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Holy Helm! (first Sirine encounters)

Eeeee...What a crazy one that was. I'm playing with SCS, EET, Hard difficulty, etc., first time with mods and all that.. and I found Safana in the woods near the lighthouse. Cool, a treasure hunt sounded good, but I noticed the few areas (rocky coast + lighthouse area) where I thought the treasure could be were guarded by Sirines. Man, those things were tough for my level 3/4 party, and I knew I was in "higher level" area. Fought with the Sirines for about an hour, reload after reload. Man they are tough buggers! I knew I was outta my league so I ended up (kinda foolishly) going back to High Hedge, buying the equivalent of a powerful bomb worth of explosive potions from Thalantyr, and somehow getting through the 3 Sirine encounter (even that was almost not enough!)

Ok, cool! Where's the treasure? Oh no, an encounter with Sil, the Queen of Sirines! She sends me back to the Old Man, whew, no fight. Old man though, the fight ensues, and at this point I'm at my time limit with Safana, so I can't rest to replenish my spells. I'm half-dead, out of good spells and have to fight that encounter which was nearly as bad as the Sirines (well, not really, but it was still rough!) Especially if I didn't want to haul character's stuff back to town.

Cool, quest over, gimme da loot! Sil says I can go into the cave and take what I want but...BEWARE THE GUARDIANS.. !?! Oh no, not guardians. So now I'm in the cave nearly depleted of everything and have to fight freaking Flesh Golems. Somehow scrounge up a couple somewhat lucky victories and loot the place, holy Helm, amazing loot to be found! Definitely worth the effort (time, and frustration, too.) :smile:

Just happy to have made it outta there in one piece. Really didn't want to lose Safana. Gotta be careful about entering and starting quests in higher level areas, I think.
sarevok57AedanGallengerRaduzielThacoBellGusindaJuliusBorisovSkatanUnderstandMouseMagicContemplative_HamsterStummvonBordwehrBlackravenZaghoulCalmar
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Comments

  • levelwormlevelworm Member Posts: 41
    I never installed SCS, but I do remember that if you have Minsc in the party, let him go into Berserk and within minutes he is able to cut down all of those Sirens. You may need to support him with a Cleric to remove the poison, though. For the flesh golems, yeah they hit hard and the only easy way is to kite them, again very difficult for a full party.
    JuliusBorisovSkatan
  • FluentFluent Member Posts: 74
    Yeah, it was rough. The flesh golems were doable, as long as Khalid kept their attention and I could keep him healed long enough that everyone could take it down. The problem was more that I couldn't rest as I didn't want Safana to leave. Once we found the treasure it was good to go. :smile:

    The Sirines though, sheesh. I didn't have Minsc yet, as a matter of fact I ended up...*gasp*...killing him, lol. He attacked me when I turned his offer down and that was that. Yes, I killed the legendary Minsc! Ah well. Still rescued Dynaheir eventually :blush: . But the Sirines were just nasty. I had to resort to just nuking them essentially. Cost me a bunch of gold (at least 2000) and the first time vs. the ones in the Rocky Coast area was just terribly difficult. The ones near the cove were easier as I got lucky and they died upon impact of 3 explosive potions. :smile:

    Anyway, fun stuff. Now that I leveled up a bit and have more Cleric/Illusionist spells things should be easier.
    JuliusBorisovSkatan
  • butteredsoulbutteredsoul Member Posts: 168
    Congrats!

    AOE spell disruption sure helps vs those SCS Sirines. Good tactic.

    If you buy the glitterdust spell in Beregost, that’s useful too. It’s especially potent in the hands of a conjurer (hello Edwin).

    For flesh golems, magical ammo is your friend. My F/Th CHARNAME soloed all three using a short bow and +2 arrows while his five adventuring companions pet bats. Then again, I was playing core, not hard.
    JuliusBorisovlolienSkatan
  • ChroniclerChronicler Member Posts: 1,391
    It's cheesy but what I usually do is I just send one person alone to fight the sirines.

    They'll use all their charm spells on him, and then having nobody to attack he'll just stand there until it wears off. Past that point it's a pretty straightforward fight.
    JuliusBorisovSkatan
  • byrne20byrne20 Member Posts: 503
    Yeah I pretty much would do the same as @Chronicler That's the much safer approach lol.
    Skatan
  • recklessheartrecklessheart Member Posts: 692
    edited February 2018

    It's cheesy but what I usually do is I just send one person alone to fight the sirines.

