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On the Black Isle Developer Boards
Tuesday, March 19, 2002, 15:36 | MageDragon
From the Black Isle Developer message boards.
Doug Avery (Associate Producer)
Switching to 3E rules: I can assure you that it definitely was not for convenience. If we were looking for the simplest solution possible, why would we have changed anything at all about the engine? We are making the change to 3E because that was what we originally planned for. To get the game as close to 3E as possible. As we've gotten more and more time to finish the game we've made more and more changes in this direction. Right now, it looks like we're a hair's breadth from being completely 3E. 3E is also Dungeons & Dragons. I grew up on AD&D 1E and made the switch to 2E when it came out. It clarified some rules for me and I really liked the optional rules. I believe that 3E improves on the rules yet again and is much more consistent than the previous versions.
J.E. Sawyer (Lead Designer)
Multiclassing with Paladins and Monks: A paladin of Helm (not Tempus; there are no paladins of Tempus) can multiclass back and forth to fighter. No paladin can multiclass to any class other than the one specified by his or her order. Same for monks. No class may multiclass INTO paladin or monk; characters must start as paladins or monks.
Two handed style not being a feat: Only two-handed style. Shields are a little more useful in 3E, and two-weapon fighting is not as useful.
A greatsword does 2d6 damage and the user adds his Strength bonus x 1.5 to the total.
A half-orc fighter with a 22 Strength and three attacks a round can do 33-63 points of damage.
If that same half-orc fighter were using two longswords, he would get four attacks per round. The on-hand attacks would do 1d8+6 damage. The off-hand would do 1d8+3 damage. He does 25-53 points of damage. On top of that, he has to take a sucking chest wound of two feats just to do it without having massive penalties to hit.
Rangers: Monte Cook helped design the 3E ranger and even he has written, repeatedly, that he was always concerned about how the class was balanced. That's why he created the Monte Cook ranger. That's why many people use it. That's why many third party 3E character generators allow you to select "Ranger" or "Monte Cook Ranger" from their list of classes.
Three feats at first level? Does that sound like a reasonable starting point for a class? It's the most often-abused multiclassing combination. Are you a rogue? Would you like three feats, a hated enemy, and d10 hit points? Take a level of ranger, never to return.
Rules do not exist for their own sake. Rules exist to create a structure in which "fun time" happens. If you want me to follow a set of rules just because they exist -- sorry, that's not a good reason.
The 3E ranger is forced to have feats that have little or nothing to do with being a ranger (Ranger Ambidexterity, Ranger Two-Weapon Fighting). The 1st Edition ranger did not have any proficiency with using two weapons. On top of that, the 1st Edition ranger had d8 hit points. The only reason the 2nd Edition ranger had two-weapon fighting abilities was because of Drizzt Do'Urden. I have displayed this temporal chain before, but in case you missed it:
* Unearthed Arcana is released. Rangers have no special abilities with two-weapon fighting. However, dark elves, listed in the book, do have special abilities with two-weapon fighting. * Crystal Shard is released. Drizzt Do'Urden, a dark elf ranger, uses two scimitars. * The 2nd Edition Player's Handbook is released. Rangers have special abilities with two-weapon fighting. Unlike almost every other class ability in the Player's Handbook, this particular class ability is not explained. It is simply listed as a class feature of the ranger.
In 3E, rangers start with three feats, one of which makes sense: Track. If you do not want to wield two weapons, you are "wasting" two of the ostensible benefits of your class. However, if you are a rogue or sorcerer who happens to want the sweetest, cheapest deal in the Player's Handbook, you take a level of ranger and abandon it. That's poor design and class structure, plain and simple.
Damien Foletto (Junior Designer)
Demons and Pit Fiends: Demons in IWD2 are much nastier than in any IE game to date. Their abilities are as close as possible to the abilities they have in the Planescape Monstrous Compendium (with 3E updates).
A Pit Fiend that actually acts like a Pit Fiend.
Drow daylight penalty: As it stands now, Drow get a -2 to attack bonuses, damage and saving throws when in the daylight. Considering all the advantages they get, this is actually pretty minor.
And no, the majority of the game does not take place in the Underdark. There are plenty of very diverse areas to explore.
The penalty only applies to the outside, in daylight. Indoors the penalties do not apply (unless someone does a False Dawn spell or something like that).
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