Circle of Eight Modpack 5.7.x General Commentary and Discussion Thread

Just like real disease. If you get sick on Tuesday, it's from Saturday or Sunday.

 

How are people finding the early balance in v5.7.2? I've tried to go backwards to v3.0.4 for comparison whilst playing the indie game Knights of the Chalice (which bends the rules slightly)

Quick party rundown (point buy cheat/pre-racial modifiers) --> Race/Class/Str/Dex/Con/Int/Wis/Chr/Domain/Feats at 1st --> next choice

Human / Rogue / 13/18/14/14/10/12 / Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot --> Improved Initiative
Dwarf / Fighter / 18/13/16/13/10/8 / Power Attack, Cleave --> Combat Reflexes
Human / Cleric / 13/13/14/13/18/12 / Good, Sun / Power Attack, Cleave --> Improved Turning
Human / Sorc / 8/16/14/12/10/18 / Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot --> Improved Initiative
Human / Wiz / 8/16/14/18/10/8 / Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot --> Improved Initiative


The reduced experience gain (60%) - feels just about right given the added quests, etc. The bulk of quests in Hommlet need a score of 5 in the social skills - with a handful needing more - enabling the party to do the majority of quests at level 1 - no bad thing.

Clearing the spiders isn't too difficult providing you win initiative and put "Enlarge" on your frontliners. "Sleep" works wonders too - letting you Coup De Grace. This is where I hit level 2.

Clearing the Meadow (avoiding the Giant!) at level 2 is certainly possible - although I had to get a lucky "Greater Turn Undead" on the Cleric and guards. If he gets off Desecrate, Shield of Faith and starts with Sound Burst - it's tricky indeed with a lack of healing and his high HP.

Whilst I like a stern challenge - I'd say the difficultly of some of the Moathouse encounters is rather erratic and doesn't flow too well - I seem to do a lot of resting/saving/reloading here.

Starting at the entrance:
Frogs (easy) to Courtyard Bandits (easy) to Viper/Lizard (moderate) to Bandit Leader (fairly easy - block door / "Sleep" ftw) to Stirge and Giant Tick (annoying!)

Moathouse Dungeon:
Zombies (easy) and Level 3. I usually bluff Lubash (difficult without Glitterdust/Laughter) and this is where it gets a bit tricky.

The bugbear/gnoll fights are quite similar being a bit dependant on "Web" and blocking the doorways.
Their high AC (22~), high health and high modifiers paired with my low AC (17 Fighter/19 Cleric), low health - often lead to being severely damaged/killed in one hit.

Going off the log it certainly seems like I have to roll far better numbers to land a hit than they do. Even if you steal Kobort's armor (6+1) and make good use of enlarge/positioning/ready for approach - it's very dependent on luck and/or spamming "Sleep"/"Web". I do like the way you've given them potions however.

The Ghoul/Crayfish chests have an abnormally high DC (30?) - considering their contents. It might be interesting to alter the bandit fight - before Lareth - by losing a few ranged bandits and adding in a magician - much in the same way you've done to the Rainbow Rock fight.


I shame Troika didn't add the skill "Craft" to the game - getting basic full plate would certainly make those fights easier. I imagine completing Welkwood Bog + Hommlet will have much the same effect.

Not really ran into any serious problems in Hommlet or the Moathouse thus far - just a few small cosmetic dialogue changes and a minor issue with bluffing the two bandit sergeants near Lareth and then proceeding to walk the whole party past - despite warning that you can only take one member.


Finally, have you considered adding a Swamp Lotus to the Welkwood Bog area?

It'd tie in nicely with the Cure Ami quest (ie acting as an incentive/minor reward to clear the Bog) whilst removing the awkward randomness of getting a swamp encounter - you could even make Jaroo suggest it!

Looking forward to Welkwood Bog - I'm hoping it has goblins/kobolds and an Orc "goblin king"?

p.s.
Whoever added the "Will you talk to the party leader" dialogue lines - is a genius - a very nice change indeed. Don't think for a second that some of your subtle changes go unnoticed.

 

Hi Gaear
Just a few observations on 5.7.2 Beta
1.) The Exp. mod. doesn't seem to have made much difference. I am getting ready to send my band of 7 (5 PCs, Meleny and Elmo) into the Fire Node. Elmo is 12th Level, the Fighter, Bard, and Monk are all about 500 Exp from 12th Level, and the crafters are all 11th Level. I should point out that I have done a fair amount of crafting (everyone has a weapon that is at least +2 Holy, with Elmo and the Fighter also having Shocking and Icy Bursts on their prime weapons. In addition to the crafting, Otis was with the party for half of the Earth Temple area, and Wicked was with the party for part of the 2nd Level of the temple. Before you ask, I only did a little "Exp Sandbagging" (enough to get 600 Exp so my cleric could level up), and unlike my last 3 or 4 runthroughs I DID NOT kill Iuz (If you don't have Scather, don't bother: You can't trip Iuz, and he'll rip you a new one in a hurry if you try). It did take me several ( 6 or 7 ) random encounters to finally find the Swamp Lotus for Amie, but I would guess that the total Exp from all Random Encounters is no more than 2,000 Exp per character, if even that.
2.) There are no 6th Level Domain spells for Clerics (at least not for WAR and GOOD domains).
The Royal Canadian

 

PC's beyond 5th don't spawn at shop map/beginning of the game, even though I can add them upon party creation and later at the inn.

 

Make sure the # of pc in party option in the frontend is set to 6/2, 7/1 or whatever you want to use. Should work. Remember to save options also.

 

Dose it work for you? cause even if I save the setting manually(it auto-saves on exp cap and party size changes), it still dosen't work.

5.7.2 BETA full version BTW

 

Never seen it not work. I play 6/2 a lot and it always works. Might be a bad install/download. Try it all over following the install procedures. Make sure you wait for the installed successfuly message before playing. Good luck.

 

I'm talking about them not being in the party after I complete the party creation. I can add them to the team, but they don't spawn at the shop map or anywhere later. I'll try reinstalling later, now I'm rolling a different(5 man) team anyway.

 

I didn't have any problem with that too. I'm on a 6/2 setup.

Some questions if you may:

- Both Falrinth and Senshock teleported from their respective battles and IIRC, for Senshock at least, he used to spawn in Hedrack's battle, but he didn't. Both of them triggered dialogues for their 'fleeing', so the question is: where are they?

- What are the conditions to trigger the revenge plot for Rannos and Gremag I saw in the changelog of the modpack?

Thank you in advance!

 

Well, that's interesting. Never knew that. Gonna have to try that and see what he brings.

 

That means I shouldn't do the 'Agents Revealed' (or w/e its called) quest before I finish with the Moathouse, because they don't accept any bartering after I report them to Rufus/Burne.

I also want to report a glitch I encountered some minutes ago. When I accompanied Sargen (that crazy guy from the Earth node) to Nulb, upon arrival he triggered the dialogue 'Thank thee demon.... I will sent the reward..'' but instead of leaving the group, he stayed as an invisible character. Meaning his portrait is still there and only the blue circle under his character is visible when I press the 'select all' button. I cannot interact with him in any way (as talking to him) but I can access his inventory. Anyone experienced the same?

Thanks for the replies to my previous questions!

 

Actually, it can turn into a pretty messy fight. Especially if you manage to trigger Falrinth and Smigmal's assassins at the same time. He brings but a few fat bugbears, but that gives him an opportunity to fry your party with fireballs b4 you get to him.

 

Hi CrimsonVirus

The Royal Canadian