Guide:Nudiustertian's Journal

We can blame Capranaut for this, I didn't start the page.

For now, a collection of notes on things I encountered to prepare me for Honour mode (and fights/encounters you can easily screw up if you're not careful). I may make a "proper" guide from it later.

Tons of spoilers abound. Do not read this page if you're going fresh into the game yourself.

Please don't edit this page directly. Feel free to leave notes, though. Don't bother reporting typos, bad grammar, bad markup or missing links; if I ever turn this into a proper guide, all such things will be corrected in the rewrite. Don't bother pointing out violently immersion-breaking cheese either; I'm probably already aware of it, and if I do make a run for it I will avoid this. This includes such things as barrelmancy, exploits to kill late game enemies early, camp casting, respeccing hirelings into buff machines, leaving a party member behind to rez the rest if they bite the bullet, abusing obvious bugs fixed by Rydiak's mod, etcetera. No disrespect to people who tackle it this way, just not my style.

Honour Mode deaths & pitfalls!

General tips

• Many, many fights are avoidable through dialogue, and this is always better than fighting -- any XP you might miss out on is minimal compared to the risks. Even for fights that aren't avoidable, dialogue can be used to maximize the number of allies and minimize the number of enemies. As it so happens many of the strongest builds are CHA-based anyway (and Bards rule regardless of power). Of course there is always the risk of natural ones, even sequential, so never count on any check-based dialogue to have a 100% chance of avoiding a fight. Always be prepared to do the fight anyway if you have to; don't show up half dead and unbuffed expecting that you're going to walk away unscathed.
• With very few and rather obvious exceptions resting is free and without consequence, and you'll gather far more camp supplies than you'll need to basically rest whenever you want. If you're anything like me you will be tempted to push on and on and on while your party has zero spell slots left since you're confident you can take any enemies you come across, but from a combat and risk management perspective this is just silly. Once you're out of short rests and out of spell slots, stop. Listen to your party when they clamor for their bedrolls. Save yourself the frustration of running across one of the very few points in the game where resting does have consequences and realizing you've committed yourself to a needlessly risky encounter when you could have easily rested a while back. If you want to rest less, teach yourself to be more frugal with resources up front rather than running on fumes later.
• Keep a decent source of Bludgeoning damage handy. Even a humble unenchanted Maul will do. There are a surprising number of instances where you'll want to break through a wall or encounter enemies who are (only) vulnerable to Bludgeoning damage.
• Bone Chill, Arrows of Ilmater and the Doom Hammer prevent healing, which is a niche effect in most fights but very strong against enemies that (ab)use this as a primary mechanic -- the Bulette, the Lava Elemental and to a lesser extent Malus and Raphael come to mind. (Note to self: there are probably other "usually niche but more useful than you think" effects in the game we should pay attention to.)
• Prefer to use the initiative tracker to select targets for ranged attacks and spells, as it's far too easy to misclick otherwise. The same would go for regular attacks if it wasn't so annoying to do (and because a misclick usually has minor consequences since you'll still be close to the enemy and can move back in). The exception is ranged attacks that have to clear an obstacle -- sometimes you can reach a target manually that cannot be targeted dead center. The AI has no compunctions about using and abusing weird angles of attack, neither should we.
• Disarming environment traps is seldom necessary and often dangerous even if you are virtually guaranteed to succeed the check, because pathfinding can easily screw you over and cause a character to trigger a trap even as they're moving towards it. Don't move in to disarm things like blast mines, just blow them up from a distance.
• The game is not consistent about which conversations can be done by any party member approaching an NPC, and which force your PC to do the talking. Assume that any conversation that can be used to avoid a big fight or is otherwise with an NPC of any story importance will have to be done with your PC, and prepare buffs accordingly. In some cases you can get around this by splitting the party and ensuring your PC is nowhere near the area. A non-exhaustive list of "PC only" conversants:
  • Lump the Enlightened
  • All conversations with sentries in the Goblin Camp (not individual NPCs like Priestess Gut though)
  • The Zhentarim Basement sentry check
  • Thisobald Thorm (the other Thorms as well, probably, but haven't checked yet)

