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Ok.. personally... even with my IWD2 geekness... i am bit lost with all that stuff.. i just knwo what works with something and so on..

But personally.. remoharz arent anything near of what you just said.. perhaps on insane but on normal... Perhaps you should check you calculations..

But i owuld like to remind that there seams to be 2 types of IWD2.. easy and hard.. personally i have easy one.. but here and there is people who will complain about game being too hard.. mostly those are on planetBG forums.. but these forums have few of those too..

So silver dragon.. if those things are based on you game.. them i belive you have the hard version..

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AFAIK the difference between normal and insane is just the amount of damage enemy do:

- normal 100%
- hard 150%
- insane 200%

AFAIK AB, HP & saves should be exactly the same...


...never heard that there are two different versions - but reading some threads on different forums you could really think that you are right:

especially the description of the enemy AI seems to differ...



e.g. many wrote that an enemy locked on a target never will change the target - but in my game:

most decoy tactics doesn't work well:

...running away with a decoy, ORS-absue & many others only work for a few rounds...

...if a monster can't hurt or catch you they will lock on a new target nearby after a few rounds...



...hmmm...- I have some moduls of WEIDU & the Targos mod installed...-...but in the description nothing is said of better AI or increased difficulty...


...and I guess more or less everybody has the 2nd patch installed !


...but I will check the BS remorhaz AB asap !


very strange


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Well i would like to describe how they usually describe it..

My level 6 party dies to one goblin.. in Horde fortress.. i cant hit anything.. but when they keep playing things will get easier..

[QUOTE=silverdragon72]
e.g. many wrote that an enemy locked on a target never will change the target - but in my game:

most decoy tactics doesn't work well:

...running away with a decoy, ORS-absue & many others only work for a few rounds...

...if a monster can't hurt or catch you they will lock on a new target nearby after a few rounds...
[/QUOTE]

That's weird One of my favourite tactics is to have one of my allies running into the middle of the enemy crowd and then encase him in an ORS - the enemies will keep attacking him while my mage can do whatever she wants to kill them all with area spells. I have never seen them looking for a new target after a couple of rounds of unsuccessful attacks.
Maybe this is due to a mod you installed?

AFAIK what you wrote about the differences between the difficulty levels are correct.

I've decided to give this a shot. I started a game last night playing Normal/Normal. Here is my soloing Monk:

Vassago LG Male Deep Gnome Monk of the Broken Order 4
STR:16 DEX:20 CON:18 INT:3 WIS:16+1 CHA:1
Weapon: 2 Handed GreatAxe (slashing), Crossbow (piercing), Fists (bludgeoning)
Skills: Hide 1, Move Silently 1, Pickpocket 1, Diplomacy 3
Feats: Power Attack, Cleave

I have done everything in Targos except battling the horde. The only time I've taken damage (which was -4 hp) was battling the doppleganger. Other than that, I've not been touched. I used Mirror Image & Blur when fighting the adventures in the bar and I used two fire potions (the one that only affects one person) against the evil Wizard (Phen?). Surprisingly with a pickpocket skill of 6 you can pick most people in Targos. I took a point in this so that I could pickpocket what-his-name's lucky knuck(?) I've never been able to pick the two warriors in the tent and Oswald has always given me problems when trying to pick, so I've left them alone this game. But everyone else I have cleaned out. Of course, you don't get much, but since my Monk is refusing monatary rewards, I wanted to make up the missed income a little.

@Asriel,
I saw from your post that you took Knowldege (Arcana), how come?

@Anybody,
I remember reading in the manual (I think) that if you are using a bow or crossbow and a monster begins meleeing you, you suffer a penalty. I would imagine the same is true for goblin archers. However, my question is, if I'm using my greataxe, is the penalty to them still incurred because I noticed when fighting that I don't stand close, but have a little distance between myself and the archer.

[QUOTE=neocool00]@Anybody,
I remember reading in the manual (I think) that if you are using a bow or crossbow and a monster begins meleeing you, you suffer a penalty. I would imagine the same is true for goblin archers. However, my question is, if I'm using my greataxe, is the penalty to them still incurred because I noticed when fighting that I don't stand close, but have a little distance between myself and the archer.[/QUOTE]

...AFAIK there should a -8 penalty on AB (-4 with precise shot) - when someone attacks from melee range - so I would guess that "reach" weapons also counts...-...but not 100% sure...

