03-12-2003, 07:54 PM
Looks like a miniature flame war has started here, just like the BIG ones on the BIS boards. The eternal Viccy-versus-Anomen conflict...
Well, here's some information on them:
Viconia is a Neutral Evil female Drow. In ToB, it is possible to change her alignment to Chaotic Good. Something to consider. Viconia has a higher WIS stat than Anomen has, even after Anomen passes his test. Viconia has an absolutely PATHETIC CON score of 9. She is killed easily and quickly. However, she has a DEX stat of 19, which means she excels with ranged weapons. Give her the Sling of Seeking +2 and a girdle of giant strength (or Gauntlets of Ogre Power), and she will be capable of doing upwards of 30 damage per hit on criticals. Viconia is also a bit weak, but you CAN allieviate that with the giant strength girdles and gloves or the Mauler's Arm +2 mace. Viconia is a flat-out Cleric, which means she can only reach Proficient in a weapon, and she gains proficiencies at a much slower rate.
Anomen is a Lawful Neutral male Human. He is dual-classed into a 7/x Fighter/Cleric (x being dependant on what level you are when you pick him up.) He has a fairly impressive STR stat of 18/52. Not terribly high, but much better than Viccy, and it allows him more choices when choosing armor, weaponry, and shields. He stats with Specialization in Maces, Proficiency in War Hammers, Proficiency in Slings, and Proficiency in Sword-and-Shield Style. There are two primary trains of thought when taking Anomen. One is to pump War Hammers to Grand Mastery, and give him Crom Faeyr. This makes him absolutely deadly in combat, but you should be aware that the cost of Crom Faeyr is quite high. You will need to sacrifice the Girdle of Frost Giant Strength (sets STR to 21, and is found in the Kuo-Toa Lair), the Gauntlets of Ogre Strength (sets STR to 18/00, and is found in the Planar Sphere), the Hammer of Thunderbolts +3 (2d4 +4, +1d4 electrical, found in Illithid Lair in the Temple District sewers), and you will need the Scroll of Crom Faeyr (found on the body of Thaxll'syllia). Take the items to Cromwell to have Crom Faeyr forged. Among its chief attributes are that it sets users' STR to 25 (+14 damage, +7 to-hit), and kills all Giants outright with no save (this is VERY useful in ToB.) The other train of thought (and my preferred train, since I do not like losing those two STR items) is to give him some points into Flails/Morning Stars and let him use the Flail of Ages +3 (created in the De'Arnisse Keep). The Flail of Ages is very powerful, and is a great weapon for killing trolls. Also, since it is a +3 weapon that you can get relatively early on, it is great for killing magical monsters (Adamantite Golems, Greater Wolfweres, and such.) It also has a 33% chance to Slow the target, with no save. This ability is invaluable. You can also later upgrade the Flail to a Flail of Ages +5 in ToB, through the use of Cespenar (and finding the Poison Head and Electrical Head.) But I digress. Anomen has a paltry DEX score of 10, so you will likely want to find and have him use the Gauntlets of Dexterity (sets DEX to 18) in order to raise his base AC. However, you may wish to use those same Gauntlets on Keldorn, who has only 9 DEX (there is no real difference between DEX 9 and DEX 10; the AC bonuses do not start until about DEX 14), so keep that in mind if you want both of them in the party (which is not a bad idea - since Anomen idolizes the Order, and Keldorn is a member of that Order, there is some good dialogue between the two.) If Anomen passes his Test, he gains +4 to his WIS stat, boosting him to an acceptable 16. It seems BIS cheated with Anomen, as well. In order to dual-class, you must have 15 in your current class's prime statistic (i.e. STR 15 for his Fighter, which he has 18/52 of), and 17 in your proposed class's prime statistic (which means he would need WIS 17 to DC, but he only has 12 to start with, and only 16 if he passes his test.) Passing his Test also changes his Alignment to Lawful Good. I have never had him fail his Test, but I believe I heard that it changes his Alignment to Chaotic Neutral.
