I'm currently in the 2nd game, and both the Gauntlets of Frost Giant Strength (earlier in game) and the Girdle of Ogre Strength (I think I got those names right) are very bugged in my playthrough.

I just got to MD and got the Girdle .... thank god I saved right before trying it. I looked it up and it's supposed to give you a STR of 24. Well ... my 1st three PC's (fighters) got a STR of 100, their THAC0 went up a few points, and the + damage number after the 1d8 went down a few points.

My 4th PC (ranger) ... well, I got the STR 24 I was looking for so at first I was excited that at least someone could use it. Then I saw he also lost a few points on the + damage number. BUT the real insane part - his THAC0 didn't just go up a few points like the fighters .... it went from 5 to 522. WTH.

My last 2 PC's (cleric, mage) had similar results as the fighters. So I just sold the damn thing. I can't remember the specifics on the other item, but I remember it being buggy the same way and sold that too.

I remember this happening with an item in PoR also - but again don't remember specifics, just that it was screwed up and I sold it.


Anyone experienced this? Is there a way to fix the bugged items in question or am I out of luck? I ask because its happened in 2 games now so I'm worried it will continue to happen with these great items in the next 2 games also.

Never had problems with these items, only with Manual of Bodily Health (PoR) and the Ioun Stones.

There is a definite bug with imported characters and the Strength score: any character imported from PoR (I don't know if it does the same if you bring them through Hillsfar, I've never really gotten into that game) who had an Exceptional Strength score is vulnerable to it.

The character appears normal, until the first time that a Strength altering effect of any kind is used on them; at this point the base Strength score changes to their Exceptional value, and remains that way permanently. Since ability scores beyond 25 aren't implemented in AD&D pre 3rd Edition, you end up with some rather bizarre effects (I'm guessing whatever random data happens to be in the memory address that many records' worth of space beyond the actual Strength ability score data).

The only way to recover a character from this bug, or to prevent it from happening without sacrificing the ability to use Strength enhancements, is to hex edit the character file (from what I've seen, it looks like a couple bytes of the character data get mistakenly swapped during character import). I'm not sure what happens if such a character is taken through Curse without any Strength affecting spells used on them, and then imported onward into Secret.

I've never seen issues (apart from characters who had ability-altering gear equipped at the end of Curse retaining the buffs in Secret when imported, despite losing that gear, which is probably a similar glitch to the bug with hacked Drow items or Disintegrate in FRUA, and really doesn't affect things apart from it being a bonus you aren't really supposed to have) with characters that did not have Exceptional Strength, though, nor with characters that were created brand new in Curse ... that part is rather weird.

What problem was that with the Manual, if you don't mind me asking?

Getting it to work in the first place, and then the HP (or was it the CON stat itself? Anyway I ended up having to hex edit the character) of the recipient character getting screwed up when transfering to Curse of Azure Bonds.
Most problems occur when transfering characters between games, so I always make sure to unequip all stat enhancing items before the transfer.

The items themselves aren't actually bugged. It's the importing of characters from PoR that's buggy, and then equipping STR-raising items in CotAB triggers the bug. Fortunately it is easy to fix - at least on Windows - via the Gold Box Companion.

1. Start the game, load your latest save game.

2. Launch GBC and do what the ReadMe files says to set it up (it's quick and easy).

3. Unequip all STR-raising items; in case any characters are currently affected by temporary STR increases such as granted from various potions and/or the spells Enlarge or Strength, rest until these effects wear off.

4. Use the GBC to set the STR scores (and exceptional STR if applicable) to the values the ought to be.

5. Save the game, close the GBC if you want (it's a nice tool, though, and not just for cheating), and now you can use these items again without problems. The Manual requires the character who read it to rest 30 days until the CON increase takes effect. It doesn't matter whether you rest 30 days at once or if you split it up; once the character has rested a total of 30 days after having read the Manual, his/her CON stat will be increased by 1 point permanently.

So far I haven't had a problem with the Manual once I figured out the rest-30-days part, and any character who used it gained additional HP both retroactively and at following level-ups if eligible; e.g. I had a 5th level fighter use it, and after resting 30 days he gained 5 HP, as well as 1 more HP at each level up (until 9th level) afterwards. It also didn't cause any problems when importing that character into CotAB and the rest of the series.

Last time I played my characters rested for 30 days and nothing happened. The suddenly, when approaching the Nomad Camp, the character reading the manual suddenly got the +1 CON bonus.

Thanks guys.

I couldn't figure out what that manual did and ended up selling it.

When I tried the items in question in PoR and CotAB, I reverted to an earlier save and just sold them as unequipping them fixed the Str score, but the raised THAC0 remained.

