Doing subquests after Spellhold??

kiwidoc · Post by **kiwidoc** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 5:39 pm

I am a fairly experienced player (oh I confess ... I'm a fanatic who's played the game countless times) but I've never had Imoen as a party member *hangs head in shame*

This time I've decided to include her, and also to pick up Solaufein as an NPC (one of [url="http://weidu.org/main.html"]Wesley Weimer's[/url] truly excellent mods!)

I'd like to finish Chapter 2 when my party is around level 10 or 11, and then side with the thieves. This means I'll only do a few of the subquests. I know most of the optional quests can be done when you get back from the Underdark (and some of them get harder as well). However I'm not sure if ALL of them can wait.

I'd greatly appreciate it if anyone could answer these two questions for me

1/. Do any of the optional subquests have to be done before Spellhold?

2/. I have Jaheria, Anomen, Keldorn, Nalia and Yoshi yep, its the Holy Rollers
Do any of these NPCs have specific quests that need to be finished before Spellhold?

anarchistica · Post by **anarchistica** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 6:18 am

NB: This is true as far is i know.

No quests that aren't relevant to getting the support of either faction have to be completed. However, some quests have timers so you will have to or want to do them first. You have Nalia, so you have to do her quest before leaving Athkatla or her quest times out. Similarly, some quests relating to Jaheira can lead to game-breaking scenes (i.e. you might face certain people when leaving the Underdark, leaving you with a pissed off elven army). I also seem to recall Anomen really wants to go to the Order once he hits a certain level, and might leave if you take too long.

But aside from those, there aren't really any quests you have to do first.

mcgregor · Post by **mcgregor** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 6:23 am

i have heard that all of those timers are put on hold whilst the party is in spellhold, but i can't confirm that for certain

mcgregor

BALDURPLAYER · Post by **BALDURPLAYER** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 11:43 pm

actually u can go to spellhold without doing any subquests(well maybe doing one or two small quests) and without cheap pickpocket trick or anything like that. i managed to do that many times.

includes spoiler so highlight below to see!

ok loot everything in irenicus dungeon. when u got out. sell all the scrolls(don't worry scrolls and mages are NOT nessesary for finishing the game, but spells are) and sell all the garbage. then go and do the slaver suna seni encounter and sell everything and the arbane's sword which worths like $3000. by then i would have like $10000-$15000. and if u still don't have enough, do circus and sell the stuff and/or go do the xzar harper quest. bring the poisoned man to the harper base. kill the prebak two appreantices and loot the house. there u should find scrolls that worth alot. sell them and there u have it(well u must have 15000 by then) when i did this i was playing insane and my party was this (5 people) : *me*Abdel(PLAIN fighter),Jaheira,Minsc,Keldorn,Yoshimo. and still i managed to finish so don't worry. When i got to spellhold i had the exact amount of xp as imoen and used her as my main mage for the rest of the game. the main thing is to just sell everything. but keep the important ones like helm of balduran. if u encounter any monster that have spell or weapon protection. use keldorn's dispel cuz it CRUSHES any protection u encounter during that time. btw when i paid bayle or bodhi i was level 8.

Klorox · Post by **Klorox** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 8:13 am

BP, the only issue I see with your strategy is that you'll be very short on +3 weapons, something that helps quite a bit.

BALDURPLAYER · Post by **BALDURPLAYER** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 10:57 am

Klorox wrote:BP, the only issue I see with your strategy is that you'll be very short on +3 weapons, something that helps quite a bit.

highlight to see

get the mace of disruption which counts as +3 weapon in the tomb.(you can get this no matter which guild u join, bodhi or thieves) if still not comfortable with that go get a protection from undead scroll. kill the lichy in the tavern in the city gates, get the daystar which counts as +4 weapon. but i think last time i played like this i didn't get the daystar. when i left for spellhold i think my npcs were carrying these weapons:

me - Namarra +2 and a shield (also has the cloak of sewers, used yoshimo's traps bah reload fest til i got all traps, then lure the sewer king and BOOM!)
jaheira - belm +2 and a shield (used the invisible dust spell idk wat it's called in the druid grove to get belm without killing a single creature)
minsc - mace of disruption(+3) and a mace
yoshimo - his katana(+1)
keldorn - hollowed redeemer(+2)

