Cloakwood mines and traps

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I'm ready to go down to the second level of the mines and got to thinking about the traps. IIRC, there are some traps on the second floor, but not on the third or fourth (until you get to Daevorne). My thief has 80% in FT. Will that be enough?

 

80 in FT is enough for the whole game including ToSC.

 

If not just use potions of mast theif.

 

I have potions in case. Am I remembering correctly about where the traps are? None on the third level at all? Yes, I'm lazy and don't want to painfully lead the way with my thief.

 

There are three(maybe even four) between you and Davecorn(sp), they are straight down the hall. I was just there two days ago.

 

That's the fourth level. The first level has all the miners, the second level has two traps in the path leading to the central room (and a big fight) with a secret way around it, and the third one's entrance was featured in a recent Screenshot of the Week taken by Oli with his Misunderstood Personalities party before his BG1 CD blew up. The third level has no traps. But you may want to lead with your thief anyway unless you remember where the wizardress is.

 

I can't count, it is a failing of mine. I also can't seem to remember what I did two days ago either. I fell sheepish. Baahhh!

 

That's okay; I'm not sure I would've counted the first level either, but I figure kuemper wouldn't be asking about the most well-known placement of traps in all of Cloakwood.

Oh, and kmonster:

That's not quite true. There are at least a dozen traps (including some containers) in Durlag's Tower that require 90 or more (even up to 99 on a particularly nasty one) and a couple that require 85. There's also one in the Undercity maze that requires 90 to disarm, but really shouldn't count since it's easily avoidable (in the corner of a 90 degree turn) and only takes 60 to spot. If you said everything except Durlag, I'd agree with you.

I'm finally doing a full area-by-area inventory to check for "over 80" traps, and I think I'm about a quarter done so far. I'll let you guys know what I find.

 

All right, I'll ask, how the h**l do you know what percentage it takes to find traps?

I geuss if I would have thought about it I would figured that, I was just happy that there was a question that I thought I could answer.

 

Well, you can't just intuitively KNOW what the percentage is. Although depending on whether you succeed or fail, you will know it has to be either over or under a particular value. Every trap in the game has a number assigned to it for detecting it and disarming it, and it is possible (even likely) that the numbers are different for finding and disarming. The same goes for locks on doors, chests, etc.

When you attempt to find a trap, remove a trap, or pick a lock, the game compares the number you have in that particular skill area (either pick locks, or find/disarm traps depending on what you're doing) and compares it to the value assigned for that particular lock/trap. If the lock/trap number is bigger, you fail. If your number is bigger, you succeed. I think there are even a few locks in Durlags tower that have values in excess of 100%, meaning even if you were at 100% pick locks, you'd still need a potion of mastery theivery to succeed.

This is of course, a departure from standard 2nd edition rules, where the percentage is a chance to pick any lock or a chance to find/disarm any trap. Using the standard rules, if you have a 50% in pick locks, any typical lock you run across you'll have a 50% chance to pick. In BG though, it all depends on what value the lock has assigned to it. If it's 50 or less, you'll always succeed. If it's 51 or higher, you'll always fail.

 

Infinity Explorer. It outright tells you.

Okay, I've done the full inventory, and actually, 70% should get you through most traps around, with only a few 80's, and the 90's are very limited. There are three 90's outside of Durlag's Tower: the one I mentioned before, an identical but unavoidable trap on Ice Island (TotSC), and one of the two Glyph of Warding traps in the hall to Davaeorn. ( Look out, kuemper! ) The ice island one is visible with only a 60 as the maze one is, but there's no way around it (well, maybe if you hug the right wall and get very lucky with pathfinding), and the one in Davaeorn's hall can't be seen except with a 90.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not sure if the game gives you any cushion on your abilities (like a small chance if your skill is close), but I wouldn't risk it. Get your FT up to 90 before you take on Davaeorn, and get it up to 99 or 100 before you descend into the dungeon below Durlag's Tower.

 

Davaeorn's suites have some traps, Glyph of Warding and Battle Horror summoners.

I love the way you phrase, Aldeth. Sorry, I couldn't resist . So precise yet funny-sounding!

Yes, detection and removal percentage, and some other flags. However, some traps can't be detected or removed, such as the Fireball "trap" in Durlag's Tower, which you can only avoid when it's loop has the "peaceful" period.
So a "trap" in an IE game is a more general thing than its name implies. Their is controlled by a script. Each trap has an own script. The trap can "see" you, or cast a spell to you or to a specific point etc.

 

I did it with 80%, no problems. There was one lock that Lisette couldn't crack with 60% PL, so *gulp* went that potion of master thievery. I'm still hedging on doing Durlag's tower. I've never done it, ever. I suppose if I can do that keep in the sequal, I can suck it up and dredge through Durlag's house o' fun.

The LP and FT will go up though, so no worries.

 

I highly recommend you have FT and PL at 100% before doing Durlag's Tower. If you have some potions of perception (for traps) and potions of mastery thievery (for locks) you can "fake it" especially on the upper levels of the Tower. However, as you descend down the Tower, it's practically suicidal to go in without an expert thief. If you've never done it before, all I can say is TRAPS GALORE.

 

I am going to have to mess around with Infinity explorer I geuss. Is it pretty user friendly?

 

I think it is more than a straight comparison for opening locks. Sometimes it takes multiple tries to pick a lock. So there seems to be a random factor for locks. However, it seems if you fail to disarm a trap you can't disarm it in successive tries. If you increase your disarming ability afterwards can you disarm it, or does it stay non-disarmabale...

[ February 10, 2006, 05:18: Message edited by: Thrasher91604 ]

 

Oh yeah. You can't actually change anything with it (for that you need Near Infinity or the like), but it's excellent for rummaging around and answering any little persistent questions you may have. Heck, it's how I know so damn much about the games and how they work!
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By PnP rules, if you failed to disarm a trap, it's simply beyond your current skills. Once you go up a level you can try again, but until then any further attempts are doomed to failure (and may even set it off in your face if you're particularly unlucky). Locks were allowed to be tried as many times as you had levels of experience, but then the auto-failure (until next level) kicks in again if you failed all your tries.

If I were going to implement this...well, I'd implement it exactly, but I'm just a perfectionist. Given what you see in the game, though, I'd guess that lock-picking has some element of randomness to it but trap-disarming doesn't. Though if you want to test it out, get your thief up to exactly 89 in Find Traps and try to disarm any of the three "90" traps I've mentioned. I'd be interested to hear the results.