Gearing Up For My First IA Run-Through

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@thetruth

Thanks much!
OK then, go for a R/C.

I would rather play a pure ranger for role playing purposes (a vagrant perhaps?), but for IA's sake, I think R/C would survive better (horray for Ironskins).

cheers

 

I have a question/concern about the Amariel quest.

** FAIR WARNING - THERE MAY BE SOME SPOILERS AHEAD **

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I have just saved Amariel's brother by uttering his name, and he and his sister have rewarded me and teleported out. The concern I have is that the apparent trigger to get Amariel's brother to talk to me was picking up Deirex's gems. Now, typically picking up Deirex's gems causing me to teleport back to Jarlaxe's pocket plane and finish that quest. But since that item is triggering things related to the Amariel quest, the Jarlaxe/Deirex quest now appears to be broke.

Is this something I should be concerned about, or is this working as intended?

 

Deirex's gems have nothing to do with the Mystery of the Third Color quest.

 

Interesting, in all cases (and I think I reloaded around 10 times to try to work around it) the trigger to get the brother to start talking to me was pulling the gems into my inventory. Each time I picked up the gems, he would immediately start his dialogue. Nothing else that I did - I had my party walk all over the area and looted everything except the gems - would result in him talking to me.

So, somehow, whether you intended it to be this way or not, there was a clear link between Deirex's gems and the Mystery of the Third Color quest. /shrug.

At any rate, I just made sure that I finished what few quests I had left and that Ardulace began the summoning ritual within a day, so that Jarlaxe didn't blow my cover. That seemed to work okay as a work-around.

 

Approach the petrified boy with you protagonist and he will talk to you regardless of the items in your inventory. (He won't talk to NPCs.)

 

I’m sure that I’ve got at least a couple of saves from right around that timeframe (I’ve since moved on in the game), so I’ll take a look at moving my protagonist into vicinity of the brother tonight, just validate that it actually works for me. Honestly, I’m not sure if I specifically attempted this with my protagonist before or not, so it’s worth a second look.

Then I guess that this is a potential bug report, because clearly you had not intended there to be a link between the gems and the Mystery of the Third Color quest. In my game there clearly was, and that link resulted in the Intrigue with Jarlaxe quest (I think that’s what it’s called) breaking. It wasn’t a big deal or anything, as I was able to finish all of my Ust Natha related quests prior to Jarlaxe exposing me for the dirty surfacer that I am. But just the same, I figure this is something you’d want to be aware of.


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New Post – PAYDAY

Well, for Cromwell that is. Just thought I’d share what was the most exciting moment of IA for me thus far: the long anticipated trek into Cromwell’s smithy after returning from the underdark.

I think that I literally spent 2 hours just readying my components, double checking my gold (I managed to save/raise just over 400k!), and searching for a few last minute purchases from the shops (picking up a scroll of prot from normal missiles, grabbing some Iol gems, etc).

And then came a moment that I can only describe as… utter bliss. Here’s what I made:

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For Minsc
--Huskar Lord's Armor +5 - 50,000 Gold
--Talisman of Greater Protection – 20,000 Gold
--Supreme Shelter – 60,000 Gold
Minsc now has -16AC!


For Anomen
--Ring of Protection +4 – 45,000 Gold
--Delryn Family Legacy +4 – 50,000 Gold
--Boots of Improved Haste – 75,000 Gold
--Indigo Ioun Stone – 20,000 Gold
--Crom Faeyr – 10,000 Gold

For my swashbuckler – has UAI
--Grandmaster of Flowers – 75,000 Gold

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For a grand total of 405 gold pieces to make all of this!! I’ve now got less than 5k to my name! But damn I can’t wait to face Lord Roenall again. Now that my party has exited the underdark and all have a good number of HLAs, plus some pretty pimptastic equipment, I think ole Farthy (Farthington Roenall, that is) will rue the day he invaded De’Arnise Keep!

