Sendai BG2
Sendai is a Baldur's Gate enemy in BioWare's cRPG of 2000-01, Baldur's Gate 2. In Throne of Bhaal, Sendai is a Drow Bhaalspawn BG2 most notable for her cloning ability, arcane and divine spellcasting repertoire, and staying power due to her wards and innate magic resistance BG2. The battle with Sendai is one of the most exciting battles in BG2 due to its variability.
Sendai Location
Sendai can be found in a lair at the heart of her Underdark fortress guarded by slaves, servants and monsters. In order to gain an advantage on Sendai, it is best to enter the lair under the effect of Invisibility. This is also convenient since we can move out of her line-of-sight and save the game post-cutscene.
How to Beat Sendai
Sendai's battle is eight-phased: we must progressively beat each of her seven statue-clone forms before taking on the true Sendai, who is listed as a Cleric 20 / Mage 20 multi-class, but is really 10% Druid, 10% Cleric and 80% Mage in practice.
As each statue is slain, Sendai switches to the next statue and Drow reinforcements arrive to hassle the party.
Resource management comes into play due to the battle being protracted, though epic level parties should have an embarrassment of riches at their disposal at this point of ToB (spells, weapons etc.).
The party is encircled by Sendai's statues and often flanked by her reinforcements, making positioning and protection of party members more important than usual, and a little more nuanced.
Seven Statues of Sendai
In order of activation, the statues are:
Druid Sendai Statue
While listed as a Cleric, this statue is actually a 20th level Druid. It is best to inflict spell disruption on this statue before it unleashes Creeping Doom or Finger of Death.
18,000 XP.
Mage Sendai Statue: 1
The 20th level Mage statue casts True Sight if the party is hidden and then unleashes Time Stop followed by Meteor Swarm, Gate and ADHW.
16,000 XP.
Kensai Thief Sendai Statue
The dual-wielding Kensai 20 / Thief 20 statue has an on-hand THAC0 of -18, an off-hand THAC0 of -12 and inflicts an average of 22.5 dmg at a rate of 3½ ApR.
It quaffs invisibility potions and attempts x5 backstabs, but they are not kai-charged. AC Lord aside, we can reliably protect against backstabs with Stoneskin, Mirror Image or PfMW.
The Kensai / Thief has an AC of 0 and 149 HPs. It wears Leather Armor +3 and wields a Short Sword +3 on-hand, Dagger +3 off-hand.
14,000 XP.
Berserker Sendai Statue
When Enraged, the dual-wielding 20th level Berserker statue has an on-hand THAC0 of -10, an off-hand THAC0 of -6 and inflicts an average of 23.5 dmg at a rate of 3½ ApR.
The Berserker has an AC of -6 and 182 HPs. It wears Drow Full Plate +5 and dual-wields +3 Drow battle axes.
16,000 XP.
Mage Sendai Statue 2
This statue is listed as Cleric 20 / Mage 1 but is actually a full blown Mage with access to the Heal spell.
It unleashes Improved Mantle + Spell Trigger: Mislead. We need to disperse the illusion (True Sight, Detect Illusions) and then Breach the mantle.
15,000 XP.
Archer Sendai Statue
The 20th level Archer statue has a THAC0 of -9 and inflicts an average of 10.5 dmg at a rate of 4 ApR. It has Called Shot (Archer) and fires Acid Arrows from a Shortbow +3, wears Leather Armor +3, and has 84 MR.
The Archer statue can cast Dimension Door.
6,000 XP.
Assassin Sendai Statue
The dual-wielding 20th level Assassin statue has an on-hand THAC0 of -5, an off-hand THAC0 of -10 and inflicts an average of 11.5 dmg at a rate of 2 ApR. If we factor in poison weapon, it is capable of inflicting a ton of damage over time.
It quaffs invisibility potions and attempts x5 poison weapon backstabs. See above for how to protect against backstabs.
The Assassin's armor and weapons are identical to those of the Kensai / Thief.
16,000 XP.
***
To no surprise, the most difficult Sendai statues are the 20th level Mages. However, the x5 backstab of the Kensai / Thief and Assassin forms can easily take out unprotected party members as well.
Due to the frequent employment of stealth and illusions by Sendai and her Drow Mages, the Detect Illusions thief ability (Jan) is even more useful than usual.
Sendai's True Form
Sendai is a Mage with a bit of Cleric and some Druid spells thrown in. For example, she can Turn Undead (20) and cast Righteous Magic while having access to Insect Plague, Creeping Doom and a tome full of Mage spells. Note that Sendai has 84% magic resistance by virtue of being high-level Drow.
Once the seven statues have been defeated, Sendai reappears in the middle of the chamber to auto-fire Spell Trigger, Spell Sequencer, Contingency and Minor Sequencer. Most of the spells let loose are defensive in nature though 4x Invisible Stalkers are summoned as well.
Then, Sendai twists an onyx ring in order to teleport about the chamber and cast a barrage of spells that include ADHW, Implosion and Symbols. From a wand, she also casts Spider Spawn (sword spiders) and Animate Dead (skeleton warriors). Indeed, she can break the summon cap of 5:
We receive 40,000 quest XP for slaying Sendai. We can also loot her corpse for Studded Leather Armor of Thorns +6, Wong Fei's Ioun Stone and Wand of Cursing.
Drow Reinforcements
Drow reinforcements spawn each time one of Sendai's statues are slain. They consist of a random mix of both mundane and arcane combat units. If not vanquished as each statue is slain, the Drow forces build up to about a dozen in number. However, it seems that only 2x Mages can spawn at any given time. Note that Drow reinforcements have 74% magic resistance as standard. Sunfire bypasses MR. Thus, Sunfire is one of the best spells to cast when mobbed by Drow.
Drow Mage
The Drow Mages are 12th level Mages that fire a defensive Spell Trigger (Mislead) and cast True Sight, Sunfire and Finger of Death.
12,000 XP.
Drow Kensai
Drow Kensai are dual-wielding 12th level Kensai that can activate Improved Mantle as well as GWW and Hardiness. They have an on-hand THAC0 of -1, an off-hand THAC0 of 3 and inflicts an average of 19.5 slashing damage at a rate of 10 ApR under GWW, wielding +2 katanas.
Drow Kensai have ACs of 8, 70 HPs, wear no armor and have 2x Potion of Superior Healing quick-slotted. If they activate Hardiness instead of GWW, they have 40% damage resistance but their ApR is only 3.
5,000 XP.
cf. SCS Sendai.
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