A few small fixes and changes

I'm gonna have to take a detour to Verboblonc


I've managed to clear out the Earth and Air Nodes - which are far too easy. I did rescue the mad wizard and the weaver - I think gratitude was the only reward.


The first attempt at clearing out the Water Node ended up in a complete balls-up as my Dwarf Fighter, Elmo, Rogue and Cleric all got confused by the Umber Hulk variants.

It was made worse by...

• The Rogue running off towards the Lizardmen - and those Lizardmen running straight for my Wizard.
• The Cleric getting a smackdown off the Umber Hulks (ouch!)
• The Dwarf running into the (easy) Water Elementals
• Elmo running southward right into the path of those nasty Beholder-types - RIP Elmo

A reload later - and the whole plan went much smoother with the exception of those damn Ice Tyrants - I thought I'd got hit by some death magic as the whole party dropped :twitch: Where's a "Shield of Balduran" when you need one, eh?

I ended up having to use "Stinking Cloud" with ranged attacks to take down the Ice Tyrants as they didn't have the brains to move out of the cloud - feels a bit dirty though.

The rest of the Water Node was straightforward including the boss.


The Fire Node Elder Salamanders are extremely tough - getting smacked by multiple 65+ point damage fireballs. Even protection vs energy (120 points buffer) can't absorb that much punishment. Minor fire rings from the Temple Dungeon Lvl 2 - marginally help.

Ended up having to use "Greater Invisibility" on my rogue and sneak attack them to death with 5 attacks a round. Taking out both groups (Picture #1)

I'm fairly sure I could take down the Balor if only my characters wouldn't fail their will saves against Fear. My rogue isn't having trouble connecting with "Crippling Strike" sneak attacks from flanking. God knows how it would have been possible at 10th level.


My characters are at 12th Level with the Wizard and Cleric about 2 levels behind. I've noticed a sharp increase in crashes since I entered Temple Dungeon 4 and the Nodes - but the show must go on! (I wondering if the Boots of Speed are responsible)

Not much to report really - some of the conversations don't appear to pick out the party leader - and I don't believe that the "Necklace of Adaption" does diddly squat - as I found out against the Ice Tyrants and Salamanders.

 

Ice tyrants breathe cold for 3 rounds, summon a few earth elementals between you and them and wait for 3 rounds before melee

 

This is why you have a cleric-buff spells. Prayer, Protection From Evil, Bless all help your saving throws. Bless should be on you at all times, what other 1st level spell do you need?

 

A rather nice idea - a human opponent wouldn't fall for a such trickery though

I not sure that they should either.

You're quite right, General.

I hadn't forgot about Prayer or Bless - it's Protection from Evil - which completely turned the fight around. Already had the 2 AC bonus from rings/robes of midnight I'd looted so I forgot the other benefits of the spell.

That bonus to saving throws is invaluable. The rogue did still get killed when failing a "Slay Living" check - I stuck Death Ward on him the second time. The Salamanders still got the occasional hard hit.

I did make 25 point buy characters with some negative modifiers to saving throws - didn't bother crafting any Cloaks of Resistance either.


I can see what people mean about the hidden area and the final boss. A ton of empty rooms, 1 empty chest with no guards and weak fungi guarding another.

I destroyed the Orb so I didn't see her at full strength but her spell selection seems a bit lacking to say the least (entangle which autofails!), the fungi she summons (if given the chance) are more annoying than dangerous. I didn't even take a dent. I believe she mentions being banished if you take the gems and the Orb is destroyed - I don't know which outcome is correct.


What I've seen of Verboblonc is very nice - clever re-usage and re-design of lots previous maps. Looking forward to getting the castle

I imagine I've become far to strong for the area - the White Dragon dropped easily enough and the Drow were dealt with within 2/3 rounds. I think I got more XP fighting them than the Balor and Salamanders which I found trickier.

I do like the placement you've given them - with rogues coming from the sides upon entering a room - fighters and spiders from the front.

Not going to add Shocking/Icy/Flaming Burst - just stick with the +3 and Holy.

 

Why would they not attack the Elementals with whatever power they got, they are much bigger than humans thus more scary.
I don't feel it is bad roleplay to setup the fight that way.

 

Solved most of the quests in the game by this point. Just exploring Verboblonc, finishing off the loose ends.


Monster Mash

• Are you meant to become invulnerable against all the summons when buffed with "Protection From Evil" - my reading of the spell description implies they can damage you if you attack them (which I did)
  
  Spider poison seems to go right through - even when the spider hits for 0 damage (Picture #1)

Wanted - Bounty Missions

• You may wish to simplify the dialog that accepts these quests. As it stands now you can accept "Gladstone" but must ask pick the line "more questions" to accept "Commonworth" and "Corpus" (Picture #2)

• Asking for the bounty information to be repeated doesn't lead anywhere. (Picture #3)

• Saw a funny instance where the characters didn't immediately attack - allowing me to recruit one of them for the fight. (Picture #4)

• It's possible to leave the Welcome Wench - without the dialog from the innkeepers wife triggering - as she looks for the party leader.
  
  Additionally I didn't notice any penalty for not paying for the damage - I'd suggest not being able to rest at the inn any longer.
  
  I'd suggest moving this fight into the basement of the Welcome Wench as there's far more room. As it stands now you're able to position them in some vulnerable places just prior to the fight.

