(spoiler) Is there no defense against Gas spells?

[Sir Heinrich Godfrie IV]

At the third level of Durlag's Basement there is a number of Greater Dopplegangers, and they frequently cast or use Gas Cloud spells (Stinking cloud or Cloud Kill). When I was in that little throne room where you find that *certain* helmut, a couple of shapeshifters greeted me and a few moments later I was rudely gassed with both Cloudkill and Stinking Cloud. Now the smart thing to do would be just to leave the area, but they stut the door and I didn't notice (at the time) that you could leave the room and enter another through a westward hallway. So anyhue... I kept on reloading and trying different things to help me avoid the effects of their stinky farts. I tried all three of the different magic defense potions; protection, blocking, and sheilding. I think one them worked fairly well in allowing me to be in and around the gasses, but it wasn't consistent. Then I believe I tried using Minor Globe of Invulnerability and that didn't seem to work. Then I tried Otilukes Resilient Sphere, and to my astonishment, that didn't work either (atleast I don't think it did).

So after becoming very flustered it finally dawned on me, use a Protection from Magic scroll. It's description states that NO form of magic can pass in or out of it's protective radius, however physical matter is not hindered. Well it WORKED! Errr... sort of. I wasn't effected by the gas spells, however I kept on using my Saving Throws (automatically). Grrrrr! And thats the other problem, I only have a few Saving Throws left for each of my party members and I want to hold on to them until the last few battles of the game. And yes, I know about Gatekeeper, but I got burned earlier by editing the class of my PC from a Fighter/Mage to a straight Fighter without removing all of his previously known spells. Oops... "Error: Unkown spell type". So I finally gave up trying to be Mister Toughguy and decided to wait out the gasses from the torchure chamber room down the Westward hallway. The thing that really bothers me is that there doesn't seem to be any COMPLETE (no saving throws) defense against these gas spells. Or maybe there is and one of you can enlighten me? Thanks.

[Wilbur]

There is a priest spell Zone of sweet air removes the effects, but i think it's only in BG2.

[Sir Heinrich Godfrie IV]

Posted By: Wilbur There is a priest spell Zone of sweet air removes the effects, but i think it's only in BG2.

That would be nice, but I havn't seen any such spell in BG1. I havn't tried that Sanctuary spell that Priests get, I wonder if that would work. My guess is that the gasses themselves are not necessarily magic, but rather a physical element or matter. Thus normal magic defenses are useless. But again, I'm not sure and gasses are not thoroughly explained in the manual.

[Wilbur]

Dundee slaytern or six of spades made a post about this in the BG2 forum a while ago, they had figured this all out, it does have something to do with it being physical, cant remember the important parts though.

[Ar-Cunin]

haste yourself (boots + potion of speed) - grab the helmet - run like hell back to the room where you enter the lvl (and have the reat of the party waiting there) You should easily be able to get out of the 'throneroom' before the door closes.

[Firestormalpha]

Yes zone of sweet air is only in BG2. Only two real defenses to gaseous area spells in BG1, and then there's one that you'd have to cheat to use.
1) Magic Resistance- I'm not 100% positive, but that should help to circumvent the spell effects.
2) Saving Rolls- Get your saving throws to poison or death way down. By the end of my BG1 game my main character had something like a 2 or 3 versus death. Now in BG2 I don't remember what it currently is, but I know his save vs. breath weapons is 0, and his AC is -9 so with the right equip. he is the anti-dragon.

Last and certainly least the cheat:
- CLUA in a batch of Magic Protection scrolls and use them on the entire party. Make sure your weaker characters are away from the melee combat because the Magic Protection also stops healing magic.

[SixOfSpades]

First off: You can't run out of Saving Throws. There's no such thing as "saving them for the final battle."

Second: Even BioWare isn't completely clear about what the gaseous spells are. The thread that Wilbur is talking about was about Cloudkill: In BG2, you can find Wands of Cloudkill (I was so jazzed when I found a spell that powerful in Wand form), and there's a bug connected with them. The Cloudkill spell, cast from memory, can be blocked by creatures with a high Magic Resistance. The Cloudkill spell, from a Wand, ignores Magic Resistance. One of the BaldurDash Fixpacks corrects this bug (the Wands now are subject to MR), but I for one feel the spell shouldn't be blockable at all. (And I didn't even know Cloudkill was subject to Magic Resistance, as I never needed to waste a spell-slot on it.)

Anyway, ways to block it: You may not have noticed it, but there are little pockets in the Throne Room where there is no Cloudkill--only Stinking Cloud. Not only that, but the DoppelGangers can't see you hiding in the corner there. I usually just wait it out. Alternatively, put all your Saving Throw stuff on your best Tank and have him do the brawling while everyone else is suckin' down Healing Potions and slumping to the floor unconscious. The Cloudkill hurts the Doppelgangers as well, not just you.

[Sir Heinrich Godfrie IV]

Posted By: SixOfSpades First off: You can't run out of Saving Throws. There's no such thing as "saving them for the final battle."

Well this shows that I still have alot to learn about this little game.
If you never run out of saving throws then how come they continuely decrease as they are shown in your character's sheet? And how come you are able to add more with the game editor, Gatekeeper?

You may not have noticed it, but there are little pockets in the Throne Room where there is no Cloudkill--only Stinking Cloud.

This isn't the underlying issue for me. I mean it's not all that difficult to outsmart your opponents in this game (poor AI). I simply ran over to the torchure chamber and waited until the room aired out and the dumb Dopplers were half dead. But the reason I was so infuriated was that, throughout my various campaigns I never ran across a problem that couldn't be solved or explained rationally. This seemed to be THAT problem. No matter what defense I used, it was no match for their gasses.
Its too bad Lysol isn't a quest item.

[ 08-22-2002, 10:51 AM: Message edited by: Sir Heinrich Godfrie IV ]

[Firestormalpha]

Sir Heinrich, I'm going to assume you've never played the table top version of Dungeons & Dragons, let alone the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Well FYI when it comes to saving throws the lower the better. The idea when playing AD&D is to roll a 20 sided die and get a number HIGHER than your saving throw value. A saving throw of 0 is ideal and it is also exaclty what I have for my save versus breath weapons. Saving throw values go down as you level up, or with equipment that augments those values. They DO NOT get used up ever, they are unlimited seeing as they have no actual substance. Saving throws is more a matter of inborn constitution (I can't remember if this also applies the con value of your character) more or less a natural resistance that builds as you get stronger.

[Sir Heinrich Godfrie IV]

Well then...
I sort of feel a little sheepish right now.
It probably wouldn't have hurt me to open up that old dusty manual.
Thanks Firestorm, and the rest of you for your help.