«

[yoga]

Have mercy on me, dear Bard!

I am going crazy because of YR giant speed.

......

A friend of mine asked me

How to enter 1-st level of Watcher Keep.

No, not me, i am very far from this location.

My location:

Sendai Enclave

[twillight]

Originally Posted by yoga

Have mercy on me, dear Bard!

I am going crazy because of YR giant speed.

......

A friend of mine asked me

How to enter 1-st level of Watcher Keep.

No, not me, i am very far from this location.

My location:

Sendai Enclave

Easy-peasy. When you go there a group will welcome you, and they'll give you a wardstone (big ugly grey thing). I think you have to talk with one of their crowd to get it after the welcome-speech.
This stone is needed both to enter and leave the keep.

In case your friend lost the stone somewhere, the item code for it is plot01b

[twillight]

So, Yaga Sura.
The whole complex turned out easier than I feared, mostly because at the entrance there was only 1 elite giant.
For the complex I drank 2 Potion of fire prot and weared Ring of Fire Control when not fighting toe-to-toe fire giants.
The Amulet of Master Harper is a very nifty item with its -3 AC. Ajoke to gain it, as the Wave halberd onehits even the elemental prince. It doesn't seem to work on the salamanders though...

For Yaga Sura the random mages are #&@ annoying, and it shows bard is not barbarian, although the to-do is very similar in comparsion. But it is not impossible.

The second challenge is... I hate it. With -23 AC mostly only Tamoko could hit me, but when the AI threw 5 criticals for her 3 in 3 attempt that's "hilarious". The mage is also bloody annoying again. And I don't know who leveldrained me once, but that was a #&@ move. Good news is though, you don't have to worry about Alonzo or who at all, and the mage runs out of spells relatively fast, so if you survive until that, you're fine.

---------------

Abazigail's son:
the human form can't harm you in any way, so dispose the Stalkers, then make him change. BEWARE, he must NO be tried to destroy with traps because he MUST transform to a dragon,else the game will infinitely linger!

Werewyvern:
this bugger regenerates so fast you have no chance damaging it. The only way a bard can succeed here is vorpal effect of some weapon! (Axe of Unyielding is preferred, because with a massive shield you can have good enough AC to not be hurt too much and last almost infinite - until vorpal effect happens.)

Eyes:
Just drink some potion of invisibility, ok?

Abazigail:
Shows bard sux hardcore. To win you MUST lay down - eh, why count, lay all 6 traps in one heap. Of course only after you disposed the ice salamanders (the BMR is still excellent). Then drink a Potion of Heroism, and start to offensive spin the human form preferably with dual wield as that gives more hits, and you need high attack per round 'cause you will only occasionally land a hit. So cast any defensive buff you have which prevents being hit. Blur isn't important here, as although good AC is preferable, he'll hit you easily still, so as well might try to rely on stoneskins.
Bring a crapload of potions and boots of speed too, as you'll NEED to get healed when backing away (he isn't running).
Takes a looong while to make him transform, and then you must cross yur fingers to not get afraid, nor get oneshotted (its breath-attack once took all my 150+ HP darn it!). Make him follow you to the traps - YEAH, DEAD DRAGON. WHOSSA SUPERIOR RACE NAO?!

-------------

Sendai's Lair:
the slave cave with -25 AC and immunity to +1/normal weapons is practically a joke only.
Ogremoch is BIG. I suggest make the Short Sword of Mask to leveldrain it to acceptable level while sitting there with your -25 AC which he can only hit at criticals. Yes, takes a while, but what else to do?

Sendai herself is the Most Hated Battle by me. Maybe not just in the BG-series, but in any game.
Her ridiculous neverending summoning, constant teleporting around, the #&@ Harm spell which always hits you unless you have -25 AC, the fact that w/o BMU you can't really have -25 AC but the BMU can't get on the platforms where Sendai 90% of the time resides, her infinite protection spells and stupid healing tendency is #&@#&@!
Nevertheless, the fight CAN end if you focus on HER whenever it is possible. You can even hit her on the platforms with bow (check her spells: nothing - use arrow of piercing, mantle: +3 arrows, improved mantle: you're screwed and should attack some summoned things which'll be immediately replaced for #&@ sake), but I'm not sure you can hit more than she heals back (but arrows are of no use from this point anyway).

The fight took me this time 2 REAL LIFE hours, but as my character had the immunity to +1 weapons from Tears of Bhaal, the summons could not harm me (ok, I'm not sure about the sword spiders, but definitely the skeletons).

----------

Balthazar has a CRAPLOAD of HP, which influences one thing: how many traps we'll use. ALL SIX I say. Put them at the entrance, wait until the battle starts, run to the left of the screen until only him and 1 (2 if unlucky) monk follows. Kill the monks, and pull Balthy on the traps. Instant victory.

