What's the point of Cera Sumat?

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I am wondering what the point of the Holy Avenger sowrd is. It isn't that good what so ever and I even have the better Holy Avenger part of EoU mod installed. On a character with 21 strength it does roughly 16-25(not sure exactly but that is the area I remembered it saying)and aside from that, only paladins can use it so it makes it even more useless as paladins are not that great though they should be....

[ April 30, 2006, 16:18: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

 

it's the best unmodded longsword in the game, grants 15 points of spell resistance, adds +2d6 vs. evil creatures (which is just about any monster in the game) and has unlimited access to dispel magic which makes the final fight infinitely easier (or any other spell caster).

Pre-HOF, only the Greatsword of the Souless is better then the Holy Avenger.

 

How good would it be if someone were to have the improved Cera Sumat, Improved Bastard Swords & the some HoF items in regular mode from the EoU mod installed

 

The improved bastard sword mod does unbalance the game somewhat and having HoF items in normal mode is just silly - they're way to powerful (e.g. that dagger that kills goblins instantly: "Palisade battle? What Palisade battle?")

 

Well I do find that having a fighter wield Bloddy Wroth giving * con & str + the Bastard Sword of Heroism dealing 4d10 is a little bit too powerful

 

Cera Sumat may not be the most destructive longsword around, but its other abilities make paladins very resistant to magical attacks. That said, I do tend to like the greatsword version of the HA that's included in the EoU mod.

 

As stated before, damage is not everything. if you have a paladin, keep this sword on you even if you have one with better damage, just for the sake of making battles versus magic users infinite times easier.

It's also a nice trick to use it on your party members to dispell fear/confusion spells, but only if they can survive a hit, and have a healing potion/spell ready.

 

Xosmi, Cera Sumat can cast Dispel Magic an unlimited number of times per day.

 

Ah, forgot about that, i thought it only had dispell magic on hit

Still, one way or the other, you can dispell with cera sumat, so you can save a place in your mages spellbook, and not be worried about how many times you can cast it before you need to rest.

 

This discussion makes me wonder: how does Dispel Magic work in ID2? Does it always succeed or does the game do the required caster level checks?

According to the 3.0 SRD: "A dispel check is 1d20 +1 per caster level (maximum +10) against a DC of 11 + the spell’s caster level."

If ID2 uses caster level checks, does it properly cap the dispeller's caster level bonus at +10, or is there no cap? If it uses the cap, spells from high level casters (HoF) should be nearly undispellable.

3.0 has the 6th level spell (5th for bards) Greater Dispelling: "As dispel magic, except that the maximum bonus on the dispel check is +20 instead of +10.", but it isn't in ID2...


EDIT: For the original poster, please note that any lawful good character can use the holy avenger if he takes one level of paladin. I like to wield it with a drow sorc X/paladin 1, because it raises spell resistance to godly levels.

 

JT, it looks as though enemies get a simple Will save, while allies require no save. Regarding the other stuff you mention, I looked at the DM spells and related effects using DLTCEP and there was nothing to support the "dispel check" stuff. But that doesn't mean that it isn't there behind the scenes in the compiled code.

 

Meh. Looks like another area where they didn't really follow the 3E rules. Thanks for finding that out Crucis.

I assume when you cast Dispel Magic, the DC for the Will save enemies have to make is based on your caster stat, as usual. You could boost CHA/WIS as high as 32, which would mean a DC 24. DC 20-21 is more realistic for most of the game. But when the Holy Avenger casts the spell, what is the DC?

 

JT, the Dispel Magic effect used by Cera Sumat is cast at level 6. I don't have a clue what may be done by the game engine, regarding DC, etc.

 

Yeah, Cera Sumat casts Dispel Magic. However, you WILL lose all your own buffs (like your Cleric's Draw Upon Holy Might, or your Wizard's Shield spell).
And if you want spell resistance, you are better off choosing a Drow, Deep Gnome or Monk...

 

The "Holy Avenger" is the best 1-handed melee weapon, but for a real warrior-paladin it's nearly useless since you want your warrior to deal out as much damage as possible.
You can buy +4 weapons of any kind long before you get it and not long afterwards you get greatswords +5.
Because of it my fighter4/paladin had ** in longswords and nothing in any other weapon, but using another weapon was still better.

A powerful paladin has already 22-23 strength when you find it, and champion's strength will raise it by 5-8, so the extra strength bonus for 2-handed weapons will be at least +4.

The hard enemies you are immune to magic damage, but no one has more than 15 damage reduction.
And the magic damage isn't doubled at a critical.

15 MR is too low to be really useful since you won't meet level 1 spellcasters afterwards. It might help if you have a deep gnome or drow paladin.

 

Cera Sumat is inferior to the Carsomy (BG2), final word.

 

Perhaps, but it's one-handed, thus allowing a shield. Not like there are oh so many nice shields in IWD2. Some people probably dual-wield it to some positive effect, as well.

 

In reply to kmonster:

Actually, the best 1-handed weapon (for causing damage) in the game is the Club of Freezing Flames +5 - but you'll probably only get it in HoF mode.

 

In HoF made you get many 1-handed weapons which better than the normal holy avenger version.

The only 1-handed weapon I found in normal mode which might be better is the club of disruption.

 

That cool axe in HoF, I always seem to foget its name, is the best one handed weapon, it panics and/or slows the critter with no save allowed. A pure fighter can kill a monster in direct melee with it easily in HoF mod, which means A LOT!