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Getting owned by Beholders!

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  • ambrennanambrennan Member Posts: 173
    Well, the penalty for using the slayer form does suggest that using it is wrong (I.e. using it too much is considered as bad as murdering innocents)
    atcDave
  • HeindrichHeindrich Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
    ambrennan said:

    Well, the penalty for using the slayer form does suggest that using it is wrong (I.e. using it too much is considered as bad as murdering innocents)

    Oh... it causes loss of reputation? I only tried it once in a battle that was already hopelessly lost, and I think Charname died either just before transforming, or moments after. As I said, I don't intend to ever use it, unless maybe Aerie or/and Imoen dies and the rest of the party will lose the battle otherwise. That'd represent Charname giving in to the rage as he loses the people closest to him.
  • ZanathKariashiZanathKariashi Member Posts: 2,869
    I just prefer to think about it as a super-powered evil side. Normally something you'd never use, but when pushed to the wall with no other choices, deus ex machina on demand. Just don't stay in it too long or it really will kill you, (as long as you bee-line for the strongest beholders and keep your party out of sight range, you can clear the entire beholder city with a few rounds to spare. Just keep the strongest healing potions you have on hand to guzzle during the times you have control.
    elminsterSCARY_WIZARD
  • mashedtatersmashedtaters Member Posts: 2,266
    edited August 2013
    Do you have the spell glitterdust? I find that blinding beholders makes my life a lot easier.

    Of course, they often make their saves. But, you can send summons at them to give you time to lower their saves with something like malison and blind them with glitterdust.

    Meanwhile, turn into the slayer and kick some major butt. If you're worried about whether or not using the slayer is "bad," just remember

    you either sided with Bodhi or the Theives Guild to get where you are right now


    ...feeling more guilty yet?

    Your Charname should be used to compromising his morals by now.

    Give in to your evil!
  • HeindrichHeindrich Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
    lol... Charname had no choice, and he was desperate to rescue Imoen... trust me, he tried REALLY hard to avoid that path. Even agreeing to take on a very nasty cult on behalf of the temple of Helm, even though he's not religious, in the hope that the religious authorities might help. He tried to solicit the help of almost every (tasteful) power group in Amn before being forced to choose the lesser of the two evils.

    As for glitterdust... I think I should have it, but I've never ever used it, lol. Does it affect party members/summons? I've been cautious about using AoE spells ever since I first said 'Hmm... I wonder what this does' with a Wand of Lightning.
    [Deleted User]
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315

    lol... Charname had no choice, and he was desperate to rescue Imoen... trust me, he tried REALLY hard to avoid that path. Even agreeing to take on a very nasty cult on behalf of the temple of Helm, even though he's not religious, in the hope that the religious authorities might help. He tried to solicit the help of almost every (tasteful) power group in Amn before being forced to choose the lesser of the two evils.

    As for glitterdust... I think I should have it, but I've never ever used it, lol. Does it affect party members/summons? I've been cautious about using AoE spells ever since I first said 'Hmm... I wonder what this does' with a Wand of Lightning.

    No it just affects enemies.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited August 2013
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • mashedtatersmashedtaters Member Posts: 2,266
    @Heindrich1988 Come on man! AoE spells are so much fun!

    That's one of the most entertaining parts of this game, is accidentally blowing yourself up.

    At least for the slayer...
  • HeindrichHeindrich Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959

    @Heindrich1988 Come on man! AoE spells are so much fun!

    That's one of the most entertaining parts of this game, is accidentally blowing yourself up.

    At least for the slayer...

    lol yes I've had plenty of experience with that, but I tend to prefer my dear companions not accidentally blowing each other up, so I still to things that I know already, like Fireball, Web and Cloudkill, cos I am familiar enough with them to largely avoid mistakes. I've never yet tried Sunfire, Skulltrap, Ice Storm(?) and lots of other AoE attacks.

  • HeindrichHeindrich Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
    Shandyr said:

    Damn that Elder Orb!

    The Shield of Balduran does not reflect Imprisonment...
    ugh...

    And there are just SO MANY other beholders around that, that I only can let my one fighter
    with the shield go near them.

    Then imprisonment and he is gone.

    lol I went to the Underdark relatively early game, so there's only 1 Elder Orb and 1 Beholder. I was on my way to victory in my second attempt when the Elder Orb (presumably) Imprisoned Charname. No idea what the counter for that is.
  • mashedtatersmashedtaters Member Posts: 2,266
    edited August 2013
    @Heindrich1988 @Shandyr Chaotic commands is your best friend in the Underdark. It protects against maze, confusion and a ton of other spells that cannot be easily dispelled, if at all.
  • HeindrichHeindrich Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
    @mashedtaters

    I did use Chaotic Commands, I don't think it helps against Imprisonment, or death spells. I don't know what exactly killed Charname. All I know is that the party had taken down the Beholder, and Charname + Anomen were going to town on the Elder Orb, whilst everyone else pelted it with spells and stripped its magical defenses... then pop Charname died... lol
  • mashedtatersmashedtaters Member Posts: 2,266
    @Heindrich1988 Death ward is protects against instantly killing spells, such as finger of death, or disintegrate.

