Livonya's Beta 1.0 Mod.zip

I don't believe I added a level of Barbarian to him. I believe what I did do was give him the feats that he should have had in the first place. (though I could be wrong, I may have added a level I will look).

There were VERY few instances where I actually gave more levels to NPCs.

For the most part what I did do was give them their correct feats, or feats that an actual Barbarian Ogre would want.

He is the big boss of this map, and he should be a bit of a struggle to deal with.

Often times Troike gave the most ridiculous feats to the NPCs.

But I will take a look at him.

As for that chest, come back to it when you have a better rogue. Not everything should be available at level 1. Get better, get more rewards.

As for the hidden trap. Ha Ha. I warned you there were new traps. Play with caution.

TOEE was silly before because the only traps were on chests. How silly is that. No surprises ever!

If you ask me if you were surprised then AWESOME I did my job!!

In truth you telling me that you were actually surprised is the best compliment you could have given me! I am very happy about that!!

- Livonya

 

Also, a level 1 rogue can indeed pick this lock. You get 4 to start with, a dex of 18 gives you +4 (with or without any magic boosts from say Cat's Grace) and if you took a Feat that helps with Pick Locks then it is done at level 1.

But really why should it be done by a level 1 rogue? There is no reason why that chest should be that easy.

I think the way it was before everything was just spoon fed to the players. Everything comes so easy.

I wanted to play a game where my rogue's skills actually matter. I wanted to play a game where if I made my thief into a melee rogue rather than a thief then it would be harder to open, find, disarm items.

So yes I made that chest harder to deal with. People that build a solid rogue will be rewarded by being able to get into more items sooner. People that build slower rogues will have to come back and get it later.

I tried to build a TOEE where the battles would be tough, the traps would be tough, the adventure would be dangerous. I absolutely do NOT want it to be easy. It was way too easy before, which was my main gripe about the game to start with.

But I hear what you are saying... which is my way of saying that I am not ignoring what you are telling me.

- Livonya

 

The ogre in the moathouse most definitely didn't have a barbarian level before. I have never in my numerous times through the game had him go into a barbarian rage.

I'm all for NPCs having feats that make sense and them using them correctly. The ogre having cleave didn't bother me, it was the sudden increase in hitpoints, to hit and damage he gained when he was already capable of killing off one or two party members if you weren't careful to begin with. Especially since his XP reward stayed the same. If I threw an orge barbarian against a second level party with no warning in a table top game I'd have some very unhappy players.

I understand where you're coming from with the chests, but honestly it just seems an unneccessary aggravation. You're simply forcing the player to return to areas they already cleared out long ago in order to open the chests that are there. I wonder how many people are even going to bother? Yes, there's the feats that give bonuses and later you can cast Cat's Grace, but at low levels your options are extremely limited.

 

That was because Troika wrote a terrible AI script for him.

It didn't include rage. He already had the ability but the AI never triggered it.

Now he is a bit smarter and he thinks to himself these folks want to kill me, me go RAGE.

I made the NPCs use their skills and feats.

Yes, that makes the game harder, but that was the whole point. It was way too easy before because every monster/NPC did the exact same thing. They only rarely used their skills and abilities. I don't find any glory in deafeating them.

Now when you kill him you can pat yourself on the back for a well earned victory.

- Livonya

 

hmmm

Right, it seems the disappearing creature/characters during combat are not from your mod... still getting the error with just toee2, co8-4 and moebb temple... hmmm

 

Kalshane -

Not to be too long winded on this one topic...

But you don't have to go to the Moat House at level 1.

You can do quests around town.

You can do the spiders.

You can also go to Emiry Meadows at level 1.

Do you think the Giant and his bear at Emiry Meadows should be beaten by a level 1 party?

The first time I ran into the Giant and his bear he devestated my party.

The second time I waited until I was a bit stronger and he destroyed me again.

The third time I played the game I did the quests around town until I was level 2, and didn't go to the giant until later.

