I'm ready to gamble with this Cambion homo and would like to know the possible outcomes before I do, again. I already have encountered him once before, but since BGII/ToB is so great there are probably at least a couple of different outcomes. I might not want to have the same approach as before. Any input would be helpful. Thanks.

there are 2 outcomes that i can really remember,

spoil
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you lose, and he get out of there (you still get the last item)
you win, and he will attack you and you get the cards. (and you can use them! )

There really aren't any defined outcomes... Spoilers

First, you can gamble for the Spectral Brand, the Scroll of Wish, or forthe Cambion's Scepter Gem. You can put EXP or HP up as stakes for the sword or spell, and you can gamble the Scepter of Radiance for the Gem. No matter what, you get the gem and the Scepter back (He will use it, and then leave it with you.) If you want the items he's carrying (The Deck of Many Things), you have o force attack him.

I shall say a comment.

Pickpocket.

Where's your sense of adventure? How often do you get to gamble with a demon-knight? [img]smile.gif[/img]

My post was in response to w.d.y.t.y.a's post which claimed that you needed to attack the Cambion to get the Deck of Many Things, but this is not true.

I gamble for all three items, but pickpocket for the DoMT before the third and final gamble.

I wanted to see how many different outcomes would take place so I talked to him and saved and then came back to gamble with him several times just reloading. I could never win the Spectral Brand or the Wish scroll. I would always be cursed or slowed and he would have to fight a summons. I probably tried a couple dozen times alternating what I would put up and what I would want in return. It got me wondering if, once you talk to him initially, the outcome is figured out by the game right then. After so many attempts and not winning I just waited for him to get a summons hoping the one teifling casts a prismatic spray and hits me, which it did, therefore my good party had just reason to wipe them out.
I took the DoMT off his carcass and that was all the loot I could find. Now with the DoMT, does anyone know if that has a set format of cards or if there are random effects? For me the first card was a minor blessing(I forgot exactly what), the second a minor curse, and the third was a MOON card that gave a player extra hit points. Then the deck's maker comes and that's all she wrote. Is that pretty much how it goes?

SpongeBob, go to to find out everything you wanted to know about TDoMT.

Dundee, pickpocketing certainly used to work, but with a recent patch for ToB (might have even been after I installed Ascension), you can no longer get the deck this way. You get the target has no items message.

Eh? My game is most certainly patched, but I can still pickpocket him.

HACK EM

always pick #4....DIE FOUL DEMON SPAWN...and i kicked him...what a waste, no sword, no wish just BLAH>...and that Deck..can kiss my hackmaster! i mean honestly not a.
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.NOT A good pull amongst the deck bah, and his friends tryed to get away, but Servok chopped them all up, hehehe

I think it's a little bit illogical that you can Pickpocket the Deck from Aesgareth, (SpongeBob, is there some special reason that you call him a "homo?") but he doesn't notice the theft and keeps right on gambling with you. The Deck that you loot from his corpse is the exact same Deck that you can get via pickpocketing, so why be impatient?

What I would like to see: A TRULY RANDOM Deck of Many Things: Aesgareth has exactly the same odds to draw exactly the same cards that you do. The only things NOT random about the Deck should be as follows:
1) If a card is drawn, it disappears and cannot be drawn again
2) Neither the Balance card nor the Donjon card can be drawn while Aesgareth is gambling with you (as they would end the gambling prematurely)
Any other thoughts on this matter?

So there's no way to get the Spectral Brand legitimately then?

I've tried gambling, but I always drw "plague" (and get cursed) or another card (can't remember the name) and that's it - the cambion always wins. :mad:

Then the last time I tried gambling their mage cast prismatic spray (which hit me) and so I wiped 'em out...

You can win the items legitimately. 25% chance. I have done it before several times.

The Cambion got mad after some of his party was killed as the monster kept getting healed...coincidentally Aerie was casting it. The then got his mates to attack me, and the summon attacked him. And they all died.

I just thought he was a little soft around the edges so to speak. I mean if you were a big bad Cambion with your fell cats and crew and you had been stuck there for who knows how long, wouldn't you just ambush the guy with the way out. And his voice was a little wierd also.