...but if you have a look at the archers attack rolls you should see if he gets the mali or not!


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[QUOTE=neocool00]I have done everything in Targos except battling the horde. The only time I've taken damage (which was -4 hp) was battling the doppleganger. Other than that, I've not been touched. I used Mirror Image & Blur when fighting the adventures in the bar and I used two fire potions (the one that only affects one person) against the evil Wizard (Phen?). Surprisingly with a pickpocket skill of 6 you can pick most people in Targos. I took a point in this so that I could pickpocket what-his-name's lucky knuck(?) I've never been able to pick the two warriors in the tent and Oswald has always given me problems when trying to pick, so I've left them alone this game. But everyone else I have cleaned out. Of course, you don't get much, but since my Monk is refusing monatary rewards, I wanted to make up the missed income a little.[/QUOTE]

...can't say anything about Targos - cause I've installed the Targos mod - and soloing in Targos with a level 1 PC is absolutely impossible after installing this mod!

...but I've heard targos should be quite a cakewalk unmodded!

...so the 1st map with standard difficulty is the dam and the 1st serious fight is the bridge...

but as said will the check the BS remorhaz AB - indeed I was myself surprised that it was that high !

...but maybe the BS monster are tougher then the normal...

didn't had any problems against the regular ice-tempel remorhaz with my full party (cause they get knocked out immediatly by a chromatic orb of my sorc!)

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[QUOTE=Wrath-Of-Egg]Well i would like to describe how they usually describe it..

My level 6 party dies to one goblin.. in Horde fortress.. i cant hit anything.. but when they keep playing things will get easier..[/QUOTE]

yepp - but that are the ones accidently playing HOF mode !


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yes but it is normal.. they dont get insane XP.. just the normal.. and i dont belive 20+ people have just made it up..

[QUOTE=neocool00]
@Asriel,
I saw from your post that you took Knowldege (Arcana), how come?
[/QUOTE]

I didn't find any other class skill I was happy with and found useful. Plus I need to be able to identify things, it saves me a lot of money.

[QUOTE=Brynn]That's weird One of my favourite tactics is to have one of my allies running into the middle of the enemy crowd and then encase him in an ORS - the enemies will keep attacking him while my mage can do whatever she wants to kill them all with area spells. I have never seen them looking for a new target after a couple of rounds of unsuccessful attacks.
Maybe this is due to a mod you installed? [/QUOTE]

...don't know

...e.g. sendind my buffed sorc to a golems for a while the golem is hunting her - but after some time (only when an other PC is near) he stops and attacks someone other...

... or after hitting my sorc for a while (without doing any damage) he changes his target and attacks my melee-fighter!

...don't understand why everybody blaims the AI being braindead !?

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[QUOTE=neocool00]@Anybody,
I remember reading in the manual (I think) that if you are using a bow or crossbow and a monster begins meleeing you, you suffer a penalty. I would imagine the same is true for goblin archers. However, my question is, if I'm using my greataxe, is the penalty to them still incurred because I noticed when fighting that I don't stand close, but have a little distance between myself and the archer.[/QUOTE]


Well, greate axe and spears may reach longer than swords, but I'm pretty sure that distance is still considered "melee", so yes, probably the penalty applies in this case as well.

[QUOTE=Wrath-Of-Egg]yes but it is normal.. they dont get insane XP.. just the normal.. and i dont belive 20+ people have just made it up..[/QUOTE]

...very strange - my game isn't that hard on non-HOF but it's much harder then I remembered it from playing last time (have installed the new budget version this time - after I didn't find my old version anymore) and I've some new moduls of the WEIDU mod installed - Targos I had the last time also !




...but maybe someone else could also check the AB of a battlesquare remorhaz!


