Been away for a long long time and now coming back to play an old favorite. Looking forward to what the geniuses of Co8 have come up with for new content. Very excited to try the newest version. Thanks again to the team making this happen as youve consistently improved, revitalized and renewed the experience of ToEE for me. Going through the forums once again Ive seen several players looking for the ability to console feats as I am. Alas we must needs to find alternatives to this Grail. My intent was to bypass the BS of wasting good character feats on crafting needs. I prefer to RP my games much more than metagaming but I hate that crafting takes away from character development so much. Especially if you want all the toys like me, then you need to waste your limited selection of feats on Craft Items, Craft Arms/Armor, and Craft Wands thus effecting the natural growth of your cleric, druid, and wizard. To top it off, now you are losing plat by the boatload and crippling your characters xp gains which hampers their growth even more. Really, when you look at the time, trouble, plat cost, xp cost, feat cost, etc. it boils down that crafting as it is is just not worth the associated price. There are a few options to console in items, buy from Co8 merchants, or otherwise obtain craftable gear. But really if you want to customize specific items to suit your individual gaming experience you only have the game ruining options. Yes you can use console to defer some of the gp and xp losses but Id prefer a simpler approach if possible.
///////////// MY SOLUTION \\\\\\\\\\\\\ I use a 4 character party to play with and set the TFE-X options to allow up to 7 PCs. I avoid using NPCs except where the game forces them to join you so that works for me. In addition I created three generic characters: Cleric, Druid, Wizard. These three do NOT enter the game with my party but stay on the sidelines instead. Around the time Im through the temple and have finished with Prince Thrommel it becomes crafting time. I head to Hommlet to use the book in the Inn to import a few characters. They have no need for gear, level them up using console, select the correct crafting feats, add a bit of extra xp to them and get down to business. I use these bots to pump out my crafting needs all at once, re-equip my party, dismiss my crafters, then get back to playing. With additions to the game adding more levels and content I may bring them in once more later on for upgrades, but otherwise they stay dormant. ***Note: Its is vitally important to save your game before importing characters and save again during the process. Name your saves so you can recognize where in your crafting setup you are. Save your game when finished crafting, before dismissing the added characters and again after theyve been removed. Now immediately visit - without console ports - as many major areas of the game as you can. Then teleport back to Hommlet. If you experience no CTDs you are good to progress, if you do CTD then youll need to restart or debug your crafting process. Viola!! Now we have a simple - yet complicated and time consuming - way of crafting in ToEE without gimping your playable characters in the process. But there just has to be a better way right?
///////////// MY SUGGESTION \\\\\\\\\\\\\ Would it be possible for Co8 to add a new shop somewhere that includes 3 such characters as permanent merchants? Not so much ones that sell upgraded items but ones that allow you to purchase crafting upgrades to your current gear. Crafters would need to be the staples, Cleric, Wizard, and Druid to provide all options. Each NPC would need the crafting feats, lvl 10-12, unlimited xp or bypass xp requirements, and all spells known and available. The interface wouldnt be a shop map like a normal merchant. Upon clicking the NPC, you are given the options to craft gear by selecting Craft Items, Arms/Armor, Rods, Potions, or Wands from a scripted menu. The crafting screen opens as if using the crafting skill for that NPC's class. Im sure some difficulties will be faced allowing non-party NPC to initiate party PC actions but Im hoping you guys can manage. Think the biggest hurdle will be inventory issues since the crafter normally has to have the item in their personal inventory to craft it. This could be overcome either by allowing these NPCs access to the party leader inventory by default. So player moves items they want to craft to the leader inventory before activating the NPC. Or place a Chest near the NPCs, PCs must drop equipment into the chest before crafting and remove it after. The Crafting NPCs would treat the chest as their personal inventory. Or give each NPC an item to craft, have them craft it at normal plat cost, then buy back the item at the same plat cost. Or possibly script it so the NPC uses the currently active PC's inventory as their own. That is my PC Dreddnawt interacts with the crafter so the crafter uses Dredd's inventory for the crafting process. I can switch items to his inventory from other PCs or have another PC activate the crafter to access a different inventory. Important part is the player controls the crafting. Not just purchasing premade items but using your own gear to upgrade it in your unique way. Then recover the gear for use. Same beginning and end result as doing it yourself but with NPC assistance. Their location would need to be fitting as well. You want them easily accessible but not so accessible that newbies can buy up uber equipment at level 1. Im thinking a new shop in Verbobonc that requires unlocking such as the Arena of Heroes access. At the appropriate level or game progression you can complete a simple stupid quest to gain a key, book, or teleport rod that takes you to this shop area where the crafter NPCs reside. Their prices should be double plat costs, to account for ease of use and no xp loss. Money at later stages is not an issue anyway. This provides players the opportunity to enjoy the game without regards for crafting knowing they can always hit the shop for those needs. It also allows purists to play as normal and do their own crafting if they wish or a hybrid of personally crafted items and NPC crafted ones. Progress, quest, and access restrictions insure its not abused before players would normally have access to crafted gear, and the added plat cost insure its not abused to unbalance the game. Bottom line is this would radically change the play options for every player while streamlining and simplifying what I feel to be the most complex and infuriating portion of the game.
Myself I don't gimp my player advancement by returning the XP spent for crafting. In my little world when someone crafts an item, or enchants a piece of equipment they learn from doing it like they learn from killing things and solving quests. Over my many years of DnD I've never understood the XP loss from crafting, the money spent I can understand because it costs gold for the spell components and crating materials. So, I spend the gold but replace the XP, because my crafter IS NOT an idiot and would certainly get better at something after he does it enough times.
I agree, but I've always justified the game practice in my mind as the crafter putting something of himself into his work. But honestly it's a game mechanic that I thought was a little bizarre. It's probably supposed to limit the number of items that the player enchants. :roll:
I think it is a good idea, but if given too easy access to it this could distract from rp purposes of having a dedicated crafter, and just give game to the rich men. If there was some sort of requirement, like it comes much late, or certain things much be done to access stronger enchantments (ie flame vs holy), as well as increased cost, like double the amount a player crafter does it at.
