I don't think this has been posted before, but, when I got through with the Fourth Level of Watcher's Keep, and was dividing the spoils amongst my party, (my Pally is now 70% Magic Resistant, BTW [img]tongue.gif[/img] ) I was fooling around with the Machine, and it gave one of my Party, Imoen, 100,000 free XP! Now, she and Nalia are very close together.

lol.

There is a 10% chance of getting 100,000 XP from the machine of Lum the Mad on a random combination. The other 90% of events arent quite so useful [img]smile.gif[/img]

SPOILER
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You can get +1 to all of your stats and magic resistance from the machine.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

New Use For the Machine of Lum the Mad. Wouldn't call it that. I'm sure that you'll always get the 100.000 xp if you play with the machine. The extra stats are nice as well as Dace De'Briago mentioned.

I dont want to open up old character v character debates but... what the hell are you doing with Nalia and Imeon in your party :confused: same same?

unless it is for the babe factor, and if it is has her indoors cottoned on yet?

[img]graemlins/hidesbehindsofa.gif[/img]

but back on topic dont ya hate reading posts like this an hour AFTER you finish that level [img]graemlins/1pissed.gif[/img] damn damn damn

If you enter a wrong combination code you have 10% chance to get 100.000 exp. You could do that over and over until all of your party members is lvl 40 but wheres the fun in that. I used it once on Imoen. Took a while before I got it but it was worth it [img]smile.gif[/img]

I have gone through the game 10 times now, and <font color=red><H1>ALWAYS</h1></font> have Imoen and Nalia (and Viconia!) in my party, except the one time that I went through with just Imoen and Viconia. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Imoen isnt an excellent mage without some kind of XP boost. Being 2 or 3 levels behind hurts in SoA. In ToB of course the difference is trivial. Anyway, if you take Imoen as your thief/backup mage and Nalia as your primary mage it works fairly well.

I still wish they had made Imoen a sorc instead though, it makes more sense for her IMHO. And I know that sorc/thieves are against the rules - rules are made to be broken. Says so in the rulebook.

Andrewas, Imoen was only one level behind Nalia in SoA. I went and got her, first thing. Makes a beegdifference. Right now, Immy has 4,757,241 XP, Nalia has 4,849,943, and we haven't even finished SoA, yet. (I do WK in SoA, to have nice presents to give Mr. Irenicus, like Comet and Dragon's Breath. :D

I always use the machine to equal out the expirience in my party - escpecially for Imoen as I usually don't rush out to get her.

By giving the user the right equipment you can protect the character from most of the bad effects.

Yeah, I know. The first time I did the game, I took my time going to Brynnlaw, and poor Immy was way behind. Now, I go get her first thing, right after freeing the D'Arnise Keep. Right now, Nalia and Imoen are both at the same Level.

actually they break the rules with more than one of the characters, mostly stuff like dualing when they shouldn't have or the like. but actually i think immy as a sorc. would be great idea, seeing as they don't put one in the game and it works with the fact that you pick up immy late and sorc are better more powerful quicker. Sounds like a good mod, although do we really need another sorc mod

Immy and Nal are both the same Level in my Party, 23rd level Mage. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Well, beat this: My machine of Lum the Mad brushes my teeth for me!
:D

What's the matter, Kat, run out of [img]graemlins/spam2.gif[/img] on the GD Forum? :D

THAT's [img]graemlins/spam3.gif[/img] !

That's what I mean, ran out of [img]graemlins/spam2.gif[/img] and had to use [img]graemlins/spam3.gif[/img]

I don't understand! Going to stop now, this is Very Bad of Us. Yes, Attalus, you are spamming! Ha! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

<font color="deepskyblue">Hey <font color="orange">Attalus</font>, I found out about the 100,000xp from a Walkthrough. So...after reading all the notes and giving the stat boosts to the appropriate party members, my Wizard Slayer/Thief started "playing around" with different combinations.

After gaining an extra 5%MR from the machine, he now has 94% Magic Resistance. This came in very handy when the Machine tried to Imprison me. It cast a dark bolt of energy and ...... NOTHING!!! It just bounced right off of me. I've also discovered that (apparantly through some bug), Cerek seems to be immune to Time Stop from enemies. The guardian lich and Demagorgon himself both casts Time Stop and Cerek was still able to "move around and attack" during the spell duration. Freaky. :confused: Of course, none of the effects of his attacks actually took place until the Time Stop wore off, but it sure came in handy to be able to get a couple of free attacks myself.</font>

Hey, <font color=plum>Cerek</font>. I had heard that Demogorgon was immune to Time Stop, but I never heard before that a PC could be. Well done! My Pally is 80% Magic Resistant, but Time Sop still applies to him. Maybe a few more trips through the game... ;)

I messed around with the machine a lot, to get potions. I never got exp. when I used it. 50% of the time, it would "rip a portion of my soul into another plane", but my clerics had a lot of restoration spells. 25% of the time, I would get a fireball or lightning bolt cast on me. the other 25%, I would get a potion.

With ascension mod installed, it is possible to get "Immunity to Time Stop" as a special ability from the final challenge. To late to be a whole lot of use. Other than that theres no legitamate way to do it.

I have no idea whats happening with Cereks character, but my lvl 40 Monk (~115% MR) was always affected by Time Stop.

Ah, thanks, Andrewas. I just put paid to Abizagail, and was wondering whether it was worth it worth it to finish it. I guess I will, now.

I had considered creating an item that conferred immunity to Time Stop, but junked the idea because of the scripting problems it would create: The enemy Liches and other Time-Stoppers simply aren't scripted to handle a PC who's immune to Time Stop. Let's take a basic fight of Inquisitor vs. Lich:
Round 1: Lich sees enemy--Chain contingency of Stoneskin, Spell Trap, Protection from Magic Weapons. Lich begins casting Time Stop, Inquisitor begins casting Dispel Magic.
Round 2: Lich's protections are dispelled. Lich finishes casting Time Stop. Lich does not realize that his spell didn't do squat and starts casting Meteor Swarm. Inquisitor goes *whack, whack, whack, whack*. Lich dies, feeling very confused.

Such an immunity would be really overpowered--unless the enemies were scripted to notice that an enemy was immune to Time Stop. Unfortunately, that would take a serious BUTTLOAD of new scripts, so I considered it wiser to avoid the whole situation altogether.

Hmmm... The question is, does the Lich really knows (from the scipt's point of view) that time is stopped? It's a mere speculation, by i assume the basic Lich script is more like:

(1) If CC <> 1, release Chain Contingency, CC = 1. Else
(2) If TS <> 1, cast Time Stop, TS = 1. Else
(3) If MS <> 1, cast Meteor Swarm, MS = 1. Else
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(x) After Y time units passed, reset variables.
...
...

So whether you make the item or not is irrelevant - the Lich is dumb either way, it's the fact Time Stop isolates you with the target (assuming you are capable of taking him down) is what makes it so grossly unbalancing.

Weimer's Smarter Mages change things a little by having much better targeting.