[SixOfSpades]

Originally posted by SpongeBobTheDestoyer: 1. Immys belt is a bit disruptive to the rules but as long as she can cast a Summon Monster spell it serves the same purpose - eat up the Dolorious Decay, Hold Person, Confusion or whatever spells. So take it away or keep it, I don't think it matters.

True, but her Belt means that she can soak up a Dolorous Decay for free, leaving her Monster Summoning for screwing up a pack of Duergar. But most cheesy of all is the exploit of getting Imoen Silenced and/or Confused right before the fight with Ilyich Co. If she can't talk to you, she can't leave the party, which means all the Duergar are expending all their firepower trying to kill somebody wearing a MINHP1 item. Now THAT's cheese.

3. If the armor drops then what would I use my first Limited Wish spell for? Gems - phooey.

Another set of armor? Glasses of Identification? A quest? Gee, I dunno. Weimer was the one who created the scenario, I'm just correcting it to make sense.

5. I have no idea what those stand for but I like treasure!

RNDTRE means Random Treasure. They're listed in Shadowkeeper, and numbered from 01 (something dumb, like a Silver Necklace or 1 gp) to 05 (substantial amount of gold, expensive gem or jewelry, nice Potion, or Scroll up to 8th level).

10. I've had several MR's come up for those bastards. Karamozov too, does she have MR?

Being a Wizard Slayer, Karamazov does indeed have some MR. Not anywhere near as much as Wizard Slayers should have, but she does have some.

I would love for you to make a mod like that, or any other that you've thought about. With your ideas I think you should spend more time developing your own mods instead of disecting Weimers. And if you really want to fix a broken mod that has potential look at the Improved Battles mod.

Well, given the iffy nature of my computer, I can't be sure that anything I write will even function on any other computer, so I think I'll just remain a dramaturge for now, and limit my actual coding to a few nifty custom items. As for Improved Battles, it's kinda difficult for me to make suggestions on a mod that I refuse to install. Besides, from what I hear, it's already perfect: Downloadable sadism, for masochists.[/QB][/QUOTE]

Originally posted by Link: Loot can't be a real reason to change something so fundamental to the original game. In the same line of your argument [the player knowing what happens to Imoen already] you could argue that the player should also know what happens to Imoen once she hits that crucial 1 HP. Same thing, other perspective.

The loot was, of course, only a minor consideration. Far more important to me was the possibility of keeping Imoen alive longer. (Funny how an item/script designed to prevent her from dying is responsible for not being able to keep her alive. I'll file that with the Ring of Doom I made for Leslie, which insures a party member's continued life--by killing them.)
In the second point of your paragraph above, are you saying that it's the player's job to accept that Imoen freaks and runs when she gets to 1 hp? That view does make sense, but then, so does mine. Besides, Imoen is made of sterner stuff than, say, Aerie.

Piotr was indeed Tchaikovsky's first name, his FULL name being Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. I trust you to see both reasons for me to suggest the name "Piotr". Solzhenitsyn (forgive for raping his name as well; he's a great writer of his time) and his Gulag Archipel are of course known to me, as is Denisovich. If you want to stay focussed on the Revolution (after all, Lenin was a 'Ilyich' as well), then that name [Denisovich] would be better suited indeed, and I would advise you to change Tchaikovsky's name into Lev (or you could go for Stachanov, but he had nothing to do with the Revolution in '17). I trust you know both names.

Hey, I checked Google, and you spelled his name right! Huzzah, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, you shall not be raped today! I must admit that I am familiar with neither Lev nor Stachov (I prefer to feast on random knowledge rather than focusing on anything in particular), but I do know all about Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov--in fact, I'm sure that that link was what started the Communism kick in Weimer's mind in the first place.
Tchaikovsky is out--far, far too early. Enter Prokofiev! I'd like to call the Bard (Lieutenant) Kizheh, but frankly the name doesn't look Russian enough. Besides, some of Prokofiev's work was so nationalist as to be considered propaganda--perfect for a Skald.

Originally posted by chimaera: Duergar proletariat fighters are neutral.