There’s not a whole lot more I plan to forge. If I can ever find Robe of Vecna, Memory of the Apprenti is a for sure item. And probably at least one really nice weapon (judgement day would be nice, but it’s way pricey, and I hear really hard to get). If there’s time, and money, the improved Ring of Gaxx wouldn’t be horrible.

I hope that I’m able to find the Robe of Vecna soon (I’m starting to get worried, as there isn’t a whole lot more of Amn left for me to explore. I also still haven’t found the belt that grants 19 strength.


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Another New Post – SPOKE TOO SOON

Just because I'm the only person posting in this forum right now doesn't mean, in my mind, that I should curb my need/desire to post actively! So here's my third post within a post.

I clearly spoke too soon about Lord Roenal. I just tried him for the first time after returning from the underdark, and had a frightening realization. I'm still unable to scratch the guy for some reason.

Pounding on him with a range of +3 to +5 weapons (mostly +3), with anomen attacking 6 times a round with Crom Faeyr and my other 4 meleeers attacking 10 times a round with GWW, and throwing in some critical strikes for good measure, Lord Roenal remained at uninjured. I know Hardiness is good, but I didn't think it was that good. The 40 percent damage reduction, is a percent of total damage, right? Not an actual damage value I have to surpass, right? Perhaps I'm mistaken, and that's my whole problem.

I can't seem to hurt him with magic or elements either.

So, if anyone cares to share a tip or two on how to take this guy out before the battle time limit is up, I'd happily listen. The time limit is really the only thing messing me up, since I'm keeping my party alive just fine (was before underdark for that matter, heh), but I just can't seem to bring Roenal down, period. And it's always right before the time limit ends that I start getting him close to death.

Is there a joke in this that I'm just not getting?


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Yet Another New Post – Alright, I got him


Okay, so I destroyed Roenal on my second attempt. Unfortunately I didn't get much xp because my only kills were Roenal and his mage. I killed the mage first, and then focused all my fire power on Roenal, and managed to take him down in a matter of seconds.

Oddly, this was my least tactical attempt ever. I hardly bothered buffing (didn't even cast haste), and just kept everyone hitting Roenal. I didn't use any HLAs either, since I just kept everyone drinking healing potions as often as they could (there were a lot of Roenal guards and 2 nasty golems beating on my party, you see).

I guess brute force sometimes still is the best tactic.

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Yet Another NOTHER New Post – Rune Assassins Defeated!

Wow, these guys were a heck of a lot easier this time around (I tried them before going to the underdark, and failed). Don't get me wrong, it was still a very challenging fight, and required me to use practically every significant ace in the hole I had, but some careful planning got me through without any party deaths (well, and 3 attempts also helped with the "no deaths" part too!)

This was an extremely rewarding fight, and I managed to get my hands on one of the items I was wanting to track down. And as luck would have it, each of my party members leveled during the course of this battle (how often does that happen at high levels).

I think it took me 20 minutes to loot the floor of littered bodies. Yes, I looted every last leather armor, every last potion! Need to get my cash supply back up.

Well, back to it for a few more minutes. I've got 6 party members to level up, and like 2 tons of invisibility potions to pawn off.

Oh, and fingers crossed that Sikret hasn't planted a half dozen dragons in the Rune Assassin dungeon on the way out, with, of course, no chance of resting until I'm out of the dungeon!

[ June 13, 2007, 09:00: Message edited by: Marceror ]

 

Lord Roenal is not immune to elemental damage. He has high resistance to physical damage though. A new type of potion has been added to the game which grants resistance to physical damage (you can also use them if you find any; they are rare though). He has prepared himself for that important battle (guess he has used two or three of those potions). He has also one "Hardiness". When the hardiness is active, he is immune to physical damage, because the resistance granted by Hardiness is stacked with his own resistances. When the duration of hardiness expires he takes damage. Anyway, I noticed that you have finally defeated him.

