I've found the dude who cursed Jahiera except I can't beat him (I did once except I had cast haste before I went inside and the cowled wizards smashed me when I came back out.) The mages with him are really good. Any tactics for this battle?

P.S. Who is the best NPC thief to have?

Thanks

[ 07-19-2005, 05:37 AM: Message edited by: Wolf On Fire ]

Lets see if i can help. I'm going to assume that you mean the fight at the end of that quest, where barron ployer has some 'friends' and is actually able to be killed (without resorting to cheese).

A run down on your party make-up and levels would help immensly, all i've got is Jahiera, and some sort of mage. So, going with that, im only going to be able to make general suggestions.

Since im assuming you have a mage, i would suggest having all your group hasted, and a couple of acid arrows in a minor spell sequencer.

As soon as the fight starts, fire the sequencer at one of his 'friends' as this should stop him from casting spells. then just wade in and start swinging, concentrating on one enemy at a time.

Other suggestions include summons, and hold person spells. Web+Spiders is a good combo.

I would also suggest that if you can, get some dispel magic memorized, and also breach/pierce magic if you can.

As for your question on the 'best' thief in the game, in my experience, Imoen is the best of the lot. She has more than adequate thieving skills, and will progress quite high into the mage levels. If this is your first time through the game, i would suggest you take Yoshimo as your thief, he has a part to play later... (no spoilers here)

Other than that, the only other thief worth thingking about is Jan. He's a multi-classed mage/thief and will gain levels in both his classes. His dialogue is among the best in the game for comedy value IMHO.

The final thief in the game is Nalia. Although it is possible to use ehr as a thief, i would not recommend it, as her thievery skills are not the best, and you will find yourself giving her ALOT of potions to compensate.

Thanks

I have:
A mage slayer
Minsc
Jahiera
Aerie
Yoshimo
Nalia

some more Q's I have are:
-Is it possible to get a magic licence
-What kind of weapons do I need to kill a Rakshasa, if more than +1, where can I get them?

Yes you can get a magic liscence, the first time you tried the mage should have told you to talk to someone in the Government District, in the City Hall, or whatever it is at the top of the map.

Rakshasa require +1 IIRC, but someone lese will know for sure around here.

EDIT: checked the manual, they have really high magic resitance. ti may be that they require normal, unenchanted weapons to hit, the best way is to try and see.

[ 07-19-2005, 07:28 AM: Message edited by: Aragorn1 ]

If you're a wizard slayer you should be able to deal with those mages reasonably easily with darts. Hasted you'll fire 4.5 per round, and very quickly their spell failure will be huge. Poison darts would be ideal of course.


Spoilerish...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.


Yoshimo is a great thief. He isn't available all game though.

[ 07-19-2005, 09:36 AM: Message edited by: ister ]

One thing to note is that the Cowled Wizards only come after you if you cast spells out of doors. If you're inside a house, you can cast safely. If you want to have haste cast before you enter the house, try ducking inside a nearby house (like Gaelans), cast Haste (and any other preparation spells), then quickly run over to your target house. You should be able to get there with enough time left on your Haste to win.

have you considered bribing the wizards to make the fight easier?

Rakshasas are immuned to spells of level one to seven, and require +3 enchanted weapons.

It is very, VERY important that you learn how to fight Mages. Don't put a lot of faith in the fact that you're a Wizard Slayer, they pretty much suck at killing spellcasters. You don't believe me, try playing with an Inquisitor in the party and you'll see who really gets the job done. But I digress.

There are many ways of dealing with spellcasters:
1) Break down their buffing and protection spells. Popular ways to do this include Breach, Remove Magic, Pierce Shield, Ruby Ray of Reversal, etc., as well as simply running away (or hiding) and waiting for their spells to expire. Invisibility spells are included in this group as well, and great ways to reveal enemy wizards include True Sight and a Thief's Detect Illusions skill.

2) Become temporarily immune to their magics. The important things to watch out for are Fire damage, Magic damage, Hold/Stun effects, and mind-affecting spells. Most of these can be countered both through spells and potions: For example, if you want to resist Fire, you can drink 1 or 2 Potions of Fire Resistance, and/or have a Wizard or Priest cast Protection from Fire on you, a Wizard could also cast Protection from the Elements or Protection from Energy, a Priest could cast Resist Fire/Cold, somebody with at least 9 INT could read a Protection from Fire scroll, or if your timing is very good, drink a Potion of Icedust. Note that all of these means, however, can be dispelled as I mentioned above in 1).

