Ritual Mod Spoilers

[Dundee Slaytern]

This contains spoilers related to ToB and the Ritual Mod.

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Yes! YES! An opponent worthy of a fight! [img]tongue.gif[/img] True... Odin Magnus did not suffer any Hp loss, and neither was the fight particularly hard once you realise what goes on, but like the Improved Mind Flayers, I felt some... tension in this fight. [img]tongue.gif[/img] Besides... it would be unfair to gauge the level of difficulty of a fight by pitting a Sorcerer into it. [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img] I expect a solo Cavalier to have more difficulty against Pontifex, and it should prove to be a wonderful fight.

One comment though... the loot is too overpowered. Why... if Jim realises what the loot is, he will drool, at least I think he would drool, because when I realised what the loot was, my brain nearly exploded from the word, "CHEESE!!!!", that screamed in my head.

Come on... an armour that grants a base AC of -1, wearable by any class except a pureclassed Mage, and confers 50% resistance to slashing and piercing damage?!?! I can see it now... all the Evil-aligned Barbarians in the game in catatonic shock because they can achieve BASE physical immunity. Who needs Hardiness man? Slap on the Defender of Easthaven +3, innate Barbarian's physical resistances, this armour, Ronarchs Horn, and the bonus from Ascension if you do the fourth trial the evil way. You know what this gives you?

20 + 20 + 50 + 25 = 115%

Eeee-yup, everytime an arrow hits you, a sword stabs you, a club mauls you, etc... you HEAL. Hell, even a Good-aligned Barbarian can still attain physical immunity with Hardiness, not to mention Paladins, Fighters, Clerics and their subclasses.

Of course, such an armour is useless to Sorcerer nevertheless, so I just left it on the ground to rot; but man... I feel tempted to play a Barbarian now. ;P

Oh... and while I was in the Glade, I created a new tactic. One so cheesy, one so... so... effective, that I must leave you all hanging in suspense while I leave for a couple of hours. Heh, seriously though, I need to take my leave as I am meeting my friends. I will type more later on, and reveal the tactic.

As Always, The Complimentry Screenshots.

Thanks for reading!

[dragon_lord]

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: Come on... an armour that grants a base AC of -1, wearable by any class except a pureclassed Mage, and confers 50% resistance to slashing and piercing damage?!?! 20 + 20 + 50 + 25 = 115%

+50% Physical Resistance Armour?!!!? The guy must be nuts!! That is ridiculously powerful. I wait with anticipation at hearing this new tactic of yours Dundee.

[ 11-02-2002, 03:54 AM: Message edited by: dragon_lord ]

[Alson]

I knew you'll like it. [img]smile.gif[/img]
I trust he was indeed a worth opponent for Odin Magnus, right?

The Ritual MOD is just great. I love it.
With no doubt, the best quest in SoA - though fights, lovely dialogue, time limit that allows no cheesy resting, and a surprise at the end.

Ira'kiou'dneg (why all Dragons must have such long names?!) is such a fun fight, isn't it? It took my AGES!
I did the Ritual quest right before the Underdark, and boy, it was tough!
Then, i went to visit little Ponty.
Never did i lost a battle so quickly.

So i did the Underdark, gained a few levels and even a High Level Ability for my Sorceress (Planetar), and went back...
It's payback time.
I think it took me at least 5 reloads before i beat him.
NO regualr fight took my level ~18 party more than 2 tries.
The toughest fight i ever had - even tougher than Imprvoed Ilyich, Improved Irenicus, Ascension final and Eclipse.
Still, like all these tough battles, the sense of achievement was more than worth it. [img]smile.gif[/img]
And the reward is indeed too much.
I just sold it.

Lovely screenshots, BTW, as always.
Tsk tsk tsk...
Shapeshifted Projected Image... Shame on you, Dundee!

Eagerly waiting to hear your tactic.

[ 11-02-2002, 12:54 PM: Message edited by: Alson ]

[Dundee Slaytern]

Well, technically, I nailed Pontifex on my first try, but I had to reload twice beforehand because of one issue. I kept teleporting into the Red Badge Encounter mod... ...

It was most frustrating to say the least. Halfway through the fight with Pontifex, "Hey! Hey! I am in the middle of a fight here!", then because my Sorcerer is totally unprepared for the encounter, he gets totally messed up.

Soooo... after some consideration, I went to Tradesmeet to rest and prepare for the Red Badge Encounter(RBE). Upon re-entering the grounds of Watcher's Keep, I immediately got teleported to the RBE. Unleashing the full might of my Sorcerer this time, I killed them all and exited the battlefield, returning to where Pontifex was and waved hi to him as I prepared the next set of contingencies and rested.