 

Gee good going Marceror.
I managed to take out the Windspear spider fairly easily, half my party was using ranged weapons, so when my melee guys were put out of action (confused or somthing) I just had the others rush in. After a bit of time and more than a few magic missiles he went down. I originally walked straight into the Greater Yaun Ti, and still won somehow, but with 3 deaths. I reloaded and used a similar tactic to what I used against the spider, 2 deaths. Tried again with more powerful summons (fire elemental and some skeletons, all hastened) and managed to get through with one death. I figured this wasn't the worst outcome and I had a rod of resurrection, so all was good. It made the Yaun Ti mage in the library/study seem way easy.

Anyway, Torgal. Has anyone got any tips? I managed to lour his troll friends out and kill them pretty easy, so I've got a save there. I also managed to separate and take out the Gem Golem, but at the expense of my sorcerer (and I have another archived save after that). I'm just having heaps of trouble getting through his health, and he keeps casting up Bears, sometimes up to 12 of them! How did everyone else kill him?

 

@Sikret

Makes plenty of sense to me. I know which potion you’re referring to; my party has 3 or 4 in their inventory atm (saving them for a rainy day, hehe).

My earlier attempts had me trying to kill a large number of Roenal’s army before taking on the Lord himself, and apparently, buying Mr R plenty of time to quaff several of those powerful potions. Helps to know that there’s a perfectly logical explanation for why Roenal couldn’t be scratched by my high level party’s melee barrage.

Take out Roenal quick, and he’s not too difficult. Sure I lose out on probably a few hundred thousand experience by not killing his soldiers and golems, but at least my keep doesn’t fall into that scoundrel’s hand. And I hope that it won’t be too much longer before I’m able to use the keep’s forge to improve Minsc’s FoA.

Lesson learned on this battle.

@Stu

If you’ve taken out Torgal’s guardians, Torgal should be fairly straightforward (based on my recollection of this fight). Make sure you’re fully buffed and 100% focused on him, rather than his summons. Haste, and better yet, improved haste are musts. And keep plenty of healing potions on hand to keep your party alive (once you start losing guys your damage potential starts to tank accordingly).

If you really can’t take him out, you might consider coming back another day to finish the job—one of the biggest lessons I’ve had to come to grips with in IA. Some battles aren’t worth your time until you’re more experienced and better equipped.

 

@Stu

What's the level of your party?
In this fight as Marceror said I.Haste helps a lot.

Give the Flail of Ages to your best fighter and attack Torgal with it. It's slow effect cuts at half its regeneration rate, making the fight much easier.
Try to avoid Torgal's storm of Vengeance by retreating to another room.

Cast also on your party members Chaotic Commands (protects from Greater Command) drink potions of STR and try to make Torgal to change target frequently (his STR-draining hits can create many problems). Mirror Image is very effective here as Fireshield blue is (Torgal doesn't have high Cold res. and the damage from the shield ignores MR).

You could also remove Torgal's shield of the Archons and then to lower his MR. After that a G.Malison + some slow spells will make the battle much easier.

 

As thethruth mentioned and my experience is, that focusing all out on Torgal and ignoring the Gem Golem for later is an effective solution - for me at least

 

Only -16ac? By the time you forged all those fancy stuff, minsc should have hit the ac cap. Dont forget gauntlets of dex, hem of balduran, rings of prot etc

 

Only -16 AC the man says to me! Only?

-16 AC is probably about the best AC rating I’ve ever had for one of my BG party members. And Mongerman says only

In all seriousness, I haven’t made getting Minsc to max AC a super high priority. I’m more about sharing the love with other party members, and building a well equipped party overall. I’m also concerned about items that improve saves and increase resistances, which Minsc’s current “rig” is strong in those areas as well.

Gloves of dexterity make a lot more sense to give to Anomen, so that’s who’s wearing those. Jaheira has the helm of Balduran, since she arguably needs the HP, attack bonus and AC more than Minsc (Minsc’s THAC0 is so good it’s almost silly). Rings of Protection won’t work with Minsc’s magical armor. But it’s working out for me.

By the time I’m in TOB I’m sure I’ll need Minsc maxed out in the AC department. Giving him improved ring of Gaxx will help a lot, and I can swap a few other items to get him there. But presently, at least, I’m finding Minsc’s AC more than manageable.

