Clay Golems are not fun.

[Larry]

Why the hell are Clay Golems even a thing? Immune to magic damage, deal insane amounts of damage and the only way to hit them is using a fire/cold/acid enchanted weapon that can still be resisted and if you do damage them with it it's one or two bits of damage. REALLY?!

This is such BS...

[Improper Use]

Flail of the Ages - Flails +3: De'Arnise Keep, nalias quest
Blackblood - Clubs: Trademeet, show up and kill the geniesm buy/steal from a vendor
Frostreaver - Axe: buy from ribald barterman, waukeens promenade, adventurers mart

Pre-cast: improved haste, haste, use a speed potion.

Hit it with 20 melf's acid arrows.

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ye old games like this are often not for the unplanned party

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But I'll humor you for a second and lets look at a Clay Golem's stats.

20 Str
50 hp
AC 7
THACO 9

Resistances
Immune to: Cold, Electricity, Slashing, Missile, Magic

half immunity (50% damage) to: Fire and Magic Fire

Zero resistances (100% damage) to:Crushing, Magic Cold, Acid.

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So Turns out we can simply hit it with a mace, warhammer, staff etc.

and at 50hp, even at 2 attack per round its what 30 rounds to kill on a 1v1?

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:) try to remain calm and stay inside the vehicle.

If you are looking for what I just looked at to obtain these stats, google eekeeper and download it from sourceforge.

Open the creature browser and find the 'clay golem'

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[Mhblis]

The clay golems are a joke stand outside the room and take them apart with ranged. B

If you can take the hit use Blunt weapons (may be slashing memory fails me) it deals extar damage to them. There is also a weapon that pretty much instant kills them as well.

If clay golems bug you wait till you hit the Iron Golem they are going to be an issue.

[Larry]

I beat them already i'm just so frustrated at how stupidly annoying and specific some monsters are especially at the very beginning of the game. The golems for instance.... Each requiring specific weapons to so much as land a hit. I get that some attacks would deal more damage but what I don't get is where one type of physical attack deals damage but any other does not deal any damage at all. How were you supposed to know this? Was it even in the original manuals listing the weaknesses of every unit and how to counter them? As far as I can tell there's simply no hint at what damages these golems specifically other than googling it...

Then you have some mobs that were designed to be cheated like the Lich. Grab Daystar and use it's ability and what would be a boss that wipes your party without taking damage becomes a boss that you walk up to and press a button, killing it in a split second.

[AlexMBrennan]

Was it even in the original manuals listing the weaknesses of every unit and how to counter them?

Funny you should mention that because the manual [www.beamdog.com]does in fact say:

Golems
“Golem” is a broad term that covers many types of magical constructs. Most are humanoid,
though they can be of inhuman size, and most require magical means to destroy them. One of
the most dangerous, the “clay golem,” is immune to almost all types of weapons. Only magical
blunt weapons, such as hammers and maces, will damage these constructs.

Then you have some mobs that were designed to be cheated like the Lich

Right. The game gives you a mace that instantly kills undead, including liches and demi-liches in chapter 3 (well before you'd encounter any of them unless you go out of you way to track down the bonus bosses). Plus, there are "protection from undead" scrolls for the two times you encounter them during the main quest. I agree, that sounds totally unfair.

[Mhblis]

It is no different to how your characters can get the same special effects. I take it you don't like how trolls regenerate and need to be killed with specific types of damage.

I'll just give you a heads up. Look up the following
Demons, Devils, Golems, Dragons, Undead, Spells above 4th level.

They are all so much worse for this type of stuff than golems are. And immunities and resistances have been a staple of RPG's for a long time.

Also as an aside you know you can pull those golems one at a time makeing them so stupidly easy.

[Improper Use]

If it was made today the game would have a method of divining and or displaying resistances.

It is frustrating to bounce from one fight to the next; especially so when role playing, with shifting fight dynamics that are not addressed in game.

[danconnors]

Of course you have to get Daystar from the cold, undead hands of a lich. He always summons a demon after he stops time (talk about annoying, hope the lead character has a death ward on). I always wait till the demon shows, and the skies drop molten lava. Then I turn off the party AI, and have everybody vacate the basement. Usually, if you duck out quick enough, the demon won't follow you.

I then gimp around a few minutes, healing wounds, letting my berserker's cool down period pass. When I go back downstairs, the demon's timed out, the lava's no longer flowing, and the lich has just about shot his wad. He usually goes down pretty easy at that point. Don't try using Daystar on Kangaxx the demi lich. He will imprison you. Game over.