Since it is in my nature to talk to Dragons first, I stored the following spells into my Chain Contingency, set to trigger on self when an enemy is sighted,

1) Protection from Energy
2) Protection from Magical Weapons
3) True Sight

Casting Resist Fear and Mirror Image once I woke up, I Quicksaved and talked to Pontifex.

At this point, I must congratulate the dialogue writers for some of the most hilarious lines I have had the pleasure to read. Sharp players will also note the anime reference in the Glade. The three Guardians are named and colour-coded after the Evangelions in Neon Genesis:Evangelion. [img]smile.gif[/img]

The rest is, as they say, history.

I would say it is easier than the Improved Ilyich mod though, because you must take into consideration the level and resources available to the character at that time. I rumbled with Pontifex at level 25, so for all purposes, I blew him away. The Improved Ilyich mod is one mod I am loathe to install, because I think its' developers went wayyyy overboard in raising its' difficulty.

There is a fine thin line between fun difficulty, and pointless difficulty.

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I Hate The World Tactic( aka I Want Everybody To Die):
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Ingredients,

1) A Masochistic Sorcerer
2) 100%+ Magic Damage Resistance
3) Wish
4) High WIS

So there I was. In the Glade. Given only 7 hours to clear out the whole place. No problem I thought to myself; after all, I had Wish to rest and rememorise all the time. However... I failed to factor in the ensuring tedium.

There is only so much casting of Wish before a player is sicken to the bones of it. Add to the fact that the Skull Heads KOed any non-gated summons in one hit, and it was a very boring game of gating in Planetars, Planetars slaughter everything, Planetars unsummon, Sorcerer spam Wish to get back all his spells.

There had to be a more interesting way to accomplish my task, if only to break the repetitive routine I was doing. Now... I had the spell Protection from Energy, and I came to love it because when combined with the Belt of Inertial Barrier, it granted my Sorcerer 125% Magic Damage Resistance. What this essentially means is, Magic Missile, Skull Traps and Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wiltings heal me. Many an "Improved" Mage/Lich gaped in horror as their "terrifying" twin ADHWs heal whatever previous damage they dealt to me. Why, there was one time I went from near-death to full life because of a timely ADHW from an enemy Lich.

Damage on Insane Difficulty is doubled, thus so does the healing.

I happened to reflect upon this as I read once again, an option in my Wish list that I usually ignore, because it was deadly and harmful.

"Cast ADHW on everybody in the area including party members."

1) I was a soloist
2) I was immuned
3) So are the Djinnis
4) The enemies are not

Cue evil grin.

As I had the Staff of Magi, I could scout out the enemies' positions and kept my Sorcerer out of sight. Casting Project Image does not dispel my invisibility. Neither does casting Improved Alacrity and Wish. Using my PI illusion, I quickly spam 5 Wishes and try to get the option. You will need to cast Protection from Energy( or Protection from Magical Energy) on both the Sorcerer and the PI illusion beforehand of course.

Now... it is 1 ADHW per target. If there are 8 targets, you are effectively casting 8 ADHWs at the same time. ADHW is an area-of-effect spell, and damage will overlap so long as the targets are close to each other. You are essentially dealing 20-160 damage for one target, 40-320 for two targets, 160-1280 damage for 8 targets. If this is not damage, I do not know what is. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Oddly enough, I kept getting the maximum possible damage. Not sure whether it was luck, or intentional.

The best part? They do not know who is dealing the damage, because not only are you invisible, you are out of sight.

Word of warning though. This will target neutrals and summons too( making them hostile), so make sure you really want to do this before you attempt to use it.

[Jim]

Drool!....That armour is just plain overkill though

Seriously though, this mod sounds pretty cool. How big is it?

[Dundee Slaytern]

I got it from the Tactics Mod. It is 505 KB. I did not installed all the components though. I skipped the additional classes and the Improved Illyich fight. I got everything else though.

Click Here.

ADD] Oh... I made a few more quirky screenshots.

1) As before with Firkragg, Thax died before its' dialogue script triggered, leading to another case of post-mortem bizzareness.

Click Here.

2) I dunno about the others, but this just tickled my funny bone. Mirror Image by the way, in case you are wondering.

Click Here.

[ 11-03-2002, 02:11 AM: Message edited by: Dundee Slaytern ]

[Dundee Slaytern]

I am on a row here. At this rate, I will be able to break my previous personal speed record and complete SoA in record time. Why, I have started to slack and actually *gasp!* press the "Z" button. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

This time, I got screenshots from the Cult of the Unseeing Eye quest. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Click Here.