Well I was going overlook it this one time, but I guess SixOfSpades has a point. From an etiquette point of view, it is not polite to use such terms in a derogatory manner and one should refrain from doing so at all times.

People have gotten in trouble in these forums before because of such things, as Ziroc does not tolerate such remarks. Most of us here are a very open-minded lot.

This is not a scolding, but it is some advice and an explanation on what is our policy on such matters.

Cheers. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Sorry if I offended anyone. Didn't really me for it to be derogatory, I'll watch it from now on. Thanks for the polite reminder.

Funny - I always lost when I gambled for the Spectral Brand first, drawinf either Plague or Strife.

But when I tried gambling for the Wish scroll first, I won. And the next round too (Jaheira is now the proud wielder of Spectral Brand). :D

I got a nice effect too, seemingly permanent - mind shield on my main character. The mind flayers & umber hulks in the next level were no problem at all... ;)

Hmm, i feel i look a bit silly, but: where do i get the scepter of radiance? Did i miss it somewhere in the portal maze, or earlier?

I lost the game with the Gambling Cambion (next time i kill him if only for that deck).

Anyone?

<font color="gold">The Scepter of Radiance is the item that takes you away from the maze. Without it, you're stuck. ;)
The Scepter itself can be found in the madmans tent, while the gems are spread throughout the maze. ;) </font>

interestingly enough the scepter works for the cambion even if you don't have all the gems to make the scepter work legitimately... (I had fun running around the maze trying to find the last demon so I could get out of the level after dealing with the cambion) I also managed to get the scroll of wish, and the spectral brand.

I did a little digging into the board archives when I ran into our card-carrying friend for the first time a few months ago. I was having a hard time winning the brand or scroll too.
A good point I found was that the game doesn't reset the base chance for your roll if you just get the wrong card and reload. You have to do something like cast a spell or rest in order for the program to see a change and re-roll your chance for success. That's why you're always pulling the same card every time. The percentage isn't very high, but you CAN beat the odds.

Hmmm...

Does anybody know the Shadowkeeper variable on that one? I'm about to get back to that point (playing through again, and just killed him the first time I went through). I don't like to cheat, but if the game is "rigged" (it keeps the draw the same even if you reload), then I wouldn't mind resetting it before I draw again.

The chances do get resetted if you reload. I use Quickload to win all the gambles.

I usually gamble in the following order,

1) Spectral Brand
2) Wish Scroll
3) Portal Gem( this one must ALWAYS be last)

Babylon Translator (english->english) says:
homo = man, human, being (Latin)
Why would this be derogatory is beyond me...

Homo is also Urban black ghetto slang (that and clown-listen to any rapper, but Eiminem is a good bet 'cause he can't go without mentioning "homos" in any song) for homosexual. It's considered derogotary. nothing wrong with saying "homo" if you really are talking about someone who is homosexual, but to call something "not cool" or "bad" "homo" is derogatory to homosexuals.

I can't help but wonder how this topic has strayed so far from the Cambion and the Deck of Many Things.

I also can't help but wonder why Dundee seems to value the Spectral Brand as being of higher worth than a scroll of Wish.

Minor Spoiler
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Simply because there is always another one on the 5th Level. ;) Besides, the Spectral Brand is a pretty nifty weapon.

To one who (apparently) always plays Solo games, I can see how one scroll is enough. But what's so exciting about the Spectral Brand? "Oooh, a Ras+5. Big whoop." I tend not to like summons that expire before you can even finish buffing them.

Well... you can always pretend it is the big brother of the BG1 +2 Longsword. ;) Negative Plane Protection is nifty too.

I'd rather meet Lilarcor's brother, myself. To avoid abuse, the famous +12 Hackmaster should be implemented as a Dancing Sword "creature," not a weapon that you can actually wield. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I can think of.....four instances in ToB where you risk Level Drain, and one of those is against Aesgareth. After Bodhi dies, NPP pretty much ceases to be an issue. The only truly good thing I can say about the Spectral Brand is that it's better than the Club of Detonation. Thank goodness for the Fulcrum, Pitchwife, and Water's Talon, don't you think?