Has anyone tried Improved Anvil v6?

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Actually what I find suspicious is that one can't dislike this mod without being made fun of by you.

 

IA v5 is good, as stated many times. IA v6 is 3 years of work wasted. It's a pale image of any tactical mod and has so many in-game bugs implemented that it can compare to the Darkest Day.

It seems that maybe I'm the only one on this forum who had tried v5 and v6 enough times in order to make a relevant conclusion about this mod being 'boring' or not.

And finally, I am writing to a guy who's in need of info about many things. Until you started trolling, it was a fruitful conversation between two people (and hopefully some readers) on how to win the tougher IA battles. Now you're trying to praise a bad mod, implying that it's good.

And do not flatter yourself. Usually I'd just disregard your post since there is no point in conversing with some people, but at this time, I'm looking at 3 hours of boredom at work, so I'm filling my time with whatever stupid activities I can find - including answering your posts.

 

If you check the Gibberlings3 forums (and that was years ago, who knows how much new 'content' appeared there since then), you will see it's not BWL who makes fun of those who dislike IA. It's the opposite: IA is attacked, BWL is attacked, because some people don't like that their needs are not babysitted.

saros is a typical example: he is a cheater, spends an enormous amount of time to make up consistenly-looking lies to prove he plays fair. He was a proven cheater who trolled the BWL forums, his account got suspended, and this is his revenge. And lots of readers seem to be mislead by his lies and hacks.

So this is why Europe is at recession... tons of lazy work-avoiders... Why don't you do something useful if you have so many hours? Studying languages? Learning something?

 

Well, the truth always worth the effort.

 

I suggest to keep to Beren's proposal, and write stuff only about IA v6. I intend to summarize all useful info about useful/useless IA items, useful/useless IA tweaked classes, some strategies, etc, in a more thorough post tomorrow, which may be of some use to new players who'd like to test the mod. BTW this is obviously Sikret writing through Baronius' login, so there is absolutely no point in responding to his posts.

Edit: Just wanted to add some info about 'the Four' mod. As some may recall, that mod is made by Sikret in order to work in conjuction with IA mod. However, IA v6 tweaks 'The Four' so that the four guardians of the powerful artifacts are 100% immune to all kinds of physical/magical/elemental damage - meaning they can't be killed save via a CluaConsole. However, I've found one very useful application of ' The Four' mod despite that restrictions. I can give more info about that in a PM, if I decide that a person asking is trustworthy.

 

Saros, I'd be delighted to hear some insights on how to tackle this one.

I don't mind the challenge but my cheese-fu isn't really up to par with the requirements of this mod, I'm afraid. Multiple immunities combined with damage rates downing any legit character without immunities in less than a round just seems a wee bit over the board to my taste.

 

OK, will try to keep it as short as possible, if there are any questions, ask them, will answer in next posts. Also keep in mind that this review-kinda thing is written under the impression of a run with unlimited xp/gold exploits.

PC should be Necromancer or Vagrant. Other PC's are waaay weaker.
Custom NPCs should include a Sorcerer and at least one Riskbreaker. A two-handed weapon user as well, preferably one who can reach grandmastery in several types of polearms - a Kensai or a Berserker (or with heavy exploiting - an Assassin-Fighter dual). Another strong pureclass two-weapon wielding fighter is also required, this one should be either a second Riskbreaker, a Barbarian or a Fighter-Thief multiclass. The sixth party member should be Cernd (if PC is a Vagrant) or a Ranger-Cleric (if PC is a Necromancer).

Party single-class fighters and Necro should be Lawful Good.

IA-nerfed Paladins, Bards or any pure thieves (including Swashbucklers) are not worth the effort. Fighter-Mages, Fighter-Clerics or Fighter-Druids will have a very tough time versus enemies with Greater/Grave silence, so they're kinda obsolete too, despite the fact that they may soak much more melee damage than regular fighters in many situations.

Sorcerer's IA spell selection, by order of choice:

Lvl 1: Larloch's Minor Drain, Magic Missile, Chromatic Orb, Shield, Armor
Lvl 2: Mirror Image, Melf's Acid Arrow, Invisibility, Resist Fear, Blur
Lvl 3: Remove Magic, Haste, Vampiric Touch, Protection from Fire (or Slow), Lightning Bolt
Lvl 4: Emotion, Stoneskin, Ray of Fragmentation, Minor Spell Sequencer, Ice Storm
Lvl 5: Breach, Spell Immunity, Lower Resistance, Sunfire, fifth spell is optional - either Soul Armor, Cone of Cold or Animate Dead.
Lvl 6: Improved Haste, Giant Strength, Protection from Magical Weapons, Clobe of Invulnerability, Contingency or Chain Lightning

Chain Lightning and/or Cone of Cold are useful only in a couple of fights. If Cernd is in the party, skip Chain Lightning, as he can cast enough of these, and way faster than a sorcerer

*Edit: If there are no other party arcane casters, at lvl 3 pick Protection from Cold instead of protection from Fire. Cernd will take care of the rest of the elemental protection spells

Lvl 7: Mass Invisibility (however in a non-exploit game, maybe RRR should be picked first), Ruby Ray of Reversal, Spell Sequencer, Mordenkainen's Sword, Limited Wish/ Protection from the Elements

After my recent run, I'd favor Chain Lightning over Contingency and Limited Wish over Protection from the Elements.

Lvl 8: Monster Summoning VI, Spell Trigger, Foreknowledge, Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting, Protection from Energy

Lvl 9: Wish, Monster Summoning VII, Chain Contingency, Absolute Immunity, and the last spell is completely optional. Even though sorcerers can cast Recast Vital Energy, I'd rather stick with another ninth-level spell. Time Stop for example, or Shapechange, although these are gonna be useful in very few situations actually.


