And what about the Astral Hound?

serjeLeBlade · Post by **serjeLeBlade** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 8:18 am

With so many mods installed, sometimes what I see in SK browsers leaves me puzzled....

Does anybody know from which mod is the Astral Hound figurine?

UserUnfriendly · Post by **UserUnfriendly** » Sat Feb 08, 2003 12:31 am

tashia, install first, then sola and tactics mod...tashia is still one of my fav for romance mods, (immoen romance is better, but some people have a problem with the mod premise) and sola and tactics mod for the challenge...

Numinor · Post by **Numinor** » Sat Feb 08, 2003 4:57 pm

No, dual classed chars only get the HLAs of their active class.

serjeLeBlade · Post by **serjeLeBlade** » Mon Feb 10, 2003 8:25 am

About the jade figurine... looks like nobody knows then?
Now I agree, it has to be part of the standard game ... but when is it supposed to show up?

It's not very powerful (in fact, it's weaker that the Moon Dog and of Khittix too)... so it should belong in the early game somehow...

@Uncle: talking about mods, I would suggest:
* Item upgrade... a lot more items to assemble (which give you new reasons to do some quests. This mod can do no harm, to say so)

* Tactics... harder fights and some new quests... but be careful in choosing which ones you really want to try! Many people complain about some of them being ridicoulosly hard. (Anyway you can always uninstall if everything else fails...)
* Flirt packs... Improve all of the Bioware romances (boys they really could use some improvement don't you think? This mod is a lot of fun and portrays Bioware charaters in a very realistic way - only Aerie and Jaheira available so far, I would suggest to wait for Viccy's release if you plan to romance her)

Tashia is ok if you want a new romanceable NPC, but I find it's running a little out-of-date...

Taco Magus · Post by **Taco Magus** » Mon Feb 10, 2003 12:24 pm

Originally posted by serjeLeBlade
It's not very powerful (in fact, it's weaker that the Moon Dog and of Khittix too)

Speaking of figurines. I got that Horn of Vallhalla. i was so unimpressed with it

the berserker usually dies in 2-3 rounds)

**sighs**

But being the 1st time I've found it I'm still gonna use it

The Z · Post by **The Z** » Mon Feb 10, 2003 12:31 pm

I believe you get the Jade Figurine when you complete the Ranger Stronghold.

EDIT - Wrong Item....you get the Moon Dog Figurine for getting the ranger stronghold done.

Taco Magus · Post by **Taco Magus** » Mon Feb 10, 2003 1:29 pm

Originally posted by UncleScratchy
Did you upgrade it yet? It can be upgraded twice to improve the level of the berserker warrior. Talk to Maheer the vendor in the plaza of Waukeens.

Koool

ill do that asap. im in the astral prison rescuing that blasted tiefling

Taco Magus · Post by **Taco Magus** » Mon Feb 10, 2003 2:16 pm

I use the Djinn and Spider figurines alot. the summon skeleton spell i memorize 2 slots on me cleric and 1 on my mage. the only other sumon spell i use is summon animal...good for taking out those golems

i dont like the elemental spells either. they take way to long, unless you summon them before the battle. i still havent found that merchant you are talkin about...wheres he at??

Taco Magus · Post by **Taco Magus** » Mon Feb 10, 2003 2:29 pm

Oh ok i found him now

thx uncle

Taco Magus · Post by **Taco Magus** » Mon Feb 10, 2003 2:32 pm

I dont really have a druid with me atm

UserUnfriendly · Post by **UserUnfriendly** » Tue Feb 11, 2003 12:59 am

after having tried all the summons in the game, the ones i like the best are

demons
elemental princes
planetar/devas...

i get so annoyed with deathspell, once i get those, i drop skelly warriors forever....

none of the figures, except the artifact level acorns in improved illych, and the improved kitty the spider are even worth much in the earlier game, tho skelly warriors really rock at the lower level...hasted and mass inv skellys can take anything down that does not have a scripted death spell...

the fire elemental is good, try the g bearweres in ease of use, those are my fav druid summons...they regenerate, so improved haste makes them superb...

oh, and lets not forget this one....

