Has anyone tried Improved Anvil v6?

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Update #2

Being a bit lazy, I've decided to let the pictures do most of the talking this update.

Here's the album (53 pictures): http://imgur.com/a/dyYHV#0

• Events (chronologically)
• Failed attempt at the Ruhk the conjurer in Windspear dungeon
• Killed Horrid Rakasha in sewers
• Killed Mekrath and freed Haer'Dalis
• Cleared out the Slaver Ship (got scroll of Imp.Haste)
• Killed the party in the Den of Seven Vales
• Killed the pirates in the hideout at the docks (got scroll of spell immunity!)
• Killed the sewer party
• Did the church ring-quest
• Killed TorGal and earned the d'Arnise keep (got judgement day essence)
• Killed Chaos (2nd druid quest)
• Got revenge on Ruhk
• Cleared out windspear dungeon up until Conster
• Did planar prison
• Forged Phosphorus

Also sided with Bodhi and did all the quests, killing Aran Linvail and obtaining the Amulet of Power.

Biggest challenge was the pirate hideout and the sewer party, both fights similar in the way that the enemy fighters/clerics fall extremely quickly to my buffed warriors and thereafter a long, drawn out battle against the single remaining high-level mage follows. Using summons and splitting up your characters thus spreading the incoming damage thin is the key to success. The wizards SI: Divination (or the invisibility itself) will eventually run out, leaving him vulnerably to breach. Gaius (the sewer mage) actually lives for quite a while even after this, thanks to his high physical resistance coupled with multiple uses of hardiness available. He also seems to have a more offensive oriented spellbook and a hard hitting physical attack enabling him to pose a threat even after many, many rounds.

Average exp is 1,45M, levels 12-13.

Sorceress picks:
L1: MM, CM, LMD, Shield, Armor
L2: Invisibility, Mirror Image, Resist Fear, Melfs arrow, Web
L3: Haste, Remove Magic, Vampiric Touch, Flame Arrow
L4: Emotion, Stoneskin, Greater Malison, Ray of Fragmentation
L5: Sunfire, Breach, Spell Immunity
L6: Improved Haste, Giant Strenght

Not sure what to do next. Think I might want to do Planar Sphere before going to spellhold. Also have to do the Imprioved Screaming Statue challenge before reaching 2.35M(?) exp.

 

Heh, congratulations on giving it another try. Good party, although the Berserker->Mage will be obsolete in many important fights, when you'd desperately need another pure-class warrior.

Yeah you should definitely do the Screaming Statue challenge before hitting 2 350 000 xp with the protagonist, but I don't see the reason to rush it yet.

BTW I forgot if I gave you info about the xp/gold/item exploits in the early game. If you're interested in any of those, I'd be happy to give you info in FB.

You should also consider completing the Unseeing Eye quest, as it's one of the easy early ones. Sikret's beholders need simply some adjustment to it - they're a lot tougher than normal beholders, but have only limited amount of their ray power, being able to fire only a couple of different rays at low speed. You could also obtain Belm in the Druid Grove's Tower.

In fact, you should first clear Mencar Pebblecrusher before engaging the sewer party. If you missed that, go there now, that group is weaker. The mage in it only has Improved Mantle scrolls, meaning that your Phosphorous should punch right through that, and possibly a couple of scrolls will be left for looting.

As far as I remember, Gaius actually runs SI:Abjuration, but yes, he's a F/M, and has multiple Hardinesses, which is annoying. In that fight you need tons of Breach spells (or scrolls) for Tarnor and Gaius mainly, but if your mages are low on level (and they are) - for everyone else too.

I think that at present levels it's also safe to clear the catacombs in the graveyard.

Barbarian for a 2-handed weapon wielder is not a very good choice For max number of attacks, you should pick as many GWWs as possible, while on the other hand, the needed HLA for each warrior is Critical Strike instead. Tried that myself, didn't work very good.

BTW with that party you won't be able to fulfill some NPC's side quests (Jaheira's and Jan's being most profitable, but not only), thus missing xp, gold and items.

Edit: Don't forget that an Enchanted Weapon scroll, used by the sorceress, can create an additional +3 weapon for a day - that may prove essential in the early game, and there are enough such scrolls scattered around for you to be able to read 6-7 of them in tough situations.

