Stronghold quests, easiest to hardest (spoilers)

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Here are my reflections on the different stronghold quests, subjectively ranked from easiest to hardest. I find it interesting that the quests are so widely varying in difficulty. I'm assuming that most people who have read these forums have played SOA at least a dozen times. Those who are playing it for the first time and who don't want to know what's coming, stop reading now because there are spoilers ahead.

Thieves: Mae'var's Guildhall
This is an easy way to pick up quite a lot of XP early in the game as well as some nifty items and a big cash reward. The most difficult thing that you have to do is probably the assassination of a Cowled Wizard - they're always an enemy to be reckoned with, particularly very early in the game. Wiping out Mae'var & co. is reasonably straightforward as you can take them out a few at a time. There is a danger, however, of being backstabbed, so True Sight, Detect Invisibility and Invisibility Purge are useful spells to carry around.

You need to do this quest if you want to get Edwin in your party.

Fighters: the de'Arnise Castle
This vies with the thieves' quest for the simplest of the stronghold quests and is an ideal one to start with. Given that you're likely to be at around 9th level when you take it on, there are some reasonably challenging enemies, notably the Yuan-Ti mage and splitter trolls on the second floor. The umber hulks in the cellar are likely to be too tough for you, but there's a way around them. The boss battle is reasonably straightforward, but try to isolate your enemies so that you don't fight them all at the same time. A haste spell can help as Torgal regenerates at a furious rate. There are a few good magic weapons, notably the Flail Of Ages and a +3 axe, Frostreaver (although you have to fight an iron golem to get this). You can pick up the Amulet of the Shield here as well, which is a must for kensai characters.

You need to do this quest to keep Nalia in your party.

Druids: The Trademeet Grove
Nothing too hard here, mainly trolls, giant spiders and lots of hostile druids. The optional troll mound is pretty tough, but perfectly avoidable. Ihtafeer and her sons are hardish given that they're completely magic resistant and use the tactic of dumping a death fog right on top of you. There are some spore colonies which you may have to destroy and I always find those troublesome. Faldorn, the boss encounter, is not too hard, but don't try and take her on unaided - she's very strong and regenerates fast. Start out with an Insect Plague to keep her occupied for a couple of rounds and follow it by summoning some help: a nymph can swing the battle on her own but you can also bring summoned animals to the party and maybe a fire elemental if Jaheira or Cernd have hit 11th level. You get a couple of nice magic items, notably Belm, the scimitar of speed, and the Shield of Harmony which is one of the best in the game. Completing the quest also makes a well-stocked trader available for purchases or shoplifting.

You need to at least start this quest to make Cernd available to join and I'm guessing that you have to complete it to keep him.

Rangers: The Umar Hills
This is reasonably straightforward, although you can get overwhelmed by shadows if you're not careful. The toughest opponents are bone golems, but these are easily defeated with a fire elemental - the bone golems can't hit them. There are some skeleton warriors as well, which aren't to be underestimated. The boss encounter is the easiest of all - the Shade Lord has never given me any problems. You can make things quite a lot harder for yourself by taking on the Shadow Dragon: you may not be powerful enough to beat him when you first meet him. If you do this quest when you're high level, it gets MUCH harder: all the skeleton warriors become liches. One of the most difficult aspects of this quest is getting around the shadow dungeon - it's a right pain. You get a very nice suit of leather armour as a reward, but no other significant magic items.

You will need to at least go to the Umar Hills to make Valygar available; you will need to enter the shadow dungeon for Mazzy to become available. If you intend to pursue a romance to its conclusion, you will want to clear this dungeon as you will need to return later in the game.

Bards: The Planar Prison
This is a big step up in difficulty over the Umar Hills quest. The Planar Prison is quite small but it's tough fighting all the way. It kicks off with a battle royale. You need to battle powerful opponents all the way to the Master of Thralls, who is a powerful demon complete with death gaze. The prison warden is really tough, a very high level spellcaster with strong magic protections. Encountering him is likely to be the first time you're on the receiving end of a Horrid Wilting spell, which will leave many of your party near death, if not actually dead. After he goes down, you're still likely to have a number of hostile thralls to deal with. Nasty. You pick up some nifty magic items along the way, notably a lovely suit of bard armour and Kundane, the short sword of quickness.

Once you start this quest, there's no turning back. You need to do this quest if you want to keep Haer'Dalis in your party.