"Your undead slaves, abusing limited wish spell

This one is literally a masterpiece of evil, and one that i have actually improved the implementation...someone posted if you cast the limited wish spell, and have a low, below 10 wisdom npc or pc talk to the djinn, and ask "i wish to be protected from the undead right now!!!" the limited wish spell will summon 6 hostile vampires, who will attack the party....so you have a evil cleric, like viconia turn undead, you now have 6 vampire slaves who can then go attack nasty monsters for you, like demogorgon or firkraag....they attack via level drain, and last all day, and they are possibly the best summons in the game, with regen, level drain and combat abilities, i mean vampires are hard to kill, right?
note:
my personal improvements to this cheese is using aerie and minsc...first, have minsc talk to the djinn when you summon it, he has a wisdom of 9, so will get the correct option, this allows you to have a mage or sorc pc with a wisdom higher than 9 to exploit this trick...aerie is a fun npc...the ability to spell trigger and chain contingency cleric spells makes her by far the most useful spell caster in the game....now use "CLUACONSOLE:CreateItem("helm02")" and you have cheated in the helm of opposite alignment...have aerie equip this cursed item, and now when aerie turns undead, instead of blasting them, she makes them her slaves...you can do this if you dont want viconia in your party, or simply have no room for her.....use the remove curse spell when you want the old aerie back....
(Its really funny to put the helm on aerie's head, she becomes chaotic evil, and its funny to have her butcher the orphans on the streets of Athlankha and hear her say "i am so glad i met you, i never imagined we would be doing such good things!!! yes, kiddies, i am sick...)"

i am quoting from the user's encyclopedia of cheese, about 10 pages of all the cheese i know, finally written down in one easy to read document....

"The Hero's Guide to A Successful Adventure
Version 1.0 Febuary 6, 2003

or 500 ways to use cheese for decimating even the most powerful of foes

By Use R. Unfriendly

"This Guide is a must have for anyone too wimpy to stare those scary red dragons in the eye. Two thumbs up!"
Bill Bluster, Washington Toast.

"Even great super-heroes like myself need a little help from time to time with those extremely vicious and scary goblins, and this guide has saved my life in several fierce battles against them. I've even stopped crying every time I meet them!"
Anomen, Knight of Helm.

"This guide stink! Me lose arm and leg attacking Firkraag with Gorgonzola! Me want money back, or me smash skull!"
Anonymous Orc, Windspear Hills

"Boo says that great heroes who want to plant their bootprint firmly on the backside of evil need but two things; a big sword, and this guide! Evil, meet my cheese! CHEESE, MEET EVIL!!!"
Minsc and Boo, Brave Ranger and his miniature giant space hamster companion of Rashemen.

"Well, this guide is certainly of great use to any up-and-coming hero, but the price is a bit high for the average starting adventurer, considering all the other expenses one must take into consideration for the kind of undertaking a quest is. If you are interested, I can sell you a similar guide, and some equipment, for a much better price, I am sure you'll agree... Out of the goodness of my heart, of course!"
Saemon Havarian, Flamboyant Merchant."

as you can see, i even have a preface for it...i have got maybe a third of it done...and hope to have it completed soon...

serjeLeBlade · Post by **serjeLeBlade** » Tue Feb 11, 2003 4:50 am

Originally posted by UncleScratchy
It might be fun to use IEEP to modify it so it's more useful and maybe put him in one of the stores so it doesn't have to be hacked into the game-play.

This is a great idea, Uncle! Let us know if you plan to actually do something with it. Hehe, welcome to the Item Upgrade Fan Club...

Did you have something specific in mind to enhance the beastie?

Thanks for the mod info, I like the idea of the weapon upgrade mod. I tried the enhanced thieves stronghold mod and it was extremely challenging.

Actually, to play fair, one should install at least some component of the Tactics mod along with IU (Item Upgrade). Otherwise you will end up with plenty of powerful weapons and no opponent worthy to be bashed with them

@User: Hehe... "Kitty" as in "Immy kitty?"

(meaningless pun, forgive me)
Anyway, Tashia's figurine is not bad either, don't you think? ... and boo2 is very useful too. The two of them alone cleared all the shadow druids in my last game...
(Well, not so much of a deed but hey!)

Otoh, poor berserker from the horn of Valhalla is pretty useless no matter how many times you improve it. Ah, if only he was a real berserker in the first place

There's room for improvement for many of those figurine-type items... should we try to go bother Wes about it?

...Or maybe the Uncle would be so kind to do something about it for us himself?
An improved Astral hound at least.... please Uncle? Pretty please?

serjeLeBlade · Post by **serjeLeBlade** » Tue Feb 11, 2003 9:08 am

Originally posted by UncleScratchy
Or I can walk you through the steps using IEEP

Actually, I'm trying to get at it in my sparse free time... first "step" of the whole process being to download it on my home pc

Maybe in the near future I'll be here asking you for some advice about it, thanks in advance!