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I've also notice when using parties of 3 & 4 that baddies will sometimes change who they attack. This to me is a benfit, b/c not one person is taking all of damage. However, soloing w/ a monk, you tend to draw all the attention to yourself

[QUOTE=Asriel]I didn't find any other class skill I was happy with and found useful. Plus I need to be able to identify things, it saves me a lot of money.[/QUOTE]
Money does seem to be an issue since you reject everything (the whole Monk thing). Personally, I feel if you are an evil Monk, you should reject nothing, if you're a neutral Monk, 50/50 chance of rejection and good Monk reject everything. But alias, I was not consulted in the decision So I went w/ pickpocket to kind of make up for it. Managed to pick a spell off of Ulbech's wife and then sold it back to her for 25 gold pieces. I guess she couldn't stand to look at me and probably just gave me 25 out of pity. Oh well.

Yeah, money is kind of a problem, but since you are soloing you get to spend it all on yourself anyway, so it's not really such a big deal. Plus you don't need all that expensive armor and such, which means, more to spend on your weapons and monk specific equipment.

By the way is there some nice monk specific equipment in this game? Last time I really didn't notice anything, so some hints would be helpful. The only thing I've found so far is the Sash of The Black Raven.

yes, there is some very good monk only items, particularly items that allow extra attacks and unarmed attack bonuses.

I'm guessing you must make good use of the monks stunning attacks!

Yes there are such items.. well i also ignore monk items.. so why dont you go and look at items that are on gamebanshee site.. but since that list is missining some items.. check out DaleKeeper.. you dont need to use it to change your stats.. or skills.. you can just look at items..

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ok checked the BS remorhaz !

...tried 4 battles on normal/normal...

...with my drow melee-fighter (fighter 2 - rogue 3 - Barb 2 - Wiz 3)

but always only get remorhaz shadows - but AFAIK only thing that differs are the HP!

...all battles where much easier on normal difficulty and my drow won all 4 !


Remorhaz stats:

- Remorhaz shadow has 4 attacks per round with AB 30, 25, 20, 15

- on normal they deal between 25 and 30 HP damage per hit additional 7 or 8 fire damage on a successfull hit with no save allowed also the drow SR never worked!

- a remorhaz shadow has about 140 HP and an AC somewhere between 25 and 28 can't find out exactly...


about the test fights:

In all four battles I had lucky rolls: the remorhazs had no critical hits at all my drow hat at least one per combat (average damage per hit: 20,5)

Using haste and had some luck he managed to take out the remorhaz in at least three rounds...

without stoneskin I lost at least one of the four battles the same if the remorhaz had scored at least one critical!

fighting these battles (with exactly the same rolls) on hard mode I would have lost 2 of 4 on insane 3 of 4 (but in one battle I had much luck cause the remorhaz missed me in 2 rounds completely and my drow scored 2 criticals hits !


resumee:

...so at least against remorhaz (high AB & high damage) the difficulty level and some luck with the rolls make the difference !

damage per hit on normal ~35 (critical ~70 on insane) ~70 (critical ~140 = instant death)

and getting hit one time more or less could really decide the battle !

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so what does this all mean for the monk

AC 34 - HP 99 - 3 attacks with AB 14, 11, 8 - damage: 5-14 -> ~9,5

against Remorhaz AC ~25(?) HP 144 - 4 attacks with AB 30, 25, 20, 15 - damage ~35

on normal mode

assumptions: monk is using MI with 5 images - no one scores criticals (better for the monk )


chance for a successfull hit - remorhaz:

# AB - AC

1. 30 - 34 = 80% (rolling a "5" or more will hit)
2. 25 - 34 = 55%
3. 20 - 34 = 30%
4. 15 - 34 = 5%

so a remorhaz will hit the monk as average value 1,7 times per round:

3 rounds to rip off all 5 images

1,7 x 35 = 60 HP damage per round (normal)

another two rounds for killing the monk with 99HP

result: as average value the monk won't survive more then 5 rounds !



chance for a successfull hit - monk:

# AB - AC

1. 14 - 25 = 45% (rolling a "12" or more will hit)
2. 11 - 25 = 30%
3. 08 - 25 = 15%


so the monk will hit a remorhaz as average value 0,9 times per round:

0,9 x 9,5 = 8,5 HP damage per round (normal)

to hit for 140 HP the monk needs ~16,5 rounds !


final result:


the monk (using fists) will need as average value ~16,5 rounds to kill a remorhaz

a remorhaz will need as average value ~5 rounds to kill the monk !

Delta: 11,5 rounds !!!

this means that the chance for this monk to win against a BS remorhaz shadow should be very close to 0 !!!


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