KickStarter Solasta: Crown of the Magister Thread - now with Palace of Ice sequel DLC

[NJClaw]

If you get her with a Chill Touch, she can't regen probably.

Sure, but she has a lot of HP and can regain most of them in a single round, so you need to halve her HP in a single round, hit her with Chill Touch, and then take down the remaining half before she can act again. And you have to do all this while she is surrounded by darkness, so you can't hope to reliably hit her with standard attacks.

 

[rashiakas]

just toss 2 fireballs at her and be done with it

 

[Thac0]

just toss 2 fireballs at her and be done with it

170 hp at my difficulty...
That is about 6 fireballs, assuming she fails all saves.

If you get her with a Chill Touch, she can't regen probably.

Sure, but she has a lot of HP and can regain most of them in a single round, so you need to halve her HP in a single round, hit her with Chill Touch, and then take down the remaining half before she can act again. And you have to do all this while she is surrounded by darkness, so you can't hope to reliably hit her with standard attacks.

Yeah I guess I have to kill that bitch now, since she starts combat after I pilfer her treasure. I can however prebuff with Daylight, Spiritual Guardians and Weapon of Faith that way. That makes the fight pretty bullshit, but managable. I start by letting the fighter tank her (badly), and as soon as she casts her veil of I ignore all rules he disengages so she has to move into the light again.

 

[NJClaw]

just toss 2 fireballs at her and be done with it

Even at base difficulty, she has 85 HP, +8 to her Dexterity ST, AND Legendary Resistance to automatically succeeds at those ST. She will regenerate the damage dealt by those two Fireballs in a single round.

Not that I'm complaining, every bit of challenge is welcomed.

 

[hellbent]

After entering the endgame, I've FINALLY managed to raise my reputation with Arcaneum enough to buy a greatsword to enchant, the only such greatsword I've seen in the entire game. Except it takes 24 days to do, and because guards are blocking the way out of the city, the only way to pass these 24 days are to run between two floors of the tavern, to buy room for the night again and again, 24 times. Thank you, devs, for this unforgettable experience, I never want to have it again.

Next time just loot every container and don't miss the Primed Greatsword in the area where you meet Kythaela. Easy peasy.

I think there's a random element to the loot. I had several primed greatswords, shortswords and especially maces, but didn't see any primed longswords or longbows anywhere in the game.

It's probably at least somewhat random then - I just picked up a primed longbow among the loot in the caves of Caer Lem. I think it was in a crate in a dead end alcove right after the campfire where you can long rest.

 

[jackofshadows]

God that Aksha fight is the most retarded one in this game yet. Her Legendary Action Darkness spell overrides my Daylight (despite it being the other way around in the rules) and she doesn't even have tho hold concentration on it. I am passing that dialogue check for now.

With all her bullshit mechanics it was the most challenging fight so far. Took me like 5 tries on 5 lvl. How am I suppose to lure her out from darkness when she's using her legendary action after every turn of my dudes? Sweet D:OS2 memories (not really).

 

[Mortmal]

God that Aksha fight is the most retarded one in this game yet. Her Legendary Action Darkness spell overrides my Daylight (despite it being the other way around in the rules) and she doesn't even have tho hold concentration on it. I am passing that dialogue check for now.

With all her bullshit mechanics it was the most challenging fight so far. Took me like 5 tries on 5 lvl. How am I suppose to lure her out from darkness when she's using her legendary action after every turn of my dudes? Sweet D:OS2 memories (not really).

Might be one of the rare occasion party building matters more, the oath of tirmar paladin was protecting my group, all of them packed together, blocking most of those legendary actions , then sun cleric cast sun spell in the room massively disadvantaging and damaging them .Dont forget to break all of the windows too . Had no trouble at all on this fight.

 

[Thac0]

.

.

