Battles

[Assassin]

=/ Holy crap. Is the experience upped as well? If so, I might actually try it out, but due to the fact that I kind of rely on those Vampires for experience for the tougher Tactics encounters.

What kind of cheesy weapons are you talking about?

[ 10-13-2003, 03:01 PM: Message edited by: Assassin ]

[SixOfSpades]

The EXP gained is paltry, compared to the difficulty of killing them. Kill the Fighter->Assassin who uses an undroppable Ring of Invisibility (which makes him undetectable by True Sight or a Thief's DI skill) and get maybe 2000 EXP for it. Now go resurrect the party members he killed.

These guys can one-hit-chunk a fully healed Korgan with -13 AC, no joke.

[Assassin]

You mean not even buffing up with Fire protection stuff, and unleashing unholy hell with Sunfires will work?

[SixOfSpades]

No, that'll still work, the question is how many times you can do it, and how well you can protect yourself. A low-level party isn't going to have lots of good protection items to fling around, so that means lots of spells and potions. You'll also have to protect a lot of people: Apart from the spellchuckers firing the spells in the first place, your PC needs to be immune as well, because if the Shadow Bastards don't have a visible target, they will run directly to the PC, no matter where he or she is--and against these guys, anybody who isn't Invisible is pretty much already dead. Sorry, Wizard Slayers!

• All of the big fights require you to use up half of your best spells, just to stay alive.
• There are 5 big fights in Aran Linvail's level.
• You may not Rest.
• You may not leave.

Have fun with those Sunfires! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 10-13-2003, 04:02 PM: Message edited by: SixOfSpades ]

[Xen]

Originally posted by SixOfSpades: All of the big fights require you to use up half of your best spells, just to stay alive. There are 5 big fights in Aran Linvail's level. You may not Rest. You may not leave. Have fun with those Sunfires! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Just a quick question:do you now MUST join with that Undead thing or can you still choose? Becuase if you can choose I see no reason why you should go to that Undead thing....
So what is it then? [img]graemlins/1ponder.gif[/img]

[SixOfSpades]

No, nobody's twisting your arm to side with the Vampires. Of course, if you don't side with them, that means you've gotta butt heads with Improved Bodhi, but that's another MOD altogether. Just roleplay, and hope you survive to see Chapter 4.

[ 10-13-2003, 06:12 PM: Message edited by: SixOfSpades ]

[Assassin]

There's 2 Rings of Invisibility that aren't especially difficult to find/get: From a Lich, and from a Thief. Use those on your PC and others. Potions of Invisibility for the others that can't be protected. There's always an abundance of Green scrolls, or you could get a Ring of Fire Resistance and use Clerical Spells. Then, if you're about level 13 or so, you should have 6 charges of Sunfire if you're a Sorcerer, or about 3 (taking into account Breach as well) if you're a Mage. Bards can help here as well.

Failing that, protect the PC with Protection from Magical Energy, and go fishing. What I mean by that is first cast Greater Malison, then cast Slow with your backup Mage. After applying -8 to all saving throws, most Thieves will be Slow'ed. Now, you will see the Slow effect taking place, revealing that Thieve's position. Then, go fishing with Skull Traps in that area. Most of the time, since they are Slow'ed, you'll be able to get quite a few of them. That's how I cleared out Improved Ilyich's thieves. Going fishing.

Now, if you're trying to take out the head of the Shadow Thieves with a level 10 party, then forget about my tactics.

[SixOfSpades]

Sound strategy, Assassin, but you mention the use of too many spells--using muliple spells per engagement is fine for the first 4 major fights (steal Holy Water shipment, outside Renal's Guildhall, inside Renal's Guildhall 1st floor, inside Renal's Guildhall 2nd floor), but you'll quickly run out of spells once you use that Shadow Thief Cellar Key.

Tell you what: I think I'd be more interested in your tactics after you've beaten the MOD. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Tancred]

[quote]Originally posted by SixOfSpades:

And one more thing, Tancred: Save your game BEFORE you enter Aran Linvail's level. Oh my GOD, Save your game.

Much obliged, old chap... much obliged.

[Pirengle]

My question to the whole tactics/improved battle mods crowd is, why on Earth do y'all think they're fun? Challenging yes, unfair certainly, but fun? Hmm.

Back with the original Diablo variant community, we'd invent challenges by impairing the character in some way. To relate this to BG2, that'd be like making a party from a Transmuter PC, druid-spells-and-lycanthropy-only Cernd, conjuration-school-only Edwin, conjuration-school-only Kelsey, conjuration-school-only Jan, and no-magic Minsc. (And/or no-magic Valygar.) It's the Masculine Summoning Sickness party! :evil:

My point is, you don't need to install bokou mods to make the game more challenging. Setting personal limits and restrictions adds back in the difficulty sorely lacking in normal BG, and it's a lot of fun to boot. Anyone ever play BG2 without using metal items? A whole party of six only using clubs, quarterstaves, slings, and darts? C'mon now, don't everybody raise their hands all at once.

And to answer the original question, I had more problems with the Big Five in the Bridge District than any other fight in the game. Not even the oldest resident in the Docks District gave me as many problems as they did. In ToB, a certain somebody's son gave me 20+ reloads.