I have thought a new way of fighting against the Barghest and whilst it should work, I'm not sure whether it will.
Before the battle leave Dorn near where you recruited him.
After the battle starts recruit him using an NPC who can sneak past the gate.
Recruit Dorn and buff him up with freedom of action, invulnerability, and a potion of heroism.
Get him to attack the Barghest and then eject him from the party, replacing him with another NPC.
I assume that his battle aginst the Barghest will continue. It certainly should as his god wants him to fight the Barghest, but will it?
I would then cast web and fireball spells from a position where the mage cannot be seen. The web should certainly give Dorn an advantage. Fight the battle at the gate hoping that by the time the party reaches the Barghast the enemy in that area will be significantly weakened due to the efforts of Dorn and the fireball spells.
If Dorn is killed it's no problem as he's evil and needs to die.
However, if he survives what then? Would it be possible to recruit him again?
I would appreciate answers to both questions, but if you can only answer one of them, that's OK.
You would need to charm Dorn if you wanted him to fight even after he left the party... I think if you hit him with Algernon's Cloak while he was walking to Charname, you could avoid the "rejoin party" conversation. But that would give him a green circle and the other enemies would also attack him, so he might not make much progress. Still, he would amount to an extra party member during the fight, albeit one you can't control if he's not within your visual range.
You would need to charm Dorn if you wanted him to fight even after he left the party... I think if you hit him with Algernon's Cloak while he was walking to Charname, you could avoid the "rejoin party" conversation. But that would give him a green circle and the other enemies would also attack him, so he might not make much progress. Still, he would amount to an extra party member during the fight, albeit one you can't control if he's not within your visual range.
That is basically what I was wanting. It would be unfair to have an ally that the enemy couldn't attack. I was just wanting him to behave as he would according to what he says. i.e. I wanted him to behave in character and try to kill the Barghest as his sponsor wants him to.
So, I have lost my fear of (although not my respect for) SCS, after months of believing it's way above my league. Of course, using it for the first time, I didn't try no-reload because I want to see how thing work properly, but I think I can safely say my next no-reload attempt will include SCS.
I had initially started with Tactical difficulty and had one reload caused by a random ogre mage while my party was still level 4 and therefore susceptible to Sleep. After doing the main quests and all the small maps except for Gullykin/Firewine, I went to Durlag's Tower after leaving the Candlekeep catacombs. Right before the chessboard I decided to turn up the difficulty to Insane (no difficulty-based damage increase) to see how it is with full implementation of smarter enemies and all that.
My second reload due to charname death was there, on the chessboard. I decided to continue on Insane difficulty and survived the demon knight, but lost two NPCs, so I did the fight again after applying Tresset's tweak to avoid chunking.
Then I successfully won the Soultaker ambush and the fight against Aec'Letec, although I later decided to repeat the fight in the basement too, because my only mage was turned into a ghast (I had mistakenly assumed that Protection from Petrification helps against Death Gaze just like Potion of Mirrored Eyes, so I thought she was just Held and didn't notice the white Dying symbol). I had initially planned to reload on charname death only, but at this late stage of the game it would significantly alter my first-time experience of full SCS if I had to recruit Xan into a party with main character at XP cap and the others not far from it. So I accepted another reload (second time went well, shooting arrows of dispelling found in Durlag's at affected people) to have the chance of a fair experience of the Ducal Palace and the final fight against Sarevok.
So, in the end, what I want to say, this is a cool experience and nice to see it's difficult, but not impossible. I used to think that SCS is just something for seasoned and possibly slightly masochistic veteran players who know every little detail about the game and its code. It's not.
So thanks to all those of you who have encouraged me to try. It's a great experience, and also satisfying to see that it can be done even if I can still count my BG:EE playthroughs on the fingers of one hand. I used to think that who says "SCS plays fair" just likes extremely hard challenges and doesn't even remember how it used to be when you don't know everything, but it's true.
