Wizard Slayer, Magic Resistance, and Time Stop

[Cerek the Barbaric]

As some of you already know, I am playing a Wizard Slayer in my BGII game. I did not create the character with any plans to "dual" to any other class, but after reading several walk-throughs - I decided to give the thief class a try.

It's been said that the Wizard Slayer/Thief is one of the most over-powered classes in the game...and I'm beginning to believe it. I didn't "dual class" until reaching 24th level as a Wizard Slayer. This means that I have some nice High Level Abilities from the Warrior Pool (Greater Whirlwind, Critical Strike, etc).

After finally reaching 24th level as a thief, I naturally chose "Use Any Item" as my first High Level Ability. WOW - I can't begin to fully describe how quickly this turned my guy into a walking Destruction Machine.

I am currently finishing Watcher's Keep (still in SoA - haven't faced Irenicus yet) and I have seen some very interesting effects of the Wizard Slayers Magic Resistance.

SPOILERS BELOW
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My Wizard Slayer currently has a Magic Resistance of 94% [img]graemlins/wow.gif[/img] He got this from:
Wizard Slayer kit, Ring of Gaxx, Cloak of Balderun, and Machine of Lum the Mad. (still don't know how it got that high, according to my calculations it just doesn't add up to that much - but that's what is listed in his character screen).

Anyway, this Magic Resistance first paid off while playing with Lum's Machine. After reading the various notes and increasing the stats for appropriate party members - I gave the 5% Magic Resistance to my Wizard Slayer. Then, I decided to "play around" and see if I could get the 100,000 xp. Well, I got zapped and burnt a couple of times for my efforts..but the big surprise came when the Machine tried to Imprison me - NOTHING HAPPENED!!!! I couldn't believe it. "A dark ray shoots forth from the machine" and......ZILCH! NADA! NOTHING! Needless to say, I eventually got the 100,000xp. The gas and imprisonment did nothing to me and I could easily handle the damage from the lightning and fire.

After finishing with the machine, I opened the portal to the 5th (and final) level of Watcher's Keep and began completing the tests necessary to free the "Imprisoned One".

I completed the tests presented by the helmite ghost, gained my key, and prepared for what I had learned would be a very hard battle (it was). I had to re-load a couple of times. The biggest shock of the game so far came on my last battle with these particular guardians. One of the mages in the group immediately casts Time Stop. I had set all my defenses ahead of time, so I figured all I could do was wait for her to get done and hope for the best. While I'm sitting there, I notice that Cerek, the Wizard Slayer is not "blacked out". I clicked on his icon and - sure enough - I WAS UNAFFECTED BY THE TIME STOP!!!! I could move around and do whatever I wanted to. Of course, I still had to wait until the spell was complete to see the results of my actions. I used my time to shoot the mage with the Wand of Cursing and Wand of Spellstrike that we had found in the Keep. I then equipped the Githyanki Silver Sword and made fairly short work of her, once Time resumed.

Unbelievable - I did not realize that Magic Resistance could actually make me immune to a Time Stop spell. I wonder if this is a bug in the game....seems like it would have to be.

Maybe the sagely Dundee could share his thoughts and expertise on the subject.

[Alson]

Wow... Mysterious!

I can only see some [partly] logical explenations to this:

1. The Machine's Imprisonment is using a different .SPL file than the regular Imprisonment spell. This actually sounds reasonable.

2. The Mage who casted the spell is using is using a different .SPL file than the regular Time Stop spell. Now, this is surprising.

3. You we're under the effect of something which protected you from the spells. A custom item, perhaps?

4. You installed something which messed up your spell files.

5. You encountered a one-of-a-million bug.

In order to avoid confusion, i would just like to point out one thing. Magic Resistance does not stop neither Time Stop nor Imprisonment.

[ 01-29-2003, 11:08 AM: Message edited by: Alson ]

[Raistlin Majere]

Oh rigthy then, i once stated that the wizard slayer isnt that good of a character. i see i was TOTALLY WRONG! I was actually thinking of starting a game in BG1 with a fighter, roll good stats and make him have like grandmastery in quarter staves and have 2 stars in bows. that way i could give him all the books, have like stats after bg1 sort of like this

Str: 19
Dex: 19
Con: 19
Int: 19
Wis: 12
Cha: 10

Very hard to roll the beginning stats, but not impossible.

