Improved Faldorn (spoilers, but who cares)

[Leslie]

So what's the percentage? Have you tried?

In my games he won 1 out of 4 tries.

EDIT: I forgot to add - that was on Insane, so I believe on Core they should be about 50:50.

[ 07-21-2004, 03:38 PM: Message edited by: Leslie ]

[Dace De'Briago]

lol

I tried twice, he won one, lost one.

Bears up with the 50:50 on core theory [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Cerek the Barbaric]

Alright, I need some advice here. I'm playing a solo Bard (Skald kit) and I've just entered the Druid Grove.

I have Tactics and Ease-of-Use (plus other Mods) installed. I've already run into some trouble with the multitude of trolls I meet on my way into the grove and it sounds like Faldorn is simply unbeatable.

My Skald is 13th level and I have the Improved Druid Acorns that summons Bullwinkle and the Nymphos. That should help me get through most of the prelimanary fights and I planned to have Cernd challenge Faldorn. The main reason I've come to Trademeet so early is to get Gnasher and Blackblood so I can gain Pitchwife for my Bard (yes, I used pre-knowledge to give him a proficiency in clubs - but mainly so he could use the +3 club from Illyich to help defeat the rest of his crew).

Now that the set-explanation is out of the way, here are my questions.

1) Can Improved Faldorn be un-installed separately from Improved Druid Grove, or do I have to "turn off" the Druid Grove to get rid of Improved Faldorn.
2) Will the other quests in Trademeet (along with the merchants) be available if I just choose not to go into the sanctuary and challenge Faldorn? Or are the rest of the Trademeet quests screwed?
3) Do I need to let Cernd into the party to challenge her, or do I just designate him as the challenger when the time comes?

I've only played Trademeet once before, and it was pretty late in the game. I also didn't Tactics or Ease-of-Use. It was just straight Vanilla SoA. In that game, Jaheira managed to beat Faldorn fairly easily.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

[Link]

Well.. IIRC everyone in this thread mentioned that Cernd was getting butchered by Faldorn, so I don't think he will do the job for you.

[Imrahil]

Originally posted by Cerek the Barbaric: Now that the set-explanation is out of the way, here are my questions. 1) Can Improved Faldorn be un-installed separately from Improved Druid Grove, or do I have to "turn off" the Druid Grove to get rid of Improved Faldorn. 2) Will the other quests in Trademeet (along with the merchants) be available if I just choose not to go into the sanctuary and challenge Faldorn? Or are the rest of the Trademeet quests screwed? 3) Do I need to let Cernd into the party to challenge her, or do I just designate him as the challenger when the time comes?

1) They can't be installed separately, so you do have to turn off the whole Improved Grove (make sure to quit the game entirely, as opposed to Save, Alt-Tab, uninstall, Load), then procede as normal.

2) You can do the Djinni part, which IIRC should restore the merchants & open up this Helping Tiris in Trademeet quest. You just can't get the main Trademeet reward or do the Tomb.

3) It depends - do you feel like installing "Rebalanced" Shapeshifter from Ease of Use? If so, you should be high enough level that Cernd will be at level 13, in which case you should have him memorize some Ironskins & Cure Disease, then as soon as he's in the pit, Shapeshift Greater Werewolf & equip The Paw. If you don't want to use "R"S, it sounds like other people have had 50-50 success by having Cernd challenge without taking him into the party.

- Imrahil

[Cerek the Barbaric]

Originally posted by Imrahil: 3) It depends - do you feel like installing "Rebalanced" Shapeshifter from Ease of Use? If so, you should be high enough level that Cernd will be at level 13, in which case you should have him memorize some Ironskins & Cure Disease, then as soon as he's in the pit, Shapeshift Greater Werewolf & equip The Paw. If you don't want to use "R"S, it sounds like other people have had 50-50 success by having Cernd challenge without taking him into the party. - Imrahil

I installed all the components for Ease-of-Use. I didn't check his stats or spells, but I did note that Cernd is 13th level (I added him to my party after taking him out of jail and escorting him to the Grove - then "reformed" my party once we arrived at the grove and spoke to the first druid that met us).

One other thought I had regarding Improved Faldorn...is she also immune to Wail of the Banshee?? With the Unfinished Business Mod installed, you get a djinni lamp after completing the Circus. If you track down the fella that Kalah met, you can fight him and learn the command word to use the lamp. One of the options (if you're wisdom is high enough) is to slay all my enemies. The djinni will then have the character cast Wail of the Banshee. Just like Nature's Beauty, it's a "Bang! You're Dead" spell if the enemy fails their saving throw.

Just wondered if anybody had tried tossing the lamp into the fight.

[bjorn]

Does the "wail of the Banshee" make it in to the ring?

[ 07-23-2004, 11:40 AM: Message edited by: bjorn ]

[Assassin]

Tossing items into the ring will make the fight easier. However, it still is against the spirit of the challenge.

Oh, and I think Imp Faldorn has Death Ward on, making Wail of the Banshee useless. Otherwise, it would be fairly routine to just Creeping Doom -> Cure Disease -> Finger of Death until she falls.

[ 07-23-2004, 01:28 PM: Message edited by: Assassin ]

[Dace De'Briago]

Originally posted by Link: Well.. IIRC everyone in this thread mentioned that Cernd was getting butchered by Faldorn, so I don't think he will do the job for you.

Wrong. On core difficulty Cernd can take her down 1/2 times.

The simplest way to complete this area with your bard is to use an invisibility spell, collect Cernd, take him to the Druid Grove and let him go head to head with Faldorn.

Problem solved.

Yay.

[Assassin]

This is what I gathered from this thread: in a battle where Cernd is taken into your party, and then you challenge Faldorn, Cernd will lose unless you have Rebalanced Shapeshifter is installed. However, if you use the conversation with Cernd to initiate the challenge, then he will win 1/2 of the time on Core rules.