What is the problem with wolfweres?

Boris · Post by **Boris** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 9:21 pm

I'm now on my 4th pass through SoA, but have encountered a never-before-seen & apparently insurmountable problem.
In the Windspear Hills dungeon, the Wolfweres appear to be completely unkillable!

I had thought that those tricky beasts had a quasi-vampiric ability, so that they regenerated HPs after doing damage to their enemies (eg. me). But these guys imediately recoup "Uninjured" status whatever damage they take & without them having hit anybody!

After being repeatedly wiped, I've gone in against them with just my F/M/T PC, with Stoneskin, massive AC & all protections available, thinking to deprive them of any opportunity to do damage & therefore regen, but I still have the same problem. Having briefly knocked one down to Injured, it's back to Uninjured as swift as thought, without any characters having been hit. Sometimes, my char. hits for 20-40 damage, the system auto-pauses immediately but the enemy still shows as Uninjured!
In desperation, I've tried running in Debug mode, but "Ctrl/Y" doesn't work - except for one occasion when the fiend took 1049 damage & helpfully died. But otherwise the WWs remain unaffected, despite much hammering on the keyboard.

I'm at my wits' end. This is a "critical path" conflict; if I can't pass these beasts I can't meet Firkraag, rescue the fair maiden, etc. etc. So any insights/advice would be much appreciated.

BTW, I do have some Mods installed - Ascension, Redemption, Ease, Item, aPack & a few Tactics components. But nothing obviously related - don't even have "Improved Undead" (not that WWs are Undead, of course). Do have "Smarter Dragons", but, as I said, I haven't gotten to meet any yet...

Help!

Galmar · Post by **Galmar** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 9:49 pm

its a well known bug / feature, if you have left for windspear late youll have more stuff to deal with, and down there they seem to be inhumanly strong.

You're best bet is a good backstab, you have to do extreme damage (a couple of critical hits) at the same time or the damn thing heals to full hp, however i think the fixpack at baldurdash fixes it if you consider it a bug. http://www.baldurdash.org

Boris · Post by **Boris** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 10:31 pm

Hmmm...

I've headed for the hills a bit late, but not hugely, & do have Baldurdash installed...

Was thinking "huge damage in one go" might be the solution, though doing it to all 3 of the beasts will be tricky, even with a F/M/T...

BTW, what does "Galmar" mean? My best guess is that it's Quenya for "Tall Home", but my Elvish isn't good enough to be sure...

B.

Phantom Lord · Post by **Phantom Lord** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 11:30 pm

Two ideas:

Pass them while invisible or try instakill spells (disintegrate and others). I know the chance is not too big to make it work, but I once got the Shadow Dragon this way, with my first trial.

And if both doesn't work, get the Helm of Vhailor and try a simulacrum equipped with scrolls of imp haste and shapechange. Wolfweres are certainly not too intelligent, so a few flayer attacks may lay them to rest. And int drain even kills unkillable creatures in the game ...

Another funny idea would be to control some undead (preferably vampires) and use them to clean out the tunnel, do you happen to have Viconia in your party?

Bruce Lee · Post by **Bruce Lee** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 11:55 pm

Pick up a good staff and go for big backstabs

Seriously I know that sometimes this happens and they become real horrors, regenerate much too fast. Level drain or int drain is a good tip. Or a backstab...

JackOfClubs · Post by **JackOfClubs** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 6:01 pm

They have pretty decent magic resistance so insta-kill spells usually aren't too effective unless you lower resistance first. You might try the Silver sword or the Axe of Unyielding for the vorpal effect.

If all else fails, lead them into the room where the Director beholder was and lock them in.

Incidentally, I think it is only one of the GWs that has the problem, not all 3. Also, someone (I think it was Sojourner or VonDondu) has claimed that it isn't so much how late you go to Windspear, but how many times you reload when you are there. I don't exactly see how that would work, but I guess it has something to do with a bug in the script.

