Baldur's Gate - Sarevok (SPOILER) Request for help

I have reached Sarevok's inaguration ceremony with my main character at level 6, I have dispatched all the Greater Dopplegangers, but have yet to trigger Sarevok's hostility and Angelo's arrival. I have tried and retried this battle many times but my main character dies without fail (Even if I sneak him upstairs before) by what I can only assume is a spell by either Sarevok or Angelo. The spell itself resembles the effects of a "Wand of the Heavens". Is there anything to do, or are my characters too weak or low-level to finish this one?

Any help is gratefully appreciated. Thanks.

Hi and welcome. Wish I could help, but it's been nearly 20 years since I last played BG. The good news is that there are several regulars here who have played it recently, so please be patient and someone will be able to help you.

Ah, the good old ludicrously powerful end boss with arbitrary immunities and gamebreaking powers routine. I'm afraid I only defeated him by using the old summon as many beasties as possible and hope everyone can shoot him to death before he slaughters everything method.

I'm sure one of the BG loving people here will give you some more pointers soon.

Originally Posted by TheHoodedKing
The spell itself resembles the effects of a "Wand of the Heavens".

That sounds like a fail-safe mechanism that triggers when you do something that renders the game unwinnable, like killing or turning a plot critical NPC hostile. IIRC, in BG2 there was a thief that functioned this way.
I think at least one of the dukes needs to survive (or not become hostile during) the encounter for the plot to progress, so pay attention to that while dispatching the dopplegangers, maybe that´s the culprit.
You also need some evidence of Sarevok´s scheming (like his diary), not having any probably triggers the insta-kill too.

Keeping the Council members alive is the main difficulty.
IIRC you can just ignore Sarevok, since you can't kill him at this stage anyway.
Casting Slow on the Dopplegangers and Haste on your party and allies should make it relatively easy.

It should actually be quite hard for all the lords to be killed (i''ve played through at least 4 times and never seen it happen) as there is so many guards and trash there at least one will normally get bottled up. I normally have someone with stoneskin and mirror image get the attention of sarevok and just keep them casting defensive spells while the rest of my group cleans up and then focus on the big guy.

If you are playing with the expansion you really are too low level to be doing this encounter and it really doesn't bode well for the final battle which is at least twice as hard as the battle your on at the moment. I think I am normally level 8-9 by this stage and fully kitted out with pretty much all the magical equipment in the game.

Originally Posted by bjon045
If you are playing with the expansion you really are too low level to be doing this encounter and it really doesn't bode well for the final battle which is at least twice as hard as the battle your on at the moment. I think I am normally level 8-9 by this stage and fully kitted out with pretty much all the magical equipment in the game.

This^

I usually reach level cap before reaching Baldur's Gate for the first time, but I do all the none-city zones on the world map first. I also don't remember having issues with that specific encounter. Saravok doesn't cast spells though, Angelo might.

TheHoodedKing, what kind of party do you have?

Originally Posted by DeepO
That sounds like a fail-safe mechanism that triggers when you do something that renders the game unwinnable, like killing or turning a plot critical NPC hostile. IIRC, in BG2 there was a thief that functioned this way.
I think at least one of the dukes needs to survive (or not become hostile during) the encounter for the plot to progress, so pay attention to that while dispatching the dopplegangers, maybe that´s the culprit.
You also need some evidence of Sarevok´s scheming (like his diary), not having any probably triggers the insta-kill too.

Ah-ha! As my party is a lower level, I had to pull the move where I lured the dopplegangers out one by one into another room and dispatched them that way. While I was doing this, I'm positive the dukes were all killed, so that makes sense now. Thanks a bunch to everyone!

Originally Posted by azarhal
TheHoodedKing, what kind of party do you have?

It's my main character (pure tank) and Minsc in the front row, followed by Imoen and Kivan in the second rank firing Ice arrows and fire arrows respectively, then Quayle and Dynaheir throwing spells in the back rank to top off what I think is a structured and balanced assault. I could be way off of course…

The party should be fine.

Summoning is the key to making that fight easy. I strongly suggest always having a Wand of Summoning available with 10+ charges in case you get in trouble somewhere. Just use 2-3 charges to summon up a good 10-15 monsters and it'll be a breeze.

If you don't have a Wand of Summoning, use Dynaheir or Quayle to summon a few creatures that can help tank the dopplegangers.

PS. You can buy Wands of Summoning in the first area of Baldur's Gate in the big, domed magic shop there (can't remember the name of the shop).