Grid?

[Farayon]

I got 2 in 16 runs. Remember it doesn't drop from the end chest. "The Blood Stones" are certainly more elusive.

[Jonny_D]

What are the chances a planar gird drops for me? I have run the xorian xipher several times and haven't seen one yet. Is it more a 1 of 10 or a 1 of 100 chance? I hope it's not a pain to get like the bloodstone. I bought one in the end. The planar gird is unbound, right? So I may just buy that one too. What would be a fair price compared to a bloodstone or large scale?

usually you will see one or 2 per ransack per 6 man group. Having run the quest since 2006 often quite heavily including weekly ransackings for atleast a year I have pulled exactly 2, I have seen probably 100 of them drop for others XC is a great loot run and a great xp run so its not too uch of a chore to run repeatedly

[Sarisa]

It's solo'able with a hireling, see here for details.

The Draconic Necklace from Bastion of Power/Tower of Despair is also good, but it's 11 minutes of GH in a level 18 exclusive item.

The Planar Gird is 11 minutes of GH in a level 9 item, and you can carry more than one.

That's its power.

Greater Heroism cannot be cast by a wizard until they have 11 caster levels, 12 levels on a sorcerer, or 13 levels of bard. This gives any melee or skill user (rogue/bard) a significant boost upwards of 4 levels earlier than he or she otherwise would.

Why GH is good?

• +4 to attack rolls - See sirgog's post for why this is important. It's even more important for classes that aren't full Base attack bonus classes, or builds that have a main stat other than strength.
• +4 to skill checks - Improved balance to keep upright when doing Titan. Get up faster when the inevitable trip spam happens. Make it easier to hit one of the "magic" UMD numbers, especially at lower levels (like the aforementioned equipping a Pure Good weapon 4 levels earlier). Make you have a far better chance of finding and disabling a deadly elite trap. Have a higher chance of seeing sneaking mobs.
• +4 to saves - This can mean the difference of surviving through a trap or dying. Make more reflex saves on Harry's fireballs and meteor swarms so you stress the healers less. This can mean the difference between being Flesh to Stone'ed and keeping on fighting. This bonus to saves stacks with almost everything.
• Immunity to Fear - While it can be replaced (Reavers Ring with a drawback, Helm of Free Will, Greensteel negative focus), GH is the easiest way to get it. Fear immunity is vital at level in the undead area of the desert, in Hound for anyone with an important role, in VoD, in any quest with Thraak Hounds, and more. This is an important aspect of GH, but the other three bonuses are most important.
• Temporary HP - This extra HP buffer can help for Shadow kiting in ToD, and gives arcanes a way to get someone incapacitated up again.

[Baloran]

At the middle levels, GH is usually the difference between hitting in melee on a 10 and hitting on a 6 in Elite quests. That's a ~35% DPS increase. (High To-Hit classes like Barbarians and Kensai 2's will get less returns here).

Then it's the difference between saving against that nasty Fireball and taking no damage through your resists on an 8-20, or alternately failing on a 1-11 and taking 25 damage through your resists.

Finally, at the mid levels, it's the difference between being able to equip that +2 Holy Shortsword of Pure Good on your true-neutral character, or having to leave it in the bank until you gain 4 more UMD. Or on a class with good UMD, it's the difference between having a 50% chance to use that Raise Dead scroll and having a 70% chance.


I think I'd go as far as to say that the Planar Gird is the most powerful unbound twink item in the game, and it remains useful to a level 20 character. I have four on my account and TQFBH could do with more of them.

While I agree with sirgog that the Planar Gird is a very powerful item, I do not agree with his explanation. Since Heroism clickies can be obtained very easy on the AH (usually with 3-5 charges, lasting 5 min each) and furthermore Heroism pots can be bought at the vendors, the actual difference between having a Planar Gird and not having one is only +2 attack, +2 skills, +2 saves and of course the fear immunity (Edit: and the temporary hitpoints).

Still very powerful, but not such a huge difference as indicated by above post.

That said I would still keep it when I find one but I'm not farming XC to ransack for it.

Cheers

Baloran

[Fenrisulven6]

Since heroism pots can be bought at the vendors, the actual difference between having a Planar Gird and not having one is only +2 attack, +2 skills, +2 saves and of course the fear immunity (Edit: and the temporary hitpoints).

Good point. You're farming for a +2 difference, not a +4.

And yes, I can agree that every fighter should have hero pots.

[donfilibuster]

Needless to say a planar gird is totally worth the long grind to farm one from xorian cypher.

Maybe not so much if you want it just for haggle as chances are you can umd scrolls.

[Kinerd]

its also an ML 9 item. 11 mins of +4 to hit / saves and immunity to fear is essential for any class that cant cast GH or doesnt have fear immunity going in to the desert.

It's a very good item with a very good buff, but it is in no way "essential".