Anyway any suggestions for improving Astral Puppy? I thought it should be useable only by elves since that's the story line but that could be changed as well.

The story is strange... as the story itself says. (I mean, how come the little elf did get lost and eventually died of loneliness if that spirit was actually friendly?)
The term Astral Hound makes me think of H.P.Lovecraft Hounds of Tindalos... which aren't "friendly" at all...
What if we give it some drawback, like a random chance to get level drained every time we summon it?
(Obviously I'm saying this to compensate for all the useful abilities here to come...)

If the Hound has to be (or even remotely resemble) a nature's spirit, I would suggest to give him the stats (AC, THAC0, hp, attacks, Immunities) of the Totemic wolf Spirit, to start with. And I would add regeneration on top of it (The hounds of Tindalos have it in the Cthulhu rpg), and standard working level drain (1 level per hit). This would make it a very good item, but still not as powerful as Improved Khittix...

(I can provide the wolf's stats as soon as I remember where I read them)

Comments are welcome...
(@User, what do you think of it all?)

serjeLeBlade · Post by **serjeLeBlade** » Tue Feb 11, 2003 9:17 am

Here they are!

Spirit Wolf
HP:56
AC:0
THACO:9
Attacks:3
DMG:1D4+1D?cold (but we could leave it "as it is+20% slow")
STR:16
DEX:20
Immune to normal weapons
100% resistance to Poison, Cold and Electricity.

serjeLeBlade · Post by **serjeLeBlade** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 6:43 am

Aw! Thanks anyway for trying.

serjeLeBlade · Post by **serjeLeBlade** » Thu Feb 13, 2003 4:39 am

YAAAY! It turned out it can be done by editing the .CRE file with Shadowkeeper!

Now the astral hound regenerates, does level drain, barks, and cannot be turned by clerics! Meet the official Viconia's deadly pet!

( ...And the berserker warrior from the Iron Horn of Valhalla has turned into a *real* berserker. Can rage once. Plus, courtesy of the Aesir, now he has some decent magical weaponry so that he can squish dying trolls and hurt vampires. Hooray!

)

MitchMc · Post by **MitchMc** » Thu Feb 27, 2003 3:12 pm

Originally posted by UserUnfriendly
"This guide stink! Me lose arm and leg attacking Firkraag with Gorgonzola! Me want money back, or me smash skull!"
Anonymous Orc, Windspear Hills

Love The Guide, lots o' laughs

Can’t seem to make the potion/scroll swap trick work, the scroll will not go in and I get a little "can't use" type message "sigh"

Originally posted by UserUnfriendly
after having tried all the summons in the game, the ones i like the best are.....none of the figures, except the artifact level acorns in improved illych,....

What are you talking about ???????????????????????????????

I’ve got Wes’s mod installed but did not realize that
The acorns would do anything except sit in my bag of holding till I returned them. What am I missing ? ( I seem to ask that question a lot

)

____________
Cheers
MitchMc

Taco Magus · Post by **Taco Magus** » Thu Feb 27, 2003 3:16 pm

Originally posted by serjeLeBlade
[BNow the astral hound regenerates, does level drain, barks, and cannot be turned by clerics! Meet the official Viconia's deadly pet!
[/b]

Shouldnt her pet be the spider???

Indra · Post by **Indra** » Thu Feb 27, 2003 3:41 pm

@Taco Magus:

Shouldnt her pet be the spider???

Suicidal idea. Viconia is on the run from Lolth, after all, and Lolth as a greater diety can detect anything involving spiders anywhere in the realms, and can do so for 1-2 weeks before the event transpires! (or something..I don't have deities and demigods here..). Viconia with Kitthix is a homing beacon for a handmaiden..In fact, I think anybody with Viconia in their party should not use Kitthix, or Viconia leaves..

Taco Magus · Post by **Taco Magus** » Thu Feb 27, 2003 7:03 pm

Originally posted by Indra
@Taco Magus:

Suicidal idea. Viconia is on the run from Lolth, after all, and Lolth as a greater diety can detect anything involving spiders anywhere in the realms, and can do so for 1-2 weeks before the event transpires! (or something..I don't have deities and demigods here..). Viconia with Kitthix is a homing beacon for a handmaiden..In fact, I think anybody with Viconia in their party should not use Kitthix, or Viconia leaves..

Are u sure?!? i know ive went threw the game at least 3 times with both of them and countless other times where i stoped the game right b4 brynn law and never had her leave oO