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[Amnasty]

Playing BG2 first time and that way my experience for the whole game is from scratch and would be helpful to know answers to certain doubts.

- Firstly, why BG2 limits weapon style upto 2 pips?

- Finished Windspear Hills Level 2 in Chapter 2. Can I resume Level 3 in Chapter 6? Is it possible? In general, solving quests partly at intervals and than leaving difficult tasks (in this case, defeating Firkraag) once my PC is strong enough to continue.

- Whenever I visit Graveyard (in night), Bodhi often asks my decision about choosing one side. If I choose NOT to side her and continue Chapter 2. Are vampires going to attack throughout Chapter 2 or after Chapter 3 begins? I want to play Chapter 2 safe without facing level drains at very early stage.

- Lastly, Is there any way to keep Nalia shut her silly request to pop up every time I visit Copper coronet? She's just too much of a nuisance.

Thanks..
I shall ask for Help as needed

[Humanoid_Taifun]

Amnasty wrote...
- Firstly, why BG2 limits weapon style upto 2 pips?

Because you're not a singleclass fighter (or a dualclass). But really, without mods, this is just as well, because you don't gain all that much from further points. (grandmastery has been nerfed significantly by the removal of the extra attack)

- Finished Windspear Hills Level 2 in Chapter 2. Can I resume Level 3 in Chapter 6? Is it possible? In general, solving quests partly at intervals and than leaving difficult tasks (in this case, defeating Firkraag) once my PC is strong enough to continue.

Generally possible, but sometimes unwise. In this particular case, Anomen may object (and lose his knighthood over it). If you are a paladin, you will not be accepted into the order yourself until you free the hostage.

- Whenever I visit Graveyard (in night), Bodhi often asks my decision about choosing one side. If I choose NOT to side her and continue Chapter 2. Are vampires going to attack throughout Chapter 2 or after Chapter 3 begins? I want to play Chapter 2 safe without facing level drains at very early stage.

There are a few scripted encounters with vampires. (3, IIRC) Once you've gone through those, you're safe. Start chapter 3 to get a very useful item in the fights against vampires.

- Lastly, Is there any way to keep Nalia shut her silly request to pop up every time I visit Copper coronet? She's just too much of a nuisance.

How about doing as she says?

[Amnasty]

So, a single class Fighter can raise it upto 5 pips in 'Weapon Style'? I am asking regarding 'Weapon Style' and not 'Weapon Type Proficiency' which allows 5 pips to both dual or multi-class characters. Also, BG2 fixpack and tweakpack is installed for this same purpose as you mentioned.

Initialy, Minsc and I (PC) raided Windspear for cool stuff and left the monster harassment for later to avoid Paladin StrongHold. So, as per your suggestion it's at least safe for now and better to tie up the loose ends early. I get it!..

Thanks and yeah...De'arnise  keep is the next on the list to spare Nalia finally!

[corey_russell]

If you tell Nalia you'll help, but you don't need her in your group, she will wait at her Keep for you. You can then deal with her problem whenever you feel up to it - or never, if that's what you choose. Also, if you haven't paid off Bayle and you encounter a vampire ambush, most of them you can choose not to get involved, except for the one when the 2 thieves call you "spies" but they aren't too much trouble.

[Mr Spidey]

So, a single class Fighter can raise it upto 5 pips in 'Weapon Style'?

A single class fighter can put up to five points into the weapon proficiencies, two points into the styles "two-handed weapons", "sword and shield" and "single weapon", and three points into "two weapon fighting".

Firstly, why BG2 limits weapon style upto 2 pips?

Because they're styles rather than weapons and because few characters would have enough proficiency points over the course of SoA to actually afford investing more points into styles. And please imagine how mind-numbingly slow it would be to move warrior NPCs from their original weapon sets amd styles into the one you want them to use, if a bigger point investment was required.

Lastly, Is there any way to keep Nalia shut her silly request to pop up every time I visit Copper coronet? She's just too much of a nuisance.

The easy way is to simply do her quest. It's fairly easy for the most part and provides good experience for the limited challenge.

[Amnasty]

Thanks for the suggestions, indeed useful.

Another help needed regarding Crossbows and other Missile weapons.

