Mind Flayers

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I am about to get Icewind Dale 2 and I was wondering if Mind Flayers are as annoying in this game as they were in BGII. Should I worry about giving INT to my tanks so that they are not massacred by the Flayers? Thanks for the help.

 

I found them easier in IWD-2. They lack the really dangerous int-drain that made them so horrible in BG-2. They can only stun your party - that's what happeened to me at least.

I used sneak attack and ranged weapons on them with very good effect.

 

6 characters with bows = dead mindflayers.
actually even attacking them 1 on 1 with melee weapons these guys are (IMHO) seriously weak this time around. I found some of their thralls to be more annoying than they were...

 

Praise the Lord!

Thanks, that is what I wanted to know.

 

Grey Ghost, how often did you actually kill them? I only ever managed to kill 1, the rest would escape away with their psionic skills! I thought it was such a cop out that they would nick off just at the last second.

What was your strategy? Missile weapons only?

 

I played their dungeon three times by now - two times I encountered your problem Kharzaj.

However, the last time I made my thief sneak in and backstab one of them while I let my party attack with their ranged weapons. Since I never faced more than two of them at the same time it was rather easy for me to kill them one after another this time.

However, it is crucial to use ranged weapons to maximum effect because when you hack on them too long they'll teleport away. I suggest to use mass haste, good scouting and generally good ammo for your ranged weapons, the higher the number of attacks the better. Ambushs with guarding ranged fighters are very effective - you usually get the first attack that way, and have a good chance to disrupt enemy spellcasting

[ November 26, 2002, 09:52: Message edited by: Ragusa ]

 

Thanks Ragusa, I will now have to use my arrow flayer tactics to waste them all.

Mwahahahahahahaha...

 

My mindflayer tactics were pretty much the same as Ragusa's. I only let one of buggers escape, and that was the one you can intimidate into fleeing by the back door. My rogue did a lot of sneaking and scouting to steal all the diamonds out of the traps, so I pretty much knew where the thralls and flayers were. Then it was a simple matter of unloading with everything on 1 flayer at a time and within a couple of seconds we had plenty of dead flayers. I also found that their stunning attack was not that effective. I think I only had one character become affected by it in 3 or 4 trips through the citadel.

As Ragusa said, the key to keep them from teleporting out too quickly is to hit them with range weapons. My rogue(s) have taken a few down with their swords, but most of the flayers fall to arrows.

 

I bet the expansion will have those buggers. Why else have them escape? REVENGE!!!!

 

Yeah, they totally toned down Mind Flayers in 3e. It seems to me like they took all the classic nastiness (ogres, illithid, etc.) and took it down a peg. The 2e monsters were stronger, especially in the game, but the new stuff in 3e is a lot nastier. Fiendwurms and all. They were sort of moving the old aside for the new.

 

Actually, if a mind flayer manage to stun you with its Mind Blast, it can simply walk up to you and with a full round action extract your brain, killing you instantly no matter your int. Same thing if they manage to hit with all four tentalcles on the same enemy. At least that's how they are supposed to work in 3e, havent encountered them yet in IWD2...

As for Ogres, as well as all the big stuff (trolls, giants, etc) they should actually get a free attack now as soon as you close up on them, another if you pass them by, and another if you disengage (but only one per round per character). Trolls are also supposed to have that feared power Rend; if both claws hit, they get double damage (guess why it's called Rend...), as well as the little fact that merely pouring fire on them to kill them once they are down is not enough to negate the regeneration; every single hitpoint have to be burned away.

But the most deadly of all aspects of 3e is of course that nearly all creatures can take character levels. Think that dragon was tough? Just wait until you meet one with sorcerer levels that stack with the spellcasting it's already got. Bad bugbear? A rogue/barbarian bugbear would be worse.

On the other hand again, hitpoints of monsters in IWD2 are seriously screwed up; an average orc should have about 4 hp, an ogre 20 or so and a giant from 50-500.

Heh... just begun chapter two of IWD2 and I've just found the fomorian giants throwing rocks at that guy with my rogue. Fomorian giants? Three of them? Those are meant for a level 11 party to fight, not for 7th level parties like my own! And three of them? I hope they've done them wrong, because the real fomorians got an inpenertable damage reduction of 5 (like high level barbarians), fast heals 5 hp per round, got scent like a wolf (so normally there would be few ways for my rogue to find them without them noticing me...) got 157 hp on average (and with IWD2's boost in hp that gives them what, 500?) and so on and so on. I hope they're just simple hill giants....

Less deadly did you say?

-Sacremas

[ November 26, 2002, 20:27: Message edited by: Sacremas ]

 

Well, yeah, of course they're worse in the game. I believe I said something to that effect before. You can save in the game, so stuff is at its deadliest. Like I said, the games go for big nastiness, and you have no DM to regulate the enemy: they're all at full steam. All subjective it is, hrm, yes. Don't make me come over there with my gimer stick.