15244 réponses à ce sujet

[saros_shadow_follower]

The party left Chateau Irenicus after freeing Minsc and Jaheira, and looting the place. IA enemies inside: Lesser Spirit Spiders (replace 2 goblin groups on lvl 2 of the dungeon). The Barbarian took care of them by himself.

After leaving:
Kept most of the loot. Sold only a little bit.
Used an exploit to raise party experience to 1 million each. Won't reveal the exploit since I'd rather have it available in IA 7. But it exists. Also, earned a bit of gold (also an exploit) and bought the following items:

Harmonium Halberd +3
Vhailor's Helm (casts Death Spell)
RoP +1
AoP +1 - 2 pieces (Ribald and Aledrian)
Knave's Robe
several containers
Cleared Circus Tent. Got Girdle of Piercing and equipped it to the Riskbreaker.
several spell scrolls from the Promenade and the Bridge district (Breach, ProCold, ProMW, PW:Silence, Minor Sequencer)
also met with all five night-time encounters and got some spell scrolls from those too.

In Bridge District:
Started Haer'Dalis quest
Exposed Rejiek
continuing with an exploit (XP + gold). Will raise 1 more mage level and 2 more warrior levels, and then will continue with Suna Seni's fight.

Sorcerer's new spell picks:

Lvl 2: Resist Fear, Strength
Lvl 3: Vampiric Touch, Flame Arrow
Lvl 4: Stoneskin, Improved Invisibility, Emotion
Lvl 5: Sunfire, Breach
Lvl 6: Giant Strength (at current sorcerer lvl 12 sets strength of a character to a Stone Giant str - 20 - and is undispellable for the duration - 2 turns)

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 14 novembre 2010 - 10:38 .

[oyzar]

Why would you not reveal the exploit? There are infinite exploits, and i fyou feel the game is too hard you could always just shadowkeeper up your experience and noone would be the wiser... Revealing exploits can only make the game better. For example stealing infinite prismatic spray scrolls from bernhard (just use 240-250ish skill) and keep on relearning them, as for infinite money there is always the guy that buys stolen stuff that you can steal from... These things give you infinite experience and gold respectivly, though i suppose there is always a 1%+ chance to fail, so not fully exploity on a non-reload run.



One thing I am wondering about is emotion, how are you using this spell, I haven't found much uses for that previously, but maybe i am not understanding how it works. Care to elaborate on in what situations it is useful?

[saros_shadow_follower]

oyzar wrote...

Why would you not reveal the exploit? There are infinite exploits, and i fyou feel the game is too hard you could always just shadowkeeper up your experience and noone would be the wiser... Revealing exploits can only make the game better. For example stealing infinite prismatic spray scrolls from bernhard (just use 240-250ish skill) and keep on relearning them, as for infinite money there is always the guy that buys stolen stuff that you can steal from... These things give you infinite experience and gold respectivly, though i suppose there is always a 1%+ chance to fail, so not fully exploity on a non-reload run.

One thing I am wondering about is emotion, how are you using this spell, I haven't found much uses for that previously, but maybe i am not understanding how it works. Care to elaborate on in what situations it is useful?

First of all, let me emphasize that this is an Improved Anvil 6.0 modded game. IA mod strives to clear all vanilla game exploits. For example, in the previous version 5.0, there were no stealing/reselling item options from any merchants - all merchants were made un-lootable. There were also other blocked xp and gold exploits, but many many other were left open - for example, gaining unlimited gold from thief/bard/fighter strongholds, from killing Amnish Guards for low reputation, slaying Wyverns created by Call Wyvern spell, or gaining unlimited experience by slaying monsters who interrupt party rest in dungeons. Almost all of those and similar other gold/xp exploits are eliminated from the game in IA 6.0 - for example, monsters interrupting rest ANYWHERE drop no items and grant no xp when slain. In fact, I've found so far only 2 experience gaining exploits, and only 4 gold-gaining exploits. Since the xp gaining exploits are so very few, I fear that revealing them would block them in the next version of the mod, IA 7.0. And I don't want that to happen. I'm positive that the mod's creator is too narrow-minded to discover them by himself.

Emotion is useful in IA, because it incapacitates enemies and allows the party fighters to eliminate them at ease. In IA, the enemies survive even things like multiple (6-7-8-10 or many more - depending on the enemies) Sunfire spells or ADHW spells. Enemies have a lot of HP, good innate resistances (or even immunities), HLAs, and very good AC, while damaging spells have been removed or nerfed (for example, there is no Skull Trap anymore, and Sunfire caps at 12d6 at mage level 20 - compared to a vanilla 15d6 at lvl 15). Also, many enemies are immune to Hold, Confusion, Domination and similar effects. Far fewer are immune to Sleep effects, which makes Emotion and Greater Command so very useful. Of course, the usefulness of the Emotion spell decreases progressively, but it still may help a lot in certain situations even ih the final fights in ToB. In a vanilla or slightly modded game, I guess that Emotion is always neglected. Why try put enemies to sleep when you can kill them with a single blow or burn them with a couple of spells?

Back to the story:

Party reached lvl 14 (Barbarian and Riskbreaker - Barbarian got ** in Quarterstaff, and RB got ** in Short Sword), lvl 13 (sorceress and necromancer PC - new sorc spell picks Lower Resistance and Improved Haste) and lvl 13 (R->C and R). Obtained some more gold, and bought some potions in the Bridge District - 2 of Defense, 2 of Frost Giant Strength (Mrs Cragmoon) and 1 of Clarity (Temple of Helm).

Necromancer (Astarta) prepared a Contingency with Emotion spell and created an Enchanted Longsword +3 using the 4th level spell Enchant Weapon. This spell is NERFED and cannot be cast more often than once every 24 hours - meaning the party can have only one +3 weapon created by this spell at a time.

Party rested. Sorceress (Alia) buffed each of the fighters with the Giant Strength spell (str set to 20 for 2 turns), the party travelled to the Slums. Here, the C-R (Temp) cast True Sight, then quickly replaced the slot with Greater Command, cast Wondrous Recall, and the party travelled to the City Gates.

This, of course, triggered the Suna Seni fight. The difference between IA 5 and IA 6 is that in the beginning of combat all party buffs are dispelled. Exception - undispellable ones like Giant Strength spell and True Sight spell.

All six party members knew what to do. The ranger was in the back. He immediately charged on the enemy cleric. Necro cast Stoneskin and retreated a bit. Sorc started Haste spell. Barbarian Enraged (str 25 temporary) and engaged the enemy cleric too. Riskbreaker cast Improved Haste (innate ability) and charged the cleric as well. The R->C cast Greater Command:

www.picbg.net/u/29969/41380/493799.jpg

www.picbg.net/u/29969/41380/493800.jpg

And the effect of the spell was very good. Still, if it wasn't, the three fighters striking simultaneously the enemy cleric are enough to break his concentration of his own Greater Command spell, which would have devastating effect on the party:

http://www.picbg.net...1380/493801.jpg

The enemy mage starts casting Chaos. Of utmost importance is determining the target. Since it can't be the enraged Barbarian, it's either the ranger or the Riskbreaker. 1 potion of clarity. When the target is seen, the two fighters exchange the potion (if needed) and go in the opposite directions. And the targeted one drinks the potion right away. The rest of the party members retreat, and the Necromancer's emotion is a pre-caution against non-asleep enemy fighters or thief who might go for PC, the R->C or the sorceress. In this case - the spell was useless:

http://www.picbg.net...1380/493802.jpg

I failed to inform that the Ranger is wearing Full Plate, bought from the Bridge district (while R-C has only plate mail). Still, Suna Seni was no match for him at Insane difficulty doubling damage, although the battle was 1 on 1. In the meantime, the Riskbreaker and the Barbarian eliminated first the enemy assassin (nasty backstabs) the enemy mage, who first cast Slow (countered by Sorceress' haste spell) and then Burning hands. The mage's illusions were dispelled by R-C's True Sight still active spell.

http://www.picbg.net...1380/493803.jpg

And finally, since Suna was chasing the Ranger in hopes of killing him, he simply circled around while the rest of the fighters eliminated Suna:

http://www.picbg.net...1380/493804.jpg

Good loot for the entire party. At least now everyone has some magical weapon at his/hers disposal.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 15 novembre 2010 - 07:11 .

[polytope]

Gate70 wrote...

Two Melfs acid arrows hit me as I fire a called shot at a priestess. In the heat of battle I don't notice the reflective circle at her feet, nor that at least two of my arrows have come straight back at me. Game over.

Yes, Drow are annoying like that, they all have similar avatars and it's hard to tell if you're facing a mage with spell turning or a cleric with physical mirror.

Aspasia and party fight their way through Sahuagin city without problems - they were tougher than vanilla, but not overly so. Cloak of protection +2 and Impaler spear found in their normal places (not the cloak of mirroring though).

Order of quests in Underdark was much the same as my last time through here. The balor didn't manage to vorpalize (is that even a word?) any of my party: Received axe of the unyielding as a reward from Goldander, found Wong Fei's ioun stone on one of the demon knights and helm of the rock on Kuo Toan prince. It might appear overpowered to find all these ToB items in the underdark, but without Cespenar's upgrades they aren't really special.

The game crashed after each of the major battles and before I could save (Alchra Diagott, a horde of drow at the bridge (more than usual) and N'ashtar & party) - I probably did these better on my second try but won the first so nvm.

Very nearly failed to rescue Phaere as Solaufein had been moved by a Kuo-Toan's teleport field and I assumed he'd summon the enemies near him... Of course he didn't and Phaere took massive damage from the umber hulks before we could get over to help. Seriously doubt I could have rescued Adalon's eggs from a hostile (and upgraded) drow city.

The mind flayer city wasn't very hard although resting here is disabled; CC & ProME lasts plently long to clear the place.

The beholder hive was another matter, no Elder orb at the entrance, prompting us to investigate further. This is what farsight revealed to us, yep, that's a Hive Mother (who sees through invisibility). Viccy summoned a squad of skeletons to attack the regular beholders from the West, while everyone else gets to work on the main threat. This Hive Mother recasts stoneskin and Improved Mantle (which blocks +4 weapons with SCS) faster than we could breach her (a glitch in her script, perhaps). Reluctantly I retreat after clearing the lesser beholders... And without the last equalizer component.

Finished a few ust Natha quests (Deirex was something of a pain). Returned to Ardulace with the blood (gave Phaere fake eggs), not wanting to fight the improved drow city I cast haste + Invis 10'radius and just ran from the exit. Adalon rewards us with girdle of Inertial barrier (yay!).

The drow exit party is tougher than normal, Adalon helped, though I think we could've managed without.

Returning to Athkatla we at last explore the planar sphere - I was right in my suspicion that Lavok + Tolgerias would be too difficult before the underdark. Entu had the gauntlets of Ogre power - first strength enhancing item I've found in this game, up till now it's been potions only. The demon plane outside was easy enough, with nothing here being as dangerous as the Balor Tolgerias summoned.

Lastly our party takes on the SoA dragons: Shadow dragon fell relatively easily - Tashia casts limited wish for NPP on the party before facing him though, as he is tougher and likely to get a few chances to use his deadly level draining breath. Firkraag was quite improved, the main problem is his high level remove magic, but through equiped items alone it's possible to get at least 50% fire resistance for Mazzy and Viconia (after which they can use potions when Firkraag targets them with his breath), Valygar with helm of defense + ring of fire control + Corthala armour has 95% vs fire whilst PC, Imoen and Tashia can all cast SI:Abjuration.

The last "optional" fight I think I'll attempt for SoA will be the Twisted Rune... More on that later.

Modifié par polytope, 16 novembre 2010 - 03:27 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Further adventures of Astarta:

First to clarify - the party Ranger (Torham) is actually lvl 12, not 13 as stated previously.

The party entered CC, bought a Sword of Flame +1, 3 Potions of Heroism and a container from Bernard. Then they cleared the cell guards (without the Beastmaster) - they included 2 10-th level mages.

Sword of Flame +1 - almost all elemental-damage dealing weapons have been nerfed in IA 6.0. For example - the Flail of Ages +3 has a 5% chance per hit to unleash extra 10 fire, 10 cold and 10 acid damage. Which makes them unreliable, especially vs spellcasters. The Sword of Flame +1 is one of the few untouched weapons, which deal its 1 point of fire damage on each successful hit. It went to the Riskbreaker, of course.

The party rested travelled to the Graveyard, buffed with Giant Strength and True Sight, and then immediately to the Docks, triggering Rylock's assassins fight.

As in the battle with Suna Seni, buffs are dispelled at the start of the battle. Which is worse, now the enemy cleric is too far away for the fighters to have any chance of engaging him prior to his Greater Command casting. So Astarta and Alia released 3 magic missiles at him (2 from Minor Sequencer), and actually interrupted his Greater Command. The fighters engaged the cleric, while the mage managed to cast Chaos. Again, the targeted fighter ran as fast as he could (it was the Riskbreaker, who was Improved Hasted), and was Confused - but only he! The rest of the party fighters were now hasted by the sorceress, and quickly eliminated first the cleric, then the mage.

