A6 - Grindstone Barrier

[LetheRunner]

I never could dispel the barrier under the locked building in Grindstone. My dispel was up as high as it would get for the entire game; does this mean I missed a dispel barrier skill somewhere? Or, is that barrier supposed to be unremovable? Thanks!

[*i]

I don't think I remember anything like that. What is your mage spell + spellcraft + dispel barrier level? My mage had over 40 in that department by the end.

 

A good test is to save the game, turn on the editor, (type shift-d and enter 'editor' when the prompt comes up), pump up spellcraft, and then try.

[Randomizer]

Some magical barriers do require a higher amount of combined levels to dispel. I was around 50 at that points so I blasted through barriers without noticing.

[jlsgaladriel]

Quote:

I never could dispel the barrier under the locked building in Grindstone.

I couldn't either: mage spells 18, spellcraft 10, dispel 7 = 35. If we knew the necessary dispel levels, it would be sweet to add the info to the "totals needed" list
(arcane lore 15, nature lore 16, spellcraft 18 (for dispel barrier 44)...)

edit: I tried to check the grindstone zone script for this, but I don't see it. Does Jeff handle barrier reqs in the scripts?

edit bis: okay, I did this the hard way: trekked a party back here and increased stats one-by-one with the editor. The barrier finally fell at mage spells 18, spellcraft 18, dispel 8 (max), for a total of 44.

I'm almost afraid to see what it's hiding, because there's no way I can justify popping spellcraft up that high without having spent the points.

[Randomizer]

Barrier levels are hard coded in the maps just like caches and traps.

 

Jeff did this in Avernum 5 where a few barriers near the end of the game required a significant investment in spellcraft. I only found one other that I couldn't dispel the first time and that was in the Tower Colony.

[LetheRunner]

Thanks guys. I forgot about needing the skill supplement from spellcraft! I was just thinking skill level in the spell itself. I'll get to it in my second playthrough.

[VCH]

You do not need to dispel that barrier. There is a secret switch in the giant's lair, near the chief's throne room. Any way it's definitely in the giant's lair.

[jlsgaladriel]

Quote:

There is a secret switch in the giant's lair, near the chief's throne room.

I don't think you're talking about the same barrier, VCH -- this one isn't in the giants' lair, but rather accessible through a trapdoor in one of the houses outside the caves.

[Randomizer]

I looked at Synergy's list and there is only the one barrier mentioned. It leads south into the caves (mine).

[Rionep Ecnirp Etlevs]

I remember this one, too. The barrier is below ground in a small cross-shaped room. To reach the barrier from the direction the OP describes, enter the small locked building above ground to the north of the entrance to the Grindstone giants' lair. There's even a sign by the door, but it says something along the lines of "giants have defaced this beyond legibility."

[LetheRunner]

Yeah, Svelte and I are talking about the same place.

 

Edit: There is a secret door between the barrier-ed room in question and the Giant Chief's lair.

[Californian]

I just did this yesterday. Yes, there is a secret door. The switch is located outside the king's lair, just before you go around the corner to face the four blue giant guards behind the gate. By using the switch, you not only can get to the goodies behind the undispellable barrier, but you can bypass the four guards and get into the throne room by using another switch at the top of the secret passage.

 

Ergo, you can do the whole thing without having to dispel any barriers at all.

[Lilith]

It's not undispellable, it's just sort of annoying to dispel. As you say, though, there's not a whole lot of point to doing so.