Paladins: Windspear Hills
You can make this more or less difficult, depending on whether you do some of the optional elements. You will certainly have to take on a room packed with vampires, a fairly high-level party, some golems and a powerful mage. You can use a scroll of Protection From Undead if you like and chop up the vampires with impunity. There's a branch of the dungeon where you meet (and fight) greater wolfweres. Many people have trouble with these, but the secret is to haste your party, surround them one at a time and chop away. Firkraag, of course, is one of the daddy encounters of the whole game: do a search on these forums for all sorts of ways to put an end to his evil forever. Waiting until you're high level means more adamantite golems to fight. There are some nifty items to collect, especially if you kill Firkraag (the best weapon and best suit of armour in the whole game).

Once you go to the Windspear Hills, you're pretty much committed to finishing the quest, one way or another. If you walk away, you'll find yourself fighting the paladins of The Order Of The Radiant Heart, which will make your life much harder than it needs to be. If you have Anomen, you need to complete the quest the good way for him to pass his test.

Clerics: The Unseeing Eye
This is a surprisingly tough quest. Before you get there, you'll have to take out quite a powerful party (Tarnor Hatchetman and co.) and once you're there, you'll face hordes of mid-range to high level undead, some of which cause level drain, and have one or more unavoidable encounters with beholderkin, which can cause serious trouble when you're still around 11th level or so. Your reward is some excellent magic items, including two of the best stat upgrading items in the game, the Gauntlets of Dexterity and the Girdle of Fortitude.

You need to at least go down into the Temple District sewers to pick up Keldorn and Haer'Dalis. I think that you may have to complete the Unseeing Eye quest if you want to keep Keldorn. You need to at least accept the quest to make Improved Mace of Disruption available (albeit in a very roundabout way). You also need to go some way through this quest if you want to defeat Kangaxx. If you wait until you're high level before taking it on, it becomes very much harder as all the enemies are made a great deal stronger (e.g. liches amongst the hordes of undead, elder orbs instead of gauths, etc.). Question: has anybody been given this quest by any temple other than Helm?

Mages: The Planar Sphere
This contains a number of very nasty encounters: the high level party of evil halflings (which is one of the toughest encounters in the whole game, IMO), several powerful spellcasters, a greater demon and a shedload of golems. Waiting until high level means a number of adamantite golems to fight. The best magic items that you pick up are the Gauntlets of Ogre Power and the Ring of the Ram (useful for its ability to hurt everything).

You need either to have Valygar in your party or his corpse in your backpack for this quest even to become available. I would guess that Valygar will insist that you complete it if he's going to stay in your party. Once you start the quest, there's no going back.

 

I mostly agree with your analysis. The only changes I'd make are:

I would move the druid grove before the De'Arnise hold. Heck, the only thing remotely difficult there is the fight with the gang of druids, and a couple of cloud kills and either a web or entanglement takes care of that. If you can beat the trolls in the De'Arnise keep, you can beat the trolls there. In fact, I usually do that quest immediately after I leave the city (but theives guild is always first).

I'd also move the Windspear Hills up one, past the Unseeing Eye. I always do the optional fights for the great items, and the fight against the evil party (I can't remember their names) is pretty hard unless you cheese it and draw them out one at a time. The golems (again unless you cheese it and get them caught in the doorway) is always tough. And then of course, there's Firkraag, who is never a pushover, especially if you do this quest fairly early in the game (much easier after returning from Spellhold).

On the other hand, the Unseeing Eye isn't THAT bad. You can avoid the majority of the beholder encounters if you wish to. Let's face it, the beholders don't really give you anything beyond XP's, and since they aren't in short supply, there isn't much incentive to kill them all.

 

Allright, I admit this being alittle cheezy, but the golems in the Keep is VERY easy. I did this quest first thing once, and I just kept dying since I was lv 8 or so battling against all of them. So I prepared my chars, placed them wisely and attacked. But hey, all of them didn´t get angry, just the one I attacked. The rest just stood there and waited for their turn to get smacked. One golem isn´t hard. The Iron golem can sometimes, depending on your equipment, put up alittle fight. Make sure you got a blunt weapon btw
I said alittle cheezy, cuz if you think about it alittle, it makes sense that the golems are watching the loot.


I dont really find the Stronghold quests being that hard. But you seem to have nailed the ranking.