Oh, yeah, well that makes all the sense in the world, doesn't it? Something tells me that Weimer based them on a Dwarven Fighter that he just happened to create with a Neutral alignment--I notice that they all have Bhaalspawn abilities too.
(Wait a minute--then why do they show up when I Detect Evil? Was that alignment added by the same script that gave the Party Members their MR?)

Originally posted by JrKASperov: ....And when you have to play the same battle the same way every time you play is NOT FUN! For instance, with Ilyich, you either have to charm one of the partymembers, and you WILL have to reload to make it work, or lure them out one at a time, which doesn't make sense, no experiences team would go out alone.

Just to be a stinker, I should point out a 3rd way: If the Duergar party that spawns in the library includes War Dogs, then the narrow passageway is blocked, meaning that Ilyich on Patrol will be unable to get past them, which means the whole gang of 6 gets clustered into a little group, all pushing to get through. Now, I agree that this doesn't make much sense either (when a Golem tells you to move, you MOVE), but it's equivalent to Ilyich & Co. having a quiet chat with the Party Member and the Proles, and what's illogical about that? Anyway, the upshot of this serendipitous event is that you are now able to carpet the area with enough Webs, Confusions, Chaoses, Dooms, and Fireballs to put a serious dent in your enemies' outlook of health and happiness.

Originally posted by Rataxes: 2) Can't say I see your point here. It would only make a difference to people doing NR games or others determined to kill Ilyich in one go, and why should they have the privilege of being able to use door-slamming cheese? I don't see how this discourages "bad" door-slamming either, how would for instance this restriction prevent people from going with the ancient cheese method of luring them out to the Otuygh room one at a time and slam the door shut to keep the rest of the party from helping out? Maybe I just don't quite understand your idea.

I applaud Weimer for disallowing tactics like "lead Ilyich into a room and pretend he isn't smart enough to open a door." But I dislike being similarly forbidden from being able to roleplay things like "Minsc, you hold that door shut so the Party Member can't see us until we've killed this Prole." I also, of course, understand that the two ideals are pretty much mutually exclusive. Happily, by overlooking the doors opened by the Sewage Golem, Weimer has provided a compromise that I find satisfying: I can pretend that stationing a reasonably strong party member next to a door prevents that door from being opened--but ONLY if I don't keep Reloading until I luck out.

3) Haven't ever let Zhivago live long enough to experience his new casting script, but whatever happened to the spell selection Dundee devised this spring?

That, too, sounds like an improvement, and one with which Dundee should be more familiar than I--I know next to nothing about writing working AIs. Zhivago is still dangerous with the spells he has now (Poison, Flamestrike, Bolt of Glory), but he's too foolhardy and offensive.

4) Having the fight in the trap room might sound cool, but would probably only be annoying, and I bet they'd harm themselves more than my party.

Not if Prokofiev disarmed the Wand-traps right before the Proles and Party Members rushed in from the Forge room and the door to the Mephit room in a big pincer movement. [img]graemlins/evillaughter1.gif[/img] Prokofiev himself would be under Minor Globe as well as Invisibility, so while the Traps are on he can run back and forth, completely immune to the Cone of Cold/Fireball/Lightning/Monster Summoning trouble he's causing you. [img]graemlins/evillaughter2.gif[/img] He'll try to avoid the Magic Missiles trap, though--it can't hurt you, and helps to give away his position.

6) No Armor of Faith for Jaheira? At least one ought to be given for a fighter hybrid such as herself. AoF ought to be more appropriate for Minsc as well.

I discounted AoF because a 10% damage reduction doesn't seem that hot, I personally would rather be able to put some Healing wherever it was needed. Opinions may differ, but I'm not going to sweat having the "best" spells memorized--as long as they're "good" spells, and realistic for someone in Jaheira's position to memorize, I'm content.

[qb]7) Not that it affects gameplay much, Imoen isn't going to be much more useful as a scout with 10-15 more points in stealth, but I don't understand why it's necessary to tamper with things like that, at least not if you're suggesting this as an official change to the tactics mod.

Oh, it isn't necessary, it's simply that as an adventurer, Imoen would realize that she needs points in Pick Pockets like she needs the archetypical hole in the head.