Author Topic: Bhaal vs. Sekolah and other fish matters  (Read 2426 times)

Althernai

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Bhaal vs. Sekolah and other fish matters
« on: September 16, 2002, 03:43:49 PM »
Alright, I've finally gotten to the imporved fish city. My party consists of a Ranger/Cleric 11/12 and Imoen 14. I have mostly +2 weapons and a +3 staff. First, I want to know how people beat the Minor Avatar - every time I came near him, he casts the equivalent of Imprisonment and the game ends. Undeterred, I turned into the Slayer and gutted the fish (not without some help from the Rod of Resurrection, but still). However, I absolutely hate to use the Slayer - how else do you avoid the 'Swallowed Whole' thing?

Second, the Sahuanin themselves. These are clearly enemies from ToB - they're level 14, they receive a +12 to their attack rolls against an AC of -6, they do 20+ damage per hit, they make you save vs. stun with every hit, and they have +1 attack crossbows and +3 spears. So, why are they only worth 3000XP per kill?! Who in their right mind would fight these creatures when you can run around sanctuaried or invisible? (no, I am not suggesting that you make them detect invisibility, then I'd just have to use Prot. from Magic Weapons) Those stupid infinite dwarfs that Sendai sends against you are twice as weak yet they are 12000XP a piece - please make the Sahuanin worth fighting.                    

Rhearns

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Bhaal vs. Sekolah and other fish matters
« Reply #1 on: September 16, 2002, 05:33:21 PM »
Alright, I've finally gotten to the imporved fish city. My party consists of a Ranger/Cleric 11/12 and Imoen 14. I have mostly +2 weapons and a +3 staff. First, I want to know how people beat the Minor Avatar - every time I came near him, he casts the equivalent of Imprisonment and the game ends. Undeterred, I turned into the Slayer and gutted the fish (not without some help from the Rod of Resurrection, but still). However, I absolutely hate to use the Slayer - how else do you avoid the 'Swallowed Whole' thing?

Second, the Sahuanin themselves. These are clearly enemies from ToB - they're level 14, they receive a +12 to their attack rolls against an AC of -6, they do 20+ damage per hit, they make you save vs. stun with every hit, and they have +1 attack crossbows and +3 spears. So, why are they only worth 3000XP per kill?! Who in their right mind would fight these creatures when you can run around sanctuaried or invisible? (no, I am not suggesting that you make them detect invisibility, then I'd just have to use Prot. from Magic Weapons) Those stupid infinite dwarfs that Sendai sends against you are twice as weak yet they are 12000XP a piece - please make the Sahuanin worth fighting.

Althernai I finished this some time ago and I struggled initially because I am a lazy player, not taking the time to buff. Mind you I defeated the Avator second time.

First set up a trap for the ambush (Strangely that makes sense!) the Avatar and Priestess have waiting for you. I cast lots of skull traps and delayed blast fireballs where the Sahaugin and Priestess appear. I used protection from evil and summoned a pit fiend and other summons. I then kept most of the party away, half the Sahaugin died straight away when I sent Korgan off to spring the ambush. Don't have any party members directly attack the Avatar, thats asking for trouble. Apparently bezerker rage renders you immune to the swallow.

Launch missiles and fireballs at the enemy and mop up with your fighters once under control of the fight.

For the regular rebels with the stun bolts you need lots of summons, mordenkainens swords are great here, they are immune to the missiles and will last longer than Skeletons etc. Focus on one rebel at a time  as they will heal themselves if left hurt too long. Careful of having your protagonist at the front as he/she will die if they get stunned early as the Sahaugin all focus on the first NPC they see. I thought Keldorns armour with the free action may have thwarted the stun but it didn't seem to.

I too won't change to the Slayer, only once to open the mind Flayer door, I wanted to keep the collars.                    

Althernai

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Bhaal vs. Sekolah and other fish matters
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2002, 06:43:30 PM »
Quote
Althernai I finished this some time ago and I struggled initially because I am a lazy player, not taking the time to buff. Mind you I defeated the Avator second time.

First set up a trap for the ambush (Strangely that makes sense!) the Avatar and Priestess have waiting for you. I cast lots of skull traps and delayed blast fireballs where the Sahaugin and Priestess appear. I used protection from evil and summoned a pit fiend and other summons. I then kept most of the party away, half the Sahaugin died straight away when I sent Korgan off to spring the ambush. Don't have any party members directly attack the Avatar, thats asking for trouble. Apparently bezerker rage renders you immune to the swallow.

Launch missiles and fireballs at the enemy and mop up with your fighters once under control of the fight.

