Circle of Eight Modpack v7 / v7 NC General Commentary & Discussion Thread

I was exploring the Moathouse earlier own - dealing with the gnolls - I had dealt with those un the main room and sent a character with a masterwork 18str bow running around the left hand side of the room and up to the doorway into the back boudoir. When he reached the wall at the end (where he should have been hidden) the remaining gnolls activated.

The interesting thing is that the first gnoll out attempted to move around the character, failed its tumble check and provoked an attack of opportunity in the form of an arrow shot!

 

I'm sure we are all aware that an AoO cannot be performed with a projectile weapon.

Hmmmm, I bet fixing this is something that requires dll hacking.

On a completely different topic we were discussing earlier in this thread;

The moat-house re-spawn skeletons in the court yard are immune to bludgeoning damage which is the exact opposite of what they should be.

It is only the skeletons in the court yard and not the the rest involved in the re-spawn.

 

Correct. I just tested this today.

 

I've discovered the problem with ToEE's Blink and Sneak Attacks.

Per RAW:
1. Blink denies your target their Dex to AC.
2. If your target is denied their Dex to AC, you can sneak attack them.
3. Blink gives you a 20% miss chance because you might be phasing out when you attack.
4. A rogue cannot sneak attack while striking a creature with concealment.

The problem is that in ToEE, that 20% miss chance is modeled as 20% Concealment, thereby preventing Sneak Attacks. In fact, even if you're in melee and flanking you still wouldn't be able to sneak attack, because your Blink gives them 20% Concealment. :thumbsdow

 

Eureka! The Incandescent Blue Ioun Stone in his inventory caused the Helm of Brilliance to produce only "Invalid Action". ...why the heck would it do that? :dizzy:

 

I completed the 'What Lies Beneath' quest for the first time. I LOVED the plot twist at the end of that quest when the player brings the children up to the surface, and Captain Abiram's reaction to the player telling him the names of the children! I have to say that the 'What Lies Beneath' quest, the 'Fear of Ghosts' quest, and what happens when the player botches the 'Framework of a Murder' quest (and then reports back to Darlia to debrief him about the situation) are the 3 best quests that I have EVER experienced in a computer game! They are such intelligent and artistically beautiful quests! Thank you, Gaear, for creating such outstanding quests in this computer game!

I completed the 'Demons and Demigods' quest with a Lawful Good party alignment for the first time. I won the combat on my first attempt. I thought that it was too easy and that the opponents in the combat had incredibly stupid A.I. because they spent every round after the first round attacking one of my characters that had cast the spell

Spoiler

Meld into Stone

, so they did no damage to my character.

When I completed the 'Demons & Demigods' quest with a True Neutral party alignment, I found the combat a little difficult due to the enemy

Spoiler

Balor Guardians casting Fear on my party and then casting Dominate Person (or was it Dominate Monster?) on my characters (if any of my characters got dominated, then it tended to crash the game within a couple of rounds, so I had to reload and do the combat over and over again until none of my characters got dominated, which allowed me to finish the combat)

, so that combat was more of a stability issue rather than a difficulty issue.

I find fighting

Spoiler

4 of the same opponent

in the 'Demons and Demigods' combat quite boring and wish that these combats had a mixed variety of opponents instead.

If there is 1 thing that I would dearly love to be changed with the Circle of Eight Modpack NC (apart from removing Fragarach and Scather from the game, but I've given up on that campaign due to it's never gonna happen), then it is this:

I don't understand why there isn't a fixed NPC vendor of wondrous items in Verbobonc. Currently the only way to have an NPC vendor of wondrous items in Verbobonc at the moment is to deliberately let a very high ranked villain in the Temple of Elemental Evil escape during the combat with him, but this stops that combat because all of the remaining temple forces in the room stop being KOS (killl on sight) when this villain escapes. It's like the player is being punished for playing a "good" party, and that only evil parties are rewarded with being able to buy wondrous items in Verbobonc. I wish that there was a fixed NPC vendor of wondrous items in Verbobonc, and that the high ranked villain in the Temple of Elemental Evil no longer teleports away from the combat in his room (so that the combat functions properly by all of the temple forces in his room continuing to fight the player's party until they are all defeated. That way, the game would no longer punish "good" parties and would no longer favour "evil" parties in regard to NPC vendors of wondrous items in Verbobonc.

 

He was just softening you up for his request of another vender in Verbo.

 

I just finished Deities and Demigods successfully for the first time. The character

Spoiler

I put in the Otiluke's Resilient Sphere

properly didn't take any damage, but did take Ability Damage from Sneak Attacks. He ended the fight with a -133 Strength. He did have the "paralyzed" marker, but was able to walk around with the rest of the party after the fight. Is this an engine problem, or something that can be fixed?

 

Normal Restorations and rest will heal up the ability damage. I was more concerned about the fact he took it in the first place.

 

Suggestion

Hi Gaear, just a quick suggestion. Instead of making Verbobonc appear automatically in 'World Map' after Zuggtmoy has been dealt with, can you instead put a scenario like this? (After a few days - at night in the dark woods, a dispatcher will seek you. He starts a conversation regarding 'The Lord Mayor of Verbobonc' you notice that the dispatcher is indifferent in action, five men appeared in dark clothings before you - illusion and enchantment are their specialties, unknown of origin they seek the orb. The two of five mages trapped your mages with otiluke's resilience spell, they start the conversation and will ask once for the orb and attack you, one or two dark mages will escape after the decisive battle, leaving you and your party in a destructive wake. You realise that the dispatcher is an illusion, the real dispatcher is tied and lying beneath a tree (state is near death) The reason he is spared is unknown, you can choose to accuse and end his suffering or ungagged and heal him. The note you will gain, is a 'map to Verbobonc' and 'Official services signed by the Mayor' after he had heard your whereabouts of bringing downfall to the Temple.

If you spare the dispatcher he will offer you to lead you to the office of Lord Mayor Wilfrick. The mayor will praise you for your heroic deeds and will give you an extra reputation. And if not, will gain the governor's suspicions 'about you', offering new twists to the plot. But after that, will resume to your quests normally.

Merry Christmas to All!