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NobleNick · 07-21-2003, 04:17 PM

(Chapter 6 possible pre-RBP spoilers below)

Jason,

I had same problem as you, and almost lost some party members to these guys before I figured out one more method that hasn't been mentioned (which I discovered quite by accident):

My party had just been badly beaten up after engaging TWO of these tarnished toughies, and was healing up to my bard's song while I scouted with my uninjured ranger/cleric. He, unfortunately, immediately stumbled upon a third (ugh!!) tarnished sentry. My Fighter/thief and cleric/fighter were almost dead, the rest of the party hurting, and I had no effective magic left up my sleeve; so I planned to retreat the main party to heal while Ranger Rick took old Tarno on laps, in a Dorn's Deep version of the Indy 500.

Then I thought, "Wait a minute! The rest of my front line is almost DEAD, and Rick doesn't even have a scratch on him!" Hmm.... maybe it was the -12 AC that did the trick? I had to find out. So the rest of the party retreated, per plan; but Rick did an about face and went toe-to-toe with the sentry. Sure enough, it was like Rick was wearing a poor man's version of Otiluke's: the sentry just couldn't seem to hit Rick, at least not very often. Rick (a 7th level cleric who hasn't regained his ranger skills) dropped him after suffering only about 40 HP damage himself (about 3 hits by the sentry, out of about 50 attempts). I kept the rest of my party back far enough that Rick didn't even have the benefit of buffers from the bard's song.

So, put all the best equipment on your best melee artist and keep the rest of the party back! (Wish I'd known all this before I used up my spells!)

But, that is not the reason I dredged up this ancient post. I just got done cleaning out the main area of Lower Dorn's, (culminating in the battle mentioned above) and then saved game. I want to know if the rest of the level is this hard. Also (and more importantly): Are the Tarnished sentries and fire salamanders on a script? I want to go back outside and rest to restock spells; but don't want to generate more of these guys, especially the sentries (though, I guess it is not a big deal, now that I know the "Rick Trick").

What's a party,
without a song?
Bards ROCK!
Party on!!

07-21-2003, 04:17 PM	#8
NobleNick Quintesson Join Date: February 5, 2002 Location: Huntsville, AL, USA Age: 65 Posts: 1,045	(Chapter 6 possible pre-RBP spoilers below) Jason, I had same problem as you, and almost lost some party members to these guys before I figured out one more method that hasn't been mentioned (which I discovered quite by accident): My party had just been badly beaten up after engaging TWO of these tarnished toughies, and was healing up to my bard's song while I scouted with my uninjured ranger/cleric. He, unfortunately, immediately stumbled upon a third (ugh!!) tarnished sentry. My Fighter/thief and cleric/fighter were almost dead, the rest of the party hurting, and I had no effective magic left up my sleeve; so I planned to retreat the main party to heal while Ranger Rick took old Tarno on laps, in a Dorn's Deep version of the Indy 500. Then I thought, "Wait a minute! The rest of my front line is almost DEAD, and Rick doesn't even have a scratch on him!" Hmm.... maybe it was the -12 AC that did the trick? I had to find out. So the rest of the party retreated, per plan; but Rick did an about face and went toe-to-toe with the sentry. Sure enough, it was like Rick was wearing a poor man's version of Otiluke's: the sentry just couldn't seem to hit Rick, at least not very often. Rick (a 7th level cleric who hasn't regained his ranger skills) dropped him after suffering only about 40 HP damage himself (about 3 hits by the sentry, out of about 50 attempts). I kept the rest of my party back far enough that Rick didn't even have the benefit of buffers from the bard's song. So, put all the best equipment on your best melee artist and keep the rest of the party back! (Wish I'd known all this before I used up my spells!) But, that is not the reason I dredged up this ancient post. I just got done cleaning out the main area of Lower Dorn's, (culminating in the battle mentioned above) and then saved game. I want to know if the rest of the level is this hard. Also (and more importantly): Are the Tarnished sentries and fire salamanders on a script? I want to go back outside and rest to restock spells; but don't want to generate more of these guys, especially the sentries (though, I guess it is not a big deal, now that I know the "Rick Trick"). What's a party, without a song? Bards ROCK! Party on!!