------------

Final Trial:
Crap, this demon is hugh! But we don't fear it. Summon a Simulacrum from Vhailor's Helm (first use!) and a Wizard's Eye (first time too!). Send them in (the Eye helps to control the sim), and make your avatar place ALL traps it can (I had 15) where Bhaal's avatar will appear.
The monster is so hugh, I needed 19 Melf's Meteor thrown in offensive spin state (and some did not hit) from the 20 of the spell to kill it, so if you want to enhance you can send in another one, or use project image instead or something. Be creative.

But that was it. Only Amelissan remains.

[yoga]

Rats!

I met very serious problem:

Sudenly my Aerie - Cleric/Mage

lost all mage spells, namely

Knock, Teleport field and many more.

Even after resting they are colorless and do not work...

?????????

Still i am unable to kill Sendai.
5 days battles in vain.
She use many supporters activating them one by one.

[yoga]

Originally Posted by yoga

Rats!

I met very serious problem:

Sudenly my Aerie - Cleric/Mage

lost all mage spells, namely

Knock, Teleport field and many more.

Even after resting they are colorless and do not work...

?????????

Still i am unable to kill Sendai.
5 days battles in vain.
She use many supporters activating them one by one.

---------------------
Lapsus lingve

SuDenly to be read SuDDenly

(second row )

[twillight]

Originally Posted by yoga

Rats!

I met very serious problem:

Sudenly my Aerie - Cleric/Mage

lost all mage spells, namely

Knock, Teleport field and many more.

Even after resting they are colorless and do not work...

?????????

Still i am unable to kill Sendai.
5 days battles in vain.
She use many supporters activating them one by one.

1) I suspect you gave Aerie some kind of armor. She can only cast mage-spells if she wears robes or nothing.

2) For the Sendai-battle:

#1: keep your team at the door!
#2: kill the incoming drows! They do not respawn!
#3: do not move from the entrance if possible! (the caster-forms of Sendai tend to not move from their platform) This way after you killed the current Sendai and the drows who came in the room you can SAVE between the stages. You can even hop to the Pocket Dimension if you need a rest (memorize spells and such)!
#4: against the thief-forms put in harms way only your highest-HP warrior, or someone with the Thief Hood, or Enkidu's Plate, or if there's any other "immun to backstab" thing (Stone Skin/Iron Skin negates the damage if you have it running)!

[yoga]

Originally Posted by twillight

1) I suspect you gave Aerie some kind of armor. She can only cast mage-spells if she wears robes or nothing.

Originally Posted by twillight

2) For the Sendai-battle:

#1: keep your team at the door!
#2: kill the incoming drows! They do not respawn!
#3: do not move from the entrance if possible! (the caster-forms of Sendai tend to not move from their platform) This way after you killed the current Sendai and the drows who came in the room you can SAVE between the stages. You can even hop to the Pocket Dimension if you need a rest (memorize spells and such)!
#4: against the thief-forms put in harms way only your highest-HP warrior, or someone with the Thief Hood, or Enkidu's Plate, or if there's any other "immun to backstab" thing (Stone Skin/Iron Skin negates the damage if you have it running)!

Great!
You genius:
I remove Darkmail+3 and spells are Active now.
I will search for robe now.

Again You are correct:
I am following #1 and #2 advice and i have very little progresssssssssssss!

- And my friend send You sincere thanks about Ritual directions.
In fact he is She, You know
Hope She will open that door or like.

I am still very far from Watcher Keep.
This strong Sendai make me cry, but hope is appearing now..
Back in battles.

About my solo:
Do not hurry.
I will wait.

[twillight]

Here is the character data:

character data

The above is with the "basic" equipment (sword of mask, axe of unyielding, enkidu's plate, amulet of master harper, 2*ring of kangaxx, helm of baldura, boots of speed, GoES, montolio's cloak, fire giant belt).

boots: Boots of Speed. There's no reason for another, especially as it gives 0.5 attack even to this 1 APR character IF worn in combo of:
gloves: Gloves of Extraordinary Specialization
helm: Helm of Balduran. There's occasional use of Vhailor's Helm (actually only during preparation vs the Ravager), or Death Helm, or Helm of Brilliance for their charges, but that's it. Oh, and Thieves Hood (but check armor why it isn't relevant).
rings: 2*Ring of Kangaxx, one replaced by Ring of Fire Control during Yaga Shura's Lair.
cloak: Montolio's Cloak. Spellcasters are rare in ToB, and Blade can dualwield.
belt: Girdle of Fire Giant Strength. The evil reward's +2 STR part for Wrath Tear applies after equipment. The high STR helps with the thac0.
amulet: Amulet of the Master Harper for its +3 AC worth immense in ToB. Occasional use of Amulet of Power (for immunity to level drain), Amulet of Seldarine (this I only used against the lich in Sendai to be honest), Harper's Pin (only used against Balthazar who shoots ?Magic Missiles?).
armor: I used Shurupak Plate, but right at this point only noticed it ruins my thac0 with its +1 DEX or something. Had been better if used Enkidu's Full Plate +3 for its 5% MR and immunity to backstab (surprisingly few amount of backstab in the game, mainly in Sendai's Domain,during the battle with Sendai).
Occasional use of Big Metal Unit.
weapon: for the majority of time I used Axe of the Unyielding (main hand, vorpal effect) and Crom Fayer (offhand, 25 STR, elemental attack). Didn't notice the 24 STR after getting the 22 STR belt. Well, it worked out nicely.
This changed to Short Sword of the Mask +5 (leveldrain, entangle) + Axe of Unyielding (offhand, AC, renegerate, occasional vorpal effect).
Situational weapons: Wave Halberd (efreets, fire elementals (any form)), Staff of Air/Earth (yes, even Ogremoch dies from these), Carsomyr, Big Metal Rod, Taralash, Runehammer
shield: -
arrows: +3, of piercing, scorcher ammunition
quick items: healing potions, potion of heroism (1 dose), potion of invisibility (2 dose), potion of fire resistance (2 dose)

