Anybody taken an all-stealth party?

[NobleNick]

Originally posted by AThousandYoung: ...2)Traps are around, or suspected - I use the "careful" scouting pair to leapfrog scout as I described above...

A Thousand Young,

I like your scouting method. I added Ranger (Ranger[12]/Cleric) and a second Thief (Fighter[9]/Thief) to my party to allow use of tactics like these. I find this one particularly effective; but I never let my traps Thief get ahead of the invisible one.

...5) Alternate tactic - Sometimes if I have room and am facing one or a few melee enemies I'll do a group kiting tactic, in which all people use missiles and whoever the enemies goes after will run away while the others shoot it. If it changes targets the new target will run while the old one starts shooting.

I call this the Red Herring technique. Don't use it often; but it can be very effective. It saved my bacon in the big "battle of the gazongas" with Yux, after I had dispatched all her minions. I used all close range weapons in that fight --so it was a bit trickier to pull off-- but it's the same idea.

...6) Supplementary tactic - Cleric summons undead to be cannon fodder tanks and supplementary damage for any of the other tactics I use.

Aerich, it seems uses this "tankless" technique to the max, not just as a supplement; and it intrigues me. This is definitely a different paradigm; and I admire someone who has the skill to pull it off. Everyone knows how to summon cannon fodder; and I (like you, I presume) use it defensively (e.g., tanking and pluging chokepoints) from time to time. But it seems that this technique could easily implode in the face of a dispell; and some opponents are immune to the attacks of virtually all summons.

...the Invisible Invulnerable Tank Trick (IITT)...Halflings find a powerful melee enemy or enemies without him/them seeing the scouting pair. The party positions itself so there's a narrow choke point that the enemy will have to cross to get to them. The female bow pulls the enemies and the pair run back to the party. The still stealthed male Halfling stands in the choke point as an obstacle. Since the enemies can't see him, they can't attack him, and since he's there, they can't advance past him, so he's just an invisible wall that I can then fire arrows and spells past. It's really cheap but it works. All you need is an invisible character(s), opponents who only melee, a choke point and the ability to do ranged damage.

Wooot!! REALLY cheap! I don't think I have ever heard of this before, nor of Aerich's version using Sanctuary. I'm thinking of at least 2 places in Dragon's Eye, 2 in HoW, and 1 in TotLM where this would be a riot to use! This belongs in the "Unfair tricks" thread (though I think the term that you use: "Extremely Cheap Tricks" is a better description).

--------------------
What's a party,
without a song?
Bards ROCK!
Party On!!

[Aerich]

Just to add an enhancement to the Cheap Trick - your cleric (maybe only if evil or neutral) can cast Circle of Bones while under Sanctuary. You don't have to click for a center point for the spell effect, so Sanctuary stays active. It then rips apart the dumb brutes trying to get through the narrow area. You can even cast it multiple times, if you so choose.

And to add more - the summons tank technique is fun and actually doesn't require that much skill. You just have to be careful to leave your party behind while one character goes with the summons to trigger the enemies. The character can be invisible or stealthed, of course. Then withdraw the character, and let 'er rip.

Don't forget that summons benefit from buff spells. Protection from Evil 10', Strength of One, Haste, Prayer, Recitation, etc.

I still use them primarily as cannon fodder. They take lots of damaging hits and they give time to get those spells off. If I can use just summons to tank, those 1-2 characters that would otherwise tank can cast spells - or even use missiles. The point is that you can altogether avoid damage to yourself (case in point - Lizard King fight in Dragon's Eye - only damage was from walking through my own Spike Growth to trigger the dialogue).

With buffs, the summons last longer and are more effective damage-dealers. And there's still a point to using them against immune creatures. Yxunomei and her crew spent a good two rounds hammering at my wolves while my party was casting buffs and a couple attack spells. That was also two more rounds for my invisible druid's Static Charges to work their magic.

[ 08-27-2004, 04:28 PM: Message edited by: Aerich ]