Watchers L3- The Horror

[Timber Loftis]

Actually, "the magical fear" is more accurate. There are spoilers to follow. . .
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L3 Watchers - I meet w/ Tanari at the entrance to the level. Then I go south one room and get CREAMED by the creatures there. I step through the portal and everyone goes afraid on me - seriously, more than half the party. I've tried having mazzy do the fear protection before we enter, to no avail. What's the best way to avoid the Fear Factor? Should I just leave and return when the party is higher level - as most are in the lvl 13 range? Maybe we're just too low level to be fighting multiple extra-planar creatures at once. I'd really like the Deck of Many Things, so I thought I'd run through level 3 if possible before leaving.

Also - in the room I mentioned (one room south of entrance room) there is a demon that my cursor roll-over labels as "pit fiend" - but it looks much smaller than the pit fiend one gates in. Is this a real pit fiend? If I gate in a fiend, will it side with the other fiends and turn against me? what if I gate it in a room of Baatezu?

Thanks for advice!

[Tancred]

LEVEL 13?!? Um, um - perhaps it would be worth returning after you hit level 20 - 25 or so? Watcher's Keep is not easy! I'm amazed you made it THIS far!

[Timber Loftis]

I'm not a powergamer, Tancred, and even I must say that the first 2 levels of Watchers Keep weren't too bad.

But, I believe you are right. I'm on my second time thru the game, and saw this as a way to bump up my XP - 'cause my ToB party is only at lvl 20, way below what it seems most people play at.

Any advice on the fear stuff, though? Regardless of level, remove fear (which also serves as protection from fear if I understand correctly) works about the same, right?

[Tancred]

If I recall correctly, one of the most irritating things about the 3rd level of The Keep are the 'magic' zones. Certain areas either make strange things happen ('wild surges' of magic) or kill it dead. The room you enter could well be one of those dead magic zones. Look for the telltale description in the dialogue window about the 'air tasting flat', or something. Remove Fear, alas, is identical to Resist Fear, right down to being counted as a spell effect.
Try a few spells in there. If they work, I must have remembered incorrectly. If not, then you're going to have to face the Fear. I'm not sure how the zone affects potions, though...

As far as the Pit Fiend goes, a Gated Pit Fiend will attack anything without a Protection From Evil upon it, even other Pit Fiends. The Pit Fiends in the room you're in are just different-looking versions... possibly with some stat differences.

[Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs]

cast the priest spell "remove fear." it has a shorter cast time than the mage version. If the room isn't a "dead zone" then you'll be fine with just casting it RIGHT AFTER you enter the room. You can pause when the screen is black and still cast spells. If it IS a "dead zone" then you should get to be more experienced by about 5 levels. Your saving throws probably just aren't good enough yet.

[Arwyn the Betrayer]

I went down to 5th level with a level 14 party...
I'm playing on Core, but still... am I that good or what? O.o

[Dundee Slaytern]

Just waiting until you meet the 5th level munchkin party. I remember a guy who tried to beat them with an average party level of 12-13( yes, he was that good). He died, horribly, even with all the suggestions from us.

[Arwyn the Betrayer]

Well, beating that party there is a bit illusionary, true.
But I don't intend to do that now, I just wanted to get to Lum's machine for the stats increase.

Anyway, I didn't really suffer those fear-problems except for a few times.
If you are in the room where a demon inniciates a conversation with you... there's a Succubus in there who tends to frighten your people. Interrupt her spellcasting and you should be done.. if i remember correctly.

[syrneia]

fear and confusion have always been the danger in combat {and energy drain of course}, though it can be fun to watch them squirrel around if it gets past the point of caring haha
i have persevered to acquire items to defend against these three attacks and carry them with me at all times, equipping them mid-combat to save myself.
'The Equalizer' sword grants immunity to charm and confusion {stroll around in the succubus lair for awhile }
'Dragonslayer' grants immunity to fear
'Runehammer' grants negative plane protection And immunity to fear {runehammer completed the triangle for me yay! - war hammer proficiency followed very quickly }
as for spells, remove and resist fear are the same (clerical/mage}: they last an hour, have a 30' area of effect, and are cast in 1 segment which can be handy...and chaotic commands is the single very best way of keeping your party members on your side; i found it best sometimes to just keep certain party members out of the fray {no names} ie keep them 'untargetable', and let the tanks do all the dirty work...
the only other way i found is to have aerie slap them around with the staff of the magi {i'm sure my jaheira hates aerie by now haha} and it will dispel effects {though it will also dispel the good ones, but that's not too high a price to bring back someone who likes to run blindly into a room full of demons and traps!}
hope that helps..

[Alson]

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: Just waiting until you meet the 5th level munchkin party. I remember a guy who tried to beat them with an average party level of 12-13( yes, he was that good). He died, horribly, even with all the suggestions from us.

Westley Weimer, the author of the Sola Mod, did the Keep as his first SoA quest... And made it!

He, of course, used the scroll... [img]smile.gif[/img]

I always do the first two levels as my first quest.
Slicing slavers with Foebane and burning the with Firetooth is just too fun...

~Edit: Wes' party for the Keep challenge.

[ 09-28-2002, 03:08 PM: Message edited by: Alson ]