what strategy and spells would you use in preparation of the inevitable battle against Sarevok and gang to ensure your and CHARNAME's survival, considering Gorion is a level 9 mage?
...Chaos? Followed by running the **** away, hoping SOMEBODY got distracted?
Followed up by more Chaos', and probably Webs if you run out of Chaos'.
Actually, he could also cheeseball and sequence 2 Webs, which is devilishly hard to avoid. Follow up with a Greater Malison. Totally mean. THEN Chaos to oblivion while running away. Buffing is fine, but blitzkrieg has better odds.
I would hand over the ward. No one would be hurt. Except the ward, of course. Also, with no one to stop Amelyssan, Bhaal would be resurrected. In other words, Forgotten Realms would suddenly skip all the way to 5th edition and we would get an Icewind Dale 3 instead of Baldur's Gate 2.
I would throw a rock past Sarevok and his thugs, and, since it's dark, I'd presume they didn't see me do it, at which point I'd yell, "Holy son of Cyric!!! What is THAT?!??" As soon as they turned to see what spooked me, I'd strip off all of my clothes and run away, hoping they'd think I had spontaneously combusted, or, if they had managed to see me fleeing in the buff, hoping instead they'd leave me be, believing I had simply gone mad and am not worth the effort (because the only thing more unpredictable than a wild mage is a mad one).
If I were Gorion... I would ditch my Ward without a second thought and research oozes for the rest of my life. Iron Crisis? The resurrection of Bhaal? Who cares about such small things if you can become one with the slime?!
If Gorion were level 9? He has at least one level 6 spell which he uses in the fight. I would have casted Flesh to Stone on Sarevok rather than the stupid ogre to start with.
(1) Nondetection (2) Invisibility 10'' radius (3) A brisk walk towards safety
You forgot spell immunity... Dispel might ruin your day!
You need to know someone is there to cast dispel. As long as true sight won't pick you up...just walk on your merry way. Hop on a ship, sail away, sip on a nice drink and change your name to Noirog.
And Arnaeus, ok. Cast no detection twice. Though I agree with Deltago on having haste ready.
...Chaos? Followed by running the **** away, hoping SOMEBODY got distracted?
Followed up by more Chaos', and probably Webs if you run out of Chaos'.
Actually, he could also cheeseball and sequence 2 Webs, which is devilishly hard to avoid. Follow up with a Greater Malison. Totally mean. THEN Chaos to oblivion while running away. Buffing is fine, but blitzkrieg has better odds.
I would cast Greater Malison and then 2 Webs, seems wiser to drop his saving throws before the web strikes.
Not to mention that he fits the Kenobi archetype to a t. Wise and powerful old mentor/father figure, check. Dies early in the hero's journey, check. Their death playing an important role throughout the hero's travels, check.
A 9th level wizard has 4 spells of the 1st level, 3 spells of the 2nd level, 3 spells of the 3rd level, 2 spells of the 4th level and 1 spell of the 5th level. A specialist mage has 1 additional spell at each level.
I would go for:
Protection from Evil Shield Chromatic Orb Chromatic Orb (another Chromatic Orb if a specialist)
Blur Mirror Image Resist Fear (another Mirror Image if a specialist)
Slow Melf's Minute Meteors Melf's Minute Meteors (another Slow if a specialist)
Improved Invisibility Greater Malison Animate Dead
enemy sighted Gorion casts Improved Invisibility
walks a little bit away from the enemies Gorion casts Animate Dead Gorion casts Resist Fear Gorion casts Shield Gorion casts Protection from Evil
Gorion's Skeleton approaches Sarevok and Co Gorion casts Greater Malison on the group of enemies, including Tamoko and Sarevok Gorion casts Slow on the group of enemies, including Tamoko and Sarevok Gorion casts Melf's Minute Meteors Gorion attacks Sarevok and casts Chromatic Orb every round in an attempt "what if?"