You are making the choice to go straight to the Moat House. A choice not everyone will make.

So sure, maybe it will be very hard for a level 1 party, but it will be way too easy for a level 2 or 3 party.

How do you balance that? Should it just be easy all the time?

I mean really what you are saying is that if my level 1 party can go there then my level 1 party should be able to win the battle.

You can fight Jaroo at level 1 or take on Calmert or go and tackle the giant in Emiry Meadows. Do you also think they are too hard for your level 1 party?

Balance is an issue, for sure, but you don't have to go and do these things at level 1. You are making that choice.

In a few minutes I will go home and see what I did to Lubash, though I am pretty sure I didn't do anything more than give him a better AI.

I will check.

- Livonya

PS: By the way I enjoy these e-mail exchanges...

 

That is a RELIEF. Though sorry to hear about your problems.

Try it without the temple.dll mod and see what happens.

- Livonya

 

This was a funny bug. I never played with a party that didn't have some Survival skill. And that was the problem.

I posted a new fix later on in this thread...

- Livonya

 

Lubash was already a Barbarian

Kalshane -

As it turns out I was correct.

I did not change Lubash.

He was always a barbarian. That was how he was built by Troika.

Troika made the mistake of giving him an AI script that was meant for a rogue instead of giving him an AI script meant for a barbarian fighter.

I switched his AI script to barbarian since he is a barbarian. Now he will rage, which he could always do if he had wanted to do so.

That is all I did to him.

I didn't buff his hit points.
I didn't give him extra feats.
I didn't give him extra levels.

I just gave him the proper AI script.

The ONLY reason he was so easy before was because Troika never finished their game and poor Lubash was stuck with the wrong AI script.

- Livonya

 

Many thanks for the file I will download it and try it out!

 

Hi Livonya, thanks for the mod, I've downloaded it and am ready to go. Just one question, I'm not sure how to turn off 'auto-save on map change'.
Again, thanks for all your work.
Cheers

 

I've posted this as news on the RPG Codex.

 

Okay, thanks. If he's always been a barbarian, then Troika screwed up and gave him the wrong CR, which is still annoying but certainly not your fault.

No, I don't think a level 1 party should be able to fight the hill giant. Which is why you get that wonderful groundshaking effect any time you go near him in Emeridy Meadows. It lets you know something big and mean is nearby and that maybe you should wander in a different direction.

But lets face it, most of the quests within Homlett are boring and time consuming. The majority of people are going to talk to their intro-required NPC, get told "Go to the moathouse" and go there.

Really, I do appreciate all the work you put into this mod. NPCs should use their feats and skills and spells and fight intelligently. But they should also follow the rules. (Which a CR 4 monster being counted as a CR 3 is not.) Obviously, this was Troika's mistake and not yours. I apologize for the false accusation.

One thing I noticed that might be a bug, not sure, but the brigand leader in the moathouse decided to charge straight through my entire party (I can only guess he was trying to get to my mage) and got brought down by the resulting AOOs, so there might be something wrong with his AI. In the past he's always stood his ground and laid the hurt on anyone unfortunate enough to be near him. This time was actually the easiest fight I ever had with him, as he never laid a hand on any of my party before he dropped.

 

I just have to say thank you for the mod. I was bored and found this forum by luck a couple of hours before you posted your mod and I'm happy for my insomnia. I'll be happy to playtest it and let you know if I find anything weird/interesting. I had that encounter problem too earlier but you already fixed that. Thanks again for sharing this with us.

 

Another weird AI thing. The gnolls in the moathouse kept beating on unconcious targets until they died, despite other foes up in their face hitting them. The gnolls I used Charm Person on did the same thing to their foes. Once they decided to hit someone, they'd keep beating on that character until he was dead. I had one charmed gnoll standing in a corner trying unsuccessfully to hit another gnoll that was bleeding to death for 4 rounds straight while the battle raged around him.