Ironically, I think my fighter9/swashbuckler is as good at taking damage as Minsc is. His AC isn’t far behind (-14 or -15 IRC), and protection from magic weapons from scrolls (UAI) doesn’t exactly suck.

My swash was the main tank against the rune assassins, since he ran through enemy lines during a time trap and walloped the guild master (got him to badly injured). When the timetrap ended my swash had made around 12 new "friends," but Protection from Magic weapons got him through until Nalia could do some crowd control (timestop, sequenced malison/emotion/something else, a Horrid Wilting and a Dragon’s Breath).

Guildmaster was soon toast, then the mage/Coordinator, and it was a bloody yet gratifying road to victory from there. Oh, and Minsc helped too!

 

Marceror, I have a side question for you. (I'm curious.) Why a fighter9/swashy? Not questioning the "illegal" DC combo. But why give up backstabbing? It seems that the swashy combat bonuses (that make a swashy worth taking in the first place) would be utterly wiped out in a DC situation. Is this a role-playing decision or is there some underlying purpose you had in mind?

 

The dual class fighter9/swashbuckler combo was something that I had been curious about for a long time, but was concerned it might be overpowered. Well, when I was about to embark on the most difficult tactical mod out there for BG2 (I realize that IA is more than a mere tactical mod), it seemed a fitting place to try this combo out. Call it a small liberty I allowed myself.

The combo is working out extremely well, and to the contrary, I'm getting ALL of the swashy bonuses. It's the fighter class that remains stagnant, remember. So I get the attack, damage and AC bonuses every 5 levels just like any other swashbuckler.

What I essentially have is someone who nearly rivals a fighter in combat (including grandmastery in weapons), has great AC (currently at -15) AND has all of the advantages of a theif (minus backstabbing, as you mentioned -- Can't have EVERYTHING). Oh, and he even gets Whirlwind attack (not GWW, but still).

This character somehow ended up as many hitpoints as Minsc (and when I use the girdle of fortitude he surpasses Minsc by around 30 hitpoints.

I would call this a power gaming build, if anything (although that wasn't necessarily my intention when I created him). He's the most versatile, deadly non-backstabbing thief I think you can build in the game.

It's a fun combo. I highly recomend it.

 

Yeah....mainly between 8 and 9 (my sorcerer just made it to lvl 11 though). I probably took Torgal way to early, and definitely didn't use enough spells. I finally managed to do it though!!
I reloaded an older save (I figured trading my sorcerer for the gem golem probably wasn't worth it given how infrequently it hits).
Using the Breach, Lower Resistance x3, Greater Malison and Slow worked wonders (still managed to balls it the first 3 times though - I managed to keep all my fighters forward or all of em back, which made them a target for Greater Command). I ended up just trying to restrict his casting ability, ie. sending an invisible thief in to make him cast true seeing, and waste a greater command on 1 character, and then I just had my fighter/mage and simulacrumed sorcerer pepper him with magic missiles/acid arrows each round, with the hope that at least one would hit and disrupt casting. I think Torgal only ended up casting 2 attacking spells - one lot of bears and one greater command (which took out my fighter/thief and 1/2 my summons). Oh and I think I might have gone over the 5 summon limit with my simulacrum, they weren't all conscious at the same time though, and there were definitely less than the 12 bears Torgal summoned on me last night .
Anyway, thanks Sikret, that was a really awesome fight! So much better than the anticlimax that was the original Torgal.

[Edit]Btw, my current party has an Inquisitor, a Sorcerer, a fighter/thief, a ranger/cleric, a fighter/mage and a berserker.
I was planning on dualing the berserker to a cleric and was wondering if and what would be a good level? (he's currently at lvl 9).

 

Wow, taking on torgal at level 8 - 9 is pretty impressive IMHO. That shows a lot of tenacity on your part! Good job!

