Nalia saving throws

[mudakonn]

Since she is huuman, her saving throws are inferior to gnomes and dwarves but her signet ring has a whopping -2 to all throws and stacks with any other bonus saving throw items so it puts her almost on par with short races - a feat why i think she is actually the best mage in the game:)

[red255]

She's overtall, beardless, long-limbed, and lack strength.

[mudakonn]

Originally posted by red255:

She's overtall, beardless, long-limbed, and lack strength.

LMAO - that is a good one, my friend:) My PC of female dwarf fighter/cleric agrees - we have her keep though for free so she has some quality real estate for us to redeem her physical deficiencies

[Zotliatlicor]

All the mages in the game are great in their own way, they all come with various odd's n ends that make their place in the group worthwhile.

When i Play with Nalia she always ends up as beeing the Supreme Goddess Of Arcane Magiks.

[red255]

my opinion of Nalia is if your team has a thief she works fine. like if I got Jan to be my thief, her poor thieving levels allow her to use a short bow and elven chainmail and keep out of trouble.

she does ♥♥♥♥ all as a thief, but thats to be expected with only 3 levels.

she's not too special as a mage but not too gimped either, main drawback is she only has one ring slot due to her other ring.

issue being imoen is the same build but better since her thief skills aren't worthless and you won't 'need' a thief to deal with traps and locks if you have imoen. and she's got a free ring slot.

[Zotliatlicor]

Yeah Imoen is better on paper than Nalia, but it all depends:

Nalia has a ring she cant loose, with a +2 to all saves. Imoen has a Belt she cant loose, that does nothing. So Nalia will at all times if "equal" in mage levels have +2 better saves.

But Imoen has slighlty better stats and is the better Thief and with her you do not need another thief.

But the thief levels really does not matter. There are very few traps and locks Nalia cant open in SOA, and playing her just alters the tactics a bit. Eventually you will have Gear that makes her at 95 % in traps and locks, and you can cast knock until you do.

The Spell Find Traps is one that people seldom seem to use, and it reveals all traps in a large area. Removing them is something you can try 1/second, so she will disable all but the sturdiest.

Those are taken care of with spells. Prot Petrify, Stoneskin, Mirror Image and Prot Elements are spells you usually have on a mage so Nalia (and Imoen too, in the thick of battle) can trigger traps and live.

I have played through evertything with Nalia as sole thief. It is doable. I tend to Run for the Thief Gear she needs (means doing the Planar Sphere Early). And i stock up on Potions Of Thievery.

But i of course think Imoen is a better fit, as i think most do. I had some trouble with Traps in TOB until i realized i needed to protect Nalia better. So a bit more self-buffing than i was used to.

And i think Choice of Difficulty has a lot to say. On Easy you can ignore most traps, on Insane and LOB you die. A lot more. So after i played permanently on the highest difficulty i stopped using Nalia as Thief.

(BTW Nalia has 4 levels of Thief, not 3):

[philos3]

Originally posted by Zotliatlicor:

Yeah Imoen is better on paper than Nalia, but it all depends:
Nalia has a ring she cant loose, with a +2 to all saves. Imoen has a Belt she cant loose, that does nothing. So Nalia will at all times if "equal" in mage levels have +2 better saves.

Imoen's belt will go away after you escape Irenicus' dungeon. She doesn't have it at Spellhold.
But you make a lot of good points. Thieving skills are minimally needed later in the game. I have used Nalia in that role too. I've used Jan too.

Nalia's greatest strength, IMHO, is that you have her available from the near beginning of the game. Unless you deliberately wait to complete a lot of the side quests until returning from Spellhold, Nalia will be at least 2 maybe 3 levels higher as a mage than Imoen after her rescue.

I usually keep both Nalia and Imoen after Spellhold.