Been following certain people with SCS in BG2:EE though, I'm sure there will be Hell to pay later .
But I plan to take this all the way into ToB (with Ascension) to see the full scale of it and only then get back to try no-reload again.
Since this thread is considered the "lounge" I hope it was okay to share this here without asking a specific question or looking for help. I saw it more like sitting down at the campfire to say "you know, I went on an adventure as you folks suggested, and here's how it goes, it's great!"
That's marvelous, @Arvia! There are all kinds of ways to play BG, and SCS can be very rewarding given its complexity. Beware those SCS mages; Hard and Insane mode will enable pre-buffs and those will get very scary in BG2. ❤
I've been toying with the idea of an unmodded run recently, since my herniated disk imposes certain limits on what I can do physically these days. Basically I wanted a less-demanding run that wouldn't require precise mouse clicks or many pauses or much inventory management, which might be a party run with NPC's and a Shadowdancer or Shadowdancer/Mage Charname. I might even break out some old exploits, too.
In many ways my glory days are past me. I'm burned out on LoB mode and similar challenges, certain runs seem too high-maintenance to me, RL stuff has been occupying my attention, and my disability means certain playstyles would be physically painful. I think I'm going to take it easier from now on.
I wish I could say I'd lost my fear of SCS, lol. Everytime I feel like I have, it comes back to bite me in the rear end. Example: Faldorn in BG2. Jeepers, she can be unbeatable (at least for me) without cheating (handing cernd potions and items while he's in the ring).
And so it's at this juncture I must swallow my pride and ask for help: does anyone have tips on fighting the four warders (Love, Pride, Avarice, Fear) in that first basement level of Durlag's Tower? They have been messing me up since I started SCS - and this is without using the improved Durlag's Tower component. I can handle them on improved difficulty, ok, but just turning it up to tactical gives me fits. I feel like it's a 50-50 proposition (or less) for me, which isn't great in a no reload run.
Basics of the Warders, without SCS improvements ...
Avarice, Fear and Pride are all hasted, with immunity to fear and normal weapons.
Avarice will go invisible every two rounds, along with unleashing a Cloudkill when it first sees you.
Fear has a paralyzing gaze attack. And doesn't use it.
Love starts by buffing with a Minor Globe, then alternates between Dire Charm on the protagonist and Skull Trap on the nearest enemy.
Pride just beats down buffed with DUHM.
What the "Improved Durlag's Tower" component does to them ...
All of them have full construct immunities and normal weapon immunity. They also get more hit points, making them considerably tougher - particularly Love and Pride.
Avarice gets the Thief class (Level 8, 3x backstabs) and uses Cloudkill once every ten rounds - if the cloud has expired, it can be recast. It also upgrades to Improved Invisibility, so it's slippery after making an attack to reveal itself. The invisibility timer is difficulty-dependent; never at Basic, once at Improved and Tactical, once every two rounds at Hardcore and above.
Fear just gets the general AI improvements. But since that includes using its paralyzing gaze, that's a big deal.
Love adds Physical Mirror to its buffing, and trades out Skull Trap for Slow. Also, it gets smarter about targeting those spells. At above Tactical difficulty, it can renew its buffs every few rounds.
Pride becomes a fighter/cleric (12/12) for some actual caster level, and buffs with four spells: Champion's Strength, Righteous Magic, Holy Power, Draw Upon Holy Might. At above Tactical, it repeats these spells every few rounds. At below Tactical, it doesn't buff at all.
Without that component, it's just the general AI changes that apply - and it's Fear that gains the most. Three attacks per round, auto-hit to paralyze for three rounds on a failed spell save. There are a few ways to protect yourself:
- Improve your spell saves to unbeatable levels. This is likely to require rare resources like potions of magic shielding.
- Apply Free Action, either through spell, potion, or equipped item.
- Drink a potion of mirrored eyes.
- Have somebody get in Fear's face so it switches to melee attacks. Those can do decent damage, but they don't carry any special effects.