I like to think of the clay golem as fire hardened clay. Slashing weapons don't hurt it, but hammers, clubs, all blunt weapons, shatter it. If you know what you're doing, they're easy. Just don't have your mage try to use his quarterstaff on it. He may damage it, but the golem can squash him with a single blow.

[Larry]

The lich is the easiest... I just grabbed Daystar from the chest, ran out of the room, gave it to my main character(With no prof in Long Swords), waited for the Lich's protective barrier to wear off then walked up to him and used Sunray. It kills the Lich instantly. I did it with the Lich in the Bridge District too.

[danconnors]

Get the lich in the sewers, claim the body parts, and go talk to Kangaxx. Don't give your main character Dayblade. Kangaxx will kill him first. There is NO saving throw against imprisonment. A berserker will have one turn to kill the bad boy. When his rage wears out, so does his luck. Poof!! Imprisoned.

[Mhblis]

I havent played in a while but I'm sure there was actually a way to get information about the monsters in game.

If memory serves you paus the combat and click ont he monster should have like a ? option. That or there is a beastieary somewhere. Might be a lore book to read.

All I know is there is a way. I just remember this stuff from playing it table top though. And to be honest its hardly dynamic since you get in comabt messages about it and the effect is minimal and rare.

[Vita, Mortis, Careo]

At the same time, we're not playing this game because we want everything handed to us like there is in so much mainstream modern gaming. Enjoy the challenge.

[Larry]

Originally posted by Two Bears:

At the same time, we're not playing this game because we want everything handed to us like there is in so much mainstream modern gaming. Enjoy the challenge.

In BG1 I spent 90 hours in my first playthrough and BG1 never had these stupid things in it except where they should be and at an appropriate level(Towards the end of the game). I really grew to enjoy the combat in Baldur's Gate and still enjoy it in Baldur's Gate 2. It's a lot more involving and requires more attention which is great... what's not great is poorly placed encounters that seemingly come out of nowhere.

The fact is it's just poor design choices that's not seen much, even in old games, because it doesn't fit as it's annoying and shouldn't be in an early stage dungeon. There's a difference between a challenge and something completely misplaced requiring you to use cheese tactics to beat them -- which is something nearly everyone does and did do before the internet was in wide use and as freely accessible as it is today.

The game throws so many annoying and way too varied combat situations at you in such a short space of time. One minute you have a PW:Death spewing mage against you. The next you have an enemy that spams poison on all your party members then you have a mob, not a boss but just a simple mob, that can't be hit and requires you to use a specific weapon to use on it which brings us back to the golems who are VERY specific with very STEEP requirements to engage them especially when you're at the very beginning of the game.

You have Clay Golems who can only be touched with blunt weapons. You have Iron Golems that require you to have +3 weapons to so much as hit them. There's no in between here. It's literally: Have the gear or you're not getting past this. This sucks in a SP game. In an MMO, sure, that's part of it but in an RPG? Being held behind a wall forced to grind gold for +3 weapons just to take down a single enemy who, as it turns out, is guarding the very weapons you need to defeat him wasn't good design then and isn't now. Same scenario with the Lich(Gate District)... You have to get Daystar, wait for his invulnerability to wear off then use Sunray on his ass and it's an instant win for you then you have vampires who are just a ♥♥♥♥♥(Energy Drain?!) and they show up randomly at night on the streets too. Better have Restore at the ready for those ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and hope you don't encounter them if you sleep and get attacked while sleeping.

There's just so many examples of poorly placed enemies and none of it makes sense. BG1 was hard to get into but once you understood the mechanics the game's combat made sense and became a treat to experience. It wasn't hack n slash, free loot or anything. It was very much pause and individually choose your actions. There were lesser mobs that you could hack and slash but for the majority you had to be tactical and think your engagements through. In BG2 it's literally an artificial "challenge" which requires you to know the fight before you engage. If you go up vs a mage that has a liking for Power Word: Death you better hope you have Death Ward at the ready and have it prebuffed. That's just one example... Needless to say BG2 is more "Try and Die" then go in with the right set up and do it in your stride once you have the right spells and weapons for the encounter. It's not much of a challenge to say the least...

[Vita, Mortis, Careo]

Well I take it back. Some of us are here for handholding after all.

[Larry]

Originally posted by Two Bears:

Well I take it back. Some of us are here for handholding after all.

Oh so very mature, Mr.manly man.

[Vita, Mortis, Careo]

Originally posted by Dr.Larry:

Originally posted by Two Bears:

Well I take it back. Some of us are here for handholding after all.

Oh so very mature, Mr.manly man.

I may change my handle to that. Thank you. Best of luck to you in finding a game that you enjoy.