Were the random ambushes always this tough?
Rapscallion
Member Posts: 81
Seriously getting torn apart by the random encounters between destinations, I've learned to quicksave before leaving every map. My level 1 party has so far had to contend with encounters with 8 to 10 bandits (ouchtime, so many arrows) and another with 2 Wyverns.
Wyverns are hardcore killers to a level 1 party, if they don't oneshot your characters, the poison gets them. The first time I got the bandit encounter, 4 of my characters were instantly chunked by the first volley of arrows
Wyverns are hardcore killers to a level 1 party, if they don't oneshot your characters, the poison gets them. The first time I got the bandit encounter, 4 of my characters were instantly chunked by the first volley of arrows
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Never saw wyverns though until the party had at least entered the first Cloakwood map.
Also, no, these random battles do seem noticeably harder.
RUN AWAY is a generally sound tactic.
I usually try to flee from the encounters where I'm surrounded, especially at levels 1-3 or so. I look for the widest opening in the enemy ranks, hopefully along the path or road to the north or south, and attempt to run the whole party straight to the map exit. I luckily haven't hit the one with the bandits - a single hit from one of those arrows is going to kill somebody, and if one of them targets your main character, it's game over. Your best chance is still to make a run for it - if they get low dice rolls on their first volley, you may be able to exit the map before round 2.
EDIT: Oh, just FYI, the Wyverns I encountered were an ambush on the way to the Bandit Camp from Peldvale I believe.
The spell isn't really overpowered, because a beginning mage can only cast it once or twice, and it may or may not get all the enemies, plus it only works against up to 4 hit dice. The Sleep spell is what makes it worth it to carry a low-level mage in a party - the mage is next to useless in encounter after encounter, but then, you get to that one emergency encounter where the party is overmatched, and then the mage casts Sleep and saves the day. I love that about being a mage.
But on the other hand I already had two ambushes by ... noone. My journey was interrupted by random encounters with no agressors appearing at all.
As mentioned already, sleep is amazing is BG1. Use it.