Reinhardt
Arcane
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2015
- Messages
- 29,659
Infinitron it's time to split thread again
I'd argue that since you can complete the game even solo, once you get your min-max kick out of your system you can pick and choose who to get for MAXIMUM AESTHETICS. And Viconia is much more charming than Anomen or Aerie. Min-maxing has its place and I'd say it's a good exercise to do once for every RPG you like, though.Exactly, but Codexers seem to be all about min/maxing to make the game as easy as possible. Decline embodied.
Sykar
Dispel is a common spell. And I'm not dismissing magic resistance, but how soon into BG2 can you get permanent (undispellable) 100% mr on Viconia? Aerie's spell defenses work from the get go.
Btw, I've never said I use Anomen for tanking. I use him for fighting. Which part of this is difficult to get: if I want a tanking cleric, I get Aerie (mirror image isn't the only low level arcane spell that counts, which is how I could get Quayle to tank wolfweres in BG1), if I want a fighting cleric, I get Anomen. Scroll scribing is not a problem with intelligence granting potions.
And if you care so much about legality, why don't you complain about Viconia not getting any sunlight penalties as a drow? Aren't they supposed to lose mr if they remain on the surface too long?
Viconia has an abundance of spell slots, which is what you want from a cleric. Her magic resistance gives her a massive benefit, because she will rarely ever suffer from status effects or area effect damage. This is paramount, because clerics are your party's panic button to undo disaster. Of all of the things, these matter most. Her single class cleric also gives her a very rapid advancement, so she will not only get access to higher level spells sooner, but more abundantly. Finally, don't brush off Command Undead. If you ever play a no-reload challenge, being able to collect a fighting force of wraiths, mists, and other undead as fodder is immensely valuable--you still even get the XP when they die. It's a common enemy, so it's essentially the game giving you free summons and XP in many dungeons. Her abundance of spell slots and quick advancement also lets you keep Holy Power up quite alot, meaning she become perfectly capable in melee with one of the many STR enhancing items in game.
Anomen is superior to Viconia in everyway that matters. The extra spell slots that she has access to are utterly superfluous because the game never punishes you for resting liberally, especially if you save-scum. Not to mention, she only enjoys extra spell slots in levels 1-4. Her early to mid game superiority is non-existent. Anomen can achieve grandmastery in flails (fail of the ages) and even spend two points in dual-wielding to use the defender of easthaven, which gives him percentage based physical damage resistance. This, combined with the usual defensive spells that clerics have access to, make him the best non-arcane tank in the game. Due to her abysmal constitution, sluggish attack speed and dreadful THAC0, she's completely ineffectual in the frontline. Her backline capabilities are also questionable because of the lengthy casting time of most cleric spells and her susceptibility to interruption. She's relegated, therefore, to the role of a healbot and a party pre-buffer, both roles that Anomen can perform just as well, especially since most of the important protection spells are present in levels 5-7. The only real advantages she has over him are her 18 dexterity and her 50% magic resistance. Her dexterity is wasted on her, because she should never be in harm's way in the first place. If she is under fire, that +4 bonus provided by her dexterity still puts her in a precarious position, given her paltry HP. Anomen's dexterity can quite easily be remedied by the brawling hands. Her 50% magic resistance is also of little consequence, because in all of the fights that it does have a significant impact, you'll end up pre-buffing your party anyway. It's trivial to pre-buff Anomen and provide him with the required resistances for such fights. The fights in the game which require no pre-buffing never end up testing her magic resistance. In the late-game, she finds herself superseded by a summoned planetar and is of no practical use whatsoever.
