If anyone else wants to give me a series of screenshots to post, along with a descriptive element, I would be glad to - could have a whole gallery of classic battles at

http://www.depoetica.org

If there are any old threads with such series, I could post them as well.

[Posted this right as Dundee appeared with his wisdom - so...edit]

Excellent strategies! I especially like the idea of having the Fallen Planetar cast spells at me so I can reload my spells. With the staff of magi and an extra spell trap at 9th level, I'll have plenty of spell power.

Ixnay on the spell turning and deflection.

Using boots of speed for haste effect - don't have the boots of preserving.

Unfortunately I am missing a few key items, as this was my second full run through the game. Haven't found the ring of wizardry, but I do have the acuity ring.

With the Spelltrap-planetar technique I could spelltrigger second Irenicus with lower resistance/pierce magic, then time stop, greater malison, load a spell trigger with feeblemind and hit him with that - since I start at the bottom of the cavern, he won't even touch me if he fails his saves.

I have not tried shapechange yet for the third Irenicus and will add that to the strategy posthaste.

As for the dragon...

Skull trap is a third level spell, and looking through the spell book, I do not see very many useful third level spells for this encounter. Unless you have a suggestion for other useful third level spells, I might as well load up on skull traps, as a full complement of them will just about do the trick on the dragon (with maybe a magic missile or two). This way I can conserve a ninth level spell for an extra time stop.

Excellent! Thank you Dundee.

[ 01-03-2003, 02:21 AM: Message edited by: drewal ]

Not much to add, but a piece of advice when spellcasting during a Time Stop. Counterspells in front first.

I noticed from your screenshots that your Pierce Magic was behind your Skull Traps. Bad move. They should be in front, so that they hit the Dragon first and lower its' Magic resistance before the Skull Traps detonate.

Consider using only 6 Skull Traps( or Flame Arrows) against the Dragon.

Ahhhh...

I wondered why, on occassion, I'd come out of time stop with the dragon out of sight, expecting him to die, only to find him charging up, knocking me through the bhaal door.

I had presumed the order of casting during the time stop determined the order in which things hit - this is a most useful tidbit.

Maybe you and Dundee could combine websites ? Adding links to eachother's stories ?
I know Dundee has one or two ... or 20 ;)
And great idea to offer hosting other people's images drewal,
might inspire even more people to post their battles .. fun :D

EDIT:
And Dundee has a point with your spell-consumption [img]tongue.gif[/img]

counted 7 skulltraps = 140 - 840 dmg
5 magic missiles = 25 - 100 dmg
_____________________________________+
165 - 940 dmg

with an average of 470 dmg

That's a wee bit overkill ;)

[ 01-03-2003, 05:40 AM: Message edited by: daan ]

Indeed it is. A valuable piece of advice, as that saves me a half-dozen spells.

Yeah, as for the battle gallery, I think it'd be great. We could put together a collection of classic battles with screenshots and stories. I'd be glad to link to Dundee's website if he will provide the URLs. Dundee?

Could also post some humorous series...the whole site could be like a BG graphic novel, with the content provided by the fans.

All I need is the text and the screenshots, and the rest is simple - do need to create some sort of interface, where browsers can choose from a list of battle series, humorous series, etc.

[img]tongue.gif[/img] History in the making

Yep. Project Image would have made things much easier.

Annoying nitpick ahead!
There are two Rings of Wizardry in the game - one from the Wizard's Stronghold, and one from J's personal quest. Since he is soloing, he can only have one - so having both the Sorcerain Ring and a second Ring of Wizardry is impossible by normal means.

I like the Planetars idea! [img]smile.gif[/img]
Unfortunately, being a Necromancer, you cannot use the Endless Spells Tactic(TM) to its full extent. :(

Erm... This might prove problematic.
Jonathan the 3rd switches continuously and endlessly between Improved Mantle and Pro-Magic-Weapons - and both will block the Iron Golem's +4 fists outright.

I seem to had a point with him where he simply gave up ...

He had about 8 planetars and the prince of earth surrounding him
( ok, so i got impatient .. sue me [img]graemlins/heee.gif[/img] )
Nobody was hurting him at all, and he had allready previously wasted about 30 or so planetars -gotta give it to me-.
But suddenly most of his protections dissapeared and he exploded in little bits as some very angry people whomped all over him ;)

hmm, might have been the planetar's dispelling ability getting a lucky dispel..

EDIT:
just thought of 2 things:

1. Does mind drain still apply when someone is PfMW ?
2. Do protections still count in time-stop ?
f.e. Fireshield-red, stoneskin, mirror image ... if you attack someone with those protections during a time-stop, would you need to hack through them first / get hurt by the fireshield ?

Reason I'm asking is that if a mage walks during his time-stop, leaves his protectionary spell-trap bulb behind.

[ 01-03-2003, 07:56 AM: Message edited by: daan ]

Nope. Pro-Magic-Weapons, unlike Stoneskin, also prevents item effects (eg Fury's Stun, Ages' Slow and Mind Flayers INT drain) from going through.

Yep.

A somewhat counterintuitive suggestion - perhaps an assinine one as well...

What if I used a non-magical weapon on the 3rd Irenicus?

With a strength of 22 (girdle of frost giant strength) would I be able to hit him with, say, a regular old quarter staff?

Obviously not when he has improved mantle up...

But how about when PfMW is up?

In that case, I could time stop and use improved haste and pummel him to death with the trusty old bough.