Question: Is exceptional strength only 18(00)? Or 18, or 18(any # here)? Because only my 3 fighters have 18(00), but the items screwed up all my PC's when trying them. I wonder if it has to do with modifying the characters after rolling them. If I knew what I knew now - that only 1 or 2 stats matter for each class - I never would have modified them.

I just started Secret and you start with the Girdle of Giant Strength - been afraid to try it thus far, but I'm about to give it a whirl and cross my fingers ....

Also, "Enlarge" never worked for my fighters - always got the message "(name) is unaffected" - so I only casted haste then prayer before big fights.

Thanks for all the info.

Exceptional strength is 18(any # here). It is only available naturally to fighter-types.

If your strength has been screwed up, you can hex edit the character's file on disk to change it to something reasonable. Alternatively, you can hex edit the character's experience point total to the exact amount you start with and then the Modify Character option becomes available. Pools of Darkness also has a cheat to enable Modify Character regardless of XP total. (Of course, if you don't mind losing some experience, you could just replace the affected character(s) with new ones that have sensible stats.)

If your THAC0 is screwed up, you can hex edit that, or you could try leveling up the character and see if that fixes the problem.

The reason Enlarge is failing is that your Strength is too high to benefit. Enlarge will "only" raise your Strength to 22; since 100 is obviously higher than 22, Enlarge fails.

^ no, my strength is at 18(00) when trying Enlarge. It only jumped to 100 when trying out that item, which I then reverted to an earlier save to avoid my characters getting screwed up.

I might try that hex editor mentioned above to fix the stats - should that item only change strength to 24? or does it affect the +damage number as well? If so I would need to know what that would be to set it right. I can't imagine it is supposed to affect your THAC0.

Your Fighter's STR is too high too be affected by the Enlarge spell at your mage's current level. Enlarge is more effective and more durable the higher the caster's level.

Yeah, it goes 17, 18, 18(50), 18(90), 18(99), 18(00), 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, maxing out at 11th level.

Also note this means that in POR and GSF, it never gives superhuman strength.

Duration increases after lvl 11, no?
If you play with limited resting (like once per game day) the duration of the spell becomes quite important, and makes it vastly more powerful than Magic Missile.

Ok, so I tried the Gauntlets and Girdle in Secret and they worked in this game ... sort of.

I looked up online what they were supposed to do so I would know if they glitched or not. The Gauntlets raise a PC STR to 18(00), so I used it on my cleric (str 18) as my fighters were already at 18(00) and it worked!

Now for the Girdle ... it's supposed to raise your strength to 23, so I used it on a fighter. He went to 23 str and his +dam from 8 to 13 (this makes sense) ... but his THAC0 also changed - for the better. It went from 0 to -2. I liked this, wasn't sure if it was a glitch or supposed to be, so played on. Well, my 2 fighters just gained a level, the one without the girdle lowered a THAC0 point to -1 like he's supposed to, but the girdled one stayed at -2. I unequipped it and he went back to 0, basically wasting his level bonus. Level cap in final game is 18 which should put both fighters at a THAC0 of -4, but now it looks like I will be stuck with one at -2 forever. I do not like this lol. I'm also worried about the cleric I equipped the gauntlets to. His THAC0 also dropped 2 (from 11 to 9) and I have gained 1 level since but have not checked yet - but I suspect the same issue.

This editing tool that I've heard talk about, does anyone have the exact name of it, or a link to it?

I guess I'm going to have to use it now to fix my characters to the correct stats, once I figure out how to use the editor. When that happens, I'll probably post again to check what the stats should be at certain levels ... I'm guessing the items shouldn't give the 2 point THAC0 drop? Only the STR increase and +damage number?





I just checked the cleric and I guess the gauntlets are working fine ... THAC0 has dropped on level gain.

So it's just the girdle on the fighter that has his THAC0 stuck.

I have a theory I just thought of that I hope is correct ... firstly, I imagine the THAC0 drop was not supposed to happen. So maybe when I reach level 17 (in PoD) and the fighters should naturally have a -3, his will start working again - being under the -2 he currently has from equipping the girdle? IDK, I will get the editor tool just in case, but won't use it until my theory is proven wrong.

I know there is another girdle later in Secret which I had planned on putting on my 2nd fighter (taking him from -1 to -3), but probably won't until I can check my theory .... which leads me to a question:

1.) I had asked in a different thread and was told your items in Secret do transfer with the PC to PoD .... do all items in your inventory transfer, or just the equipped ones?

That answer will determine if I equip the 2nd girdle in this game .... hell, if I have to use the editor on 1 fighter in PoD I might as well use it on both.