You might want to consider keeping your berserker single class. I have Minsc as a Berserker in my game, and he is by far my most effective killer. You'll want to have plenty of guys with fighter HLAs, and what you're proposing will prevent that. If your determined, though, I'd say do it either at level 9 (right now) or level 12, when you max out your attacks per round as a fighter. Waiting until level 12 can be painful though.

I recommend keeping the berserker as he is and adding a sixth party member that's more of a full time cleric. Having plenty of healing is a must in IA, and if you'll want to get access to greater restoration as soon as you can. And later in the game having 2 characters capable of casting this spell will, I imagine, really make your life easier. You'll also want to have plenty of chaotic commands and deathwards.

Anomen is an absolutely fantastic cleric for this purpose (especially in IA, with his wisdom bumped to make him "legal"). He fights better than a normal cleric thanks to his fighter levels and his high strength. And he'll gain cleric levels quickly due to not being multiclassed.

The experience rewards flow in IA, so I think that even a 6 man party levels of pretty quickly.

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I had some fun in the game last night. I finally defeated the chromatic demon (he was actually pretty straightforward with my ~4 million xp party) and completed level 3 of watcher's keep. I now have a couple of additonal +4 weapons in the group, flail of ages +4 and spectral brand. Minsc and Jaheira, respectively, are quite pleased.

It's rather amazing how easy the non-improved battles on level 3 are. Night and day difference between improved and non-improved, really.

Loving your mod Sikret! (though I'm sure there will more rantish posts that seem otherwise before I'm done!)

 

Well I did need to set the difficulty to easy, use a bit of cheese to lour his bodyguards out and powerword reload about 1/2 a dozen times.

I ran to do the Raksasha in the druid grove and they were easy enough, I then realized that I left the difficulty set on easy from the Torgal fight, they were a bit tougher on hard although the door was walk-through-able (usually you get trapped with whatever enemy your with, but this wasn't the case). Also, the Raksasha's friends didn't spawn when the difficulty was set to easy but did when it was on core (is this intentional).

The spiders guarding Belm took my party out in less than 3 rounds, twice, so I just left it for later. The Copper Coronette was cool - the dificulty vs. reward felt much more apt than the vanilla game and the beast master really put up a bit of fight (even after I managed to backstab him 1/2 a second before he finished casting true sight). Oh and thumbs up for that wolfskin bag thing!

The slaver ship though - this nearly killed me, I probably should have left it, but I persisted (albeit on easy) and finally completed it - Spawning invisible assassins though! gee they're frustrating.

At the moment my party should have 5 members able to access fighter HLA's (inquisitor, multi ranger/cleric, multi fighter/mage, multi fighter/thief, and my berserker), So I'm thinking lvl 12 probably isn't a bad level at which to dual my berserker. That way I'll have a second leveling cleric and still have 4 people who can access fighter HLA's (I'll probably focus more on the fighter HLA's for my ranger cleric, and leave the cleric stuff for my beserker cleric).

I'll leave the dualing until at least tomorrow though (bedtime for me soon), so I'm open to any ideas/suggestions.

 

If you're going to do it, dual class at lvl 13. And keep in mind that thaco will be a problem late game

 

Mongerman didn't explain his reasoning on waiting until level 13, but I believe you get an extra berserker rage at level 13, which means you'll have 4 per day rather than 3. If you can hold out for it, that extra rage will surely come in handy throughout the game.

As far as THAC0 is concerned (and I haven't played TOB with IA yet, so keep that in mind), but clerics have fairly decent to hit, even without the fighter levels. And if you're using the unnerfed to hit tables (the PnP version), which I believe is recommended with IA, your cleric will eventually get some pretty insane THAC0. In my current game, Anomen's to hit at fighter7/cleric30 is -14 wielding Crom Faeyr and grand mastery in war hammers. And I suspect it will improve a bit more yet. So I'm guessing he'll do okay hitting stuff in TOB (I'm hoping so, at least).

The one tings about your party, Stu, that I didn't mention yesterday is that you're a bit lean on arcane power. I strongly recommend considering adding a non-multi-class mage to your party for more, better, and earlier access to mage spells in your game. You may really regret not doing so later in the game.