I know we want to get back to Improved Bodhi suggestions... but since there isn't a thread for Small Teeth Pass, and most of the comments on it are in this thread already, I have this explanation to add. From the author of Improved Small Teeth Pass himself (Mike Barnes, not Weimer):
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Mike Barnes said:
I always thought that Small Teeth Pass (AR1700) was incredibly boring.
Basically, you get to fight three ankhegs and maybe have some crimson mists
or similar creatures if they spawn in. I suspect that most veteran players
don't even bother exploring that area anymore. I was inspired to modify
this area because of the Incarndine Elven Chain (Item Upgrade Mod - Hank).
I am a huge fan of the
red dragon armor. There is NO way that I would save the red dragon scales
until Chapter 8.
Thus, I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I'd make a boring area
better and still have a chance to create the new chain armor. I have
attached the modified AR1700.are and dragred.cre files. All I did was
remove the three ankhegs and add three dragons! One purple, one brown and
one red. The brown and purple are not modified. They simply replace the
ankhegs. The red dragon is from KR's random wilderness encounters. As
most people won't see this creature anyhow, I felt free to mod it. I
simply increased its XP to 63,000 which is comparable to the brown and
purple dragons. I gave it 15,000 gold. Yes, that's a lot of gold, but I
figure that's about 5,000 per dragon as the other two give you nothing.
Finally, I gave it red dragon scales. Obviously, one can now have the red
dragon armor after killing Firkraag and still create the Incarnadine Chain.
The Small Teeth Pass area is probably the most optional area in the game.
You can't even find it on your map until Chapter 6 until you talk with
Elhan. If you don't want to fight three dragons, simply don't go.
- Mike Barnes
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And my own reply, about when you can reasonably spot the dragon(s)... Plus a real suggestion to make this componant slightly better for all you people who want to buff...
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JrKASperov said: No, it is not reaslistic that you don't see the dragon before it breathweapons you... the larger dragon categories all have one thing in common: they cannot hide. They have an even worse move silently score! E.g. a very old red dragon: Hide +2, MoveSilently +0. A lvl 14 party (that's a minimum) is going to see that from a LONG distance away.
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The dragon is not hiding in shadows, that skill is not relevant. In no case can your party see beyond your line-of-sight (except Wizard Eye / Farsight / Clarvoyance spells). Also, being "level 14" does not increase your eyesight (someone cited elves; and it's true their eyesight is better). You can't see through tree-trunks, boulders, cliffs. You can't watch sky and forest at the same time, you must tell your Dungeon Master if you wish to scan the skies*. If the tree canopy obscures the sky, you will have a limited view. Small Teeth Pass is a "pass" between the mountains, with many trees, boulders, hillsides, and canyons. You cannot see for miles and miles.
In this (easy) game, you can ALWAYS buff before you get to enemies. Many times the player has used this unfairly to his advantage, throughout the game (yawn). Can you not accept this one handicap, of not pre-buffing to invincible, on this one battle?
Truly good players are proud of their handicap, like in golf. You give yourself a disavantage in order to give the enemy a chance against you. That's what Tactics offers.
* I will offer a suggested improvement for Small Teeth Pass. There could be a one-round timer and dialog when you enter the area:
"You notice the chirping of birds has ceased. There is an eerie silence. You hear the rush of winds, leaves rustle and the trees creak, as if large wings in the sky. Do you wish to:
(1) Scan the sky.
(2) Peer into the shadows of the forest.
(If 1...) Suddenly, over the green tree-tops, you catch a glimpse of a massive reptilian figure flying towards you, just above the tree-tops, with it's gaping maw open! You have 5 seconds to hide before it is upon you. It is currently too far away to hit it with ranged weapons or spells."
Then, you could optionally turn around and "travel" to a different area immediately. Or you could spend maybe one round applying a quick buff, or attempting to Invisble, scatter, or hide.
It should be not-enough-time to apply the usual onslaught of buffs, though.
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Imrahil said: Temple of Elemental Evil, maybe?
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ToEE doesn't have killer-cave type of traps. The module I meant is way more... over-the-top. EDIT: I've just looked it up, and it is... drumrolllll please....
Tomb Of Horrors by Gary Gygax (supposedly for levels 10-14). It's made quite a franchise, over the years, as they've released a novel of the same name, 7+ editions of the game module, in 1998: Return to the Tomb Of Horrors, and 1999: the Tomb of Horrors box-set.
Most info:
http://www.acaeum.com/DDIndexes/ModPages/S.html
Download the module for like $5:
http://www.svgames.com/tsr9022esd.html
I like (and own) the 5th edition, with the green cover and the (awesome) illustration of the Lich, and the cleric brandishing his holy symbol while the party cowers in fear. The lich appears clearly more powerful in this illustration. But the lich is nothing compared to a cave that simply collapses and buries you alive, or a spike trap in the floor with no escape.
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Rataxes said: A moderately infamous thug like Mencar Pebblecrusher donning a legendary artifact-class weapon (he does in the Imp Battles mod from what I've heard, undroppable as well) may well be a possibility, but still strikes me as unreasonable.
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I haven't played Improved Battles mod, and I'm not defending it. But I will point out that your 7th-10th level characters may aquire insanely powerful artifacts, weapons and armor (P.S. why didn't some other Bhaalspawn aquire Lilacor, Carsomyr, and other powerful items before letting them fall into your hands so easily?). I will not begrudge the enemies access to equal weaponry.
As for "undroppable" that is merely a smart way to keep the game balanced (to keep the players from getting copies of unique items, or from getting so many items). If you require greater justification on this, imagine that you've destroyed the weapon as you killed the enemy, or that the particular item they used was somehow tied to their life-force (just like your own Valgyr's Family Armor, Xan's Moonblade, Imoen's Belt, etc.).
See? It's not very hard to imagine something, unless you're dead-set on the prejudice that it's "impossible" because you don't like when the enemy uses your own medicine against you. For some people, I think losing the battle is clouding the vision of what's possible and fair. We're so used to the idea that if we don't win the battle, it must not be fair.
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Hank said: For me, Impossible To Beat Legitly = Not Fun.
Rataxes said: Depends alot on how you define legitly, doesn't it?
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Of course. I can't and won't try to stop anyone from using Cheese (Tactics already does a decent job of countering many common cheese; for example stuck open doors to prevent cloudkill and slamming the door shut). However, I personally do not use what I consider to be non-legit techniques, and many things I avoid are commonly agreed cheese (Staff Of Magi for infinite invisibles; wearing 2 Rings of Gaxx; Mislead and Project Image are too easy to abuse; etc.). Regardless, as I said: if SixOfSpades defines it as impossible to beat legitly, then I'd agree. I agree with SixOfSpades on what constitutes cheese, only difference is he won't accept the enemy using cheese (and he'll point out if the player is resorting to it), and I won't accept the player doing it. For example, SixOfSpades explained how you can beat Improved Faldorn using minor cheese available to the player; for me, that battle is still impossible to beat legitly.
[ 09-01-2004, 05:29 PM: Message edited by: Hank Parsons ]