[red255]

Originally posted by Zotliatlicor:

Yeah Imoen is better on paper than Nalia, but it all depends:

Nalia has a ring she cant loose, with a +2 to all saves. Imoen has a Belt she cant loose, that does nothing. So Nalia will at all times if "equal" in mage levels have +2 better saves.
:

lol whut?

the imoen in irenicus dungeon is not the imoen you get in spellhold, the belt just makes her plot relevant it teleports her to the ....end of the dungeon if you get her killed .

it doesn't do nothing. but its gone in spellhold.

[Zotliatlicor]

My bad, i just looked at Imoen from the start. Been a long time since i played with her. I am just a big Edwin Fan. Completely forgot her belt was gone later. Or i never noticed. Still my bad.

But one likely ring you want on any mage is the +2 Protection Ring, at least until you get the good stuf later on, like Gaxx and so on, and you don't need the good stuff on yourself.

Nalia's Ring is +2 to AC, +2 to all saves and +50% to Fire Damage. It is not a bad ring, at all. It is a two-for-one (Batalistas Passport, +40 % Fire Resistance). And it stacks Fire Resistance so it is easy to get Nalia to 100 Fire Resistance. If you would want that.

[red255]

what the hell is a mage doing with a ring of gaxx? like does anyone seriously give Nalia or imoen, a ring of gaxx?

if I wanted 100% fire resistance. wouldn't I just use scrolls or potions?

[philos3]

If by better rings you mean the rings that increases (by one) the number of spells you can memorize for specific levels. Yes I do that. There are two of them to my knowledge. But the Ring of Gaxx always goes to my main character.

[red255]

Originally posted by philos3:

If by better rings you mean the rings that increases (by one) the number of spells you can memorize for specific levels. Yes I do that. There are two of them to my knowledge. But the Ring of Gaxx always goes to my main character.

3

a ring of acuity for completing the planar sphere, a ring of wizardry for doing the mage stronghold, and a second ring of wizardry from jahiera's questline.

[mudakonn]

In the end - if you dont need additional spell slots for Nalia because these rings are worn by your main char (or edwin who really does not need even more spell slots) then Nalia fits to tank with her saves more than your PC mage or Edwin.

I was so annoyed of my human heavy party get destroyed by failed saves so I found Nalia fitting very well - and like ppl have said she is available right away.

[red255]

you shouldn't be failing your saves if you cast the appropriate prevention spells prior to combat

[Darth Rand]

Personally i prefer Neera or Edwin over Imoen and Nalia as spellcasters, those extra spellslots are really nice at times and Wild Magic is really powerful after you get LvL 7 spells.

Also if you cast Protection from Fire, Protection from Magical Energy, Protection from Magical Weapons, and something like Spellturning or Spelltrap you pretty safe as a mage.
Add Spell Immunity and your mage is pretty much untouchable for a while (unless your playing with some mods like ScS)

That being said having Imoen or Jan taking care of the thieving buisness while having Neera or Edwin or even Nalia as your main mage is really fun

[red255]

I personally find having a high level thief really fun.

they get you so many funds, early on I have jan steal all the arrows of piercing from the vendors in Amn and sell them to the thieves guild.

I personally don't allow you to steal items from vendors that accept stolen goods. to limit it. otherwise you could generate infinite cash selling wands you get in chateau irenicus and stealing them back.

but He keeps my team equipped with acid arrows and bolts of lightning and I guess Bullets +2 for SoA. cuz theres just so much ammo to steal.

he also gets use any item so he can use the bard's hard to have a few casts of remove paralysis per day. I can use his simulacrum to cast Lesser restoration and raise dead from a scroll. (or wand of ressurection) or he could have the paladin bracers.

and yeah sure he gets 1550 XP per picked lock and 3500 per trap which is also nice.

I take all my gold and buy scrolls of freedom from Ribald after I've purchased everything else in Amn was like 7 stacks of 50 if you are wondering what I do with the gold.

But yeah lots of vendors with scrolls and potions you can just take with Jan. so lots of free XP and potion buffs.

he can also craft potions and scrolls as HLA but thats.... not his main power.