Afterwards Gorion uses all his wands available: wands of paralyzation, of monster summoning, of fire and recasts Melf's Minute Meteors and Slow
Another thing I imagine Gorion could do is wave his hand and say: "This is not the ward you're looking for" He looks a lot like Ben Kenobi anyway.
Sarevok: "...No, I am your brother." CHARNAME: "Noooo."
Anyway, since I would be a GOOD mage, I would cast Invisibility on CHARNAME and tell him to get away. After the Contigency fired off, I would cast Haste and throw everything I had on him.
Then if I had the chance, Invisibility on myself or drink a potion and run away.
Gorion is already protected from the ogres and initial assault of S by his contingencies. He should have spammed the cleric (Tamoko) with magic missile, minor-sequencered acid arrows to disrupt her casting, and even try his flesh to stone on Tamoko:clerics have sucky save vs spells and have no way to protect themselves from petrification, other than a rare green scroll which I know Tamoko does not have. Once Tamoko is out, ogres can be dealt with, and as long as he does not get dispelled and protection from magic weapons last, he can run from S. Also, a single death spell in a contingency could have cleared off all of the ogres and archer bandits nicely. Tamoko may not fall to it, though.
The problem with assuming optimal tactics is that Sarevok's Intelligence is between 14 and 17, depending on which version we assume is canon, and he's filthy rich and lives in Baldur's Gate, which has some good shops. It'd be trivial for him to buy a couple potions of magic protection, a potion of speed, and a scroll of Invisibility Purge for Tomoko. So while it's interesting to think about what Gorion could have done better, the simple truth is the only way he wins is if we arbitrarily stack the odds in his favor. If we're seriously comparing two high-Int characters, either neither of them get to be smart or they both do.
Well, a sequencer of two webs would probably give him his best shot, math-wise, and he can try following it up with Great Malison to keep anyone stuck that got stuck.
Obviously you use the sequencer first because those two saves at -2 BOTH have to be made for any enemy to be able to threaten him or even move. Not superb odds given Sarevok's pretty good saves, but everyone else is going to be webbed first shot likely, and if they are held at all, Greater Malison ends the fight effectively. Gorion can then leave, or dump another Web even. With a 3rd Web, he can start considering trying to actually kill Sarevok, which is otherwise not possible for him.
Gorion cannot cast invisibility on himself in this fight, because he would then risk Sarevok going for CHARNAME. He has to buy CHARNAME some time, as well as distract everyone, so that no one knows the direction CHARNAME is fleeing. So only casting agressive spells without buffing actually makes sense. He has to draw the attention to himself.
In case Sarevok gets stuck in the web after a sequencer with two webs and Great Malison, I'd cast cloudkill. Then drop one more web just to be sure. And proceed to unload a fully charged staff of fire as fireballs. Or, as an alternative, I'd have fireballs or skull traps memorized and would follow them up with Chromatic Orbs. I don't believe Gorion could win this fight however.
Sarevoks HPs are mindboggling. His saves are spectacular, and he hits almost every time he swings his weapon. He is able to kill a buffed lvl 9 fighter with 120 HP and a nice, negative AC in a very short time (judging by the fight in Bhaals temple). I don't think Gorion stands a chance, no matter what spells he memorized. Unless he has scrolls of much higher level spells (like Time Stop) and staffs with him, he is doomed.
Sarevoks HPs are mindboggling. His saves are spectacular, and he hits almost every time he swings his weapon. He is able to kill a buffed lvl 9 fighter with 120 HP and a nice, negative AC in a very short time (judging by the fight in Bhaals temple)
Most of you miss one important thing: Gorian is of course prepared for a long journey, meaning he will have memorized a variety of spells to be able to deal with a variety of situations. He cannot possibly, no matter the intelligence, be prepared for everything. So IMHO, Gorion wouldn't have specialized spells stacked for special situations. Sarevok, on the other hand, is hunting a youngling and his warden, a decent level mage. So I'm with @Jarrakul on this one.
Comments
Followed up by more Chaos', and probably Webs if you run out of Chaos'.
