GameBanshee Forums

I came across one after several hours in NWN2.

I read about them in the loading screens. But never gave them much thought. They were pushovers in NWN1. Their regen did not help them.

But they are such a menace here. I walked into the map with my bruiser build, bringing along the gnome bard, the druid and mr ironfist. I didn't bring QARA the first time.

The throll did not present much problems. It fell fast. But it remained alive! The overhead said it was near death. But it came back!

Arghhh... there was no warning prior to this other than the loading screen.

How does this monster work? Can I kill it without fire or acid?
I kept a few bottles of alchemist fire and acid. That worked. But it wasn't enough. I turned to using my dragon's breath. But that requires rest after every fight!

Yes. You need fire/acid to deal the last few (1?) points of damage to kill them. There should be a mace obtainable pretty early in the game (

Spoiler

I think it's called Bone Pheonix.

) that deals +1d6 fire damage, so they should be no problem to finish off. Alternatively, you'll need to trek back to town and get Qara or obtain a fire/acid weapon.

you mean there is absolutely no way I can finish off a throll without fire or acid?!

Wow. If such is possible for monsters, can I do the same for my characters?

Yes. Trolls are nasty in that way, because you can only kill them properly with fire/acid. The older version of trolls from earlier D&D games did allow you to kill them if you deal massive damage in the hit that would otherwise drop them to "unconscious" state, but I do not think it happens in NWN2...

You cannot have it happen on your characters unfortunately, not in any legal way within the game.. though NWN2 never kills a character unless the whole party dies. They always revive after the battle, making resurrection spells practically useless. It's a troll only thing and unless you get to play a troll, you'd not get this ability.

The reason lies in the background story for trolls and their incredible regenerative abilities. Every injury sustained by these foul creatures heal so rapidly that they practically cannot be killed (well, almost). However, fire and acid, it is found, prevents this healing ability. And so, there you have it.

Thanks.

That makes me nervous. Now, I tend to bring QARA along. EIther that or I have to find a fire/acid weapon and keep for the "just in case" situations.

But, why would you NOT bring a potent spellcaster along? That's playstyle I suppose.... but why choose a +2 sword over a +1 +1d6 fire one?

Indeed.

Maybe because of the extra physical damage...

You see. I brought Elanee along. She did not have any fire spells.

When in city, I tend to pick Neeshka and QARA. When out in the mountains, I tend to pick the silly bard and Elanee.
My bad I suppose.

If you have a druid with you - memorise Flame Weapon which is a wonderous spell to deal with trolls.
Otherwise, just save many of the acid/fire flasks you find through the early game. They do not last long, but you should have enough to get through the trolls.
Or take Quara along, she likes fire.

Yup... she does. Very attitude. But i like her. She's feisty. But tend to go down fast.

Ah Qara... reminds me of one other fire obsessed mage in the same universe. The writer must have pyro-filliac tendencies himself.

Don't stand Qara in harm's way... put her at the back where her spells just barely reach the enemy and no closer. Although, the game does have an annoying tendency to place your party members at random around the main PC, which in some cases, mean spellcasters are in front... which really hurts when battle begins immediately after.

In my situations, Qara falls fast because the baddies come from all directions. At a fork road, I pick a route. The baddies come from the other route.

Happens in the orc caves, the warehouse and the like in chapter one. When I finally run back to aid her, she's invoking lots of attacks of opportunity. She does down fast.

Now, I place her near me. If she is going to be surrounded. At least I can aid her in time. Great cleave rocks!

You might want to have spells like Stoneskin and Mage Armor turned on for her. This helps keep her alive...

On being flanked/ambushed.... try to keep on other person behind to protect the rear as well.

Hmm.. Shift44 thanks. That is quite thru.

while not in puppet mode...

Sand does that automatically. Qara is more interested in burning things.
He easily puts on 3 buffing spells before firing a fireball.

Qara will fire one anytime. Most battles don't take me very long. So QARA helps earlier in that sense. Sand... he takes a longer time. By the time he casts something...the situation is already pretty much diffused.

RE: fire weapons for trolls
That merchant in Old Owls Well has an infinite supply of either Alchemists Fire or Acid Flasks (IIRC the first). ALSO, any weapon can deal the first damage to a troll, they only need fire/acid to FINISH them so drop those flasks on the party member who causes the least amount of damage and take control at the end of the fight to throw that coup-de-grace. (That was the logic in allowing trolls to be killed by combat: they fall unconscious after going into negative HPs and that coup-de-grace was able to finish them off.)

RE: getting ambushed from the rear
Try playing a sneak-thief (or use Neeshka in this manner) and telling your party to stay in one spot while you scout the area. You will cause all the spawning and with a high enough Hide and Move Silently you will avoid detection. Remember that a decent Use Magic score will allow the use of scrolls and other items; blank scrolls are plentiful at certain merchants and Sand or Qara can fill them with whatever you want.

Qara

You said that Qara goes down really fast. Stoneskin and mage armor dramatically help with this, and they last for 1 hour per level, false life a level 2 spell also lasts for 1 hour per level and adds bonus hit points. She has plenty of spells per day, so she can afford to learn some and use these, and still have plenty of offensive spells. A shorter lasting spell that also helps with this is mirror image a level 2 spell. With all these buffs she is ridiculously powerful and hard to kill, probably able to take down a small army alone.

In this case, Qara doesn't need to tank the troll. All she needs to do is to inflict the final blow which will kill it off. Elanee's Flaming Weapon will be as handy as having Qara cast Combust on the troll.