 

Some new info:

Started a non-infinite-xp&gp-exploit-IA run, trying to devise insane no-reload tactics. So far successful, deep into chapter 6. Some of the early strategies (like Suna Seni for example) require to memorize a lot of right movement & and action but they do work. Since my party is very similar to your own, maybe I will be able to give you some sound advice on the starting fights and order of quests:

First the party - a Vagrant PC, Ranger(7)->Cleric, Berserker(9)->Mage, Riskbreaker, Sorceress.

Special notifications: Roll 18/00 on all fighters, this is very essential! Yeah, even the B-M, although it may actually take you a lot of time to roll 18/00,18,18,18,18,3 with that character. Or simply make a BG1 run with a regular ranger PC and a Berserker (to be dualled to mage in BG2, read necessary tomes to make him strong,wise and intelligent enough). If you take another Ranger (to be dualled to Cleric at lvl 7) for a BG1 run and have him read all tomes of Wisdom, this will be invaluable for an Anvil run since 21 Wis provides you with some extra clerical spells, including +1 in fifth level.

Personal apology: I stand corrected on the Berserker->Mage. In a nonexploit game, this is the most valuable party member so far. Can tank, can fight, can withstand more unpleasant effect than the rest of the party, can buff and cast almost on equal ground with any other single-class spellcaster. The B-M has been a key figure in devising no-reload strategies for multiple tough fights.

Proficiencies: In order to have most effective fighting force, start getting grandmastery in weapons from the very beginning. I started with my ranger having ***** in Axes, RB having **** in Flails, and B->M having ***** in Halberds. R-C's proficiencies are whatever, that character is anyway gonna have tons of them soon enough.

You'll need piercing weapons pre-chapter 6 only when facing Coin Golems, and there aren't that many around, plus by the time you meet some you'll probably have at least * in Short sword for both Vagrant and Riskbreaker. Slashing weapons are needed only for Borinal's Amber golem and the Shadow Lover, and yet you can live without having even one pip in slashing weapons for one fighter (the RB) - providing you have a Vagrant who's grandmaster of axes. The toughest spot is undoubtedly Spellhold's kobolds with the 3 Amber golems facing your party, but up to that point all your fighters will have at least * in a slashing weapon of their choice.

Having said all that, with all your fighters being Grandmasters in a single weapon from the very beginning, you will have far less trouble with starting enemies, especially ones as tough as the Greater Yuanti.

Also, the alignment and race. An evil human sorceress is far better than a good one - she won't fall prey to enemy Unholy Blight and Unholy Word, and also will be able to use the Staff of the Magi in the long run.

In a next post I will give you exactly the list of quests, improved fights and other stuff I attempted in chapters 2 and 3, and at what levels did I attempt those.

Also, it turns out that in a nonexploit run it's actually better to side with Aran Linvail. In v5 it would be OK either way, but not in v6, where traps & locks provide so little xp (in v5 the traps in the Thieves' guild provided quite a lot of xp). The only real missed treasure is the Rifthome axe (excellent for a Vagrant PC), but the xp difference when battling Bodhi instead of Aran is substantial, and you can't miss that. Plus you get some Invulnerability potions from the Vampires for your Riskbreaker, and those are important and it's best not to waste a large amount of money to buy them.

The Improved Mace of Disruption +2 in IA v6 is a waste of both gold and experience. Better give the real illithium to Sir Sarles.

You should also consider forging the Treefolk Arm +3 club. It's a very important weapon and has seen much use in my party, both for my R-C and for my Vagrant. Still, the needed Permanency scroll for that should be obtained after forging Phosphorous, and you'd have to probably fight the Improved Screaming Statue challenge to get it.

There is a very easy no-reload strategy to overwhelm the Pirate Coordinator fast and without having to fight guerilla war for 20 rounds. However, for it to work 100% you need Improved Haste (sorc level 12) and all fighters having a good enchanted weapon + grandmastery in it. Belm helps too. Plus you get to keep all his scrolls (and sell the ones you want). 4 AI, 4 Emotion, etc. Summons in this particular fight are overrated.