It is one of the more difficult fights in the game with SCS so treat it like it is and use those expendables. In a no reload party, use multiple traps on the upper left and right side ones (Fear, Avarice, Pride) and place 3-4 skeletons on the other right side to fight the other 1-2. I don't bother trapping Love. Put spell casters back by the left side door and focus 1-2 tanks on Love. I lead with a backstab on Pride and then kite him a bit or my thief stalks about waiting for Avarice to appear or Love to become vulnerable.
Usually my skeletons and traps and maybe a cloudkill/web combo on the right side from my own wizard takes care of Fear. I've never really had him become a problem and he usually falls early and then my remaining skeletons switch to Love or Avarice. Pride is kited until Love is down, maybe with a few backstabs and Wand of the Heavens blasts. I often find Avarice as the last warder standing, but by himself he is not so hard.
I find the key with this fight is to buff up everyone, trap and spell up the right side of the sarcophagus exit to take out or busy the weaker 2, use lots of skeleton warriors as shock troops and decoys, and focus your heavy hitter tank on Love to keep him busy, then switching to Pride. Wands and magic damage can be used liberally by your reserve spell flingers. Your thief plays hit and run and can take out the damaged ones.
If solo and no reload, traps and backstabbing are very helpful if you have those in your repertoire. A cleric-thief should do well with traps, backstabbing, and an army of skeletons. Summons will be helpful for spell using classes.
Hey everyone! Would it be possible to successfully cast Imprisonment against the Five and Jon in the final ToB fight? (Ascension SCS) I mean, if I burn through their protections - do they have a min1HP item?
@OrlonKronsteen about your Faldorn fight: I agree the fight is a coin-flip but try doing the following: challenge her with Cernd or another shapeshifter, cast Insect Plague, turn in the Greater Wolf - she'll summon 2 bears and cast Creeping Doom. Your Insect Plague stays in effect longer (6 rounds against Creeping Doom's 3 rounds) so you should come back to the fight earlier than she, attack her in the Greater Wolf form - your APR and damage should be enough to kill her. The regeneration from the wolf should hopefully heal the harm those bears inflicted. But if you enter the fight prebuffed with Ironskins it's even easier.
@JuliusBorisov I have never had luck with the greater werewolf - the bears always end up tearing Cerned apart (even with iron skins precast before the battle), and that's if I'm lucky enough to not get hit by a casting of Nature's Beauty first, which is a fight-ender. But maybe I've had bad luck. On the other hand, if I can wait until 1.5 million exp points and come in at 14th level with Cernd, then he can start with Nature's Beauty and almost always wins the fight. The problem with all this, of course, is you have to wait until 13th or 14th level, which can be a pain for a chapter 2 quest. The only ways I've found of winning that fight early are: 1) taking the evil route and poisoning the grove, or, 2) having Cernd do the fight without actually being in the party. It's a scripted battle and so far I've never seen him lose.
Edit: I should probably have mentioned for clarity that I don't use the SCS improved shapeshifting component, which may be part of the problem.
The Five in the Ascension final fight can be imprisoned - their min-HP items don't prevent that.
Unfortunately, they can counter that. Amelyssan can cast Freedom once every five rounds, uninterruptibly. Sendai also has a Freedom scroll she can use.
In the earlier fight against Irenicus and others when you enter the Throne, Irenicus is immune to imprisonment.
I suppose that a factor is that because of the abundance of other swords, I don't notice when a great, long or bastard sword breaks. Whereas you can't even buy them in Beregost/Nashkel. Plus the fact that you can't get magical scimitars early in the game without a thief.
Having said that, I've just thought of a way to get the one in Durlag's early on using Jaheira's Potion plus a potion of mirrored eyes.
@Wise_Grimwald I'm pretty sure that the Wakizashi and Ninjato that you can buy in Candlekeep are unbreakable. You can also get a +1 wakizashi early during Dorn's ambush cutscene outside of the Nashkel mines.