In most games we have known that Crossbows do more damage then Short/Long Bows but not sure about how AD&D defines them in respect of the most damaging type.
Now, Firetooth is my most favorite and does fantastic damage when equipped by Fighter/Mage and helped me a lot to clear Windspear and Trademeet early. Just pure brilliant.

But have a few doubts

- When I equip Firetooth (or any Crossbow) the reaction time is very poor meaning PC takes a second or two before releasing the bolt. Maximum attacks per round are also limited to 3 except for a Ranger while LongBows provide around 5/2 with a Damage upto +7.
What is the Rate of Fire for Crossbows per round? Any tricks to increase No. of Attacks as a Fighter or minimise the Reaction time involved.
For example - Fighter/Mage Level 12 with Firetooth eqipped has a reaction time +9 compared to Long bow of -1
Here +/- are good or bad?

-  If I equip a dart I can still wear a buckler on my off hand. This is the only missile weapon that allows a shield.
So, what are your opinions about Darts in the long run for TOB? Is it good?

and, lastly need some figures for understanding them in detail, namely,

1. ROF for Short and Long Bows, Crossbows, Slings and Darts
2. Base Damage
3. No. of Attacks per round for each of them.

[ussnorway]

How do you define good?

Strategically there are only so many magic items in the game so its a good idea to spend points in a spread of different weapon types.

Tactically the special ammo of long/short bows & darts allows you to bypass stone skins, stun and dispel your target... often more useful than just doing damage.

Physically the crossbow probably does the highest damage with “bolts of lightning” but I’d personally go for hammers, axes or daggers (depending on race/class restrictions) over the crossbow.

Rate of fire per round is darts (3), slings & bows (2) then crossbows & other ranged melee weapons (1) but there are some magic exceptions like the “Tuigan Bow +1”.

(Rof) I assume you mean weapon speed so generally the lower the number the better e.g. if my Fighter attacks your Cleric in melee with a 1 speed sword & the Cleric has a 3 speed club then my Fighter will hit him first... assuming no other modifiers.

p.s. Slings, hammer, axes, darts & daggers allow you to use a shield.

Modifié par ussnorway, 02 août 2012 - 06:57 .

[Humanoid_Taifun]

Ranged weapons... Ah yes.
1. Usually, ranged weapon damage is so low that it is not worth the effort in BG2.
There are exceptions, of course.
Crossbows have the same amount of attacks per round as melee weapons, which is 1. (warriors can increase this to 2.5 by being level 13 and having 2 points in the relevant skill, in this case crossbows)
Bows have 2 attacks per round. Therefore, a level 13 warrior can use them 3.5 times per round.
Darts have 3 attacks per round, but their damage is neglectable. If you want to use them, to it for special effects (poison or stun)

Maximum attacks per round are also limited to 3 except for a Ranger while LongBows provide around 5/2

5/2 is supposed to be a fraction, to be translated to 2.5. At this point, your crossbow has more attacks per round.
By the way. Are you using a mod that enables "True Grandmastery"? Otherwise I can't imagine how your party with a level 12 character would get 3 attacks per round from the Firetooth?

In any case, (cross-)bow damage has been nerfed to uselessness in BG2 (in BG1 it was a lot more) and the following are only 4 representatives of these weapon types are worth using against the enemy* in the unmodded game:
Firetooth
Gesen's Shortbow
Light Crossbow of Speed +1
Tuigan, shortbow +1
The latter two provide an extra attack per round (which increases their damage somewhat - still nothing impressive though), while Firetooth and Gesen allow you to shoot two missiles at once on account of a bug (effectively doubling your APR of course).

If you want to know the base damage, that is listed with the missiles. In the case of magical weapons, they may provide bonus damage (which would be listed in the weapon description). I don't know what ROF means.

If I equip a dart I can still wear a buckler on my off hand. This is the only missile weapon that allows a shield.
So, what are your opinions about Darts in the long run for TOB? Is it good?

As I said, darts deal even less damage than normal ranged weapons. If you want to employ a shield at the same time, I reccomend the Sling of Seeking +2 which is the most powerful ranged weapon in the game because not only do slings actually provide proper enchantment bonuses to damage, but this particular one also adds bonus damage for a high strength score, allowing you to deal over 20 points of damage per hit in ToB.
But shields also lost a lot of meaning since BG1. AC still has some meaning in the the beginning of SoA, but once you reach ToB, you either have an AC of ~ -20 or the important enemies will hit you as if you were naked, so you can make better use of your shield and armor slots (upping resistances etc). The Reflection Shield and the Shield of Harmony are noteworthy in this regard.