Galmar · Post by **Galmar** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 8:07 pm

BTW, what does "Galmar" mean? My best guess is that it's Quenya for "Tall Home", but my Elvish isn't good enough to be sure...

I did post a little story just now all about it... but i realised that since it dosnt contain any strange relatives or turnips that yo uall probably wouldnt be too interested.

Boris · Post by **Boris** » Thu Jan 15, 2004 6:32 am

Thanks for all the suggestions & additional info. In the end, I just sneakied past the WWs - don't know why I didn't think of that in the first place!

Now, can anyone tell me why there's a Lich in the Temple Ruins?!? I'm sure he wasn't there in previous games - it's the kinda thing you'd notice! He's in the room containing undead on the far side of the "room of fire" & is a bit of a problem for my small party of c. 9th-lvls!

I've a few Mods installed, but none of the components are supposed to add anthing at all to this dungeon. The only things I can think of are that I do have "Slightly Smarter Mages" and the "Extra Lich in the Docks", but still don't see why this nasty, nasty monster should be popping up here.
BTW, I did a few of the quests in the Docks (Harper Bird & Thief Stronghold) before setting off for Windspear, then proceeded to Umar & the Ruins, but certainly don't have any particularly powerful characters - the most xps are c. 800,000. Also there are only 4 in the current party, with J. having gone off to meet her Harper "friends".

Boris the Baffled

Bruce Lee · Post by **Bruce Lee** » Thu Jan 15, 2004 6:49 am

You dont happan to have the mod that always selects the toughest encounters regardless of XP installed?

Boris · Post by **Boris** » Thu Jan 15, 2004 7:06 am

Actually, I do - good thinking, Batman!

But I thought that only applied to Wandering Monsters...

I'm not too far into the dungeon, so I guess I could uninstall it, restore & see does he reappear - that should prove it one way or the other. Will try later & let y'all know the result.

Cheers,

B.

Boris · Post by **Boris** » Fri Jan 16, 2004 5:09 am

Just to confirm that the problem was indeed the "always toughest spawns" mod - so thank you very much, Mr. Lee!

BTW, I tried slipping past the lich, only to find another one round the corner! A mod only suitable for loonies, it seems.

B.

Numinor · Post by **Numinor** » Fri Jan 16, 2004 5:38 am

Regarding the lich(es) in the Temple, there can be liches in several locations if you go there with a very high level (or the mentioned mod installed), for example

Unseeing Eye Quest - Undead Village
Spellhold - Room east of the library
Bridge District - Lowest level of the Tanner's house
and more I don't remember atm

Bruce Lee · Post by **Bruce Lee** » Fri Jan 16, 2004 7:29 am

Originally posted by Boris
Just to confirm that the problem was indeed the "always toughest spawns" mod - so thank you very much, Mr. Lee!

BTW, I tried slipping past the lich, only to find another one round the corner! A mod only suitable for loonies, it seems.

B.

You're welcome

JackOfClubs · Post by **JackOfClubs** » Fri Jan 16, 2004 2:44 pm

Originally posted by Numinor

Bridge District - Lowest level of the Tanner's house

Eh? Don't remember that one.

I usually unmask the tanner fairly early but only go down to the lowest floor after coming back from the Underdark (when I have the other part of the item). Is it possible that it only checks the level when you talk to the tanner in the upper room?

Numinor · Post by **Numinor** » Fri Jan 16, 2004 2:47 pm

Actually I'm not 100% sure about that place, but I encountered a bone golem there once and in my experience if a random bone golem can spawn at one place (not the fixed spawns like in the Sahuagin City) a lich can spawn there at higher levels, too.

JackOfClubs · Post by **JackOfClubs** » Fri Jan 16, 2004 3:21 pm

Ah, I see. Yes, I've gotten the Bone Golem, but I don't know if it is random. I don't ever remember not getting it.