    Basically, going up against beholders usually requires you to buff yourself up so much with different protective spells and spell immunities that nothing can touch you. Beholders have a huge variety of attacks; even their weakest attack, straight-up damage, can be devastating for lower-level parties.

    If you don't want to do the slayer, and you can't use the shield of balduran, then your best bet is probably to buff up one or two main fighters big time, and cheese them with summons and glitterdust, and charge to your possible doom.

    Spell turning is a huge benefit against beholders, because they easily get destroyed by their own spells. If your charname is a dualed beserker, he can rage and that will make him immune to many beholder attacks as well.

    This is good, that you can't use the shield of balduran. It will make your mind think of interesting ways to combat beholders, who are some of the hardest creatures in the game.
    Heindrich
  • mashedtatersmashedtaters Member Posts: 2,266
    Don't forget that beholders can petrify. If you use spell turning, you won't have to worry about it. And haste yourself, too, even if you have boots of speed, because boots of speed do not grant an additional attack.
  • mashedtatersmashedtaters Member Posts: 2,266
    In order to protect specifically from imprisonment, you can try using a protection from magic scroll, or use spell immunity: abjuration, if you are high enough level to cast that spell.
  • karnor00karnor00 Member Posts: 680
    Imprisonment is very difficult to protect from. It ignores magic resistance and has no saving throw. As mentioned above, protection from magic scrolls or spell immunity: abjuration will work.

    Also berserk will work but only one out of barbarian and berserker variants - I forget which. Minsc's berserk will protect from it. I believe spell trap works if you are high enough to cast it, and finally slayer form protects from it.

    There is an option in the spell tweaks mod to treat imprisonment as a permanent form of maze. This means that if the player character gets imprisoned then it doesn't end the game - a freedom spell will remove it. I believe there is also an option in the SCSII mod which stops enemies from targetting the player with imprisonment.
    Heindrich
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    karnor00 said:

    Imprisonment is very difficult to protect from. It ignores magic resistance and has no saving throw. As mentioned above, protection from magic scrolls or spell immunity: abjuration will work.

    Also berserk will work but only one out of barbarian and berserker variants - I forget which. Minsc's berserk will protect from it. I believe spell trap works if you are high enough to cast it, and finally slayer form protects from it.

    Berserker gets protection, barbarian doesn't.
  • HeindrichHeindrich Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959


    This is good, that you can't use the shield of balduran. It will make your mind think of interesting ways to combat beholders, who are some of the hardest creatures in the game.

    True... but next time (my second run, hopefully with BG 2 EE), I'm definitely buying myself that shield. lol

    My Beholder experiences have left me traumatised. They even look hideous and disturbing. :D

    Also, Imprisonment sounds like a right pain in the arse. It's kinda annoying that it causes instant party wipe. In fact it's annoying that Charname cannot be resurrected like all other NPCs. It makes no sense. Poor fragile Aerie can be raised time and again after she gets snuffed by Horrid Wilting. But Charname, the son of a God, stays dead permanently each time he drops dead. If not for my omnipresent power of reload, he'd never have made it into the Friendly Arm Inn to meet Khalid and Jaheira.
  • Aasimar069Aasimar069 Member Posts: 803

    elminster said:

    What party members do you have?

    Fighter/Mage Charname, Anomen, Aerie, Jaheira, Minsc and Imoen.
    Shandyr said:

    I seem to remember that there was a certain item that could help you if you did NOT take the straight route from the Asylum to the Underdark - which route did you take?

    Oh I think I know what u mean...

    The Cloak of Mirroring? It's been crucial in keeping Aerie alive in AOE attacks, where she otherwise would have faced certain death. But I don't think it helps against death spells... She also got 'Mazed' in my first attempt vs the Beholder.


    You can also equip it on your strongest fighter and use it as a bait as you cast everything you have against these monsters. it works most of the time ;-)

    Just try to keep them as far as possible from the Beholder so that he can't target your other characters.
  • KidCarnivalKidCarnival Member Posts: 3,747


    My Beholder experiences have left me traumatised. They even look hideous and disturbing. :D

    S͝O̶ ̛SAD.͠ ̕:̕(̶

    elminsterAnduinCorvino
  • ambrennanambrennan Member Posts: 173
    The Beholders are actually not too bad, but the pulsating fleshy rooms...
    elminsterCaptRory
  • karnor00karnor00 Member Posts: 680

    In fact it's annoying that Charname cannot be resurrected like all other NPCs. It makes no sense. Poor fragile Aerie can be raised time and again after she gets snuffed by Horrid Wilting. But Charname, the son of a God, stays dead permanently each time he drops dead. If not for my omnipresent power of reload, he'd never have made it into the Friendly Arm Inn to meet Khalid and Jaheira.

