12-14 Harpies outside Stubbletoe's House!

[Jon_J]

I get killed every time I try to leave this house in ToTLM.

I'm not certain if I caused more Harpies to re-populate. I left the chapel after killing the spiders and there were about 6 harpies, I ran to Stubbletoe's house and rested. Now there are 12 or more waiting outside for me.

I also noticed any time I entered Stubbletoe's house and rested, these harpies re-populate outside.

I have:
2 fighters lvl 23
1 fighter/thief lvl 14/18
1 Cleric lvl 25
1 fighter/mage lvl 14/13
1 Cleric/mage lvl 17/13

I played all of IWD to just before you go up the steps near the end,
and HoW to just before the Floating ******

Then just started ToTLM. I was practicing on harpies with archers in the beginning. They re-populate after every time you rest in Stubbletoe's

I have tried area spells, enhanced arrows. They just surround and swarm all over my party now. They come from the North, East, and South now.

Thank you for reading this,
Jon

[Dundee Slaytern]

Killing the source of the Harpies would be a good idea. Besides... you can rest outside, and if you are lucky, they will not respawn.

The source resides in the topmost tower. You will need to go up a staircase on the right wall.

[Jon_J]

Thank you for your reply Dundee.
It looks like I have to go to an earlier save.
I was absolutely stuck in Stumbletoe's house.
I tried holdfast arrows for my 4 archers. Seems that even more harpies appear from around the corner. (almost twenty?).
I tried to make a run for the stairs on the right, before I get halfway there, 12 harpies have me surrounded. (I paused and counted them).
I'm starting to get discouraged, I spent over 2 months building these chars, and now I cannot leave this little shack. There is no place to use like a choke point. I can't even get into a corner, to fight from 2 sides only. When I exit Stumbletoe's I'm 4 feet from the door and harpies can encircle me from 360º

[[EDIT]] I set game on easy mode just to get thru these harpies.
I didn't want to do this, but seemed to be the only way to get past them, after all there were way too many of 'em for me to make a run for the stairs.
I finally got rid of 'em for good now.

Thank you for reading this,
Jom

[ 01-31-2004, 09:22 PM: Message edited by: Jon_J ]

[NobleNick]

Jon_J,

I think this area was designed to spank you for not having a Bard, much like B.I. seems to be designed to punish you for not having a Cleric.

Make no mistake: This area is designed to be HARD. However, a few things to make it easier:

1.) Only attempt this area with experienced characters. You appear to have no problem in this area.

2.) Bring lots of muscle and Cleric and/or Bard power (preferably both), to buff your party specifically against the Harpies' non-physical aura/attack. Again, you appear to be O.K.: Lots of experienced Fighter power (you DID stack all your PP in exactly one melee weapon and one ranged weapon, right? And your Fighters are using those weapons, right?). Although you did not bring a Bard, two Clerics ought to squeak you through (I had a Bard AND a dc Cleric(12)/Fighter AND a dc Ranger(12)/Cleric).

3.) STRATEGY: Yikes! You are taking them on 20 at a time?!?! Ouch!! Only meet these guys 5 or 7 at a time. That means moving forward carefully and NO running away! EVERY time you meet a party of Harpies, EXTERMINATE them AND save game! EVERY time you lose a harpy battle, reload until you win, cause it only gets harder if you run. Also, have your Clerics load up on the specific spells you need to buff and recover for Harpy attacks; so that your party needs to rest less often, and therefore spawn fewer harpies. (This is where a Bard's healing and buffing songs really help).

4.) TACTIC 1: You know you're going to meet Harpies as soon as you step through the door, so have the Bard singing (if you have one) and buff for the fight JUST before leaving the shack.

5.) TACTIC 2: Concentrate your firepower on one Harpy at a time. When stepping out of the shack, you should have one Harpy down with ranged weapons and be re-targetted onto the second, before any of them close for melee. Once in melee, have your front line concentrate on one or, at most, two Harpies, with their heavy-hitting swords, etc.; while your ranged attackers all concentrate on the Harpy you think would go down first if no ranged attackers were helping.

6.) TACTIC 3: Use summons as meat shields? I had enough Bard/Cleric/Fighter-power that I didn't need to resort to this with the Harpies; so can't vouch for its effectiveness; but it's a thought. I would put them out far enough so that they slow down a portion of the harpies at a distance where their Harpy aura does not affect your main party.

