Hi gang:

I've looked in the manual and couldn't find the instructions. How do you keep your party in one location where they would lob spells or missles at enemies instead of moving to engage them.

Do you click on the shield icon and draw a rectangle for the the area you want them to guard?

Change their AI Script to Ranged Attack.

Use the guard funktion - the shield icon

<font color="palegreen">Or just turn the AI off completely and direct each character individually. It's a little more work, but I prefer to choose which opponents they concentrate their fire upon.</font>

Exactly! True control only comes through lots and lots of pausing. The standard attack script (agen) is the worst. My fighters just keep attacking and attacking and attacking but not keeping up the attack for long enough to actually hit anything. Quite annoying. Especially since he was level 24 and they were a bunch of goblins. QUITE annoying. :(

For myself I prefer to play in the turn based style (autopause after each turn. Better to control magic users

Ps. Believe me in this, the shield button is useless

Actually, the best way to control Mages is using "Autopause When Spell Casted". It is possible to cast several spells in one round, even without ToB. ;)

When you have the auto-pause after spell-casting option on, it pauses after EVERY spell. Is there any way to make it pause just during combat? It's really helpful during combat, but when you're just walking around.. "clairvoyance" - PAUSE... "stoneskin" - PAUSE.. that just irks me to no end.

I don't have my manual with me here, and frankly hate Acrobat Reader, so can anyone tell me just how DOES the shield button work? When I click it, it gives me the option to click on one of my characters.. so does that mean I am defending them by attacking their attackers? My Kensai has the shield icon but doesn't have a shield, so it doesn't mean "using" a shield, right?

NEWER PLAYERS DO NOT READ BELOW THIS:
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Another thing - why does the main character's healing stuff disappear when you get to Spellhold? My Kensai in the game I'm playing with NPCs in my party lost her ability to cast minor healing. In my multi-player game, my Ranger used the sword called "The Drinker", and before he entered, he was unable to even select the sword and when we got in the building, it completely vanished. What's the meaning of that?

I can answer some of your questions.

When you have the auto-pause after spell-casting option on, it pauses after EVERY spell. Is there any way to make it pause just during combat? It's really helpful during combat, but when you're just walking around.. "clairvoyance" - PAUSE... "stoneskin" - PAUSE.. that just irks me to no end.

Not that I know of, but it is a minor annoyance to pay when you think about the benefits. ;)

I don't have my manual with me here, and frankly hate Acrobat Reader, so can anyone tell me just how DOES the shield button work? When I click it, it gives me the option to click on one of my characters.. so does that mean I am defending them by attacking their attackers? My Kensai has the shield icon but doesn't have a shield, so it doesn't mean "using" a shield, right?

Truth be told, I have never used this option before, and I generally consider it redundant.

Another thing - why does the main character's healing stuff disappear when you get to Spellhold? My Kensai in the game I'm playing with NPCs in my party lost her ability to cast minor healing. In my multi-player game, my Ranger used the sword called "The Drinker", and before he entered, he was unable to even select the sword and when we got in the building, it completely vanished. What's the meaning of that?

Remember, Jon Irenicus sucked your soul. No soul, no Bhaalspawn powers. Sword sounds like a bug. Need more details.

No, this stuff happened before I even entered Spellhold, I was just climbing the stairs and my healing abilities were gone. I was fighting a vampiric mist just after the bridge with my Ranger using The Drinker (it's that sword that heals 1 pt every time you hit something) and I got the message that I couldn't use the sword. When I got into spellhold, since I knew that was Irenicus as the coordinator I wanted to see what would happen if I attacked him instead of following him around to get introduced to all the magical deviants, and The Drinker was gone. Attacking him did end his babbling about all the crazy-mages sooner, though.. so that was a bonus. I tell you, there is NOTHING creepier than hearing Irenicus speak through my headphones. It's like he's talking right into my head.. and that's not a welcome voice. <shudder> That the main character doesn't recognize Irenicus' voice right off the bat as the 'coordinator' is my only "pffft" to the game right now. Or Minsc or Jaheira, they were along when he blew up the promenade, they heard him talking to the Cowled Wizards.. that's not a voice to forget. It's creepy! He could've invented a "feeble voice" spell to make himself seem like an old man or something to fool us. I hated having to respond to the dialog with ME knowing it was him but my characters apparently ignorant of that fact. Who does the voice for him, anyway? And here's a dumb question.. but is Richard Kiley the guy who reads the stuff inbetween chapters? It sounds like him. Heheh.