Back after a break

This is so cool. Can we loot this armour in 5.0? At least that AC24 bugbear will be carrying some expensive full plate:clap: . By the way, I take it that the class levels were put in by the original designers of the CRPG as the pnp adventure, being 1st ed, didn't have these? (Puts whining player hat on) All I want to know is where are the extra xp for these hard nuts?

I DID notice that they didn't have the full range of spell like abilities in the fire temple. Seems like "only" 2 fireballs and no dispel or summon monster VII :help:. Still, you COULD give them the dispel, as the fireballs could be counterspelled with dispels or fireballs (that was my backup plan for when/if the fire resistances went down). Of course, the counterspell option needs 2 casters readying for counterspell every round, which is quite a commitment. Oh, and great work again, by the way!

 

The level 4 ogre/bugbear fight wasn't too bad, as long as I could keep those dang bugbears away from my mage (I keep forgetting to use Mirror Image).

After that, I reached level 10, so I figured I'd trek up the main hallway and pay Hedrack a visit. It was pretty standard stuff - I buffed in the hallway and expected a horde of giants, bugbears and gargoyles to converge on me at the entrance...

And then the fireballs started arriving - my face hung in a gasp. No more endless rays of enfeeblement? And wth is Senshock doing there, summoning elementals!?? And Hedrack is casting searing lights, silence and stun spells?

Needless to say, the fight didn't go so well, so I'll be sure to clear out the other meddling NPCs before I take on Hedrack again.

Very well done, though!

Oh, and I had no idea that Cloudkill was such a deadly spell. Just leave the bad guys in that for a few rounds, then down em with a fireball after you've dropped their Constitution down. Works real nice It's also nice to have a War cleric - I got yer Righteous Might right here...

 

Well, I would probably be willing to pass through the fire temple on my way down if the engine wasn't so finicky about where to move characters. All it takes is one impatient misclick and I'm outside the protection of my lesser globe, and I get nailed.

As I recall, when I went through with my nature party, I did pay a visit to the fire temple on my way down, since my barbarian/fighter was focussed in greatsword.

 

Yeah, it's lootable. There was some debate about it, but it's per the 3.5 rules so there you go.

Yes, Troika added the class levels. I just tweaked them somewhat. (There were some bugbears with extra HD instead of levels and no CR increase. I changed those HD into levels, which means you will get the XP.) And really, the Temple would be pretty boring if all the bugbears were generic bugbears. Especially since under 3.5 you wouldn't be getting any XP for them once you got high enough level. Nothing like fight after fight with nothing to show for it. You're getting some extra XP already under 4.0 since class levels automatically increase the CR, and thus the XP awarded. You're only missing out a bit on the ones with extra hitdice.

 

Hmm... after clearing Senshock's room and doing away with haste-boot man, I still have to deal with Senshock assisting Hedrack in the main temple room.

Let's see, the first time I tried this, one of my characters died before Iuz appeared, so I knew everyone would get restored. But I'd rather not use that.

I managed to take out the giants this last time but fled, and then my War cleric dropped over dead because her Righteous Might wore off before I could get her healed.

Frustration... then again I am playing with only 4 characters.

Another problem I run into is needing to rest more often because my wizard is using up all his nuking spells in smaller fights, leaving him with just debuff spells. Maybe I'm focussing too much on trying to kill things quickly. But with a sorceror, I just cast what I need.

 

Hedrack and the Greater Temple are vanquished. I fled twice, but hey it's done. I'm eager to fight those water node bandits, since I never fought them before without getting that CTD. Other than that, I'm not too eager to beat the nodes, since some of those encounters are hella hard (Balor, Hezrou, Glabrezu, Salamander Nobles, Eyes of the Deep) or horribly annoying (Galeb Duhrs - if they actually moved as fast as their movement ability suggested, it wouldn't be so bad).

Of the changes I noticed for 4.0.0, well done I know that some things you just can't fix (Spiritual Weapons getting attacked and killed, Falrinth's Minor Globe being permanent, Charm Person causing creatures to fully fight for you, enemies standing within Cloudkill effect until they die, Smigmal's invisible bug?, Summon Monster being a full-round cast), and I didn't really explore the roleplaying opportunities with NPCs, but from what I did see, you helped even out the experience and make it much more worthwhile for me. My thanks :largeclap

 

I coulda sworn there was a Smigmal fix...didn't someone JUST mention this in another thread?

 

It used to be a 3-round limit to kill her before she went poof.

That was fixed in Co8 5 MOD--is not changed [and is still as was] in Co8 4 MOD.

 

The Smigmal Fix was introduced in 4.0.1. Pygon is playing straight 4.0.0.

 

The Smigmal dialog thing was always there? Hmm, all the previous times I played, I must have killed her in three rounds.

I made it to the water node. The bandit battle was interesting. The Hezrou was nailing me with that stench cloud ability of his, though. I tried buffing with a Neutralize Poison spell, but it doesn't have a duration!! Hmm - maybe Delay Poison will work...

I'm also finding I have a lot of spells left over on my wizard and cleric that I don't really use. I need to re-evaluate what they memorize. Sorcerors and bards are so much more convenient that way. But if I can get spells set up on them both that I actually use, they would be a lot more effective.

Edit: Nope, Delay poison doesn't work either, I still get sickened or nauseated. *Hezrou grunt* mg:

 

I've started up my trusty ol' nature party with 5.0, so we'll see how it goes :gotmyatte

 

Cloudkill doesn't seem to count as poison either. Or at least the Necklace of Adaptation doesn't work against it (which was an extremely unpleasant surprise for my Paladin.)