Good luck. I remember when I first installed tactics and soloed a Skald, it was a hair pulling marathon of frustration [img]tongue.gif[/img]

And, I thought Bodhi would refuse if you worked even for Renal? I could be wrong, and evidently I am. could someone confirm this?

Bodhi only refuses single-class thieves. Having done the Shadow Thief quests doesn't preclude you from working for Bodhi. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Not that you actually have to complete Improved Mae'Var in order to secure Edwin, but it's another little bit of excitement waiting around the corner.
;)

For the heck of it, I did Improved Ilyich with Ilyich's party. Imoen and the Anti-Paladin work well in concert with cowardly cloud-of-war attacks, while life would be much happier if Yoshimo didn't have a set snare of 35% ... and even then I'm doubtful it's that high (I chose not to 'bottomless traps'). Jaheria was surprisingly the weakest link in the group, albeit Summon Woodland Being and Strength-of-One were handy.

The undead in the dungeon were not too bad, and I have 2 quests done for my party. I am now in the middle of the kidnapping of Boo quest.

As an aside, the animated Ioun stones look excellent. I also dropped in on the Lich in the Docks to get a vague idea of what she has to offer. She beat me very quickly, unsurprisingly.

Which mod animates the Ioun Stones?

krunchyfrogg, Ding0's Tweak Pack animates the Ioun Stones.

Mae'var is dead. Jaheira summoned 2 Fire Elementals (from 1 Summon Fire Elemental spell, somehow) and Amschat used the Acorns. Edwin then used Haste, and Amschat used a Horror centred near Mae'var to attract his group. I then gang mobbed each Assassin after a True Sight and they fell one by one. (they are surprisingly strong) Korgan was then Chaos'd and killed Minsc, and a Dispel Magic on the group was cast before going after the Priest, who fell quickly. Mae'var then killed Yoshimo, but was killed in the same way as his assassins within a round. His Mislead unsummoned just prior to his death.

Edit: Improved Mae'var was probably the hardest fight I've won so far. I would imagine Kuroisan, the Lich in the Docks and Kangaxx's guardians will be more difficult in Athkatla, but for an early game fight, it is tough and took 6 reloads to finally get the strategy down. (and the neccessary luck for the dual Fire Elementals)

[ 10-23-2005, 03:01 PM: Message edited by: Ilyich ]

Cool, where can I get that?

The download for the tweak pack is available here;
http://tinyurl.com/coh93
The information on each component is here;
http://tinyurl.com/d63nk

It installs using Weidu, so it is compatible with most other mods.

Kuroisan is hard largely because of his weapon. It's, well, truly unique. Mae'Var's assassins are really nasty. I'll tell you a little secret . . .

[Tactics technical detail spoiler]
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They're actually dual-classed fighter/thieves.

[ 10-24-2005, 09:48 AM: Message edited by: Western Paladin ]

Edit: Wrong button.

[ 10-24-2005, 09:47 AM: Message edited by: Western Paladin ]