 

Missing Merchants

• I'd suggest altering the positions of the enemies in the final room - so you don't see them through the doorway. (Picture #1)
  
  I could pick off the Rogues and Fighters without provoking the two Wizards and Matriarch.

• I'd suggest merging the two I've got a "report to give you about the drow/weather" lines - as picking the weather line blocks out the drow line. (Picture #2)
  
  It's also possible to miss the "Where's Gnome Prince" line when accepting the quest - if you follow the "Do you trust" line and "Where's Lerrick"

Lerrick

• You can confront Lerrick about being followed - without actually leaving the Hall and seeing the informants. (Picture #3)

Nightwatchman

• Small typo "Hm" instead of "Hmm" (Picture #4)

• You can enter the Castle through the secret Hextor passage - and exit even with the security barrier still up. (Picture #5)

 

Canon Thaddeus

• You're able to tell practically everyone in town - that you've been hired to kill Thaddeus after already reporting the plot to Ramses. (Picture #1-5)
  
  I assume that the mission for Daria (ie rob Nulb merchant) may suffer from the same problem.

 

Is it not possible to make NoA protect against Cloudkill and the all the other fog spells permanantly, or is the bug just hard coded in?

 

I think this is a big that is hard coded. It has been reported as a 'bug' for some time.

 

I think you'll probably know about some of these - but I've ran into them all the same.


Hommlet Traders

• Amusingly I've had these two return from the dead. A fight triggers when you enter the Trading Post. Rannos & Gremeg are both invisible and I couldn't find a way of targeting them. They had no trouble hitting me with their very deadly sneak attacks. (Picture #1)

Burne's Castle

• Is entering the castle long after the Temple is cleared - supposed to end the game ? (with slideshow) You can briefly see that Burne and Rufus are still in the castle - is this related to WotGS ?

Slavers

• The information on the Slavers (from several characters) can only be read the first time. (Picture #2)

• Would it be possible to be able to loot them before (automatically) traveling to Verboblonc? Perhaps by talking to a child? I realize that could prove problematic if the children are killed.

Castle Ghost

• If the ghost is killed by using "Greater Turning" will events all trigger normally? (Picture #3)

And a fun picture - Holy Word against the Hexorites! (Picture #4)

Wasn't quite as fun when the game locked up (jerkstop?) after that fight

Are the enemies in the first fight (as you exit the town defense building) meant to phase in one round at a time? It was extremely easy pickings for my Ranger/Rogue as they were all caught flat-footed.

 

Fought "Saint Cuthbert" as part of the Demons and Demigods quest and had my rear end handed to me - no big deal really - I consider it to be a easter egg fight likewise for Monster Mash.

I'm not entirely sure what determines who you get - my Party Alignment is Chaotic Neutral - and I can pick either the Good, Nasty or Neutral and Skeptical dialog options - getting Cuthbert (Picture #1)

I'm not sure the game engine can handle War of the Golden Skull frankly - it's been getting progressively worse - since Temple Dungeon 4 / Nodes.

Jerkstop appears to be related to spawning enemies on the map spontaneously - I made it through each fight by entering and exiting a nearby building after the enemies appeared in each location. Enemies that had died also appear to take standing positions before dropping on the ground again. Bing doesn't move from the leather shop. Finally "Holy Word" is probably far too effective as most enemies appear to be more than 10 levels behind.

Also this woman in Verboblonc appears to crash my game - when I go near the Lady's house (Picture #2) Entering the nearby ruined Pelor Cathedral and exiting makes her disappear. I've also noticed that some of my characters can be "Silenced" on loading a save game.


Either way for all intents and purposes the game is now over - my party of 5 + Elmo are all Level 20. It's been a lot of fun - I'll be playing Knights of the Chalice until the UI tweaks are in - then I'll probably try an evil party.

Finally a few crafting bugs below...

 

Crafting Anomalies


Losing the +4 enchantment bonus

+4 enchantment weapons appear to be almost completely useless - which I'll demostrate below.

• Let's take a basic +4 enchanted Dwarven War Axe (Picture #1)

• Place it into the Weapon Slot (most important!) and craft an enchantment to it (Picture #2 & #3)

• Check the Weapon log without moving the Axe and the weapon retains the +4 bonus (Picture #4)

• Remove and Replace the Axe into the Weapon Slot and the +4 enchantment bonus is lost (Picture #5)

 

Crashing the game

As far as I can tell this happens when a weapon's Base Price
Modifier bonus exceeds 10.

Let's use +4 enchantment Dwarven War Axe again... (the same happens with a +3 weapon)

• Add Flaming, Shocking and Icy Burst (Picture #1)
  
  Which turns it into a +3 Axe with +2 Flaming Burst, +2 Shocking Burst + 2 Icy Burst -> Total = 9

• Add Holy and the game will crash (Picture #2)
  
  +3 Axe, +2 Flaming Burst, +2 Shocking Burst, +2 Icy Burst + 2 Holy -> Total = 11

• You can add Flaming, Icy or Shocking safely or another +1 enchantment (Picture (#3)
  
  +3 Axe, +2 Flaming Burst, +2 Shocking Burst, +2 Icy Burst + 1 Flaming -> Total = 10

• Likewise adding Holy or anything else will crash the game (Picture #4)
  
  +3 Axe, +2 Flaming Burst, +2 Shocking Burst, +2 Icy Burst + 1 Flaming + 2 Holy -> Total = 12