@Wise_Grimwald I'm pretty sure that the Wakizashi and Ninjato that you can buy in Candlekeep are unbreakable. You can also get a +1 wakizashi early during Dorn's ambush cutscene outside of the Nashkel mines.
I've just looked at the stats for the Wakizashi in Candlekeep. It is a better sword than the scimitar and is cheaper! Weird. I'll check it out re breakability.
@Wise_Grimwald I'm pretty sure that the Wakizashi and Ninjato that you can buy in Candlekeep are unbreakable. You can also get a +1 wakizashi early during Dorn's ambush cutscene outside of the Nashkel mines.
I've just looked at the stats for the Wakizashi in Candlekeep. It is a better sword than the scimitar and is cheaper! Weird. I'll check it out re breakability.
I've used it for years - it is unbreakable. It doesn't help druids (as it's not technically a scimitar), but for other classes with that proficiency it's a good starting weapon.
I compiled a list recently for another thread ... here are the unbreakable nonmagical weapons in BGEE that a player can use.
1. Wooden weapons. Club, Quarterstaff. No iron to break.
2. Exotic weapons. Katana, Ninja-to, Wakizashi. Presumably, these were made elsewhere and imported.
3. Ranged weapons. Bow and arrow, crossbow and bolt, sling and bullet, dart, throwing dagger, throwing axe. All of these are ranged-only and use ammo ... except the axes. And throwing axes are unbreakable when used in melee.
4. Quality weapons, made by Taerom after the Nashkel mines.
I usually console-in a scimitar+1 after killing the ogre-mage with the nereid.
And not Twinkle or Icingdeath?
Well, I find it kinda unfair that scimitars don't have a +1 option before that one weapon dropped by the sewers' ogre-mage in the BG city, AFTER you have access to Rashad's Talon +2 from the Cloakwood area. There are lots of +1 weapons in the countryside areas of BG1, but not scimitars. So I find it absolutely fair to add one for that ogre-mage encounter. It doesn't feel any OP, really.
I usually console-in a scimitar+1 after killing the ogre-mage with the nereid.
You could edit the ogre-mage in EE Keeper to have a +1 scimitar, then you only have to do it once. That might affect other ogre-mages too but that might not be a bad thing either.
I was pleased that EE helped with the shortage of good halberds, just a pity that they didn't do the same for scimitars. It could easily have been done by replacing a couple of +1 longswords with +1 scimitars, Neville for instance. Perhaps I'll do that with keeper in my set-up, even changing one would improve things. I wouldn't want to make them common as that would alter the balance of the game.
Equipping one of the druids with a +1 scimitar would be an alternative. I like the idea of strengthening an opponent for an appropriate reward.
@Wise_Grimwald I'm pretty sure that the Wakizashi and Ninjato that you can buy in Candlekeep are unbreakable. You can also get a +1 wakizashi early during Dorn's ambush cutscene outside of the Nashkel mines.
You're right. I've checked it out in my current game.
You could edit the ogre-mage in EE Keeper to have a +1 scimitar, then you only have to do it once. That might affect other ogre-mages too but that might not be a bad thing either.
That particular ogre mage (Droth, DROTH.CRE) is unique and named, so replacing his weapon wouldn't affect anything else. BGEE gives him a nonmagical katana normally.
If you go replacing weapons that creatures use, do make sure to update their proficiencies as well, if need be.
Another option for bringing in a +1 scimitar? Sendai. One of my mods replaces her +1 long sword with one.
I've been reading a bit, and while the Ascension readme mentions Melissan is immune to stun effects, this post here says the Smite HLA can work on her.
A post here says she's not immune to Hold (which is obviously not Stun).
So what is the correct approach here: will Smite or Bigby's Clenched Fist work on her (Ascension + SCS)?
Those posts are incorrect. Neither Smite nor Bigby's Clenched Fist will have any special effect on her. All you'll get is the damage for the spell and the automatic critical hits for the warrior ability.
