How to kill Firebead Elvenhair at the beginning of the game?

Lapa

Hello folks!

I would like to know how you guys do that? With fighter, thief and mage. I find him pretty tough on level 1...

AHF

It is easy with an assassin or blackguard due to the poison weapon ability. You can cheese with other classes by running out the door as his spells fire up.

If you are talking about a straight and legit fight for non-poisoning classes, you should find him hard at level 1 since he has enough HP to survive multiple attacks and is casting spells with very short start-up times meaning that it is difficult to interrupt them.

Even a single magic missile does 10-25 damage which wipes out a lot of characters in a single shot without a saving throw. The fact that he casts the horror spells first at least gives you a fighting chance.

IceColdMenthol

I killed him with a half-orc barbarian using rage and a two handed weapon, was very easy fight but one more magic missile and I would have died

wissenschaft

In one of the drawers up stairs you can find a potion of clarity. Either unlock it with a thief or bash it open with high strength (I'm not sure its possible with STR 18 but it should be since I unlocked it with a mere 25% in lockpicking).

Anyway, the potion of clarity will protect you from the fear spells that Firebead casts.

He is easiest and fastest to kill with an Assassin. Backstab him and get a good damage roll and you'll take half or more of his health. With the poison ability, if he fails his save throw then the extra poison ticks will interrupt his spell casting which can prevent him from ever casting a spell if your lucky.

I managed to kill him with my assassin without using the clarity potion and without him ever even getting a spell off.

Right at level 1, Assassins are mage killers. LOL

Merengue

Same as above [Half-orc Barbarian], but he just crumpled for me. 15 damage, 18 damage in the first round. Panicked by Horror but immune. 16 damage. Dead. I also tried it dual wielding, but kept missing so he died in the second round instead. He popped two Horrors off that time.

It's completely trivial with additional party members.

Edit: Took too long. Anyway, 23 strength is nuts. Damage range is 15-18 while raging while I'm dual-wielding hammers.
Edit x2: In case you're wondering, I just like hammers in spite of their poorer damage than other dual-wielding options.

FrozenCells

Definitely poison weapon (Assassin/Blackguard).