In the underworld there's a lack of resources, plus not much extreme weather change. Thus there's all the reason for lithe and nubile elves.Being a drow I assume Viconia is quite lithe and nubile and not at all endowed in the breast department. Prove me wrong.are you gay or something? of course a female character is morally superior because of having nice tits you may comission erotic artwork of
25 Str, 19 Dex, full armour, virtual immunity to missile attacks and hostile spells, full caster progression.Anomen is superior to Viconia in everyway that matters. The extra spell slots that she has access to are utterly superfluous because the game never punishes you for resting liberally, especially if you save-scum. Not to mention, she only enjoys extra spell slots in levels 1-4. Her early to mid game superiority is non-existent. Anomen can achieve grandmastery in flails (fail of the ages) and even spend two points in dual-wielding to use the defender of easthaven, which gives him percentage based physical damage resistance. This, combined with the usual defensive spells that clerics have access to, make him the best non-arcane tank in the game. Due to her abysmal constitution, sluggish attack speed and dreadful THAC0, she's completely ineffectual in the frontline. Her backline capabilities are also questionable because of the lengthy casting time of most cleric spells and her susceptibility to interruption. She's relegated, therefore, to the role of a healbot and a party pre-buffer, both roles that Anomen can perform just as well, especially since most of the important protection spells are present in levels 5-7. The only real advantages she has over him are her 18 dexterity and her 50% magic resistance. Her dexterity is wasted on her, because she should never be in harm's way in the first place. If she is under fire, that +4 bonus provided by her dexterity still puts her in a precarious position, given her paltry HP. Anomen's dexterity can quite easily be remedied by the brawling hands. Her 50% magic resistance is also of little consequence, because in all of the fights that it does have a significant impact, you'll end up pre-buffing your party anyway. It's trivial to pre-buff Anomen and provide him with the required resistances for such fights. The fights in the game which require no pre-buffing never end up testing her magic resistance. In the late-game, she finds herself superseded by a summoned planetar and is of no practical use whatsoever.
What utter bollocks. In enemy territory you can be ambushed. Unless you like save scumming those happen frequently enough that it can easily take 2-4 attempts. Depending on your level and area you can get some nasty surprises here. Regardless of that, sensible people can restrain themselves from exploiting obvious weaknesses in game mechanics and not rest ad nauseum. I know I do.
The extra spell slots are not wasted. 1-3 has some of the best cleric spells in the game, early on you can get a lot of healing for example out of them. Anomen gets proficiency like a priest, not a warrior. He has 0 points in flails and dual wielding. Assuming he starts at level 8, he will get there at level 36. Good luck with that. Hell just getting 2 in each he needs to get to level 24, yea seriously wishing you good luck with that genius plan. As to tanking, the only tanking spell priests have is Armor of Faith. It takes again a really long time again until this spell actually gives a noticeable damage resistance buff. Defender of Easthaven is also a bonus merchant item which I refuse to use, never installed the mod that gives you that merchant.
Constitution and strength are easily fixable with items and potions. If you have problems getting spells off with your casters, git gud. Her real advantages over him are a starting 65% MR which can be buffed essentially permanently to 100% with some items. She has 19 dexterity which means you can give the only pair of Gauntlets of Dexterity to an actually good frontline warrior. Give her Shield of Reflection and she is almost immune to ranged damage, which is the main source of danger for her. Since she ignores almost all enemy CC she far more likely to be in a position to get crucial spells to save her comrades.
Prebuffing priest spells takes a long time and dispelling is a thing. Without DHUM and HM Anomens damage is mediocre. If you have already 2-3 capable melees his melee damage becomes forgettable.
The last claim of yours is so laughably stupid it is not even worth commenting on further.
I seriously enjoyed seeing you using Viconia's Baldur's Gate 1 stats as a basis to form your post. Tells me everything I need to know about you.
so truefail of the ages
To explain exactly why this was received so poorly, beyond the obvious grimderp overload of the idea, there's also the fact it makes very little fucking sense. By the end of Throne of Bhaal, Viconia is not only a 20th-plus level Cleric (and whilst CoDzilla was a 3e thing, they weren't slouches in 2e, either!), but also married to another 20th-plus level character, and on relatively good terms with a band of equally strong adventuring buddies, and decked out with all the protective gear gathered from a lucrative career of looting her way up and down the Sword Coast. The idea that a miserable drow assassin would get near her, or that they wouldn't be able to cure the poison, is patently ridiculous. Even if you accept that bullshit nonsense about it being uber-venom from Lolth's own fangs that the Ascension version of the epilogue has, the idea that a pissed off Bhaalspawn armed with a) enough magic resistance and weapons that would make Tempus go "Hold up, this shit is insane" and b) companions that murdered gods and godlings as well as half of the fucking Realms, wouldn't gather his buddies and go spelunking into the Demonweb Pits and wreck shit until he could take Viconia's soul back to the Material Plane is absurd beyond reason, and definitely a dick move to depress players through forced helplessness.
They don'tThis tread:
#drowlivesmatter
No#ElfLivesMatter