Ding-dong, the witch is dead! Which old witch? The wicked bitch!
On cataclysm it would have taken an ungodly amount of savescumming to get past her, even with the aforementioned prebuffing through diplomacy. So I chose an easier way.
She can be targeted by quite a few devastating control spells, and luckily both my cleric and my wizard had one available. Levitate and Tasha's Hideaus Laughter. She used her legendary resistances for those every time. Now levitate is just a neat gimmick, holds her in one place so you can gib the two adds. But Tasha devastates her. She becomes unable to act, and passes her turn and her legendary actions doing nothing.
So I turn undead her two goons, started the battle with her in the light so she gets disadvantage on saves, used 2 Tashas and 1 Levitate to get through the resistances and then held her laughing on the ground with Tasha until the sun burnt her face off. Then her companions were easy pickings.

This fight is absurdly overtuned on cataclysm, particularily the Veil on Legendary Action overriding Daylight is some prime bullshit. Daylight is a garbage spell with a single application - burn vampires. That is why it pierces darkness. Giving the vampire a hard counter to the anti vampire spell is just some next level bullshit and reeks of amateur DM design.

 

[Brickfrog]

Is there any way to dispel the veil or something? Or would she just re cast it anyway

 

[Larianshill]

Well, I finished Solasta. I've found the game to be getting better in every aspect (especially the writing) as it goes on, and I've liked the ending. I don't know what people complain about, the finale was satisfying.

 

[Anonona]

Might be one of the rare occasion party building matters more, the oath of tirmar paladin was protecting my group, all of them packed together, blocking most of those legendary actions , then sun cleric cast sun spell in the room massively disadvantaging and damaging them .Dont forget to breakk all of the windos too . Had no trouble at all on this fight.

I think that might be it, the fight may be more party dependent. Playing on Cataclysm, Paladin of Oath of Devotion, Cleric of Life, Shock Wizard and Rogue Darkweaver. Got killed first time cause I didn't know she attacked you when looting the room. Second time buffed my paladin with Protection against Good and evil, positioned my Wizard and Rogue upstair, and casted Daylight and Spirit Guardians with the cleric. Once the fight began the Paladin tanked everything pretty well, while the others 3 pelted the enemies away with arrows and spells. She tried to cast the Darkness spell twice, but both time the Wizard used Counterspell. I think I may had lucky too, though. Ended up focusing on her and leaving the 2 minions for last. Wasn't even fully rested nor broke the windows. Dancing lights also helped

 

[NJClaw]

Hey, Ontopoly... maybe you should calm the fuck down.

 

[Harthwain]

There is literally no reason to make a human Paladin, and the Oath of Tirmar is basically pointless in that context. It's semi-good in certain circumstances if you make an all-human party, I guess. Casting Light on a front-liner's items is enough to eliminate disadvantage for melees, so it's good for ranged attacks when your party is close to your Paladin when there are no other light sources available, like torches on the wall. That's it. While it sounds good in a vacuum, it's actually competing with the far-superior Oaths of Devotion and the Motherland, an opportunity cost that it doesn't make up for imo. But again, it's pointless to make humans in this game outside of LARPing.

You want light spells in general though. Some enemies will be afraid of the light (or be at a disadvantage). And darkvision has limited range, meaning you need to light the area for your ranged characters to be effective, even if they have darkvision. At this point you might as well take human paladin.

Even if you will not get human paladin, I would argue that Oath or Tirmar is useful. It will get you Shield and Sleep (level 3) as well as Hold Person and Blindness (level 5). All very useful spells. Also, Channel Divinity: Scourge of the Hidden to give you extra damage against shapeshifters and creatures with darkvision (plenty of these). I took Oath of Devotion though (and yes, I am running a human paladin), because adding my paladin's charisma to his weapon (he has 17 and +3 bonus) + magical attack + bright light over 4 cells and dim light over 4 more cells sounds amazing. Also, Shield and Protect vs Good or Evil, which is pretty good for a frontline fighter. If he needs a light our wizard can cast Light on his weapon (so he can charge mindlessly into battle, and provide light to ranged characters) or move Dancing Lights wherever needed.

