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Hi peeps

I was wondering, at which level will you guys attempt to obtain the Celestial Fury.

Of course, many factors influences our decision, such as soloing or partying, pure Kensai or dualing to mages, and of course when to get it depends on when you dual.

What are your ways to obtain it early in the game?

I am soloing a Kensai Mage right now and I find it hard. I have not dual yet and I am at Kensai level 12.

Littiz your the expert, wat are your ways?

So you're soloing and at level 12...try it...when i took Celestial Fury i belive that my party was somewhere around 10-12 (my memory) =)


good luck!

Thanx for the consideration!

hmmm, I have to explain with the necessary accuracy...

Usually I don't push things when I play, but indeed I've done a few exceptions, and CF was one of those, as I knew I would have
recovered my kensai abilities close to the Underdark....

I was soloing too by that time, planning to continue with Imoen later, and in ToB with that other relative of mine....

So, did all the usual first quests, just the mininum to be able to rescue Immie, and I grew up in level very fast. I dualled at level 12 (more than enough as I use the GrandMastery patch) and found myself in the middle of Bodhi lair.
Wrote some spells, gained some levels, and did the rest of the lair, including Tanova, with a lonely low level mage.....
(I discovered the power of lightning bolt, here!!! )
Very difficult...
but the hard part was yet to come....
Just before sailing to Immie, my little "......"/mage made a walk in the Temple District, and she noted a sinister building.
Thretened she walked back, only to enter again! Without harmful intentions I assure you, yet they summoned a bunch of monsters!!!
I made the impossible here!!!
The key was Protection from Evil !
Actually she didn't attack anybody. She just flew upstairs quaffing an oil of speed, while the demon attacked the other monsters.
But she found an entire hostile party, so she went downstairs again!!! They all came down, except the mages I think.
I could say that Koshi and the Demon killed each other
(almost... I was lucky I know..)
Then she used some spells like cloudkill and kept avoiding the attacks with her higher speed, trying to lead the minotaurs in the fog....
She depleted her arsenal of spells and some potions of explosion, but in the end those two monsters died!!!!
They had a load of healing potions, it was a real pain!!!!
Oh, the Nishruu too was a problem!!!

If you feel you can try such a thing, but I warn you that you'll have to expect some reloads...
It depends on when you plan to rescue Immie!
But being a straight kensai yet, it'll be very difficult, as Prot. from Evil is really a must here.
I don't think you can have the strenght (and weapons) to kill the demon, so you need that spell to avoid him...
Maybe with the Sensate Amulet, but I fear it's only for Clerics....
In any case you'd have to use items and potions of any kind, such as the uber scroll of prot. from magic!

Don't dual keep the kensai straight and pure! The only way to go IMO
I cleared that building with my solo kensai fairly easy.
Here are a few pointers.
Spoiler







Ring of air control can be bought by Ribald casts imrpoved invis. The mage doesn't cast true sight but the thief dispels illusions and backstabs, she needs to be taken down.
Yoy want to buy potions from roger, strenght and teh one that makes you make every save, no good getting stunned by koshi. Also you want a potion of invulnerabilty and a potion of speed.
The bottom floor should be fairly easy.
When going upstairs I can only recommend to not go far into the room cause there are nasty traps, let them see and head back down and take out the thief as she follows then the rest should be easy provided you have good enough weapons.

No no, be master of swords and spells!
@Bruce, I could agree from a roleplaying PoV, but not
for a DWARVEN kensai with flails or something!

Anyway.
Just a few thoughts on my kensai/mage....
I "love" her so much... like Bun Bun for User (giggle?)

1)She doesn't need any pre-battle buffing. At all.
Just the "permanent" spells: contingencies, triggers.
If need arises, she can cast a few spells very fast,
or Time Stop + Imp. Alacrity and cast all she needs.
I'm near the end of ToB, and did the whole thing without
pre-buffing.

2)She can become TOTALLY invulnerable to ANY form of damage,
plus making her protections undispellable

3)She fights with swords, but can use spells to SPARE the lives
of her enemies... Spook, Symbols (fear and stun), power words,
and so on.
For example, I saved all the thralls in the planar prison
(I know, you miss some loot like kundane this way)

4)She doesn't need to rest anymore...do the following:
-cast Spell Trap
-cast Project Image
-The image casts a 7th level spell at the original, rechargin'
Project Image, maybe even a 9th level spell to recharge Spell Trap
(depending on the slots..), then tries a Wish
-repeat until you get the rest option

Annoying, but if you're in hurry to save the world...

5)She does all of this without armors and such, wearing only
normal clothing (as long as Robe of Vecna is "normal clothing"...)

What I did was let the Glabazu kill everything there at the ground floor.