as u can see mace of disruption is the only +3 weapon i have. u'll probably get into some trouble fighting vampires if u sided with thieves. i used myself as a meat shield(18 dex, cast negative plane protection, use best shield and armor with cloak of sewers and cast defensive harmony to get -10 armorclass.)then use minsc(mace of disruption, racial enemy bouns +3hit +3dam) and that crushes the vampires.
btw maybe it is because i go to spellhold with low level so no giant monsters there. also i found it funny that u CAN cast priest spells in city. that just makes mages in early game even less useful. chapter 2 and chapter 3 can be easily fininshed without a mage and by the time u get to spellhold, u get imoen(SAME LEVEL WOOT)! then i can focus all the best mage equiment on her without worrying about reputation or fight between npcs (Edwin is an ass)

OH forgot to mention! u might wanna keep a protection from petrification mage scroll. it makes the fight with balor in the underdark MUCH easiler.

Minsc is born to fight vampires, two stars in mace with racial enemy of vampire, together with mace of disruption, he destroys any vampire u put in his path.

Klorox · Post by **Klorox** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 8:14 am

1) You never mentioned getting Belm.

2)I still think the lack of +3 weapons is a problem.

Personally, I really don't have a problem with the cheese of selling and reselling crap to get a ton of cash and just buy a bunch of +3 weapons (also some great armor and robes), especially when I'm playing with no reloads.

BALDURPLAYER · Post by **BALDURPLAYER** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 9:40 am

Klorox wrote:1) You never mentioned getting Belm.

2)I still think the lack of +3 weapons is a problem.

Personally, I really don't have a problem with the cheese of selling and reselling crap to get a ton of cash and just buy a bunch of +3 weapons (also some great armor and robes), especially when I'm playing with no reloads.

belm is only a +2 weapon and i only want it for the extra attack. sometimes for minsc so he gets one extra punch with mace of disruption on vampires. i don't think it really plays a important role here. belm is much easier and faster to get considering u'll have to fight(a bunch) to get kundane in planar prison.

the only time i reloaded is when i deal with the sewer king cuz i used traps. if u really think +3 weapons are that important, go for it. and to me, i absolutely HATE pickpocket cheese. everytime i play, i buy the things i want. it is a process and u get rewarded. u earn money, the rewards are better equipment and u get to choose. if u do that resell and sell, money has no value and quest rewards(the $10000s) become nothing and it also means u throw away a big part of the game. what's the point of doing quests then? and since u are doing no reload challenge, why not no pickpocket also? no reload is actually very very easy if u use that cheese. noting that u can get robe of venca(whatever spell), shield of balduran, belt of strength, rod of resurrection(what's the point of no reload since u can resurrect ? also at this point of the game, chapter 2, and u didn't pay for it) and many other goodies in the beginning of chapter 2 without killing a single monster. to me that is just..... wrong. but it's up to u, though i wouldn't recommend it.

kiwidoc · Post by **kiwidoc** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 10:43 am

Thanks for all the advice, and sorry for taking so long to reply .. I wasn'r very well.

SPOILERS -
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I decided to stay on the mainland untill I'd done most of Anomen and Jaheira's quests. This meant I had plenty of time to kill, so I have done a few of the subquests ... the Slavers, the Temple Sewers, the Seeing Eye, the Planar sphere and all the Trademeet quests. I've also done some serious shopping. This means I've got +3 weapons for everyone (I gave Anomen some skills with a flail), I've also picked up a few bits and pieces for improved strength and armour. Most important of all I've collected everything to make Imoen better at dealing with traps and locks!

I'm about to try and kill the vampires ... wish me luck

BALDURPLAYER · Post by **BALDURPLAYER** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:12 pm

just so u know, when u get imoen her level is always
highlight to see don't wanna spoil if u don't like

she's always 11 and has about 440000 xp, 400000 for mage and 40000 for thief since she's a dual class if i remember correctly. have fun killing vampires!

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:35 pm

That spoiler is incorrect Baldurplayer, her XP/Level depend on the players level, and can vary considerably.

BALDURPLAYER · Post by **BALDURPLAYER** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:50 pm

maybe, but she's always level 11 when i pick her up. one time i did all the subquests before head off to spellhold she's level 11. then one time i didn't do any quests and went to spellhold as soon as posible, she's still level 11. maybe she has more experience when u are high level but she's always level 11, well at least in my game.