The Prospector

[Painted Lady]

I have a question about the Prospector (in Westwillow). My first run-through was as a fighter buffed with a little Bless, etc., and the Prospector was a piece of cake. My second round is as an Elemental Mage who uses Piercing Weapons.

You can imagine my surprise when Fire Dart at level 6 didn't phase the dude one bit. So, I took him out with my handy, dandy newly found piercing weapon combined with some running away to rest as needed.

My question is for those who have played as pure Mages. What works against that guy? Compress Atmosphere? Ice Lance?

[CrazyBernie]

I seem to recall rocking him with ice lance... but any "physical damage" spell should be effective.

[silverkitty]

I was playing an elemental mage, as well when I faced him first - I used a couple barrels of black powder. He might not notice fire dart, but the barrels sure did notice it. And he noticed them pretty effectively.

[Kreador Freeaxe]

With my mage I used a bunch of compress atmosphere on him (and his companions at the same time, by running around and getting them to bunch up).

[Randomizer]

The Prospector has over 150 health so your measly 20 or so from fire dart barely scratches him. You really need a higher damaging attack before he brings in too many friends.

[Dragonlady]

I've usually used Compress Atmosphere on him. Sometimes the lower cost ice spell. Absyssal???? Depends on how long I wait to go to West Willow. I've heard Flesh Boil works fairly well but never tried it.

[IJBall]

...I've heard Flesh Boil works fairly well but never tried it.

Ah, which brings up my issue - I've always had a problem with that spell (Fleshboil) working on the undead.
Frankly, it shouldn't.

I plan to bring this issue up (again) going into Book III - but, IMO, Fleshboil (and Sunder Flesh) should be changed so that they don't work at all on the undead: force Healers to use Turn Undead, or possibly Smite, on them instead.

[silverkitty]

I dunno. I think it should work on zombies, but not skeletons. But maybe I'm weird.

Also, Randomizer, here's an extra "zero" for your prospector HP estimates. I'm pretty sure someone with 150 HP would notice a 20 point hit.

[tungprc]

He'll go down with a level 3 fire dart if you're patient. I never kill him until he's summoned all the undead he'll do. My question would be, if I left the dungeon, would his mana restore and he could summon more? I've never tried, but it could be a great place to get extra xp if so. Compress works real well and so does Abysmal Freeze.

If Flesh Boil doesn't work, then maybe you could control-click undead and hurt them with Heal spells.

[DaveH]

He was pretty trivial for a ranger with the bow feat and sword feat. I had that named bow with the + poison (which it seems 90% of monsters are immune to), and pegged him with that until he got in striking range, then whacked him down with my dwarven iron longsword. The first attempt, he caught me by surprise, and I tried to run, but his summoned minions finished me off. Second time, I didn't move once I engaged him ... and he never summoned help at all. That made it a very easy fight.

[Antigrav]

I dunno. I think it should work on zombies, but not skeletons. But maybe I'm weird.

Also, Randomizer, here's an extra "zero" for your prospector HP estimates. I'm pretty sure someone with 150 HP would notice a 20 point hit.

I would think that undead also wouldn't count against the "pacifist" character challenge. They are not living things, and there is no ethical reason to let them be.

[IJBall]

I would think that undead also wouldn't count against the "pacifist" character challenge. They are not living things, and there is no ethical reason to let them be.

Interesting point.

This point should probably be brought up again, during Book III (challenge) development.

[SpottedShroom]

I would think that undead also wouldn't count against the "pacifist" character challenge. They are not living things, and there is no ethical reason to let them be.

I don't know, I think the pacifist challenge should be tightened if anything. Maybe using charm to make monsters fight isn't killing them, precisely, but it's still causing their deaths. I would say the engine should count any kills by your allied creatures from charm or summon as your own - for XP, kill count, and challenge status.

Besides, ethical concerns aren't necessarily the only reason to be a pacifist. Maybe my pacifist is an abject coward and terrified to face anything in combat.

[Evnissyen]

My bow, along with Focus, made pretty short work of the Prospector.

I have no idea why physical weapons should do major damage to a spirit. I would think that my arrow should've just gone right through the Prospector, causing zero damage and making him/it laugh mockingly.

I also don't know why Bernie's Ice Lance should effect something that's undead and, therefore, quite cold to begin with.

Fire Dart seems to make more sense, to me, as being something that might actually prove somewhat damaging to a cold spirit.

But really: any non-flesh-based spell should work much better against a fleshless spirit than a physical weapon, which logically should do nothing.

But some sort of Divination spell along the lines of "Turn Undead" should, logically speaking, I'd think, be best of all -- just the sort of thing to really blow the Prospector away.

I remember Linu in NwN 1 - my favorite companion in that game (although I truly hated her "yes, dear" line) -- wreaking havoc against undead creatures by blowing them up en masse with her Turn Undead spell. I do not know yet how effective this spell is in EB2, but if these spells are anything like they were in B1, I don't expect much.

[Kreador Freeaxe]

You have to have some sort of magical bonus to damage to allow your physical weapons to work on the spirits. I'm guessing you had the Bloodlust Ring(s) or that nice pendant when you fought the spirits.