At What Point Should I Start Trials of the Luremaster?

[New Moon On Monday]

Considering that I think I'm close to finishing TotL, it's really too late to be asking this question. But I'm wondering if I was not supposed to start it when I did.

I started Heart of Winter with my Icewind Dale party who were averaging about 12th-13th level. The conversation starting TotL came up pretty early in exploring the starting town- though I didn't realize that it actually was the conversation to start a full on expansion- and I went with at the time it came up.

I've been working my way through it, by resting after every single battle and using up my small stash of scrolls/potions/wands that survived import from Icewind Dale. All those spare Raise Dead and Stone to Flesh scrolls have come in real handy. Resting after every single battle isn't necessarily an awful thing, except for all the time I spend restoring buffs after every single rest- and I need them all, except when they get dispelled.

I've taken note that the treasure has included a lot of scrolls for 9th level mage spells- no one in my party is anywhere near using those.

Was this meant to be done at any time, or should I have waited and come back to it later?

[Nk Servis]

I believe you're supposed to do it at the absolute last moment, when you collect all the badges in a certain dungeon in the main game (point of no return), then leave for HoW, then do everything you can until leaving for an island (which is another point of no return). That's the way most people recommend it, and obviously your level is going to vary a bit based on how you play in the main campaign.

12-13 is a reasonable place to be at that point, but obviously the difficulty curve still sucks. I'm horrible at CRPGs so I found TotLM to be very challeging without constantly spamming invisibility or baiting enemies by quitting locations, but from what I understand it's generally agreed upon as too much for the game.

In terms of level 9 spells, Icewind Dale throws a bunch of scrolls with them in HoW up until the last boss, and I don't remember getting a mage capable of level 9 spells even when I finished the whole game. IWD doesn't have the same progression route as something like Baldur's Gate, where you're given spells you're expected to be capable of using, and so you might be in the same boat as me even if you do all of the extra side quests and so on. I'm pretty sure some of the mods that add cut content add more EXP to the game to make level 9 spells more feasible, but I haven't tried them out so I'm not sure what their rewards are.

Also TotLM really benefits from a specific party composition (e.g. a mage to spam invisibility spells, a bard for harpies, etc.) so even if you are the appropriate level for the expansion, you might have a much harder time than the developers intended.

[New Moon On Monday]

The Harpies we're too bad; Chaotic Commands and Freedom were sufficient protection.

The Spectral Guards in groups of 6 were insane. The Beholders were bad news- a huge long-range cone of 100% successful dispel magic that also disables spellcasting, then the rays. Fortunately, my Fighter/Mage hit 12th level in Mage just as I used my last Stone to Flesh scroll, so I could finally start carrying around the Stone to Flesh spell. (Letting my tank be petrified seemed to be the best result; using the Potion of Mirrored Eyes immediately after the anti-magic ray results in the Beholder skipping to the Death Ray.)

And now dealing with Jackal Priests who seem to cast unlimited Dispel Magic that is 100% successful always. I don't have enough high power equipment to protect against status effect when buffs are stripped.

[Nk Servis]

Originally posted by New Moon On Monday:

The Harpies we're too bad; Chaotic Commands and Freedom were sufficient protection.

The Spectral Guards in groups of 6 were insane. The Beholders were bad news- a huge long-range cone of 100% successful dispel magic that also disables spellcasting, then the rays. Fortunately, my Fighter/Mage hit 12th level in Mage just as I used my last Stone to Flesh scroll, so I could finally start carrying around the Stone to Flesh spell. (Letting my tank be petrified seemed to be the best result; using the Potion of Mirrored Eyes immediately after the anti-magic ray results in the Beholder skipping to the Death Ray.)

And now dealing with Jackal Priests who seem to cast unlimited Dispel Magic that is 100% successful always. I don't have enough high power equipment to protect against status effect when buffs are stripped.

Yeah, I remember the Jackal section being especially brutal, and found the last boss fight of the expansion to be pretty bad (since it is pretty hard to scum him). I checked again, and most of my guys were levels 9 or 11 when I started the expansion, so that probably didn't help. At least the last parts of the game and HoW turned out pretty easy after completing the expansion. Having summons is pretty helpful for all of IWD, but especially for this dungeon, at least in my experience.