The party collected Rylock and the other items, and travelled to the Docks. Here they started Mae'var's quest and Xzar's quest (on the Bridge was started Haer'dalis' quest btw). Also, were bougth several containers, 2 Freedom potions, a scroll of Fireshield:Blue and a Ring +1 from the local merchants.

Using the priest spell 'Knock' (in IA 6.0 it's a third-level divine spell as well as second level arcane spell) and various protective spells, the party opened almost all containers available in this area. Also got the Harper Bird, but didn't deliver it to Xzar. Yet.

Party rested and travelled to the Temple District, triggering the third Slaver fight. Again, buffs are dispelled, but at least here the enemies are 2 slavers and six vanilla Orogs. This concludes the random fights with 'buffs dispelled on start' for now. The rest of the random bandit encounters while travelling beween areas are seriously upgraded, but they don't give experience or items when slain. And the mage and cleric are lvl 12. There are two ways of escaping from such encounters: using the Haste spell (cleric casts Greater Command by the time the party is already escaping), and Invisibility on all - either Invisibility or Pixie Dust spells (for distant area travel, where the Haste spell would expire). It's really much of annoyance to buff everytime before travelling, but in a no-reload, it's necessary.

So the party got to the Temple district, started the Unseeing Eye quest, Illithium Ore quest and Fallen Paladins quest, and looted the Temple of Talos, also bought several items from the temple - a Cleric's Staff +3, a Staff Mace and a Girdle of Bluntness.

Travelled to the Government district, started Valygar's hunt and Umar Hills' main plot.
Travelled to the City Gates, started the Trademeet quest.
Travelled back to the Docks, and continued Mae'var's quest. Killed Rayic Gethrac - he's improved, has a Stone and a Clay golem accompanying him. But the whole party was Improved Invisible when challenging him, the Riskbreaker disrupted his True Sight casting with the Sword of Flame before Rayic went hostile, and afterwards the fighters equipped Normal weapons, and killed Rayic under his ProMW in a couple of rounds. The Barbarian had no normal weapons, so he took the job to eliminate the Stone and Clay golems.

The rest of the quest was easy enough. Mae'var is slightly improved - his assassins now all use Poison Weapon, and his Cleric is actually lvl 10 or 11. Also, Mae'var's fighting skills are improved, and he wields a +2 shortsword and a +2 dagger.

The party reported back to Renal, and declined the guild offer, got a Short Sword of Backstabbing in exchange. An invaluable weapon for quite a long time.

Then the party killed Renal and his goons, and got 2 Cloaks of Protection +1. Sadly, no Boots of Speed or other useful loot. Then the party travelled to the Graveyard, and although reputation was 16, they managed to receive an offer from Bodhi (maybe rep has nothing to do with the offer anyway, or at least in IA 6.0 it hasn't). Then they assembled some items from Bodhi's stronghold (Ashen Scales +2 for the Barbarian, some gems, a Mace of Disruption +1) and completed Bodhi's tasks. Not very hard actually. Only the second task kinda failed, since the R/C was confused and killed the person which had to be saved.
BtW, Shadow Thief mages are mixed up. They use Spell Sequencer (7th lvl spell), but on the other hand, are lower-level than 14 (because my 13-th level sorceress dispelled their buffs via Remove Magic with ease).

At least, the party got 4 more Cloaks of Protection +1 (one from Gaelan), a full plate and other loot from Aran, including of course a RoP +2 and the Amulet of Power. The Ring of Djinni Summoning has been removed from his quarters.

After a little more xp exploiting, the party hit 1 700 000 xp each, meaning lvl 14th for the party mages. C->R also got lvl 14, and the Ranger got 13. Lvl 15 is important to the Barbarian (gets +5% physical resistances), to the Riskbreaker (gets the 15% chance random pool on each hit) - but for that the fighters have to wait until 2 million xp. The Necromancer now can cast lvl 7 spells (bought Limited Wish scroll from the Promenade) and the Sorcerer receives first 7th level spell as well - and the choice was Monster Summoning V.

Monster Summoning goes up to VII in IA 6.0. MS IV(lvl 6 spell) calls a Minotaur, MS V (lvl 7) Calls a Salamander Noble, MS VI(lvl 8) calls an Elite Troll, and finally MS VII (lvl 9) calls a Greater Yuan-ti. All of these monsters are either introduced by IA 6.0 - Elite Troll and Salamander Noble, or are heavily improved by IA (Minotaurs and Greater Yuan-ti). In any case, they come buffed with various immunities/resistances and have fearsome +4 weapons (not sure about the minotaurs, I think they wield +2 axes). For example, the Salamander Nobles are immune to fire and numerous other effects, and wield +4 spears which deal piercind gamage and has % chance per strike to deal additional Fire damage. The monsters summoned are still instantly slain by Death Spell/Fog.
The duration of all MS spells above lvl III is 15 rounds. Each such spell summons 1 monster.

The R-C got his first lvl 7 spell. Those include some new ones:

Disrupt Undead: Bypasses MR, requires touch, casting time 7, deals damage to Undead - 10d6 + 10 to Skeleton lords and lesser undead, 8d6+8 to Skeleton Warlords, 6d6 +6 to Grandlords, and 5d6+5 to Grave Liches, Master Vampires and Vampire lords.

Shield of the Archons - the spell is tweaked to offer undispellable NPP and 4 to AC for 1 turn. Casting time is 3, so it can be useful in the thick of combat as well. One might think that this spell does too little, but I have to explain that Negative Plane Protection (no matter if the actual spell or the one granted by Limited Wish) is nerfed in IA 6.0 and has a good chance to be dispelled with each enemy lvl-draining successful hit.

Animal Summoning IV - duration 15 rounds, calls for 1 powerful 17 HD monster. The power of this spell is somewhere between MS V and VI. It calls a giant snake, an Anaconda, with good combat capabilities. Not sure of the level of its enchanted weapon, but I think it's +4.

Adventure continues. Sold some useless loot, killed the Fallen Paladins and Neb, gave fake illithium to Sarles, forged ImOD +2 (which hits as a +2 weapon and has NO NPP anymore), forged a cloak of protection +2. Still got the Periapt of Life Protection, which will actually come in handy in certain future battles.

Used Invisibility on everyone to travel to Umar Hills. Cleared the vanilla challenges in the area, got a Beljuril, Ilbratha, and also killed Jermien after the quest had been completed. Got some potions and scrolls from his cabin. Bought several potions and a container from the local merchants. Used Limited Wish to create a pair of glasses and a Full Plate +2.

Travelled to Temple Ruins. The cleric turned the lesser vanilla undead. Went in the dungeon. After proper buffing and summoning 3 Salamander Nobles and an Anaconda, challenged the Shadow Jailor (a cleric).

The Jailor is accompanied by 2 Skeleton Lords, and summons Skeleton Warriors. Also, there are several vanilla shadows. Breach from PC, melee from the fighters and summons quickly eliminated him, and 1 Lord, which is the point where all summons were slain. Used Vhailors to eliminate the Skeleton Warriors, and the fighters faced a lone Lord, which was no match. Still, Riskbreaker was on low health at the end of the fight. Loot: Morningstar +2, Cloak of Protection, some divine scrolls. Freed Mazzy, got a Ruby Ray of Reversal scroll from her dungeon for PC.
Also got a light gem, and cleared a way to the lava pool room behind the bridge, where the Riskbreaker uncovered the Pearly White Ioun Stone and equipped it. No more critical hits for him!

Travelled to Trademeet. Bought some items from the genies, including an amulet +1. Kileld the genies. Got the reward (Shield of Harmony+2 and gold). And now am about to free Cernd.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 16 novembre 2010 - 09:15 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Next adventures:
Travelled to the Druid Grove. Cleared the place without the Troll Mound area. Actually, didn't even go near it. There are 5-6 Noble Trolls guarding the entrance, and those can only be hit by +3 weapons. The party still doesn't have enough of these. Still, killed Faldorn, didn't touch the Rakshasas, and left Belm's guardian for later. Accepted the first Spirit of the Grove task, and got the Root of the Problem club.
The club has its vanilla +1 acid damage on hit untouched, so it is also useful vs enemy spellcasters.
Went to Trademeet. Helped Tiris and Raissa. Bought the Staff of Striking for the Barbarian. Reported to the mayor.
Travelled to the Slums. Killed the Beastmaster and freed Hendak. Although the beastmaster is a powerful druid, he was no match for the buffed party fighters. Tabitha cannot be killed before the beastmaster is slain. Well, she was killed afterwards. Got a +3 club from that fight, and some other items like ring +1 and cloak +1.
From Bernard's new stock bought scrolls of Spell Turning and Spell Sequencer.
Travelled to the temple sewer level 3. On level 2 there are three vampiric mists - one alone, two in the wheel room. However, these are heavily improved. They cannot be turned. They are immune to effects that instantly slay undead (such as IMoD +2). They can dispel specific protections on hit. Their THAC0 is greatly improved. And they can envelop their target, causing slow, and continuous level drain.
Sent the R-C with AoP against them. The enraged barbarian also helped a little. Free Action is no protection vs envelopment, since the mists tend to dispel it on successful hit.
Looted the containers on that level. Got Animate Dead for the Necromancer, also lower resistance and other spells.
Went to lvl 3. Buffed well. Engaged 2 groups of improved Yuan-Ti + a Yuan-Ti mage (14th lvl). The sorceress and PC were successful after several attempts to dispel enemy mages' protections via Remove Magic, and the fighters did the rest.
Returned to the city. Again used an exploit until the party hit 2 125 000 xp each. Meaning lvl 15 for fighters and mages (new sorceress' picks - Spell Immunity, ProMW, Ruby Ray of Reversal), new proficiencies - Barbarian warhammer (well maybe that was wrong, but he's proficient in all 2-handed weapon types anyway, except spear),  Riskbreaker *** in 2-weapon style. The R-C also hit a level, and is now approaching next level (16). The Ranger hit lvl 14.
Travelled to the Druid Grove. Fulfilled first Spirit of the Grove task. Travelled to Belm's location. Buffed well. Astarta alone entered first. Next round she shot her Sequencer, which took out only the lesser spirit spider and the killer spider. Three party fighters entered (the R-C, the Riskbreaker and the Barbarian) and immediately engaged the Whisper Spider. Although the Barbarian was heavily injured, they managed to slay the spider quickly. Next target was the fearsome Ghost spider, and although it's more resilient than the Whisper spider, with better AC and innate resistances, it also fell quickly. Spoils from the battle - a Magic Shielding potion and of course, Belm, which went straight to the Riskbreaker.
Travelled to the De'Arnise keep. Assembled all three heads of the flail. The fights in here are nothing special, except maybe the battle with the Whisper Spider and the Greater Yuanti after lowering the drawbridge. The party buffed well, had several tough monsters summoned on the battlefield, and then lowered the bridge. The spider died quickly enough, and since he targeted one Salamander noble, there was no chance of him dispelling a fighter's specific protections. Greater Yuan-ti gated in, and was quickly stripped of protections and illusions. The outcome was clear.

Another +3 weapon! Although FoA is nerfed, this doesn't mean it's useless. Also, got the Ring of Earth Control and anohter +1 ring from the Greater Yuanti (as well as some spell scrolls like Chain Lightning *4, True Sight *2). The party is currently short on rings, but now at least all fighters were equipped with two +1 rings (Riskbreaker has a +2 ring and +2 cloak).
Back to the city: applied the exploit until the party fighters hit level 16, and the R-C also received lvl 16. 1 bonus THAC0 is always good to have, as well as some extra divine spells.
Went to the temple sewers level 3. Since the way was cleared earlier, there was nothing to worry about. Created an enchanted Mace +3 with the Necromancer. Equipped the FoA +3 and the Mace +3 on the R-C. Buffed the R/C very well, had him drink a Frost Giant str potion, also buffed him with Chaotic Commands, gave him the best protective items the party has (except the Helm of Balduran, it stayed on the Barbarian), also gave him the Amulet of Power, summoned (with the R-C) 4 Skeleton Warriors, the sorceress summoned 1 Salamander Noble, put the R-C as leader of the party, cast Resist Fear as one of the final buffs, had everyone except R-C, Barbarian and summons to retreat to a safe place, and accepted the Improved Screaming Statue challenge.

The challenge is available only if PC's xp is below 2 350 000. Party fighters got their lvl 16 at 2 300 000 (which is the present PC xp too). Also, no resting or leaving the area is allowed after the challenge is taken. Actually, the challenge bugs itself if the party rests.

The challenge itself: Has 3 waves of Undead. Each wave consists of 2 Mist Horrors, positioned one to the left and one to the right, 4 Vampiric Mists positioned lower (a little above the statue's hand), and a different number of powerful improved Vampires, gating in next to the statue's head.

The first wave was easy enough, and was completed in a couple of rounds. Only 1 Vampire, and he was literally chopped to pieces while gating. The Vampiric Mists are deadly, but only if they actually target a fighter in melee. Since they were targeting summons, they were no match.