[Humanoid_Taifun]

ussnorway wrote...
Rate of fire per round is darts (3), slings & bows (2) then crossbows & other ranged melee weapons (1)

Slings have 1 attack per round. Throwing daggers have 2.

[Amnasty]

Thanks ussnorway, Humanoid_Taifun

I can't decide upon ranged weapons though but was very helpful to know about them. Yes, BG2 fixpack and tweakpack is installed which gives 'Rule Changes' making it like proper BG1.

Btw, what does Reaction adjustment means and what it does? The reaction adjustments keep changing as and when I level up from +9 to a low of -1 and with no clear indication as to what purpose it serves. It has any impact on combat initiative?

[Humanoid_Taifun]

If you look into the manual for ability scores (English version: page 117 and 118), you will notice that reaction adjustment depends on charisma. This should tell you it's not the kind of reaction you're thinking of.

[Mr Spidey]

and, lastly need some figures for understanding them in detail, namely,

1. ROF for Short and Long Bows, Crossbows, Slings and Darts
2. Base Damage
3. No. of Attacks per round for each of them.

ROF typically means "rate of fire", which in BG-terms is equivalent to attacks per round, which in turn is often simply called APR. As has been mentioned previously by other posters, slings and crossbows have a base APR of 1, all bows and throwing daggers have a base APR of 2, and darts have a base APR of 3.

On top of this, warriors get a bonus 0.5 APR at levels 7 and 13, investing two proficiency points in a weapon nets another bonus 0.5 APR, and finally the "true grandmastery" mod makes the full five point investment in a weapon type give an additional 1 APR. One more thing to notice is that the shortbow Tuigan and Light Crossbow of Speed both add +1 APR, meaning that the LCoS has a base APR of 2 and Tuigan has a base APR of 3.

Final thing to consider is that your APR cannot go above 5 unless you're using the HLA (Greater) Whirlwind or the mage spell Improved Haste.

So to summarize, a level 13 warrior with specialization in a weapon type would have +1.5 APR with said weapon type. Said warrior with "true grandmastery" in a weapon type would have +2.5 APR. A level 13 warrior with "true grandmastery" in crossbows would thus do 3.5 attacks with a normal crossbow and 4.5 attacks with the Light Crossbow of Speed. With "true grandmastery" in shortbows and using Tuigan, the same character would reach an APR of 5.5 and lose half an attack per round due to the APR cap.

As far as base damage is concerned, bullets do 1d4, arrows do 1d6, bolts do 1d8, normal throwing daggers do 1d4 +1, and darts do 1d3. Normal missiles thus aren't very good at all, no matter the weapon. It didn't matter too much in BG1 because enemies never had the health to survive all that many hits anyway, but in BG2 it's a different story. There are some things to consider, however.

Arrows of dispelling: These arrows cast "dispel magic" on hit. That's not bad.
Acid arrows: These arrows do acid damage with no save and count as +1 weapons, as far as I can tell.
Bolt of lightning: These bolts do 1d8 base damage + 4d4 lightning damage (with a save for half damage), meaning at least 1d8 + 2d4 damage. That's quite decent.
Kuo-Toa bolt: These do 2d6 damage + stun on a failed save. That's also quite decent.
Boomerang Dagger: A returning throwing dagger that does 2d4 +2 damage and is available in Chapter 2.
Fire Tooth (not to be confused with the ToB crossbow Firetooth): A returning throwing dagger that does 2d4 +3 +1d2 fire damage. An insanely good ranged weapon for mages. Not available before the Underdark, though.

Final thing to comment on would be strength bonuses. I'm not entirely sure here, as I've never done any serious testing (so someone please correct me if I'm wrong), but I *believe* all throwing hammers (essentially meaning the Dwarven Thrower), throwing axes (including, IIRC, no less that three different returning axes), Fire Tooth, Boomerang Dagger, and the Sling of Seeking include the strength bonus to damage.

Just come to think of it, by the way, but I do think your Fire Tooth and Boomerang Dagger may look a bit differently, since the Fixpack includes what I can only describe as an optional nerf to these two weapons.

