24jelmer: Hi all,

Just started playing MM3. I'm now in the town Baywatch and started exploring the caverns below it. These are filled with floating heads, causing insanity on my party. Any way to cure this except going to the temple? Better yet: how do I prevent it? The heads ambush me, so long distance is no option in the cavern.

I'm low on gold because of the skills I bought in Baywater, so the temple is kinda expensive and not an option now. If that is the solution, I should go somewhere else first.

Any tips would be appreciated.

ZFR: I'd go outside first before.

The only way to cure it is a temple or a gypsy wagon in the Evil Eye Forest.

As for preventing it, I think the saving throws depend on level.

The caverns were a bit too tough for a starting party if I remember correctly. They can be done, but it's easier to get stronger outside first.

dtgreene: Here is one useful piece of information: An attack that does no damage can't cause any status ailments.

In particular:
* Power Shield reduces the damage from all attacks.
* Protection from Elements reduces the damage from the particular element chosen.
* If the effect is not physical, resistance can reduce the damage to a small fraction; I believe this is applied before the other forms of protection, so combinng this woth other forms can reduce the damage to 0.
(There is one enemy in particular which goes from wiping out your party to harmless with Power Shields cast on each party member.)

Insanity can be cured via Divine Intervention, though be aware that the spell ages the caster, and learnng it will take a lot of money and require you to be (at least temporarily) a high enough level, plus you probably haven't reached the town that sells it yet.

24jelmer: Need to learn what each spell does. In MM1 and 2 there were descriptions in the manual which helped. I should probably check the clue book for 3.

ZFR: Yes, MM3 manual is very lacking. I loved the way the storyline was written in it, but there was absolutely 0 info on mechanics.

Read this:
http://shrines.rpgclassics.com/pc/mm3/general.shtml

It's spoilerless information about gameplay; stuff that should have been in the manual. Check it out before going through cluebook. There is also information about spells on the left menu.

Enjoy the game. I'm in the minority, but I found 3 to be my favourite game from the first (pre-MM6) generation.