Here's a way to Slay Firkraag with Brains insted af Brawn.

You'll need a 14th Level Cleric to pull this one off.

Firkraag is so smug and conceited that he treats you as a freindly character until you attack. Instead of initiating Dialogue, cast Magic Resistance on the Dragon. At 14th Level, this will set Firkraag's MR at 28%. A better shot than the 100%+ that he probably has.

Firkraag will still not attack you at this point, because the spell you have cast is freindly. Now cast Finger of Death, and the Mighty Beast will fall! (er... 72% of the Time.)

[ December 02, 2003, 21:56: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

heh, that's beautiful! Gotta try that sometime.

That is pretty sneaky. I'd like to try it, but my cleric is already way past level 14.

If you did a search on Firkraag, you'd find that most players know about this use of Magic Resistance. Using this beneficial spell offensively in this way is considered to be exploiting the game engine and hence "cheese".

A few stats for you: Firkraag's MR is 65%. His save vs. death is 3. Finger Of Death applies a -2 save penalty, so he'll make his save 75% of the time. You can improve your chances slightly by casting Doom (further -2 to save) but you may find it difficult to get your Finger Of Death off after this. There are many other ways of ridding the world of Firkraag.

Reightous Magic, bash him with a stick.

If I were a solo cleric, I would cast a bunch of animate deads ( As soon as I was powerfull enough to get the skeleton warriors) drink potion of speed, shoot him with my plus 5 sling (Bought from Joleev in copper cornet) At 14th or 15th level, I dont think I could get it done without a second player to run from the Red Dragon, but If i had to do it solo I would take that route

If I went solo with a cleric against Firkraag, I'd probably use that "cheese" tactic.

I mean what else can you do? Do skeleton warriors would fry under the dragon breath? Can't summon FIre Elemental... that's a druid spell, not cleric.

Maybe try the Blade Barrier cheese, but you'd still need to cast magic resistance on him first. Or maybe Harm and get lucky like what the solo Monks do.

It isn't cheese at all. If the Dragon wasn't so damn cocky, he'd attack as soon as I began casting. This way he'd interrupt the casting of one or both spells.

It isn't a bug in the system. The same rules would apply in tabletop AD&D.

Staff of Fire.

Summon Fire Elemental. Summon Fire Elemental. Summon Fire Elemental. Summon Fire Elemental. Summon Fire Elemental

Expend your minions.

Repeat.

(Actually, I forget if Staff of Fire can be used by Clerics. I suppose you could always use Gate and Summon Animals though.)

You sure fire elementals will works against a red dragon? I was under the impression that he had immunity or a very high resist vs fire.

*edit* I meant he, sorry for the confusion.

[ December 04, 2003, 06:13: Message edited by: fade ]

They are from the elemental plane of fire, so 100% fire resistance. The can hit Kangaxx, so I'm sure they can hit Firkragg once his stoneskin is gone. The only question is how long they will last against his physical attacks...

Firkraag will probably just use Death Spell against summons? If not, the Aerial Servant (6th level cleric spell) is one of the toughest summons in SoA.

It should be possible to beat Firkraag without using cheesy tactics with a solo cleric. I'm going through SoA with a solo Priest of Helm right now and when I've killed him I'll make a post in this topic describing my tactics.

Blog, I think he means fire elementals will be useless since Firkraag is 100% immune to all types of fire damage.

I'm sure he meant the fire elementals being immune to red dragon breath.

You sure fire elementals will works against a red dragon? I was under the impression that they had immunity or a very high resist vs fire. ...I was under the impression that THEY... so the elementals, not the one single dragon. (I hope at least)

The converse should not be true anyways; fire elementals hit for physical damage, not fire elemental damage.

Blog, fire elementals hit for both.

The elementals are 100% immune to fire damage, so is Firkraag. Firkraag does have a death spell, so he'll kill off the elementals really fast. The elementals will only be able to damage him physically, their fire damage won't be effective.

"It isn't cheese at all. If the Dragon wasn't so damn cocky, he'd attack as soon as I began casting. This way he'd interrupt the casting of one or both spells.

It isn't a bug in the system. The same rules would apply in tabletop AD&D."

WRONG.

No, it isn't a bug in the system, but it is an exploitation of a AI limitation. The AI generally only sets neutral enemies off is you cast a RED spell, as opposed to a BLUE or WHITE spell.

No PnP Dungeon Master with two working brain cells to rub together would let a dragon just sit there like an IDIOT while you did something so obviously meant as an attack on him.

So, YES, it IS cheese.

:D

Magic resistance cast on Firkraag.. There was also this program called Shadowkeeper with which you could edit yourself 25 in all stats. Almost as fun as killing Firkraag with magic resistance.

there are many cheesy ways to kill fikraag.b4 u trigger him to be hostile plant traps all around him.cast a few cloudkill like spells(horrid wilting etc) from beyond his sight,go take a piss,and hoala,he's dead