One of my greatest disappointments in UA was the absence of boulders for Giants to throw. Throwing things at adventurers is one of the great joys of gianthood not to mention the fact that it makes giants much more difficult opponents (as they were intended to be in the original D&D rules and even more so in the 2nd and 3rd edition rules).

I have made up several variety of boulders in DC and modeled them to the appropriate giant class with regards to damage and range. In the original UA giants were primarily fighters, however they do not have a class designation in DC. Therefore I have indicated that boulders can't be used by any class (i.e., fighters, thieves, etc.). I have tried several test encounters and the giants will not use the boulders. I don't know if this is due to:

1. The combat AI is not finished and monsters don't use thrown or missile weapons yet.

or

2. That giants are really fighters and the class is not allowed to use boulders.

If its #1; When will monsters use missiles as part of their AI? (which revison after 0.82)

If its #2 I will have to increase the incumbrance of the boulders to prevent even the strongest fighter character from picking them up.
(i.e., make the encumbrance 4000 or something like that) This way the only time a player character can use a boulder is if he has belt of giantkind or some such strength enhancer.

Any ideas or opinions are welcomed!

the thing about ua is that there are actually graphics for boulders in the combat sprite .tlb, it's just that the engine doesn't let you use them.

i think it'll be great to have rocks flying around! i've been working on some spell and spell effect graphics and was thinking of doing something that would be thrown by giants. (i'll admit though, that i wasn't thinking of a boulder. i was looking at the magic the gathering card, stone giant. it can throw smaller creatures at your opponent...we'll just have to see where this leads. [img]smile.gif[/img] )

as for why this is not working, i have no idea. i know that there were some issues for thrown and missile weapons that needed to be worked out, but i thought the issues were with the items themselves...

[img]graemlins/mage1.gif[/img]

It's number 2. If the giants are fighters and the rocks can't be used by fighters, then the giants won't use them.

Let the rocks be used by fighters, make them Thrown type, give them a distance greater than one, and then give the rocks to the giants for the combat event. They should then use them as missile weapons.

Thanks, the giants now throw rocks and even hit people with them. Now I need a graphic depicting the sailing boulder and the appropriate sounds. I have access to a large variety sounds but I need the graphic. If anyone knows where I could get one I would be most appreciative.

Hi Arrowhawk

I know that the original goldbox game Pool of Radiance had a hill giant throwing boulders and there was an icon of the boulder flying through the air when they threw boulders at the party members.

I also think that the Secret of the Silver Blades goldbox game also had that with the storm and cloud giants but I can't remember (haven't played it in ages).

I hope this helps

Cheers

Warlock

hey arrowhawk i sent you a file i hope it helps

Thanks for all the help. Lucifer316's boulder graphic was the finishing touch. Now Giants actually do throw boulders in DC. My module is coming along nicely. I have found most of the graphics I require although there are still some areas that could be improved upon. One of them is finding a way to compress the music files so the mod can be downloaded in a reasonable amount of time. The other is just the inevitable learning curve with DC and getting the most out of the software. The support group on this site is terrific. Thanks again.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr> One of them is finding a way to compress the music files so the mod can be downloaded in a reasonable amount of time. <hr></blockquote>

one solution is to use mp3 but im sure you have already thought of that

another is to see which mp3s you can change to a lower bitrate without loosing the actual sound

with many sound effects this should not be a problem really