What I have is that Frostreaver axe and Frail of Ages. Also equipped is Namara for silence 15' radius, and that Short sword+2 that grants temporary haste for 12 sec once per day. And a ring of invisibility.

I walk into the center of the room invisiblie, and trigger the monster and demon summonings. Once the animation of the summoning shows, I will walk into a nearby room before the monsters and demons appears. Although the Glabazu demon can see through my invisibility, the other monsters like Nishru and Effreeti can't. So they will attack the Glabazu, and since I am behind a room, Glabazu can't see me, so that demon attacks the others.

I waited about 10 minutes, listening to their sounds of combat, eventually and surely, the Glabazu emerge as the victor, Effreeti last the longest before the Glabazu kill him.

Now I am left with the Glabazu, I am equipp with Frostreaver axe and Ages Frail, I then draw upon holy might, (if you have girdle of Hill giant from adventurer mart, your strenght should be about 22), use a potion of speed, or use the haste from the short sword, and then engage the Glabazu.

I am now left with the humans upstairs. That is the difficult part.

I heard of people using Traps. I wonder when and where to plant the Traps. I could ask Jan to help with the traps, then send him back to plant turnips.

Ah, after a few reloads, got the sword.

Abit of spoiler, not much though.
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At level 12 kensai, before going up the stairs, I used a potion of defence, got my AC down to -8, an oil of speed, draw upon holy might, Kai, in my hands is a normal Katana and Frail of Ages, then I went up the stairs at the right side.

Up the stairs, Ketta is hiding in shadows, she is nearest to me, but I can't see her, the mage Sion is second nearest, followed by Koshi the Kensai, my target. I ignore Ketta since I cant see her, and also ignored Sion, coz he will be casting defensive spells. I need the speed to get to Koshi, and strike him before he strikes me and stuns me with Celestial Fury. In doing so I will trigger a trap, but I will save vs it, no bother. After a few reloads I managed to kill him, once his dead, I took his Celestial Fury and equipped it, mine now, and his other items, and I used the ring of invisibilty and turn invisibilty, ignoring the minotuar and the orc's attacks, ignoring the backstabs i suffered. Once invisiblity I headed for the stairs, I need to retreat, using the same path I stepped earlier, avoiding other traps and escaped to the ground floor.

Back to ground floor, healed myself with potions, cure light wounds and ring of regeneration, I took the second floor again, this time, with Celestial Fury in one hand and Frail of Ages in another, everything's a breeze, I ran outta of innate spells, and so I didn't even buff, only the oil of speed still runs in my blood.

Up the stairs again, I targeted at the spell casters, it was luck that Sion stepped on a trap and injured himself severly, I kill him with only one blow, then I went downstairs again, the cleric followed me, what a mistake of his. I despatched him easily downstairs, stunning and slowing him, then went up again to take the minotaur and the orc. Real easy fight with Celestial Fury and Frail of Ages.

Gaurded compound is quite easy.. dont take this the wrong way im not trying to say im the master gamer or anything but I am a complete coward with absolutly no sense of rping spirit

Spoiler????













act1
Firstly procure for yourself an oil of speed a potion of invincibility and cloak of the sewers... and bring on the summoned monsters, run away and hide in another room as the glabrezu eats all the others then leave, go have a rest in the sewers and come back, I beleive the glabrezu is is gone by now
act2
Turn on auto pouse when enemy is sighted Drink your potion of invincibility and run upstairs, the game pauses. Run back down stairs and only koshi will follow you, if more people come reload and repeat until only koshi comes. Turn into a troll and start fighting, you have +5 to saves so he shouldnt be able to stun you... if your getting hurt just run around for a while and regenerate + the troll is naturaly fast so he cant catch you, just keep going until he both he and any of your remaining rper spirit or sense of fair play are dead


Btw the only place I can think of at the moment to get a potion of invincibility (+5 to all saves set base armour class to 0) is Gracen, the guild contact in the second quest for aran linveil

Okay I agree that a dwarvenn Kensai dual wielding flails is a not seen very often hehe. But I needed the edge for my sologame, cant go around getting charmed all the time can I now.
By the way, have any of you read the daggerspell series? That girl there, Gilyan, she could qualify as a kensai/mage. I meann her background... maybe I'll model a character upon her.
I have tried to play kensai/mage before but I can never get myself to actually dual.
If you dual at level 13 isn't your thac0 pretty crappy by ToB standards?

Thanx for the reply gromethingy, that is a good idea too.

It seems odd to me to specialise weapons other swords while using Kensais, since Ken means Sword.

Originally posted by gnomethingy
Btw the only place I can think of at the moment to get a potion of invincibility (+5 to all saves set base armour class to 0) is Gracen, the guild contact in the second quest for aran linveil

Roger the Fence, in the Temple Sewers, sells Potions of Invulnerability.