Almost no improved or lightly improved quests to finish ASAP:

Circus Tent
Bridge's Skinner Murders and Merchant's estate (some gold in there)
Sir Sarles and the Illithium Ore
The Fallen Paladins
Mae'var's quest
Bodhi's tasks: Do not attack vampires on streets. Do not increase reputation before meeting Bodhi (includes reputation increase from listed above quests - it can be postponed for after joining forces with Bodhi). Mae'var's quest must be fulfilled beforehand, otherwise later it will be unavailable. Killing Renal Bloodscalp and his goons after the quest ends is also well-advised, because of the loot and xp.
Trademeet's quests - killing Dao Genies is better than hunting the Rakshasa for them. Buying items from their store beforehand is well advised, there are several good ones.
Going to Watcher's keep is advised. Usually, there are Noble Trolls (immune to +2 or lower weapons, good fighters) waiting in the main room. Using Farsight spell is essential not to run into some powerful enemies without knowing it. However, postponing the visit to WK may yield some much more powerful enemies when the party arrives at higher levels for the first time at the keep. All in all, it's good to clear as much as possible in WK lvl 1. Noble trolls can be killed with Enchanted weapons prepared by the 4-th lvl spell, and damaging spells. Also, retreating safely out of the keep is possible - guerrila tactic, kill 1 troll, retreat, rest, repeat.
Windspear Hills outskirts and Umar Hills also may be cleared from the vanilla enemies. In Windspear hills the group of werewolves can be killed while in human form fast, for more xp. In Umar Hills, Jermien can be killed after completing his quest, for 4000 gp and 4000 xp.
Find out what happened to Montaron quest - also, the Spectral Harpists on lvl 2 can be killed, as well as Lucette (after she kills Xzar).
In the temple district, the knights in the temple of Helm can be killed without penalty. This will not turn their trader, sir Donalus, hostile, and will provide some xp and the Helm of Glory.
The first quest of the Spirit of the Grove in the Druid Grove.

For a full party, even completing all these quests won't allow it to reach wizard level 12 though. BTW here are some pointers for dealing with early improved enemies, especially mages.

Suna Seni's mage and cleric: Using Magic Missiles (or at least one Minor Sequencer with this spell) at the right time disrupts the cleric's Greater Command spell. Enemy mage's illusions can be dispelled by a low-level clerical or mage spell after a Spell Thrust, which will remove the spell protections. Then the mage is vulnerable to Emotion.

Shadow Thief and Yuanti mages: A regular strategy for depletion of enemy True Sights is approaching such a mage (group) only with the party Sorcerer, who is Invisible and under SIiv. Enemy will start TS casting and will refresh it. In the same time, the sorcerer will refresh SIiv, and in 2 turns, the enemy won't have any more true sights. Then the sorcerer returns to the party, everyone buffs well, everyone goes invisible by some mean, party fighters surround the enemy mage calmly, picking the best positions, and simultaneously hit. Such mages erect fireshield, so combat prebuff should include profire. In the best case scenario, the mage dies right away. In the worst case scenario, the mage is on Injured and immediately erects ProMagicWeapons. It's essential for the fighters to carry normal weapons, and with them they break through the stoneskin fast enough, killing the mage usually in 1-2 rounds.

Rayic Gehtrac - immediately start hitting with normal weapons. It's also good for the sorcerer to disrupt his initial true sight casting, this way Rayic will Breach the sorcerer next round, and will probably die, because his Stoneskin will be peeled by normal weapon attacks.

Shadow thieves are much easier to deal with, and much more profitable (item and gold-wise) than improved vampires.

OK I usually start exploiting here, so the info from now on will be scattered:

IA powerful NPCs - none. Maybe with two vague exceptions - Cernd and Mazzy. Valygar is too fragile.
IA's artifacts (order from the IA document list) - useful ones (will edit later):

EDIT:

First of all, keep all rings of protection, and buy all such rings from merchants (important one - ring in Gorch's store). Same may be said about amulets of protection +1, but mostly because such are hard to find early in the game, and much needed in the early game, due to lack of more powerful amulets.

So rings are always good, but ensure eveyrone in the party has at least two +2 rings before starting to forge the more powerful ones.

Memory of the Apprenti - forge ASAP, check for the two places in chapters 2 and 3 where the Robe of Vecna may be (Mage in MindFlayer hideout in the sewers or Kaol in Samia's group)

Enhanced pride of the Legion - useless

Supreme Chain - well no resources wasted in this one, so it's good to forge it, provided there's a Barbarian in the party.

Huskar Lord's armor - useless. Of course, it's a +5 full plate, but the investment of a Permanency scroll is somewhat too much for this item

Improved Human Flesh - useless. Evil fighters aren't very favored by IA, and fighter/thieves with UAI should wear one armor only - Jansen's Adventurewear

Enhanced Jansen's Adventurewear - a splendid item, unfortunately not usable with UAI, and since Jan's obsolete, the armor is obsolete as well

Spirit of the Night - useless. A total waste of permanency scroll

Improved Corthala Family Armor - very good, unfortunately no one but Valygar can wear it, so kinda obsolete. Well, Valygar is not completely useless in a core game with reloads.

Flail of Defending and Wounding - a splendid item, of course it requires PC to be a single-class ranger (meaning Vagrant). Also, the lack of +3 flails in BG2 requires 2 permanency scrolls to be wasted, so IMO the upgrade is best postponed for ToB.

Master of the High Forest - Cernd's improved Cloak can be used with UAI, however it disables thieving and stealth buttons permanently. Also, one must fulfill the stat requirements to wear the cloak, meaning Wis and Cha 18, and proper Int too (can't remember how much, so again, make 18). Cha may be increased with a proper Wish option for a short time, however that means the cloak can't be changed at will (or equipped after raising the character in the middle of a fight). Four items may help in this case, namely:

Sensate Amulet
Blade of Roses
Circlet of Golden Flowers
When equipped, these 3 items give Cha bonus of +6, meaning that the Ring of Human Influence can be equipped as well (in IA, min requirement is Cha 9 to equip it). And with the Cha 18 the ring provides, it's easy to re-equip Master of the High Forest or switch it with another cloak temporarily.

The cloak should be the first item to forge with a Memory Boosting scroll after the Memory of the Apprenti robe (provided PC is a Necromancer or other singleclass mage)

Corthala's family true blade - good for Valygar, useless for everyone else (can't be used with UAI). Still, Valygar usually has to wield a crushing weapon main-hand, so the katana is kinda stupid. Still, it doesn't require any valuable ingredients

True Sword of Arvoreen - well Mazzy is not a bad fighter, but she doesn't have a kit, and has some wasted proficiencies with a short bow. The sword is good if she's in the party, it cannot be used with UAI.

Enhanced De'Arnise ring - very good, but since Nalia is not one of the best casters - obsolete. It also consumes the Ring of Acuity, and that item is sometimes very useful to the party sorcerer.

Derlyn's Family Legacy - Anomen's enhanced shield cannot be used with UAI, and is nerfed in comparison to v5, so it's useless.

Holy Avenger - unlike Carsomyr, the upgrade can't be used with UAI, and its upgraded ability is stupid anyways (5% chance to dispel all protections, omg), so useless.

Judgment day sword - always good to have

Noble Staff of Fire - well, in IA v6 the Club of Detonation is kinda obsolete, and the Ring of Fire Res may be needed as well, so the Noble Staff is a good option. Moreover, it may be used with UAI, and grants one per day Tenser's Transformation, which may be of great help to any kind of F-T multi or dual. Still, under Tensers, HLA abilities cannot be activated, so one should weigh the benefits and drawbacks carefully. But forging the staff requires the Staff of Fire to be sacrificed, and that staff is useful because it can erect Fireshield around warriors and summon some fodder also by warriors (minor fire elementals). So IMO the staff should be forged in ToB.

Noble Staff of Air - if party's two-handed weapon user has no better staff than the Staff of Rynn, forging this should be postponed for ToB. Otherwise, there's no reason for the staff not to be forged ASAP.

Royal Elemental Staff - forge right away when the two other staves are complete, if possible.

Dragon Lord halberd - forge ASAP

Greater Entropy - can't be used with UAI, bards are useless, so the item's useless

Hesperus +5 - the long sword looks very useful, but it's not. For example, the weapon doesn't do any more damage (regularly, less) vs Skeleton Warlords or Grandlords than a good crushing weapon, despite the chance to trigger Disrupt Undead on hit. Useful vs some liches, though. All in all, good to forge, unless PC is a Necromancer, in which case it's a no-no.

Boots of Speed - forge as many of these as possible! Not needed ASAP, because there are several more important upgrades, but the boots are very useful, especially for party's arcane casters. There is one pair of Worn Out Boots that people may miss, it's in the riddle section of Spellhold (the one pair needed for the Dusty Rose Ioun Stone riddle). Use them to solve the riddle, but don't forget to pick them up afterwards! Two pairs of Worn Out Boots cannot be used in this item's forging - namely the ones found in the Fallen paladins quest. They look differently too.

Boots of the Ranger Lord - hmph. Frankly, I don't know what to say here. Yes, they're very good. Extremely good. If PC is a Vagrant, they should be forged ASAP. Of course, if there is an NPC R-C, there is the dilemma. The boots are resource-consuming, but that's not the main problem - the main problem is that if these are forged, there won't be enough Boots of Speed for everyone in the final battle. But still IMO, the boots are good enough to be forged ASAP, partly because of the 3 dex bonus of the improved version.

Hammer of Thor - forged ASAP. Make sure you don't miss a single chunk of Amber!

Volcano +5 - the axe is IMO a waste of resources. Since the resources, however, are gold, then with exploits it's ok to be forged.

Girdle of Lordly Might - forged ASAP. Don't forget to buy the other 2 Girdles of Bluntness - these are important - one from Temple of Talos, the other from Temple of Umberlee (Brynnlaw)

Eternal Melody - since the bards are obsolete, their armor is obsolete as well. Plus it no longer offers Alacrity when worn. The items which should be acquired from the token machine are Boots of Grounding and Boots of Speed. Boots of the North are optional, depending if there's a Ranger PC, if not - then they should be obtained as well, if so - then the 10 Mithril tokens should be kept safe for the Flail of Defending and Wounding upgrade

Talisman of Greater Protection - forge ASAP. In some rare cases, Kaligun's amulet of MR or even the Periapt of Proof vs Poison won't be consumed in the creation process, which is splendid

Warlord's blade +5 - add 10% resistance to physical damage on creation, forge ASAP. There are two +3 2-handed swords, one can be obtained from Kruin, the other from Ravanek (Twisted Rune)

Oak of the High Forest and Enhanced Oak of the High Forest- forge f Cernd is in party, otherwise do not forge, as it may not be used with UAI. Cernd and Mazzy should not be together in the party, since there is only one Maze Sigil to upgrade only one of their weapons

Guildmaster's Dream +4 or Grandfather of Assassins +5 - no need to rush with these, may be forged as well in ToB, where there are plenty of +3 weapons. Even if not forged - not a big loss. Assassination is good vs improved spiders.

Ring of Greater Djinni Summoning - forge ASAP. The most powerful summon, and it's gated too, so Death spell won't kill it.

Adamantite horn of Valhalla - cheap item, good warrior. Can be Death Spell-ed. Forge ASAP

Supreme Shelter +6 - never ever did I have to use that shield, so I'm not convinced about its usefulness altogether.

Treefolk's Arm +3 - that club is good for the party R-C in early chapters (up to chapter 6), so it may as well be forged, despite the Permanency scroll sacrifice

Mage Robe of Elemental Resistance - not very convinced about the item's usefulness. Not even in a single situation was I glad that I had it. May as well be considered as a waste of a permanency scroll. Still, if forged in ToB, it may be somewhat useful in the last two improved fights, namely vs Abazigal (but even in that I'm not convinced)

Poseidon's Wrath halberd - forge ASAP. If PC is a Necromancer or Ranger, a +3 Halberd can be obtained in chapter six, from the 'Squirreled away' quest, no need to waste a permanency scroll in forging one.

Indigo Ioun Stone - forge ASAP, one of the best for a riskbreaker or kensai (Won Fei's Ioun stone is still better though)

Improved Dragon Helm - well, the investment is little, not a bad item, not a very good one either.

Death of a Thousand Cuts +4 - the bastard sword is significantly nerfed compared to v5, and definitely not needed the Permanency scroll sacrifice in order to forge the +3 Bastard sword component for it. And in ToB, where are sufficient bastard swords +3, the +4 sword is obsolete, so in a non-exploit game - don't forge it.

Girdle of Cloud Giant Str - forge ASAP.

Circlet of Golden Flowers - forge only if there is a character in party with UAI (in this case, no need to rush it), or of course, if Cernd's in the party (in this case right after Memory of the Apprenti is forged, if PC's a single-class mage - if not, forge ASAP).

Grandmaster of Flowers - the improved Master of Disciplines amulet can't be used with UAI (unlike the non-upgraded version), and monks are really obsolete in IA (because of their few APR and unability to be improved hasted). There is a way to cast Improved Haste on a monk, of course - drain his levels below 5, then cast Improved Haste on him, then cast (Greater) Restoration, but this kinda combo is not applicable for the longer fights. And otherwise, even with this amulet and Hardiness, the monk gets the lousy 50% physical resistance, which is not enough. So don't forge this item.

Gauntlets of Devastating - these require the Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise as a component, so they should be forged only if a Monk's in the party. A useless item.

Rimed Club +4 - a very good crushing weapon (any +4 crushing weapon should be treasured,there are few anyways), and doesn't require a permanency scroll to forge either! Worth the Ice dragon scales sacrifice. Forge ASAP

Diamond Sword - not a good item, and a costly one. May be forged in ToB, where there are plenty of +3 two-handed swords. Still, a waste of gold.

Improved Ankheg Plate - if a Berserker is present alongside with a R-C in the party, this item should be forged. However the armor is inferior to almost any other else in respect of AC, because it lacks any AC modifiers of regular plate, Ankheg plate or full plate. It should have Ankheg plate modifiers (3 slashing, 1 missile, 1 piercing) but has none.

Nature's gift potion - without xp/gold exploits - a good item. May be used with UAI, but disables thieving button permanently.

Ring of Burglary - never EVER forge that!

Buckler +3 - requires only gold and gems to forge, a useless item. +4 penalty to missile and piercing AC modifiers while equipped.

Cloak of Protection +2 - if PC is a Necromancer, and there is a character with UAI in the party forge 4 of these. If there isn't a character with UAi, forge 5. If PC isn't a Necromancer, forge 3 (character with UAI present) or 4(no character with UAI).

Cloak of Protection +3 - forge one if PC is a Necromancer, a second one may be forged at the end of SoA just in case. Cespenar doesn't produce +3 cloaks so it's better to have one spare.

Phosphorous +4 - forge ASAP. Too bad it's costly, 3 Permanency scrolls have to be sacrificed. There is an awfully-long and full of exploits way to obtain one Morning Star +3 if PC's a single-class mage, thus sparing a single Permanency scroll, but in a non-exploit game, simply live with the fact that 3 scrolls will be wasted on this weapon. Also, these must be the first three Permanency scrolls which the party obtains.

Golem Slayer +5 - this staff is a total waste of resources. If it was usable with UAI - another story.

Elven Ancient Expertise - the potion may be used with UAI, but cannot be forged unless PC is a F/M/C. And PC should not be F/M/C or any kind of multi or dual arcane caster.

Helm of Clarity - good for druids, however a druid PC is not very wise. The item is nothing great.

Improved Flasher Launcher - Jan's improved crossbow may not be used with UAI, so it's obsolete.

Cutthroat +5 - forge ASAP. Good sword, no special ingredients wasted in its creation.

Golden Spider Figurine - forge ASAP. The item is most useful in Underdark's ambushes, however getting it pre-underdark is possible mainly with xp exploits, otherwise the fight with the Spider Queen may be quite scary, or even impossible due to the lack of enough +4 crushing weapons.

Improved Cat Figurine - forge ASAP

Potion of Superior Mentality - forge ASAP.

The Truth +5 - forge ASAP. Do not forget the spare Demon Hearts in the Planar Sphere. Those are obtained from improved Balors during the game as well.

Red Coral Armor - forge ASAP if PC's a vagrant (otherwise, cannot be created anyways)

Improved Firecam Full-Plate - total waste of resources. Never forge, even if Keldorn's by some chance in the party.

Green Wyrm Plate - an excellent suit of armor. Poison immunity is almost irrelevant after the Green Wyrm fight anwyway, but it's a +4 plate forged only with gold

Great Wyrm Plate - forge ASAP. The best armor for a berserker and/or R-C

Long Sword +4 - do NOT forge this. A waste of resources.

Amulet of Hades and/or Lord of the Underworld - forge ASAP

Staff of Strength and/or Adamantite Staff of Strength - Never forge these, unless you have forged everything else and are wondering what to do with your resources/permanency scrolls

Cloak of Arcane Immortality - forge ASAP. May be used with UAI, however the thief must have 18 Wis and Int. Since IA v6 wish option doesn't include int and wis raise to 25, make these 18 on character creation.

Scarlet Ioun Stone - forge ASAP. May be used with UAI, and actually - has to be. It's a total waste on a Necromancer anyway.
But if the party lacks a character with UAI, don't forge it, as the Carmine and Crimson Ioun Stones are very good by themselves, and may be used by two different characters.

Armor of Stamina - Swashbucklers are obsolete, so the armor's obsolete. Cannot be used with UAI.

Improvised Blend - look Armor of Stamina

Edit: Will obv have to create a new post. However, more testing reveals yet another unlimited experience exploit in the early game stages

 

Ingredients&other items locations. For a very few items I am unaware of the location, and for some (which may be found in larger quantities than 1) I cannot remember all the locations.

In addition, I will give the list of the locations included in the Item Randomizer menu, and with a very few exceptions (for which I'm uncertain but will be stated clearly) it's accurate. However, this doesn't mean that an item included in the Item Randomizer menu can be found in any of these locations. Example: the Robe of Vecna is included in the Item Randomizer menu, but can be found at four locations only - the unnamed Mage in the Mindflayer Sewers compartment, Kaol from Samia's party, Layene from the Twisted Rune or the Ancient Dragon.

In addition, the enemies carrying a randomized item must actually see and fight the party in order to drop the item rather than being killed offscreen with some tactic (and the only one I've found working so far is multiple ADHW on everyone - Wish option). Example - if by any chance the Mage in the Mindflayer compartment has the Robe of Vecna, and a player spams ADHW Wishes behind closed door to kill the mage, that mage won't drop the Robe of Vecna. If the player reloads and fights the group normally, the mage will drop the Robe.

Items included in the Item Randomizer menu:

Robe of Vecna
Protector of the Second +2 (not sure about this one, it may be fixed in the Troll Mound, but I think it's randomized)
Aeger's Hide +3
Belt of Inertial Barrier
Malakar +2
Staff of Rynn +4
Short Sword of Mask +4 (not sure about this one, it may be fixed on the Green Wyrm)
Uzuno's Blade +4 (but all its random locations are in Watcher's keep)
Foebane +3 (same as Uzuno's Blade, or fixed on the Greater Elemental Golem in WK lvl 5)
Girdle of Hill Giant Strength (either Ferric Ironblade, or an unnamed Fighter from Mindflayer slaves, or the Troll King)
Girdle of Fortitude
Periapt of Proof against Poison
Boots of Avoidance
Ring of Air Control
Jhor the Bleeder +2
Ring of Lock Picks (although I've found it on Firkraag or Borinall only)
Kundane +2
Flame of the North +2 (not sure about this one, may as well be static on the Dracolich)
Gesen's bow shaft (not sure about that one, may as well be fixed on the Supreme Gith Leader in WK lvl 4)

The localizations included in the Item Randomizer menu are:

Pirates' hideout, Sea Bounty Tavern, Docks
Pirates' coordinator, Sea Bounty Tavern, Docks
Samia's group, WK lvl 2
Firkraag (found Ring of Lock Picks only)
Traxi'ssyllia (found Blade of Roses only)
Troll Mound containers, Troll King and Queen, Druid Grove
Teshal in Ghoul City, Temple Sewers
Mindflayer's slaves, Alhoon's treasure pile, Temple Sewers
Watcher's keep lvl 2, Elemental Golem in the Air Lab
Watcher's keep lvl 3, the Green Wurm
Watcher's keep lvl 4, the Supreme Gith Leader (not sure about this one)
Watcher's keep lvl 4, Demilich
Watcher's keep lvl 4, Saladrex (unsure about him)
Watcher's keep lvl 5, Greater Elemental Golem, globe machine
Watcher's keep lvl 5, the Ancient Dragon
Layene from the Twisted Rune
Underdark, Deepdark caverns, the Dracolich
Underdark, Mindflayer area, Master Brain's Elemental Golem

