high level abilities

salicylsre · Post by **salicylsre** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:25 am

Hi, Keldorn just gained a level and can now choose his first high level ability

which one of those is a "MUST have"?
After reading some posts in the forums here I was thinking of whirlwind going to greater whirlwind

And which ones are best for those characters?

1. Me (human swashbuckler)
2. Minsc
3. Keldorn
4. Jaheira
5. Aerie
6. Imoen

And how do those abilities actually work? Can you use them once a day? Or are they available again after every resting?

Thanks for your answers

CigSmokingNerd · Post by **CigSmokingNerd** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 5:33 am

Well, the answer to your inquiry really depends on what manner of gamer you are; are you the old-school, quintessential RPGer or do you lean more toward the 'powergaming-style' side of the spectrum? If you choose the previous, then you should pick whatever HLA (High Level Ability) that best suit your interpretation of the given character. If you, say, envision Keldorn more as a spiritual warrior rather than a 'I-bash-you-to-goo' sort of zealot, you might want to give him the Summon Deva special ability to portray his devotion RP-wise. If, however, you want your characters to excell combat-wise, here is a little out-of-the-hat list as to what sort of HLAs you ought to choose:

For Minsch, Keldorn, Jaheira and other Fighter-like characters, consider these two HLAs: Critical Strike and Whirlwind/Greater Whirlwind. If your Fighter is equipped with a two-handed weapon, GW is a must-have. If, however, you prefer to dual-wind, GW is more or less rendered superfluent as you can easily access 10 hits per round with certain weapons and the spell, Improved Haste. In that case, choose CS, meaning you will be able to perform 10 attacks per round that (and this is the part where you are supposed to drool, hehe) NEVER miss.

For your swashbuckler, do consider the UAI (Use Any Item) Special Ability. Self-explanatorily enough, it means you will essentially be able to use whatever item you pick up, including but not limited to class-specific items. HL Traps are also devastatingly useful, albeit somewhat cheesy.

For mages, the Comet spell can be quite handy. It is a party friendly Area of Effect spell which does decent damage and knocks enemies down, buying some time if such is needed. Dragon's Breath is party friendly as well, but you will note that many enemies are fairly resistant to fire, so I suggest you consider Comet, instead.

Summon Deva is a decent HLA for Paladins, but if you have a Cleric in your party (you mentioned Aerie, did you not?), leave it up to her and focus on the more combat oriented HLAs, instead.

Hope that helps,
CSN

Crenshinibon · Post by **Crenshinibon** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:01 am

I personally never get Critical Strike as I usually don't have any problems hitting enemies. For abilities, the ones I do get are Whirlwind, Greater Whirlwind and of course Hardiness, which can turn your three fighters into walls. Depending on item choice, you can give one of them 85% physical resistance and that is a lot of damage reduced. The others would get 65% resistance total.

With that option I'd recommend you dual wield as it would make you attack faster as well as grant you a greater number of bonuses than with a shield. Yes, instead of using a shield you sacrifice AC, but then again, you don't really need it when the attacks barely harm you.

Like the poster before me said, get the Whirlwind abilities only if you intend to use a two handed weapon (ranged weapons are generally excluded here). I think Hardiness is the best ability to get from the fighter pool, for "normal" fighters (non monks) as, in my opinion, Improved Haste is better as it lasts significantly longer.

I wouldn't worry about mage abilities as I often find myself using the level nine spells more than what I gained from the mage pool anyway.

salicylsre · Post by **salicylsre** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:36 am

Thanks for the advice!

I was somewhat thinking the same line:

Keldorn (wielding Carsomyr or Daystar depending on the situation) would get whirlwind/greater whirlwind and my swashbuckler will get use any item. for the others i haven't decided yet, but hardiness sounds actually quite useful.

On the other hand I like summoning spells... So Deva might be fun as well, but I guess that ability can wait a bit more

Thanks again!

Crenshinibon · Post by **Crenshinibon** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:11 am

Keep in mind that you may have only ONE Deva OR Planetar at a time.

