A few words regarding balance

General:

-Charm and dominate type spells are way too strong. These are basically save or die spells, just stronger and easily accessible.
I'd suggest reducing the duration to a round/level and allowing a save each round to end the effect.

-I think there are too many bonus party members allowed at once: PCs + companions + animals.. Wouldn't a 6 total maximum be fine? Or, alternatively, you could make XP being split among party members.


KotB specific:

-The Ox is too strong. I'd prefer it to be a simple pack mule without fighting capabilities that appears only when you need to stash your loot.

-Two Swords really doesn't need two +4 katanas. +2 would be okay. I think her dexterity should at least match the requirements for the basic two weapon fighting feat.

-The final battle.. well, it needs to be more challenging.



Also, is there a way to disable all XP from random encounters? It artificially inflates the party's XP.

 

Does a low level npc have 2 +4 weapons ?
I haven't recruited her this time around, i used her back in the beta Days.

A good way to balance things is to use only 1 roll for your characters or the Point system.

In my experience charm person only works 1 in 6 in early game and almost never in late game but when it works it's powerful, but so the tasha's hideous laughter and fireball.
The good thing is that all the monsters go for the spellcasters and they die easily.

 

You're welcome.

If the boss is by the book.. then I can hardly argue to change it. Tradition is tradition and I respect it. I guess the only thing I can do is to have less than 5 people in the party (had 3 lvl 6 + 2 lvl 5 and no mercs or animals) next time. Maybe I was just very lucky because I defeated him in one try and no one died; had no clue it was the final boss. And the ending vignettes were so fast I wasn't able to read most of it.


Yes, +4 to hit is a lot. She's cool and all, but unless it's by the book, I'd suggest to nerf her a bit. She has huge damage and a gigantic AB.


Also, I think quest XP is fine. The thing that can inflate XP are random encounters. I'd love to be able to turn off XP for all random encounters.

Maybe there could be a very very expensive battle Ox and a carry-stuff-Ox that won't become a party member or fight, but will just carry stuff?

I still think that charm needs to be addressed.. it makes fights trivial. I limited the number of times that my party was allowed to rest so I had limited access to spells, but it was still horribly overpowering.


Oh, one more thing.. the economy.. too much gold. You can sell masterwork weapons for a fortune. And (some) potions, scrolls and wands too.

 

If you have a Barbarian, Druid, or Ranger in your party who has maximum ranks in the Survival skill, then you will have the choice to avoid almost all of the random encounters that you have in the game.

You could always pretend to donate (or tithe) all of your spare money to the church. This is what monks HAVE to do in Dungeons & Dragons 3.5, and I imagine that Paladins and Clerics would do this also.

If you do what chano suggested (i.e. create PCs who have average or poor ability scores), then this will significantly make the game much more difficult overall.

If you find the game too easy (as I do once the characters in my party have reached character level 2 (except for the combat against the

Spoiler

Medusa

(which is an insanely difficult combat!)), and the combat against the

Spoiler

Samurai caravan guards

), then set yourself artificial restrictions, such as:

1. you're not allowed to recruit Two Swords.

2. none of the characters in your party are allowed to cast Charm or Dominate spells.

3. none of the characters in your party are allowed to go above character level 3 (you can set the level limit of the characters in your party in TFE-X (i.e ToEE Front End-X)).

4. you're not allowed to do any item crafting. You can only use the items that you acquire in the game.

5. you're not allowed to have any spellcasters in your party.

etc.

 

I think the problem is that there is so much extra content (a great problem to have ) and so many side adventures that by the time I got to the caves I was 5th level and 6th - 7th by the end. I think staying true to the original module and also adding a ton of content is something that is tough to do, unless it's made so that you go to the caves early and then play the original stuff later. But leaving it open ended, which I really do like btw, leads to the possibility of unbalanced encounters.