All the summons survived. Immediately summoned the second wave. An Eminent Vampire died when gating. This time there are 2 Eminent Vampires and 1 Vampire. The Eminent Vampires are under permanent (Improved?) haste, have various immunities (including instant death and turn undead - in fact all modded undead have those), and dispel specific protections on hit. And cast Fear. And are under permanent Mantle (can be hit only by +3 or higher enchanted weapons). Even the lowly, but somewhat improved Vampires can dispel specific protections on hit. Because of enemy recognizing protections, the Mist Horrors don't use their Chaos when all within their sight are immune to the effect. However, immediately after R-C's specific protections were dispelled, a nearby Mist Horror cast Chaos, and while R-C immediately tried to re-cast Chaotic Commands (with reduced casting time it's still 2 however), the Chaos hit him, although he completed the spell afterwards. And of course, even with all powerful protective items  he failed to save vs spell. BTW here you can see why Skeleton Warriors are so excellent vs Vampiric Mists - apparently the Mists strike with non-enchanted weapons, to which SW are immune.

However, due to the powerful summons, and the fact that the still confused R-C actually fought more than ran, and the refreshed Barbarian Rage, the battle was won with ease.

Now remained the third and most dangerous wave. And now came the serious buffing and summoning. Weapons and protective items were rearranged so that each party member had a main-hand +3 weapon (FoA for RB, Mace +3 for R-C, Club +3 for the R, and the Barbarian has an assortment from which he chose the Staff of Striking as most damaging). The RB also consumed a potion of Defense, boosting his AC thremendously. Potions of Heroism were consumed by the ranger, barbarian and riskbreaker. Another potion of Frost Giant Str was consumed by the Ranger, and the RB received Giant Strength. Of course, all fighters received Improved Haste. Using Wondrous recall, were regained combat buffs for the R-C as well as sufficient amount of Chaotic Command spells for everyone except the mages and the berserker. The Ranger received the AoP while the R-C cast Shield of the Archons. 3 Salamander Nobles stood ready to face the Mists and probably to help with the Vampires. Actually, i made the mistake to summon 2 more Skeleton Warriors (after killing the previously one created - they were near-dead), but this actually thwarted my own first Limited Wish spell (no more than 5 monsters at a time, and the djinni counts). So I had to slay the 2 skeleton warriors before wishing again with PC.

2 Eminent Vampires and a Master Vampire are summoned now. Of course, all hits went to the Master Vampire while he was gating in. He gates 2 Vampire Brides each couple of turns, but after he's dead and the fighters have all their buffs active, the rest of the battle is very easy.

Reward: 4 Potions of Invulnerability (nerfed - in IA those simply set AC to -1 for 5 turns), 4 of Superior Healing, 1 Barbarian essence (undispellable immunity to backstab + 20% physical resistances for 10 turns), and a Permanency scroll.
Travelled to Umar Hills. Joined Valygar (ditched Temp - he did his job). Valygar came at lvl 12 (1 301 000 xp), proficiencies **Katana **Club *Flail *Short Sword *Longbow ***Two-weapon style. And now am going to once more use the xp exploit, until party mages hit lvl 26. Gonna take quite some time.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 17 novembre 2010 - 12:22 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Quick reference:

The party is gaining xp and gold progressively. So far overall xp is 3 500 000 for all except Valygar (he's 1 million behind). Ranger dualled at 2 700 000 (lvl 16) to Cleric (so far lvl 11). All got their first HLAs except, of course, R-C and Valygar. Fighters picked Hardiness, sorc picked Alchemy, PC picked Improved Alacrity, and sorc picked some new spells: Spell Turning, Foreknowledge, Monster Summoning VI (calls an Elite Troll) and Wish.

The mage's Alchemy creates fewer types of potions - defense (excellent for the Riskbreaker), oil of speed (normal or poisonous), stone form (which is nerfed and upon drinking lowers dexterity by 9), infravision (why the heck?), strength and agility (almost useless IMO).

Foreknowledge: 8th level divination spell, cast on self, duration 1 turn, undispellable. Grants the caster +1 THAC0 and saving throw bonus, -4 AC bonus and -1 decreased casting speed.

The fighters picked some new weapon proficiencies - Valygar now has ** in Short Swords, the Riskbreaker has *** in Flails (aiming for grandmastery) and the Barbarian put a star in 2-weapon style (might come in handy).

Bought a ton of useful and not-so-useful expensive items from all the merchants in Trademeet and Amn. But who knows, some of them might come in handy.

Wish-created potions can be sold, which provides with some gold. But Wishing is a bit dangerous in a no-reload. The Wish spell in IA has been tweaked seriously, but still remains almost the same. For example - wand creation is useless, since the wands are only of Sleep, Magic Missile and Frost, and come with 1 charge - and are unsellable on top of that. Magical rest may conjure powerful monsters + stripping party buffs. On the other hand, there is a new option 'Protection from Magical energy on party' which is excellent. Also, the Breach on everyone is tweaked not to affect Improved Invisible enemies, but won't make neutrals or summons hostile.

Valygar has a new ranger kit - Protector. Here is the description of the kit. He's currently lvl 15.

Improved Anvil V6
Protector Kit Description


PROTECTOR: Protectors are dedicated defenders of people and nature. They usually take residence
close to people who are in need of help, but they are also always prepared to travel when the
cause is fighting evil. While being great warriors, they can also learn and cast more spells than
other rangers. Protectors have such a strong affinity with mother nature that they never wear
armors greater than the studded leather. This self-imposed limitation has been compensated with
mental and physical abilities. A protector sacrifices a portion of his own health and stamina to
start learning the special protective methods and abilities of his kit.

Advantages:
- +1 bonus to Armor class for every 6 levels.
- Can memorize 2 additional spells per spell level.
- Has access to two special 3rd level spells (Great Berries & Mental Equilibrium).
- Gains "Cure Serious Wounds" at levels 7, 11 and 15.
- Gains "Mass Cure" at levels 10 and 16.
- Gains "Racial Combat" at level 19.

The 'Cure Serious Wounds' and 'Mass Cure' innate abilities have casting time of 1.

Racial Combat has 1 round casting time, so it's not very useful in thick of combat. Best cast beforehand.

Mental Equilibrium: School - Abjuration. Casting time: 1. Effect: Removes an incapacitated condition from a character like Hold, Stun, Feeblemind, Confusion. An invaluable spell in many situations.
Great Berries: Useless spell, like all Berry spells.


Disadvantages:
- May not wear armor greater than studded leather
- Incurs a -1 penalty to constitution
- Cannot dual class
- Requires 10 Intelligence and Charisma.

In short - none significant disadvantages.

Racial Combat:

Once per day, the protector can use this powerful innate ability to be prepared for fighting a
special race of his or her choice. The ability will grant useful bonuses against enemies of the
selected race, but will also make the protector subject to penalties against other races. The
effects (bonuses and penalties alike) won't be dispellable and will remain active for 2 turns.

The detailed bonuses and penalties are as follows:

1- Prepared for Demon:
1-1) +4 to hit and damage bonus vs. demons
1-2) -4 to hit and damage penalty vs. other races
1-3) Immunity to Demon Fear

2- Prepared for Dragon:
2-1) +2 to hit and damage vs. dragons
2-2) -4 to hit and damage penalty vs. other races
2-3) Immunity to Dragon Fear
2-4) Immunity to Greater Silence

3- Prepared for Golem:
3-1) +4 to hit and damage bonus vs. golems
3-2) -4 to hit and damage penalty vs. other races
3-3) +4 AC bonus vs. blunt weapons
3-4) -4 AC penalty vs. other weapon types
3-5) +2 bonus to critical hit modifier
3-6) Immunity to Golem Slow

4- Prepared for Lich:
4-1) +4 to hit and damage bonus vs. liches
4-2) -4 to hit and damage penalty vs. other races
4-3) Immunity to Grave Silence

5- Prepared for Mind Flayer:
5-1) +4 to hit and damage bonus vs. Mind Flayers
5-2) -4 to hit and damage penalty vs. other races
5-3) +4 AC bonus vs. blunt weapons
5-4) -4 AC penalty vs. other weapon types

6- Prepared for Skeleton:
6-1) +4 to hit and damage bonus vs. skeleton (lords, warlords, grandlords)
6-2) -4 to hit and damage penalty vs. other races
6-3) +4 AC bonus vs. slashing weapons
6-4) -4 AC penalty vs. other weapon types

7- Prepared for Spider:
7-1) +4 to hit and damage bonus vs. Spiders
7-2) -4 to hit and damage penalty vs. other races
7-3) -4 AC penalty vs. all weapon types except piercing
7-4) Immunity to Improved Web, Vortex Web and web

8- Prepared for Vampire:
8-1) +2 to hit and damage bonus vs. vampires
8-2) -6 to hit and damage penalty vs. other races
8-3) -6 AC penalty vs. all weapon types except blunt
8-4) Immunity to level drain.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 18 novembre 2010 - 01:40 .

[Humanoid_Taifun]

@Shadow

Is there a reason why you dualclassed the ranger at such a peculiar level? Is level advancement different in IA?

[polytope]

Aspasia continued

Forgot to mention a few things in the last post, found the defender of Easthaven in Illithid city and got the quest to save Mazzy's sister on return from UD. I also discovered the cause of the crash in planar prison (a thrall had two handed sword + shield equipped due to randomized items), a quick fix with NI and we're able to explore the place, which would've been challenging before the underdark, but easy at these levels.

Next up come three of the hardest (and best) encounters thus far: Twisted Rune, Bodhi and Chosen of Cyric. Very grateful to DavidW, Weimer, and Avenger respectively for making these (or at least making them what they should've been).

Found the weird portal in the bridge district (I wish there was a more coherent plot leading to this place); all looks very suspicious so prep fully and send some skeletons and a simulacrum of Aspasia (via farsight) to the far corners of the room. Trigger Shangalar and the enemies warp in: Vaxall is now an Elder orb rather than a simple beholder, and probably the most dangerous. Simmy Aspasia and Imoen get to work debuffing Vaxall while Tashia and Aspasia do the same for Shangalar and the skeletons distract Layenne, Valygar is targetted with a bat cloud, so runs to the far side of the room (it would suck for mages to fall under casting failure at this point). Shangalar gets off TS anyway, summoning a cornugon which Viccy has to tank as everyone else is busy, Mazzy gets breached but manages to drink a potion of clarity just before the beholder targets her with domination. Vaxall is quickly slain, whilst Tashia PW:Blinds Shangalar; Simmy Aspasia destroys the vampire and breaches Layenne, who is taken out by Valygar + skeletons. Shangalar falls next, Revanek last. The staff of the magi goes to Tashia.

The final fight with Bodhi, I was expecting to lose someone permanently here but luck was on my side. She summons 2 extra vampire mages and a horde of grimwarders - this was actually to our advantage as she wasn't able to get past her minions to the drainable members of the party. Also she gets an uninteruptable heal halfway through the fight, but aside from that it went pretty smoothly. Found the girdle of fortitude here (for Viccy ofc.).

Some of the party get HLA's after this fight, Valygar takes hardiness, Viconia takes implosion, Aspasia and Tashia take extra lvl 6 slot (planetars are a bit imbalanced for SoA, I find).

Resting after that long battle, the party proceeds back to Elhan - but we get ambushed by a party of high level followers of Cyric. You can have a brief chat with their leader Vendurius, and even talk your way past them if you choose the options carefully... But I didn't (first time I've done this encounter, but I had an idea of what to expect).

All magic on the party is dispelled before entering the area, the enemy mage (Selina) starts off with a spell trigger containing malison, chaos, and slow. Aspasia has the ring of free action + greenstone amulet, Valygar uses a potion of magic shielding, Viconia uses a potion of +50% MR (putting her over 100), Mazzy has her sword + shield of harmony. Tashia is able to run out of the AoE (boots of speed). Aspasia uses her sequencer (2*remove magic, 1*malison) targetted at the mislead clone of the enemy fighter/mage (Zaeron) - the enemy party all start out improved invisible, thus the mislead clone is the only valid target - Imoen also activates her sequencer (minor globe, stoneskin, teleport field). Seconds later Aspasia's chain contingency (spell turning, imp haste, ProMW) and Imoens contingency (haste) trigger. Since Vendurius and Zaeron are no longer invisible they retreat and Mazzy is able to stun Zaeron with a Kuo bolt, unfortunately she chases him to far and is killed by some traps.

Some running around is necessary to avoid the lightning fast fighter Grok, until the party mages' aura is "clean" and they can spam some webs. The enemy mage, priest, and halfling archer get stuck in the webs, taking them out of action. (The party are immune to the webs as follows, Imoen cast immunity:evocation, Aspasia wears boots from Aurora that protect from web/entangle - failing that a potion of freedom would suffice - Aspasia gives the ring of free action to Tashia, Viconia has 100% MR still and Valygar has magic shielding). Tashia at some point was able to Imp. haste Valygar and PW:Blind Grok (which helped a lot). Zaeron's stun wore off at this point and he recast mislead and attacked, I know the area he camps in is trapped but a remove magic in his general direction worked just fine, after which he was pinned down by the party and fell. Vendurius was last, having wasted his backstab on an air elemental.

