Durlag's Tower questions *spoilers*

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Having never done Durlag's before, I'm thinking I've missed something. I'm doing multiplayer with 5 PCs.

Shahara
human F 2/D 6

Brianna
human Ranger 7

Maggie
human Cleric 7

Lisette
human Thief 7
FT 80 PL 60 Stealth 70 (clothes) PP 50

Tamara
human F 2/M 6

1. When should I visit? Lisette needs more PL and FT, so after BG is clear but before going to Candlekeep?

2. Is my single mage going to cut it in fighting? I don't remember BG needing that much in the way of magic.

3. How badly will my PCs get wholloped? Better yet, should I prepare PW: Reload?

EDIT: level mistype

[ February 09, 2006, 22:35: Message edited by: kuemper ]

 

1. That sounds good. But I'd want 100 in both Open Locks and Find Traps before I headed there (meaning either level 10 for your thief or GKing the points you've obviously spent for PP back to other skills). Potions can do it, but you'll need to stock up a bit.

2. I've done it completely without arcane magic, so "only" having one mage shouldn't be a problem.

3. Depends on your tactics. One thing I might suggest is loading up on Dispel Magic spells for the lower levels. There are a lot of hasted monsters (greater ghouls are practically just hasted regular ghouls), and if you find a group of them you can severely decrease their effectiveness with a quick dispel. The four guardians (Love, etc.) can be tamed fairly easily once you've dispelled their stuff, too.

 

1. I would go in Chapter 5. Though really, it won't make much difference if you do it in 7. I just prefer having the majority of loose ends tied up.

2. I don't really uses mages, so I'm not sure how you will fare. There are some nasty fights, though, and I'm not sure how well your mostly average-low hp party will fare.

3. Low-ish hp is going to be the main problem, as far as my experience goes. There are one or two hard, prolonged fights, though I suppose a pure-class cleric might be better at healing than my 2+ paladins. Then again, they might get through just fine.

 

I mostly agree with what has already been said.

1. I typically don't do Durlag's Tower until Chapter 7. In fact, it's usually the LAST thing I do before going through the end-game. I do the Ice Island and Werewolf Island before Durlag's too, to get my skills as high as possible. Basically, the higher the level of your characters, the better.

2. Arcane magic is over-rated in BG1. I've gone through the game with a bard as my only spell caster, so I certainly don't see why you're mage wouldn't be sufficient.

3. Definitely prep PW: Reload, if only for the traps. I cannot stress strongly enough how many traps you're going to face. I mean, practically every container in every room is trapped, and that doesn't count the dozens of floor traps that you'll have to deal with as well. If you've never done DT before, I'd say you'll be reloading at least 5 times for traps alone.

 

I'm heading there now with 5th and 6th level characters. You cna buy potions of master theif from the guy you first run into on the map, I don't even have a mage in my party, just some clerics for healing, and dispel magic.

Save all the time. I reloaded more here than anywhere else except the final fight. I also made a separate save for every level.

 

Hitpoints:
Shahara 74
Brianna 90
Maggie 70
Lisette 56
Tamara 48

If anything, I'll use Lisette to lure and break down enemy groups. Is luring out a viable tactic?

Gak, I didn't even think about Werewolf Isle, which I haven't done either. Sorta pointless for me to have TotSC installed, isn't it?

 

Not in the slightest. TotSC has a lot of engine improvements like second weapon slots for some classes. The same goes for ToB, and if it wasn't story-related I'd never bother to play those parts. But I digress...

Yes, but make sure that whoever's doing the luring has the Boots of Speed. Remember what I said about hasted monsters? You don't want them to catch you five times before you get back to the group.

 

You can do just the exterior and the upper levels in Durlag's tower and do the more difficult lower part later.
I don't recommend to start Werewolf Isle or the lower part of Durlag's tower before chapter 7.

 

^That's probably true. The toughest thing you'll find outside and in the upper levels are basilisks (simply killed with potions of mirrored eyes or protection from petrification) and the somewhat harder shadow knights (are whatever those things are called) that you run into on the way to the tower. There's only two of them, and if you're careful, you can fight them one at a time. There are a lot of traps on the upper levels as well, but generally speaking they are easier to find, or at least avoidable. There's only a handful of them that stretch across the entire floor that also require you to pass that area in order to progress.

 

80 FT in Durlag's tower is doable. In some of the cases the traps aren't that deadly that you'd have to disarm all of them. In some cases, like the torture chamber, all you have to do is to know where the traps are and 80 FT will do that just fine. Mirror image with your mage will disarm some of the traps, but look out for those traps which release multiple times.

Stealth's the key to win most of the fights, 70 might do, but I'd go for higher numbers. Durlag's tower is backstabbers heaven. Plenty of corners and dark shadows for you to play hide and seek. Just get the other team members out of the way. Boots of speed and oil of speed combined will help your thief a ton. I've always killed those knights with flaming swords by backstabbing. Even did the demon knight in the same way...

 

I've completed DT when I had a weaker group than yours. In fact I was not even done Chapter 2 and decided to clear DT before going through the rest of BG. Yeah it is almost suicide but you walk out with some of the better weapons in the game. As for FT and OL skill, as long as they are around 80% you will be fine. Just bring a long a few potions MT you will be more than fine. I do agree with Felinoid about memorizing dispel magic; most useful spell throughout all of BG1.

 

You did Durlag's Tower before the Naskel mines?!?! Why? I almost always do the Naskel Mines early, because you get some nice equipment in and around the mines (to wit, the +2 long sword and the Ring of Holiness) and there's definitely some good XPs in that quest for low level characters. I mean, yeah, I guess you COULD do DT early, but then there's very little else that will challenge you for the rest of the game. I imagine that DT is probably the most XP intensive portion of the game. Even with a full party, you are probably walking out of DT with about 50,000 XP per character.

 

You can get the Long Sword +2 but not complete the mines. I normally clear out all areas before going through the mines. By the time I clear out the mines by Characters are almost max level, this allows me to stroll through the rest of the game instead of doing what we all know as the reload feature. And by going to DT early enough you not only get XP you also get some good treasure that will only make your travels so much easier. The only issue I had was making sure Imoen had enough points in FT and OL.

 

Actually, Potions of Master Thievery don't help you with traps; only locks and picking pockets. I prefer Potions of Perception because they last twice as long and give you +20% to all thief skills instead of +40% to only two.

But the potion that is so often overlooked for helping thief skills is the best one of all: Potions of Mind Focusing. They last 10 hours game time (1 real time), and increase both your Dexterity and Intelligence by 3. That means +15% to most skills (between +7 and +15 to stealth, depending on exactly where your DEX is) as well as a possible bonus to lore, and definite bonuses to AC and missile weapons! How can you possibly beat that?!

 

Durlag's Tower is kind of scary, really. My advice is to take a clean pair of undergarments.