easter eggs, eye candy, and brain food

Re: Availability of Magic / Masterwork Weapons

Hi Ted
I actually think that there are just the right amount of magic items to be found. Assuming that most players will attempt to join ( rather than wipe out ) the Thieve's Guild, I count 16 magic weapons / armors that can be "obtained" in the game as it is now, and that assumes that the player decides to singlehandedly "take on City Hall" at the Thorp, which accounts for 6 of them. By far the two biggest sources of magic items in the game, as it currently exists are the Thorp ( 6 magic weapons / armors, including the most powerful weapons to be found so far ) and the Thieves Guild ( 5 magic weapons / armors that you can purchase after joining the guild ).

What keeps the game in balance so far is that:
1.) The magic items that are available aren't many, and they aren't just lying around begging to be taken. Yes, some of the items ( the two "Pains Memory" flails for LE characters and the +2 Falchion ) are powerful, but getting them, requires a tough fight
( Ooops ! I just realized I undercounted the magic items at the Thorp because I didn't count the "Magic Spiked Shields" ( 7 I think ), "Scale Mail of Hextor" ( 7 ?? ), and the 2 "Vestments of Hextor", as I always sell these items ).

2.) It isn't easy to "upgrade" Masterwork Weapons/ Armors to magic versions because there isn't a huge amount of money lying around.

My one complaint about the Masterwork weapons is that they are available way to early, and in types of weapons not "normally" found in the Yeomanry. For example, it is possible to purchase 2 Masterwork Weapons [ 14 STR Composite Longbow and No Dachi (Bastard Sword)], 3 Masterwork/Exotic material shields, and 1 suit of Bone Armor from the start caravan ( I'm not counting the Adamantium Breastplate because it is highly unlikely that a starting party will have enough gold to purchase it ). Assuming that a starting party is frugal with it's money, you can still purchase Masterwork Weapons and Armor when you are as low as 2nd Level. Granted most of these are "Great Kingdom" (read oriental) weapons/ armors, but some ( Katana, Bolo, No Dachi for weapons, Samurai, Lamellar, Gladiator armors and the bucklers) are quite potent in their own right. What surprises me is the fact that you can't find Masterwork Spears, Longswords, or Crossbows anywhere. In the book at the pub, it states that the common weapons of the Yeoman army are spear and crossbow, so it would be "logical" to assume that a weaponsmith in the Yeomanry would be more likely to make a Masterwork Spear than a Masterwork No Dachi or Composite Longbow. I've played through "Lizardman versus Preditor" several times, and one of the things I have noticed is that after you kill the dragon, there are always 2 random Masterwork Weapons lying around, one of which is always an Oriental weapon ( usually Warfan ).

The Royal Canadian

 

The amount of magical items it's fine, IMO.

But, as TRC said, it's the "exotic" stuff which looks a bit out of place, and as posted a lot of times, it's way unbalanced.

Strange equipment (as the gladiator armor, or oriental stuff), should be -and it is by RAW- just "cosmetically" different.

Btw, i got as Dragon's loot, the ornated sword (masterwork longsword), and i must say to my shame, that it looks like crap. Fixing incoming!

 

I agree that there are plenty of masterwork/magic items to be looted, but I didn't find many arcane scrolls (either purchased or looted), so I found that when I finished the demo my wizards spell book was pretty bare. Besides the starting spells, plus the two per level you get I didn't have many more.

Even killing the mad wizard didn't yield any scrolls. I was a little miffed about this. Half the fun of killing an enemy wizard is looting his spells.

 

Scrolls and Wizard Spells

I think it would interesting if your only source(s) of Wizard spells would be either :
1.) Whatever spells you could learn from the Wizard(s) in the Keep (after all, it states in the Players Handbook, that a Wizard must train under a Wizard of a higher level to advance to the next level, and that part of that training includes whatever new spell(s) the advancing Wizard Learns. Of course this assumes your Wizard is of Neutral or Good alignment.
2.) Whatever scrolls you happen to find, steal, or buy. One of the things that makes Icewind Dale II so challanging is that THE ONLY source of spells for your Wizard(s) to learn are the scrolls you find along the way. I find that my Wizard is almost 7th Level before he or she can learn Fireball ( and that is after not one, but two tough battles ), and that for the first 1,000 or experience points of 7th Level, the Wizard doesn't have ANY 4th level spells at all. Believe me, this makes the game quite a challange. If this could be implimented in KoTB, I think it could make the game very interesting. I would definately recommend limiting "access" to the spell "Clairauduence / Clairvoyance" if there are going to be many largescale battles fought outdoors.
Giving an Evoker "Clairaudience / Clairvoyance" basically turns him into a one man Artillery Battalion, able to wipe out large numbers of the enemy without any fear of counterattack. Four days ago, I played the final battle of the KoTB demo with a party that had an 5th level Evoker who had memorized Clairaudience / Clairvoyance and two Fireballs, and had 2 Fireball and 6 Magic Missle scrolls. If I remember correctly, at the end of the battle, the COMBINED damage sustained by my party amounted to less than 20 Hit Points.
The Royal Canadian

 

Hi Ted

The Royal Canadian

 

No crafting game completed

Hi Ted
Welcome Home !! I hope your trip was successfull and enjoyable. I just finished my "No Crafting" playthrough, and I am pleased to announce that it is possible to complete the Demo without crafting a single item, not even a scroll. Come to think of it, I only purchased (after the start) ammo (arrows, bolts) and one suit of marauder armor ( for the bard), and didn't use ANY of the scrolls that I got from the Gaurd Scribe or the Druid. The group I used consisted of the following:
Female Elf Bard ( spokesperson, Fire Support - I purchased a Composite Longbow for her at the start )
Female Half - Orc Fighter ( UGLY - CHA 7 - The Corporal wouldn't even talk to her )
Male Human Ranger - [ Two - weapon fighting, Weapon proficiency & focus (Bastardsword) ]
Female Half - Elf Wizard (Evoker) - (Crossbow, Magic Missles, and (at the end) Fireballs)
Male Elf Cleric ( Correllon Larethian ) - Domains (Good/War ) Not the greatest hand to hand fighter, but the extra "Spiritual Weapon" from 3rd Level up was very usefull.
I also "recruited" Two-swords and Korrac ( for 3rd Level, I leveled him up as a Fighter so he could get the "Combat Reflexes" and "Cleave" feats. After that he leveled up as a Cleric )
By the way, I had something interesting happen during the second Thieves Guild quest. I had the Ranger try to talk to the Corporal and then moved the bard behind the Corporal for a "Sleight of Hand", and the first item she "lifted" was the Key !! I guess the "Powers That Be" decided not to punish the Corporal for "losing" the key ( my Bard still had it at the end of the Demo, and he was still spending every night at the Pub like nothing had happened ).

The Royal Canadian

 

Hummm...did the mangy dog at the Keep rant in german??? between the yapyapyap and rufrufruf??? :blink:

 

Hey, been busy the past couple of weeks. Just wanted to drop in and thank those that threw me some hints. I may finally have a chance to play a bit this weekend and try them out!

 

I really like the graphic for the ring of free fall from the dragon's lair. Wound't have found it if not fot your 'tab' key tip. It's very 'Lord of the Rings'-ish, I like it, well done.