Jai'llat

FredN

In the Ust Natha section of SoA, has anyone invaded House Jai'llat and acually managed to defeat them? My crew went in well-buffed and got swarmed by a boatload of fighter and priest types. It wasn't pretty. Deirex was such a wimp I figured it would be a cakewalk, but no such luck. Jarlaxl might have given us a heads up, but noooo. Probably thought it would be an amusing joke; that boy is warped. Mind you, I could say that about pretty much all of the residents of Ust Natha.

jmerry

Easily. I kill them off every time.

The three named members of the family are two clerics and a level 18 fighter. The guards are all level 12 fighters. And the named fighter Ist'tar is so badly misbuilt that his actual effective THAC0 isn't any better than the generic guards - he's dual-wielding with no proficiency in the style.

So really, you're up against two clerics (not at the same time) and a bunch of mid-level fighters in drow gear. As long as you're not overly dependent on hitting your enemies with magic (because drow resistance), you should be fine. Buff your team and smash.

FredN

Hmm, it looked to me like there were more than that, but I could have been mistaken. I'll go back and try again; I'll pay closer attention. And yes. spells sort of bounced off them. OK, melee it is.

FredN

Well, in addition to the named enemies, there were a slew of guards; I counted 12 of them. We did win in the end, though Dorn was killed and everyone else was pretty severely pummeled. Not all that much loot either, except for Drow gear, which I consider crap since it will crumble when we get out of the Underdark. Still, any fight you can walk away from counts as a win.

FredN

Looks like I spoke a bit too soon. As we were looting the place, another half dozen yahoos appeared. With most of our buffs worn off and our summoned critters dead except for one skeletal warrior, this was a closer fight than you would ordinarily think. Still, we prevailed, and finally got some decent loot. Cash, a bunch of gems and Water's Edge. Not that we needed another +3 weapon, but we can always sell it.

Humanoid_Taifun

I think Invisibility, 10' Radius is an underrated spell for entering caves or buildings where you expect trouble.
It lets your party strike first—often taking out dangerous enemy spellcasters before they can react—and lets you position weaker party members so your front-line doesn't have to break formation to rescue them once the fighting starts.
If the enemy AI doesn't immediately respond with a Divination spell, you can even use the opportunity to scout ahead and get a sense of what kind of fight you're walking into.

FredN

Indeed, I have used that spell on occasion, but often I simply forget to cast it. I shall endeavor to use it more frequently in the future. Thanks for the reminder.

FredN

Ugh. I see what happened. I am running two simultaneous campaigns, one in SoA and one in ToB. My crew in SoA didn't actually know 10 ' invisibility! Bah! So we scoured the merchants in Ust Natha, and found one scroll with that spell on it. So now, at least, we have this spell in out tactical repertoire.

jmerry

There's also the higher-level version "Mass Invisibility". Much shorter duration, but it's improved invisibility for the whole party so it still helps defenses even after everyone reveals themselves.