Some static items and ingredients' Improved Anvil locations (items not listed here and not present in the Randomizer menu are in their vanilla locations):

Items/ vanilla ingredients:
Boneblade +4 - unnamed Assassin from the Mindflayer slaves, Temple Sewers
Tuigan Bow +1 - Chromatic Demon
Poison Flail Head - Chromatic Demon (use De'arnise forge to attach)
Sling of Seeking +2 - Tiefling Mage, WK lvl 3
Yamato +4 - Demilich's treasure pile, WK lvl 4
Ring of Free Action - Sendai
Darksteel Shield +4 - reward from the Book challenge in Spellhold
Scarlet Ninja-to +3 - Akae from Samia's party
Purple Bag of Holding (capacity 200) - Pirate Coordinator
Blue Bag of Holding - Master Vampire (after slaying Dace), Spellhold
Blue Dragon's Plate - Ravanek from the Twisted Rune
Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization - vanilla location, Nalmissra group WK lvl 5

Ingredients for IA upgrades:


Scroll of Memory Boosting (will add on later, can't remember all, same true about other two ingredients below):
Pirate Coordinator
Lavok
Watcher's keep level 2, containers
Perth the Adept, Brynlaw
Book challenge, Spellhold

Permanency scroll:
Improved Screaming Statue challenge
Traxi'ssyllia
Slaver Ship, Slums, container
Warden of Planar Prison
Alhoon's treasure pile
Sahuagin city, Imp Riddle prize (chest)
Underdark, Amariel's reward, the 'mystery of the third color' quest

Manual of Elaboration:
Turmish mercenaries, improved Bard Stronghold fight
City Gates' Grave Lich
Teshal in Ghoul City
Alhoon's treasure pile
Elder Orb in Underdark


Rings of protection - first insure that everyone in the party has two +2 rings, then start forging the more powerful ones with the spare rings. Will list all +1 and +2 ring locations (there are no +3 or higher rings to be found, only forged). However, will add on locations later, since I cannot remember all from the top of my head. All ring locations are fixed.

Ring of Protection +1: Chateau Irenicus, Ribald (Promenade), Gorch(Mae'var's guild), Suna Seni, Beastmaster in Copper Coronet
Ring of Protection +2: Aran Linvail, Guidlmaster of the Rune Assassins, 'Key' card from Deck of Many Things, Gromnir, Noble Efreeti from Ancient Dragon minions
Note: Keep many Rogue stones in a container, in order to forge the +3 and +4 rings.