- If I equip a dart I can still wear a buckler on my off hand. This is the only missile weapon that allows a shield.
So, what are your opinions about Darts in the long run for TOB? Is it good?

Slings, daggers, and darts are all one-handed ranged weapons, as are throwing axes and throwing hammers. You can use a shield off hand with any of these weapons, not just the darts. And, as HT has already said, darts blow big time in ToB. They just don't come close to doing enough damage.

Of course, this is a general complaint with ranged weapons in BG2 and moreso ToB. Even so, there's really no reason why the backline casters shouldn't have a ranged weapon to use between spells.

Take a cleric, for instance. They're not very good in melee because their APR is stuck at 1. But if you cast a few buffs, they'll end up with strength 25. Combine that with the Sling of Seeking and some +3 bullets. The bullets do 1d4 +4 damage, the sling adds +2, and strength adds +14. Total ads up to 21 - 24 damage. Won't hurt grunts much but hostile mages definitely don't want to be hit by that.

[Humanoid_Taifun]

Mr Spidey wrote...
Acid arrows: These arrows do acid damage with no save and count as +1 weapons, as far as I can tell.

Indeed, these arrows deal the most damage (where the enchantment bonus is retained from BG1 + lots of elemental damage)

Final thing to comment on would be strength bonuses. I'm not entirely sure here, as I've never done any serious testing (so someone please correct me if I'm wrong), but I *believe* all throwing hammers (essentially meaning the Dwarven Thrower), throwing axes (including, IIRC, no less that three different returning axes), Fire Tooth, Boomerang Dagger, and the Sling of Seeking include the strength bonus to damage.

I believe this is true with the Fixpack. Without it, there are some inconsistencies, but don't quote me on that.

Take a cleric, for instance. They're not very good in melee because their APR is stuck at 1. But if you cast a few buffs, they'll end up with strength 25. Combine that with the Sling of Seeking and some +3 bullets. The bullets do 1d4 +4 damage, the sling adds +2, and strength adds +14. Total ads up to 21 - 24 damage. Won't hurt grunts much but hostile mages definitely don't want to be hit by that.

The bullets are 1D4 +5. (1D4+1 +4)
Also, since the cleric has Righteous Magic running if he's smart, he will deal a consistent 25 damage per hit. (of course, there is a certain level 7 spell available tor clerics that would be a much better choice as a ranged weapons, if you can spare the spell slots)

The "real" ranged choices:
Kensai with throwing axes (kensai bonuses + damage bonus + ranged weapon). If you start a half-orc kensai in BG1 (Tutu or BGT), you can theoretically reach a strength score of 25 in ToB, which, along with grandmastery and level 39 offers a total of 30 points of damage + weapon damage (but who cares about weapon damage at this point?). If you play evil, you can get +3 points of strength (required for my half-orc with strength 25). But even a strength score of 22 (with potions or items) would allow you to deal more than enough damage.
Disadvantage: Throwing weapons have less reach than other ranged weapons.

Ranger/Cleric with Sling of Seeking: huge damage output (as shown above), but differently from the pure cleric, the RC has a whole lot more attacks per round. This is also a very tough build (Fighter/Cleric would work for this too, but would lack the access to Ironskins).
Disadvantage: For most of Baldur's Gate 2, this character will have very few attacks per round. Greater Whirlwind (at 3M XP) will be a game changer. But you can play as a melee character until then (Flail of Ages + Defender of Easthaven).

Archer with Tuigan (low levels and special situations): lots of ranged options (arrows of dispelling and other kinds ammunition, employing stealth to separate the enemies etc). Tuigan allows you to neglect Greater Whirlwind almost entirely, as Improved Haste will do the same, so you can use your other abilities more easily.
Disadvantage: lowest damage of the three

You could have an archer use the Sling of Seeking too (even if they can't reach grandmastery in slings, their damage bonuses still apply), but as the Ranger/Cleric they'd have to invest heavily in Greater Whirlwind for that.

[morbidest2]

To expand the discussion a little bit, I feel it's usually a waste for a mage to be doing anything except using magic. You will find that there are items you can buy or loot that reduce the casting interval between spells. Also the 3rd level spell, Melf's Minute Meteors is as useful in BG2 as Magic Missile was in BG1, and lightning wands can be very useful against Very Large Targets (ie, dragons). One exception to this philosophy is for M/Ts like Imoen and Nalia, armed with multi APR short bows using Arrows of Dispelling against really nasty enemies (or occasionally against bespelled members of your own party).

[Mr Spidey]

I feel it's usually a waste for a mage to be doing anything except using magic.

To me this depends a lot on the strength of the mob I'm facing. Take Windspear Hills, for instance. There's not really anything there that you'd care to cast spells on, is there? Besides the boss and the mage, that is. Maybe there's room for a malison + chaos during the Strohm "ambush", but everything else is easier to just grind through.

You will find that there are items you can buy or loot that reduce the casting interval between spells.

I don't think this is true. The only thing that reduces the casting interval between spells is the HLA Improved Alacrity. There are items that reduce casting time, but this simply makes the spell get cast faster, after which the mage will wait until the next round starts before casting again. Technically this actually increases the interval between spells and gives you more time to throw MMMs.

One exception to this philosophy is for M/Ts like Imoen and Nalia, armed with multi APR short bows using Arrows of Dispelling against really nasty enemies (or occasionally against bespelled members of your own party).

The one downside with this approach that I keep having issues with is the terrible THAC0 that Imoen and Nalia tend to have combined with the very limited supply of arrows of dispelling. Usually they literally cannot hit my tanks except on a critical.

[morbidest2]

Mr Spidey wrote...

I feel it's usually a waste for a mage to be doing anything except using magic.

To me this depends a lot on the strength of the mob I'm facing. Take Windspear Hills, for instance. There's not really anything there that you'd care to cast spells on, is there? Besides the boss and the mage, that is. Maybe there's room for a malison + chaos during the Strohm "ambush", but everything else is easier to just grind through.

You will find that there are items you can buy or loot that reduce the casting interval between spells.

I don't think this is true. The only thing that reduces the casting interval between spells is the HLA Improved Alacrity. There are items that reduce casting time, but this simply makes the spell get cast faster, after which the mage will wait until the next round starts before casting again. Technically this actually increases the interval between spells and gives you more time to throw MMMs.

One exception to this philosophy is for M/Ts like Imoen and Nalia, armed with multi APR short bows using Arrows of Dispelling against really nasty enemies (or occasionally against bespelled members of your own party).

The one downside with this approach that I keep having issues with is the terrible THAC0 that Imoen and Nalia tend to have combined with the very limited supply of arrows of dispelling. Usually they literally cannot hit my tanks except on a critical.

I agree that goblins, orcs, and "smurfs" are usually not worth more than rocks, arrows, throwing knives,etc., although even an orc shaman is worth disrupting with whatever 1st or 2nd level spell you have lying around. I also agree about not wasting dispelling arrows on minor targets, but something like Jon I in Spellhold is worth a shot - have one mage breaching/piercing while the other gets off 5 arows in 2 rounds with Tuigan. If your point is that dispelling arrows are not worth spending gold on, I fully agree, but you might as well use the ones you have looted instead of eternally pack ratting them. Early in SoA a charmed Minsc,or any other Kensai or Ranger or mage, etc., is not an impossible target.
Using something like the Robe of Vecna to get off one high level spell every round is nothing to sneeze at.

[Mr Spidey]

Indeed one might also use a spell to keep shamans and the like from doing anything. But they actually die fairly soon if you've got 2-3 backrow casters hurling stuff at them and in normal BG2 their spells aren't that scary.

As for good targets for Arrows of Dispelling, mages are pretty high up the list, since their AC is crap. Various combat-focused enemies with the ability to self-buff are a different story.

Regarding the Robe of Vecna, I do agree that it's awesome, but it doesn't actually help you get more spells off, does it? It simply allows you to get spells off earlier in the round, which means that your Timestop will get out before the one a hostile mage is casting.

[Humanoid_Taifun]

But why would you cast Time Stop in the first place rather than Improved Alacrity (which works really well in combination with Vecna)?

By the way: I personally would not trust my mages with valuable arrows of dispelling. If I play a game where I rely on those, I will also have a designated ranged warrior, usually somebody capable of stealth.

[ussnorway]

IMO At high (Tob) levels its worth your while to ‘Time Stop’ before ‘Improved Alacrity’ for tactical reasons i.e. the target gets reduced/ removed saves against your spell effects... obviously this largely depends on your spell selection but I try to mix my spells with save or die & roll to hit effects.

If you want your Mage/Thief to use up the limited supply of “Arrows of Dispel/ Detonation” then consider casting ‘Tenser's Transformation’ first to bring her Thac0 down to a workable level... tip; This level six spell fits inside a ‘Contingency’ once Imoen gets to Tob.

[Humanoid_Taifun]

ussnorway wrote...
IMO At high (Tob) levels its worth your while to ‘Time Stop’ before ‘Improved Alacrity’ for tactical reasons i.e. the target gets reduced/ removed saves against your spell effects...

What are you talking about? Isn't it the other way around? You cast Greater Malison, wait a quartersecond for it to reach its destination (while you're casting other stuff), then you send something after it. With Time Stop, you will probably have to run all over the place to make sure your Malison hits the enemy before your Skull Trap does (but after your Ruby Ray of Reversal/Pierce Magic).

roll to hit effects.

This would be true of course, but unless you're playing a cleric/mage or a cleric/thief this shouldn't come up, right? The only roll-to-hit spell worthy of being cast at that point that I can think of is Harm.

If you want your Mage/Thief to use up the limited supply of “Arrows of Dispel/ Detonation” then consider casting ‘Tenser's Transformation’ first to bring her Thac0 down to a workable level... tip; This level six spell fits inside a ‘Contingency’ once Imoen gets to Tob.

I personally dislike this spell for completely shutting down my casting abilities. I'd rather be able to get out a PFMW and not need it than not be able to and die.

[ussnorway]

That sounds reasonable but I wouldn’t know about ‘Harm’ because ‘Bolt of Glory’ takes up her level 6 slots in most of my games eg. if Aerie has 1 level 9 spell slot and we are about to battle with the black dragon.

Prep; Aerie loads 3X ‘Bolt of Glory’ into her ‘Chain Contingency’ (CC -set to fire on enemy seen) then rests and loads the next 3X ‘Bolt of Glory’ into her ‘Spell Trigger’ before resting again and climbing down to see him... for simplistic design, lets say a skelly got sacrificed to make him hostile but BoG does work on neutral targets.

Round 1; Aerie moves in to fire her ‘Spell Trigger’ which should also activate the CC... now Contingency spells don’t count against the round limits so we can pause the game here and recast CC with 3 more ‘Bolt of Glory’ set to fire on enemy seen (the instant we un-pause).

Result after 9X ‘Bolt of Glory’ in 1 round = Mr Nizidramanii'yt wishes he had a Bobby-pin (that’s slang for butt-plug) and the rest of your party regrets calling Aerie a sucky puss.

p.s. Viconia is especially jealous because she only had time to get 1 of the slow casting ‘Bolt of Glory’ off at him but she probably was ‘Turn’ing un-dead instead... a different set of tactics altogether & understand that getting Aerie to this level usually means having a smaller party of 3 or 4 instead of 6.

p.p.s. instant spells like 'chromatic orb' vs travel time spells like 'Melf's Acid Arrow' are not someting I lose any sleep over but I'll take any tips you care to share?

Modifié par ussnorway, 04 août 2012 - 06:29 .

[Humanoid_Taifun]

ussnorway wrote...
That sounds reasonable but I wouldn’t know about ‘Harm’ because ‘Bolt of Glory’ takes up her level 6 slots in most of my games eg. if Aerie has 1 level 9 spell slot and we are about to battle with the black dragon.

You get to 6M XP before killing Nizidramanii'yt?

Regardless, I'm a bit confused. It was you who brought the roll-to-hit spells to the table, and now you're arguing against the only one I can think of (without bothering to name any other).

p.p.s. instant spells like 'chromatic orb' vs travel time spells like 'Melf's Acid Arrow' are not someting I lose any sleep over but I'll take any tips you care to share?

Chromatic Orb needs to travel to its victim too, does it not? Anyway, my point was that without Time Stop this kind of thing is not a problem. With IA, it is very easy to make the spells hit their target in the order you want them to.

[ussnorway]

Humanoid_Taifun wrote...
Anyway, my point was that without Time Stop this kind of thing is not a problem. With IA, it is very easy to make the spells hit their target in the order you want them to.