Stats for SCS/Ascension Melissan:
Base creature and effects:
Level 30/30 CE cleric/mage, 518 HP. Immune to poison, 50% resistant to elemental and magic damage, 75% resistant to physical damage, 70% magic resistance. AC -10 base, -14 with Dex. Saves 2/3/4/4/0 (2 death, 0 spell).
Double movement speed +4, poison immunity, 50% magic damage resistance, see invisible, +2 attack speed, +6 casting speed.
Immunity items:
Always: Requires +4 or better weapons to hit. Immune to stun, sleep, polymorph and associated spells, instant death, web, entangle, disease, charm/domination, fear, hold/paralysis, level drain, confusion, time stop, feeblemind, petrification, imprisonment, maze, teleport field, wing buffet, disintegration, level 1 and 2 spells, berserk, intelligence drain. Minimum hit points 1.
Balthazar or Gromnir active: +100 max HP, immune to backstabs, +15% physical resistance (total 90%). The item is in the head slot, which no longer grants automatic crit protection.
Sendai active: +100 max HP, +25% magic resistance (total 95%), immune to level 3 and level 4 spells, +4 save vs spell (save on -4).
Abazigal active: +100 max HP, +45% electric resistance (total 95%), immune to +3 and +4 weapons.
Illasera active: +100 max HP, +45% magic damage resistance (total 95%).
Yaga-Shura active: +100 max HP, +45% fire resistance (total 95%), +2 save vs death (save on 0).
Weapons:
4 APR melee spear, THAC0 -15, hits as +5, 1d8+12 slashing +2d10 cold, destroys illusions, destroys undead on a failed death save, penalizes saves by 1 for two rounds (dispellable, not subject to MR), 15% chance to stun for three rounds on a failed polymorph save at -4 (dispellable, subject to MR).
5 APR ranged darts, THAC0 -14, hits as +4, 1d4+4 missile +1d6 cold, +1/sec poison damage (disease, dispellable, subject to MR) for 30 seconds, stun for five rounds on a failed spell save at -2 (dispellable, subject to MR)
These attack stats include her strength of 19 and dexterity of 20.
And I'm not even touching on all the nasty spells she gets.
I believe (not 100% sure here, just from memory) that Melissan's stun immunity is a relatively new feature in Ascension and wasn't present in some older versions, which is why there are older posts recommending smite and the like. For sure, vanilla Amelyssan can be stunned (smite or wand of paralyzation charges are common strategies against her).
Comments
Before the battle leave Dorn near where you recruited him.
After the battle starts recruit him using an NPC who can sneak past the gate.
Recruit Dorn and buff him up with freedom of action, invulnerability, and a potion of heroism.
Get him to attack the Barghest and then eject him from the party, replacing him with another NPC.
I assume that his battle aginst the Barghest will continue. It certainly should as his god wants him to fight the Barghest, but will it?
I would then cast web and fireball spells from a position where the mage cannot be seen. The web should certainly give Dorn an advantage. Fight the battle at the gate hoping that by the time the party reaches the Barghast the enemy in that area will be significantly weakened due to the efforts of Dorn and the fireball spells.
If Dorn is killed it's no problem as he's evil and needs to die.
However, if he survives what then? Would it be possible to recruit him again?
I would appreciate answers to both questions, but if you can only answer one of them, that's OK.
That is basically what I was wanting. It would be unfair to have an ally that the enemy couldn't attack. I was just wanting him to behave as he would according to what he says. i.e. I wanted him to behave in character and try to kill the Barghest as his sponsor wants him to.
I had initially started with Tactical difficulty and had one reload caused by a random ogre mage while my party was still level 4 and therefore susceptible to Sleep. After doing the main quests and all the small maps except for Gullykin/Firewine, I went to Durlag's Tower after leaving the Candlekeep catacombs. Right before the chessboard I decided to turn up the difficulty to Insane (no difficulty-based damage increase) to see how it is with full implementation of smarter enemies and all that.
