Help in Vale Of Shadows

cuallito · Post by **cuallito** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:07 am

My party is:
Three lvl4 rangers + lvl 2 druid

I'm stuck in the tomb of the vale of shadows. I can't kill myrkul's sendling. Ordinary weapons don't seem to work against him. I've tried creating a mage, but she can only cast a spell once before I have to go back and buy it again

Same thing with my druid. I got this game for cheap for $5 without the manual, so I'm a little lost I guess.

Tell me how to kick Myrkul Sendling's ass.

AvatarOfLight · Post by **AvatarOfLight** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 1:25 am

The first thing you may wish to consider is starting over and creating a more balanced party. It's important to note that fighters and wizards are very powerful characters in IWD. This is not a really easy game in general, and setting up a strong party will help you a lot.

kmonster · Post by **kmonster** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 10:28 am

You don't have to kill Myrkul's sending now. Just explore the rest of the dungeon until you gained some levels and found enough magical weapons to hurt it.

Mage scrolls are better used for learning spells, not for casting them directly. Right click the scroll and scribe it, once you learned it you can select to memorize it when sleeping (similar like the druid) so you can cast it the next day.

I agree with AvatarOfLight, it might be better starting over with a better balanced party. If you add a multiclass thief to your 3 rangers, 1 druid and 1 mage you have covered all needs (a cleric or druid for priest spells, a mage or bard for arcane spells, a thief for picking locks and disarming traps and some fighting power), but I recommend reading the manual first and deciding what party you want to play afterwards. If there isn't a manual in .pdf form on your CD you can download the official manual at Sorcerer's Place - Icewind Dale Tips, Tricks & Hints .

cuallito · Post by **cuallito** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 10:49 am

I tried lots of different parties actually, this one is the only one that let me get this far. I all the other classes kept dying on me.

kmonster · Post by **kmonster** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 1:09 pm

It's hard to win a game if you don't even know the rules.

If you don't learn how to cast spells you won't get far.

Very important is the character creation, you'll suffer from mistakes you make there until the end of the game.
You probably already found out that you can reroll until you get a high sum of stats and transfer points from unimportant to important stats afterwards.
A character with 14 in all stats is horrible since 14 usually isn't better than 8, 18s make the difference.

Most important is that all your party members start with maxed out dexterity, the +4 AC bonus for 18 dex will make sure that you're hit far less often and the ranged attack bonus isn't bad either.
Con and str are important for everyone too.
Only mages and bards benefit from int, only clerics and druids benefit from wis. Cha is useless except for one character who does the shopping and talking.

Aerich · Post by **Aerich** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 8:42 pm

You should be able to find a non-random longsword +1 in that tomb. There are 6 entry points into the large room with the vats of green stuff. The sword is found in the little dead-end passage to the lower right-hand side of the big room.

Your druid can hurt the Sending with Sunscorch, I do believe, or Shillelagh.

ultramarine · Post by **ultramarine** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 3:33 am

I'd rather solo than play with that team. Try making a balanced one. There are of threads here that can help.

cuallito · Post by **cuallito** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 5:34 pm

Okay, I was able to kill myrkul's sendling, but now I have a problem on the 2nd floor. My thieves can't detect the traps, thereby stopping me from advancing in the game. I think their trap detection ability is around 50%, is that just too low? Started the game over with a different party:

2xRanger
2xFighter/Druid
2xIllusionist/Theif

They are all lvl 3 or 4.

kmonster · Post by **kmonster** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 5:46 pm

50 percent should be enough for the 1st chapter.
You even don't have to detect traps, you can just trigger them. A healthy characters usually survives the damage.
What exactly is the problem ?

Aerich · Post by **Aerich** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 10:49 pm

Which traps? If you're talking about the ones at the entrance that trigger a bunch of skeleton warriors, you can't detect those. You just have to send one character in to trigger them, then run back to the doorway to make your stand.

In this game, it doesn't pay to advance your party all at once. Always send a scout. 50% is definitely enough for that stage of the game.

I'm not a big fan of doubling up character types. I try to have my characters serve different roles (e.g. primary fighter, secondary fighter, or mage, etc). I'd rather have a ranger + paladin than 2 rangers. Two illusionist/thiefs is a waste of XP and character/party potential. Have one multiclassed thief. Fighter/druids are one of the better combos to double up on, but it's also nice to get the party-buffing spells of a cleric.

One of my favourite parties is:
Pally
R/Cl
F/M
F/D
F/T
Bard

It pretty much covers everything, and is very strong with missiles and melee, in addition to magic. It's better for a high-xp game (e.g. on Hard or Insane difficulty level). On a normal game, you may wish to make one or more of the above characters single classed (but not the thief).