Gem Cave Problem

[whodoyouthinkyouare]

This is problably a Spoiler

Ok, I'm in TotL, and I am finding the flawed gems. Well, in the cave with all of the Jackals (it's the cave in the south west), the altar and Stone Nuisances are visible upon entry. Well, the only people who have usable blunt weapons are my cleric and mage, who have horrible THACOs. Well, their Magic Missiles kill me after 3, maytbe 4 hits. So there is no way to mount a decent ofense in that cave, and mostly I end up killing maybe one jackal or dog, and I leave hurting really bad. So, exactly how many times can they cast Magic Missle?

[andrewas]

Stone Nuiscances. If you want to name one enemy that scares me, it would be the stone nuiscance. Hate them, hate them, hate them.

immune to *all* except blunt damage and magic
*highly* resistant to magic

*infinite* top-level Magic Missile. No way to disrupt it either.

The jackals are a pain - and this cave is to small for the standard area effects. Fireball, cloudkill, whatever - itll hurt you as well. Insect Plague - I *think* its not supposed to , but it does. There are d&d spells that dont, but i dont think IWD has any of them. SO mages are not the most helpful in this battle. Maybe on or two well placed fireballs to open, but after that your advised to stick with single-target spells. Magic missile, flame arrow, acid arrow, chromatic orb, you know the list.

You need two tough tanks at least, more if possible.

Use prayer,recitation,haste and wrath of the righteous. In that order cos wrath make you immune to haste.

You also want to use potions and items to give yourself some magic resistance on those tanks. Put them at the front, enter the cave and open fire with the mages while your tanks charge straight in. Ignore the stone nuiscances till last, because they dont cause as much damage as a jackal and you cant disrupt Magic Missile anyway.

You can withdraw if it looks like you arent going to make it, but I really dislike doing that cos I think its cheesy. Like a horde of jackals cant figure out how to use steps. Yes, I see that.

[whodoyouthinkyouare]

OK, one more strategy question. What you said about using spells is great, but what happens when my cleric and paladin (the only characters with dispel) fall asleep as soon as you enter? It usually ends up that the only one awake is my Dwarven fighter (big time tank). Thanks!

[andrewas]

Originally posted by whodoyouthinkyouare: OK, one more strategy question. What you said about using spells is great, but what happens when my cleric and paladin (the only characters with dispel) fall asleep as soon as you enter? It usually ends up that the only one awake is my Dwarven fighter (big time tank). Thanks!

Reload till they make their saves? Or cast Magic Resistance on them with your Cleric - use your highest level cleric for that. Check that they dont already have a resistance higher than MR wil give them, because MR sets it and will lower a high resistance. (This is a Dragon Slaying tactic in BG2). And I think a Ring of Free Action will protect as well, but im not 100% on that.

Post your party details. And be careful of dispel anyway, IIRC it removes your own buffs as well.

[whodoyouthinkyouare]

OK, here goes. I don't know the exact levels or stats, but I can give you pretty good idea. OK, I have a paladin wielding a +4 long sword with low saving throws, a ranger wielding a +4 scimitar with decent saving throws, a neutral cleric wielding a +3 Morning Star with bad saving throws and THAC0, A Dwarven fighter wielding a +5 Axe with 19 strength, who by the way, is completely immune or anything that has a saving throw (at least -4 on every category), a thief wielding a +3 short bow and a +4 short sword with 100+ in all her skills and pretty bad saving throws, and a transmuter with a +1 quarter staff with horrible saving throws, but he has a 20 Intelligence so he's an awesome spell caster, and he also has many items that provie extra spells. I'm not completely sure if my cleric has Magic Resistance (can't remember if it is restricted to my aignment), but my strategy has always to load my cleric up with all the healing spells possible because I have 3-4 tanks at any one time. And ever since I started playing Baldur's gate, I have never used buff style spells. My mages have always been transmuters (unable to scribe Abjuration spells). Well, i have a very few times used the Draw Upoin Holy Might my Paladin got after a dream in BG. So I Don't have to worry about dispel. Although there is a combat version of dispel that only works against enemies, that may only be in BG2. If these party details aren't enough, I'll fire up the save file later (haven't been playing IWD much lately... Just started Planescape, also in Durlag's Tower in BG, and I also just started BG2 over again, as well as palying a different party in IWD, this time beating the Reverend Brother before going with Hjollder). Well, I could keep reloading, but theres too many people with bad saving throws in my party, so it would take way too long. And apparently there is a slight bug with the Rings of Free Action ( I have 4 people wearing them). I can still be stunned, ith affects movement, although sleep is not protected from. Let me know if you've got more answers or need more info.