To put it quite simply, Viccy is a spellcaster, and is most definitely not good for combat (well, melee combat, anyway), while Anomen is a fairly good spellcaster and is quite capable in melee combat, especially if you give him Quest-level spells such as Aura of Flaming Death and Globe of Blades. Anomen also has significantly more HP than Viconia.
Hmm. Tips for creating a new protagonist? I am very partial to Paladins, so I have played all three Kits through the game, as well as taking a Paladin from BG to ToB (including ToS in there.) The Paladin is a powerful character - they can use any weapon, armor, or shield (assuming they meet the STR requirement), and can cast low-level Priest spells (up to 4th level), starting from 9th level. They also have the ability Lay on Hands, which heals two hit points per level of the Paladin. It can be used once a day, and is not capped at 20th Level like many Mage spells are. This means that you can easily heal upwards of 60 HP when your Paladin approaches his level cap in ToB. It is also cast at speed 1, which makes it quick and easy to cast. Paladins also have Protection from Evil and Detect Evil as innate abilities. Detect Evil is useful for "scouting" the immediate area, and Protection from Evil will have its uses until your Cleric learns Protection from Evil 10-foot Radius. Paladins also gain +2 to all saving throws simply because they are cool like that. Paladins get to use Carsomyr and Purifier.
Cavaliers are very fun, and don't have many penalties. They are immune to Fear and Morale Failure, they can cast Remove Fear once a day per level, they are immune to Charm-based spells (including Domination), they have an intrinsic 20% resistance to fire and acid, and they gain +3/+3 versus all Demonic and Draconic creatures (Demonic being Imps, Mephits, Quasits, and the standard Ta'anari and Baatezu Fiends, with Draconic being Wyverns, Drakes, and the obvious choice of Dragons.) Their downside is their inability to use Missile Weapons (though they CAN use Throwing Axes and Throwing Daggers - a DEFINITE strong point, which basically allows you to ignore that kit penalty.)
Inquisitors are probably the most powerful Paladins, though they lose some of the more fun abilities of the normal Paladin. Inquisitors can cast Dispel Magic once per day per every four levels of the Paladin; it is cast at TWICE his actual level and at speed 1. This is a world-changing ability. Confusion, Charm, Domination, and significant amount of debilitating spells just got useless because of this skill. Of course, if you aren't careful, you'll often dispell any buffs your party had as well, so be careful using it. Inquisitors also have True Sight once per day per every four levels. This is also very useful. It dispels ALL illusionary spells, such as Blur, Mirror Image, Mislead, Simulacrum, and the Invisibility spells. Inquisitors are also immune to Charm and Hold magics. Being immune to Hold is so useful it's not even funny. However, all of these abilities come at a cost: Inquisitors cannot cast Priest spells, and cannot use Lay on Hands. Acceptable losses, but losing Lay on Hands hurts.
Undead Slayers are fun, but not really useful. They are Undead Slayers true and through. They gain +3/+3 to all Undead monsters, of any form. They are also immune to Hold and Level Drain (being immune to Level Drain is fun.) However, they lose the ability to cast Lay on Hands. Not a good enough tradeoff, if you ask me.
A final note on Paladins: creation can be tricky. Paladins have steep requirements, so it will likely take a while to get a character you are satisfied with. They require STR 12, CON 12, WIS 13, and CHA 17. You will want DEX 18 for the great AC bonus, and will also want STR 18+ (I generally try to get 18/76 or higher), and CON 18. This means you'll likely have a strong, healthy, agile, wise, and charismatic retard :) Of course, if you aren't munchkin like me, you can do whatever you want ;)
Aside from Paladins, I have played the Archer kit for the Ranger, and have played a multiclassed Fighter/Mage elf. Archers are about as overpowered as Monks. F/Ms are also very powerful, though being MC'd kept me from using high-level spells, but that didn't stop me. Once I reached 4th level mage spells (and STONESKIN!!!), I was okay. Dual-classing is probably a better option (Kensai/Mages are very overpowered, though Berserker/Mages can easily give K/Ms are run for the money), but that will keep you from getting such skills as Greater Whirlwind Attack in ToB.
