How long should I wait before going to Spellhold?

[Guest Charlie]

I did ask this in a SCS II thread, but I suppose this may be a better and more appropriate place to ask.

 

Assuming you do give a damn about Imoen, what's a realistic amount of time (story-wise) for you to wait before going to Spellhold? I've never actually played the Spellhold part of the game, but in a previous game I did pretty much everything there is to do in chapter 2, and felt stupid at having left Imoen to rot for so long before I went after her. I'd really like to play the game as realisitcally as possible, which includes rescuing Imoen in a reasonable amount of time.

 

I'm also one of those people who likes to decide what NPCs to use and then stick with them for the entire game i.e. no recruiting every single NPC at some stage and doing their quests, so I'm thinking that I'd like to get my party together, do any chapter 2 quests relating to them, and then move on and resuce Imoen. This approach will also increase replay value for me, and leave new things to do when I play a new game in future.

 

But of course, the difficulty of the game is also a factor, and I'll need my party to be strong enough to deal with chapter 3 and beyond. In the SCS II thread (I will be using this mod, but not its harder components) Wisp recommended being at least level 14-15 (with a party of 6) before going to Spellhold, but he also said that he could be way off there. I'll be playing on normal difficulty.

 

Any advice would be hugely appreciated.

[Kulyok]

Twenty to thirty days, usually - to complete my Mage Stronghold quests, Jaheira's quests, and all available quests in general, sometimes(rarely) with Watcher's Keep.

 

Also, with Anomen or Xan, I usually wait until my romance is "complete".

 

Without Watcher's Keep, my party gets about 1400000-1500000XP. Imoen usually has 1200000 at this point.

 

Depending on the way I roleplay, I either take Imoen with me, ignore her and ask her to leave(with Kivan installed, it's possible to give her money, as well, or do the right thing and get rid of another Child of Bhaal, just like I had to kill Sarevok/will rid of the Bhaalspawn in Saradush and the Five.

[the bigg]

I usually set off to Spellhold early on (about 10-11th level on single class guys). With some creativity, I can beat everything save the Beholder Lair (which I can't figure out, even with decoy + mass bombarding tactics). Of course, this requires lot of micromanaging, decoying, running away for regrouping, bombarding from off screen, and some overpowered items from mods (Freedom's Reign, Underrepresented Items, Item Upgrade).

[Kulyok]

How now, you do not use the fabulous Shield of Balduran/Spell Shield tactics in the Beholder Lair before Spellhold?

 

I recall I used to do it without the Shield of Balduran, too: Haste spell and lots of luck.

[DavidW]

I usually set off to Spellhold early on (about 10-11th level on single class guys). With some creativity, I can beat everything save the Beholder Lair (which I can't figure out, even with decoy + mass bombarding tactics). Of course, this requires lot of micromanaging, decoying, running away for regrouping, bombarding from off screen, and some overpowered items from mods (Freedom's Reign, Underrepresented Items, Item Upgrade).

 

I normally do most of the side quests before going.

 

The most recent time, I set the cost of spellhold to 100,000 on the prediction that it'd take me most of the sidequests to raise that much, and went as soon as I had it. It turned out that I went once I'd done everything except the Unseeing Eye and the Planar Sphere.

[the bigg]

How now, you do not use the fabulous Shield of Balduran/Spell Shield tactics in the Beholder Lair before Spellhold?

 

I recall I used to do it without the Shield of Balduran, too: Haste spell and lots of luck.

I always forget to take an item from the inventory and put it on, hence don't buy specialty items. Besides, with higher Gaelan costs, you don't have lots of gold in this stage of the game, and saving Imoen takes precedence over taking an item to do a single fight.

Also, I use the Cloack of Mirroring for almost equal effects, and neither item protects from the Hive Mother / Elder Orb's advanced spells. Obviously, the SoB would have protected me from Hold/Charm/Whatever, making this easier.

 

Wait. SoB doesn't sound very nice

[Domi]

Assuming you do give a damn about Imoen...

 

N/A here.

[gertjanvh]

Assuming you do give a damn about Imoen...

 

N/A here.

 

Respect! I never was quite able to live with the guild :s

[Domi]

Heh, it comes really easy to me. Don't like her, and think she deserved what she's got. Anyways.

 

I've never actually played the Spellhold part of the game, but in a previous game I did pretty much everything there is to do in chapter 2, and felt stupid at having left Imoen to rot for so long before I went after her. I'd really like to play the game as realisitcally as possible, which includes rescuing Imoen in a reasonable amount of time.

 

That's assuming that you are a game player knowing in advance that the game will allow you to get into the Spellhold and defeat the mobs. In RL it will take a very well prepared person to try and break into a Secret State Prison. Dying in the attempt is a very real thing in the RW setting, does not help the prisoner at all, so delaying to save Imoen (who is actually in a pretty secure place and as far as you know is not directly mistreated) until you are completely prepared and attending to the more urgent quests is perfectly justified.

[Qwinn]

Also, I use the Cloack of Mirroring for almost equal effects, and neither item protects from the Hive Mother / Elder Orb's advanced spells. Obviously, the SoB would have protected me from Hold/Charm/Whatever, making this easier.

 

Fights like that are why berzerker/mage is my absolute favorite class to play from a power perspective Forget kensai-mages (which -used- to be my favorite)... nothing they get is nearly as good as berzerker rage that gives you -2 AC, bonuses to attack and immune to pretty much everything including maze and imprisonments, AND absolutely no restrictions... the only downside is being slightly tired for like 15 seconds after you use your rage, heh.

 

Anyway, so yeah, you send in your berzerker raging with a shield of balduran or cloak of mirroring and you pretty much feel sorry for the elder orbs, they have no chance.

 

Qwinn

[the bigg]

Raging Berz + Anti-Magic Ray = non Raging Berz = going down quick.

[Qwinn]

Eh?

 

Don't think I ever had an anti-magic ray "un-zerk" me before. Would be odd if it did. I never thought of it as magic.

 

Qwinn

[Guest John]

Sometimes I leave within 10-12 days, other times up to 30 days. The earlier I leave, the lower the level my players are. I do shoot for each team member to be at least level 10. I once left with my party members at levels 9 and 10 and it was wicked.

 

As others posted, you can successfully storm Spellhold with NPC's of level 10, although it requires finessing the fights. My choice of when to go is based more on how much I believe my pc cares about Imoen tempered by my alignment, wisidom and trade-off between being prepared and my pc's sense of urgency.

 

Also fwiw I've played the game enough that in real life I don't feel compelled to complete every quest except as it fits in with how I'm playing the character or sometimes bored with the current game and want to move on.

 

John

[berelinde]

I usually try to leave before anybody hits level 12. Some of the spawns in the labyrinth are scaled, and fighting a lich when you've got nothing better than +2 weapons is no fun.

[Guest John]

It's been awhile since I've fought a lich with +2 weapons. OTOH, I usually have a mage type npc who's equipped with a monster summoning wand or have the staff of fire which is pretty cheap to get recharged. And I do "cheat" as it were because I usually liberate the Copper Coronet early in the game and buy either Azuredge and/or Blade of Roses. Liberating CC earns a big chunk of Bayle's fee if you decide not to spend it on supplies or equipment, which is why I may leave pretty quickly sometimes..

 

John