Intro Greetings, all! This playthrough uses Temple+ 1.0.29 and Co8 v8.1 New Content. I read the guide on this, but my party is LG. We have a Rogue/Wizard/Fighter/Eldritch Knight, a Druid, Oohlgrist (a Barbarian/Fighter/Rogue/Ranger who may also take Assassin levels) with favored enemy: Evil Outsiders, and possibly Prince Thrommel. (Haven't tested if the prince can be killed in the temple, brought to Verbobonc, resurrected mid-fight, healed, and allowed to remain in the party.) I have beaten this fight before, but it was with a duo of CG characters who used the Swords of Answering. One was in Otiluke's resilient sphere while the other sometimes healed. This is notably different than the current run which may have only the prince as someone who can spam retaliation attacks against Iuz while in a resilient sphere. This is also a pseudo-iron man (PIM) run, meaning a finite number of lives. (Reloading to undo a wipe or a major decision costs a life.) The Iuzathon is often considered the game's current final battle, meaning I have time to accumulate lives. I am unsure how many lives I'll have at the start of the Iuz fight, but assume it's plural. Current Party This current LG party (Eldritch Knight, Druid, and company) has different options than the CG party. Oohlgrist is the game's best tank. My team has squatted at level 3 (or starting level, whichever is higher), meaning that by the time our team reaches Iuz, Oohlgrist can jump to level 18+ and the main characters can jump to 21+. Our party enlisted some temporary help. We raised a LG Cleric of Hieroneous with the L and G domains to make Lawful Good polearms. Strategy Considerations and Questions We have not raised any casters focused on spell penetration who would likely be able to hurt Iuz with spells. Fire storm is a possibility if it can still be stacked on a target, but a CG character with a Sword of Answering is better. I intended for us to start the fight, teleport out, rest and recover, then restart the fight fully buffed. This should allow us to enter the fight more prepared. How well does this work? Iuz Questions -What is Iuz's AC? (According to the guide, it's 43 normally or 44 if his Dodge feat is active.) -How much does our party's AC matter against Iuz? (Based on him having a minimum of +43 accuracy, he'll probably hit AC 45 or lower on a 2.) -Does Iuz have Evasion? -Does Iuz have true seeing continually active? If not, how much is he affected by invisibility, blur, and displacement? -Can Iuz be sneak attacked? If so, how? (For example, does it require a level 14+ Rogue?) -Can Iuz be flanked? If so, how? -How best to counter/recover from Iuz's Crippling Strike which does 2 STR damage per hit in addition to other HP damage? -Does a Ring of invisibility last through an 8 hour rest? -Can a creature with a base mental stat of 9 or less - but whose stat is augmented through items and spells - cast spells? For example, can a creature with 6 base INT but with an item of +6 INT (for a total of 12 INT) learn and cast Assassin spells? -What else do y'all recommend?
Is it possible to teleport out of fights? My recollection is that it isn't but I guess that may have changed. You can do a 'functional teleport' by reloading the autosave that is created when you travel to the arena, which puts you in an empty arena, allowing you to walk onto the adjacent entry tower map, buff to your heart's content, and re-enter the arena. As far as I'm aware, Iuz is functionally immune to sneak attacks, and has sufficient BAB that AC isn't an effective defence. I have tended to counter this with stacked stoneskins, summoned decoys, and heal spells, rather than things that give a miss chance, so I don't know how effective things like Blur etc are. I believe that stat boost items do confer the ability to cast spells requiring sufficient Int/Wis/Cha.
How are you managing the rest of the game sitting at 3rd level? Standing back and watching Oolghrist open the whup-ass, I guess?
Oohlgrist (Barbarian1/Fighter2 with Great Cleave and with a crafted +1 Lawful Good Glaive) and Burne at L8 have provided plenty of power, though we have had some 'interns' not mentioned in the original post. One is a Human Wizard3 (going for Wizard11 - about to mature her after this post) for crafting. She used some summons, but also web and glitterdust. As for how we got Oohlgrist initially: [+6] Rogue1/Wizard2 allows 6 max Intimidate ranks. [+4] Start with 18 CHA - and base 18 in all stats. [+2} Equip the arcane tattoo from Yvy in Hommlet (NE labor camp) [+2] Use a potion of eagle's splendor. [+2] Use a potion of heroism. Burne has actually been less useful than Oohlgrist since we got both, but Burne's benefits have been in more utility things, such as: -Invisibility (level 2 and 4 versions). -Fox's cunning and heroism on the lead character to max Appraise. -Lesser globe of invulnerability for the Arena of Heroes third fight. -Web, glitterdust, knock, blur, summon monster IV (DIRE WOLF TRIPPAGE!), magic missile, and fireball - generally useful Wizard stuff. -Haste makes Oohlgrist and Burne wonderfully powerful and unprepared GMs cry. (I finally feel like I learned Gygax's hint at completing this module! Alleluia!)
Even by my calculations, and accounting for Oohlgrist as Best Tank, the highest AC I could get on him (accounting for a +5 mithril chain shirt, +7 DEX, a +5 Ring of Protection, a +5 Darkwood Buckler, a +5 Necklace of Natural Armor, his own natural armor, and the Dodge feat) was about 43. You may be able to get it slightly higher, but Iuz's accuracy is +73 on his first attack. In short, don't bother blocking with AC. Use blur, displacement, blink, and improved invisibility instead. ("Mage tank" him.)
Based on preliminary testing with Iuz on Temple4, Iuz LACKS see invisibility AND true seeing. Pretty blind for an avatar who could cast true seeing as a Cleric spell. Beneficial to those who want to beat him, though. Alleluia!
It occurs to me that if you give Oolgrist a single cleric level somewhere along the way, he should be able to use wands of Divine Power and Righteous Might...
Recently fought Iuz x4 in the arena, when he was indeed vulnerable to sneak attacks from my Assassins. He appears to have updated AI, in that he now runs past the low-level summons that I have previously used to stall him while getting my stacked Stoneskins up on the guy who is going to go toe-to-toe with him. Fortunately my Cleric (of Olidammara) has access to Mislead (as a domain spell), as did the Wizard who was applying the DR. The rest of the party kept out of the way: Assassins by Dim Dooring into the ruined hut where the hill giants come from in Arena of Heroes #2; the Bard by using Run to get far enough away that she was never in striking distance (actually, her ability to kite 2 or 3 of the avatars at the start of the fight helped stop them interfering with putting the buffs on the Cleric).
