I like to use the IWD Tweak pack to even the scales a bit between Multi-class and Dual-class (as it stands, Dual-class characters have an immense advantage over multi-class characters). Basically I made it so that mcs can use any weapon or item available to both classes, and allows multi-classed fighters to reach Grand Mastery (they're normally capped off at Specialized, which is annoying).

This does make some things a bit powerful (i.e. Fighter/Thieves who can backstab with 5 points in Short Swords, Ranger/Clerics who can use composite long bows) but I think it evens the odds nicely. No longer are dualed humans the optimum choice.

That. Or you could just have her cast Sanctuary. Nifty little spell, that. Especially nifty for Cleric/Thieves.

Say whaaat? You mean with the Tweak pack I can finally have a not-goody-goody cleric actually wield a sword? And bows? Aww sweet! I'm still not sure how to make backstab work but I already put points into longswords and daggers for my Fighter/Thief so I think I'll try that in IWD2 if there is a Tweak pack for it.

You have to be stealthed or invisible and you have to attack from the back side of the target.

Well, I'm kinda embarrassed I didn't figure it out. Well, I had it half right, I was standing behind the monster but I wasn't stealthed or invisible. Does it matter which weapon the thief has equipped or does it only work with daggers and short swords? My thief is presently skilled 2 in long Swords and 2 in daggers.

P.S. I finally cleared the Temple and the Verbeeg were not as troublesome as in my earlier games.

Every melee weapon pure class thieves can use works for backstabbing. This includes long swords, short swords, daggers, clubs and quarterstaves.

Wow, clubs and quarterstaves too? That's awesome!

The one I use only makes it available for multiclassed Clerics and Druids who have other classes that can use that weapon (so like a Cleric/Mage would be able to use darts and daggers, but not swords, for example). It improves the game in my opinion. I was always a little annoyed how a Mage/Thief could fire arrows all they want, but a Cleric/Thief is limited to the dinky little sling.

Slings actually rock in IWD, since they add your STR modifier to damage rolls. So a high STR character using a sling can do some good damage. And, you can equip a shield while using the sling. The only drawback is, without the tweak pack, you'll have issues with magic ammo.

I'm doing amazing so far. I'm not actually using my bard songs (which is what I picked the bard for anyway) but she's a great sniper. I'm in the Yuan-Ti Den and I wiped out the Lizard Man King with no problems. My druid is beastly, pardon the pun. But my cakewalk came to an abrupt dead end when faced off against the Odd Little Girl, (I can't remember how to pronounce, much less spell her name). She doesn't play fair.

I play conservatively and tend to save all my potions and spells but I'm going all out against her and can never get her past 'Barely Injured'.

Before I enter the room I have my Druid cast 'Entangle' and my Bard cast 'Web' in the door way. My Tank enters the room (he has a ring of Free Action) triggers the battle and I have my Druid Cast Spike trap just as the Tank leads all the Yuan-Ti into the trap. My Cleric casts the 4th level Prayer spell (I forgot the official name) and my Druid casts Barkskin on the Tank and the Mage casts Strength. Everyone else uses ranged attacks on the Queen (I want her gone first) but everything either misses or has no effect.

My next attempt, I laid the same trap, used the same buffs, but used all my Sunscorches and Fireballs and find that her Saves against Magic are negating my efforts.

On my third try I did the same thing (I'm thinking Einstien's quote: 'Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.' by now but this has always worked for me in the past so why fix what isn't broke. Anyway, I lay waste to as many Yuan-Ti archers as I can with Fireballs and ranged attacks before the Queen breaks through my trap and I then have my Tank, Fighter/Thief and Cleric wail on her with melee. They don't take damage very well and it's a mad scramble kiting her around such limited space while making sure she doesn't turn her attention to my spellcasters.

I don't know if anyone wants to critique my strategy or has any advice. I understand she's a major boss but the Lizard Man King and all the other sub bosses were such a breeze in comparison.

You need +2 arrows/bullets against her, if I recall correctly. Weaker ones won't have any effect.

She's by far the toughest boss you'll meet until much later in the game. The key for me in this battle is Haste. This doubles your attacks per round as well as making it possible to outrun her (also allows you to take down the other mobs faster). So Haste your party (if you don't have the spell yet, then use Oil of Speed on as many characters as you can).

The other thing you need to know is Yxonumei can only be hit with +2 or better weapons. For ranged weapons, that means the ammo must be of +2 or better enchantment. I don't believe you'll have any bullets of that level yet, so use bows with +2 arrows if you have them and make sure your melee fighters have +2 or better weapons. If you don't have many +2 weapons, you can go back to Kuldahar and get Conlan's Hammer, which has the ability to hit any creature that requires magical weapons to hit. If you need info on where/how to get this hammer, just give a heads up here.

Buff your warriors/melee fighters with potions of Giant Strength (the stronger, the better), as well as things like potions of Mind Focusing (+3 DEX usually means better AC), Heroism (better THAC0 and a few extra HPs), and check out whether or not they benefit from something like potions of Invulnerability or Defense.

Hopefully this will help pull you through.

When you say '+2' you are referring to the THAC0, correct?

Okay, my Tank has a High Quality Battle Axe [1D8; THAC0 +1] I found in the catacombs but I have had no luck finding any other axes to replace it with. I can afford to get him the Faith Killer [1D8 +2; THAC0 +2] from Conlan's Shop. He found one +2 Throwing Axe so I think I'll save that. His AC is -4

My Fighter/Thief has Erevain's Broad Sword [2D4 +2; THAC0 +2]. His AC is -2

I actually acquired Conlan's Hammer for my Cleric/Ranger upon my return to Kuldahar. Her AC is -1. I could also afford to get her The Love of Black Bess [1D6 +4; THAC0 +3].