My second reload due to charname death was there, on the chessboard. I decided to continue on Insane difficulty and survived the demon knight, but lost two NPCs, so I did the fight again after applying Tresset's tweak to avoid chunking.
Then I successfully won the Soultaker ambush and the fight against Aec'Letec, although I later decided to repeat the fight in the basement too, because my only mage was turned into a ghast (I had mistakenly assumed that Protection from Petrification helps against Death Gaze just like Potion of Mirrored Eyes, so I thought she was just Held and didn't notice the white Dying symbol). I had initially planned to reload on charname death only, but at this late stage of the game it would significantly alter my first-time experience of full SCS if I had to recruit Xan into a party with main character at XP cap and the others not far from it. So I accepted another reload (second time went well, shooting arrows of dispelling found in Durlag's at affected people) to have the chance of a fair experience of the Ducal Palace and the final fight against Sarevok.
So, in the end, what I want to say, this is a cool experience and nice to see it's difficult, but not impossible. I used to think that SCS is just something for seasoned and possibly slightly masochistic veteran players who know every little detail about the game and its code. It's not.
So thanks to all those of you who have encouraged me to try. It's a great experience, and also satisfying to see that it can be done even if I can still count my BG:EE playthroughs on the fingers of one hand. I used to think that who says "SCS plays fair" just likes extremely hard challenges and doesn't even remember how it used to be when you don't know everything, but it's true.
Been following certain people with SCS in BG2:EE though, I'm sure there will be Hell to pay later
But I plan to take this all the way into ToB (with Ascension) to see the full scale of it and only then get back to try no-reload again.
Since this thread is considered the "lounge" I hope it was okay to share this here without asking a specific question or looking for help. I saw it more like sitting down at the campfire to say "you know, I went on an adventure as you folks suggested, and here's how it goes, it's great!"
I've been toying with the idea of an unmodded run recently, since my herniated disk imposes certain limits on what I can do physically these days. Basically I wanted a less-demanding run that wouldn't require precise mouse clicks or many pauses or much inventory management, which might be a party run with NPC's and a Shadowdancer or Shadowdancer/Mage Charname. I might even break out some old exploits, too.
In many ways my glory days are past me. I'm burned out on LoB mode and similar challenges, certain runs seem too high-maintenance to me, RL stuff has been occupying my attention, and my disability means certain playstyles would be physically painful. I think I'm going to take it easier from now on.
And so it's at this juncture I must swallow my pride and ask for help: does anyone have tips on fighting the four warders (Love, Pride, Avarice, Fear) in that first basement level of Durlag's Tower? They have been messing me up since I started SCS - and this is without using the improved Durlag's Tower component. I can handle them on improved difficulty, ok, but just turning it up to tactical gives me fits. I feel like it's a 50-50 proposition (or less) for me, which isn't great in a no reload run.
Avarice, Fear and Pride are all hasted, with immunity to fear and normal weapons.
Avarice will go invisible every two rounds, along with unleashing a Cloudkill when it first sees you.
Fear has a paralyzing gaze attack. And doesn't use it.
Love starts by buffing with a Minor Globe, then alternates between Dire Charm on the protagonist and Skull Trap on the nearest enemy.
Pride just beats down buffed with DUHM.
What the "Improved Durlag's Tower" component does to them ...
All of them have full construct immunities and normal weapon immunity. They also get more hit points, making them considerably tougher - particularly Love and Pride.
Avarice gets the Thief class (Level 8, 3x backstabs) and uses Cloudkill once every ten rounds - if the cloud has expired, it can be recast. It also upgrades to Improved Invisibility, so it's slippery after making an attack to reveal itself. The invisibility timer is difficulty-dependent; never at Basic, once at Improved and Tactical, once every two rounds at Hardcore and above.
Fear just gets the general AI improvements. But since that includes using its paralyzing gaze, that's a big deal.