 

Chris, i'd mostly agree with that, and the temple who give you the quest for the Unseeing Eye depends on your PCs alignment, currently, my evil party have been sent on the quest by the temple of talos.

[edit]I'd move the planar prison down the list, I usually do that quest early, I don't usually find it much of a challenge.[/edit]

 

I usually try to do all of the eight stronghold quests before doing too many others, and I usually try to get my particular PC's stronghold right away, as well as any that I have to do to access a particular NPC for a particular party.

UMAR HILLS: Shadow Dragon is the easiest in the game, and definitely doable even as your first major quest. My dual-classed priestess/rogue recruited Anomen, Minsc, Yoshimo, Nalia, and Mazzy and took him out (look, ma -- no fake-talk). I may be lactose intolerant, but I'm also not that good a player, and I still managed it, so you can too! Hint: Lower Resistance and Holy Smite are key here.

PLANAR PRISON: Actually, you have to COMPLETE this one before you can even RECRUIT "Dirty Harry." Hint: Summons and Bolt of Glory -- Chant and Haste by the way, are standards for any boss battle....

UNSEEING EYE: I found this one rather easy, IF you use your summons wisely and scout ahead. Hint: Stinking Cloud, Web, Cloudkill, and, if needed, Fireball.

Oh, and you do NOT have to take on the Hatchetman's party to pass through the sewers for the stronghold quests....

If your PC is a priest of Lathander or Talos, you will get this quest from the appropriate temple.

PLANAR SPHERE: Key here is knowing how to dispel spell protections -- for several fights.

 

I'd make two changes: the first as Aldeth pointed out is to move the druid quest as easier than fighter (less trolls, not much else). Second is to move the bard quest as easier than ranger... especially if you skip the optional greater werewolf.

As for the actual "stronghold" quests themselves (which is what I thought this thread was about), I think I'd rank them from easiest to hardest as cleric, bard, thief, druid, fighter, ranger, mage, paladin.

I haven't played ranger stronghold yet so that might be misplaced. The first five are all talk and a few basic battles. As for the last two, Mage had one tough battle IIRC while paladin has a dragon involved.

 

I agree whole heartedly but what Stronghold quest(after you have the stronghold) would you say is the most annoying. I'd have to say thief, especially if you get it before leaving for brynnlaw

 

@Thyorna
Most annoying place is the Shadow Dungeon, mainly because of the impassable second barrier. This means that you have to negotiate your way around the lava pit repeatedly, which generally ends up damaging your party (question: has anybody ever been able to remove the second barrier?). Also, I don't care overmuch for monster respawning points, another minus for the Shadow Dungeon.

@Buck
I know how to defeat every enemy in the game so, depending on my party, the Shadow Dragon is often doable after I defeat the Shade Lord. He is nevertheless a very tough opponent and may be too much for parties lower than 12th level or so.

I also know that you don't have to take on Tarnor Hatchetman and his scabby crew - you can simply avoid the northern sewer tunnels in the Temple District. Alternatively, you can pay them 1000 gold to pass. But let's face it, we ALL fancy ourselves against them, if only for the great loot they give up, and they are quite challenging.

You recruit Haer'Dalis in Mekrath's home. You don't lose him again until you take the Portal Gem to the Five Flagons. Then, to get him back, you have to battle your way through the Planar Prison.

@Blog
I use the term "stronghold quests" to refer to what you have to do to get your stronghold in the first place (i.e. recapture the de'Arnise Keep, defeat the Shade Lord, etc.), not what you have to do once you've got it.

 

It cannot be removed. It's easy enough to get past the lava without getting hurt though. Just guide your characters around the edge one at a time.

 

Chris, are you trying to steal Aldeth's reputation as the ultimate nonsence topic-poster?

 

@Velve: It's not nonsense, it is, in fact, very interesting and useful IMHO .

 

@ Velve - I'll take that as a compliment - I think.

 

"You recruit Haer'Dalis in Mekrath's home. You don't lose him again until you take the Portal Gem to the Five Flagons. Then, to get him back, you have to battle your way through the Planar Prison."

Actually, we are BOTH wrong. You CAN recruit Haerry right then and there, or you can just wait until the end of the quest.

Oh, and you don't have to backtrack through the Shade Lord's dungeon once you've completed it -- just poke around, you'll find that you can now pass between the altar area and the forest again.