[andrewas]

OK. Lets see. How come your dwarf is so awesome at saves if everyone else sucks? Items? If so distribute them around a bit.

On buffing spells - each of the 4 I recommend is an area so you only need one of each. Draw upon Holy Might is good as well, cast it if you got it. Your weapon load out is fine, but you really want to have secondarys with blunt damage for this one. Dont have to be the best, I dont think the stone buggers need enchanted weapons to hit.

And while im on it, isnt this the battle with all the harpies that come at you in two groups? Damn, forgot that. No jackals then. I think if you split your tanks into two groups of two and buff them enough you should be able to eliminate the harpies without getting too close to the stones. Then retreat, save and go for the stones.

[whodoyouthinkyouare]

Well, the dwerf is a straight fighter, while my other tanks are the ranger and paladin, so the dwarf advances a little fast. Being a dwarf, he actually has resistance to poison/death/___ and spells. My breath save is -3, and that is the worst penalty for that category. I'm not sure why his saves are so much better, since he by far does't have the best equipment of my party, which I gave to my Paladin, Ranger, and cleric. My problem with blunt weapons is that i only have one star for a weapon on a character, if any at all. I neglected blunts because I don't mind the undead's 50 percent resistance to slashing. And going back to Hobart (BTW, why is he still in his house even after he reveals to be a Rakshasa and I kill him) is out of the question as I was shut in after the third basement level (with all the slimes). I have a save from back at The Whistling Gallows that I kept in case i decided I wasn't up o TotL (since you can't go back unless you complete it), and a save from before I went to the lower dungeon itself, so I can go back if it's absolutely nessicary. You are mistaken about the battle I am in however. I am currently in the cave in the South West corner, the one will the jackals, dogs, and the alter visible from the entrance. In all the other caves, the alter is not visible from the intrance, which is why I did not have a great deal of trouble with those caves, as I didn't have to fight them, and when I go to get the gem, haste a tank, run in, and then run out. It's that simple. I remember the harpy battle well, and i got through with a little trouble. My main difficulty was the large group of regular harpies in the western side. My ranger had 100 percent fire resistance, so the flame spewing ones weren't a huge problem. And I have found one of the most useful combat tactics is to let the enemies come to you. If you hole your group up in a corner next to the exit, with 3 tanks on the front lines, another tank with a polearm directly behind him, and then your rouge shooting arrows, and a spell caster shooting on simple spells, its a piece of cake. And if all your tanks get poisoned, or they break their ranks to where you've got three on one guy, you can retreat. I know you said that was cheesy, and I agree, but I had BG2 first, and retreating was a good tactic as your enemies would follow, allowing you to set a trap for a change. Well, lemme know what you think about this, and we can discuss strategy somemore on this interesting ordeal I've gotten myself into.

[Sir Kenyth]

Is it just me? Or are you guys forgetting all about the simple solutions. Like potions/scrolls of magic immunity/resistance for fighters and minor globes of invulnerability for mages? Haste everyone and have at it. ALWAYS keep a blunt magic weapon in everyone's inventory, just for those special occasions when you'll need it. If they're only hitting you with magic missiles, you should be able to come up with an effective defense pretty easily.

[whodoyouthinkyouare]

Uhhh... Kenyth... OK, I'm in the dungeon of trials of the luremaster... the last floor... that means that I have no way of getting anything you just mentioned. While it is good advice, it in no way helps me. Thanks anyways.

PS- I'm completely against cheating items in.

[Sir Kenyth]

Originally posted by whodoyouthinkyouare: Uhhh... Kenyth... OK, I'm in the dungeon of trials of the luremaster... the last floor... that means that I have no way of getting anything you just mentioned. While it is good advice, it in no way helps me. Thanks anyways. PS- I'm completely against cheating items in.

I havn't been to that part yet. I just have a couple of those items I picked up earlier in the game. I like to save those potent puppies for special occasions since they are pretty rare. You must have used them up already. You can still use minor globes of invulnerability on the mages.