The Lost Scroll of Protection from Magic - WK lvl 4, Demilich
Ring of Gaxx and of Regeneration - vanilla locations (Kangaxx and Spellhold). There IS yet another Regeneration ring, but it's in the late ToB, can be acquired by killing Elminster via Int Drain when he appears (after slaying Sendai and Abazigal).
Robe of the Apprenti - Planar Sphere, vanilla location, can be forged 100% only by a PC necromancer with Wis and Int 18.
Scholastic Cloak - amnestic Librarian, Spellhold, library, after cat'o'nine'lives is killed
Cat Figurine - loot from the cat'o'nine'lives, Spellhold library
Cloak of the Old One - Old one, extended mage stronghold
Crimson Ioun Stone - prize from the 'squirreled away' quest, after defeating Pitre and Valeria in chapter 6
Carmine Ioun Stone - prize from one of the Balors which the Lesser Force summons, last Extended Stronghold task
Ruby of the Gods - talk to the Old Squirrel in the Bridge district after killing Pitre and obtaining the Crimson Ioun Stone. Get a Wardstone. Travel to Underdark. Click on the pool in the Kuo-Toan sea-offer area. Kill the guardian. Get the Magical Pull device. Travel to Temple Ruins - Sun Gem's former pedestal. Click on the pedestal to obtain the Ruby.
Green Leaves Armor +3 - Troll Mound, must have a Ranger in party to get it
Boots of Speed - Illasera, Token Machine
Boots of Grounding and of the North - Token Machine
Worn Out Boots - Samia, Spellhold Riddles (pickup boots after solving the riddle), Pirate Captain, can't remember fourth location now, will add on later
Circlet of the Woods - Chak from Samia's party
Magical Blossoms - Chak
Magical Flower Seeds - Beastmaster in Copper Coronet
Tabitha's hide - well, Tabitha
Crimson Chain +5 - Pirate Captain, Sea's bounty tavern
Robe of the Neutral Archmagi - Tiefling mage in WK lvl 3, Elminster's final appearance in late ToB
Gnasher's club +2 - Troll Mound
Cloak of Balduran - Tazok in Windpsear hills lvl 2, only if Cernd actually fights him
+3 katana - Ferric Ironblade, Illasera
Adjatha the Drinker - vanilla location, Warden
Corthala's Family Scabbard - Lavok
Demon Hearts - assemble all spare ones in the Planar sphere. usually Balors drop Demon Hearts
Golden Star Garnet gems - Captain Haegan in Slaver Ship, Slums, Pirate Captain in Sea Bounty's Tavern, Docks, the Dracolich in Deepdark Caverns, Underdark
+3 Short Swords - Guildmaster of the Rune Assassins, first Lady Vanya's task, Windspear Hills lvl 2, Firkraag's lair
Maze Sigil - Deepdark Caverns in Underdark
Ring of Fire Resistance - Firkraag
Ring of Acuity - vanilla location (Lavok)
Shield of the Lost, Shield of Harmony - vanilla locations
Carsomyr +5 - vanilla location (Firkraag)
Holy Scabbard - Greater Elemental Golem, Guarded Compound
48-th sided Garnet - Windspear Hills level 2, the Well, second Lady Vanya's task - both the Windmaster (guarding the Dragon Helm) and the Viper Queen must be dead
Judgment Day essences, Blood of a Demon Lord - haven't the slightest idea where to get these
Staff of Fire +2 - vanilla location (Planar Sphere's Fire chamber)
Staff of Air +2 - a container in the Planar Prison
Club of Detonation +3, Storm Star +3 - vanilla locations
Martial Staff +3, Cleric's Staff +3 - several vanilla locations, but also many anvil enemies carry such staves
Dragon's Bane +3 - the Ancient Dragon
Dragon's Breath +4 - Boz in Underdark
Dragonslayer sword - vanilla location
Daystar - vanilla location (City Gates' grave lich - container)
Scrolls of Prot from Lvl drain - will add later, can't remember now exact six locations
Boots of the Woodland - Green Wyrm
Scrolls of Improved Haste - can't remember all five locations, there is one on the Mage in the Slaver Ship, he will read it fast though, kill ASAP, one on the Warden in the Planar prison, other will be added later
Crom Faeyr's parts are in their vanilla locations, as are Ashideena and Celestial Fury. Collect all Chunks of Amber! Amber Golems' locations:
Borinall
Kobold area in Spellhold
Greater Elemental Golems in Guarded Compound, Suldanesselar's Harpist House and WK lvl 5 - have a chance to gate an Amber Golem
Ultra Golem in WK lvl 5 - always gates in an Amber golem, may gate in several
Chromatic Demon's minions - starts with one, will gate in more depending on the length of the fight
*If PC is a Necromancer, then nine instead of eight chunks are needed.
Borok's Fist - Mencar Pebblecrusher
Skin of the Ghoul +4 - Teshal
Stonefire Axe +3 - Dwarven Warrior in Brynlaw
Volcanic Ore - Rock&Garock containers, WK lvl 4
Girdles of Bluntness - Chateau Irenicus, Temple of Talos, Temple of Umberlee (Brynlaw). Don't miss even single one of these! Golems are abundant.
Girdle of piercing, Golden Girdle - vanilla locations (Kalah in Circus tent, Solamnic Knights in the vanilla Mage stronghold).
In v5 there was yet another fixed location for a Golden Girdle - in Rock&Garock's containers. In v6 nothing there
Jester's chain - Token Machine. Do not forge that or you'll be short on Mithril tokens for much more relevant boots
Melodic Chain +3 - vanilla locations, bounty hunters in the Planar Prison
Bladesinger's Chain +4 - vanilla location, Nizidramani'yt in Suldanesselar
Kaligun's Amulet of MR - Guildmaster of the Rune Assassins, Windspear Hills lvl 2, Firkraag's lair, first of Lady Vanya's tasks
Amulet of 5% MR - vanilla location, the Unseeing Eye
Warblade +4 - vanilla location, the Promenade. May be purchased infininte times
Lilalcor - vanilla location
+3 two-handed swords - Kruin in chapter 6, Ravanek from the Twisted Rune
Gauntlets of Dexterity - vanilla location, Ghoul City in Temple sewers
Gloves of Missile Snaring - Layene from the Twisted Rune
+3 dagger - a Mage Statue in WK lvl 1 (provided that the party is of high enough experience when entering the level for the first time)
Dagger of the Stars - vanilla location, WK lvl 4 demilich
Fire Opal Ring - several locations, a disposal container in Trademeet
Efreeti Bottle - Deirex's tower in Underdark, second floor
Fortress Shield +3 - still sold by Ribald
Saving Grace +3 - vanilla, Amaunator's gift in Sewers
Dragon Scale Shield - vanilla, Windspear Hills dungeon lvl 2
The Root of the Problem - given by the Spirit of the Grove after resting inside the Grove
Blackblood +2 - still sold in Trademeet
Mage Robe of Cold Res - Alhoon's treasure pile
Mage Robe of Elec Res - mage in Slaver's ship
Mage robe of Fire Res - Saladrex, WK lvl 4
Halberd +3 (SoA) - Pitre's group from the 'Squrreled away' quest
Duskblade, Frostreaver, the Wave parts - vanilla locations
Rose, White and Green Ioun Stones, and Dragon Helm - vanilla locations
Helmet of Defense - Saladrex
Lock of Cloud Giant Beard - Supreme Gith leader, WK lvl 4
Non-Enchanted Girdle - Warden of Planar Prison
Bluestone necklaces - I've found only two, one can't remember where, one from Rock&Garock
Gauntlets of Crushing and of Weapon Expertise - vanilla locations
Club +3 - Beastmaster in Copper Coronet
Ice Dragon Scales - vanilla location, Demon Wraith room, WK lvl 3
History of the Chosen of Mystra - Demon Wraith room, WK lvl 3
Ankheg plate, Gorgon Plate - vanilla locations
Ring of Danger Sense, Gloves of Pick Pocketing - vanilla locations
Cloak of Protection +1 - abundant
Cloak of Protection +2 - Limak the Mastermind (if PC is a single-class mage and had successfully forged the Memory of the Apprenti), Sahuagin city - imp riddle, Elminster in late ToB
Laeral's tear necklaces - I can remember 8 being obtained in SoA, but can't list all of them right now. Several - Anarg from the Fallen Paladins, container in Mekrath's Lab, Nizidramani'yt
Morning Star +2 - Elite Bounty Huntress in Planar Prison, Shadow Jailor in Temple Ruins
Mauler's Arm - vanilla location (Bernard in CC)
Rod of Smiting - vanilla location (underdark merchants)
+3 Quarterstaff - not even a single one available, any such items should be forged with a Permanency scroll waste
Elven Ancestor's Legacy - Elite Bounty Huntress, Planar Prison
Helm of Charm Protection - vanilla location, Guarded Compound lvl 2
Cutthroat +4 - vanilla location, Bodhi's coffin
Long Sword +3 - Lord Roenall, Raa'milat in Suldanesselar. The +3 longsword from Aesgerath's party has a different picture, and cannot be used in upgrades requiring a +3 long sword
Hilt of the Truth - Planar Sphere, Demon Plane, Demon Lord
Blade of the Truth - Chromatic Demon, WK lvl 2
Red Coral Gem, Cloak of Magic Shielding - haven't even the slightest idea
Beljuril gems - Umar Hills (vanilla location), Pirate's treasure pile (Docks, Sea's bounty), Rock&Garock, can't remember the fourth one's location
Scrolls of Bless - Spider Queen, Guildmaster of the Rune Assassins, Dracolich
Amulet of Charon - Lavok
War Hammer +2 - De'arnise basement, container near Lord De'Arnise's body
Staff of Striking - only sold by Trademeet traders
Potions of Barbarian Essence - since these are essential in some hard fights (including the last one) will try to memorize and list the location of all 31 potions I've found in my run. Some locations are to be added later, since can't remember them all right now:

-Improved Screaming Statue challenge - 1
-Troll Mound containers - 1
-Orcus - 7
-Lady Vanya's tasks, extended Paladin stronghold - 4
-Dracolich - 1
-Purple Globes, Grave Liches in WK lvl 5 - 1
-Yaga-Shura - 3
-Extended Mage Stronghold - 5. Needed ingredients - Blood of a Barbarian Warrior (Smaeluv Orcslicer), 5 Jasper Gems, 6 Scrolls of Neutralize poison, bottle of Wine (Suldanesselar, House of the Horn)

Armor of Stamina, Red Side Garnet - haven't the slightest idea

Will add on rare scroll locations and other item locations to this post when I remember of them.

