Why is everyone so high on Viconia

Ollamnh · Post by **Ollamnh** » Thu Jan 17, 2002 3:06 pm

I just ran Viconia in a party for the first time and my response is 'why'? She's not all that hot as a cleric and useless as a fighter or shooter. She can't get along with anybody and her romance come-on runs along the order of "Hey, sailor".

After getting thoroughly fed up with her, I didn't even bother to resurect her after a vamp had her for lunch.

Jaheira's a bit of a prig, but she's a good cleric (druid) and a very useful second or third fighter once she's properly equipped.

fable · Post by **fable** » Thu Jan 17, 2002 3:38 pm

Later in the game you are going to encounter some very nasty Undead. When they see that you have a druid who can't turn them, much less cast False Dawn and Holy Bolt at them, they are going to personally shake your hand out of thanks before tearing out your party's throats.

Put another way: yes, Jaheira's great, with the ability to Resurrect (thanks to being a Harper), fine fighting skills, and excellent druid spells. But Viconia has the spells that you can cast at the Undead, which only clerics possess. And what do you mean she's "not all that hot as a cleric"? She's *only* got a Wisdom rating of *18.* Add to that a very high natural magical resistance (due to being a dark elf) and a Dexterity of 19, and she's very hard to target once she's working on a spell. All in all, pretty damn good.

UserUnfriendly · Post by **UserUnfriendly** » Thu Jan 17, 2002 3:57 pm

get viccy and aerie or anoweenie n party, and you might be able to get turn undead evil and turn undead good to work. have vivvy ahead of aerie , turn undead, and teh undead will be controlled. the control radius will allow you to use the udead to take out its fellows, and when youre ready to move to next map, have aerie or anoweenie blast them for xp.

infamous sanc turn trick and infamous sanc blad barrior trick are all too cool

Curdis · Post by **Curdis** » Thu Jan 17, 2002 4:01 pm

Ollamnh, I think some people like the 'Hey, Sailor' style, and she is undeniably a very fine cleric. @fable didn't mention her inate (drow) magic resistance and at 65% IIRC it is a hard thing to ignore.

Personally I don't like the fact that the undead want to be her mate rather than just going boom. But as a straight cleric there is not a better one in the game. - Curdis

UserUnfriendly · Post by **UserUnfriendly** » Fri Jan 18, 2002 1:08 am

yeah, but my kensai sorc has 75 magic resist already,
muhahahahahah!!!

holy avneger, ring of gaxx robe and amulet of power.

but, seriously, viccy can be very nasty and very vicious in meelee under certain circumstances. with human fesh armor, and other amulets and devices, like shield of lost, you can get viccy up to 100 magic resist. think whacking sendai or jon irenicus solo!! she can be immune to all spells, and her rotten thaco and attacks per dont matter when your char is immune to every thing and youre whacking away with crom.

Onyx · Post by **Onyx** » Fri Jan 18, 2002 2:18 am

You gotta be joking!!!
Viconia is THE cleric.
And about her romance, well, it gets better in ToB.

Onyx

Aegnor · Post by **Aegnor** » Fri Jan 18, 2002 6:58 am

Two thumbs up for Viconia - Ollamnh, you probably didn't notice the magic resistance, which really makes a difference (2/3 of all spells do not affect her). And yes she's dirty and mean and quick to get in the sack but her dialoques with the other NPC's can be pretty hilarious. Also, she's got the highest wisdom out there, I think, so she maxes on bonus spells.

Couple of drawbacks: you've got to be careful how you use the Holy Smite spell or she can really hurt herself (and other evil NPC's), and with her in your party you can forget about having Keldorn's respect and allegiance - same goes for Valygar, I think. But otherwise she's an evil caster who will (with some bruising) fit into a basically good party. Finally, many people find that having the party's reputation go down when she joins actually helps with NPC management.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot...being a drow, she has all sorts of useful tips on how to survive in the Underdark

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Fri Jan 18, 2002 9:38 am

I can't believe some people don't like Viconia. Like others have stated before, she's a very tough cookie, cleric-wise and personally I think she has the very best romance. Not to mention the looks!
And about the 'not getting along with others' thing... it surprised me that the good-aligned NPC's (especially Keldorn) just assume that she's just evil. But it becomes very clear after a certain point that she's willing (and able) to change. No mean feat, considering her upbringing.

Ned Flanders · Post by **Ned Flanders** » Fri Jan 18, 2002 10:37 am

Viconia might be the second best NPC in the game. Come on now, we all know it's Aerie (although I know there is only one here who will support that).

Anyway, make any PC you want, Beastmaster for all I care. Grab korgan, edwin, and viccy and you crush this game. Viconia becomes so powerful it is ridiculous. Once I got the romance rolling in ToB, I dropped everyone but her.

Ollamnh, I would really encourage you to stick with her. Once she starts racking up those high level abilities, yikes. Also:

Girdle of fortitude (lots more HP's)
dual wield (crom and club of detonation or flail of ages +5) who cares about +++ in dual weapon slots her thaco is too good later on anyway
100% MR
Her own personal army of skeleton warriors and/or aeriel servants

fable · Post by **fable** » Fri Jan 18, 2002 10:46 am

Originally posted by Curdis:
<STRONG>@fable didn't mention her inate (drow) magic resistance and at 65% IIRC it is a hard thing to ignore.
</STRONG>

Did too!

I just called it "dark elf" instead of drow.

DaJir · Post by **DaJir** » Fri Jan 18, 2002 10:59 am

how soon do you get vic to change her alignement? I find it irritate'n as hell that her turn undead charms instead of chunks the bad guys. It really messes with the flow of butt kick'n me(maxed f/m/t) and sarevok lay down. Other than that she's okay, and thanks for the girdle of fortitude tip. Don't think i've ever used it and its been sitting in my bag of holding for ages.

Curdis · Post by **Curdis** » Fri Jan 18, 2002 10:48 pm

@fable, sorry - my bad (PS - The knees do to go first, you just don't remember

).

!@Ollamnh - any comments or was this a Trollish Spam? - Curdis

Damien Godchild · Post by **Damien Godchild** » Fri Feb 01, 2002 11:41 am

Viconia Kicks

i had viconia in my party and she kicks. if you get her to level 7 spells shell wakk through anything. wen i got to bodhis lair i used false dawn with her and fried those vamps(until she got abducted) she has the best romance and the most spells of a cleric, not to mentoin her magic resistence and ability with the sling

in other words, viconias kicks and no party is complete without her

UserUnfriendly · Post by **UserUnfriendly** » Fri Feb 01, 2002 1:14 pm

i personally prefer aerie over viccy, you guys knew that was coming, eh? but I am having a lot of fun experimenting with CREATING spells... a triggered spell is seriously nasty, you can enhance a weak spell by repetiion into a killer one, for example, my favorite, a remove magic with two abu dahzim, weaker than a triple abu for sheer killing power but have two mages set up and you have a nasty armor piercing damage for liches and mages who have prot from eneregy in their scripts...

so I find the smaller spell selection ok, since with aerie there are so many ways to compensate. as a first strike, alpha stike char, aerie is unique and very vicious, can do more than vccy in the first decive moments of an encounter...

viccy can use chains too, using potion swap with scroll, but I find her irritating in the exterme..to put it bluntly, its a personality issue, since I use use any item with my kensai sorc and get up to 95% magic resist by end of soa, I no longer covet viccys magic resist.

her turn is ok, but as I am a big fan of sanctuary turn trick, not so big an issue...

notice how no body mentions anoweenie in this thread? even viccy is preferable to that smug git...

fable · Post by **fable** » Fri Feb 01, 2002 1:25 pm

Originally posted by Curdis
@fable, sorry - my bad (PS - The knees do to go first, you just don't remember ).