Okay, I could've done that battle a lot better, and without the cheese of passing equipment around while the game is paused... It was my first attempt though, and I had not been lucky enough to find a spell trigger scroll, which would've been very useful because there is no chance to prebuff.

Edit, links

Modifié par polytope, 18 novembre 2010 - 08:10 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Humanoid_Taifun wrote...

@Shadow
Is there a reason why you dualclassed the ranger at such a peculiar level? Is level advancement different in IA?

Pretty obvious reason actually, for someone who has access to the documents of the level progression XP cap in IA 6.0 is 12 200 000 xp. This is enough for any character except mage, sorcerer or bard to reach lvl 40. The three arcane classes are limited to lvl 36. In addition to that, a Cleric reaches lvl 39 at 9 375 000 xp. Leaving 2 825 000 xp for the ranger subclass. 16th level Ranger is achieved at 2 700 000. I simply didn't wanna waste any xp.

Usually, experienced IA 6 players who play without exploits dual their Ranger at start of the game (as I did with Temp), and thus have a R(7)->C(39) much faster. However, a R(16)->C(39) is far better To begin with, he has more HP, extra 1/2 attack, and better THAC0 without buffing (and in IA there are a lot of tough battles when you don't have the convenience of preparing with Holy Power and Righteous Magic).


 Improved Anvil V6
                             New level progression tables



           1          2          3          4          5          6          7          8          9          10         11         12         13         14         15         16         17         18         19         20         21         22         23         24         25         26         27         28         29         30         31         32         33         34         35         36         37         38         39         40                 
MAGE       0          2500       5000       10000      20000      40000      60000      90000      135000     250000     425000     850000     1275000    1700000    2125000    2550000    2975000    3400000    3875000    4350000    4825000    5300000    5775000    6250000    6725000    7200000    7675000    8150000    8625000    9100000    9575000    10050000   10525000   11000000   11475000   11950000*  12425000   12900000   13375000   13850000
FIGHTER    0          2000       4000       8000       16000      32000      64000      125000     250000     500000     800000     1100000    1400000    1700000    2000000    2300000    2600000    2900000    3200000    3500000    3850000    4200000    4550000    4900000    5250000    5600000    5950000    6300000    6650000    7000000    7350000    7700000    8050000    8400000    8750000    9100000    9450000    9800000    10150000   12200000
PALADIN    0          2250       4500       9000       18000      36000      75000      150000     300000     600000     950000     1300000    1650000    2000000    2350000    2700000    3050000    3400000    3800000    4200000    4600000    5000000    5400000    5800000    6200000    6600000    7000000    7400000    7800000    8200000    8600000    9000000    9400000    9800000    10200000   10600000   11000000   11400000   11800000   12200000
RANGER     0          2250       4500       9000       18000      36000      75000      150000     300000     600000     950000     1300000    1650000    2000000    2350000    2700000    3050000    3400000    3800000    4200000    4600000    5000000    5400000    5800000    6200000    6600000    7000000    7400000    7800000    8200000    8600000    9000000    9400000    9800000    10200000   10600000   11000000   11400000   11800000   12200000
CLERIC     0          1500       3000       6000       13000      27500      55000      110000     225000     450000     725000     1000000    1275000    1550000    1825000    2100000    2375000    2650000    2925000    3200000    3475000    3800000    4125000    4450000    4775000    5100000    5425000    5750000    6075000    6400000    6725000    7050000    7375000    7700000    8025000    8350000    8675000    9000000    9325000    12200000
DRUID      0          2000       4000       7500       12500      20000      35000      60000      90000      150000     300000     625000     1250000    2500000    3000000    3250000    3500000    3800000    4100000    4400000    4700000    5000000    5300000    5600000    5900000    6200000    6500000    6800000    7100000    7400000    7700000    8000000    8300000    8600000    8900000    9200000    9500000    9800000    10100000   12200000
THIEF      0          1250       2500       5000       10000      20000      40000      70000      110000     160000     270000     540000     810000     1080000    1350000    1620000    1890000    2160000    2430000    2700000    2970000    3240000    3510000    3830000    4150000    4470000    4790000    5110000    5430000    5750000    6070000    6390000    6710000    7030000    7350000    7670000    7990000    8310000    8630000    12200000
BARD       0          1250       2500       5000       10000      20000      40000      70000      110000     160000     320000     640000     960000     1280000    1650000    2020000    2390000    2760000    3130000    3550000    4020000    4540000    5060000    5580000    6100000    6620000    7140000    7660000    8180000    8700000    9220000    9740000    10260000   10780000   11300000   11820000*  12340000   12860000   13380000   13900000
SORCERER   0          2500       5000       10000      20000      40000      60000      90000      135000     250000     425000     850000     1275000    1700000    2125000    2550000    2975000    3400000    3875000    4350000    4825000    5300000    5775000    6250000    6725000    7200000    7675000    8150000    8625000    9100000    9575000    10050000   10525000   11000000   11475000   11950000*  12425000   12900000   13375000   13850000
MONK       0          1500       3000       6000       13000      27500      55000      110000     225000     450000     725000     1000000    1275000    1550000    1825000    2100000    2375000    2650000    2925000    3200000    3475000    3800000    4125000    4450000    4775000    5100000    5425000    5750000    6075000    6400000    6725000    7050000    7375000    7700000    8025000    8350000    8675000    9000000    9325000    12200000




(*) This is the maximum level for a mage/sorcerer/bard due to the xpcap.

Edit: Party mages hit level 19. Aiming for lvl 26, since almost all powerful enemies in the early chapters are lvl 25 and below, and Remove Magic will have effect on them while in the same time arcane buffs will be undispellable by enemy Dispel/Remove magic. Of course, mages will have far more HLAs and spell slots at lvl 26 than at level 19 too and fighters will have more HLAs as well.

Potions created by the Wish spell can still be sold. Those are as in vanilla: Antidote, Oil of Speed, Insulation, Absorbtion, Healing, Superior Healing, Clarity, Regeneration, Cold Resistance and two from IA 5.0 - Acid Resistance (50%) and Vitality (heals fatigue, poison and disease + 16 HP). Almost all of those would be useful in many battles, that's why I am assembling large quantities now. It's really annoying when you need a certain potion in battle and suddenly discover you don't have enough of those.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 19 novembre 2010 - 12:32 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Ok, so adventure continues. By applying further gold and xp gaining exploits, the party now has half a million gold pieces and also average experience per person 7 300 000 (well Valygar is behind by 1 million, but he's still of decent level). Party levels, skills and HLA:

Astarta (PC) Necromancer: All except Alchemy
Alia the sorceress: All HLAs except Scribe Scrolls

Scribe Scrolls(Mage) in IA 6.0 creates unsellable scrolls of: Blur, Ghost Armor, Chill Touch, Oracle, Hold Monster and one more, I forgot it at present, well the only useful scrolls are Blur and Ghost Armor, that's why I didn't pick those spells with the sorceress - she will have those mostly irrelevant buffs from the scrolls.

Spell picks at current level:
Lvl 1: MM, LMD, Chromatic Orb, Shield, Armor

In IA 6.0, both Shield and Armor last for 3 turns, set base AC to 6, have casting time of 1, but both spells set some AC modifiers: Shield adds 3 to the AC modifier vs Crushing and Missile attacks, and Armor does the same to Slashing and Piercing. So combining both spells and Ghost Armor is actually extremely effective protection.

Lvl 2: Mirror Image, Invisibility, Resist Fear, Melf's Acid Arrow, Strength

IA's creator claims that Knock is an excellent lvl 2 pick for a sorceress (he even put it on Imoen and in 'pick for me' button choices), which once more reveals his 'excellent' playing skills. Why such a useless spell is good especially in a party which is bound to have a cleric who will cast it anyway?? Or even the party mage can use it, while sorcerer picks a different and somewhat more useful spell instead.

Lvl 3: Remove Magic, Haste, Flame Arrow, Vampiric Touch, Protection from Cold

Unsure about the last one, maybe should be Lightning bolt.

Lvl 4: Stoneskin, Improved Invisibility, Emotion, Ray of Fragmentation, Ice Storm

About the last pick - it's good to have some sort of damaging spell at each level. And since Spirit Armor and Teleport Field are nerfed (TF allows save, and SA lasts for only 15 rounds and doesn't allow save when it runs out), I decided that Ice Storm is the best pick of the remaining ones.

Lvl 5: Sunfire, Breach, Lower Resistance, Spell Immunity

Lvl 6: Giant Strength, Improved Haste, ProMW, Globe of Invulnerability

Lvl 7: Ruby Ray of Reversal, Monster Summoning V, Spell Turning, Mass Invisibility

Unsure about Mass Invisibility. IA 6.0 has implemented in-game cheats which dispel illusions in the midst of toughest battles usually. I call them 'cheats' because those aren't linked to any enemy ability - you just get the information in the dialogue window stating 'illusions dispelled'. No SI:D, no NOTHING can change that. Still, I think Mass Invisibility may be more useful than other spells on this level.

Lvl 8: Monster Summoning VI, Protection from Energy, Spell Trigger, Foreknowledge

Lvl 9: Wish, Chain Contingency, Absolute Immunity, Monster Summoning VII

CC has big drawback in IA: It can be cast only once/24 hours, and after casting it, not even normal Contingency spell can be cast for that period.


Valygar (Ranger-protector) - lvl 25. HLAs: 2 Hardiness, 1 Contact With Nature, 1 Power Attack, 4 Critical Strike.

Contact with Nature replaces Tracking in IA. Target: self. Grants 18 hp/round regeneration and immunity to petrification and imprisonment for 1 turn.
Proficiencies for Valygar: *** Two-weapon, * Longbow, ** Flail, ** Clubs ** Short Sword ** Katana **Warhammer

Grunt the Barbarian: lvl 30. HLAs: 1 WW, 7 GWW, 3 Hardiness
Proficiencies: **Two-Handed weapon style ** Two-handed sword ** Halberd ** Spear **Quarterstaff **Two-weapon style **Warhammer


Saros the Riskbreaker: lvl 30 HLAs: 1 Power Attack, 7 Critical Strike, 3 Hardiness
Proficiencies: *****Flails **Longsword **Shortsword **Axe ***Two-weapon style

I think my mistake here was the third star in two-weapon style, since otherwise the RB could achieve grand mastery with three different weapons.

Torham the R(16)->C(24) - Proficiencies in everything to the max (**) except Sword and Shield style. HLAs: Foreknowledge (yes, apparently the clerics get this too), Alchemy (creates potions of Healing, Extra Healing, Antidote, Antidote(poisonous), Elixir of Health, Vitality, and Regeneration), and Aura of Flaming Death. There were no other new clerical HLAs so far, except Foreknowledge, which apparently replaces Mass Raise Dead.

Went to the graveyard, reported to Bodhi for the last task, got the quest xp, then visited the Crypt King and Queen (she's a vampire, well at least she drains levels), which at current level were a walkover. Got Namarra, which in IA 6 has one Cure Serious Wounds charge per day (might come in handy).

Well, that's it so far. I don't expect much resistance from monsters at present.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 20 novembre 2010 - 05:27 .

[polytope]

Final update of Aspasia for SoA

Returning to Elhan, we make a brief detour to the north forest, where we find a Timestop scroll on a party of hostile adventurers. Also visit the forest of Tethyr, where our old friend Coran is pining outside his cabin for his lost love (not surprising actually, as the inside of his cabin was filled with nasty mist creatures - I mean, when your girlfriend gets kidnapped by werewolves, your only neighbours are Wyvern worshippers and undead evict you from your home, you've got a reason to be unhappy). Coran actually survived the reunion with his (werewolf) ex though, because SCS gives invisibility potions to most thieves including him.

Suldanessalar went pretty smoothly, Rakshasas might have been scary in chapter 2, but not here (particularly with a sorceress who can cast limited wish for globe of invulnerability on the party). Found the mighty firetooth dagger in one of the buildings, which is now Imoen's primary weapon.

The black dragon (I'll never learn to spell his name) was the toughest dragon thus far; fewer items boost acid resistance than fire resistance - and precast arcane prot from acid gets dispelled from the fighters, because the dragon is quite high level.

Imoen died to Suneer's chain contingency horrid wilting, very embarassing as I could've protected her, and very unlucky too as she needed to roll a 1 to fail her save. With this in mind I prepared properly for Irenicus on the tree - unlike Vanilla Irenicus (who cheats a lot i.e. simultaneously casting spellstrike and PW:Kill) he was no more difficult to defeat than Raamliat or Suneer.

In hell Aspasia chose the good paths mostly, but the "neutral" pathway (questpack) in the trials of fear and wrath - the reward for taking the "good" path in the fear trial (immune to weapons < +2) is a bit cheesy especially on a fighter mage who can cast ProMW. The elder orb (only one, strangely) in the fear chamber succumbed to the same tactics as Vaxall.

Now came my big worry; improved Slayer Irenicus. He is a formidable opponent mainly because (as another poster noted) he melees your party while they are frozen in time. Still, I felt that with three mages we could take him. The battle opens with Irenicus slamming up a load of prebuffs; Imoen (with the dark elf chain from CoC encounter - not quite Vecna, but still very nice) and Tashia (wearing AoP) cast very quick spell thrust and ruby ray respectively, removing his immmunity:divination and spell trap. Viccy, Aspasia and Imoen are all running True Sight and reveal him quickly, Aspasia zaps him with the wand of spell striking (again, from CoC) and attempts melee... Unfortunately Irenicus' contingencied ProMW kicks in too soon and he gets his time stop off anyway. Fortunately, he wasn't actually able to kill me during his TS thanks to my stoneskin and mirror image (though he did a lot of damage - can't tank him with ProMW or he switches targets). It was no trouble to interrupt his second timestop, though after that blinded him and focused on killing his demons (the demons are all improved and much too annoying/dangerous to be ignored). Without his demon backup, Irenicus was slain with no further problems.

I suppose in order to guarantee interrupting the slayer's TS, you would need at least 4 NPC mages/wand users (simulacrums not suitable, as they are blown back when the door opens) either that or Improved Alarcity, but I don't like to use 9th level spells/HLAs in SoA as I find them overpowered... guess I need to refine my strategy for this battle a bit.

And so the journey continues to ToB... Though I may take a break. Good luck to everyone who is still in the challenge.

[Evil Lantier]

Nice to see this is still going. Also nice to see Saros and Alesia posting again. Always enjoy reading your tactics!

[saros_shadow_follower]

Hmph yeah, not very great tactics with a high-level party. Not much skill, not much thinking, there's room for plenty of mistakes, and the tactics are not that great either - summons, proper buffing, HLAs and stripping enemy mages of their protections. But unfortunately IA 6.0 isn't soloable due to in-game implemented cheats which prevent certain protagonists or solo-characters (well, fighter-mages to be precise) from gaining certain powerful items (like scroll of Spell Immunity or robe of Vecna). Also, such protagonists are subject to cheating monster scripts. If for example such a character enters the Slaver Compound, he gets his spell protections dispelled without reason or warning - it just happens. Also, powerful enemies (like Orcus) have cheating scripts vs soloers which will allow them to, for example target such a protagonist with Purge Magic (which dispels all buffs except undispellable ones and isn't stopped by SI:A), while at the same time, they do not do such things (i.e. they fight in their usual and honest way) when challenged by a (powerful) party of 5 or 6.

In short, the most dangerous battles are made (by implemented in-game cheats by the mod's designer) impossible to win if anyone attempts a solo or a team with 4 or fewer members. Or if the protagonist is any kind of fighter-mage.

So with that little sidetracking, back to the story. It isn't really that great. Due to high party levels and many HLAs, the enemies drop like flies.

First completed Xzar's quest. Then dropped Valygar (temporarily) for Jaheira. Completed both her quests, mainly because of several rings +1 which are looted from the Harper fights, and a fourth amulet +1 (thus all the fighters have one at present) from Dermin. Got the Harper Pin too. In IA 6.0 the item is different. It offers only +2 bonus to save vs spells and 25% resistance to electricity, but also offers 25% resistance to magical damage, which is far more useful than immunity to Magic Missile. Unfortunately, the item cannot be worn by anyone in the party.

Also, completed Jan's subquest, so that I may use him freely if need be. With Jan in the party, they entered the Slaver Compound from the back. Jan was needed because inside are several nasty unremovable (by triggering them) traps - one shoots poison arrows, the other shoots Prismatic spray. Well, the battle here was aimed at not allowing the wizard to read his Improved Haste scroll. Alia with Amulet of Power and Foreknowledge (reduced casting time by 2) shot quickly 2 RRR under Alacrity, followed by trigger with Remove Magics, and he dropped dead in a second to the surrounding him party fighters. This fight is tricky, because one must actually make it to the original entrance for Captain Haegan to show up (he is nowhere to be seen, and appears only when one character makes a run for it to the other entrance). If this isn't done quickly, the party can be overwhelmed by multiple Assassins. Those backstab nastily, are immune to emotion, carry no items and grant no xp when slain. Still, at present levels, those are easily dealt with by Dragon Breath. At lower party levels, I recommend Fireballs and Sunfires (well, obv the party must be protected from Fire) and Greater Malison (for more damage from the fire spells). An easy fight (at present levels). Reward: Golden Star Garnet gem + Permanency Scroll + Improved Haste scroll + Mage Robe of Electrical Resistance + RoP +1 and other sellable items.

The party went to Cromwell to forge a RoP +2 (there are sufficient +1 rings) out of three +1.

Dropped Jan. Rejoined Valygar. Forged a Morning Star +3 out of the +2 looted from the Shadow Jailor and one of the two Permanency Scrolls.

BTW here the party cleric-ranger Torham hit lvl 25, and was rewarded with the holy symbol of Lathander.

Next defeated the pirates. This fight, usually so tricky to win even by a high-level soloer, is so very easy even to a mid-level party. At present levels - the enemy fighters dropped like flies before even managing to strike anyone (including the Captain - he didn't even have the chance to activate one of his multiple HLAs) and the mage fell after a couple of remove magics, and he only recast several dispelled illusions and a stoneskin. He wasn't even able to cast True Sight.

Loot: The Book of Infinite Spells (which is inside the Item Randomizer now). Decided to stop turning the pages after the spell True Seeing. Also, the Crimson Chain +5 for the barbarian, and other static items: purple Bag of Holding, some scrolls, a pair of Worn Out Boots, a Golden Star Garnet (second), a Bastard Sword +2, some gems, a potion of Storm Giant str.

Cleared lvl 1 of WK next, up to the point where the party should enter the room with the fireplace. Three nasty random monster spawns here. One to the left - a group of 2 Eminent Vampires and some Vampiric Mists. Walkover at present party levels, but still didn't take any chances and summoned 2 Greater Yuanti (Monster Summoning VII) which occupied their attention.

Next random group - right in the center. 4 Noble trolls and some Spirit trolls. Noble trolls can be harmed only by +3 or greater weapons. Good thing that all party fighters (and mages, but who cares about them) have a +3 main-hand weapon.

Third random group: checked under Farsight. Those are actually 2 groups. First is: 3 Gem Golems +2 Coin Golems + Greater Bone golem. Second is: 3 Skeleton Lords 2 Skeleton Warlords 1 Skeleton Grandlord. All together in one small room - the fireplace room. 12 tough enemies. The Greater Bone Golem uses Hideous laughter, which can Stun and also Panic all party members, no matter where they stand on the battlefield. The Skeleton Grandlord can be hit only by +4 weapons (party has none at present). The Coin and Gem golems dispel illusions on successful hit.

Left this level for now (after winning the Bell from its Fanatic Spirit guardian - summons and all party fighters hitting him - a walkover) and the Book from the 2 regular fighters + 2 clerical statues (when a full party enters this level, there are more than usual statues - one mage, 2 clerical, and some more fighter statues).

It was clear that the party needs +4 weapon. The easiest to forge at present is the Phosphorous Morningstar. Party went to the Slums and bought the Mauler's arm mace (ingredient). Next stormed the sewers, killing the Horrid Rakshasa in the midst (got Cloak of the Sewers), clearing Mekrath's lab (a group of spiders here - spiders don't like Greater Yuanties - well fighter support is necessary, because the Yuanties cannot slay all spiders on their own), killed Mekrath's Imp (at current levels a walkover). Freed Haer'dalis, got the planar gem and another Laeral's tear necklace (forged a second Cloak +2 with its help - went to Valygar).

Cleared Planar Prison. Very easy. The Elite Bounty Huntress (a F/M/C) can be slain before actually putting up a fight. While still neutral, she casts True Sight (if all party is FULLY invisible at entering the prison), and if all fighters surround and hit her in this moment, with the Giant Strength and Improved Haste buffs, she actually dies in half a round. Loot - a second Morning Star +2 and some scrolls (GoI - for the Necromancer).

The rest of the enemies include a spider group near the wyvern, but they and the Master of Thralls were no match. The pits are made to not swallow anyone, which helps a lot! It was the pits which made fights so much harder in vanilla or IA 5.0. Got the Gauntlets of Weapon Skill - went to the R-C, and another +1 ring.

Before destroying the Command Orb, buffed very well, and summoned several Greater Yuanti. After destroying it, 5 Planar Hounds appeared. Also, an Improved Web shot out of nowhere. Still, the 5 hounds lasted exactly 1 round. Next the party went to intercept the Warden. The Warden is apparently cheating, since his Chain Contingency with 3 FoD targeted tie Improved Invisible sorceress unerringly, but of course, she was not in the slightest the nearest person to him - she stood in the back (CC can be set only on Nearest enemy or Last Hit By, or Self of course - the sorceress was NEITHER of those when the CC targeted her). She survived because the Riskbreaker quickly unattached all +2 protective items and threw them to her, and she also equipped the Periapt of Life Protection. Afterwards of course she was the key element of stripping the Warden of his buffs (2 RRR + Remove magic did the trick). The Warden had 3 more Planar Hounds with him. Loot: a Permanency Scroll, an Improved Haste scroll, a girdle, some scrolls, the Wave shaft, Ajatha the Drinker, gems. The Staff of Air was looted from the last container (no longer in Master of Thralls' posession).

Afterwards the party got the playhouse as a stronghold, forged a second +3 morningstar using second permanency scroll, then with the last (so far) Permanency scroll and the rest of the ingredients forged Phosphorous +4. It went to the Riskbreaker.

With Phosphorous, proper buffing, other fighters and casters help, and several Greater Yuanti, the six skeletons + six golems described earlier were overwhelmed. Well, not with ease, but the fact that they could fight no more than two at once (because of the narrow entrance, blocked by the summons) also helped a lot. With that, the party could complete lvl 1 of WK (killed the other Fanatic Spirit guarding the candle and opened the way to the 2nd level, the statues are easy). Got a Dagger +3 (also got the Pixie ****** +3 from the Prison, so now both casters have +3 staves and +3 daggers) and some more items. Went to lvl 2 and opened it to the outside.

Next went to kill Pai-Na. Pai-Na is the only pre-Spellhold location of Spell Immunity scroll. However, killing her triggers the nasty Spider Queen fight on WK lvl 1. The Spider Queen has many nasty qualities, but the most important one for now is her immunity to +3 and lower weapons. Since the party has only one +4 weapon, the chances of defeating her are slim. That's why lvl 1 of WK had to be cleared out before tangling with Pai-Na.

The lvl 1 of Graveyard Catacombs is filled with improved spiders. The most dangerous are the Mutated ones - great saves, great immunities (to all kinds of elemental AND magical damage), and great resistances (to physical damage) + many HP and regeneration, of course. At present levels a walkover - but death to a low-level party. 3 such groups before killing Pai-Na (she's relatively easy although the vanilla spiders spawning from corpses are replaced by Sword spiders). Got the green Ioun stone for the Riskbreaker, and the Spell Immunity scroll for the Necromancer.

Went to finish the Temple Ruins. Had to fight 2 random powerful undead spawns. I feared of Skeleton Grandlords (again). Turned out that the first group had no Grandlord at all - just 2 Lords, 2 Greater Mummies and the regular Shade Lich. The second group, however, had 1 Grandlord, but the party fighters divided the skeletons, and while RB and the summons engaged the Grandlord, the rest engaged the other 2 Skeleton Lords + Warlord. Those all were lured, for 2 reasons - I don't like narrow places to fight, and also - separating them from the Shade Lich. Much easier to first slay the skeletons, then engage the sole Lich (and party levels are high enough for Remove magic to be successful).

Traxi: The easiest dragon fight ever.Still, the party challenged the dragon by talking to him. But the summons and proper buffing hepled a lot, and even his spell trigger didn't save him. Loot: A permanency scroll, shadow dragon tooth, shadow dragon scales, CF scroll, and the vanilla gems. And a VOCALIZE scroll (those are very rare in IA 6.0).

Next was slain the Shade Lord. Here things were tricky, because he has the support of 2 Grandlords (apparently, due to high party levels). The RB and R-C challenged them, although R-C was more like an Ironskined wall which got the attention of 1 Grandlord (and also killed the Shadelord when his protections were dispelled). Due to enemy Field of Dark Magic, ProMagicEnergy is important in this fight.

So got all the parts to forge the Supreme Chain Mail (for the barbarian), also got other items (including 1 green scroll of ProLevelDrain).

Also completed the Limited Wish quest and cleared the outskirts of the Troll Mound (several Noble Trolls and several Spirti ones).

Entering the Planar sphere now. Party levels:

PC lvl 27 necromancer
Torham lvl 16-26 ranger-cleric
Alia lvl 27 sorceress
Grunt lvl 32 barbarian
Saros lvl 32 riskbreaker
Valygar lvl 26 protector

Fighters emphasized on combat HLAs (Criticals and GWW for barbarian), the R-C took Implosion and Globe of Blades. The mages have it all.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 21 novembre 2010 - 11:30 .

[Humanoid_Taifun]

Saros, firstly I'd like to know why you used the exploits in the first place if now your group is too overpowered.

