low-level party vs Ihtafeer with SCS

borntodie

So I finally installed SCS. I picked a more `lightweight´ set of options. It has been a blast! And now I feel a need to share my most epic moment so far..

Normally the Trademeet quests are one of the first things I do. Of course Ihtafeer the Rakshasha handed me my ass this time. But I found a way to beat him with my low level party (10 and lower).

- buy staff of striking from the temple of Lathander
- Cast invisibility on my Fighter/Thief.
- Enter the building with only him (for some reason it's allowed here).
- Drink potion of some flavour of giant strength
- Stabbity (4xdamage at this level, 73 total)
- Immediately charge in with the rest of the (buffed & hasted) group, before he can activate his magical defenses. Minsc chunked him with Lilarcor. It was a thing of beauty.
- Pick up the head and gtfo.

Pretty straightforward, but I couldn't find this solution online. Felt good.

One question though: how can I uninstall one specific component, without touching the rest? I installed the nerf to +1 arrows and weapons, but regret it now.

Reticent

I had an Item Randomizer install recently that equipped Ihtafeer with a +4 shield. Rough fight for something you can attempt nearly straight out of the opening dungeon- Jaheira was my best fighter in the party at that moment, and even she needed 20s to hit him.

I think the only thing that keeps that fight from getting discussed as one of the tougher ones is the fact that you can enter or exit the cottage as you please, and they can't.

Maurvir

That fight would actually be easier if they would leave the cottage.

Reticent

Yeah, I suppose I really should have said that the key issue is that you aren't locked into that enclosed area with them.

VanDerBerg

A cool solution, similar to the ones I used in a fight or two of my recently finished first SCS run (If I activate sunray 1.34 seconds after Shangalar speaks in Twisted Rune, I will insta kill him when he transports). There is lots of appeal in chunking them into minced meat like that, but I feel like it is sort of...cheating. Beating an encounter without giving the enemy a fighting chance. It doesn't really matter whether you are playing story mode or SCS on insane if you don't give the enemies a chance to actually use the improved AI.

Though, if you do, that encounter is insanely hard. I think it might be one of the two (the other one being the Twisted Rune) which I finished just like you did. Except I used summons instead of backstabbing

jmerry

The solution I've gone with in my runs... have Cernd tank them in greater werewolf form (requires 750K XP for druid level 13). Between magic resistance, elemental resistance, fantastic AC, and rapid regeneration, he can just stay in there missing attacks while they exhaust their spellbooks.

borntodie

VanDerBerg wrote: »

There is lots of appeal in chunking them into minced meat like that, but I feel like it is sort of...cheating. Beating an encounter without giving the enemy a fighting chance. It doesn't really matter whether you are playing story mode or SCS on insane if you don't give the enemies a chance to actually use the improved AI.

Actually, to me it felt like the intended 'solution to the puzzle'. Note that a shadow thief in Trademeet (Itona) informs you about the real identity of "Adratha". So you're not just attacking a random innocent here. And the game explicitly prevents this method in many other cases: either by making monsters immune to backstabs, or by allowing them to detect you. Gathering info on your enemies and then sneaking up on them is how thieves are supposed to function in my opinion, not an exploit.

How did you defeat them with summons?

VanDerBerg

I summoned an aerial servant and two fire elementals, then initiated a dialogue. Then attacked her immediately after she turned hostile. Aerial servant starts invisible, so it is certain to hit hard the first time. So, between those 3 and my 3 melee fighters, they killed her in the first 4 seconds or so, before she was able to put her defence on. It was quite cheesy.

I am not disputing it is a legit and good way to do it. It is just nice to offer them a fighting chance. But for this encounter, unless you have a good tank that can absorb their melee damage and cloudkills and stuff, it seems to be - either you don't give them a fighting chance, or they don't give you a fighting chance. At least at lower levels.

DavidW

borntodie wrote: »

One question though: how can I uninstall one specific component, without touching the rest? I installed the nerf to +1 arrows and weapons, but regret it now.

You can do it, but the remaining components will uninstall and reinstall, which will take a bit of time. Also it's probably best not to do it when you're in the middle of clearing a map, because it can create mismatches between creatures' scripts and their memorized spells.

borntodie

DavidW, aren't you the creator of SCS?

I'd like to thank you for creating such a high quality mod. It really improved the game for me and I'm having a blast.

DavidW

You're welcome!