By the way, +1 bonus to all stats can be quite handy. It can easily turn +1 bonus into +2, meaning it's easier to get better scores at multiple stats, rather than in just a single area, even if you do not roll stupidly high on your character dice during creation.

And yes, like I said a million times before, verticality is a gimmick. I'd say verticality in BG3 is better implemented because it's a natural part of the environment. In Solasta, the combat arenas sometimes make no sense and look like attempts at cubism in order to accommodate the verticality which doesn't bring anything to the table because even ranged mobs can't touch us.

I like the verticality, but I agree it ws a bit overdone in some cases. For example, the fight in the cave when running away could use a bit more solid ground. Instead it's a pillar on top of a pillar and the whole is very unrealistic. It could've been done better.

 

[V_K]

You also don't have to fight Aksha at level 5. You can safely do the Kythaela quest, gain level 7 or so, use the major gate to teleport back to Dark Keep and finish her off. Her loot is still fairly valuable at that stage.

 

[Lacrymas]

Even if you will not get human paladin, I would argue that Oath or Tirmar is useful. It will get you Shield and Sleep (level 3) as well as Hold Person and Blindness (level 5). All very useful spells. Also, Channel Divinity: Scourge of the Hidden to give you extra damage against shapeshifters and creatures with darkvision (plenty of these). I took Oath of Devotion though (and yes, I am running a human paladin), because adding my paladin's charisma to his weapon (he has 17 and +3 bonus) + magical attack + bright light over 4 cells and dim light over 4 more cells sounds amazing. Also, Shield and Protect vs Good or Evil, which is pretty good for a frontline fighter. If he needs a light our wizard can cast Light on his weapon (so he can charge mindlessly into battle, and provide light to ranged characters) or move Dancing Lights wherever needed.

The problem is more the opportunity cost than anything else. Oath of Tirmar sounds good in a vacuum, but it competes with better things, especially since there's not much point to making a human and that dark vision aura is pointless.

 

[NJClaw]

Mind Twist is insane. An AoE that incapacitates with an INT save makes no sense, even if it's for a single round. On the base difficulty, most monsters have a bonus to INT saves that ranges from +0 to -4, which means they literally can't save against this spell, as this poor elemental who rolled a natural 20 shows:

Spoiler

Also, considering that it doesn't harm allies, the damage it deals is still respectable (on average, 10 less damage than a Fireball of the same level, but of a better damage type and targeting a better save).

Usually, on most D&D video game adaptations my interest in spells drops as soon as I reach the level 3 circle. Anything else after that seems just a reiteration of what you already have. But here level 4 and 5 spells are still interesting and fun. Up until now, I've used Banishment, Black Tentacles, Wall of Fire, Greater Invisibility, Cone of Cold, Mind Twist, Phantasmal Killer, Hold Monster, and Insect Plague, and all of them have added something unique and fun to the gameplay.

 

[Larianshill]

Speaking of stuff that is nuts, Hypnotic Pattern.

 

[fantadomat]

Surprisingly

Why surprised? Banter aside,my little vixen,we do agree on most things when it comes down to games and rpg.

 

[fantadomat]

Fighter with duel wilding is very powerful. Three attacks per turn,it is good if you have weapons that do bonus die damge. In one turn you could do around 6d8. Also thief with two rapiers and longbow is good.

I prefer a decent one handed weapon and a good shield, charging into the fray. Once you get your AC in the mid 20s or so it is very hard to hit you and at default settings the AI will rarely disengage or change targets meaning the other characters are free to do what they want while the monsters scratch at your full plate and steel and mountain of hit points.

Nah sword and shield is shit in this game. Generally i do agree with you and i like me fighters as sword and shield. But here two weapons is better. I went with axe and warhammer, shields are pretty meh,the best one gives 4ac. A good plate armour is far more useful,aslo there is ac rings. Go for the dual wielding fighting style,it is better.