@Bruce: Actually my thac0 is -5, -2 with left hand (D'akkon Blade
is only +2, but I like it)!
I always hit the "normal" ToB enemies (except for criticals, of course)
You do notice a small percentage of misses with the bosses, after
all you don't gain the incredible bounuses of a straight kensai.

But believe me, against bosses is where the kensai/mage really
SHINES!!!
Literally....

Do you use tensor against bosses? Or just magic? Do you kill the lesser with melee and buff?
I mean what is the difference between a kensai/mage and a multi fighter/mage? How do you play?
Btw, really cool screenshot the purple ball one. Improved alacrity rules aye?

Originally posted by decadurabolin
It seems odd to me to specialise weapons other swords while using Kensais, since Ken means Sword.

Yeah, somehow the image of a Kensai doing anything but dual wielding katanas seems strange. But with a Kensai/Mage you can logically say that he is no longer strictly a kensai so perhaps it fits.

The next time I play a Kensai/Mage I plan to get 5*s in Staff and 3 in Two-Handed weapon. This maximizes the use of the Staff of Magi (as well as all those other cool staves that kill golems and elementals on contact). Plus it does blunt damage, which hurts everything, so you never have to change weapons.

There was a flaming discussion about the point.
The elegant conclusion was from User: in a small party,
a multi is better, in a large, go for dual.
I think it's true, a multi adds to the mix the high level
fighting abilities, and with lot of xps he can be really
powerful.
But still I prefer dual, 'cause he's good in every kind
of party, and I prefer reaching a very high level as a mage,
while a multi will have a higher level as a fighter.

I still think that in terms of pure power the ultimate class
is the berserker/mage, for he has a great innate, while
kai is quite useless (good for a kensai/thief, though)
Yet, I prefer the kensai, for the "coolness" factor...
Swords and spells, that's all, and enough! Cool!

How do I play, man, this is a hard question!
Basically you can go for melee or tactical mage battles,
as you need. Or a mix.

For melee you'll notice that often a single and simple spell
can aid a lot.
When a battle starts, if you think the enemies are worth it,
you can quick-cast (0 casting time with Vecna and/or Amulet of Power)
ONE of the following:
Stoneskin, Mirror Image, Spirit Armor, Prot. from Magical Weapons
(you are already immune to normal, aren't you? ),
Improved Invisibility, Mislead, Fire Shield, Imp. Haste.
Maybe a sunfire when surrounded...
Need a ranged attack? Melf's Meteors (too powerful with a kensai...
they get the bonuses...golem killer also...
unfortunately there is a bug with the offhand)

Do you need an ally? Well, you can summon everything, but your
best friend is... yourself!
Cast Simulacrum, your clone will have the SAME fighting abilities
as you. He'll be lower in level AS A MAGE...
(I do a lot of micromanagement here, placing first in the
spellbook the spells I want the clone to use, he'll (she'll) lose
the last ones )
And Project Image it's just too good to explain....
It doubles your arsenal... I memorize at least two...

Never leave home without 2 Spell Immunity!
-Against Divination, all your illusion spells are safe from
hostile True Sight.
-Against Abjuration, for Kangaxx but mostly for preventing
dispel magic to work on you.
-Against Conjuration, for Symbols (take this lich!)
-Or the creative way: Spell Immunity: Invocation, then cast
Incendiary Cloud and force your enemies to fight inside!!
(best with Time Stop!)

The rest is for fun! Maze... I love Maze! (with 0 casting time..)
Wish... the strategies are too many I fear...

Just a note on Thac0, that seems to bother you.
If you have the baldurdash fix, Imp. Invis. gives a +4.
(So does Mislead, I tested)
Tenser gives another +4.
GREAT spell, problem is,it blocks further spellcasting.
But if you really need... useful too for it doubles HPs...
(I reach 300 and more)
I think the best is to use it in a Trigger: Tenser, Imp.
Haste, Mislead.
Finally, you can use other weapons than mine (CF is "only" +3)
or simply cast Black Blade of Disaster!
It's a +5 weapon, so the thac0 improves, plus drains levels
and so on...

Of course, if you cast Time Stop + Imp. Alacrity (should be
a 20th level spell...) you can use all of these things
at the same time in NO time, literally...

My fighting style is completed with contingencies, as you know..
Cont.: Mislead, 50% hp.
Chain Cont.: Mirror Image, Prot.from Magical Weapons, Prot.
from Magical Energy, 50% hp.
This assures me I can always use the above strategies, even
if ambushed!

Forgive me, enough ranting, my fingers hurt today!!!
Hope this all could serve as an inspiration!
Once I happened to detail one of my funniest "fights", if interested
you could take a look..
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm