help with pit fiends! (Tactics mod)

tamenrot · Post by **tamenrot** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 9:31 am

Hi, I'm playing the Tactics mod. Could anyone tell me about the pit fiends (they are summoned by lyches) and their resistances?
-Is a more than +2 weapon needed to hit them? Are they hit by ranged weapons?
-What armor they carry?
-Level of magic resistance?
-etc.

And of course... how can I deal with them? Hehehehe. I think I have not enough level to fight against them. I'm playing a 14-level mage-assassin, a 13kensai/10mage and Aerie (9/9).

999 poison points are really tough, aren't they?

Thanks, guys!

Sytze · Post by **Sytze** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 9:45 am

Nasty, aren't they?
The thing is, try not to be hit by then. To make sure you won't get hit, you should protect yourself from evil. Use either the mage level 1 spell, or the cleric's Protection From Evil, 10' . Then make sure you've got a summon that is not protected from evil (preferable a relative strong one, a fire elemental, for example. The Pit Fiend will attack the summon and you will have to try to take it out very, very fast.

You could also try a bunch of the following spells: Holy Smite, Summon Planetar, Summon Deva, Horrid Wilting and, if you are able to see the Pit Fiend, Bolt of Glory. Mind, some of these spells are high level.

If all fails, cast Prot. from Evil and ignore the little bugger.

lompo · Post by **lompo** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 9:47 am

You need +3 weapons or more.
Don't know about armour and M.R., but your team is for sure strong enoug for taking them down.
Use Prot. f. evil 10', and he want bother you while you can fight him.

tamenrot · Post by **tamenrot** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 9:55 am

Thanks! They're REALLY nasty... and can cast dispel magic (bye, bye, protections, snif).
I'll try they way you suggest, or simply I WILL run aaaaway, hehehe

Deadalready · Post by **Deadalready** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 10:53 am

When I was soloing I always ran off to do the hardest areas in Athakatla as a test of skills and tactics, one of my favourite things was fighting with no spells memorised for as long as possible; with this in mind I had to work out a way to fight pitfiends quite early while tackling liches.

To defeat most liches I ended up being somewhat cheap and bought a scroll of shapeshift and transformed into a jelly becoming a blobular punching bag, with this invulnerability to spells and the pit fiend's damage I decided to learn a way of killing the pit fiend without resorting a pathetic mage thaco and used the wand of lightning and wand of frost, which seem to do huge amounts of damage to the demons.

Phantom Lord · Post by **Phantom Lord** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 10:55 am

The real fun with the tactics Pit Fiends is that can they gate in another Pit Fiend (who can gate in the next one and so on). If this happens, let the two (or more ...) deal with each other first, then take on the last one standing.

Sometimes the "lure to a narrow passage where it gets stuck" thing works (e. g. in the asylum above the central stairs), so you can grind them down with missiles. Otherwise Whirlwind / Greater Whirlwind seems the best way to bring them down with force.

The positive thing about the Pit Fiends is that they attack virtually everything in sight though, so you can "use" them to kill your enemies in some helpless situations.

tamenrot · Post by **tamenrot** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 11:48 am

Hehe, phantom lord, I know that whirlwind is funny, but at my mage assassin lvl 14 I can't even dream with that skill

And now I haven't got +3 missile weapons

The idea on using wands of frost/lightning is good! I'm looking forward to trying it!

By the way, I like the lych... as soon as I have finished casting one spell he says "I've heard enough, now show you and let me put you to an end!" and casts a teleport field, hahahaha, so I face him and the pit fiend. And die, of course.

Tactics is cool... it is like I've never played the SoA

Nimiety · Post by **Nimiety** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 12:44 pm

Considering your level, get +3 or better weapons (there are several you can find even that early) is probably your best option along with the prot from evil.

Phantom Lord · Post by **Phantom Lord** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 1:36 pm

[QUOTE=tamenrot]Hehe, phantom lord, I know that whirlwind is funny, but at my mage assassin lvl 14 I can't even dream with that skill

And now I haven't got +3 missile weapons

[/QUOTE]Hehe, whirlwind is the big advantage of the ~lvl 14 F/M/T.