[New Moon On Monday]

Clearly Trials of the Luremaster was meant to be saved until the end. Trials of the Luremaster required me to rest after every single battle, and forced 2 or 3 reloads. After it was done I started out on the main plotline of Heart of Winter, and it was really, really easy. I don't know at what point TotL was supposed to be worked in- I assume that after the main boss of HoW is dead, the game is over and there's no going back to pick up other quests like TotL. Maybe TotL is worked in after coming back from Gloomfrost and the second trip to the Barbarian Camp, before leaving for the Sea of Moving Ice.

[Hell-met]

I just play the game in this order :

Up until poquelin's sealed stairs, then up to exposing icky in the camp, then castle maluradek.

[Baraz]

(take 2)
I got into TotL by accident sort of... with my party at levels 10-12 and it is OK until you fight a bunch of Spectral Guards (which I can beat by using tons of buffs and fireballs)...

Trick is to find a tight doorway, like the kitchen area, and your tank needs about -20 AC versus slashing and 100% protection to fire. I did a bunch of fireballs, flamestrikes, Agannazar's Scorcher, etc. They are immune to cold, so...

I do not want to spoil the next fights, but let's just say I needed to reload at least once.

Core difficulty.
nb : reminder we can change the difficulty... at worst.

[Baraz]

The cave filled with harpies and Infernal Harpies is death ! I will have to find a trick. I made my entire party "Freedom of action", yet they still get confused... sigh. Having -17 to -20 AC is not enough (!!!!!!!). Haste, the works... My confused and stun party members die (somehow Remove Paralysis and Exaltation did not work).

My party is now level 12 (except Bard 14). Not sure being higher level would help. Most powerful buffs last about 10 rounds, but this fight will take longer.

Discouraging. I hate whoever designed this. Letting me enter around level 10, into a death trap, was not cool and I dread doing it all over again (took me a long time).

EDIT : even just Dire Bears somehow hit -17 AC most every round and destroy my squishy characters. My Paladin has - 20 AC versus Slashing, but the Dire Bear hits with a roll of 18+0 ! Well, re-roading (attempt #3).

EDIT - HOPEFUL GOOD NEWS THOUGH :
The last battle is more balanced ! So do not despair !

All in all, the only fight I had to "cheese" (Easy difficulty) were the Harpies (instead of burning all my resistance potions). Did all the rest on Core Rules difficulty.

[ShinsFortress]

Yes, the harpies cave has so far caused me more reloads than any other fight (in IWD:EE). And that's with Fire Resists and buffs. Very disappointing. I used to like playing on at least Core Rules but this is ridiculous.

[vysionier]

You need chaotic commands. Only thing that’ll protect you from all mental attacks.

[vic_thor29]

Originally posted by vysionier:

You need chaotic commands. Only thing that’ll protect you from all mental attacks.

I don't have a cleric in my party, am I doomed?

[WickedRequiem]

Do you have a druid?

[jjs82x]

Originally posted by vic_thor29:

I don't have a cleric in my party, am I doomed?

Yes.

(slightly spoilerish) HoW seems to me to be designed to hard-spank cleric-less parties; and TotL makes HoW feel like a cake walk.

In my playthrough I saved HoW for the latest point (of no return) in IWD base game, and saved TotL for the latest point (of no return) in HoW. Been a long time (before Steam}, but as I recall, my party for that play through was something close to this:

1. DC Fighter9/Cleric (Mace **** / Slings ***)
2. DC Cleric11/Fighter (Club or Hammer ***** / Slings *****)
3. DC Fighter12/DestructionMage (Longsword *** / Longbow *****)
4. DC Fighter9/Sorcerer (Two-handed sword ** / Longbow *****)
5. Half-elf Bard (straight Bard, not Skald, or etc.) with Bardic Horn of Valhalla
6. Gnome MC Illusionist/Thief

The two-cleric party was a boon more times then I can number, in the main game and both expansions.