Love adds Physical Mirror to its buffing, and trades out Skull Trap for Slow. Also, it gets smarter about targeting those spells. At above Tactical difficulty, it can renew its buffs every few rounds.
Pride becomes a fighter/cleric (12/12) for some actual caster level, and buffs with four spells: Champion's Strength, Righteous Magic, Holy Power, Draw Upon Holy Might. At above Tactical, it repeats these spells every few rounds. At below Tactical, it doesn't buff at all.
Without that component, it's just the general AI changes that apply - and it's Fear that gains the most. Three attacks per round, auto-hit to paralyze for three rounds on a failed spell save. There are a few ways to protect yourself:
- Improve your spell saves to unbeatable levels. This is likely to require rare resources like potions of magic shielding.
- Apply Free Action, either through spell, potion, or equipped item.
- Drink a potion of mirrored eyes.
- Have somebody get in Fear's face so it switches to melee attacks. Those can do decent damage, but they don't carry any special effects.
Usually my skeletons and traps and maybe a cloudkill/web combo on the right side from my own wizard takes care of Fear. I've never really had him become a problem and he usually falls early and then my remaining skeletons switch to Love or Avarice. Pride is kited until Love is down, maybe with a few backstabs and Wand of the Heavens blasts. I often find Avarice as the last warder standing, but by himself he is not so hard.
I find the key with this fight is to buff up everyone, trap and spell up the right side of the sarcophagus exit to take out or busy the weaker 2, use lots of skeleton warriors as shock troops and decoys, and focus your heavy hitter tank on Love to keep him busy, then switching to Pride. Wands and magic damage can be used liberally by your reserve spell flingers. Your thief plays hit and run and can take out the damaged ones.
If solo and no reload, traps and backstabbing are very helpful if you have those in your repertoire. A cleric-thief should do well with traps, backstabbing, and an army of skeletons. Summons will be helpful for spell using classes.
@OrlonKronsteen about your Faldorn fight: I agree the fight is a coin-flip but try doing the following: challenge her with Cernd or another shapeshifter, cast Insect Plague, turn in the Greater Wolf - she'll summon 2 bears and cast Creeping Doom. Your Insect Plague stays in effect longer (6 rounds against Creeping Doom's 3 rounds) so you should come back to the fight earlier than she, attack her in the Greater Wolf form - your APR and damage should be enough to kill her. The regeneration from the wolf should hopefully heal the harm those bears inflicted. But if you enter the fight prebuffed with Ironskins it's even easier.
Edit: I should probably have mentioned for clarity that I don't use the SCS improved shapeshifting component, which may be part of the problem.
Unfortunately, they can counter that. Amelyssan can cast Freedom once every five rounds, uninterruptibly. Sendai also has a Freedom scroll she can use.
In the earlier fight against Irenicus and others when you enter the Throne, Irenicus is immune to imprisonment.
1: I am using scimitars.
2: My reputation is much lower
3: I am fighting oponents with plate armour.
4: I am playing a blackguard
Is one of those a factor concerning breakages?
I suppose that a factor is that because of the abundance of other swords, I don't notice when a great, long or bastard sword breaks. Whereas you can't even buy them in Beregost/Nashkel. Plus the fact that you can't get magical scimitars early in the game without a thief.
Having said that, I've just thought of a way to get the one in Durlag's early on using Jaheira's Potion plus a potion of mirrored eyes.
I've just looked at the stats for the Wakizashi in Candlekeep. It is a better sword than the scimitar and is cheaper! Weird. I'll check it out re breakability.
I've used it for years - it is unbreakable. It doesn't help druids (as it's not technically a scimitar), but for other classes with that proficiency it's a good starting weapon.
And not Twinkle or Icingdeath?
1. Wooden weapons. Club, Quarterstaff. No iron to break.
2. Exotic weapons. Katana, Ninja-to, Wakizashi. Presumably, these were made elsewhere and imported.
3. Ranged weapons. Bow and arrow, crossbow and bolt, sling and bullet, dart, throwing dagger, throwing axe. All of these are ranged-only and use ammo ... except the axes. And throwing axes are unbreakable when used in melee.