A few tips on gameplay:
Liches are much easier to kill than people think. If you are insane and want to tackle them in the early-game like me, then make sure you have Daystar (you have to get this from a Lich, ironically), or one of the Undead-killing weapons (the Mace of Disruption and Azuredge fall into this category.) You CAN kill them normally, but you'll need a fairly powerful enchanted weapon (speaking of which, the Enchanted Weapon spell is GREAT for this purpose), and likely a scroll of Protection from Undead. Liches only have around 100 HP, so once you start whacking them, they fall fairly quickly. If you are a Paladin, getting Carsomyr just plain changes everything. Once you have that +5 sword, nothing is a threat. You will have 50% magic resistance (a note about this resistance - it has an annoying tendancy to override any other MR you have equipped, so that means you'll need to "re-equip" any MR items like the Ring of Gaxx and the Amulet of Seldarine after starting a game or re-equipping Carsomyr - annoying but oh-so-worth it), as well as a +5 weapon. This means even Kangaxx can be hit and killed (since Kangaxx becomes a Demi-Lich, you will need to be packing a +4 or greater weapon, as well as a mandatory protection from Magic scroll.) With my Paladins, it was not unusual for me to have killed every Lich in Athkatla, Kangaxx, AND the Twisted Rune before starting Chapter 3.
A tip for fighting Firkragg: If you want Carsomyr for your Paladin (you do - trust me), you will need to kill this red wyrm. Some prefer to wait until after Chapter Six to do this, since you will be of a higher level, and likely better-equipped, but I am impatient and I want Carsomyr as soon as possible. Hence, my party is generally between 10th and 13th Level when I take him on. Firkragg is a 25th Level Red Dragon, and has all of the requisite abilities of Dragons: insanely high saving throws, very high Magic Resistance, powerful melee attacks, a limited selection of spells (he's a Red, not a Gold - he can cast some basic spells, but nothing major), and a bitchload of HP (I'm guessing between 170 and 250.) Along the way to Firkragg, you'll find three Dragonslaying items (you may have also found the Dragon's Bane halberd earlier) - equip these on whoever can use them or whoever needs them. Dragonslayer itself isn't really that great, but it has its uses.
Firkragg will likely cast Stoneskin right from the get-go, followed by Dragon Fear, Lower Fire Resistance (on a single target), Lower Resistance, and Greater Malison. Following that barrage, he will likely use Wing Buffet, followed immediately by Red Dragon Breath (a side note: this is targeted at the person farthest away from him, but still in his range of sight - I suggest you have your mages, thieves, and low-HP characters hide near the stairs until this bit passes.) After this, he will recast Stoneskin, Haste himself, and go into melee combat. He is capable of doing upwards of 35 damage per hit, and he gets around three hits a round, so make sure you have plenty of healing potions and spells ready. If someone is hit, heal them immediately, and withdraw them from melee combat for at least one turn. If they were badly hit, or were hit multiple times, have a priest cast Heal on them. Firkragg is susceptible to Critical Hits.
Before starting the battle, you should cast some buffs on your party, and have your warriors quaff a variety of potions. I generally have the party Protected from Evil, Protected from Fear (this is MANDATORY - if Dragon Fear scares your party, you are dead), Hasted, and Invisible. While you won't be high-enough level to have access to the 7th Level spell Mass Invisibility, you will probably have Inviso 10'. Inviso is useful for keeping mages and low-HP characters hidden until needed. They are still vulnerable to attacks like Red Dragon Breath, of course. Have your warriors use potions of Fire Resistance and Scrolls of Protection from Fire until they have at least 100 Fire Resistance. Your warriors should also utilize potions of Heroism, potions of Invulnerability, and potions of Giant Strength of some kind. Having a potion of Icedust or two can be a lifesaver if Firkragg targets a mage. Firkragg is difficult to kill at this point, but the rewards are great: Red Dragon Scales (they can be forged by Cromwell into Red Dragon Scale - +2 Full Plate Mail with 50% fire resistance and a cheery red color), a few thousand GP, some assorted gems, and... CARSOMYR!!!!!!!!!!!