Edit: Excuse me for some slighlty mixed-up names.

 

Some vanilla info, concerning the last fight:

You may deploy additional powerful help by increasing your party to 10 people max. Provided you saved 4 Control Circlets, produced from the machine in the Illithid city in Underdark. These provide undispellable Dire charm on a single character for six full hours, meaning enough for the final fight. At first, I thought using them on the Adamantite golem summoned by the Limited Wish spell, but frankly, that golem's not powerful enough, whereas additional mages/fighters will be.

There is a recently discovered xp exploit which may be used to bring these eventual 4 last-fight allies to the cap, then arm then with what spare weapons and armor you have, have them memorize good spells, rest with each of them in the party then disband, then before the final fight starts, use the necklaces on them to charm them. These additional party members won't have access to their inventory for the fight, nor will be able to consume Barbarian essence potions during the fight (but you may still temporarily join, prebuff with potions, disband and dire charm each one of the fighters you want), but on the bright side - they will take only normal damage from each spell/attack, not double if you play on Insane, also they will be immune to the Prince's Universal Purge Magic ability, which affects party members only. Also, they may engage the prince and/or any golem and they will be treated as summons (meaning, enemies won't gate minions while they see only dire charmed characters).

Of course, you may still control some NPCs via circlets even without the xp exploit, but as you may guess - in that case they will be too weak to make any significant difference. Still, I may be wrong about that.

 

some extra info for Saros (if u ever want to play with a swash)
armor of stamina - that chick in Bryllaw, forgot her name, has a girl as a prisoner and a back-up mage + reinforcements spawns to no end until they die - ONLY if u have a single-class swash in party (doesn't have to be protagonist).
Red sided garnet - in WK, Demon Wraith (or something), summons undead children (??) - it's on the floor pile. use "TAB" key to highlight it.

 

Thanks for the helpful post about the craftables, Saros

I know this is a v6 thread technically, but I'm playing a IA v5 game, and don't know where to go next, and obviously I can't ask on the IA forums. Party is lvl 11-12: Vagrant, Korgan, Valygar, Edwin, Jan, Cernd. I've done, in addition to all the easy stuff, Lilarcor guards, sewer rakshasa, Torgal, Shadow Jailor, Beast Master, the Slaver Boat, and Borinall. Should I try Firkraag level 2? Mekraath and the Planar prison? Maybe give Thax or the shade lord another crack? I think I should wait until lvl 14 before going to spellhold right? Just took a peek at the pirates and was thoroughly scared, but maybe it's doable...

btw I'm not using multiple strongholds.

 

@Kerkes: Thanx for the info, glad to see you around

Still, concerning Swashbuckler's improved armor - its physical resistances are a pale image of Jansen's adventurewear, meaning any fighter/thief will still have better physical resistances than a Swashie. Not to mentioning more APR, better saves, more powerful items overall, ability to cast spells from scrolls, etc, etc. IA v6's Swashbucklers can't have UAI(just for clarification).

@weye: It's bad that you don't play multiple strongholds, you're gonna miss a lot of things:

Important items (even some IA ingredients, like the Golden Girdle from the Planar Sphere, also a manual of Elaboration in the Bardic stronghold, a whole set of new quests in the extended Paladin stronghold)
Experience (which is important, if you played with Multiple Strongholds installed, your party would already be at mage level 12, if not more).

But to answer your question, on these party levels many things are doable, including Windspear hills lvl 2, the Planar Sphere, Unseeing Eye, Mencar Pebblecrusher, and when you hit mage lvl 12 and are able to cast protection from Magical Energy, you may try the Pirate Hideout as well. Basically, I'm not a very good choice to ask, since I always soloed v5 and never played with a team. Soloing means that my character was way ahead experience-wise, compared to a full team. Also, you may try WK lvl 1 guardians, although it may be a bit early for that - you need to be able to cast at least Improved Haste for that.

 

Pirates are down! Enjoying the mod (V5) immensely.

I should have mentioned that Edwin was in fact lvl 12 already. Can't say protection from magic energy helped much, since it got removed before he cast any ADHW's. What helped more was just spreading everyone out when he started casting a necromancy spell. Also figured out that immunity: divination is really quite good since it doesn't seem to be affected by remove magic, so you can just recast imp. invis every time it is dispelled. The coordinator spent most of his time dispelling Edwin and breaching Jan (trying to set up a PW:Kill), but Cernd just recast death ward every time. A bit of luck was involved as well with the pirate captain separating from the rest of the group momentarily at the start. Also, 4 absolute immunities cast from scrolls... really?

Stoked that I won a scroll of memory boosting, though. I guess that will go towards Circlet of the Woods for Cernd, if I can get Samia's party down and figure out how I'm going to make enough gold for that and Phosphorous.

I'm journaling the rest of my run on gamefaqs, so I don't take over this thread.

 

I know about swash issues, was forcing myself to play one over and over again- I'm a huge fan of the kit.
Lack of APR diminishes them to a sub-par wannabe fighter with thief skills (which are more-less useless). And yes, bad saves are a big issue (vs. Death is really important). Their "special" weapon (improvised blend) is very nice, does massive (2d6!!) base damage but it comes very late (TOB) unfortunately.

@veye

glad u like the mod. I had great fun with v5 as well. A bit of advice - kick Cernd, Jan and Edwin. They have some bad bad issues. Cernd - imbalanced early, crap late game. Ranger/cleric dual is much better. Jan - Nalia is better. Traps won't kill anything. Edwin - he's ok I guess, but will leave (unless u have Happy patch) .Leave Korgan if u have happy patch, if not - kick him as well. Mark my words....Imoen is good to have...in IA she has wisdom of a 60 year old scholar...

 

Basically, this thread IS about IA, and I don't see it geting overflooded with info. Mind you, IA turns the game upside down, and tons of info has to be provided to each one testing the mod.

Protection from Magic Energy will help, plus dispersing the party, since only one person's proME will actually be dispelled. If your mages run SI:A instead of SIiv, plus ProME, plus other elemental protection, plus Chaotic Command and death ward, they will be immune to all enemy spells/effects, and the coordinator would actually have to repeatedly use RRR on them (which he will, too) in order to try and Breach/Remove Magic one of them. However, if you play right, none of this will happen - put the mages in front, so the coordinator sees only them, and the fighters in the back should fight your own fighters.

4 AI scrolls is not something unusual for IA standards - in fact, it's common. Expect every improved mage to have some. Most powerul enemies, like Layene, even have 8 at their disposal. Still, enemy mages usually carry 4-5 ProMW OR AI scrolls. Some mages using ProMW scrolls are vulnerable to normal weapons (as are dragons, usually, except the tougher ones).