    They'll use all their charm spells on him, and then having nobody to attack he'll just stand there until it wears off. Past that point it's a pretty straightforward fight.

    A similar but alternative strategy you can use is to send in a stealthy Thief, who can get the first hit with backstab and then quaff a couple of potions of invisibility at the right moments in the fight to cancel out their Charm spells. As well as avoiding their Charm spell, which is widely considered the hardest part of battling Sirines, you might even end up killing one if you land all 3 backstabs, meaning there will be even less for the rest of your party to do when they rush in to help out.

    The Flesh Golems are difficult. No two ways about that, I'm afraid. Stealth can get you to the loot, though, and then you can use a potion of invisibility to get out again. That will satisfy Safana, although it's worth going back at a later date to fight them for the xp.

    Stealth & Potions of Invisibility aren't a strategy I commonly use in BG:EE, but this area just happens to have two sets of difficult challenges for which this strategy is quite helpful.
    JuliusBorisovChroniclerSkatan
  • ChroniclerChronicler Member Posts: 1,391
    That's a whole lot of invisibility potions. Think I only ever get one or two throughout the BG1 campaign.
    Skatan
  • JDowJDow Member Posts: 71
    Not sure how applicable this is to you guys because I normally play a custom party but against the sirens if you lead with a Cavalier or Inquisitor as you approach they absorb the spell attack because they are immune to charm. Other characters behind can then just kill them with ranged weapons. Last time I played I used an Elf archer to tank the spells. Elves are 90% immune to charm and it did the job.
    AedanThacoBellSkatan
  • FluentFluent Member Posts: 74
    Neat responses all. @JDow, that's cool, I had Isra at the time (Cavalier) and didn't even think that she was immune to charm. That would have helped a ton. It's neat to just see the million and one ways you can do encounters like that. I really like that about the BG encounters and magic system in general.
    SkatanDreadKhan
  • ChroniclerChronicler Member Posts: 1,391
    The shaman also has a spell that boosts your saves vs enchantment spells. Take it with a potion of invulnerability and you've got a pretty good shot of just resisting all those charms.
    Skatan
  • CloutierCloutier Member Posts: 228
    If one of your characters is charmed, use command on him/her while you pelt the Sirines.
    tbone1Skatan
  • LoldrupLoldrup Member Posts: 291
    How does one make Sil *not* attack?? Is that a SCS thing?
    And who is 'The Old man'?
    Skatan
  • ZaghoulZaghoul Member, Moderator Posts: 3,938
    Loldrup said:

    How does one make Sil *not* attack?? Is that a SCS thing?
    And who is 'The Old man'?

    @Loldrup
    That is from a great mod,The Lure of the Sirine's Call. It opens up the lighthouse area and gives more options with Sil.
    Skatan
  • stu-kstu-k Member Posts: 30
    I lead with Vic and magic missle sirens. (or any spellcaster) usually ends in casting failure. Then ranged attack to finish them off. Easy fight if you don't wade in and spawn the next one or two and have to fight more than 1.
    Skatan
  • OlvynChuruOlvynChuru Member Posts: 3,075
    You could also buy the Greenstone Amulet from the Ulgoth's Beard store. You can use it to become immune to mind-affecting spells and abilities. I never really found the sirenes that hard, since you can just throw in someone who's immune to charm and have them kill all of them. I haven't played BG1 with SCS, though, so I wouldn't know how hard it is there.
    StummvonBordwehrSkatan
  • CabushaCabusha Member Posts: 8
    I'm doing a solo fighter/mage run, and I just cast invisibility on myself and walked past them into the cave. I'll probably come back with a potion of clarity later and clear them out.
    SkatanDreadKhan
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,305
    Any character with exceptional strength or thieving ability can get the potion of clarity upstairs in Candlekeep. The sirine encounter is the one that I find the best use for that. Without SCS all that's needed to kill them is a single character protected with the potion to run into the middle of them - they'll switch to their terrible melee attacks, so you don't even need any decent AC. With SCS the sirines will run round and use their arrows of biting, so you either want someone with very good missile protection, or have poison immunity or cures ready.
    lolienSkatanStummvonBordwehrDragonspear
  • rashkaerashkae Member Posts: 179
    As for the flesh Golems, a potion of absorption makes them *much* easier to deal with, (+10 AC vs. Blunt)
    lolienSkatan
  • piggy1753piggy1753 Member Posts: 9
    An elf has very high resistance to charm for instance Viconia or Kivan can tank sirines early on.