ADD] Ah yes, I forgot to ask. To Alson, you said the Improved Beholders could see you even if you were invisible, but my Sorcerer was able to waltz around undetected. Is this a bug? I double-checked, and I am pretty sure I have installed the Improved Beholders component from the Tactics Mod.

[ 11-03-2002, 10:20 AM: Message edited by: Dundee Slaytern ]

[Alson]

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: I would say it is easier than the Improved Ilyich mod though, because you must take into consideration the level and resources available to the character at that time. I rumbled with Pontifex at level 25, so for all purposes, I blew him away. The Improved Ilyich mod is one mod I am loathe to install, because I think its' developers went wayyyy overboard in raising its' difficulty. There is a fine thin line between fun difficulty, and pointless difficulty.

Don't knock it before you tried it, Dundee.
The Ilyich MOD is the pinnacle of the Improved X battles, IMO.
The greatest tactical challenge i ever had - but it's damn fun.
I had to actually *gasp* plan before i charged.
You should try it.

The only thing i don't like about it is that in those level i can't really cheese the enemy to death... I hate fair fights!

I Hate The World Tactic( aka I Want Everybody To Die): -------- Ingredients, 1) A Masochistic Sorcerer 2) 100%+ Magic Damage Resistance 3) Wish 4) High WIS

I saw that one coming before i even continued on with the reading...
Definitely evil, but i fail to see the cheese... [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Just an annoying comment - sorry, but i just couldn't resist - wouldn't a simple casting or two of Dragon Breath would suffice? It wouldn't be as fun, of course...

[ 11-03-2002, 11:38 AM: Message edited by: Alson ]

[Alson]

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: This time, I got screenshots from the Cult of the Unseeing Eye quest. [img]smile.gif[/img] Click Here.

As always Dundee - great screenshots!
I'm so proud to see that [img]graemlins/angel.gif[/img] Odin Magnus [img]graemlins/angel.gif[/img] is using my cheese! [img]graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

The Mirror Imaged Iron Golem is indeed very cool! [img]smile.gif[/img]

ADD] Ah yes, I forgot to ask. To Alson, you said the Improved Beholders could see you even if you were invisible, but my Sorcerer was able to waltz around undetected. Is this a bug? I double-checked, and I am pretty sure I have installed the Improved Beholders component from the Tactics Mod.

I was 90% sure about it...
Did you wore the Cloak of Non-Detection by any chance?

[ 11-03-2002, 11:37 AM: Message edited by: Alson ]

[Dundee Slaytern]

Originally posted by Alson: I saw that one coming before i even continued on with the reading... Definitely evil, but i fail to see the cheese... [img]tongue.gif[/img] Just an annoying comment - sorry, but i just couldn't resist - wouldn't a simple casting or two of Dragon Breath would suffice? It wouldn't be as fun, of course...

When the spell meant area, it really meant area. I tried using it at the Bridge to hit the Beholders and Gauths on the other side, and ended up whacking the Diseased Ones as well( I had to reload of course). This is much more powerful than a mere one or two Dragon's Breath. This is the spell equivalent of a nuclear bomb.

As always Dundee - great screenshots! I'm so proud to see that [img]graemlins/angel.gif[/img] Odin Magnus [img]graemlins/angel.gif[/img] is using my cheese! [img]graemlins/blush.gif[/img] The Mirror Imaged Iron Golem is indeed very cool! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Thanks and aye, the Iron Golem is fun indeed. Ever since you told me about it, I have been experimenting to see exactly how much I can abuse it. [img]tongue.gif[/img] I plan to store scrolls for the following spells, Fireball, Delayed Blast Fireball, Incendiary Cloud, and Meteor Swarm. Essentially... I am going to make my PI->S:IG into Faerun's biggest pryotechnician.

I was 90% sure about it... Did you wore the Cloak of Non-Detection by any chance?

Nope, my equipment setup is as follows,

Robe of Vecna, Bracers of Defense AC 3, Pale Green Ioun Stone, Amulet of Power, Ring of Acuity, Ring of Wizardry, Cloak of Balduran( got this from the Lich in the room at the Shadow Thieves' Headquarters), Boots of Speed and the Belt of Inertial Barrier. Weapons are the Staff of Magi and the Sling of Everand.

Besides, Non-Detection should not an issue, because Liches can see my invisible Sorcerer just fine.
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I might give the II Mod a twirl, but I still think it is crazy.