[VonDondu]

I once beat Improved Ilyich in a straight-up fight, but I cheated. First of all, I didn't try to fight Ilyich until I had cleared out the rest of Irenicus's dungeon. Then I rested and began my preparations. My main character was a Wild Mage. I think I gave him some extra experience to match what he would have had if I had played him all the way through BG1 without an experience cap. I also gave him Animate Dead. After a couple of Wild Surges, he was able to cast spells at 15th Level, so he was able to summon a couple of Skeleton Warriors. (I reloaded several times before I achieved the desired effect.) He used Enchanted Weapon (given to him at character creation) to create a couple of +3 maces for Minsc, who drank a Potion of Haste. I don't think Yoshimo and Imoen were able to do any backstabbing, so I probably let Yoshimo use a bow with +1 arrows and let Imoen cast spells such as Magic Missile, Melf's Acid Arrow, and so forth. I can't remember what Jaheira was doing--probably casting Summon Insects, Call Woodland Beings, Armor of Faith, etc. and wielding a Flame Blade (unless I gave her enough experience to summon fire elementals and cast Iron Skin). I took advantage of the terrain, so to speak (the bookcases) to keep Minsc and the skeleton warriors from being attacked by everyone all at once, especially the archers, whom I targeted with my spellcasters. EDIT: I think I used a lot of Skull Traps. It was such a mess, I figured once was enough.