +1
Belt of blunt protection
Shield +1
(Guessing youre in Cloakwood by now)

3) have the rest of the team use ranged weapons (4 * slings and a shortbow for Imoen)

4) make the tank scout ahead, while the rest trail behind

5) proceed with caution

6) get to know where the web traps are - or use free action on your tank.

7) avoid getting your party webbed (step 4 is important here) - the extra range of the solings also helps.

8) have your tank attack them one at a time, trying to lure them out one by one

This is pretty much it. Most of bg1 can be handled that way... but its still onde h.... of a game. I have enjoyed it for 16 years, and thanks to beamdog now on iphone.

Best of luck

if im not mistaken you want to wear the belt that gives you piercing/missile AC, i believe ettercaps attacks are piercing, not crushing

Balrog99

I found the Slow spell very useful against ettercaps. They're already pretty slow moving to begin with and when slowed by the spell they move at a snail's pace.

Grond0

sarevok57 said:

if im not mistaken you want to wear the belt that gives you piercing/missile AC, i believe ettercaps attacks are piercing, not crushing

They're actually not all the same. I don't remember seeing any use crushing attacks, but some use piercing and some slashing. You can switch belts by pausing during combat, so if you have combat information enabled (in gameplay options then feedback) you can see what type of damage attackers are doing to you and respond.

Jagger2010

Thanks everybody for the good ideas.

Fortunately, I haven't run into any more ettercaps so far. Each previous encounter was an ambush while traveling between the Friendly Inn and Peldvale.

I downloaded the D&D v2 monster manual yesterday. It shows ettercaps as striking first with slashing claws and then with a piercing bite. The bite can inflict a very deadly poison. If victims fail the poison save, they
die within 1D4 turns. I assume antidotes will counteract the poison but a snared victim can't access an antidote. So if you suddenly find yourself surrounded by Ettercaps while traveling, it can be, and was for me, a very dire situation.

Also according to that monster manual, ettercaps have no resistence to magic. So I must have just had bad luck with my spells or used the wrong spells. Ettercaps are creatures and thus not vulnerable to humanoid spells. Also according to the manual, they have 5 hit dice. I think that may negate certain lower level spells.

On my next encounter, sounds like I should try to keep my distance and use a tank to absorb their attacks while hitting the ettercaps with magic and missiles. And hope the tank doesn't get snared in a trap.

ThacoBell

Baldur's Gate is only BASED on 2ed. It WILL devitate from it often.

Grond0

Jagger2010 said:

Also according to that monster manual, ettercaps have no resistence to magic. So I must have just had bad luck with my spells or used the wrong spells. Ettercaps are creatures and thus not vulnerable to humanoid spells. Also according to the manual, they have 5 hit dice. I think that may negate certain lower level spells.

As @ThacoBell says you can't rely on things being the same in BG as the original 2nd edition rules. Ettercaps don't have any general magic resistance, but carry an amulet that makes them immune to web. They are level 5, but their spell saving throw of 5 is better than you would expect for something of that level and means they will often save against your spells.

lunar

In an ettercamp ambush, I disable party ai, stay my ground and let the enemies come to me. The point is, by not moving your characters an inch you won't activate the web trap. Thus, if Khalid and Jaheira are on the front lines they can wait for the ettercaps and engage them as they come, while others use ranged weapons and spells. Always keep an antidote potion on everyone in case of ettercap poison. If in the mean time a thief can detect and disarm the trap, all the better. Use direct damage spells like magic missile, their saves are very good so avoid using save or else stuff like blindness, spook, glitterdust, horror etc.