And secondly, how did you get all this information? (like where you must go for the game to spawn a specific opponent) This is a no-reload, and I trust you not to cheat...

[saros_shadow_follower]

Well, I have some experience from previous run-throughs. Still, my experience with the mod is limited to the first couple of chapters only, so I doubt this would be a successful no reload. Furthermore, I have another IA game in progress, a so-called 'tester' party (which is a bit different though since it has a multi R/C instead of a dual) that's a bit far ahead in the game than the no-reload party, it helps me test stuff.

About the information - part of it has been confirmed from a previous solo runthrough, my first attempt with the mod. Another modder, the bigg, from G3 forums helped with the info, apparently he looked into the scripting of the mod itself. Since it has been confirmed on many occasions, I believe his info is accurate even on encounters I haven't yet tested myself (like solo Orcus fight).

Example: in my solo run, I fought Samia and her party. The loot was not very spectacular, but I noticed that Kaol casts fast. Since he's one of the locations of the randomized Robe of Vecna, I suspected he'd have it - but he didn't drop it. When I supplied this info on the G3 forum, the bigg replied that Samia and party don't drop some items IF attacked by a solo. I reloaded and redid the whole Windspear Hill dungeon with the same character, but after resurrecting several dead bodies which he carried with him (a sorceress and 2 clerics). This time, although again neither the sorceress or the clerics took ANY participation in the fight, Kaol dropped the Robe of Vecna, and Ferric Ironblade from the same group dropped another item - the Girdle of Hill Giant Str, which I also didn't receive when fighting the group solo.

Another example: I complained a lot about not being able to get Spell Immunity scroll. Other people assured me it is in Pai-Na's lair where it originally is. The bigg helped again with info that the scroll IS indeed there, but it vanishes if the protagonist is a Fighter-mage of any kind. I redid the battle with a Berserker protagonist and a Sorceress supporter, and the scroll was indeed there!

Those are only the beginning of the anti-solo and anti-F/M cheats. The bigg went even further and checked a lot the mod's content concerning anti-solo strategies and anti-F/M-protagonist strategies, that's where I got my info.

I assure you, I'd be the last person to cheat if my party is slain in battle. So far the game is no-reload. As for the exploits, I just want to tangle with Fikraag the red dragon prior to Spellhold, and from my previous run, I know the battle is extremely hard. Firkraag is improved a lot and has Skeleton Warlord support. also he spams Lower Fire Resistance abilities like crazy (those are AoE btw, and there is something cheaty or buggy about them, though I cannot quite put my finger on it).

Plus, I kinda want to use an exploit, since Sikret strived so hard to close all available exploits, but actually missed this one (and not only this one). And I didn't expect Traxi to be so weak either In short, the exploit allows me to quickly skip the easier fights and go straight to the big game.

As a side note, the party is now inside the Planar Sphere. The improved Halflings are easy at present levels. Entu is usually the most dangerous with his stunning Balistic Attack. For a lower-level party I suggest the Free Action buff pre-combat. Loot: Gauntlets of Ogre Str for Valygar and 2 RoP +1, plus Improved mantle and other scrolls.

Killed an improved Golem group in the wheel chamber. The group was similar to that inside WK lvl 1 (only the golem half of course).

Fought Lavok too. Lavok is way improved. He originally had 2 Gem Golems in IA 5.0. Now, of course, those are more dangerous since they dispel illusions on hit. But in addition, he has 5 Skeleton Lords. And cannot be killed (well, incapacitated being more accurate) unless the golems and the skeletons are killed first. Still, the party fighters were powerful enough to slay the enemies in 2 rounds, while the sorceress took care of the enemy buffs.

Another interesting thing is that IA 6.0 enemies refresh spell protections. If SI:A or GoI is dispelled, lavok's first action is trying to refresh it. However, the battle is lost for him if he faces a mage under Alacrity - he cannot erect Si:A before the Remove Magic or Breach hits him.

A Giant Strength scroll is hidden in the Fungus room. The sorceress usually takes care of that buff, but still, it's good for the necro to have it as well.

That leaves Tolgeras, the power core improved Golems and the Demon Lord in the demon plane. Each of those are easier than Lavok, at least.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 22 novembre 2010 - 01:41 .

[Humanoid_Taifun]

Thanks for the info.

Now I have only one question left. Why doesn't Sikret just program the game to instantly kill any solo protagonist (after leaving Irenicus' dungeon)? Wouldn't that be easier?

[saros_shadow_follower]

I asked that same question to the bigg. He answered that it would be too obvious, and also, once I learn such checkpoints, I may learn how to avoid them. Imagine for example - a soloer with 5 dead bodies, resurrecting them (via a Planetar for example) only if need be(and slaying them again afterwards).

But in fact, not getting useful solo-equipment or being subject to different (more dangerous) script and abilities also means certain death, and it is much, much harder to notice.

Of course, it would be almost impossible to 'avoid' such checkpoints if they're in the middle of a very hard fight. Example - the fight with Orcus. His 'Purge Magic' triggers only on 3 conditions (and all of them have to be met): Protagonist is a bard or mage different from a necromancer, protagonist has more than 8 150 000 xp, and party consists of less than 4 alive members. Now imagine starting the fight with Orcus with a strong PC and a party consisting of resurrected dead bodies (weaklings, so to speak). When the weaklings are slain (almost immediately), the third and final condition is met, and Orcus starts Purge magic on PC (meaning, death - in that fight without defensive buffs you're chopped to pieces in a sec).

But Sikret has indeed implemented some instakill effects, which the bigg also checked and informed me about. For example, entering Gromnir's fortress solo and under Timestop gets your character instantly killed.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 22 novembre 2010 - 01:53 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Further adventures of Astarta & party:

The party finished almost effortlessly the Planar Sphere. Due to many warrior HLAs, the golems in the power core were easy. From the loot: the Necromancer got a scroll of Disrupt undead (a 7th level spell equivalent to the clerical spell with the same name), obtained the hilt of The Truth longsword (the blade is in possession of the Chromatic Demon), got a ring +2, Corthala family scabbard and the amulet of Charon from Lavok, also a scroll of Memory boosting - too much items to describe all. The fighters got the Staff of Fire (I intend to keep that one, since it's far more useful as it is - Fireshield for all- rather than upgrading it to a silly +4 staff useable only by mages).

After completing the sphere, the party helped the Solamnic Knights home...errm not quite. The party indeed paid Kolynuus Paac to appear and transport the Knights home, but immediately after party got the xp and Golden Girdle, the Riskbreaker slew Kolynuus Paac (7k xp), and then the knights (2k xp each). That wizard is never gonna charge 9 000 gold anymore! The nerve!

Astarta overlooked her apprentices for full 12 days inside the sphere, in the meantime a strange woman (Marvella) appeared and Astarta talked to her. First challenge of Marvella was accepted (Steam Elemental prince) but the party decided it's too dangerous to fight it now (can be hurt only by +4 weapons anyway), so they simply decided to check on the 'magical container'. Did it twice. Got some spell scrolls, including ADHW and ProEnergy. The apprentices crafted successfully the Wand, an ADHW scroll and the Robe of the Apprenti.

The party, with sufficient amount of +1 rings in pack, went and created 2 more +2 rings. A total of 5 +2 rings is available to the party now, and the lucky +2 wearers are Valygar, the RB and also the R-C. The other would have to settle to +1 items for now. Also, after giving it a lot of thought, decided to create the Amulet of Hades. Ingredients for this item: Metaspell Influence Amulet (Chateau Irenicus), AoP (Aran Linvail), Amulet of Charon (Lavok), Permanency scroll, Manual of Elaboration, Vocalize scroll (Traxi the shadow dragon). And the Protagonist has to be a single-class Necromancer (meaning, having a custom Necromancer in the party with different protagonist won't allow this item to be created in the first place).

Unfortunately, forging the Amulet of Hades disables the ability to switch the AoP anymore, since it's consumed in the process. Still, the item is incredibly powerful in IA 6.0, since there is a special and powerful type of liches called Grave Liches, those use Grave Silence ability (no save, no way to stop it, Vocalize or Dispel Magic or anything can't remove it, and also quick-slot icons and special ability icons are darkened by it). Dragons have a similar ability, called Greater Silence (in IA 5.0 it allowed a save vs spell at -9 but not anymore). Only a character immune to silence can successfully cast vs Grave Liches and dragons.

The sorceress, now without an amulet, will wear the Periapt of Life Protection, which is actually very useful for her.

Everyone got a level up inside the Sphere. Mages are now lvl 28, the RB and Barbarian lvl 33 (got another Critical Strike and GWW, and new weapon proficiencies - RB to Long Sword ***, and Barbarian to Bastard Sword *), Valygar also got a proficiency which went to Daggers *, got Hardiness as HLA, and the R-C picked Elemental Summoning at lvl 27.

That's it for now. Going to challenge Firkraag next (well after completing the dungeon, Samia, Conster and the Paladin Stronghold tasks first).

Edit: decided to visit WK lvl 2 first. Checking on enemies is always good - helps for adequate preparations. And yes that is a Steam Elemental Prince in the corner.

Here is also the Supreme Chain worn by the barbarian. This item is forged out of Mail of the Dead (Chateau Irenicus), Crimson Chain (Pirate Captain), Darkmai (Shadow Patrick) and Ashen Scales (chest in Bodhi's lair). Not the best armor, but definitely the best for him at the moment!

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 22 novembre 2010 - 09:05 .

[lroumen]

Wouldn't IA v6 be more challenging if you had not done any XP/gold exploits? Of course that would make a noreload problematic, but okay...



With foes dispelling NPP and illusion buffs, it's only a matter of time until Sikret mods in foes that dispel iron/stoneskin and PtfMW/Mantle type spells...

[saros_shadow_follower]

lroumen wrote...

Wouldn't IA v6 be more challenging if you had not done any XP/gold exploits? Of course that would make a noreload problematic, but okay...

With foes dispelling NPP and illusion buffs, it's only a matter of time until Sikret mods in foes that dispel iron/stoneskin and PtfMW/Mantle type spells...

Yes well, there are several very tough fights in which party levels matter very little IMO, and I'm afraid that my noreload will end in some of those - either Orcus, the Twisted Rune or maybe some of the Extended Necromancer stronghold. And after all, I have very little experience with the mod. If I had plenty of experience with all implemented cheats and availabilities, then I would probably try a no-exploit noreload run.
As for enemies dispelling Stoneskin/Ironskins and ProMW, there are some that can dispel Stoneskin/Ironskins on strike even now. The Spider Queen is a very good example - dispels Stoneskin/Ironskins on hit, alongside with other protections. Other enemies can cast Purge Magic, which effectively removes all of that.
As a side note, did the whole lvl 2 WK except the Chromatic Demon (I want to, but it would be a suicide to even try without enough +4 weapons and more importantly - without weapons dealing a good amount of elemental damage). There are 2 random golem encounters on this level (2 Greater Bone + 2 Gem + 2 Coin), 1 random spider encounter (2 Mutated + 1 Spirit + 1 Killer + 2 Vortex + 1 Ettercap) and also, encountered an Elite Fire Giant (all party fighters with HLAs had to pound him for 2-3 rounds in order to kill him). There is an Elemental golem in the Air Library, and a Steam Elemental Prince in the Ice Library. The elemental golem was very easy with so many Critical Strike HLAs. Although all golems now dispel illusions on hit, this doesn't mean that Mass Invisibility is useless. First, it makes a great army of 5 summons and 4 warriors invisible all at once. Second, the enemies still have to deal with 4 bonus to AC before dispelling the II. And third, they have to hit each fighter/summon in order to dispel the II. Loot from the Elemental golem - a scroll of Ray of Fragmentation, the Girdle of Fortitude (Item Randomizer) and the katana +2 Malakar (again, Item Randomizer).
The Steam Elemental Prince: This guy is a powerful F/M , can be hit only by +4 or greater weapons, is immune to fire and electricity, and his damaging spells are fire and electricity as well. For example, he has a version of the Incendiary cloud spell, which deals fire AND electrical damage simultaneously. He's surrounded by an improved Fireshield Red spell, which cannot be dispelled. And he lowers fire and electrical resistances. The two mages buffed with standard buffs as well as with ProEnergy, did the same with the R-C, summoned a small army and led the summons to the Elemental prince, while casting (both) Alacrity. The R-C stood behind with Energy Blades main and Phosphorous +4 off-hand. Under alacrity, first the Steam Elemental Prince's resistance was lowered (Spell Trigger by sorc), next he was showered with Magic Missile spells, a Minor Seq and a Sequencer with Melf's Acid Arrows, and with as many Acid Arrows as the two mages could fire under the remaining seconds of the alacrity. In the meantime, the summons were running around (no point in fighting the prince with summons, because he slays those on hit), distracting him. The R-C was hurling his Energy blades, but one out of five strikes were with the off-hand Phosphorous - yeah, from a distance, but with all bonuses applied as usual (a vanilla game exploit). The prince died in the second in which the last summon fell.

So with the level cleared, the party assembled all four scepters, and also looted everything. Amongst the loot are a Manual of Elaboration, a Scroll of Memory Boosting (third for now) and a Permanency Scroll. The warriors hit a level - 34, picked Hardiness as HLAs (both).

