Random encounter shadows

Hi, I'm using the Co8 5.5 beta.
I;m playing toee for first time so i don't know the game very wel yet.
Despite this i'm playing it on ironman. I cameback from the moodhouse, killing the leader bandit. I got random encountered by shadows, my team hasa sorcerer, a druid, a ranger, a barbarian and a paladin. And i hired a rouge in the inn.
the sorcerer and the rouge are unconciouss, the sorcerer has no level 1 magic. All my characters are level 2. i I have axes, club, sword, axe, sling , bows, nothign magical or special.
I got attacked by 5 shadows, i hit and hit, but they always recieve 0 damage, at this point, i spended allmost all my scrolls in this fight, potions, etc, and everyone is weakened, poisoned etc. I don't know what else to do. nothing seems to kill the shadows. What should i do? why is this happening? Is there an out from this or i'm lost?
thanks

 

the shadows are really scary to be honest (and they seem a bit off encounter wise, CR3, not sure what the CR = when theres 5 of them)

I've encountered them only a couple of times before as wandering monsters, and each time i panicked

Stat wise, shadows do STR damage, normal attacks do no damage to them, magic weapons, holy water and spells have a 50% miss chance, but magic missile and other force effects work 100%.

They ignore armor mostly too.

So, magic weapons, magic missile scrolls galore, holy water maybe? not sure what the holy water in game actually does, ive never tried it.

With regards to your current situation, if there is no flee option (there sometimes is). You are probably in a very bad position with your sorc being unconcious. If your paladin has lay on hands available, or your druid has a cure spell memorised, you could try to get your sorcerer up, provided he has magic missile, or some attack spell.

Failing that, Magic weapons are probably required >_<

Try magic fang on the druid's companion maybe?

The other rough low level wanderer you occasionally get is the will o wisp, but thats not too dangerous, just ridiculously hard to hit.

Regarding ironman mode, its a real risk, and not just because of this type of situation - toee has a habit of corrupting single save files, and ironman only uses one that im aware.

 

It means i'm dead? no, my sorcerer even if i wake him up has no damage availabable, os i can't flee, i can't kill them, and i lost. It's really really unfair. I mean, i was never told something like this could happen in the game or the manual. I was doing great. I was never told that if i didn't had multiple sorcerer ready on the team something like this can happen. Even if my sorcerer had all his spell, i wonder if he could take 5 shadows.
I'm really frustrated with this game right now, i was doing fine and it seems i'm in a surprise, i can't do a thing position, i wasn't even prevented of something similar, and worse i played RPG all my life and Never a D&D game killed me like that. Really it seems really unfair, this TOEE seems really unfair game. I'm surprised that more people didn't complain about something like this.
I think i will drop the game, I have no will to continue playing TOee if they can suddenly kill me in this cheap ways.

 

Hum...
Bad situation, really...
I always run as a crazy from shadows...

vampiricpuppy just forgot the most basic way to kill those thing: Positive energy. If yer Paladin and Druid or maybe yer Ranger have some Cure Spells/Lay on Hands yet, ya shall us'em to harm the shadows. Very useful, sinse there are no miss chance - the shadows just shall to resist for half damage, in the case of Cure spells.

Now, if ya're going to drop the game becose ya die... Well, go play The Sims or something more safe.

 

It's not because it not safe, is because is stupid.
The game is super easy, and i just lose because i do 0 damge, and by a random encounter. Do you understand how stupid that is? No matter how much good i'm in rpgs (and i'am) i couldn't avoid this in anyway, because somethign liek this never happend to me in any d&D game i every played, and it makes no sense. Why do you think i play ironman mode in my first run? because i know d&D games are super easy, except this game decided to do a random crap that instant kill me, because i was never prevented or told nor antyhign like that of i will face a creature that i can't kill in anyway, not 1, but 5.
Instead of accepting this is the game fault you tell me i should go play simes or somethign safe? man, all d&D are super easy and super safe ,unless you count random instant kill encounter you can do nothing about.

 

Maybe, just maybe, this is one of the (many) reasons why Ironman mode is a bad idea?

Seriously, don't use Ironman mode. It has other flaws than just the possibility of getting caught with your pants down in a random encounter.

As for the shadows, yeah, without magic weapons or a spellcaster loaded up with Magic Missiles or something you're gonna end up toast. That's just the way shadows are. The random encounters in ToEE are possibly a little too random sometimes, but if you're really thinking about dropping the game because your level 2 party got wiped out once in your first ever playthrough, don't. Start over, move on, and don't use Ironman mode this time. The game is worth it - trust me.

 

Unfortunately, this was bound to occur eventually - playing ironman the first time through.

My props to you for being brave enough to give it a shot that way, but really if you compare toee to other dnd RPGs, they all have more uber-monsters-of-death.

The beholder and mind flayer lairs from BG2 spring to mind. BG2 even has insta-kill traps as well .

My suggestion would be to play on normal mode, and if you still want a more hardcore experience, dont allow yourself to reload unless its a total party wipe.

oh and avatar, you're right i practically never use those spells offensively, which is really an oversight on my part

 

Ok, so the game is supereasy, right?
Why ya playing this no-chalenging thing, so? Just take a look in the pnp adventure. Much more easy.