Have fun going through SoA, WarLocke ^_^
Well, here's some information on them:
Viconia is a Neutral Evil female Drow. In ToB, it is possible to change her alignment to Chaotic Good. Something to consider. Viconia has a higher WIS stat than Anomen has, even after Anomen passes his test. Viconia has an absolutely PATHETIC CON score of 9. She is killed easily and quickly. However, she has a DEX stat of 19, which means she excels with ranged weapons. Give her the Sling of Seeking +2 and a girdle of giant strength (or Gauntlets of Ogre Power), and she will be capable of doing upwards of 30 damage per hit on criticals. Viconia is also a bit weak, but you CAN allieviate that with the giant strength girdles and gloves or the Mauler's Arm +2 mace. Viconia is a flat-out Cleric, which means she can only reach Proficient in a weapon, and she gains proficiencies at a much slower rate.
Anomen is a Lawful Neutral male Human. He is dual-classed into a 7/x Fighter/Cleric (x being dependant on what level you are when you pick him up.) He has a fairly impressive STR stat of 18/52. Not terribly high, but much better than Viccy, and it allows him more choices when choosing armor, weaponry, and shields. He stats with Specialization in Maces, Proficiency in War Hammers, Proficiency in Slings, and Proficiency in Sword-and-Shield Style. There are two primary trains of thought when taking Anomen. One is to pump War Hammers to Grand Mastery, and give him Crom Faeyr. This makes him absolutely deadly in combat, but you should be aware that the cost of Crom Faeyr is quite high. You will need to sacrifice the Girdle of Frost Giant Strength (sets STR to 21, and is found in the Kuo-Toa Lair), the Gauntlets of Ogre Strength (sets STR to 18/00, and is found in the Planar Sphere), the Hammer of Thunderbolts +3 (2d4 +4, +1d4 electrical, found in Illithid Lair in the Temple District sewers), and you will need the Scroll of Crom Faeyr (found on the body of Thaxll'syllia). Take the items to Cromwell to have Crom Faeyr forged. Among its chief attributes are that it sets users' STR to 25 (+14 damage, +7 to-hit), and kills all Giants outright with no save (this is VERY useful in ToB.) The other train of thought (and my preferred train, since I do not like losing those two STR items) is to give him some points into Flails/Morning Stars and let him use the Flail of Ages +3 (created in the De'Arnisse Keep). The Flail of Ages is very powerful, and is a great weapon for killing trolls. Also, since it is a +3 weapon that you can get relatively early on, it is great for killing magical monsters (Adamantite Golems, Greater Wolfweres, and such.) It also has a 33% chance to Slow the target, with no save. This ability is invaluable. You can also later upgrade the Flail to a Flail of Ages +5 in ToB, through the use of Cespenar (and finding the Poison Head and Electrical Head.) But I digress. Anomen has a paltry DEX score of 10, so you will likely want to find and have him use the Gauntlets of Dexterity (sets DEX to 18) in order to raise his base AC. However, you may wish to use those same Gauntlets on Keldorn, who has only 9 DEX (there is no real difference between DEX 9 and DEX 10; the AC bonuses do not start until about DEX 14), so keep that in mind if you want both of them in the party (which is not a bad idea - since Anomen idolizes the Order, and Keldorn is a member of that Order, there is some good dialogue between the two.) If Anomen passes his Test, he gains +4 to his WIS stat, boosting him to an acceptable 16. It seems BIS cheated with Anomen, as well. In order to dual-class, you must have 15 in your current class's prime statistic (i.e. STR 15 for his Fighter, which he has 18/52 of), and 17 in your proposed class's prime statistic (which means he would need WIS 17 to DC, but he only has 12 to start with, and only 16 if he passes his test.) Passing his Test also changes his Alignment to Lawful Good. I have never had him fail his Test, but I believe I heard that it changes his Alignment to Chaotic Neutral.
To put it quite simply, Viccy is a spellcaster, and is most definitely not good for combat (well, melee combat, anyway), while Anomen is a fairly good spellcaster and is quite capable in melee combat, especially if you give him Quest-level spells such as Aura of Flaming Death and Globe of Blades. Anomen also has significantly more HP than Viconia.