Having only 4 pre-generated NPCs (+PC) is better than having 5. Because there are tons of xp, gold and items to be gained from various NPC quests (and you really should consider completing them all). Not to mention the benefit of hiring a temporary thief to disarm the traps and pick the locks in an already visited and cleared of enemies area. If you want a 6-person party that much (5 is OK btw, you won't fall in any Sikret-created bugs at least) then join Valygar or Cernd at higher PC levels (so that Valy comes with 1 301 000 total xp, Cernd a little less I think) - you can always temporarily ditch those two if need be unlike, for example, Jaheira. Also it's important not to forget the main plot Yoshimo-Imoen - Yoshi is a thief to take care of some Brynnlaw traps and locks, and also - to provide 200 000 xp for the party in chapter 6, while Imoen provides the oh-so-needed in Spellhold and Underdark protection from Magical Energy buff (and you should NEVER pick that with your regular party sorceress), and some powerful (Mordy Swords or Salamander Nobles) summons too.

Keep extra unwanted NPCs dead almost all of the time, of course. You don't want them to steal your xp, right? Raise them only when they're needed.

Personally speaking, my favourite dead NPC is Mazzy. Her Invoke Courage buff can be used twice a day, lasts for a very long time, it stacks, and besides the Resist Fear effect, it provides +1 THAC0 and saves bonus for the entire party! Meaning, before any important fight, use her for +2 THAC0 and saves bonus (in chapter 6 with Wishes for Resting I effectively use her for +4 or even +6 bonus). Speaking of that, did you know that the priest spell Aid and Bless stack also for a total of +2 THAC0 and saves bonus? Of course, using Aid with a low-level (11 or lower) cleric is somewhat wasted.

Other good temporary NPCs are Aerie (max CHA with Friends, for shopping purposes) and the priest types (Anomen, Viconia, because with a little of quest xp reward they can cast Champion's Strength for some THAC0 bonus - well, not that useful compared to Mazzy). Also, Aerie and Jan can be used to create additional +3 Enchanted Weapons in chapter 2 and 3 for the tougher fights.

Other NPCs are useful in a different way. For example, Keldorn's Hallowed Redeemer sword is worth (to a shopkeeper) 1 300 gp in IA. Cernd's staff is worth 300. Also, Cernd can be joined to get the Cloak of balduran for the sheer purpose of selling that (2610gp).

About the Greater Yuanti - besides Breach, use also Oracle or True Seeing to dispel his Blur (Mirror Image is easily dispelled by Remove Magic anyway). Because he has really good AC for your fighting force, and you have to decrease it in every possible way. Also, carry enough nonmagical weapons for each of your fighters, so that even if the Yuanti manages to cast PFMW, your fighters won't just stand around, but will switch to normal weapons and continue the barrage.

Normal weapons are very useful vs higher-than-party-level mages hiding under SI up until this very moment (chapter 6).

About sorceress spell picks:

I saw very little use of Web (perhaps it could ease somewhat Suna's fight, perhaps not). But on many occasions I regret not having Blur with the sorceress (picked Strength instead, used it only once - in the Suna Seni fight).

For 3rd level, I prefer Melf's Meteors over Flame arrow. Maybe I will regret that vs the Chromatic demon, yet I doubt it. MMMs were very useful in many situations so far, of course they shine in chapters 2-5. The damaging spell which I pick here (late, as 5th pick) is Lightning bolt - useful vs the Improved gith.

As long as you have another party member (pure mage, dual-class mage) to cast Greater Malison (and you hardly need more than 1 memorized for any fight), this is a wasted Sorceress pick. Improved Invisibility, however, isn't, and has won me countless rounds and fights in the early chapters, and is useful even in late ones.

Level 5: I picked Larloch's Interrupter over Sunfire, it's kinda useful in some early battles. Also, it's an additional golem-damaging spell (think of it as 3 LMD spells). Probably will pick Sunfire when I get my fifth pick, but that's for a very high level sorc.

Giant Strength is unfortunately a wasted pick on a sorceress. It's definitely very good, but in a party with a R-C who can very well take care of his own STR, and another fighter wielding Phosphorous (24 str), you basically need only 2 copies of the spell at most - provided in an excellent fasion by your mage (or B-M) when you clean the Planar Sphere pre-spellhold. I also had a wasted pick, GoI. The best sorceress picks for that party composition at lvl 6 are IMO: Improved Haste, PFMW, Chain Lightning, Contingency.