Ya say that ya're a good gamer. Well, a good gamer carry know the basic, and ya don't look to know even this. Ya dont carry a magical weapon, after to clear the Moathouse? Where is the Larreth´s Staff of Striking? Ya shall not have it equiped, at all, but ya have just selled it? its not exactly smart to sell magical weapons, even the ones ya dont usually use in a point of the game that ya dont have access to mere marterwork weapons. And walk around with unconciouss memebr's party its not a good idea too.
There are another strange thing here. Ya have a level 2 party that have beat Lareth? Hard to imagine how ya go till him in a so low level and have survived...
One more thing: Ya dont have enhanced the Survival Skill of yer Druid? This skill is what let ya pic or avoid randon encounters.
Again, Lay on Hands and Cure spells are useful. Yer Druid have Cure Light Wonds at first level, and the Paladin have Lay on Hands in the secound level, so ya have this habilities. Not enough to destroy five Shadows, of course, but with a conciouss Sorcerer to cast some damage spells and a Barbarian with the magical club of Lareth and Barbarian Rage this dont look a really impossible task.
Ya're not ready for this enconter, as ya're not for a enconter with a couple of trolls, too. Or a group of bugbears. And if ya're not ready for a rando enconter, ya're not ready for D&D, lad.

Ya're in the begginingg of yer game, if ya have just cleaned the Moathouse. Start again, and be ready, next time. Try the normal mode, that is more easy, with possibilities of more powerful chars, throught more than just one Attribute roll and the Save thing, very useful.

[edit]

Vampiricpuppy
I never use then offensively, too, except agains Shadows! There are no other undeads that don't shall be destroyed by a good number of hits, except by this damned ones!

 

one thing i will say about d&d in general, it never pays to sell magic items cos they dont suit your character's style, keep them till you find better ones the magic club that avatar mentions is a prime example.

 

A cleric with sun domain and greater turning pretty well destroys shadows. Takes a few rounds to get them all, tho.

 

I didn't found any magical club.

 

Lareth Staff of Striking. In the body of the Moathouse Leadrer, Lareth the Beatiful. Its actually a Club+1 with charges for more damage. Its a gold weapon, looks like a scepter.

 

No man,maybe there were more to kill, who knows maybe i didn't kill so much as you think.
But i never saw, or found any magical club.Anyway i just had the characteres all poisoned and all with no, i lost, i jus tfelt it was cheap, it was the cheaper dead i experienced in any D&D, and i played many.
And i played ironman because i don['t want ot load in rpg games, it's hard for me to roleplay if i can resurrect with hitting load. Yes, i didn't finish some rpgs because of it.
But this was pathetic, as i said i never saw a cheaper RANDOM FIGHT, where you can't escape (and yes i have a lot of survival skill)
I plan to make a second run, in "normal mode' playing ironman mode (i'm deciding if i'm going to do 1 reroll characters, or point system). And i would like to save it all in video, what's the best program to save on video for TOEE?

 

Well, in the pen & paper D&D - and any other P&P RPG - we have a Dungeon Master to avoid killer randon enconters, and to protect the player from instant kill by and randon roll of that ogre with a big club. As there are no DM in ToEE, just consider that the Save option ins ter GM saving ya from a killer Randon Enconter or a lucky critical roll. Thats all.
Im mostly an RPlayer, and I dont like to save, but sometime we just have no option - like a 2º level party meeting five shadows randomly...

Use the roll option on the normal game. The point buy method makes a too weak group in a D&D perpective. Good numbers in the key habilities is absolutly essential for a D&D char, and the poit buy system just dont give ya this possibility. Buying poits ya will have a NPC party.

 

Total Party kills in PNP are rare, but they happen. Usually when players use their characters in persistently stupid manners. Gee, my first run as a DM of the ToEE, back in the first edition days started off with a TPK.

As others have said, first NEVER play ironman. It corrupts saves and overall doesn't work.

Second, shit is bound to happen at some point, and you might have to start anew, that's just like standard PNP. If you thought the moathouse was 'super easy' with a 1st-2nd level party, then you were incredibly lucky, or didn't really run through the moathouse.

CRPGs? No, not really. And PNP is even less 'super easy', unless you play with a bad GM.

Oh this reminds me of the Tomb of Horrors.... instant death traps, those were the days [/nostalgia]

Well mate, I think people just reacted to your tone: you're infuriated for having lost a game because something random got your party. It could have been a sequence of bad dice rolls (I've sure been wiped out by the bandit leader and his assistants on a nu8mber of occasions, just due to poor rolling on our side, and excellent on their). But, hey, that's just the nature of the game. If you're playing an RPG where you never lose, then indeed you're playing something akin to the sims. It's no accident develop game systems for combat that are deadly, and complicated (and ToEE is one of the best out there, certainly). Its no accident that GMs create challenging environments. Otherwise the game would be no fun.

As the others said, start over, and have fun. It's a really cool game when you accept that it's tough and that you should save often.