Hmm. Tips for creating a new protagonist? I am very partial to Paladins, so I have played all three Kits through the game, as well as taking a Paladin from BG to ToB (including ToS in there.) The Paladin is a powerful character - they can use any weapon, armor, or shield (assuming they meet the STR requirement), and can cast low-level Priest spells (up to 4th level), starting from 9th level. They also have the ability Lay on Hands, which heals two hit points per level of the Paladin. It can be used once a day, and is not capped at 20th Level like many Mage spells are. This means that you can easily heal upwards of 60 HP when your Paladin approaches his level cap in ToB. It is also cast at speed 1, which makes it quick and easy to cast. Paladins also have Protection from Evil and Detect Evil as innate abilities. Detect Evil is useful for "scouting" the immediate area, and Protection from Evil will have its uses until your Cleric learns Protection from Evil 10-foot Radius. Paladins also gain +2 to all saving throws simply because they are cool like that. Paladins get to use Carsomyr and Purifier.
Cavaliers are very fun, and don't have many penalties. They are immune to Fear and Morale Failure, they can cast Remove Fear once a day per level, they are immune to Charm-based spells (including Domination), they have an intrinsic 20% resistance to fire and acid, and they gain +3/+3 versus all Demonic and Draconic creatures (Demonic being Imps, Mephits, Quasits, and the standard Ta'anari and Baatezu Fiends, with Draconic being Wyverns, Drakes, and the obvious choice of Dragons.) Their downside is their inability to use Missile Weapons (though they CAN use Throwing Axes and Throwing Daggers - a DEFINITE strong point, which basically allows you to ignore that kit penalty.)
Inquisitors are probably the most powerful Paladins, though they lose some of the more fun abilities of the normal Paladin. Inquisitors can cast Dispel Magic once per day per every four levels of the Paladin; it is cast at TWICE his actual level and at speed 1. This is a world-changing ability. Confusion, Charm, Domination, and significant amount of debilitating spells just got useless because of this skill. Of course, if you aren't careful, you'll often dispell any buffs your party had as well, so be careful using it. Inquisitors also have True Sight once per day per every four levels. This is also very useful. It dispels ALL illusionary spells, such as Blur, Mirror Image, Mislead, Simulacrum, and the Invisibility spells. Inquisitors are also immune to Charm and Hold magics. Being immune to Hold is so useful it's not even funny. However, all of these abilities come at a cost: Inquisitors cannot cast Priest spells, and cannot use Lay on Hands. Acceptable losses, but losing Lay on Hands hurts.
Undead Slayers are fun, but not really useful. They are Undead Slayers true and through. They gain +3/+3 to all Undead monsters, of any form. They are also immune to Hold and Level Drain (being immune to Level Drain is fun.) However, they lose the ability to cast Lay on Hands. Not a good enough tradeoff, if you ask me.
A final note on Paladins: creation can be tricky. Paladins have steep requirements, so it will likely take a while to get a character you are satisfied with. They require STR 12, CON 12, WIS 13, and CHA 17. You will want DEX 18 for the great AC bonus, and will also want STR 18+ (I generally try to get 18/76 or higher), and CON 18. This means you'll likely have a strong, healthy, agile, wise, and charismatic retard :) Of course, if you aren't munchkin like me, you can do whatever you want ;)
Aside from Paladins, I have played the Archer kit for the Ranger, and have played a multiclassed Fighter/Mage elf. Archers are about as overpowered as Monks. F/Ms are also very powerful, though being MC'd kept me from using high-level spells, but that didn't stop me. Once I reached 4th level mage spells (and STONESKIN!!!), I was okay. Dual-classing is probably a better option (Kensai/Mages are very overpowered, though Berserker/Mages can easily give K/Ms are run for the money), but that will keep you from getting such skills as Greater Whirlwind Attack in ToB.