!@Ollamnh - any comments or was this a Trollish Spam? - Curdis

Not a problem. And I'm betting it was trollish spam.

telcontar · Post by **telcontar** » Fri Feb 01, 2002 8:52 pm

viccy - If I need to hear from our resident wingless pigeon, I will bang a drum. Otherwise, return to your pathetic cowering and let me speak.

best quote of the game.

personally, i think the most interesting romance is actually aerie, with the haer'dalis twist thrown in, but i just couldnt deal with how big of a wuss she was...
besides, the incessant "faster than chittika fastpaws" got on my nerves...
as for jaheira, i couldnt get over the fact that she is like, your mom in BG1....although the part where you can buy her trinkets and stuff is cool

fable · Post by **fable** » Fri Feb 01, 2002 9:23 pm

Originally posted by telcontar
viccy - If I need to hear from our resident wingless pigeon, I will bang a drum. Otherwise, return to your pathetic cowering and let me speak.

best quote of the game.

I'd just like to take a moment to point with delight at much of the professional-quality character writing in BG2. This is not the kind of simple-minded stuff that passes for literature in AD&D fantasy. The writing for Viconia, Jan, and (especially) Korgan reveals--at least in dialog--a real knowledge of how to depict deeper aspects of personality, and the language needed to convey it. Korgan's roilingly vicious and creative abuse is typical. Jan's barbed whimsy is, as well. And Viconia's lashing-out practically screams her own pain. I only wish it was the beginning of a trend, instead of an isolated moment (along with P:T, I'll admit).

UserUnfriendly · Post by **UserUnfriendly** » Fri Feb 01, 2002 11:57 pm

its quite possible that i might get viccy and KEEP aerie, since I have discussed the merits of a high level aerie extensively, and with Dark rooks excellent new summons cheese, viccy becomes more an more interesting....

having both would seriously apply a very vicous strike team, capable of buffing, viccy, and preparing pre strike force of really killer vampires, have minsc talk to djinn...giggle, and aerie for the nasty vicious

greater malison,
implosion
implosion

or

greater malison
earthquake
earthquake

seriously, a viccy and aerie team would provide more and more intersting variations of pure strike force power...

hmm...I had chosen nalia as finalist in my 5 team before recovering immie and taking her thru the game, might blow a few saves and get viccy instead, and pick up yoshimo after nalia is taken care of with her keep, and stuff.

besides, haer dalis is beginning to get on my nerves, I picked him up to finally see what the love triangel is like and the little git is beginning to seriously annoy me...

notice nobody stuck up for anno weenie, come on, hes the most hated cleric for sure. just too annoying....

aerie and viccy, the new tag team, and their endless sniping is quite funny, and best of all they dont cuaes each other to leave, will pick viccy up just ebfore underdark, as you need slayer transform to really control things...

Cheysul · Post by **Cheysul** » Sat Feb 02, 2002 12:48 am

While I admit, I never used her to her full potential, prefering to do battle with strength ans weaponry instead of alot of magic, never turning, not alot of beefing up, etc., I did like Aerie better than Vicci. Maybe on the replay i'll try her out more.

UserUnfriendly · Post by **UserUnfriendly** » Sat Feb 02, 2002 2:08 am

all a matter of style, I like having a combo of magic and whacking for teh serious battles, and consider spells to soften up my targets befoer unleashing holy avenger, and other assorted gear. but for my mage heavy parties, aerie si the unique resource for pure viciousness with unleashing hell vial triggers and chains. a fully loaded up aerie can unleash 3 triggers and one chain contingency, like

greater malison, earth quake, earth quake
3 holy smites
3 flame strikes
2 spooks
and do enough damage to take out a dragon solo, and the double spook si insurance, since if the dragon survives it will panic and be helpless to follow up wave of warriors.

viccy in the same battle will have 6 vampires, not fledgeling vamps either, ready to provide infantry support, and if i feel really evil, using potion swap have a chain loaded up with tripel implosion and a trigger full of holy smites.

with a full spell table, seriously kick any butt with this lethal tag team...

and the constant bickerin is so entertaining...