Q:

Looking at the party I posted in my initial post here, am I better off with using Mazzy, or keeping that slot open and taking Sarevok in ToB?

Basically, who is better of the two?

Remember, dialogue and NPC interactions do make a difference in my book.

I once played a party of all Wizards (Fighter/Illusionist, Aerie, Jan, Kelsey, Nalia, and Edwin) and a party of all Warriors (Archer, Montaron, Korgan, Keldorn, Mazzy, and Valygar) at pretty much the same time. Both had their difficulties in SoA, but once they strted hitting ToB levels, I have never sliced through the game as fast as that Warrior party did. My defeat of Draconis was actually comic--there's really not much you can do when you're taking 57 hits per round. My Wizard party, on the other hand, really had some trouble at certain rough spots, like the Duergar Tunnel in Sendai's place. We were nearly forced to *sneak* our way through there, although maybe that's just because I was planning a bitchin' series of screenshots that showed 68 Orogs getting waxed at the exact same time.

The tough fight in the Planar Sphere is against Tolgerias. He uses some really nasty spells (Abi Dhalzim's Horrid Wilting, for instance) and can be a real pain in the ass when you're tank heavy.

Really? I've always thought the toughest fight in the Planar Sphere was the halfling battle. I think those shortys are tougher than the demons!

The thing about tanks is that summons can soak damage just as well, and ToB summons can do just as much damage as any tank. Of course, that's just my play-style; All frontliners are offensive, summons soak up damage, Wizards provide bombardment. I personally view the role of a tank in SoA as a very minor one.

Well, I'm about to tackle the Graveyard in Chapter 3. I've done a fair number of quests (did Korgan's and got Edwin the Nether Scroll, and did the DeArnise Keep, dipped into the sewers for Lilaricor, and still need to complete the Illithium quest (I'd like the Improved MoD).

The characters are around levels 9-10, and I have Yoshimo pushing 12 (I think Jaheira is a 12th level Druid too).

The game has been a little more challenging than the last time I played, which was with a Gnome Fighter/Illusionist. Then again, I got really cheesey in that game and pickpocketed the entire city of Athkatla. I won't let myself do that this time. I look forward to chasing Bodhi away and getting on a boat the next time I play. [img]smile.gif[/img]