Dennis

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Oh, can anyone tell me which mods made Khaark harder?  It matters only to the extent that I would like to know who made the game more enjoyable for me; perhaps I could cruise by their forums and thank them for their work making the game more enjoyable.  I am not crazy enough to want to play a Tactics install, but I do enjoy the occasional harder, but still doable, fight.

SCS/SCS2.  He becomes 12th mage/12th fighter and even though he says he's weakened, he's at full strength and spells.  He put up Minor Globe/Improved Haste/Improved Invisibility against my 4th level party and it was a slaughter.  I could have cheesed my way through it, but when it's something as unbalanced as this I just skip the encounter.

My party were anywhere from 4/4/5 to 7 depending on the character.  Even so I needed good spell use (Detect Invisible was absolutely key to defeating Khaark, and is only a 2nd level Mage spell), and I used up a lot of consumable resources (wand charges, potions), suffered a lot of damage, and, as I say, it took three tries, learning progressively more about his tactics with each attempt.  Crazy as he was, I wouldn't have guessed he was that powerful.  

Anyway, I continue to enjoy the game (it's been years since I played, and I am having a blast with the mixture of familiar and different that comes with playing with a lot of mods after years away from the game).  

Dennis

Nice to have an alternative to reloading just because the protagonist gets zapped with a petrification attack.

Well, actually against Basilisks, you should always have the Protection from Petrification spell on the character... It should be mages 1st level spell, so it's easy to get.

Well, I agree in principle.  In practice I don't always memorize the spell as I don't expect to encounter Basilisks very often.  I mean, I will certainly have it memorized before visiting the map area with Mutamin's Garden (can't recall what it's called off the top of my head, but I am sure I would recognize it on the overland map), but beyond that I am not really sure where all one will encounter Basilisks.  However, as my characters gain levels it becomes easier to devote a spell slot to a contingency spell which will only be useful on rare occasions.  I may try to make more of a point of having a Protection Against Petrification spell memorized, and to keep a few Stone to Flesh scrolls handy (on different characters).  

NB: This is not a request to spoil me, I will encounter Basilisks on my own and will be prepared against them sometimes and probably not on other occasions.  I don't need to be told where the Basilisks in the game are.  

Cheers all, and thanks to all those who pointed out matters of interest solving my various oddities.  

Oh, can anyone tell me which mods made Khaark harder?  It matters only to the extent that I would like to know who made the game more enjoyable for me; perhaps I could cruise by their forums and thank them for their work making the game more enjoyable.  I am not crazy enough to want to play a Tactics install, but I do enjoy the occasional harder, but still doable, fight.

Here a possible insight into the problem "My L3 fighter has THAC0 20":

If you have "Full Plate and Packing Steel" installed, many shields have higher AC boni, but also increase your THAC0. If you're wielding a Large Shield, for instance, you get -5 to AC, but +2 to THAC0. The modifier is applied to base THAC0, unfortunately, so itit seems yoour 3rd level fighter will have a base THAC0 of 20.

Jackpot.  My Thac0 was two points off and I was using a Large Shield.  I think you have hit the nail on the head.  Thanks so much.

Well, again, a double post.  But it has been a while since the last post, and this is on a new oddity, so I thought it would be appropriate to have a new post.

It's actually better that you repost so you get a response.

A new oddity; oddity #4... petrified

Yes, the character was petrified, the reason is two of fixes in the install, one is P5Tweaks-mods "Drop Items on Petrification" and the other is The Bigg Tweak Pack v2.31 "Flesh to Stone Fix. (v2.10)" that permanently stuns and drops the HP to 1, instead of dropping the party member out of the party with those same effects.

Well, the use of a new post for a new topic seems appropriate for a couple of reasons then.  

Aha.  Now I know how Petrification works in BWP courtesy of P5Tweaks and The Bigg Tweak Pack.  I guess I should distribute some Stone to Flesh scrolls about the party in order to undo this effect should it happen to me again in future.  Thanks for the information.  Nice to have an alternative to reloading just because the protaganist gets zapped with a petrification attack.  

Thanks all,

Dennis

Well, again, a double post.  But it has been a while since the last post, and this is on a new oddity, so I thought it would be appropriate to have a new post.

A new oddity; oddity #4.  

I was exploring the Firewine Bridge area and encountered two lesser basilisks.  In the battle (missiles v stoning), both lesser basilisks were destroyed, but two party members suffered severely.  The first party member to suffer severely was Khalid who gained the Stunned status icon, was reduced to 1 hp, lost all of his equipment (that is, it was all on the ground at his location), and was completely unresponsive.  I assumed he was petrified, but there was no such icon and he was still at 1 hp (is this was happens when you get petrified?).  The second party member to suffer severely was my protagonist, who was similarly effected except that he was selectable, could have his equipment put back on, and could be healed.  He could not, however, move, fire missiles, or cast spells.  I let the game run for about half an hour after this happened and there was no change in the status of the characters.  

After this I reloaded, and encountered a bunch of wolves which were okay to encounter.  I'm just puzzled by what happened when Khalid and my protagonist got petrified (if that is what happened), and why they were not affected in the same way, and why the game didn't end when my lead character was petrified, and why they did not have the same status icons.  Anyway, I am past this as I reloaded and moved on.  I am just reporting something that was very odd.

Oh, and while talking about the Firewine Bridge let me add that Khaark (sp?) was much tougher than I remember him being; he killed me the first two times I tried fighting him, it took a third attempt before I was able to beat him.  I am not sure if Khaark was upgraded, or had better AI, or what, but he was certainly tougher.  I really kind of enjoyed having a much tougher Khaark to face.  

Dennis

Thanks Fouinto.  I searched near the house for the fifth or sixth time after resting and found him.  I suspect I am simply too tired and shouldn't have been playing the game tonight.  However, I have now found him so this particular oddity is over.  Ever feel like you are missing perfectly obvious things because you are too tired.  That is how I feel tonight.  Sorry if I wasted anyone's time.  And thanks to Fouinto (my search had moved rather away from the house).  

Night all (about 3am where I am and I am calling it a night).  

Dennis