Actually, he could also cheeseball and sequence 2 Webs, which is devilishly hard to avoid. Follow up with a Greater Malison. Totally mean. THEN Chaos to oblivion while running away. Buffing is fine, but blitzkrieg has better odds.
Also, with no one to stop Amelyssan, Bhaal would be resurrected.
In other words, Forgotten Realms would suddenly skip all the way to 5th edition and we would get an Icewind Dale 3 instead of Baldur's Gate 2.
(2) Invisibility 10'' radius
(3) A brisk walk towards safety
And Arnaeus, ok. Cast no detection twice. Though I agree with Deltago on having haste ready.
"Hand over your ward and nobody will be hurt."
"You are a fool if you think that-HASTE!"
Sarevok: "$&@%#!!!!"
"This is not the ward you're looking for"
He looks a lot like Ben Kenobi anyway.
A 9th level wizard has 4 spells of the 1st level, 3 spells of the 2nd level, 3 spells of the 3rd level, 2 spells of the 4th level and 1 spell of the 5th level. A specialist mage has 1 additional spell at each level.
I would go for:
Protection from Evil
Shield
Chromatic Orb
Chromatic Orb
(another Chromatic Orb if a specialist)
Blur
Mirror Image
Resist Fear
(another Mirror Image if a specialist)
Slow
Melf's Minute Meteors
Melf's Minute Meteors
(another Slow if a specialist)
Improved Invisibility
Greater Malison
Animate Dead
enemy sighted
Gorion casts Improved Invisibility
walks a little bit away from the enemies
Gorion casts Animate Dead
Gorion casts Resist Fear
Gorion casts Shield
Gorion casts Protection from Evil
Gorion's Skeleton approaches Sarevok and Co
Gorion casts Greater Malison on the group of enemies, including Tamoko and Sarevok
Gorion casts Slow on the group of enemies, including Tamoko and Sarevok
Gorion casts Melf's Minute Meteors
Gorion attacks Sarevok and casts Chromatic Orb every round in an attempt "what if?"
Afterwards
Gorion uses all his wands available: wands of paralyzation, of monster summoning, of fire and recasts Melf's Minute Meteors and Slow
*Reloads*
Sarevok: Save against Flesh to Stone
*Reloads*
Sarevok: Save against Flesh to Stone
*Reloads*
... wait... what do you mean Gorion can't reload?...
CHARNAME: "Noooo."
Anyway, since I would be a GOOD mage, I would cast Invisibility on CHARNAME and tell him to get away.
After the Contigency fired off, I would cast Haste and throw everything I had on him.
Then if I had the chance, Invisibility on myself or drink a potion and run away.
*sigh* I'm disappointed.
Also, a single death spell in a contingency could have cleared off all of the ogres and archer bandits nicely. Tamoko may not fall to it, though.
Obviously you use the sequencer first because those two saves at -2 BOTH have to be made for any enemy to be able to threaten him or even move. Not superb odds given Sarevok's pretty good saves, but everyone else is going to be webbed first shot likely, and if they are held at all, Greater Malison ends the fight effectively. Gorion can then leave, or dump another Web even. With a 3rd Web, he can start considering trying to actually kill Sarevok, which is otherwise not possible for him.
In case Sarevok gets stuck in the web after a sequencer with two webs and Great Malison, I'd cast cloudkill. Then drop one more web just to be sure. And proceed to unload a fully charged staff of fire as fireballs. Or, as an alternative, I'd have fireballs or skull traps memorized and would follow them up with Chromatic Orbs. I don't believe Gorion could win this fight however.
Sarevoks HPs are mindboggling. His saves are spectacular, and he hits almost every time he swings his weapon. He is able to kill a buffed lvl 9 fighter with 120 HP and a nice, negative AC in a very short time (judging by the fight in Bhaals temple). I don't think Gorion stands a chance, no matter what spells he memorized. Unless he has scrolls of much higher level spells (like Time Stop) and staffs with him, he is doomed.