4. Quality weapons, made by Taerom after the Nashkel mines.
Well, I find it kinda unfair that scimitars don't have a +1 option before that one weapon dropped by the sewers' ogre-mage in the BG city, AFTER you have access to Rashad's Talon +2 from the Cloakwood area. There are lots of +1 weapons in the countryside areas of BG1, but not scimitars. So I find it absolutely fair to add one for that ogre-mage encounter. It doesn't feel any OP, really.
You could edit the ogre-mage in EE Keeper to have a +1 scimitar, then you only have to do it once. That might affect other ogre-mages too but that might not be a bad thing either.
I was pleased that EE helped with the shortage of good halberds, just a pity that they didn't do the same for scimitars. It could easily have been done by replacing a couple of +1 longswords with +1 scimitars, Neville for instance. Perhaps I'll do that with keeper in my set-up, even changing one would improve things. I wouldn't want to make them common as that would alter the balance of the game.
Equipping one of the druids with a +1 scimitar would be an alternative. I like the idea of strengthening an opponent for an appropriate reward.
You're right. I've checked it out in my current game.
If you go replacing weapons that creatures use, do make sure to update their proficiencies as well, if need be.
Another option for bringing in a +1 scimitar? Sendai. One of my mods replaces her +1 long sword with one.
I have used these mods so long I thought that was vanilla and was wondering what all the hubbub was about on early scimitars))
A post here says she's not immune to Hold (which is obviously not Stun).
So what is the correct approach here: will Smite or Bigby's Clenched Fist work on her (Ascension + SCS)?
Stats for SCS/Ascension Melissan:
Base creature and effects:
Level 30/30 CE cleric/mage, 518 HP. Immune to poison, 50% resistant to elemental and magic damage, 75% resistant to physical damage, 70% magic resistance. AC -10 base, -14 with Dex. Saves 2/3/4/4/0 (2 death, 0 spell).
Double movement speed +4, poison immunity, 50% magic damage resistance, see invisible, +2 attack speed, +6 casting speed.
Immunity items:
Always: Requires +4 or better weapons to hit. Immune to stun, sleep, polymorph and associated spells, instant death, web, entangle, disease, charm/domination, fear, hold/paralysis, level drain, confusion, time stop, feeblemind, petrification, imprisonment, maze, teleport field, wing buffet, disintegration, level 1 and 2 spells, berserk, intelligence drain. Minimum hit points 1.
Balthazar or Gromnir active: +100 max HP, immune to backstabs, +15% physical resistance (total 90%). The item is in the head slot, which no longer grants automatic crit protection.
Sendai active: +100 max HP, +25% magic resistance (total 95%), immune to level 3 and level 4 spells, +4 save vs spell (save on -4).
Abazigal active: +100 max HP, +45% electric resistance (total 95%), immune to +3 and +4 weapons.
Illasera active: +100 max HP, +45% magic damage resistance (total 95%).
Yaga-Shura active: +100 max HP, +45% fire resistance (total 95%), +2 save vs death (save on 0).
Weapons:
4 APR melee spear, THAC0 -15, hits as +5, 1d8+12 slashing +2d10 cold, destroys illusions, destroys undead on a failed death save, penalizes saves by 1 for two rounds (dispellable, not subject to MR), 15% chance to stun for three rounds on a failed polymorph save at -4 (dispellable, subject to MR).
5 APR ranged darts, THAC0 -14, hits as +4, 1d4+4 missile +1d6 cold, +1/sec poison damage (disease, dispellable, subject to MR) for 30 seconds, stun for five rounds on a failed spell save at -2 (dispellable, subject to MR)
These attack stats include her strength of 19 and dexterity of 20.
And I'm not even touching on all the nasty spells she gets.