"Always Get Hardest Monster Spawn" Mod?

[IronDragon]

Originally posted by Andraste: I find that Umber Hulks cease to be a problem once you know where they are. spoiler space for anyone who has not done Nalia's quest (just to be safe) . . . . . . . . . . . . Generally, selling and re-buying the wand of cloudkill from CI is the first thing I do when I have the money. My method of dealing with the 5 (4?) Umber Hulks in the room in the cellar is 1) thief hiding in shadows opens the door and then backs away very quickly 2) mage with wand lobs cloudkill into the room 3) all 5 (4?) Umber Hulks drop dead I've never made the dog meat stew. If thief becomes cofused everyone runs away and comes back later when thief is feeling better.

I find that having said tief or ranger slam the door to the Umber Hulks room to be the best way to go.

why don't you fix the stew? you get experence for doing so if you kill the hulks or not.

[Armen]

Originally posted by Andraste: My method of dealing with the 5 (4?)

i mean this in the spirit of friendly game-related chat rather than criticism but that's not exactly the most elegant way of doing it - especially if you've done it a few times

besides - you get XP for making the stew and you can always kill them afterwards

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

I don't like doing that, even though Umber Hulks are dumb. Generally, I dart in and nuke them with Sunfire and Fireballs... I don't know why I habitually eschew Cloudkill.

[Armen]

ooh - 4 people with the same* reaction at the same time . . .

* similar reaction anyway

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

Originally posted by Armen: quote: Originally posted by Andraste: My method of dealing with the 5 (4?)

i mean this in the spirit of friendly game-related chat rather than criticism but that's not exactly the most elegant way of doing it - especially if you've done it a few times

besides - you get XP for making the stew and you can always kill them afterwards [/QUOTE]To be fair, I think some of us have used overly elegant ways to destroy enemies enough to cheese a few every now and again. I'd be lying if I claimed to never use a trio of Sunfire-casting mages and some Wands of Fire to obliterate my opposition. Also, to be fair, that *is* a rather cheap way of dealing with the situation.

[Andraste]

I tend to think that using exactly the right spell for the situation is elegant, rather than tossing out 5 ineffective ones, or hacking away with the tanks. To each their own.

The wand re-charge is a tad cheesy, but I regard it as the flip side of that even when you are playing evil, and find a merchant all on his own in some remote location, you can't kill him and loot all his stuff. Obviously the merchants have some magical storerooms, that as a side effect recharge everything they put in them. If it really bothers you, Nalia or a PC mage or sorcerer could cast cloudkill in a conventional fashion.

I don't make the stew, because it is one of the places where role playing gets the better of me. Slaughtering the family pets just doesn't seem right. It always bothers me a bit that their circles stay red, even if you send Nalia over to make a fuss of them. Shouldn't they start wagging their little furry tails and want to go for a walk?

[Andraste]

addendum.

Even though the Umber Hulks are dumb, they are not as dumb as the cowled wizards. If they should happened make the initial save, they don't just stand in the cloud until they choke, but instead come looking for you. Slamming the door shut, like Irondragon suggested, is a good tactic to use then.

[Armen]

Originally posted by Andraste: Slaughtering the family pets just doesn't seem right.

that's fair enough

presumably you leave all her family's money and magical items alone too . .

i like the dog stew solution as one of the few occasions you can get XP without killing something - it's not really a complaint but it is a shame that sneaking and thinking and talking your way round the quests would punish you badly XP-wise compared to wading around Amn up to your elbows in monstrous blood and guts

it'd be an interesting game though

hmmm...

[Klorox]

You could always be an XP whore and get the XP from killing the Umber Hulks as well as using the dog stew.

[Lord Michael]

I just did that part on Saturday, and I did choose the XP whore route......
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First I had everyone in the first room that you come into, set up with tanks (Me & Anomen) by the door, Jaheira in "door slamming" position, Aerie & Minsc in the back for arrows/spells backup. I had the stew, but I wanted to see how many I could kill before using it. Yoshimo (invisible) lured them one at a time right into my little "room of death" with an arrow shot. Poof. No Cloudkill(heck Aerie didn't even have that spell), no fireball. Just death for Umber Hulks one & two at a time. I saved the last one for the dog stew trick, then went back and killed him after Torgal.

Now, I hate to change a topic, but who killed the Shadow Dragon and how? I might have to go back & buy some stuff to knock this bugger off.
I think I was higher level when I killed him the first time through. Of course that's been a couple years ago.

Mahokenshi, I have been exploring "mods" lately, thinking about doing it, and I haven't seen such a mod that I know of. I have reloaded areas before to get stronger monsters, but that stinks.
Maybe someone will make one, or maybe they figure you can achieve the same effect by playing on hard or insane.....
Good Luck.