With ToB installed you could try to get the Crimson Dart, first level of WK IIRC. Stilish weapon for a Mage / Assassin and +3 and returning. The standard tool for any foe that doesn't fit through doors. And a WK visit would be mandatory for the potion case anyway. Firetooth is sold outside as well.

tamenrot · Post by **tamenrot** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 8:39 am

I've got a doubt with the Protection from Evil... the spell confers +2 to saving throws to the protected, and -2 to the evil monster roll dice. But it's not said anyway that the fiend ignores you, is it?
So a fiend doesn't attack you If you are protected from evil? I will try it later when I can play the game (

), but now I'm curious about it, hehe

By the way, are lyches inmune to 1-5lvl spells? (I've read it in a post) If they were, I'm surprised, because breach was of no use against them

Cuchulain82 · Post by **Cuchulain82** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 8:50 am

I've got a doubt with the Protection from Evil... the spell confers +2 to saving throws to the protected, and -2 to the evil monster roll dice. But it's not said anyway that the fiend ignores you, is it?

Pit Fiends won't attack you if you are protected from evil- it is an AD&D 2nd edition thing. Check out the spell description for the spell Gate.

Phantom Lord · Post by **Phantom Lord** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 9:10 am

[QUOTE=Cuchulain82]Check out the spell description for the spell Gate.[/QUOTE]Great description btw: "If the caster fails to protect himself in this manner, the Pit Fiend will tear the caster apart, piece by piece and then feast on the remains."

This describes a Tactics Mod Pit Fiend perfectly. Luckily for us poor players the typical caster (Lich) fails to protect himself on a regular basis.

My asylum Pit Fiend two days ago feasted on the remains of the Lich that summoned it, the Lichs Greater Mummy comrades, his gated Pit Fiend brother and finally on the Vampire two doors to the west, where I was looking for shelter. Pretty tough guy. Needless to say that in the first place I ran into the Lich because I was retracting from a Bodhi visit after a rest ... total chaos, gotta love tactics.

Sytze · Post by **Sytze** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 10:04 am

Try a game with every component from Tactics, Improved Battles and CoM Encounters installed. That should certainly spice up your game. I'm busy beating every single one of the spiced up encounters without cheese. Pretty hard, to tell the truth.

tamenrot · Post by **tamenrot** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 10:16 am

Yes, I am playing the SoA with the complete Tactics installed. It is hard, it really is... But I think that after having survived (cheesed-survival, It was too hard for me without cheesing

) the battle with Illych, there's no hard battle that surprises me, hahahaha

I use some cheesy tactics (using doors to escape from spells) when I need it, but I'm having fun all the way

, and that is the aim of any game, isn't it?

My question about pit fiends arised when I found that demons were cheese themselves and very hard to fight with my usual tactics

One thing I have discovered with the mod is that the first time I played (without the mod) my tactics were... hehe... veeery, very poor.

Phantom Lord · Post by **Phantom Lord** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 10:40 am

My downfall happened in the Sahuagin city. I was angry about the whole Gythianki / Sahuagin mess and answered straight ahead that I would kill them all if they didn't let me go. An easy task in the unmodded version of the game as you might agree.

Well, roughly 20 seconds later I was about to replay the whole ship capturing episode ...

tamenrot · Post by **tamenrot** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 3:31 am

mi 1st Tactics pit fiend

I was a boy and now I am a man. I have defeated my first pit fiend! (yeahh, yeahh, hahahahaha).

Thank you! Protection from evil was the key, and a lightning bolt put that fiend to the end when it was casting a new gate

Now it's time to face the beholders of the eye cult... maybe a "blindness" spell could work?

hahahaha

tamenrot · Post by **tamenrot** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 3:34 am

By the way, Phantom Lord, your adventure in the Asylum is cool!! hehehe

It is somehow (a bit more bloody, of course

) Benny Hill's episode

Nimiety · Post by **Nimiety** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 7:09 am

I have to admit... reading posts like this scare me away from tactics - I'm often a run in and bash party and my tactics sometimes need work.

N...

Deadalready · Post by **Deadalready** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 10:37 am

[QUOTE=Nimiety]I have to admit... reading posts like this scare me away from tactics - I'm often a run in and bash party and my tactics sometimes need work.

N...[/QUOTE]

We all need our concieted butts kicked now and again to set us back on track again

tamenrot · Post by **tamenrot** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 11:14 am

Nimiety, don't be scared by Tactics mod. Be horrified , hehehehe.
Don't care, I'm joking

I haven't played much the Tactics (I am in the chapter one) and I think it is reeeeally hard. But "classical" Baldur's was being a bit boring for me. I was seeing that now I know strategies and know how to use spells (hehehe, but I didn't know how "protection from evil" worked

) the game was too easy, including the hardest fights. Playing Tactics I'm enjoying the game again

Of course, don't ever mind to play Tactics before playing at least once the game without the mod installed, you wouldn't enjoy it!