Since you're with a party, it may be worth it to just choose one. Planetars are stronger than Devas, yes, but do you really want to use a level nine mage slot for it?

The elemental summons that Jahiera will gain aren't bad either.

salicylsre · Post by **salicylsre** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:04 pm

now, one more question just arose:

aerie just leveled up and has now mage-level 14. I was able to choose a high level ability and chose implosion (seems to do quite a lot of damage...) however, it says "Level: Quest" (e.g. implosion) in the description of some of the abilities and "Level: 10" in some others.
now as I chose implosion, I thought it would be available in the same manner as e.g. setting traps for a thief, but it isn't.
I also rested once and checked if it would appear then or if I could find it in my mage-book, but I can't find it anywhere.
How can I use this ability? And would it actually have been better to choose some other ability?

Crenshinibon · Post by **Crenshinibon** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 4:34 pm

Implosion is a very strong spell.

When you get an ability for a spell caster, it usually appears in the respective book or scroll.

As Implosion is a divine spell, Aerie would have it on the seventh level of her priest scroll.

salicylsre · Post by **salicylsre** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 12:21 am

ah.... as she leveled up in her mage class, I thought the spell would be in her mage-book... didn't check the priest scrolls. Doesn't make much sense though! She gains a priest spell as HLA, after rising a level in her mage-class?! :speech:

Thanks for the hint anyway!

Darth Malignus · Post by **Darth Malignus** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 12:50 am

CigSmokingNerd wrote:Summon Deva is a decent HLA for Paladins, but if you have a Cleric in your party (you mentioned Aerie, did you not?), leave it up to her and focus on the more combat oriented HLAs, instead.

Hope that helps,
CSN

True, but you´ll have to consider Keldorns class, Inquisitor. He can´t cast clerical spells, so he gets the Summon Deva as an innate ability, just like his Whirlwind Attacks. Wouldn´t it be a waste to have the party cleric spend a level 7 spell slot, if Keldorn can use it without having to spend spell slots on it?

salicylsre · Post by **salicylsre** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 2:53 am

True, but you´ll have to consider Keldorns class, Inquisitor. He can´t cast clerical spells, so he gets the Summon Deva as an innate ability, just like his Whirlwind Attacks. Wouldn´t it be a waste to have the party cleric spend a level 7 spell slot, if Keldorn can use it without having to spend spell slots on it?

That sounds like a good point! I'll definitely keep that in mind! Thanks for the hint!

Crenshinibon · Post by **Crenshinibon** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 5:41 am

For multiclass characters, it doesn't matter which class hits a level. As you're both professions, you're free to choose a high level ability for either of the two.

Darth Malignus · Post by **Darth Malignus** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:41 am

Crenshinibon wrote:Keep in mind that you may have only ONE Deva OR Planetar at a time.

Since you're with a party, it may be worth it to just choose one. Planetars are stronger than Devas, yes, but do you really want to use a level nine mage slot for it?

The elemental summons that Jahiera will gain aren't bad either.

Question: Considering the spell "Project Image" and if you can only summon one Planetar og Deva at a time, isn´t it possible for those Projected Images to Summon Devas and Planetars beyond the ones the character can summon? I seem to remember something about a tip on another forum once about somehow being able to cast a chain of Projected Images and they can each summon one to fight for you. A LOT of Devas, if I remember correctly. I never tried it myself, though. But the prospect of that would theoretically make the game a piece of cake, right?

salicylsre · Post by **salicylsre** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:06 am

I just read somewhere a tip about Projected Image and combining it with Implosion spells. Think that person used that trick to kill the monster in the Watcher's Keep...
Anyway, I think it really sounds reasonable to give the summon Deva spell to Keldorn, as it doesn't use my mages' spell slots....

Crenshinibon · Post by **Crenshinibon** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:39 am

Yes, casting summoning spells through a Projected Image or a Simulacarum removes the monster cap for them, thus allowing you to summon as many monsters as you want.

This does break the game, making it incredibly easy, thus I do not recommend exploiting this bug.