  • ChroniclerChronicler Member Posts: 1,391
    piggy1753 wrote: »
    An elf has very high resistance to charm for instance Viconia or Kivan can tank sirines early on.


    Notably, this was something the enhanced editions fixed. The originals listed that benefit in the description, but it didn't actually do anything. There mgiht've been some fix pack for it somewhere, I dunno.

    I feel like many older players are still used to just ignoring that benefit.
    DreadKhanThacoBell
  • parrkerparrker Member Posts: 22
    Also, Xan is an Enchanter, which gives him bonus to saving throws against sirines' attempts to charm him. I usually throw him against sirines, and most of the time he is able to either do some damage, or get close to them so they have to switch to melee, and my ranged characters are able to join the fight and pick them from far away.

    Or just ask angry Minsc to charge them.
    Chronicler
  • ChroniclerChronicler Member Posts: 1,391
    parrker wrote: »
    Also, Xan is an Enchanter, which gives him bonus to saving throws against sirines' attempts to charm him. I usually throw him against sirines, and most of the time he is able to either do some damage, or get close to them so they have to switch to melee, and my ranged characters are able to join the fight and pick them from far away.

    Or just ask angry Minsc to charge them.

    Hmm. With Xan's elven resistance to charm spells, and then his enchanter's bonus to saving throws vs enchantment spells, and then if you were to cast Spirit Ward on him, to give him a further bonus to saving throws vs enchantment spells, I wonder what the actual odds of any charm spell ever hitting him would be? Feel like that'd be like Bilbo finding the one hole in the dragon's defenses. Luke Skywalker hitting that exhaust port type stuff.
  • parrkerparrker Member Posts: 22
    Actually, in my experience it was kind of like with the chance to learn spell in this game. The odds are super low, and yet Xan does get charmed relatively often. I guess, it is hard for any man (even elf) to resist 3 half-naked women.
    StummvonBordwehr
  • WarChiefZekeWarChiefZeke Member Posts: 2,651
    There comes a time in every BG addict's life where you will make a beeline for those Sirines at the start of a game to jump up to mid game levels.
    StummvonBordwehrZaghoul
  • xakaxxakax Member Posts: 2
    I found it easiest to animate dead on a cleric or use wand of monster summoning. Send a mob in to get charm spells outta the way then ranged back-up, backstabs, or just let summons do it all. Worked fine with or w/o scs.
  • AaezilAaezil Member Posts: 178
    Looks like you forgot to roll a berserker! (OP class)
  • ArthasArthas Member Posts: 1,091
    How realistic it is that the Sirine will actually make you raid their treasures? because I'm kinda conflicted on this one.
  • ChroniclerChronicler Member Posts: 1,391
    Arthas wrote: »
    How realistic it is that the Sirine will actually make you raid their treasures? because I'm kinda conflicted on this one.

    I don't understand the question.

    Sirines have a charm ability, but it just makes you attack your allies.

    Sirines do not possess a horde of treasures, though they usually carry a pearl on them.

    In the Lighthouse zone there are some sirenes near a cave with some treasure in it, but I don't think they own the cave or the treasure. The cave is heavily warded with magic traps, and guarded by flesh golems, so it presumably belongs to some wizard.
    ThacoBell
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,822
    Aaezil wrote: »
    Looks like you forgot to roll a berserker! (OP class)
    The real OP class against sirines? Cavalier. Immune to charm, immune to poison.

    I also tend to use web+archer tactics. Let them try to charm my tank; even if they succeed, the web makes it mostly harmless while the rest of the party focuses down whichever sirines are visible.
  • ArthasArthas Member Posts: 1,091
    Chronicler wrote: »
    Arthas wrote: »
    How realistic it is that the Sirine will actually make you raid their treasures? because I'm kinda conflicted on this one.

    I don't understand the question.

    Sirines have a charm ability, but it just makes you attack your allies.

    Sirines do not possess a horde of treasures, though they usually carry a pearl on them.

    In the Lighthouse zone there are some sirenes near a cave with some treasure in it, but I don't think they own the cave or the treasure. The cave is heavily warded with magic traps, and guarded by flesh golems, so it presumably belongs to some wizard.
    So you're telling me that these sirines gives you the permission to raid a cave they don't own, because you killed someone that is butchering them because they don't make anyone pass to reach the cave?
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