I would then import him into BG2, have him change to Wizard Slayer, dual to a mage at level 18 or so(good magic resistance and stuff) and then get like the staff of magi and stuff. my question is, is it afully hard to play, what with the wizard slayer kit being disapled. should i like recruit an NPC or two to tank until i reach a higher level? did i mention i was gonna go as solo as possible? no, i dont think i did...hmm...oh well.

[Aurum]

WOW! maybe i intent him.

[Cerek the Barbaric]

Alson - I do have 1 "non-standard" item that automatically turns any spell below 7th level, but it does not provide any extra MR that I'm aware of. My feeling is that it was a one-in-a-million glitch, because I don't remember him being "immune" to the Time Stop in the previous attempt (which I had to re-load due to the high number of party deaths). I will let you know if it happens again, but I'm assuming it was just a one time thing.

Raistlin - just a couple of suggestions. If you're going to dual to a mage, you should do it no later than level 13. After that, you don't gain any extra attacks/round. All you will gain is 3hp/level rather than 1. The only reason to go any higher would be to gain a little more Magic Resistance and some of the High Level Abilities, but level 18 will easily put you 2/3 of the way through SoA (of course, that would give you an extra 10% to MR). Dropping down to a mage at that point is going to be difficult. I would dual at level 13 to allow higher advancement in the mage class. You will also still have some of the easier quests still open (like Trademeet). Finally, you will regain your fighter abilities much sooner.

[Raistlin Majere]

Yeah, youre propably right Cerek. A question worth asking though is, how did you manage with youre thief? you dualed at level 24! did you cheat? also, in another thread i calculated that the wizard slayer/mage could possible have the stats of 21/19/22/19(or perhaps 20)/14/11(18 w/Ring of human influence). also, with TotSC installed, i could get a third tome of wis, thus having 15 wisdom. INSANE i say!

[Cerek the Barbaric]

Hey Raistlin.

Yes - I cheated Cerek's XP in the thief class. I used two methods.

SPOILER
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In Suldenesselar, after defeating all the enemies and collecting the items to place on the altar, I went to the temple to summon the Leaflord Avatar. Then, I came across a tip on a different site that said you could get "unlimited experience" if you did it right. Basically, it's exploiting the ACTION-PAUSE-ACTION bug that occurs when many of the "Quest XP's" are awarded. If you Pause the game immediately, you can actually run through the whole sequence again and get all the Quest XP again and again and again. I did that until reaching 16th level as a thief.

I then got bored with it and just used Shadowkeeper to raise his level to 23. That way, I actually had to "earn" two levels legitimately before getting my Wizard Slayer skills back.

Like I said, I never planned to dual Cerek over in the first place. I created him in BGI and imported him over to BGII. From the books there and the Machine here, he has a Str of 21 and a Dex of 19, but no other "outstanding" stats (his original Con was only 13).

However, I also have a copy of the game saved when Cerek was only level 15. That's the game where I originally planned to have him "dual class". After I finish this one, I may go back and complete it legitimately. I also still have a copy of the game before dualing him over at level 24. I may also try finishing the game WITHOUT dualing him at all.

Right now, I'm just playing and trying out different scenarios.

[wellard]

Keep up the good work Cerec!
"i have a dream" One day Alson, dundee et all, will all bow to the wizard slayer. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[ 01-30-2003, 06:49 AM: Message edited by: wellard ]

[Cerek the Barbaric]

Well, I do have an idea for an NPC Wizard Slayer that would attack the party (very similar to the Acid Kensai). I've come up with good weapons and armor for him. They are powerful (a necessity when possibly facing a party of 6 by yourself), but I don't think they are as "unbalancing" the Acid Kensai's katana.

Besides, his weapons and armor will be restricted to the Wizard Slayer class - so there isn't much chance of them actually being used in the game.

I don't have the time to devote to creating the character right now, nor do I have the necessary programming skills....so I sent an e-mail to Mr. Weimer to see if he would be interested in doing the actual programming. Of course, I have not heard back from him yet...but I will definitely let everyone know if I do.

Until then, just remember that one of the best spells you can use is...

Barbarian Magic Missile - Grab the party wizard and throw him at the nearest monster. Either way, something good is bound to happen. [img]graemlins/laugh2.gif[/img]

[Baros]

Originally posted by Cerek the Barbaric: Besides, his weapons and armor will be restricted to the Wizard Slayer class - so there isn't much chance of them actually being used in the game.

you underestimate the power of use any item