    The reasoning behind this is that if Charname dies, then his Bhaalspawn essence is returned to the pool. So even if he did get raised then he would no longer be a Bhaalspawn and most of the rest of the adventure wouldn't happen. e.g. Irenicus wouldn't capture you and you would never get to the ToB.

    And yes, we know it's inconsistent that Imoen can get raised but still remain a Bhaalspawn..

  • CaptRoryCaptRory Member Posts: 1,660
    *Shrugs* Dealing with weird divine magic on a massive scale, you're gonna get glitches somewhere.
  • ShrimpShrimp Member Posts: 142
    If I remember correctly, most, if not all of the Beholders' beams are affected by Magic Resistance. Get to ~100 using potions or items, and you can tank anything from them (except that Imprisonment from the Elder Orb, sadly).

    The worst one is probably still the one called "brood mother" or something that you fight in WK's last floor. And not only because of all her "friends" down there... even on her own, she's quite formidable, bombarding you with ranged Harm spells (that may or may not be affected by other beholder beam-affecting things, it's been a while since I last fought her).
  • AnduinAnduin Member Posts: 5,745
    @Heindrich1988 Sorry. Slightly perturbed by your post...

    Are you in fact owned by @KidCarnival ?
  • KidCarnivalKidCarnival Member Posts: 3,747
    @Anduin: You mean I have a new familiar and didn't know?
  • AnduinAnduin Member Posts: 5,745
    It appears so Eye of Hiro aka @KidCarnival .

    As we all know. All beholders that we actually see are versions of yourself travelling from either the distant past or from the distant future to the present... You never explained why you can't just travel back in time 5 minutes but what the hey... We don't want even more of you.

    Well I do... *Mummie tries to hug beholder, arm falls off in the process, Beholder jumps back in time in panic due to invasion of space issues... Or perhaps the breath of 3000 year old corpse getting just tooo darn near*
    KidCarnival
  • KidCarnivalKidCarnival Member Posts: 3,747
    @Anduin: The real problem is that I not only travel through time and space, but also alternative realities. So one day, my Eyelar personality took over and I panicked and accidentally landed in the Marvel universe, where Eyelar stole Multiple Man's power... Now, every time I blink, I travel into several different times and realities, effectively cloning myself. And Eyelar gets really upset about not being unique, so he tries to kill all my/his/our clones. *sigh* Now explain that to a therapist. "Did you get along with your parents?" - My mother died when I was a baby and my fąth͜er ̀ḱi̷l͠led̀ her͝ o͘n͢ ҉a d͘i̕n̛e̴r̛'̀s ͠p͏a̶rkińg l͡ot i͢n̡ ͜f͏r͜on̷t͘ of͝ m̶e ̸w̵h̸en ̸I ̵was 7 ̀a̛nd s̡ol͜d͢ ̶mę to my uncle ̡a҉n̵d a̸ųnt and he taught me how to use a katana b̧ut̵ I͢'͝m͜ ̧not sưŗȩ ̵if ͝I ͡k̵i҉l͡led ̸my̶ m̧o͝t̨he̴r͠ ̵w̸ith ͡i̡t or tri̢ed͏ to prèven͞t҉ ̕som͠e̛o͝ne̶ ͜from ̸k̷i̕lli͟ng my ̡m̀o̸t͠he͟ŗ w͜i͘th͝ a ͟kata̛n͞a̷..." - "NEXT!"
    ҉
  • BattlehamsterBattlehamster Member Posts: 298
    A new tactic I used the other day made beholders ridiculously easy:

    Summon Woodland creatures (What?!)

    Think about it, you basically summon a priest with access to the same range of spells as the summoning druid. This spell is INSANE. Because you know, hold person apparently works on the little beholder gauths. Add in the mass cure and its very nearly the closest thing a mid-level druid gets to simulacrum. (Seriously, this spell is one of the most underrated ones in the game imo!)

    During my fights, the beholders were either confused or held for the most part - and the ability to mass heal is exceptionally helpful.
    CaptRory
  • EkeliEkeli Member Posts: 5
    I remember when I did this way back when BGII first came out...
    I summoned some demons... then they summoned some demons... then they summoned demons...
    It went on and on until my computer crashed.
    But hey the beholders died at some point before it crashed. :D
    elminsterDancingBugbear
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