When do most folks take Rasaad on his quest?

Maurvir

For giggles, I decided to do Rasaad's quest on this run. The party had just collected the documents needed to start chapter 6, but wanted a break. Given Aura's displeasure/trauma of being shipwrecked on werewolf island, I opted to let her rest at the Helm and Cloak.

The rest of the party then headed to Nashkel, picked up Rasaad, and then wandered around a bit until his quest started. Which was when the disappointment started too.

My two paladins wiped the floor with the cultist monks. While they did get a few things in on Sirene (due to her using a two-handed sword), she and Isra were cleaning them out two at a time while the rest of the party watched with amusement.

The only time I had to bring in another party member was to de-trap the temple and drop some fire on the snow trolls. Otherwise, yeah... Isra and Sirene were even chunking a few of them.

Now, I will admit that this is a late-game party. The paladins are both 8th level, and have completed all of the ToSC content. So I'm curious when most people do this quest and at what level. I noticed that it didn't start until we were in the dock area in BG itself, which means it can't start until at least chapter 5.

jmerry

You need to reach BG city to start the quest, yes. It's rather hard to have a party that doesn't just breeze through it, if they're strong enough to reach it.

I usually save the TotSC content for after chapter 6, and do Rasaad's quest some time relatively early in chapter 5 - after the time-sensitive stuff, before the main plot. It's never been anything but easy for me.

JuliusBorisov

I usually do it as soon as get access to the BG city. The STR-enhancing belt is helpful for Yeslick (whom I usually have as a fresh companion just after Cloakwood).

Chronicler

Yeah, like the others are saying, you can't do the quest until pretty late game, and you've usually got a pretty capable and well equipped group by then. The monks don't really present any unique challenge by this point.

I feel like usually by the time I get there I'm breezing through most things though. There's a kind of smooth spot around that point in the game where pretty much all remaining encounters are beneath you unless they're specifically some end of the game stuff, like a final boss or a bonus dungeon. I don't tend to think too much of it.

Though now that you mention it, probably the one exception is Dorn's personal questline. I've only done it the once but when Dorn's nemesis summoned those demons I just couldn't do a thing against them. Literally I just killed everybody but the demons, looted everybody as fast as I could, and then treated that section of the zone as uninhabitable for the rest of the campaign.

Chronicler

I'm not 100% sure but I also get the impression this compound full of monks is just that, a compound full of monks.

Like I didn't get the impression they'd been given a bunch of special attributes to make them more challenging than a bunch of lower mid level dark moon monks should be. Which creates a kind of weird gameplay/story segregation because Rasaad's brother is going on this speech about how he's gone like mad with the power Shar has given him or whatever, but in gameplay terms the power he'd been given wasn't really much to sneeze at yet. Monks take a while to come into their own, no matter which god's backing them.

Maurvir

For one thing, there were a lot of initiates in that area. The first encounter, for instance, had the rejects helping you in battle - which, as it happened, was welcomed but totally unnecessary.

Oh, and Gamaz was a punk, not entirely dissimilar from Ramazith. I kept thinking - is this clown for real?

ThacoBell

9 times out of 10, I can't get the docks encounter to trigger. So after I get the required number of talks from Rasaad, I console teleport to the map. The earliest I've done it was after the Nashkel Mines and rescuing Dynaheir. So around level 3-4. It was still pretty easy.

jmerry

On triggering the quest, there's a two-day timer after the exposition dialogue that has to expire first. If you triggered the talk and then rushed straight to the city - well, you might be too early.

Also, day/night doesn't seem to be important for triggering that scene. What happens is that time advances to midnight when the scene starts. Apparently, the Dark Moon monks have cutscene-based time-warping powers.

ThacoBell

@jmerry "On triggering the quest, there's a two-day timer after the exposition dialogue that has to expire first. If you triggered the talk and then rushed straight to the city - well, you might be too early."

Oh trust me, it was waaaaaaaaaaaay more than 2 days between the last talk and trying to trigger. I've spent up to an in-game month to try and get that sucker to fire.

Ammar

Giving someone a strength enhancing belt that also makes them stupid on purpose must be one of the more evil acts in the game. With Yeslick it is not that much of a drop, but still. And consider it on someone like Khalid with a natural 15 int.

Chronicler

In gameplay terms, you, the player, are in complete control at all time, but I don't think we're actually supposed to believe that these characters are doing what they as anything other than an act of free will. There's nothing inherently nefarious about a character choosing to wear a cursed item of their own volition.

Also, given the sheer volume of flatout murder that's possible in the game, I feel like it's some weird school of ethics you subscribe to if making somebody stupid for a while is even in the top ten evils.

Maurvir

While technically you are correct - all of your companion NPCs are simple AIs under your nominal control - from a role playing perspective, Ammar has a point.

Also, even within the game, you are a party leader, not a mind flayer. Companion NPCs can (and do) leave or do other things against your wishes at certain times. Sure, in the end it's an illusion, but from a role playing perspective, it's supposed to remind you that the NPCs are still people rather than mere puppets.

GundanRTO

ThacoBell wrote: »

9 times out of 10, I can't get the docks encounter to trigger. So after I get the required number of talks from Rasaad, I console teleport to the map. The earliest I've done it was after the Nashkel Mines and rescuing Dynaheir. So around level 3-4. It was still pretty easy.

Do you take Rasaad straight away upon entering Nashkel?

There's a known bug that prevents Rasaad's quest from triggering if he engages Neira or NImbul before joining the party. To my knowledge, he has to join the party before assisting you against either of those assassins, and then has to go through the two exposition dialogues following his introduction.

ilduderino

GundanRTO wrote: »

ThacoBell wrote: »

9 times out of 10, I can't get the docks encounter to trigger. So after I get the required number of talks from Rasaad, I console teleport to the map. The earliest I've done it was after the Nashkel Mines and rescuing Dynaheir. So around level 3-4. It was still pretty easy.

Do you take Rasaad straight away upon entering Nashkel?

There's a known bug that prevents Rasaad's quest from triggering if he engages Neira or NImbul before joining the party. To my knowledge, he has to join the party before assisting you against either of those assassins, and then has to go through the two exposition dialogues following his introduction.

Yes you have to pick him up before completing the Nashkel Mines - even if you then drop him you should be fine. I used to get this bug all the time but haven’t done since taking this approach

Maurvir

I didn't run into that, and my party picked him up very late in the game. They had already been in Baldur's Gate for a while, and setup a base in the Cloak and Helm Inn.

However, I don't have the optional DLC purchased for BG1.

sarevok57

Maurvir wrote: »

While technically you are correct - all of your companion NPCs are simple AIs under your nominal control - from a role playing perspective, Ammar has a point.

Also, even within the game, you are a party leader, not a mind flayer. Companion NPCs can (and do) leave or do other things against your wishes at certain times. Sure, in the end it's an illusion, but from a role playing perspective, it's supposed to remind you that the NPCs are still people rather than mere puppets.

i like to think of it as; even though I AM making the commands, that is what those actual companions would do if they had the choice, so every time i have a character cast a spell, its not because I AM the one commanding it, its actually because that is what that character would actually do

if i were to make a party member equip a belt that lowered INT to increase STR, its because whatever character was wearing that belt knows that they need the STR boost most and are aware of the consequences of wearing that belt, as apposed to the fact that your word is law and no matter what happens or what companions think they must obey your every command

although, i do get a kick out of it sometimes when i get khalid to peace out jaheira or minsc to whack dynaheir and then have them say their line of sorrow when they kick the can, i get a chuckle from the huge 4th way breaking i'm doing heh

ThacoBell

I try to have characters act in character and use tactics that make sense for them.