[yoga]

Ha ha ha

You, crazy man!


Nice portrait of Yr hero.
2 nude ladies..

Now seriously:

Dear twillight,

one of the biggest problem for me is
huge number of stuff: weapons, potions, rings, spells and like.

I am going crazy what to choose?

How do You know "whattoget"!!

[twillight]

Originally Posted by yoga

Ha ha ha

You, crazy man!


Nice portrait of Yr hero.
2 nude ladies..

Now seriously:

one of the biggest problem for me is
huge number of stuff: weapons, potions, rings, spells and like.

I am going crazy what to choose?

How do You know "whattoget"!!

Uhm, yoga, u know why there's spoiler?
Also, the forum-guidance allows it. Not to mention, I prefer to add some life to boring character-page, ok?

Now seriously:

- on the net people listed all equipment in the game. It is there to you to compare stuff.
- it is wildly known there are enemies immun to certain level of enchantments of weapons. So you plan with that as minimum requirement.
- I confess you need a certain amount of experience/guidance to know about where status-effects appear (charm, maze, finger of death, whatever).
- categorize. You don't have to decide between rings and potions because you can have both. First fill up all your equipment-slot with permanent items for that character (for a full party you rarely change equipment, only improve it when you find the next step).
- potions/scrolls/charged items: actually their use is backward-engineering. When you see you lack something you compensate that with potion. Enemy deal fire damage? Drink fire resistance potion. You can't hit the enemy? Drink a potion which lowers your thac0. Enemy has a particular weakness? Use a wand. You always get poisoned? Have some antidote potions around. Really easier then you think.
- spells: now this is where you have to READ the spell-descriptions, and know a bit of your enemy.
Spells can do 3 things:
- buff you
- debuff the enemy
- deal damage.
Damage-dealing is simple. You check how long it takes to cast, what type of damage the spell does (you don't want to cast a fire spell against a fire elemental - common sense), and how much damage it does. Simple.
Self-buff: depends your choice on who you can cast (anyone, or just the mage), and what it does. You'll choose others when going against spellcasters (you want to rise magic resistance, lower saving throws, counter spells) then when you fight in melee (you want to avoid being hit, or lower the damage).
Debuffing the enemy is the most complicated. There are spells which weakens them for other spells, take away self-buffs and some others. The two most popular high-level debuff-spells are True Sight and Khelben's Wardin Whip for their extreme duration. TS dispels all invisibility, mirror image and such, while KWW takes away all spells which prevents your melee members hitting the target (stone skin, weapon immunity etc.).
Pierce Magic and Pierce Shield are also top-notch to lower magic resistances.
Spells like Charm on the other hand "die out" on higher level because they can be, and WILL be negated (= won't cause anything to happen) on higher level.

I did not mention Summoning Spells, and for a reason. They are majorly used as "meat shield" with the exception of the most high level stuff which can bring in for a period "another party member". Deva/Planetar spells are the prime example: a single one of those can obliterate an army if needed.
But there's a reason why people don't even look at Monster Summoning 1-2, and even 3 is only used as meat-shield. Those things can't hit anything, and their HP is very limited too.
Other sought-after summon is Mordekainen's Sword not because it is strong, but because it is invincible.

-----------

All in all spells can be great, and an adequate mage can throw around A-bombs and H-bombs until the battlefield is scorched, but there's a reason why starter-classes are melee-oriented (fighter/paladin mostly, monk if you are familiar with AD&D/Icewind Dale or similar).

So, I think I'll surprise you, and instead of thief-mage to avoid confusion I'll make you a fighter-mage to make your life easier, and let you accustomed more to the mage-part.

--------

PS: THIS page can help you overview all the possible equipments in the game.
If you need a detailed spell-guide for dummies, feel free to PM-me. That'd be a very long writing (simply 'cause there r like 2-300 spells in the game while only a fraction got ever used), wouldn't put it here.