Liches use ProMW spells, at least that can be interrupted (if the lich is under heavy hits from several fighters, most probably a spellcasting failure will issue even for such a short-time casting spell).

If you don't have a character/summon close to the enemy, he won't use AI scroll. You may simply wait for 20 rounds, keeping enemy mage busy with your own mages only, and then dispel his illusions, breach him a couple of times, then wait for him to cast a spell (or better, force him to cast one - use Invisibility on a random character, he'll start TS casting), and hit him with everything you got in melee, he needs 1 round for his aura to be cleared and cast AI from a scroll. If you see that your power is not enough to kill him in that round, have fighters retreat before his aura is cleansed, then wait for him to cast another spell before ganging him anew with all fighters - that way all AI scrolls will be yours for the taking.

Gold is abundant in v5, there are multiple gold exploits still working. Xp exploits too.

Do not forge the Circlet of Golden Flowers. Save the scroll for when you obtain the Cloak of Balduran (Windspear hills lvl 2 - Tazok), you will be able to forge a cloak +4, which also grants 25 MR and additional spells.

Otherwise, Nalia, Edwin and Jan are kinda inferior to any custom-made mage, because they lack the proper wisdom (18). Indeed, Imoen should be the better choice, but she's in Spellhold, so I guess Edwin is a good temporary replacement. Jan is not very strong mainly because if you play with no exploits, his mage level will be very low (and that's important). Otherwise, he's maybe the only arcane caster who can obtain 100%+ magic resistance (improved armor + Carsomyr), making him valuable in fights which include cloud effects and/or Storms of Vengeance. If you play with exploits, he's much more valuable than Nalia and/or Edwin.

 

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but recently I started replaying the mod and there are several interesting things which any IA v6 player may find interesting (they probably will work for the newer versions of the mod, and definitely - for the older ones):

There are a few items (like varions Diamond necklaces) and challenges (like the Improved Screaming Statue challenge) which are xp-dependant. However, they're PC-xp-dependant, meaning that if your PC has low enough xp, and you have other (probably imported) highly experienced party members, those items/encounters will still trigger.

Random monster spawns, however, have a much more sophisticated xp calculation, since powerful groups have appeared even at PC level 13 (current test party is a low-level PC necromancer + F/M/T lvl 40/40/40 from a completed IA v5 challenge).

The Four mod, which works together with IA, has some bug or other feature with IA v6, which makes the Guardian of the Ring immune to all kinds of damage - physical and magical. However, in an act of desperation discovered that he's not immune to level drain. Using Black Blade of Disaster on him lowered his levels enough. Now I don't know if I could kill him by lvl drain only, but combined this with a Greater Deathblow when the lich's levels were almost drain, and the guardian fell to a single hit. Guardians of the Robe and Gloves are unremarkable, and the Helm guardian remains to be seen.

An imported from BG1 player character (necromancer with Wis and Int 19, and 161 000 xp) created bugs in the game - many randomized or even static items were not dropped, whereas a newly-created BG2 necromancer with Wis and Int 18 created no bugs. I believe this is true for the protagonist only, since an imported F/M/T with powered stats and abilities was present in both games.
Even powerful items like the Robe of Vecna or the Girdle of Hill Giant Strength (which are said to check for number of party members) were still dropped without a problem, with only 2 party members present - necro protagonist and a F/M/T.

Level 4 of Watcher's keep can be entered in chapters 2 and/or 3. Certain conditions have to be met, but it's doable.

There is a way to keep the Amulet of Power while creating the Amulet of Hades - works every time, checked. There is in fact a way to keep a lot of valuable ingredients. However, I haven't found a way to keep ALL of the ingredients needed for a certain upgrade - there's always 1 item lost in the process. The rest can be saved. So in fact not even one of the unique items can be duplicated (at least not without importing). Gold needed the item creation is also non-retrievable.

The Cloak of Balduran, which is dropped by Tazok in Windspear Hills lvl 2 only if Cernd is in the party while battling Tazok, is not dropped if there are 3 party members. Hired 2 decoy party members, and under these conditions (other were the same) Tazok did drop the cloak.

 

Resurrecting again, just to say I'm playing through a second run. I actually never got to finish it the first time. I came very close to beating the Epic-Divine-Encounter (EDE, I think it's called), but then just shut down the game and never had any urge to play it again for a while.

Playing a vagrant PC this time instead of a necromancer. Party:

• Current party levels: (average exp ~800 000)
• Ruben - level 10 vagrant. *** axe **flail **short sword. Frostreaver axe+3 and Short sword of backstabbing
  
• Aiene - level 11 riskbreaker **long sword **war hammer *short sword Namarra and +2 longsword
  
• Sofia - level 11 barbarian ** 2hsword **quarterstaff *halberd. Lilarcor
  
• Katarina - dual class Ranger(7)/Cleric(10). **club **mace and * in most blunt. Club+3 and MoD+2
  
• Vanya - dual class Berserker(9)/Mage(11) **Bastard sword **flail *short sword. Flail of Ages and +2 Flail.
  
• Tida - level 11 sorceress
• Spell picks:
• Level 1: Armor, Shield, LMD, MM, CO
• Level 2: Invisibility, Mirror Image, Resist Fear, Melfs acid arrow, Web
• Level 3: Remove Magic, Haste, Vampiric Touch, Flame Arrow
• Level 4: Stoneskin, Emotion, Greater Malison
• Level 5: Sunfire, Breach

This party has fared a lot better than my necro party, with much heavier melee power it's been able to make most fights so far look easy. For instance, in my first run, I recall Lord Glacias (fighter in 2nd level of d'Arnise keep) living so long that I had all 3 Spirit spiders that come one by one slowly from the hall be in the room, whereas this time he got chopped up almost immidiately and well before the 1st spider arrived.

Toughest fights so far have been Shadow Jailor and Greater Yuan-ti at the d'Arnise keep bridge. The last fight took some micro not to be overwhelmed by remove magic + disable spam (hold, chaos, emotion etc.). Firstly all five meleers were at the top of the bridge where they slew the Whisper spider in 1 round. Meanwhile downstairs, the sorceress had cast remove magic (to remove mirror image) and breach on the Greater Yuan-ti, she had also eaten his only RM. The sorc then backed away and only the barbarian, without her rage up, attacked. The Yuan-ti thus wasted his sequencer as the barb could just instantly rage. Next, everyone attacked, the mage having several breach spells memorized to help peel off his skins. The bored sorc however threw out an emotion and that was that.

Will try to take more screenshots (and from harder fights) in the future.