Act One

• Emerald Grove: the Grove is a pretty placid place if you don't do anything overtly stupid yourself, but there is one dialogue option that deserves to be called out: in the encounter between Barth and Meli, Ikaron may step in. If he does, don't give him lip, because if he turns hostile, the entire Grove will be drawn into the fight. Yessir. If this was a tabletop game the DM would doubtlessly allow you to apologize or offer you some other way of not having to run for your life, but since this is a CRPG, you're hosed. So... just don't do that.
• Goblin Camp:
  • Making noise (jumping) near the sleepers triggers a drawn-out fight (even if the guards have otherwise been bypassed), but they can be subdued with booze. There's no real reason to go this way, so just don't.
  • Going along with Gut will have her call for help on the second turn. She needs to be either silenced or killed in one turn; the latter can be done by hiding the rest of the party (rather than leaving the room as Gut asks). Alternatively, accepting the potion will have Korrilla appear and take her out, though this earns less XP. Alternatively of course she can be avoided altogether; even if not siding with the goblins, Minthara can be double-crossed instead. (But it's probably easier to kill Minthy while she's at camp, rather than force a heroic standoff at the Grove.)
• Whispering Depths: the Phase Spider Matriarch is no joke, especially if you trigger multiple phase spiders. Consistently taking out her eggs is fairly easy; all you need is a character with decent stealth and some Alchemist's Fire. I've never failed to have at least three bottles in my inventory at this point, even without purchasing any. If played correctly the character should even be able to stay out of combat entirely and enter the battle only when she's already engaged. Blind works well on her (and of course the Vision of the Absolute is practically made for this): it won't prevent her from teleporting all over the place (even though Ethereal Jaunt claims it's limited to "an unoccupied space you can see", natch), but it will limit her ability to attack to those directly near her and open her up to sneak attacks.
• The Risen Road: approach the fight with the Flind from the right angle (that is, not from the cave), otherwise you will miss the opportunity to turn her on her party members and will have to fight her "fair and square", which is pretty darn dangerous. Access to AoE damage/denial is highly recommended if you insist on doing it this way (or you fail the check for convincing her). Unfortunately Grease and Web are of limited use because Alchemist's Fire is getting tossed around even if you're not the one tossing it, and while explosions are nice, they don't prevent the enemy from moving. (Note: test if we can consistently use water to avoid this.) Druids with Spike Growth can clean up here. Otherwise, stay away if you're not at least L5 and have access to multiple attacks.
• Underdark:
  • The Minotaurs are bullshit (no pun intended); they can reposition themselves and charge/leap every turn, even with only half an inch to spare between them and your party (there is no minimum range for their attacks, only a maximum). Do not take the Whispering Depths route (jumping in the chasm with Feather Fall) as it positions you directly in front of them in a small corridor that cannot be escaped. Entering the Underdark from the Zhentarim Basement is much safer; the party can stay elevated here while dealing with the Minotaurs -- a stealthed rogue can kill them with ranged attacks at almost zero risk. The "best" entry is arguably from the Goblin Camp -- while you can stumble into a fight with a Spectator, it's entirely avoidable. In general, avoid the Underdark until at least L4 (do other quests first), as there are both the Bulette and Grymforge to contend with.
  • Apropos Spectator: this fight can be completely trivialized by taking the long way round and recruiting Glut and the Bulette as a spore servant first, as the latter makes absolute mincemeat out of the Spectator, even with it being immune to getting knocked prone from Deadly Leap. Summons do not trigger the encounter either, meaning the Bulette can leisurely destroy all the Drow statues first before tackling the Spectator, though that does border on cheese.
  • Be careful around the Duergar ambush -- even if successfully spotting them, it's incredibly easy to get drawn into a fight regardless, and they are quite annoying. The big boss has Counterspell and he's not afraid to use it; this can be used to make him waste it on cantrips. Having Glut with a Hook Horror or Bulette as the spore servant is not as helpful as it sounds -- Glut can't do anything unless the enemy is prone and the Hook Horror/Bulette will be unable to properly move on the narrow catwalks. The best thing to do is probably to have the spore servant draw fire from the ground, so the main battle doesn't involve the dwarven undead. They're little more than speed bumps, but getting crowded is not helpful.
  • Arcane Tower: don't forget to read the books to make the Bernard fight avoidable, or at least easier (he can give the ring of lightning resistance before hostilities). Of course the tower as a whole is avoidable; it contains no build-critical equipment. However, getting at least the spores and advancing Omeluum's quest grants access to the Pearl of Power Amulet and Survival Instinct, but of which are very strong. The Armours are vulnerable to Sussur Bloom, but since this prevents initial buffing and is really only useful if you can toss it to the archers on the first turn, I don't think it's necessarily worth it.
  • Grymforge: there is a "surprise" battle with Magma Mephits on the right side of the forge once Grym drops to 50% health. Stay out of range. Summons, while rather useless against Grym himself, are quite handy for distracting the Mephits. Be very careful to avoid the lava when moving (especially when moving in to attack); the game will happily use the lava as the shortest path. Having a character on the ledge is almost always helpful, whether they snipe Grym or the Mephits from a range or toss out healing and buffs. Unload on Grym with all your might; using the forge hammer is not strictly necessary and setting it up is finicky. A strength and haste-buffed fighter with the Shattered Flail can pound him into dust with relative impunity. As an asid, the Lava Elemental here can be trivialized by luring it all the way back to the Forge -- it can't cross the small gap between the ledge and the forge, meaning it can just be sniped to death from a distance with zero risk by keeping it Bone Chilled.
  • The Nere fight is optional, but those Disintegrating Night Walkers sure are great to have. The battle can be made significantly easier by striking a deal with Brithvar, even if you don't intend to free the gnomes. Nere cannot be shoved into lava but everyone is eager to shove you (including Arrows of Thunder). Unless you are absolutely sure you can eliminate the opposition, don't risk going anywhere near the edge and don't start the fight there. Focus on eliminating the Mind Masters in the first turn (or incapacitating them some other way, e.g. darkness); Nere takes a bit to make his way towards the fight. Once all the fighting is done the remaining combatants should not pose much of a challenge and they do have some nice loot, so if you're playing an evil character, feel free to let your inner murderhobo out.

Act Two

• Don't offer the goblins at Moonrise Towers a fair fight; while mostly pushovers they do have Alchemist's Fire. If you intend to eliminate them, just kill them with your freaking MIND.
• Don't let Kar'niss escort you; this makes the Ketheric fight much harder as he shows up there. Fighting him without the Harpers (if you really want to roleplay evil) is challenging but doable; prioritize the orc wizard as he can cast Fireball. Don't go on the roof if the Harpers are not there, as the Shadow Curse can hit you there (the Harpers all have light on them, so staying near them avoids it).
• The fights with Thisobald, Malus and Gerringothe are all avoidable through dialogue, but the DC checks are high. Visit the Sharran Sanctuary first, as it gives +5 bonus to INT, WIS and CHA until long rest, provided you pass a saving throw; Bless and Resistance come recommended here. Inspiration should be saved for the actual encounters.