I've fought the balor 6 times, and 3 times I had him nearly beat when the game crashed. Now in the midst of the fight it crashes every time. I have several powerful monsters out. spell level 7 earth elementals, is all the monsters over loading it?
This is a known crash point, no matter what you do it can crash. Spamming summons may not be the problem, what are your other tactics, what weapons are you using (you are not using Scather/Frag are you), what does the Balor do to you?
well I always get spammed with the FEAR effect. He does his summons, sometimes a Balor. After using enchantments he starts beating on me with melee or sometimes Charming my fighters. My tactics, well I use mass bull's strenth, haste, bless, prayer, enlarge person. I used polar ice I think its called on him. Most of my spell attacks don't do much on him so I try to get my rogue around back and have the summons distract him while my buffed fighters beat on him. This was working well, at least 60% of the time. The last two times I didn't summon much, didn't crash but I didn't make it either.
Add in some Protection form Evil (or the 10' variety) for bonuses vs the fear and charms, I also like to throw in some Spiritual weapons, as they are immune to spells and can take a few hits before going down. Also if you have a bard or Zaxis around, the bard song helps as well. Another good on is (?) Tensor's Hound (not exactly sure what its name is right now) as the dog provides a bonus to saves as well another target for the Balor and friends. A high level druid comes in handy with huge Earth Elementals (I have tried them all and Earth seems to hit more often) to wear him down. I've also had some luck in staying back and having everyone spread out and fire missile weapons. At this point in the game I had a lot of cash so gave everyone a +3 Holy something-Burst bow, crossbow, or sling and making a few wands of Magic Missiles to pass out to those who can use them or have UMD skills (like rogues). They hit light, but most seem to get through and every little bit helps. Once he is weakened, I move my meleers in for the final kill. Make some unused save slots for in fight saving, hoping he doesn't bring in another Balor, anything else can be dealt with, but another Balor is a PITA.
Yes, Protection from Evil is a must against the boss demons. Your wizard can cast them from scrolls, so they don't use up any slots. I found, however, that Magic Circle against Evil has a nervous animation that seems to increase the crash risk in complicated battles. I therefore try to avoid using it.
-Greater Heroism provides immunity to fear and serious +s on saves, no? (works for me) -Dismissal is a handy spell to have memorized (multiple PCs, multiple times) when you go to the nodes.
The Heroism spells are good buffs indeed, but i find them relatively expensive in terms of spell slots. As for Dismissal, I tried that several times, but never managed to dismiss anyone. Do people actually have success dismissing the bosses or at least their summoned smaller selves?
In this case dismissal works for the summoned creature only. For instance, if the Balor summons another Balor, only the second one can be dismissed. I've done it on a regular basis. I usuallly have taken the spell penetration feat by the time I fight the Balor as well. A lot of the meta-magic feats in the game are iffy, confusing and hard to use, but this one seems to work for me (no operator action required). To me, it's the easiest way to get rid of the second Balor, even if I have to have multiple PCs cast the spell multiple times. 5 scribed scrolls of Greater Heroism ~= 413pp (4125gp@825ea). Well worth it to me, especially if I don't have to go throught the hassle of casting many different spells to get the same effect. Reduces the number of animations on each PC as well. That's why I brought it up. At 11th level and above, I usually load up on 3 spells to go to the Fire Node. Protection From Energy, Greater Heroism and Dismissal. The only problem then is getting past the Balor's damage reduction. Crafting is usually the easiest way. There are many different ways to beat the Balor, but after multiple game crashes, this is a distilled version of what works for me. Note: Mass Owl's Wisdom will give +4 to wisdom, +2 to will save vs fear/charm, also the domain spell Holy Smite/Order's Wrath works well on the quasits when cast over a good/lawful character surrounded by them. Just sharing what works for me, I've found that giving the AI the fewest things possible to think about and finishing the fight asap (easier said than done) reduces the # of ctds I get. The fight also plays a lot smoother with fewer animations involved. edit - see dolio's post below for correct info about how the spell works. The bolded statement above is incorrect. Basically, the creatures the Balor summons are significantly easier to dismiss.
Dismissal will work even on the guardians (unless you're using my spell pack), because they're outsiders. However, the saving throw DC is modified by the difference between your level and the creature's hit dice. So, if your guys are level 10, the saving throw DC is at -10 for a balor, which has 20 hit dice. This would mean that the spell DC is 4 + wis-mod for clerics, and 5 + cha/int-mod for sorcerers/wizards, which is way below the normal 14 or 15 starting point, and makes it very easy for the balor to save (and he already has pretty good saves). The other guardians are a little more succeptible. Vrocks and hezrou have 10 hit dice, and glabrezu have 12. So if you're over-leveled, you might even get a bonus on the DC for them, but it's unlikely that you won't have a significant penalty for the balor.
The first time that I fought the Balor Guardian, the game crashed to desktop the instant that I killed the Balor Guardian. The game did not crash to desktop the second time that I fought and killed the Balor Guardian. Templar, even with your party of evil characters, you are going to NEED to use holy weapons. The only negative effect of evil characters using holy weapons is that your characters will temporarily lose 1 character level so long as they are wielding the holy weapons. The Balor Guardian has DR (15/Holy; Cold) which means that only holy weapons, holy spell damage (e.g. half of the damage from the Flame Strike spell), and spells that do cold damage (including the Icy Burst enchantment on weapons) will do full damage to him. The Balor Guardian has SR[28] which means that he is going to resist almost all of your spells that you cast at him. The Balor Guardian has Immunity (Fire/Electricity/Nonlethal). Using holy weapons is the ONLY effective way of fighting the Balor Guardian. I recommend that you use the following tactics to defeat the Balor Guardian. Before you enter combat with the Balor Guardian, cast Heroes' Feast. This will make ALL of your characters immune to fear. Then position ALL of your characters JUST out of range of where the Balor Guardian triggers dialogue with your party. Then cast the following buffing spells just before you enter combat (in the following order): Stoneskin Death Ward (optional) Enlarge Person Haste Prayer (make sure that you get everybody within the radius of the spell, including the Balor Guardian and the Efreet) If you are having difficulty with the Efreet, then at the start of the combat, summon a Bearded Devil adjacent to each Efreeti. Bearded Devils have DR(5/Holy) DR(5/Silver) Immunity (Fire) which means that the Efreet can't damage them. When the Balor Guardian summons a powerful creature, use the Orb of Golden Death (it's a radial menu option) to keep summoning powerful creatures adjacent to the enemy creature. I hope that these suggestions help you defeat the Balor Guardian and that your game doesn't crash when you manage to defeat him.
I just played the Balor fight, and my 14th level cleric of Pelor blew away the Balor and all of his minions with one Holy Word. Nothing left but the fire gem glittering in the dirt. Unfortunately, the party got no xp for this.
