Adalon Cheats

[danconnors]

The silver dragon. If you're going to make this thread disappear, at least this time let me know why.

Party: myslf, a 12th level kensai/14th level mage, Korgan 15th level berserker, Viconia 18th level priestess, Jan 13th level mage, 16th or higher thief with 100 trapsetting ability, and Minsc, generally useless ranger.

Weapons: a high level weapon that casts mental domination (no saves) which Adalon saved against every use. The spell harm, which never affected the dragon. The spell Tensor's Transformation on my character primed with mental protection spells from Viconia, and myself, which had warded off all attacks from beholders, which EVERY time ended up with a PANICed Tensor warrior. Korgan attacking in a berserk fury (until he was panicked in the middle of a fury). And Minsc, as usual, doing absolutely nothing.

Made at least 10 college tries, and decided maybe I can't beat her, but damned if she'll ever see her eggs again. I know the way out of the Underdark, and I'll be taking the eggs with me. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Dragon.

[frdnwsm]

Dan, old boy, why are you posting this? You did kill Adalon back iin 2015, if I recall, although it was on easy level and took you 7 tries.

In any event, Silver dragons are tough foes, and I certainly wouldn't try taking one on with the crew you had here. As you say, Minsc is truly usless; I park hm in the Copper Kettle, never to move again, fairly early in SoA. Even one ineffective crewmember is a detriment in a fight such as this. You would have fared much beter using a maxxed out Dorn, equpped with The Visage, Ir'revrykal+5 and some buffs. Also, I do hope your Kensai Mage had achieved Grandmastery in a weapon, preferably Halberds, prior to conversion. Dragonbane would come in useful here.

I'm also not sure that bringing Jan along was the best choice; I can't imagine setting traps would be a really useful tactic in such a fight. Maybe Edwin with Robe of Vecna, Staff of the Magi and a wand of Spellstrike? Haer'Dalis with twin blades and offensive spin?

I never fought Adalon, but I have done Dorn's quest in ToB which entails fighting TWO of the damned things. Toughest fight ever.

[danconnors]

What about the weapon Jan had? The spell it cast of domination with no save? Which the dragon saved against every time? And how do you get a 15th level berserker to panic in the middle of a rage attack, to say nothing of a 15th level mage with mind buffs up the wazoo and under the ifluence of Tensor's Transformation? And Viconia trying a harm spell EVERY fight through, having the highest AC of anybody in the party (around -12 I think)

We did get it to badly wounded nearly every time, but I really need to find out what minimum + weapon you need to damage that dragon. A plus 4 dagger I thoughy for sure would hit it. If I have to get Crom Feyer again, I swear I will. Admittedly Minsc is like a 5th wheel in any party now. Unfortunately I only have high mastery (4 stars) in short swords, but that's because I'm hoping to eventually achieve mastery in daggers, to make the kensai deadly in some form of missile weapon.

In the meantime that dragon is without its eggs, and I'm out of the Underdark. Viconia has given her Geas (which she will break the instant our popularity hits 16). As for Dorn, my memory of him is he's usually the first one I kill in Baldur's Gate, after he tells me to fetch him ale. He drops the first magic weapon in the game, but he's no competition to a berserker or a kensai.

[frdnwsm]

I suspect Adalon has high MR, hence the spells failing; reduce resistance might help. I admit, the berserker thing sounds a bit weird, unless he was feared just as the berserk wore off. Did you have Viconia cast remove fear on the party before combat?

Also, we are going to have to disagree about Dorn. Do his quest and give him the right gear and he becomes an almost untoppable juggernaut. I have used him well into ToB with both my Berserker and pure Kensai, and he is massively useful.

Look at the Blackguard immunities, then check the stats on The Visage, Ir'revrykal, and the Cloak of Mirroring. Toss in some decent armor and you're all set.

[biogoo]

Originally posted by danconnors:

Weapons: a high level weapon that casts mental domination (no saves)

What?

Anyways, priests (and paladins) have this very handy level 1 spell called "doom" which reduces saves by 2 for a minute. Stacks. Mages have a similar spell "greater malison", which reduces saves by 4 - doesnt stack with itself but stacks with dooms.
It is relatively easy to spend few rounds debuffing and then the dragon will fall to feeblemind or finger of death in few tries, if not instantly.

Dragons also have a weakness: even though some of them posses the death spell, killing all summons, they can only cast it once, which means that summoning creatures during the combat, one by one, can distract a dragon for a long time.
They also cast remove magic at the start of combat, so forget about pre-buffing. Buff in combat. They also use stoneskin, even though it is not really visible. Use the spell "breach" if you are not doing any damage.

[JohnyT]

About fear, you can suffer 3 different types:
- Fear (normal)
- Fear from dragons (affects even chavaliers)
- Fear from demons (magic resist can save you)

[frdnwsm]

>>"Originally posted by danconnors:
Weapons: a high level weapon that casts mental domination (no saves)
What?"<<

I suspect this is a reference to the Staff of Command, a +2 quarterstaff that can cast Domination once a day, with NO save allowed. The effects last 12 hours, basically allowing you to enslave just about any creature that isn't decently magic resistant.

Anyway, you may be wonderng why I am so obsessed with my guys getting Grand Mastery with Halberds. Well, they are especially useful for a Kensai, since that kit can't use shields anyway, and there are a number of nice ones available in both SoA and ToB. Harmonium (+1 strength), Dragonbane (+6 vs dragons), Dragonbreath (deals +1 damage from every type of dagon breath ... acid, fire etc.) and Wave +4, which is especially damaging to fire creatures.