[saros_shadow_follower]

Astarta and party, newest adventures.

The party finished the vanilla mage stronghold tasks, killing Teos after the last task is completed. 7000 xp, no reputation or other damage. Also Sergeant Natula (when appearing as messenger) can be killed for a full plate + 8 000 xp. And then he can be killed again with his group of mercenaries in the planar sphere. Vanilla game bug. Still, for those wondering how this is possible, there is the Raise Dead spell not only for party members.

Travelled to Windspear hills. Delivered dryad acorns. Killed the four dryads immediately afterwards, for 4 k xp, some potions and a +2 dagger.

Windspear Hills dungeon:

Level 1: Vanilla goblins intercept the party, however the other random spawns on this level are replaced by one-time only tough undead spawns (well, Vampiric Mists and Mist Horrors only, but large quantities). An amulet +1 (fifth) was won, and went to Alia.

Rukh Transmuter is improved. Has better physical resistances, and his suicidic Kobolds replenish. With his ability to dispel specific protections on hit (fire resistance for example) his Kobolds are dangerous enough. Also, he can use Death spell vs summons and Absolute Immunity as self-defense. Has a +2 longsword and an unenchanted sword, so Improved Mantle is a good defense, while ProMW - not so much.

Level 2: two random Golem spawns (1 Greater bone + 2 Coin + 2 Gem). The Greater Wolfweres seem a bit improved, and the exp for killing them is two times less - 7500 each. A random Eminent Vampire group was present too, and a group of Mutated Spiders and another improved undead group replace the vanilla Orog groups. One word of advice - don't go near the Adamantine Golem + 2 Stone Golems guarding the Heartseeker bow, since due to some bug, the second random Golem spawn (standing near the well) somehow sees and charges on the party. This was the toughest place on this level, since I made the mistake of charging the Adamantite golem with 3 party fighters, leaving Valygar and the 2 mages behind - and that's where the golems attacked. HLAs, spells and other were almost depleted, but actually the two mages managed to occupy 4 golems' attention (under ProMW of course), while Valy had to deal with 1 Coin golem only (still he had to drink a couple of potions, but his great AC and Hardiness HLA saved him), while the three remaining fighters managed to eliminate the golems with the last of their HLAs. Of course, the entire party was lucky to save vs the Hideous Laughter ability of the Greater Bone Golem without proper buffing (Free Action vs the stun effect + Resist Fear vs the panic effect).

Samia: Samia's group appears right after looting King Strohm's tomb. Angered by this act, 3 Skeleton Warlords join the fight. Well maybe those should attack every human in sight (including Samia&co) but unfortunately, they work in alliance with Samia. Still, the battle is far from difficult at present levels. Valy almost died, but managed to retreat in time. I HAVE to learn to memorize more Greater Restoration spells and use them more frequently (so far I'm using my R-C as tank and fighter mainly).

In the tomb of King Strohm, there is a Tomb Mist monster (replaces the vanilla Director), something like a hybrid between a Mist Horror and a Vampiric Mist, with good amount of HP and ability to gate in additional Mist Horrors. Most annoying from its abilities is going invisible and then regenerating. True Sight helps, a Planetar helps too.

Loot: apart from the static items, which are good, the party got 2 belts: Inertial Barrier belt and Hill Giant Strength belt (both are in the Item Randomizer menu). From the static items, most notable for the party is the Spell Trigger scroll for the sorceress and two +1 rings, and also a +3 katana for Valygar. Unfortunately no one can use the Scarlet Ninja-to.

Killed Tazok and got the sewer key. Got a Laeral's tear necklace.

Back to the city - forged another +2 ring, +2 cloak and the Girdle of Lordly might (+3 to Str and AC + 20 HP). Ingredients for the girdle: Girdle of Bluntness (Chateau Irenicus, Temple of Talos, Temple of Umberlee), Girdle of Piercing (Circus Tent), Golden Girdle (Solamnic Knights, lvl 4 WK in a container after fight with Rock & Garock), Girlde of Fortitude (Item Randomizer menu - can be either in posession of the Elemental Golem lvl 2 WK, or Teshal in Ghoul City, or Saladrex lvl 4 WK), and Girdle of Hill Giant Str (again Item Randomizer menu - can be either on Ferric Ironblade -Samia's party, or adventurer's party sewer illithid compartment, or Troll Mound - troll king). Girdle went to Valy. Party is again short on belts (save from Girdle of Lordly Might, have only 1 Girdle of Bluntness and Belt of Inertial Barrier). And short on money (only 120 000 gold).

The party also cleared Tarnor and his group (very easy fight, not even ONE good item, all for sale), opened the passage to Alohoon's lair, but didn't enter. Yet.

Vanilla Bard stronghold tasks are progressing. Mages, Valy and R-C hit a level. Valy chose a Critical Strike HLA. R-C picked Storm of Vengeance (this leaves only Deva and the Scribe scrolls/ Alchemy HLA).

Some thoughts:
Potions of Defense (created by mages) make the RB the best tank, with his AC of -21 (just potion + items + natural bonuses, without other spell buffs like his innate Blur for example). Also, he has 65% physical res most of the time, with hardiness + chain breaker stance, and regenerates fast while CBS is active. Enemy mages are often so occupied that they don't even have the time to shoot Remove Magic to remove the Defense potion effect.

Valygar is the weakest in the group of all fighters, lacking RB's great AC and physical resistance (Valy can go to 50% with Hardiness and Armor of Faith, and also has fewer HP than the RB, probably because of the Green Ioun Stone), which means I have to extra babysit him.

Wand of Spell Striking (in IA 6.0 it casts only Pierce Magic) obtained on lvl 2 of WK is totally useless. Originaly I wanted to test it vs Improved Invisible enemies under SI:D, in order to remove the SI:D. However, the wand shoots the Pierce Magic, but it has no effect - tested one charge on an Elfreet guardian in King Strohm's tomb.

Next adventures will probably include fighting through Alohoon, but for now probably the Bard Stronghold will be completed (alongside with the Improved Turmish Mercenaries), and maybe also Conster + vanilla Paladin stronghold tasks (up to slaying Firkraag). Since Alohoon is a dangerous adversary, I kinda don't wanna go there without full preparations and as many items assembled as possible from the easier encounters.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 24 novembre 2010 - 01:00 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Fight with Alohoon just completed. A tough adversary, but once the principles are clear, the battle is easy. First, the party had to deal with his slaves:

Of course, it's always better to lure the enemies on familiar ground rather than charging in blindly. Stupid AI and careful party positioning allows to separate the enemies. Unfortunately, insufficient work with AI applies to the party summons as well. Sikret should've worked more on AI and write a more intelligent scripting. Blocking a narrow passage is a common thing which both summons and enemies do in their total disadvantage. But back to the battle. As seen from the last picture, the enemy Assassin and 1 Gem Golem are dead, and the Mage's protections are about to be dispelled (3 RRR + Sequencer with remove magics). The result - after a little micromanagement with stupid summons.

Next the Barbarian and an Elite Troll held the entrance. More accurately, an Elite Troll stuck in it, but the Barbarian used his polearms and from a safe distance and with GWW eliminated the cleric. A little more micromanagement afterwards. The rest was easy.

Loot: From this fight the party found the Robe of Vecna on the enemy mage (this is one location of this Randomized item, it can also be on Kaol, Layene or the Ancient Dragon - last 2 locations are of course very hard to beat, especially without the robe). Static item was also found - the Wish scroll (for the Necro) The Assassin had the Blade of Roses +3 (item randomizer, not very great item but a useful +3 slashing weapon for the Riskbreaker for now). And he also dropped the Boneblade +4 (Went to Valygar, he has at least one star in daggers, and after all the party has only two +4 weapons for now).

Next the party cleared the almost-vanilla mindflayers. The ones in Alohoon's chamber were lured from a safe distance, so that Alohoon is left alone to fight. Then the party rested and buffed. Final buffs.
A lone Sorceress charged forwards. Yeah, a bit dangerous on her own. She ate the Purge Magic, preserving the other party members' and summons' buffs. Next act was charging in with the party, the Greater Elemental golem attacked the sorceress, but her Alacrity and Foreknowledge cannot be dispelled, so she refreshed protections in a second. Also she cast Mirror Image, and then started RRR Alohoon (Necro cast Alacrity btw). Alohoon started ADHW casting, and maybe the sorc should have cast ProEnergy instead of RRR. But the Mirror Image saved her, she and Astarta managed to strip Alohoon's spell protections and shoot a Sequencer with Remove Magics on him, dispelling his buffs, surrounding him with Yuan-ti and forcing him to focus on his self-defense rather than casting more offensice spells. In the same time, 2 Yuanti and the party fighters using HLAs charged on the Greater Elemental golem in hopes to slay him in 2-3 rounds. He shoots one Purge Magic each 5 rounds, and summons additional golems, which the party ignored for now. One round and he's already on Badly Injured. Alohoon erects ProMW which Astarta immediately Removes. The victory seemed close when the Barbarian (target of Greater Elemental attacks) was knocked back and rendered unconscious for half a round. Still, the golem died soon after. Healed a bit. Battle ended soon.

Loot: a Permanency Scroll, a Manual of Elaboration, a potion of Barbarian Essence, Hammer of Thunderbolts (for Valygar) of course, and Wand of Wonder, and Master of Disciplines (no one can use this Monk amulet unfortunately), a Spell Trigger Scroll, and also a scroll of Hand of Undoing for Astarta.

Hand of Undoing: lvl 7 spell, school necromancy, requires touch, casting time 7, deals 4d8+4 damage to Coin Gem and Amber golems, and 2d8+2 dmg vs Ice and (regular) Elemental Golems.

Also, there were three items from the Item Randomizer menu: the Ring of Air Control (cannot be used by Diviners and Necromancers, sadly), the Periapt of Proof against Poison (very good, it could be in possession of the Green Wyrm, and the item is extremely useful particularly vs that dragon), and also the Ring of Human Influence (not that I'd ever need to use it, the Wish spell still offers Stats to 25 for 4 rounds - except Wis and Int).

Anyway, now the party has assembled all required parts of the marvelous Memory of the Apprenti robe. But there is a price after forgind the robe - facing a powerful enemy. Very powerful. Namely a F/M/C called Limak. His mage level is 31. So unfortunately I'd have to apply another xp exploit to raise party mages' levels to 32, so that Limak has no chance of dispelling party's protections via Remove Magic. Party mages' current levels are 29, so it will take some time.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Newest adventures of Astarta & party.
The party completed the Bard stronghold, including the Improved Turmish Mercenaries fight. Nothing much gained from that fight apart from 4 Rings +1, and PW Stun scroll for Astarta, and a Manual of Elaboration. Went to Cromwell and created 3 more +2 rings (now the party has only one +1 ring). Sorceress Alia is now wearing one +2 ring and the Ring of Acuity (having more spells even on low levels is very useful), Torham the R-C has one +2 ring and his Holy Symbol, the rest of the party is wearing +2 rings, except for Astarta - she has a +2 and +1 ring equipped. Gold was running low, so the party sold tons of useless equipment. Also, Astarta sold the playhouse to Higgold for 10 000 gold, but still she continued to get the message 'gold deposited in stronghold' each week (and there was gold in the container in the playhouse too).
Applied the exploit. Raised mage levels to 31, R-C also is lvl 16-31, fighters are levels 37, and Valy is lvl 31. Fighters chose one Hardiness and one Critical/GWW, R-C won't pick Deva HLA (unnecessary IMO). The RB gained his last AC bonus of 2 at lvl 36. New proficiencies: Barbarian Bastard Sword**, Valy Dagger**, Riskbreaker Longsword ****.
After applying the exploit, party gold was 320 000. Went to Cromwell. Forged the Memory of the Apprenti robe. Ingredients for the robe:

•  Robe of Vecna - the item is inside the Randomizer Menu, its locations are either Kaol from Samia's party, or the unnamed Mage in the Illithid compound in the Temple Sewers, or Layene of the Twisted Rune, or the Ancient dragon (lvl 5 WK)
  
  
• Robe of the Apprenti - this item is extremely tricky to obtain in a no-reload. The chance of success or failure when creating the item are determined in the instant when the party first enters the Planar sphere after Lavok's death. PC's wisdom has some effect on this chance, but a Necromancer with 18 Int and Wis has 100% chance of forging the item.
  
  
• 3 Scrolls of Memory Boosting - the party got one from Lavok, one from the Pirate Coordinator, and the third from lvl 2 of WK. The scrolls are extremely hard to come by in the early game chapters 2 and 3.
  