3) Become permanently immune to their magics. This can be accomplished only though innate immunities or resistances, such as a Cavalier's permanent immunity to all Poison damage, or through items, such as the +40% Fire Resistance granted by the Ring of Fire Resistance that was in BG1. On the whole, these resistances and immunities cannot be dispelled the way buffing spells can, but there are exceptions: Your Magic Resistance can be lowered by Wizards targeting spells such as Lower Resistance at you, and sometimes Dragons can cast an area-of-effect spell that makes those affected by it become more vulnerable to the Dragon's own element--a Brown Dragon, for instance, might cast Lower Acid Resistance at you before using its Brown Dragon Acid Breath.

4) Kill 'em before they can get any good spells off. Ways to do this involve fast, usually area-of-effect spells; they don't have to do a whole lot of damage, since Mages generally don't have a whole lot of hitpoints. Of course, this won't work too well if they've got their buffing spells up: It doesn't matter how many Fireballs you cast at a Mage if he's already under Protection from Fire.

5) Incapacitate 'em before they can get any good spells off. This is usually more effective than 4), because most Mages protect themselves against Physical and Elemental damage, not Hold/Stun effects or mind-affecting spells. So Web, Stinking Cloud, Greater Command, Emotion: Hopelessness, and of course the big gun as far as anti-spellcaster tricks is concerned, Insect Plague.

That's why you use Skull Trap instead [img]smile.gif[/img]

Or Cloudkill. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Or a combo of Cloudkill/Stinking Cloud/Web.

(Ahh, the early game... when I stacked many many immobilization spells in one spot and they actually worked XD )

You can bribe the mages who helped Ployer for only a measly 1000g at the government district.
Your fight with Ployer will be very much easy...

~~~~~Beware, SPOILERS abound!~~~~~
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
You can get a magic licence for 5000 gold, talk to people in the govt. district. Also, as someone above said, you should be told who to talk to when warned by the cowled wizards the first time.

You can get a +3 2-handed sword for Minsc to wield If you follow the Slaver's Quest in the Copper Coronet. You will have to look around, as its not part of the quest, but it IS there. This sword should help with the Rakshasas. Another way would be to just BUY some +3 or better weapons, they are expensive though.

But then it costs you 1000g and you miss out of their loot and experience points.

EDIT - Spoiler Tag

[ 07-20-2005, 04:52 AM: Message edited by: White Lancer ]

For Wolf on Fire, on fighting mages; certain weapons do additional elemental damage on impact. Even if the wizard has a spell like Stoneskin up which prevents the weapon's main damage, the elemental damage will often get through and will have a very good chance of disrupting their spells. (This even works on the final boss!)

[ 07-20-2005, 01:51 AM: Message edited by: Western Paladin ]

Shocking news: The unemployment rate of spoiler tags is growing worrisome! O_o


Guys...

[ 07-20-2005, 02:38 AM: Message edited by: GoblinZ ]

Thanks everyone

I was wondering if it is better to go into a sub-class (e.g priest of Talos), or stay mainstream ( plain cleric). Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?

Also, how can you counter an ability score drain?

If i recall correctly, there are no disadvantages to using a cleric kit. the only restrictions are allignment. My personal favorite is the priest of helm kit. Seeking sword is great to help out in melee.

Also, ability score drain cannot be removed, you have to wait for it to wear off. Drinking potions that increase that score may help, i dont know.

By the way, what part of Australia are you from?

EDIT - Added last 2 paragraphs

[ 07-20-2005, 04:55 AM: Message edited by: White Lancer ]

Can't you use restoration to get the ability score back?

No, the only way to get your ability scores restored is to wait. Restoration is only good for level drain. i remember trying to restore my strength after it was drained by a shadow one time, all i got was a tired cleric.

Was it restoration or greater restoration?

I was sure i've restored them in the past. Probably just my memory

EDIT: It may have been INT after a feeblemind. The description says GR restores that.

[ 07-20-2005, 02:19 PM: Message edited by: Aragorn1 ]

Possibly, i just know that it wont restore a STR drain from shadows. I used Restoration.

Victoria, and you?

No, normal restoration won't restore stats. I think that greater restoration will though...