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I hope I don't get in trouble for asking too many questions too quickly.

I've just gotten affiliated with the Shadow Thieves and gotten the key to go talk to the guild master. I am assuming there will be one or maybe two more "major" quests before I actually get to go rescue Imoen. I doubt I want to do all the side quests before leaving, but I also don't want to miss anything really cool or lucrative.

Major quests completed so far: D'arnisse Keep, Renal & Mae'var, Unseeing Eye (a tough one!).

I've gotten leads on several others: Trademeet, Firkraag (sp?), Umar Hills (can't seem to actually go there yet), Watcher's Keep (accessible on map, no mission), the Portal Gem one, some cryptic talk about "the One" in the sewers, and I killed all the slavers on the houseboat (but never got a mission to do it). Also I have the Acorns I got in the first prison. And I could take a quest from Xzar but I don't think Jaheira would like it.

I'm trying not to get too spoiled, but I believe that once I leave to get Imoen I won't be coming back for a while.

Any quests you guys would recommend doing BEFORE going off to get Imoen? Fun, storyline, or useful loot are all good reasons. Not too spoily please, just enough to let me know if I've found it or not (I'll ask again if I really need specifics).

Thanks!

I would recommend doing ALL those quests before saving Imoen. Spellhold can be quite tough otherwise, and some quests are very nice .

cduin wrote:I would recommend doing ALL those quests before saving Imoen. Spellhold can be quite tough otherwise, and some quests are very nice .

Yeah, I would recommend the same.

Or at least do the major ones. These would include all main quests in the non-Athkatla area, and the main quest in each of Athkatla's zones.

These would be:

Government: Nothing really here. Free Viconia and Jan and move on.
Temple: Unseeing Eye.
Bridge District: Murders, Planar Prison.
Slums: Copper Coronet, Planar Sphere.
Waukeen's Promenade: Circus
Docks: Renal Bloodscalp
Graveyard: Nothing really, just one of Aran Linvail's quests.
City Gates: Again, nothing. There's a Lich hiding in a secret door in the tavern though.

De'Arnise Keep: Free the Keep.
Umar Hills: Stop the night murders.
Trademeet: Eliminate the Shadow Druids.
Windspear Hills: Rescue Garren Windspear's child.

Other than that, you can tackle the mini quests, but these are the main ones to get done before leaving for Spellhold.

If you want to do as few quests as possible before rescuing Imoen, and therefore be able to get more experience for her, then I'd say the minimum is:

Planar Sphere, Talk to everyone in the Council building in the government district and follow the trail of the murderer, talk to him first though!

Trademeet, Shadow Druid quest, make sure you talk to the Djinis

Clear the first level of Watcher's keep if you can.

Umar Hills, talk to a kid in the governmetn district if you haven't already, if Minsc is with you the kid'll initiate dialog. You have to go to the gate district or Watcher's Keep to be able to then goto the Umar Hills.

Anything else is optional, but I'd leave the Windspear Hills until you get back with Imoen.

You need to visit the Umar Hills to get access to the Planar Sphere to obtain the ring of danger sense, which is why that is important.

It's a bit of a balancing act, you want to make sure you're high enough level to be able to take care of Spellhold and what comes after, but leave as much as you can for when you come back with Imoen. I've survived Spellhold and what follpws going ther without doing any sidequests, but it's tricky and I'd played through the game before. If you do the quests I've listed above, then with the ones you've already completed you should be OK. I'd say level 12 would be the minimum level before you leave though first time through.

Wow. I figured a lot of those were optional-ish add ons. Good to know, thanks for the advice.

For clarification.

In part 3 any quest that isn't given to you by Aran Linval is 'optional', apart from those that are triggered by your party NPCs.

Got it. Not technically mandatory, but advisable.

You did mention the Planar Sphere quest first. Your favorite?

I have been giving the finger to that Cowled Wizard in the government building who wants me to take a quest without knowing what it is. From a unsaved game I know he also sends me off to the Umar Hills. Am I missing anything super cool by not taking the quest from that jerk?

I have been giving the finger to that Cowled Wizard in the government building who wants me to take a quest without knowing what it is. From a unsaved game I know he also sends me off to the Umar Hills. Am I missing anything super cool by not taking the quest from that jerk?

This is the beginning of the planar sphere quest. So pay a visit to the old jerk in the government district.

mattc wrote:You did mention the Planar Sphere quest first. Your favorite?

If I'm going to be relying on Imoen as my only trap detector/remover, yes. You also find some other very useful items in there of course. I won't spoil things by saying what they are, apart from the ring of danger sense we've already discussed.

You will need a spare slot in your party to gain access to the Sphere if you're not evil, it is only temporary if that's how you want it.

Spoiler, highlight to read:

Spoiler

You need either Valygar or his body in order to access the Planar Sphere. If you don't want him in your party permanently but just open the door to the sphere, remove Valygar immediately, if you removed an NPC to make room for Valygar and you want them back, go and pick her/him up before doing anything else in the Sphere.

End of Spoiler

Nope, not evil (maybe on a 2nd playthrough), so it's good to know.

Thanks for the suggestions.

A bit off-topic, but still - SPOILER:

Spoiler

- If I play a good aligned party (which is rarely:devil , I always keep Valygar until the end of the Planar Sphere quest, I have a feeling that he 'deserves' to be in a party because only thanks to him I have an access to the Sphere.

But since I mostly play as evil, his body is good enough...:mischief:

You can do every quest or just stick to the main ones, either way. However I do agree woth the others that you should not be too low on levels before you follow through all the way with Arron Linvale's quests since its you first time through and you could run into some serious difficulties (although even on low levels its doable especially with the proper scrolls).

I've given up on 6 person parties and I always keep Imoen when I get her back so I am usually running a 3-4 characters party in which case I'll do the quests that get me the equipement that I want for those characters. Unless one character is a new NPC MOD (too me) I'll pick up the main quest rather early and come back with Imoen to do all the other quests later.

The thing one has to watch out for when using scrolls to complete Aran's final quest is that if every one in the party is using one then the dialog triggers may well not fire, which can stall the game.

To explain, in some encounters, if a creature cannot affect at least one member of the party in any way, then that prevents that creature from initiating dialog.

Say you were say fighting a lich that was supposed to taunt you when the lich form 'dies' and then turn into a demi-lich. If everyone is protected from undead at that point, then because the lich can't affect anyone, it can't start the dialog, and therefore the lich form cannot 'die'. You then end up wacking him endlessly and getting nowhere. So be careful when protecting everyone from everything an enemy can throw at you, if you find yourself wacking an opponent and he/she wont die, then bear this in mind.

I know what your talking about galraen. That shouldn't be an issue with the item Aran gives you or a negative plane protection spell. But I have encountered that exact issue before.

galraen wrote:Say you were say fighting a lich that was supposed to taunt you when the lich form 'dies' and then turn into a demi-lich. If everyone is protected from undead at that point, then because the lich can't affect anyone, it can't start the dialog, and therefore the lich form cannot 'die'. You then end up wacking him endlessly and getting nowhere. So be careful when protecting everyone from everything an enemy can throw at you, if you find yourself wacking an opponent and he/she wont die, then bear this in mind.

Lies, nothing like this exists in the game. Right?

RIGHT?!?

(*crickets*)

I'm going to go lay down now.