A few tips on gameplay:
Liches are much easier to kill than people think. If you are insane and want to tackle them in the early-game like me, then make sure you have Daystar (you have to get this from a Lich, ironically), or one of the Undead-killing weapons (the Mace of Disruption and Azuredge fall into this category.) You CAN kill them normally, but you'll need a fairly powerful enchanted weapon (speaking of which, the Enchanted Weapon spell is GREAT for this purpose), and likely a scroll of Protection from Undead. Liches only have around 100 HP, so once you start whacking them, they fall fairly quickly. If you are a Paladin, getting Carsomyr just plain changes everything. Once you have that +5 sword, nothing is a threat. You will have 50% magic resistance (a note about this resistance - it has an annoying tendancy to override any other MR you have equipped, so that means you'll need to "re-equip" any MR items like the Ring of Gaxx and the Amulet of Seldarine after starting a game or re-equipping Carsomyr - annoying but oh-so-worth it), as well as a +5 weapon. This means even Kangaxx can be hit and killed (since Kangaxx becomes a Demi-Lich, you will need to be packing a +4 or greater weapon, as well as a mandatory protection from Magic scroll.) With my Paladins, it was not unusual for me to have killed every Lich in Athkatla, Kangaxx, AND the Twisted Rune before starting Chapter 3.
A tip for fighting Firkragg: If you want Carsomyr for your Paladin (you do - trust me), you will need to kill this red wyrm. Some prefer to wait until after Chapter Six to do this, since you will be of a higher level, and likely better-equipped, but I am impatient and I want Carsomyr as soon as possible. Hence, my party is generally between 10th and 13th Level when I take him on. Firkragg is a 25th Level Red Dragon, and has all of the requisite abilities of Dragons: insanely high saving throws, very high Magic Resistance, powerful melee attacks, a limited selection of spells (he's a Red, not a Gold - he can cast some basic spells, but nothing major), and a bitchload of HP (I'm guessing between 170 and 250.) Along the way to Firkragg, you'll find three Dragonslaying items (you may have also found the Dragon's Bane halberd earlier) - equip these on whoever can use them or whoever needs them. Dragonslayer itself isn't really that great, but it has its uses.
Firkragg will likely cast Stoneskin right from the get-go, followed by Dragon Fear, Lower Fire Resistance (on a single target), Lower Resistance, and Greater Malison. Following that barrage, he will likely use Wing Buffet, followed immediately by Red Dragon Breath (a side note: this is targeted at the person farthest away from him, but still in his range of sight - I suggest you have your mages, thieves, and low-HP characters hide near the stairs until this bit passes.) After this, he will recast Stoneskin, Haste himself, and go into melee combat. He is capable of doing upwards of 35 damage per hit, and he gets around three hits a round, so make sure you have plenty of healing potions and spells ready. If someone is hit, heal them immediately, and withdraw them from melee combat for at least one turn. If they were badly hit, or were hit multiple times, have a priest cast Heal on them. Firkragg is susceptible to Critical Hits.
Before starting the battle, you should cast some buffs on your party, and have your warriors quaff a variety of potions. I generally have the party Protected from Evil, Protected from Fear (this is MANDATORY - if Dragon Fear scares your party, you are dead), Hasted, and Invisible. While you won't be high-enough level to have access to the 7th Level spell Mass Invisibility, you will probably have Inviso 10'. Inviso is useful for keeping mages and low-HP characters hidden until needed. They are still vulnerable to attacks like Red Dragon Breath, of course. Have your warriors use potions of Fire Resistance and Scrolls of Protection from Fire until they have at least 100 Fire Resistance. Your warriors should also utilize potions of Heroism, potions of Invulnerability, and potions of Giant Strength of some kind. Having a potion of Icedust or two can be a lifesaver if Firkragg targets a mage. Firkragg is difficult to kill at this point, but the rewards are great: Red Dragon Scales (they can be forged by Cromwell into Red Dragon Scale - +2 Full Plate Mail with 50% fire resistance and a cheery red color), a few thousand GP, some assorted gems, and... CARSOMYR!!!!!!!!!!!
Have fun going through SoA, WarLocke ^_^
ArrayPaladins were not meant to sit in the back of the raid staring at health bars all day, spamming heals and listening to eight different classes whine about buffs.[/quote]
The original Heavy Metal Cowâ¢. USDA inspected, FDA approved.
The original Heavy Metal Cowâ¢. USDA inspected, FDA approved.