My experience was that it seems most of the encounters in the entire game were well balanced for 3rd level characters. 1st level was deadly, 2nd was dangerous, and 4th and 5th level became too easy. Solutions presented are to limit your levels, or don't craft, or don't use spells, etc. But I would rather max out my characters and have the bugbears be those nasty 120 HP bugbears with trip from the Temple.

There is also a magic item that the culprit of the Trader Raider quest has in his loot that will sell for 30,000+ gp, which really throws things out of whack when crafting. "+2 everything for everyone!"

 

I already have some restrictions to make games more challenging like the maximum number of times I'm allowed to reload & rest and the maximum number of party members.

Also, of course, not using endless XP sources like random encounters (I later avoided XP punching bags by reloading) and I don't use crafting. On the other hand, what you suggest are silly 'shoot yourself in the foot' suggestions and I certainly won't do that.

I believe you don't understand what balancing means, gazra.

That doesn't solve the problem. Even if it's maxed out you still can fail a survival check and get XP. I don't want that to happen so I'd like the option to disable this XP source and then I'll think of increasing survival.

No. I certainly won't do that. I don't roleplay a generous donor.

This is also a silly suggestion. I might as well pick idiotic useless feats and go into fights without any weapons or armor equipped.
I created only 1 character. He was an elven fighter and he had two attributes below 10 (point buy); cha. was 9 and con. was 8 so he had abysmal HP. And I picked 2 pregenerated characters; bard and sorcerer. The sorcerer later died.

No.
I have to be blunt... these are nonsensical suggestions.

 

I haven't tested if XP is affected by the number of people you start the game with (PCs), but you say it does. On the other hand, I don't believe it's affected by companions, mercenaries and animals, or is it?
Yes, having a smaller party, but progressing faster is good. It's also very good to have another body or two though (to absorb blows and deal damage).


I know that many people like random encounters and getting XP from that, but I really can't use the cheat console to subtract XP from my party every time. Is there a way to make random encounters not give any XP?


PS. Do you perhaps have an ETA on how long will it take to design the "empty" areas?
Oh, and how can I access the graveyard (is it tied to alignment)?

 

Hi Stasis,

What exactly do you mean when you say "empty areas"?

I'm not sure if you're aware, but everyone that works on the Co8 modpack and site are all completely volunteering their time and effort.

It is very hard to get or expect an ETA from free willed volunteers.

 

I meant graphically empty: "The Gnoll and Hobgoblin Caves have minimal graphics."

No, I wasn't aware it's being made by volunteers! This is shocking news! I thought Atari was paying them, or Troika maybe.. Yes, Troika was a good bet, clearly!

It was a simple question and not a complaint or, god forbid, some kind of demand.
I was curious if someone is working on it and how long could it take, approximately. No pressure! :thumbsup:

 

Coincidentally, I've been wanting to add an option to reduce xp awarded by RE critters (the RE script would reduce the spawns' CR by a factor specified by user in the co8config.ini file, default would be 0 ofc)

 

I haven't finished the game, but I'm level 4 already. I thought the goal was getting inside the keep, not the caves of chaos. I've cleaned several of those out at level 1, as it was the quickest way to get magical weapons. I didn't have a quest to go there, per se. I went with the dwarf in the tavern and cleaned the kobolds out, then progressed from there and cleaned out two or three others.

I don't play for challenging combat though, I play for loot and secrets. I'm having a blast. I have a party of all 18s, as I don't care about the fighting. How can you craft if the highest level you reach is four or five? I haven't made a single item nor do I care to. I prefer to find the goodies

I definitely believe you shouldn't try to balance the combat for my type of party. I play with 6 characters. My super 5 and the dwarf who took us to the caves. I just kept him as my 6th and am giving him all cleric levels since I took him. My paladin and fighter have the exploit gloves that give +6 to Strength too, so I have two guys with 24 Str. At +7 to hit, they don't miss much, but that's how I like to play.

 

If folks don't want XP from random encounters wouldn't the easiest option be to give you a better chance to flee combat? That way those of us who go out looking for random encounters (when they happen to be just that close to gaining a new level) can continue to enjoy them?