7.)TACTIC 4: Once the initial battle is over, moved very slowly and carefully to uncover other adversaries. Use invisibility / hide in shadows to scout ahead; so that your party does not stumble into a nest of these guys. Once you find a group, try to arrange the encounter so that the harpies attack in succession, not "en masse," so that you can crucify them one at a time and not have to make multiple saving throws against the auras.

Once you've put all these tricks together, Harpy encounters can evolve from an excuciatingly frustrating experience to a routine way to get your party more experience. I was ALMOST sorry to see them go, when I finally did the clean-up to which Dundee refers.

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

[Dundee Slaytern]

Mages and Clerics can effectively nullify the Harpies' Fear Aura with Resist Fear and Remove Fear respectively.

Summons are always good to have as meat shields. A hit aimed at a summon, is a hit not aimed at your party members. They also enable the party to focus more effectively on one Harpy while the summons distract the rest.

Antidotes and good saves are a must for your frontliners.

If you want a copout cheese tactic... a high-level Druid with innate Poison Immunity, shapeshifted into a Water Elemental, equipped with Physical Damage Resistance items and/or buffed up with The War Chant of Sith can tank the Harpies all day long while the rest of your party attack with ranged weaponary.

[NobleNick]

Dundee,

A Druid shifted to water elemental is immune to the effects of the harpies' mind attack? No lie?? AauggHH!! [smacks self on forehead.] I wish MY Druid had known that. Then I genuinely would have been sorry to see the harpies go...

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

[ZFR]

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: If you want a copout cheese tactic... a high-level Druid with innate Poison Immunity, shapeshifted into a Water Elemental, equipped with Physical Damage Resistance items and/or buffed up with The War Chant of Sith can tank the Harpies all day long while the rest of your party attack with ranged weaponary.

Why is druid shapeshifting to elemental a cheesy tactic? (and what does 'copout' mean? [img]redface.gif[/img] )

[Dundee Slaytern]

Originally posted by NobleNick: Dundee, A Druid shifted to water elemental is immune to the effects of the harpies' mind attack? No lie?? AauggHH!! [smacks self on forehead.] I wish MY Druid had known that. Then I genuinely would have been sorry to see the harpies go... -------------------- What's a party, without a song? Bards ROCK! Party On!!

? Nono. You still need the Resist/Remove Fear to counteract the Harpies' fear aura. Besides, think of your other party members.

The Tale of Curran Strongheart works too, but better to sing The War Chant of Sith.

The point of the Water Elemental form is that it has an innate base resistance of 75% to all physical damage. Couple that fact with items and TWCoSith, your Druid becomes immuned to physical damage, and if you exceed 100%, heal from physical damage.

[Dundee Slaytern]

Originally posted by ZFR: Why is druid shapeshifting to elemental a cheesy tactic? (and what does 'copout' mean? [img]redface.gif[/img] )

Simply because the enemy is not smart enough to target somebody else when the Druid is the nearest target. What this means is that the Druid can merrily round up ALL nearby hostile melee creatures on a map and lure them to a killzone where the rest of your party is waiting with ranged weaponary.

If the enemy has no spellcasters, the difficulty of the fight is reduced to the level of "Brainless". [img]tongue.gif[/img]

What is even more cheesy though... is that the Druid can use his weapons even when in Water Elemental form. You just need to cast Dispel Magic on him to remove his watery fists. Voila! Your Druid can now either pelt the enemy with bullets or stab them with a Scimitar+4... I found this out when an enemy Mage casted Dispel Magic on my party. It eliminates the problem of the fact that, despite the illogicness, all summons and shapeshifted forms use unenchanted weapons, making them utterly worthless in terms of offensive capabilities against simple enemies like Wights...

Random Trivia of the Day: Dispel Magic will remove Static Charge "auras".

[NobleNick]

Dundee,

O.K., I think I understand. Yes, cheesy, especially the dispel magic. I like it! Can't wait to use this one!! Fists of water (fire, etc.) were THE reason my Druid rarely shapeshifted. Ho, ho, ho!!! A water elemental wielding a +3 blade or a winter wolf sporting a giant-killer sling. YeeEEE HAH!! can't wait! Thank you, Dundee!!

BTW, this definitely deserves a spot in the "Unfair/Cheesy Tactics" thread we started some time back.

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