Agreed... I think perhaps clarification is needed here... sorry in advance for any confusion;
1. Spells cast during a ‘Time Stop’ hit the target (3 rounds later) when time resumes, so with ‘Time Stop’ the 3 orbs, 1  ‘Greater Malison’ & 2 'Melf's Acid Arrow’ all hit together... at least that’s how it works in my build.

2. Without 'Time Stop' the orbs would hit first followed by the ‘Greater Malison’ and finally the 'Melf's Acid Arrow’s... at least I’m assuming the ‘Greater Malison’ will hit before the arrows but I haven’t tested it from different ranges and my point was that he gets a small chance to stop it from reaching him.

IMO ‘Skull Trap’s should be cast before the battle begins unless you are a sorcerer or got ambushed because they are hazards’ to your own party... I’m much more inclined to start with a ‘Spellstrike’ (ignores ‘Spell Immunity’) or ‘Pierce Magic’ to lower any resistance then use single target spells. I do like to experiment with spells like ‘Feeblemind’, ‘Bigby's Clenched Fist’ & ‘Bigby's Crushing Hand’ or ‘Confusion’ (save -2), ‘Creeping Doom’ (save -2 to avoid the fear) & even the humble ‘Fire Seeds’  (save 1/2 damage) but what spells do/ don’t work largely depends on what mods you have installed... Fixpack and SCS will make a huge difference to the strength of blind effect spells for example.

‘Time Stop’/ ‘Shapechange’ (mind flayer) attack is the obvious exception but even that has its limits.

p.s. My Orbs don't have a travel anamation so let's just say that they are faster... let’s be clear here, your way is fine and I’m not saying you are doing wrong.

[Humanoid_Taifun]

ussnorway wrote...
1. Spells cast during a ‘Time Stop’ hit the target (3 rounds later) when time resumes, so with ‘Time Stop’ the 3 orbs, 1  ‘Greater Malison’ & 2 'Melf's Acid Arrow’ all hit together... at least that’s how it works in my build.

I'm not sure about the orbs, but I'm pretty sure the MAAs are faster than a greater Malison. (and if your orbs are instanteous, then they'll definitely hit before the Malison)

2. Without 'Time Stop' the orbs would hit first followed by the ‘Greater Malison’ and finally the 'Melf's Acid Arrow’s...

No.
Without Time Stop (but with Improved Alacrity), you cast the Greater Malison first, then you wait for a quartersecond (while nuking somebody else, refreshing buffs, or just standing idly), then you follow up with whatever you want. Just because you can dump your entire spellbook in a single second, you don't need to be dumb about it.

he gets a small chance to stop it from reaching him.

I don't know what you are talking about. If you mean to say that he might cast a protection spell in the short time window before the spells hit, then I would want to point out that the same is possible after a Time Stop (unless you're standing directly before him for some strange reason). In any case, I've very rarely seen enemy mages be able to rebuild their defenses after I took them down during an Improved Alacrity, and that was only because I had been lazy about the whole affair (for example, because I forgot about their MR, or because I failed to follow up with enough damage spells). If you have Improved Alacrity running and they have lost their defenses*, they're metaphorically speaking a little rabbit staring down the barrel of a heavy machine gun and the only thing that can save them at this point is your failure to press the trigger (or the lack of ammunition).

IMO ‘Skull Trap’s should be cast before the battle begins unless you are
a sorcerer or got ambushed because they are hazards’ to your own
party...

It was just an example, and besides, it is possible to protect a designated tank from this spell (or others).

‘Time Stop’/ ‘Shapechange’ (mind flayer) attack is the obvious exception but even that has its limits.

I don't like this combination. Partly because you don't get XP for the kills. Partly because it requires two level 9 spells to drop a single opponent. Mostly just taste though.

* This can probably be summarized to: "If you have Improved Alacrity running..."

[Amnasty]

Man you guys discuss the most amazing things, that can come very helpful for me and any beginner.

Mr Spidey wrote...   .........

There is a very interesting long bow Strong Arm +2 requires amazingly 19 STR. For testing purpose this Strength bonus doesn't make much of a difference, in turn making it a little misleading for beginners like me to equip as a range weapon. Again, no clue whether 19 makes any difference to damage.