The ultimate halberd, however, is the +6 upgrade to Ravager. Now, you really can't get this before somewhere around the mid point of ToB. You need to get the +4 version from the boss of Yaga-Shura's lair (Wave +4 becomes remarkably useful here, btw), then get the Serpent Staff from the lich Azamantes and his pet Flaming Skulls, down on the fifth (seal) level of Watcher's Keep.

Toss a few bucks to Caspenar and he produces this beauty. Check it out.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1559712423
Forget about the Aura of Fear and the possible extra damage from poison ... it has a 10% chance PER HIT to decapitate a foe. At level 25, using this weapon, my Kensai has a THACO of -22. Using Greater Whirlwind, that's 10 attacks per round, all of which will probably hit. This almost guarantees a decapitating hit every combat round.

[red255]

not sure why you'd bother with the staff of command, why not just use those mind flayer collars?

[AlexMBrennan]

it has a 10% chance PER HIT to decapitate a foe

Most serious enemies will be immune to vopal hits (and other instant death effects), and the rest will probably die from 10 +6 attacks regardless.

[frdnwsm]

Originally posted by red255:

not sure why you'd bother with the staff of command, why not just use those mind flayer collars?

Duration. As far as I know, the circlets (and yes, I did save a few of them for use later on) just cast Dire Charm. A mind Flayer that is controlled by one breaks out of the control fairly soon, and I would assume that other creatures so controlled would also break free when the spell duration expires. The Staff's control lasts for 12 full hours, which is pretty much an eternity in a game such as this.

[frdnwsm]

Originally posted by AlexMBrennan:

it has a 10% chance PER HIT to decapitate a foe

Most serious enemies will be immune to vopal hits (and other instant death effects), and the rest will probably die from 10 +6 attacks regardless.

Bosses are usually immune to such things, yes, but I'm not sure how you define "serious" enemies. I can kill several Fire Giants per round if I am lucky and get a decapitation early on. I pop a Greater Whirlwind, run into the middle of a group of enemes, take a swing and immediately hit pause so I can redirect my attack to the next foe if the first one has died ... rinse and repeat. I'm pretty much hitting the pause key to evaluate the results every second during the combat.

With good luck, 3 or 4 of them will burst like so many soap bubbles. And even after the Whirlwind runs out, with Grand Mastery I get 3 attacks, whch goes up to 6 with something like Oil of Speed ... which lasts for an hour. That's a lot of chances for more than 1 instant kill.

[danconnors]

Ever tried putting a collar sized for a humanoid around a dragon's neck? Also the mind flayer slip the control immediately once they open the door, and sometimes before then. But why do they advertize something as "no save" when it clearly isn't? And frdnwsm, I kbow you think that halberd is the neatest thing since sliced bread, but if I'm going for a super weapon, I'm going for Crom Feyer. In addition to all its other goodies you can dual weld it! With some lesser war hammer (say a lousy +4 weapon you dredged up at the 5 and dime).

That's why Throne of Bhaal is my least favorite of the original three games. By then you're so powerful the game loses a lot of its interest. I've only finished TOB twice, once as a straight thief. A thief who almost killed Firkraag with his traps at the start of the fight. He didn't stop upgradding traps when he got it up to 100. Not sure how high you can actually go, but he went there.

[frdnwsm]

Ah; we clearly have a difference in phiosophy here. I don't construct Crom Feyr; it's only 1 weapon, and I prefer to parcel the components out to the other NPCs. For example, Viconia needs a belt of giant strength in order to wear heavier armor and be decent in melee, Anomen can use the Hammer of Thunderbolts, and Keldorn would benefit from the Ogre Hands. Once you go after Irenicus, you can't get back to Cromwell in Athkatla, and Cespanar apparently doesn't have the "recipe" to make Crom Feyr.

I will agree that ToB is a bit less interesting than the earlier chapters, but for me, that's more because of the confiningly limited linear plot progression. Yes, as you draw close to the ending, your character becomes near demi-god like, but hey, that's pretty much the goal of the entire series, right? At that point, I find my main interest is seeing what combnation of skills, equipment and tactics make MC the most efficient killing machine.

To quote another obsessed megalomanic "Power! Absolute Power! Muahahahaha!".

And you certainly are not invulnerable at the start of ToB, so that part is still a challenge.

[danconnors]

Yes, the emperor. He absolutely ruined Darth Vader as a good villain. I hated him for that in Return Of The Jedi. I don't like villains changing their ways. I'm having the same problem here with Fallout 4. Around the time I get into my level 40's the game starts to get boring, even in survival mode. I can slaughter EVERYTHING. So I have to start a new character.

[frdnwsm]

>> I've only finished TOB twice, once as a straight thief.<<

I haven't had that much desire to play a thief type, since there is a decent assortment of thieves already available as NPCs. I currently have a Bardic Blade in the very early part of SoA, but he'll never be more than a second rate Haer D'aelis, since you can't pick Tiefling as an MC race. Not sure how well he will fare in ToB. I had a decently advanced dualed Berserker/Cleric, which was different, but the computer that game was on self destructed and I hadn't saved it to Steam cloud, so that one never matured.

[danconnors]

Someone on this forum has the power to delete my posts anytime they want to, apparently, and seem to do it quite often. About every other time I go to post a reply I get a red letter when I go to post saying something has gone wrong and the post can't be posted. I then must make the attempt to post several times, and then the post is highly likely to disappear later anyway. If this is being done by some private individual, and I find out who, my lawyer will find out soon after. If some company has decided I need censorship, for whatever reason, well my lawyer will also find out about it. I tried to reply to frdnwsm's post, saying I had discovered on my own that kensai's weren't what I had thought they might amount to, that my thief had not been a straight thief but a swashbuckler, and had, in fact, been my character that actually used Crom Feyer. Within an hour that post disappeared. I will be closely watching this post to see what happens to it.