I am planning my group, and would like some perspective on the Balor. From what I understand, he can be hard to defeat conventionally. If you do the other nodes first, is he easy to beat with the summoned guardians?
The other guardians can be a big help. When I've fought it (and I usually don't; the slowdowns in the fire node frustrate me), I've usually employed summoned monsters, spells, and heavily enchanted ranged weapons. The Fear aura is actually the biggest problem, followed closely by the Ballor's summoning of other major league demons. If you do plan to close, buffs are your friends, as many as you can pile on. Party-made enchanted weapons are excellent choices as well, with a close in or distance strategy. A Holy Axiomatic Frost Great Cleaver is fun.
As old book says, making your own weapons is the way to go. A lot depends on your party build but summoned critters are always useful.
Fear DC is 35, iirc, ergo - fear immunity is the only way to go - if you wanna melee it. Somebody wrote prot-from-evil would work - well, i didnt try the single-person version, the circle just gives the +2 save bonus, as it should. (Not to mention that explioting an error wouldnt be the way for me to play that game.) Afair, there are only to ways: - Paladin gets it for free - Greater Heroism (well, bard14, right?) Worked with a Pala and Moradims hammer / My Rogue with the nevermissing Greatsword and a potion of greater heroism... (and greter invis, blur, divine favor, bard songs, haste, circle vs evil, stoneskin, barkskin, shield, bulls', bears'... ) No Crafting NEEDED - but i dont say, it wouldnt make it easier Edit: Okay, got 3 "a rogue with the greatsword?"-icq-querys so: Yes, a Rogue with the Greatsword. Look, it never misses, right? So its perfect for full Power-Attack and Conbat-Expertise, all the way with defensive fighting and a nice buckler. Raises the AC near to the 50th, damage with sneak attack hits the 100 sometimes, - what do you want more?
Re: the Greatsword, do you mean Fragarach or Scather? I ask because they are considered to be Bastard Swords in ToEE with the co8 patches. the -4 non-proficiency penalty wouldn't affect your Rogue though as the never misses property kicks in anyway,but for the benefit of those who read this thread I thought I should point out the propper weapon type for those weapons.
These bastards! Oh, new to me, perhaps i should read the discription more carefully next time. Ahem, ijep, the "thanks-for-the-rescue"-sword...
Protection From Evil makes fighting the Balor much easier. It makes characters immune to Fear, Charm, etc. Cast it on every party member who's going to get close ... which probably means everyone but the wizard/sorcerer types. And it wouldn't hurt to cast it on them either. As mentioned several times already, go with party-made weapons. I usually don't have access to Axiomatic weapons since my Cleric is usually CG so HE can wield Scather/Fragrach, but a Rogue with Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse, Improved Critical (short sword) and a pair of +3 Holy, Frost Burst, Shocking Burst short swords can do a FRIGHTENING amount of damage if somebody else in the party can help him flank the monster. Hmmmmmm ... maybe my next cleric will be LG ... :largeclap
Protection from Evil does that? Nice. - It's an error. To win by exploiting errors isn't why i play games...