For the regular rebels with the stun bolts you need lots of summons, mordenkainens swords are great here, they are immune to the missiles and will last longer than Skeletons etc. Focus on one rebel at a time  as they will heal themselves if left hurt too long. Careful of having your protagonist at the front as he/she will die if they get stunned early as the Sahaugin all focus on the first NPC they see. I thought Keldorns armour with the free action may have thwarted the stun but it didn't seem to.

I too won't change to the Slayer, only once to open the mind Flayer door, I wanted to keep the collars.
                   Stun is not so much of a problem with the Ring of Free Action (I did not think of this until dying because of the it 2-3 times :angry: ). The Sahuanin and the Priestess are also not that grave a threat - I just wanted to say that they are not worth fighting. (BTW, does the Priestess have Improved Mantle as an unlimited, innate ability that ignores Insect Plague or is there some restriction to it?)

My problem was that I have nothing to fight the avatar with except my protagonist (the fish goes through my elementals and aerial servants at an alarming speed) and he gets eaten too quickly. The Slayer is immune to Imprisonment (so is a raging beserker), so sharky is not so bad. I think this would be a lot easier if I had a full party of 4-6.

I don't know how you ambushed the ambush - they showed up over there as soon as I came anywhere near.                    

Rhearns

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Bhaal vs. Sekolah and other fish matters
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2002, 08:21:44 PM »
I don't know how you ambushed the ambush - they showed up over there as soon as I came anywhere near.
Quote


They appear if you walk over the middle section with the fish statue above it. If you walk around to below this area you can set up nicely.

Didn't realise you were either soloing or had only a couple of party members.

Have you fought the Impoved Demon knights in the Kua Toa area yet? I didn't realise they were improved until later. Beat them first time, used teleport field and hasted skeletons. Sure they were harder but not that hard.                    

Althernai

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Bhaal vs. Sekolah and other fish matters
« Reply #4 on: September 16, 2002, 09:16:11 PM »
Quote
They appear if you walk over the middle section with the fish statue above it. If you walk around to below this area you can set up nicely.

Didn't realise you were either soloing or had only a couple of party members.

Thanks... I'll note that for future fishing.

Quote
Have you fought the Impoved Demon knights in the Kua Toa area yet? I didn't realise they were improved until later. Beat them first time, used teleport field and hasted skeletons. Sure they were harder but not that hard.

Yes, I've beaten all of the improved encounters except the fish city which is relatively new and the mindflayers whom I never liked in the first place. The demon knights are only marginally improved - one easy way to beat them is to stack stuff on the protagonist (Ring of Free Action, Cloak of Mirroring, Amulet of Power, Resist Fear, etc.) while everyone else pummels them. They are also fall rather quickly to an Improved Hasted Planetar (as does almost anything :) )                    

Rhearns

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Bhaal vs. Sekolah and other fish matters
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2002, 01:09:58 AM »
Sorry haven't quite worked out the quoting system.                    



[!--EDIT|Rhearns|Sep 17 2002, 08:12 AM--]

Rhearns

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Bhaal vs. Sekolah and other fish matters
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2002, 01:10:54 AM »
Quote
Yes, I've beaten all of the improved encounters except the fish city which is relatively new and the mindflayers whom I never liked in the first place. The demon knights are only marginally improved - one easy way to beat them is to stack stuff on the protagonist (Ring of Free Action, Cloak of Mirroring, Amulet of Power, Resist Fear, etc.) while everyone else pummels them. They are also fall rather quickly to an Improved Hasted Planetar (as does almost anything


                   I don't have anything quite as flashy as a Planetar as yet (I can summon some 'very scary' Skeletal warriors!), though I'm just about 29000 XP off getting LVL 9 Spells. Timestop here I come! I'm looking forward to TOB for the first time. Is it shorter (playing time wise) compared to SOA? Also looking forward to Improved Irenicus and Solaufeins Achryssa, Poison Snakes, Eclipse, Ascension etc. Nothing quite like playing something new for the first time.javascript:emoticon(':rolleyes:')                    

Althernai

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Bhaal vs. Sekolah and other fish matters
« Reply #7 on: September 17, 2002, 01:19:27 PM »
SoA is 7 chapters long, ToB is only another 3 (of which one is the final battle), so its about 1/2 to 1/3 the length of SoA plus Watcher's Keep which can be played in either SoA or ToB. Have fun.                    

raven

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Bhaal vs. Sekolah and other fish matters
« Reply #8 on: September 18, 2002, 10:04:41 AM »
That avatar just got hit by my celestial fury, stunned and killed in no time  B)                    



[!--EDIT|raven|Sep 18 2002, 05:05 PM--]

 

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