Edited with the levels of certain pre-spellhold fights:

Fights & levels:

PC(Vagrant), R(7)-C, B(9)-M, Riskbreaker, Sorceress

Suna Seni - 8, 8, 8 (pure Berserker, not dualled yet, 213 000 xp), 8, 9
Guild Contact (+ Vampire Brides - second Aran Linvail task), Greater Yuan-Ti, Keep Viper, Glaicas - 10, 10, 11, 10, 11
Copper Coronet Beastmaster - 10, 11, 11, 11, 12
Belm, Tanova (last Aran Linvail task) - 11, 11, 11, 11, 12
Lilarcor, improved Nevaziah (Edwin Odesseiron's sidequest lich), Ruhk Transmuter - 11, 12, 12, 12, 12
Borinal - 12, 12, 12, 12, 13
Shadow Jailor - 12, 13, 12, 12, 13 (Mazzy joined at max possible xp, 1 100 000 overall). From this point forward, Mazzy is the sixth (most of the time - dead) party member
Slaver Ship, Tor'Gal - 12, 13, 12, 13, 13
Mekrath's laboratory - random monster spawn, Mencar Pebblecrusher - 12, 13, 13, 13, 13. Planar prison entered at these levels too


It's really important at what levels certain random spawns are triggered - difficulty-wise, gold-wise, xp-wise. At these levels that random spawn was 2 Minotaurs, 2 or 3 Greater Yuantis and 2 Yuanti mages. Good experience (maybe en par with a spider random spawn at higher difficulty levels), and also gold (2000 gp).


Pirates' Hideout - 13, 14, 13, 14, 14
Planar sphere entered at these same levels. Lavok, Tolgeras, Demonplane, Energy core chamber - all cleared under these levels

Founder of Trademeet, Improved Screaming Statue challenge - 14, 15, 14, 15, 14

Somewhere on these levels I also fought Chaos (it could be done on lower levels too) and completed the Limited Wish quest. Was trying to go as near the xp border as possible, and frankly, barely made it upon leaving for Brynnlaw with 2 215 000 PC experience (other accordingly), and had 2 348 000 xp when talking to Imoen in Spellhold (the point that determines what version of Spellhold you get), so being below 2 350 000 xp and below PC lvl 15, I got the easiest version - safe resting anywhere, no Asylum guards to chase the party.

That may seem a bit unbelievable, assembling so much experience while having to fight so few improved fights, but frankly, I did kill a lot of vanilla and mostly vanilla NPCs and enemies. Examples: Jermien the Cowled wizard after completing the Juggernaut golem & Mimic blood quests. That guy drops 4000 gp when killed, and can be killed before leaving his cottage for 4000 xp. Helmite priests can be killed (4000 xp and a plate mail each) upon first visit in the Temple district - they don't have any quests for a good-aligned PC such as a Vagrant, and possess one of the best helmets early-game - the Helm of Glory. Lathanderian priests and knights can also be slaughtered after completing all their temple related quests (Unseeing Eye, Sir Sarles, Dawn Ring) without any penalty. Spectral harpists can be killed before completing Xzar's quest. Etc, etc. There are tons of such NPCs that can be killed. Killing Kholynuus Paac when she tries to teleport away the Solamnic Knights forces them to stay in the Sphere, and thus giving the option of completing their quest the other way too - by talking to the Prelate in MNORH. 45 000 more xp, and btw, the Solamnic Knights can be killed after the party gets that reward - if you act quickly enough - for 6000 more xp. Lassal in Bodhi's lair, if not slain fast, summons up to 4 Vampire Brides. Each worth 7 500 xp, and the fight can be prolonged effectively up to the moment when the party can slay all for max xp.

Later in the game there are more NPCs that can be slain at one time or another. We all know about the Drow City, but did you know that the Elf-Drow battles in the upper level (before the exit) can result in sudden death for every one of them and max xp for the party? Also, the drow ambush in chapter 6 (near the exit of the Underdark) where drow and elves battle, also can have the same result (all elves killed too, their nearby cousins won't be affected by that). Sergeant Natula (last vanilla mage stronghold task) can be killed twice - one time when he comes as a messenger, second time in the sphere when he leads the assault, for 8000 xp and a full plate each time. Drizzt & co can be killed twice. MNORH paladins coming to aid the party vs Bodhi can be killed. Assassins sent by Aran to aid in the fight vs Bodhi can be killed. Many xp can be assembled by such enemies - enough to propel the party a few levels ahead.