  
• Permanency scroll, 2 Cloaks +1 and a scroll of Spirit Armor. And 75 000 gold of course

With the robe (equipped on PC), the party went to challenge the Chromatic demon.
The Chromatic demon is a tricky opponent. He has four elemental forms, and when he shapeshifts, the new form has its resistances restored (including magic resistance). The forms are extremely resistant to physical damage (1 dmg per strike). I don't remember if the demon is immune to +2 or +3 (and lower) weapons, but my guess is that he cannot be harmed by +3 weapons. The demon regenerates, can lower elemental resistance of the according type (meaning, when in Fire form, he can lower Fire res, when in Slime form, can lower Acid res, etc), is (as far as I remember) immune to Magic Missile, Dragon Breath and Cloud-type spells, and has about 75-80% MR (each time he transformes the MR is restored to max). The demon in any form is vulnerable only to the opposing element's damage - but he has resistance even to that type of damage (meaning, for example, in Fire form he has above 95% physical damage res, 100% elemental damage res except Cold, vs which that form has 50% resistance). The demon uses Remove Magic and high-level offensive spells of the according element (like Incendiary Cloud, Death Cloud, Chain Lightning), but has no protective spells and doesn't use Breach either. He has two dangerous abilities - Burn Mortals (in fire form, deals fire damage to ALL characters and summons no matter where those are on the combat map), and Freeze Mortals (in Ice form, works the same way, deals cold damage). The demon also has the support of 2 Salamander Princes (these always deal elemental damage on hit, unlike Salamander Nobles, and have permanent Fireshield), an Amber Golem(more dangerous than a Gem or Coin golem) and a Hybrid Mist(harmed only by elemental/magical damage), and gates in more of those in random order each 5-6 rounds.
In short, the way to kill the regenerating demon is applying massive damage of the opposing element to him in a short amount of time after lowering his resistance first. Unfortunately, this thing always starts the fight in his Fire form. Since Ice spells are the ones inflicting the smallest amount of damage (compared to the other type of spells), forcing the enemy to switch form to a more vulnerable one is extremely difficult. The golem shifts form only when he's brought to Badly Injured (then he shifts forms at will according to his preferences).
This was a pure arcane battle. The two mages and the C/R buffed with some offensive buffs (Aid), with Energy Blades(electrical damage is excellent vs the Slime Form), and with everything available vs elemental damage. This includes usual protection spells, and in addition - ProEnergy and ProElements. Maybe should've added Resist Fire/Cold, maybe not. Fireshields were skipped as well - I prefer not using them against Fireshielded enemies attacking the mage in melee, and the Amber golem is one such enemy. GoI, SI:A and Mass Invisibility were added as well. The fighters moved to the Slime Library, while the R-C (buffed) stood at the door of that same library.
Mages cast Alacrity, synchronized in such a way that it resolves simultaneously (because Alia has reduced casting time by 1 only thanx to Foreknowledge, while Astarta's reduced casting time is 3). A second before finishing the Alacrity, the Demon was released. Alia released her Spell Trigger with 3* Lower Res, then Alia and Astarta started showering the demon with Ice Storm spells. Astarta had 12 of those memorized, while Alia had only 9, but she also had a prepared CC with 3 more. The Contingencies of both mages were ProMW. Astarta released her Sequencer, which contained 3 more Ice Storm spells. The GoI allowed the casters to stand in the midst of the blizzard storm unharmed and ready to cast more spells. End of Alacrity - the result. While the sorceress had 3 more Ice Storm spells, Astarta had 3 more Cone of Cold spells (managed to cast only 2 under the alacrity). ProMW was refreshed by both mages at the end of both Alacrity spells. And the Demon, on Badly Injured, still didn't want to transform! Well...Alacrity refreshed. The mages still had some Ice spells left. While Astarta used her Cones of Cold, Alia cast Mirror Image (because Astarta can hit her and interrupt her casting with CoC), and started casting Ice Storm spells. Well, here's what happens to stubborn demons.

BTW, the mages were ready for any transformation. Astarta still had her Trigger with 3*Lower Res. Both mages have enormous amount of Acid spells (Astarta has 12 Acid Arrows and 12 Chromatic orbs, Alia has 9/ 10 respectively), Astarta had 7 Lightning Bolts and 5 Chain Lightnings, and both had enough amount of Flame Arrows (those are most damaging to the demon in his Ice form, even only 3-4 deal enormous amount of damage). The C-R was also ready with Energy blades if the demon turned to Slime form (both mages would attack with those too after all available lightning spells are cast first of course). The demon's minions escape after he's slain.
Good thing I had the Gore button turned off, because otherwise the loot from the Demon would'be lost. He drops static items: Circlet of Netheril (this item makes him immune to Criticals), the key to next level, Poison Flail head, Tuigan Bow, Ixil's spike and the Blade of the Truth.
 
The party travelled to the Graveyard district, rested, buffed very well (last buffs from both casters were Improved Alacrity) and immediately travelled to the Bridge district.

A strange fellow appeared here, wanting the Memory of the Apprenti for himself (apparently). Astarta refused and the fight began. Limak is a high-level F/M/C. His mage level is 31, and the other levels are higher. He uses SI:D and illusions, relying on his high levels. Reduced casting time of 3 or 4. Various immunities and physical resistances(for example, immune to nonmagical weapons). Wields +3 weapons. Has multiple Dragon Breaths, Comets, ADHW and other damaging spells. A great amount of Stoneskins and ProMW spells. However, his SI:D and illusions are good protection only if Remove Magic is of lower than 31 lvl. Six of those (Spell Trigger and Spell Sequencer) by Astarta, and he was with NO illusion protections. Next came Breaching and killing him in literally 2 seconds. Even Limak's desperate last move: 3 ADHW in CC, wouldn't have any effect since all party members have their buffs untouched - Limak wasted his round to cast ProMW.
Loot from the battle: a +3 Flail, +3 morning star (why now, I already have Phosphorous), a scroll of Wish, a scroll of Bigby's Crushing Hand, a scroll of Chain Contingency, Limak's Brain, a Cloak of Protection +2, ProMW scrolls and Superior Healing potions.

Went to Cromwell. Limak's brain was immediately made to a Potion of Superior Mentality (the brain rots in 3 days, so speed is of the essence), using a Manual of Elaboration and 50k gold. The potion was consumed by Astarta, granting her +1 Int and Wis permanently. At least now she can scribe as many scrolls as she wants. Also was assembled The Truth (second part) longsword (Hilt from Demon Lord in Planar Sphere, a Demon heart from the same location, Blade from Chromatic Demon, a Manual of Elaboration and 100 000 gold).

The party travelled to De'arnise hold and using the forge, assembled the Flail of Ages +4. Assigned to Valygar. Also, they killed the Keep Viper (guardian of Frostreaver Axe). At least now all party members have 1 or more +4 weapon, except the Barbarian. Will make a quick trip to the Guarded Compound...in hopes to find the Staff of Rynn.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 25 novembre 2010 - 03:58 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Next adventures of Astarta: Conster and Firkraag.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned and I had to reload. Sorry about that. The least I can say, I didn't have to load because PC died. It was because of a pure bug. But for that - later.

The party travelled to Windspear Hills, killed Conster and his 8 Skeleton Lord support sent by Firkraag (without any trouble), rescued Garen's child and accepted the 1st and second vanilla Paladin stronghold tasks. As a side note, a Manual of Elaboration was found on the body of Conster. The first task was completed, however the second task (fight with the Improved Baron Metrich) was the place I had to reload. Reason is simple - due to a stupid IA bug, some of the peasants inside the Umar Hills tavern were replicated to enormous numbers, literally blocking the place and crashing my machine. I remember things like these happening in IA 5.0, in a fully non-exploit game, so Sikret can't blame THAT on his mod's shortcomings and bugs. A second such bug was sometimes present in the Planar Sphere, replicating Raelis and her group multiple times. This time, Raelis & co were only one, but the Umar Hill Tavern bug was present. SCREENSHOT. I had to restart the computer and reload - sorry about that, and of course the vanilla Paladin stronghold tasks cannot be completed. Pity. I was hoping to forge the Improved Plate of the Legion for the R-C. Sigh...he'll have to settle for Firkraag's scale armor.

Anyway, since after discovering the bug the reason of postponing Firkraag's fight waned, I went straight to challenge him. Extreme buffing was applied to the members which were actually fighting him. Those were the Necro and 3 fighters. ProFire, proEnergy, ProElements, Resist Fire/Cold - all were applied to them. The R-C and Sorceress stood in the back (thanks to George Hoffman from Sikret's testing team who offered this idea) so that they won't be silenced, and still can heal and summon stuff. Firkraag is not gonna use his Greater Silence abilitiy on some fighters or summons, and Astarta is immune to silence thanx to the Amulet of Hades.

Astarta cast Alacrity. Saros (riskbreaker) challenged the dragon. From the back, Alia summoned a second Yuanti. Astarta started casting Pierce Shield. Why Pierce Shield? Well the dragon's Spell Shield must be removed. If it is removed by Spellstrike, he may refresh it (unsure if he has another memorized though). Besides, Spellstrike is a lvl 9 spell, and those slots are valuable. Lvl 7-th spell Ruby Ray of Reversal is an alternative (and faster to cast), but 7-th level is occupied with Spell Turning to counter enemy RRR spells. Lvl 6 is also too valuable to waste slots on Pierce Magic. Spell Thrust and Secret Word won't have effect thanx to Globe of Invulnerability. Which leaves pretty much Pierce Shield as best alternative to remove the Spell Shield of the dragon.

Firkraag cannot be killed until his undead minions are killed. Those are 3 Skeleton Warlords. Things here are tricky. Firkraag feels obliged to fire a RRR at the sorceress, but she replied with Breach and Spell Turning, keeping her spell protection wall untouched, while fighters took care of the enemy Skeleton Warlords. However, due to mistake Astarta didn't refresh her Improved Alacrity, which left her on uneven battle vs Firkraag, who with his permanent alacrity first chased her away with RRRs, and then refreshed combat protections (Stoneskin, ProMW), and while Astarta shot a couple of Remove Magics off-screen while fighters and summons kept him busy, he managed to Breach the riskbreaker before going to near-death. Sorceress from the back keeps summoning stuff, but Firkraag has an occasional Death spell for those, so no more than 1-2 must be near him at a time. The R-C cast Greater Restoration, since the fighters were injured when fighting the Warlords. Anyway, Firkraag is an easy target for the fighters if his protections are stripped, and he went to Near-Death. However, he has 2 more waves of Skeleton Warlords.

Astarta used the time needed for Firkraag's Heal spell casting to cast Alacrity. Valygar kept the new wave of Warlords busy while sorceress was summoning some support, and the Wing Buffeted fighters returned to the fight. RB activated his second ChainBreaker Stance. Firkraag immediately starts with RRR on Astarta, she cast proMW just in case, replied with Breach, and next refreshed the removed Spell Turning (in the same time skeletons died). Dragon cast proMW, Astarta replied with Breach at the exact second when the dragon angered at the summons. Bad move, biggie. Even if he's under Alacrity, Death Spell has a casting time of 6. That's half a round - enough for the fighters and summons to inflict near-death damage to him. Astarta's ProMW had expired (she forgot to refresh it under Alacrity), but fortunately, an Elite Troll was nearby and he kept the 3 new Warlords occupied (and a second Troll was in creation). The fighters moved to the back of the dragon before being buffeted, so they were thrown backwards, where they refreshed their Hardinesses. Another Greater Restoration because of the most fragile - Valygar, who was subject to mass attack of the Warlords. And another the next round, because Valy found himself target of Firkraag's claws and jaws. However, a few seconds later (Astarta refreshed ProMW, GoI, Spell Turning, Spell Immunity, cast breach and refreshed  Alacrity before the current one waned and stood ready to dispel each combat protection Firkraag erects with Remove magic and Breach) the dragon fell to the massive fighter attack (now was the time for some Criticals, while GWW with the barbarian were essential to quicker elimination of the Warlords).

As can be seen from the final screen, the Riskbreaker still has his Defense potion buff active. Which means, that even if the enemy is a powerful Dragon, he might not find the time to actually cast even one Remove Magic to dispel that potion buff. And if that buff is active, the Riskbreaker has astounding AC and serves as an excellent tank.

Loot - static items, including a Vocalize scroll. Well, most notably the Red Dragon scales and the Ring of Fire Protection - those are gonna come in handy.

And since I've fought this dragon fairly 1 on 1 solo, I might say one thing - there is indeed no way to see the cheats Sikret installed in this fight vs soloers unless you're battling the dragon solo. The fact that those cheats aren't seen by players with a full party doesn't mean they don't exist.

Totally forgot - battled a windmaster in the well for the Dragon Helm. The windmaster  must be faced by adept mages and summons. Fighters die quickly to that guy and do almost no damage. However, the two mages under alacrity first lowered his resistance with a Trigger, next showered him with magic missiles, acid arrows and flame arrows (well, Alia mainly focused on MM, shot one Trigger with 3*Flame Arrow and actually cast 1 Acid Arrow, second was on the way when the enemy fell).  This enemy has an ability called True Whirlwind, which dispels all protections on target, draws the target hear the windmaster, and applies massive Cold and Electrical damage. for a couple of rounds. This ability the party doesn't wanna see. Like never. That's why the windmaster was killed in the second he spawned thanx to Astarta, her enormous quantity of damaging spell and the fact she can cast all of them in an instant thanx to reduced casting time by 3.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 25 novembre 2010 - 11:11 .