Remove Magic is too Overpowered

[Guest SCSPlayer]

I've been playing SCS v33.3 on Hardcore Difficulty, and I've managed to beat every difficult encounter. I really enjoyed fighting Kangaxx and the Twisted Rune, despite having a lot of things go wrong (spells interrupted, remove magics flying everywhere, characters getting mazed, planetars being summoned, etc...) Now I get to the end and I crush the black dragon and Irenicus's first form as though they were complete jokes, without even taking damage. Now I get to hell and buff up my whole party and fight Irenicus Pt. 2. Easy right? Wrong! At the start of the fight I get hit by a triple remove magic and extra remove magics from the balors and glabrezus, fully dispelling half my party every time. I timestop with Edwin and fully remove Irenicus's protections, but that still doesn't change the fact I'm being assaulted by 4 angry demons with ZERO buffs. Keep in mind my main charcter isn't multiclassed, he's a Level 23 Druid dualed from a Berserker. I simply get curb stomped every time, which is frustrating given how I beat SCS Kangaxx the first time with no character deaths. Am I doing something wrong, or should I just give up?

[Angel]

It's not so strange, the hell Irenicus battle really is quite difficult with SCS.  I was a level 28 paladin on my latest run and that was one of few battles that really gave me trouble.  (Others were Bodhi on insane, and the Gibbering Twelve battle of the G3 anniversary mod.)

I'd say if you really can't pass it, try lowering either the overall difficulty a notch or two, or maybe just either mage or fiend difficulty, and see if that gives you an enjoyable battle.  There's no shame in that, SCS really can be a bitch.

And yes, Dispel/Remove Magic under 2e rules is weighed very heavily in favor of higher-level casters.  I recently saw a mod here on G3 that claims to even the odds a bit, but I haven't gotten around to testing it yet.  But perhaps it might help you.

[subtledoctor]

I'm playing with Polytope's mod right now... but, it's going to be ~75 hours of game time before I hit the Irenicus battle.  I'll let you know how it goes in a few months...

[Guest SCSPlayer]

I finally managed to beat it without turning the difficulty down, though I do admit to using a couple of spike traps from jan to bring the glabrezus to near death. I also summoned a planetar and an elemental prince to occupy the balors, while fully dispelling irenicus and using power word, blind to take him out of the fight, then using magic missile of all spells to interrupt his true sight. Honestly the most challenging fight in the game by far, I had Improved Bodhi set to Insane and she wasn't even remotely challenging, and Ascension Illasera proved to be quite trivial with good usage of physical mirror on my 3 divine casters and protection from magical weapons on my 3 arcane casters (yeah, all caster party). 

[DavidW]

Congratulations!