High Level Abilities

[Envy]

Hi everyone,
Which HLA should I choose for Jaheira,Its my first time with ToB and I cant decide..Summon Deva or whirlwhind att..or something else? Thanks..

[Dundee Slaytern]

Depends on how you plan to use Jaheira. Are you using her as a Tank, a Slinger or a Caster?

[Dar'tanian]

If you are using her as a tank you should get aura of flaming death.
If you are using her as a healer you should get Mass Raise dead.
If you are using her as a slinger you should get energy blades.
If you are using her as a caster that deals damage get storm of vengance.


Finally after you have gotten at least one or two other High level abilitys you should get summon deva, but not summon fallen deva. Your mage can also get summon deva and since jaheria can summon other creatures you should save the summon deva for later when there is nothing else that intrests you.

[Envy]

Ok guys thanks a lot...

P.S:I choose storm of vengance.. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Dundee Slaytern]

Actually... Mass Raise Dead is a redundant spell. If that many people in your party are dead... what are the odds of Jaheira being the survivor? Rod of Resurrection and/or Harper's Call are more than sufficient for all your resurrecting needs.

Globe of Blades is a wicked spell if you use Jaheira to fight in melee.

I personally feel Aura of Flaming Death is over-rated, but some swear by it. Your call.

Summon Deva is kinda wasted on Jaheira when you can have Greater Elemental Summoning. Chan alone can kick some serious booty.

Implosion is a very evil spell. It ignores Magic Resistance and does 10d10 Fire + 10d10 Crushing Damage( not 2d10 as the manual states). Have some of these to deal with pesky creatures.

Storm of Vengence is quite a good spell to disrupt enemy spellcasters since it deals so many different types of damage over a period of time.

If you use Improved Haste on Jaheira, you will never need Whirlwind or Greater Whirlwind.

Critical Hit is not critical. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Smite is fun, fun, fun and VERY evil against Bosses. A Smite against a wall followed by 2 rounds of beatings usually result in a dead Boss, or at least a very dazed one.

Hardiness is redundant since you have Ironskins. Do not pick.

Greater Deathblow is so powerful as to be almost game-breaking. Fancy instant-killing Beholders and Mind Flayers? Thought so.

[Alson]

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: Actually... Mass Raise Dead is a redundant spell. If that many people in your party are dead... what are the odds of Jaheira being the survivor?

Quite high, with her having Ironskins and all. [img]tongue.gif[/img] But I agree - MRD is quite useless.

Globe of Blades is a wicked spell if you use Jaheira to fight in melee.

...but be wary when using it, as it has a tendency of chopping your allies, too. Oh - and watch out of angry Planetars.

I personally feel Aura of Flaming Death is over-rated, but some swear by it. Your call.

Ditto. Skip.

Summon Deva is kinda wasted on Jaheira when you can have Greater Elemental Summoning. Chan alone can kick some serious booty.

Ditto. Pick.

Implosion is a very evil spell. It ignores Magic Resistance and does 10d10 Fire + 10d10 Crushing Damage( not 2d10 as the manual states). Have some of these to deal with pesky creatures.

Implosion is mighty, yes.

Storm of Vengence is quite a good spell to disrupt enemy spellcasters since it deals so many different types of damage over a period of time.

The poison effect is super fun if it actually comes into effect. As any other Save-or-Else spell - a prior casting of Greater Malison is highly recommended.

If you use Improved Haste on Jaheira, you will never need Whirlwind or Greater Whirlwind.

Assuming you're dual-wielding with Belm (as Jaheira can't achieve Grandmastery). Otherwise, pick some Greater Whirlwinds for tight spots - 6 ApR with a two handed weapon isn't all that hot.

Critical Hit is not critical. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Major disagreement, but this has been done to death already. If you're already Improved Hasted, you might as well just pick Critical Strike.

Smite is fun, fun, fun and VERY evil against Bosses. A Smite against a wall followed by 2 rounds of beatings usually result in a dead Boss, or at least a very dazed one.

Too bad you can only pick it once.

Hardiness is redundant since you have Ironskins. Do not pick.

True. If you're still feeling paranoid, pick only one - for backup purposes.

Greater Deathblow is so powerful as to be almost game-breaking.

Too true. Goes well with J, too - since she has Fire Seeds. Stock up.

For more in-depth review of the various High Level Abilities, check out the BG2 Spells Reference - there's a link to it in my signature.

[Rataxes]

Originally posted by Alson: 6 ApR with a two handed weapon isn't all that hot.

Something you've experienced very recently, no?

Deathblow is still almost as good as Greater Deathblow, even if there's really no reason to pick it more than once.

[Alson]

Originally posted by Rataxes: Something you've experienced very recently, no?

Ouch! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Seriously, though, it's not really the same. Thanks to The Robe, and the fact that Arcane spells are overall more powerful than Divine ones, a cast&attack-ish Fighter/Mage (or Fighter/Mage/Thief, in my case) is way more powerful than a cast&attack-ish Fighter/Druid - so the pain of losing those precious 4 attacks per round isn't nearly as severe.

[Pirengle]

*hijacks the thread for her own nefarious purposes*

This is the first time I've done thief HLAs. I chose Use Any Item as my first one, and I'm going to stay low-cheese with that one until absolutely necessary. (Getting my butt kicked by Draconis for the 15th time in a row sounds about right. Ahh, the memories... [img]tongue.gif[/img] )

What do I choose next? Cleric is obvious, mage is simple, fighter is simple, but there's no super choice for a swashbuckler.

[Alson]

Actually, Swashbuckler is quite simple, too.

Use Any Item first.

Some Spike & Time Traps, according to your playing style.

Then - it's a Whirlwind fiesta.