My Fighter/Druid is equipped with a simple Scimitar since I use her for ranged attacks but she only has a +1 sling and regular ammo. I could probably get her The Lucky Scimitar [1D8 +2; THAC0 +2]. Her AC is 2.

My Bard has the Messenger of Sseth Bow [Damage +1; THAC0 +2] and 44 +2 Arrows. She is the only one skilled in Small swords and has the Sword of Days [1D3 +3; THAC0 +3] but I'm wary about sending her into melee combat against Yxonumei especially since she has no armor equipped and her AC is 4.

My mage has the Mage Dagger +2 equipped for the extra level 1 and level 2 spell slots, so I can have an extra Burning Hands and Agannazar's Scorcher spell. She hardly ever uses her +1 sling anymore. She has 5 +2 bullets I've been saving and a Wand of Magic Missiles with 23 charges left.

I've been carrying around 2 +2 Flails (Fast Flail +2 and Hammer Flail +2) but no one in my party is proficient with them. I was going to sell them but would it be practical to use them in the fight against Yxonumei? I have one Gauntlets of Weapon Skill.

Potions:
20 Potions of Healing (which don't seem to do much for my tank anymore, he'll have to drink them pretty often)
8 Potion of Extra Healing
1 Potion of Regneration
1 Potion Stone Giant Strength - 20
1 Potion of Hill Giant Strength -19
1 Elixir of Health
5 Oil of Serpent Scales (Raise AC by 2 for 6 rounds)
7 Flaming Oil (for throwing)
1 Oil of Fiery Burning (for throwing)
5 Potion of Genius (for Mage)
2 Potion of Mind Focusing (for Mage)
1 Potion Stone form (Sets AC to 0) - I don't think this is useful since all my frontline characters have an AC under 0.

I've also been selling potions that set stats to 18 since my frontliners all have 18 in STR, DEX and CON.

Yes, the THAC0 bonus on the weapon (or the + bonus on the ammo).

You should have found a +2 axe in the upper areas of Dragon's Eye (specifically, the level where you find Conlan's son and where Mother Egenia is imprisoned).

Good stuff here.

The sling will be useless against Yxonumei, since you don't have +2 ammo.**

No worries, the arrows will hit her.

I wouldn't send the mage in, but I'd suggest filling every level 1 slot with Magic Missile and just keep launching those at her. She may resist them, but some might get through.

Warriors only receive a -2 penalty when using a weapon with which they're not proficient, so if you had to, you could use them with a warrior. Other classes get higher penalties (if memory serves, Rogues and Priests get a -3 penalty and casters get a -5 penalty).

Use the potions of Giant's Strength with your front line warriors. Stone on the main guy (the one with the lowest THAC0) and Hill on the secondary. Mind focusing potions would be useful for any character with low DEX, but since yours all have 18, you're good. The potion will raise DEX top 21, which gives +1 AC bonus, but it may not be worth it for just that. Something to consider though.

Try testing the potion of Stone Form in conjunction with a potion of Mind focusing (the latter will offset the -3 DEX penalty of the former) to see if it improves your AC (the potions affect your base AC, so it may stack with your gear. Not sure, but well worth checking out).

I'd also suggest going back to Kuldahar to grab any other useful potions from Oswald (the Gnome potion merchant). Look especially at the potion of Heroism, since it improves your THAC0, as well as Oils of Speed (if you don't have the Haste spell yet - actually, even if you do, they're useful). Potions of invisibility can be a lifesaver if your character is low on HPs and needs to escape battle long enough to heal up. The key here though is to make certain that at least your melee fighters are hasted. Extra attacks per round make a huge difference.



**Not sure, but the ammo and launcher bonuses may stack with respect to the requirements to hit (i.e. if the sling is +1 and you have +1 bullets, it may qualify as +2 to hit. Again, not certain though).

The battle isn't too hard if you know what to expect, are prepared and don't waste resources by attacking her with weapons/ammo worse than +2 or spells which can't harm her. You can use the throwing axe +2 in melee without penalty if you change the abilities, but it's far better to find the melee axe in level 2 (go to the NE corner and move south afterwards).

It's worth buying the lucky scimitar for your druid, it's quite cheap and you won't find a better one for quite a long time, other weapons aren't worth buying now, if you have money to spend buy the shimmering sash and the rogue's cowl from Orrick for better AC, if you still have lots of money left afterwards buy the bardic horn of Valhalla from the other store or the gnome helm from Conlan.

You can waste all potions and ammo available for this battle, you won't need it afterwards. Summon before the battle (and keep them close while buffing with haste), even if they can't hurt her they can still draw a few attacks away from your party members or help killing the archers or priests.

Okay, weird, I can't reply from any posts on the third page...

Anywho, I beat Yxonumei and she really wasn't that hard once I was prepared. I was a little panicked and I forgot to use my potions but turned out I didn't need them. I can't believe I went to all this trouble to beat her only to find out, after I return to Kuldahar, that I probably shouldn't have killed her but, in my defense, she attacked me first. I wanted a peaceful resolution.

Also, regarding the +2 Axe, are there 2 of them? I found the Returning Throwing Axe +2 which I can also use in melee, is there a standard +2 melee Axe as well? If so then I haven't found that one.

Thanks again for all your help guys. Now I must press onward. Adventure awaits!