Let's Talk About Hickory Branch

Hehe..it looks like that, but no, it's not only that

The real problem are the crafting feats :tired:
They take no time, are relatively cheap, and there's no chance of screwing the would-be item.

Pchè...why would i search for a unique weapon when i could buy this?

Available at Cuch's store.

 

Just a thought. What if HB stays as it is, BUT you no longer get there via Mona, you find the map to go there in some Node. That way it won't really influence on your party's level, as you'll probably be high enough already, just a fun side adventure. As about a begining of the game low level adventure what do you think of an adaptation of the Tutorial?

 

I,personally, like HB a lot, not for the XP or items, but for the fights :dribble: This probably goes against all the book rules or isn't doable, but would it be possible to not award any XP for those fights? And, instead of powerfull items you could find easter eggs, e.g. cool clothing, a parchment saying "thou art a great hero", stuff like that.....

 

I'm not sure what do you mean with that :blink:

In any case, yes, i've been doing some "cleansing" on files. :thumbsup:

I didn't want spoil the fun...but actually, Krunch WAS working on HB (he requested some stuff ) . I don't know clearly what he was doing, but mainly cos i didn't ask

To be honest, i don't have a clue on how to solve the HB matter without offending somebody... :sweatdrop
I personally don't have much problem with extra XP since i use a full 8 charcters party and craft a lot of stuff (mainly necklaces and scrolls) and i don't do EVERY quest since i respect my party's alignments and rpging...

But i see where it goes my idea/project of a HB-like map/adventure on the astral plane

Not a bad idea...not a bad idea at all.
Low level fights, little or not at all loot... and i've played the tutorial just once, i suppose that many players do that, so isn't a map that you said "oh no, these walls again!" :thumbsup:

But Gaear said it before: better adapt what it's already in, and not add stuff.

Still, i like the idea.

 

I for one think we need something besides all the FedEx/matchmaking/religious conversion quests in the beginning. Since I'm generally railroaded into play good characters in most other CRPGs (and tabletop when I used to play) I like being able to run with an evil party when I can. The way things are now I either have to break with my party's alignment to get XP or do without.

 

I too would like to show my support for an alternative to the FedExing at the start of the game. I have never been a big fan of it and only went through the motions to get the experiance.

 

Hi Folks
Count me in as being in favor of a low level alternative to the "Fed-Ex" (or more importantly the Fed-UPS) quests. One of the things I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY Like about KoTB is the fact that there are only two of them ( "The Silk Road" and "8 Legged Freaks") and Ted has done a good job in making them believable and realistic ( A Cleric needing a "reliable" supply of Silk for interring the Dead ), that you don't mind doing them (especially as you don't have to go out of your way, or all over town to accomplish them). Another thought that just crossed my mind: What about letting Neutral / Good parties clean out the Ogre caves at a higher level (or even "upgrade" the Ogres to Hill Giants ?) ?
If HB has to stay in the "middle" I would definately move Verbobonc closer to the "endgame" and use a different "hook" than 2 pretty girls in the Temple prisons to get the party there. Maybe some sort of Dialogue with Burne indicating that in order to destroy the Orb, the party needs to get something from Verbobonc. I would also "upgrade" some of the monsters (is there anyway to get the Drow to cast "Continual Darkness", which is one of their inate abilities IIRC ?? ) . Another thing to do, to make both Verbobonc and HB more challanging is (if it is possible) to limit the effectiveness of "Clairaudience/ Clairvoyance". I know, you probably don't want to hear this again, but something SERIOUSLY needs to be done with C/C. RIght now the only "limitation" of C/C is the fact that any areas you travel through while C/C are in effect don't show up on your map (so what, you can leisurely "map" the areas after your wizard has wiped out the monsters with Tactical Nucs (aka Fireballs)). An Evoker with C/C and several Fireball scrolls, paired with a Cleric of either Heironeous or Corellon Larethian (War and Good Domains for the extra Spiritual Weapon) can clean up either area (at least the aboveground areas of HB, the crypt is a different story) with little difficulty. I wonder if there is any way to "crack the code" of Icewind Dale II, to find out how it is set up, so that Wizards don't automatically learn new spells when they level up, and there are no crafting feats available.

The Royal Canadian

 

Ah, i was expecting you said that... ^_^
well, that easily fixable as i can fiddle with most of the map tiles, and give the later stages (the lower ones) an increasing Drow look (in fact, the staircase centered on the room, and the magical red crystal seem to be very drowish already...that coupled with the stone with Lloth's symbol, and the race already create but not available in the game makes me think that it was their intention to do something like that). Just some of the tiles, to not increase too much the size of the files.

It is just Darkness now, but yes, you're correct.
I've found that there's actually an unused animation for the darkness spell, tho it would take a bit more of work to scrip the spell. And as you can see, there are very few Co8ters atm, and we're really really busy :errf:

 

If he doesn't do anymore on it, then I would love to have the map back that I layed out and VP improved (I no longer have a copy) as they would be very nice to use for KOTB or expansions therefrom as the style would fit nicely.....

 

I know that the Tutorial scenery is already in use Verbobonc and that might be a problem, I just thought that some sort of adventure similar to the Tutorial would give a perfect excuse and story line for some XP and little more money(the gem) to start the real deal.
I wish I could help you more guys,in your effort to make the game better and better,unfortunately as I don't really know a lot about what is doable or not,technicallytalking, I just guess things.

 

Hello!
Yesterday I have passed mod HB and some mistakes were found out in me:
1. The local map of HB crypt didn't displayed;
2. The Silver Sword of Chaos. Before identified it displayes as "Magic bastard sword". but after idetification the long description is: "The Silver Sword of Chaos is a bastard sword, a silver weapon, and is chaotic aligned. It also provides freedom of movement when wielded. Enhancement Bonus: +1 To Hit Bonus: +1 Damage 1d10+1 Damage Type: Slashing Weapon Additional Damage: 2d6 Anarchic damage to lawful-aligned creatures Special: Silver weapon Critical Range: 19-20/x2 Weapon Proficiency: Martial, Greatsword. I think it is typing error as it work as bastard sword.
3. Cloack of midnight. As a descriptoin says it gives +2 bonus to wisdom. But except for this, it gives +3 deflection bonus to AC!