Killing the Ghost knights

Ridcully

Have read that to kill the Ghost Knights you need Dorn and the dagger of Venom. How come? What are the stats required ?

Chronicler

The Dagger of Venom, in the original version of the game, did not technically deal poison damage. It dealt a kind of damage completely unique to it, which meant that many units that were supposed to be unkillable had no resistance to it, since it wasn't in any of the damage types the developers would check for.

From what I understand in the Enhanced Editions this bug has been fixed. It just deals poison damage now, like it says in the description. This also means that it can no longer be used to kill the unkillable.

Grond0

They have 100% immunity to all forms of damage except poison, but that still works. They also have 100% magic resistance and saving throws of 1, so are not easy to poison. However, I have killed them with a party of druids just for kicks (reducing magic resistance, then dooming them to give poison spells a small chance of success).

The advantage of using Dorn is that he can use blackguard poison to do damage without a saving throw (assassins also work for this). They have AC of something like -20 though, so hitting them is not easy either - but you could poison exploding arrows if you're desperate as they don't require a to hit roll.

Chronicler

Interesting. You'd think ghosts would be like Super Immune to poison. Even the regular ones.

jmerry

The ghost knights, for whatever reason, don't have a standard undead immunity item. They just have the "GHOST" item instead, which provides the visual effects and immunity to magic damage.

The ghost you're meant to fight, in Durlag's Tower, has both a standard undead immunity item and "GHOST".

SirBatince

Chronicler wrote: »

The Dagger of Venom, in the original version of the game, did not technically deal poison damage. It dealt a kind of damage completely unique to it, which meant that many units that were supposed to be unkillable had no resistance to it, since it wasn't in any of the damage types the developers would check for.

From what I understand in the Enhanced Editions this bug has been fixed. It just deals poison damage now, like it says in the description. This also means that it can no longer be used to kill the unkillable.

No, it was always poison damage. ghost dudes never had any resistance to it, but they always had the saves to protect them from other conventional poison attacks.

The trick with Poison Weapon is that it used to bypass saves.

AvidGamerFan

Grond0 wrote: »

They have 100% immunity to all forms of damage except poison, but that still works. They also have 100% magic resistance and saving throws of 1, so are not easy to poison. However, I have killed them with a party of druids just for kicks (reducing magic resistance, then dooming them to give poison spells a small chance of success).

With enough patience, you can do it as a solo druid, since ghost knights do not regenerate when you rest in the Firewine Ruins. An avenger would be best, since they can cast Improved Invisibility before they rest, but a druid with enough 5th level spells to cast Pixie Dust as well as Magic Resistance could do it.



Even with Magic Resistance and Doom, I've never had a ghost knight succumb to the poison of a dagger of venom or a sword spider shape change (which has a save) or baby wyvern shape change (which doesn't).

jmerry

Incidentally, Ulcaster is another ghost that can be killed with poison. -20 AC, 100 HP, immune to all forms of damage except poison, 100% magic resistance. He's a little easier to get at since his saves are that of a 3rd level warrior (13 death, 16 spell).

Killing him will tank your reputation (innocent), earn you 175 XP, and get you a robe of the neutral archmagi.

For non-solo runs, how about Polymorph Other? There's a wand for it, and if it hits it should take down nearly all the defenses - poor AC, no resistances except magic damage, and 5 max HP. You would still need to lower their magic resistance and weaken their saves first, of course.