 

[V_K]

Speaking of stuff that is nuts, Hypnotic Pattern.

...especially if your own chars get into it

 

[fantadomat]

And yes, like I said a million times before, verticality is a gimmick. I'd say verticality in BG3 is better implemented because it's a natural part of the environment. In Solasta, the combat arenas sometimes make no sense and look like attempts at cubism in order to accommodate the verticality which doesn't bring anything to the table because even ranged mobs can't touch us.

It's annoying how many fights have a lone wall crawler which serves little purpose but to extend combat and make ranged characters more useful.

I had an encounter the other day where a lone wall crawling sarok was just pinging very low damage missiles at my party whilst I had to keep spamming weak ranged attacks (out of spells) to bring it down. It was of no real threat, but just ended up extending the combat for about 4 rounds longer than it should have been.

If I'd known the game was going to contain so many encounters of this type, I'd have probably made a ranger/proper ranged attacker rather than relying on secondary ranged attacks from my fighter and rogue.

Hmmh, I wonder if this is actually a big factor in the difference of enjoyment?
Since I wouldn't say that the combat is slow at all, but fantadomat called it slow in his review due to verticality aswell. Every single character of mine has premium ranged options, since I knew tha ranged combat is slightly OP in 5e even in a non vertical focussed game. My party could pick off those wall flowers in a single turn, even with double hp.

Hmm it is more about tolerance for animation and time perception. I finished the game in 20ish hours,you will most likely finish it in 30-40 hours. I like me tb,fast clean and tactical,solasta didn't deliver on any of that. Also range attacks are meh,a good spell or good melee is better. Killing off ranged retards is not a problem,the problem is that they shuffle around climbing and jumping shit,which ads useless animations,thus slows the combat. If you have high tolerance for slow combat,that is up to you,to each their own.

 

[fantadomat]

The necessity of having free hand to cast spells is pain in the ass for Paladins and Clerics. You can side-step this annoyance (by using two-handed weapon or secondary one-handed weapon), which makes me question why this is even a rule.

You could use the check in the options to ignore this retardation, it adds nothing to the game and it is just a waste of time.

 

[NJClaw]

shields are pretty meh,the best one gives 4ac

I almost never find a use for TWF: with a Ranger I just equip a shield because I'm already using my bonus action to move Hunter's Mark around so I'm never attacking with my secondary weapon, with a Fighter I want a two-handed weapon because that's the way to get the most out of Action Surge, and in general a two-handed weapon benefits more from Haste and that's a big deal to me, since that's probably the spell I use the most.

Also 4 AC is a lot...

 

[fantadomat]

I'm serious, whoever designed this endgame sequence and this crafting system needs to be beaten daily, until he learns game design. At least let me use my residence, it's faster to rest there than the tavern.

Well.... actually you could use the residence,i did it to craft me shit.

 

[jackofshadows]

Might be one of the rare occasion party building matters more, the oath of tirmar paladin was protecting my group, all of them packed together, blocking most of those legendary actions , then sun cleric cast sun spell in the room massively disadvantaging and damaging them .Dont forget to break all of the windows too . Had no trouble at all on this fight.

My tactic was simple: kill her 2 goons quickly since occasionally she heals from them as well, fighter with dodge with dancing lights next to him is tanking her legendary actions and the usual bites while the rest are finishing her off. Once she placing darkness - disengage and regroup. Problem is that sometimes she flied to my wizard and wacked him with leg actions before I could do anything. Just took some time to proper adjust positioning and stuff. Shoud've tried control speklls on her, my mistake but I just don't like take the chances with them on Cata so I pretty much ignoring them now.

Switched back to scavenger for this fight as well and now I'm scraching my head back on Cata on optional quest in the crown chamber with lots of elementals, 6 lvl. I need more damage, much more.