[Larry_OHF]

Wednesday, April 10, 2002


On the Black Isle Developer Boards
Wednesday, April 10, 2002, 17:00 | MageDragon
From the Black Isle Developer message boards.

Doug Avery (Associate Producer)

Status Update: Sorry all, we're tweaking a few things with the interface and it is in a minor state of flux. Next week we should have something to show. Also, Justin is busy painting away so I will include one or two of his portraits for you as well. I am also in the process of updating the site so next week everything should be current. I'll let you know when it is done.

Great axes: Great axes are alive and well and I am using one with my Gold Dwarf Barbarian right now.

Yes, unfortunately we cannot re-render the character avatars so they will continue using the halberd animations.

Auto-balancing game-play balances the conflict to match your skill level: Don't worry, no liches will pester you from the auto-scaling difficulty. What happens is when you go to an area with a party that is over the intended level for the place, there are more monsters and harder monsters to deal with. For instance, if you leave the town of Targos and head to the next area with a party of 5th level characters, it is going to be scaled to that party as opposed the the 3rd level characters it was originally intended for. These levels are only used for example, your mileage may vary.
J.E. Sawyer (Lead Designer)
Keen edge spell being in game: No. Applying effects to items on the fly is often a pain. You have to make it apply the effect to the currently equipped weapon, and for purposes of implementing the keen edge spell, that's kind of a lame way to go about it.

Mind fog: There is a spot in the game where some creatures use Mind Fog, but I hesitate to give players access to that dreadful spell. It is quite powerful.

Upcoming contest: I don't know about updating info. I'll have to talk to Douglio Iglesias about that. I sent the contest info off to our marketing dept. They have to look at it and, in turn, send it to our legal department so they can take all of the fun out of it.

I just talked to our marketing folk, and they are going to send it off to legal for approval. It should be a fun contest that allows you to exercise your creative minds.

Changes requested by Wizards of the Coast: We are making modifications to IWD2 to meet WotC's expectations for a 3E game. Here are the main changes:

Armored Arcana: This will now reduce ASF by 5% per rank instead of 10%.
Exotic Weapon: Bastard Sword: This feat will be introduced.
Casting Defensively: When spellcasters are near melee combat, they will automatically attempt to cast defensively. When they do this, they must make a successful Concentration check vs. a 15 + Spell Level DC. If they fail, they lose the spell. If they succeed, they cast the spell.
Cleric Spells and Alignment: Clerics will not be able to cast spells with descriptors that oppose their alignment.
Cleric Domains: We will have them, as listed.
Death Blow: We are removing this feat.
Fiendslayer: This feat will be changed to +1 to hit and damage vs. dragons, half-dragons, chimeras, and demons.
Heretic's Bane: This feat will be changed to +1 to hit and damage vs. clerics and druids.
Improved Turning: We will change this to add +2 to the number of HD that can be affected per turning attempt.
Knowledge Arcana: This skill will be used to identify all magic items. Appraise will be removed. Alchemy may also be removed.
Ranger: We will use the Player's Handbook ranger.
Riddlemaster Feats: These will be removed from the game.

Evil Clerics cannot cast Protection from Evil and Good Clerics cannot cast Protection from Good: Correct.

Evil cleric not needing to be protected by a Protection from Evil spell when they cast Gate: No, they do not.

Spells affected by the WoTC Cleric Alignment change: Holy and Unholy Blight, Holy and Unholy Word, Prot. From Evil, Magic Circle vs. Evil, Holy and Unholy Aura.

Character alignment. Neutral clerics get access to all of the happy happy.

WATCH YOUR CLERIC OF OGHMA BLAST OFF INTO OUTER SPACE!

The choice for spell conversion in FR 3E depends on deity. For all of the deities we chose, good and neutral convert to cure, evil convert to inflict.

Deep Gnomes: Deep gnomes aren't the most stunning creatures in the Underdark. In fact, they're kind of creepy if you think about their descriptions. They have gray skin, the males are bald, the females have stringy, patchy gray hair, and gray eyes. They are described as "gnarled" and "sullen, withdrawn, and suspicious to a fault". They aren't what I would call "party people".

New interface: Where the paperdoll used to be, there will be the full size (big) portrait. You will see your avatar at regular size in the middle of the equipment window.

Armored Arcana: Let's do a mathematical analysis of the usefulness of Armored Arcana at its previous, 10%, value. A character with three ranks of Armored Arcana could wear Full Plate with a 5% chance of spell failure. Full Plate gives an Armor Bonus of +8, a max Dex bonus of +1. Assuming that the character had a 12 or higher Dex and a Ring of Protection +3, that would put the character's AC at 10 + 8 +1 + 3 = 22. Not too bad.

A character without any ranks in Armored Arcana can cast Mage Armor to gain a +4 Armor Bonus, use full Dex bonuses (with, say Cat's Grace) from a 20 Dex for a +5 Dex bonus and wear the same Ring of Protection +3. That puts the character's AC at 10 + 4 + 5 + 3 = 22. Whoops. How'd that happen? He or she also doesn't have any ASF chance, nor any penalties to movement skills, nor the penalties to attack that come with wearing armor in which you are not proficient.

If a wizard or sorcerer wants to wear armor and use the Armored Arcana feat without incurring any penalties to attack or movement skills, they will either a) have to take one level and/or combined feats in the various armor types or b) take all three armor prof. feats AND all three levels of Armored Arcana.

Does it still seem like a good deal? Will you be stocking up on AA ranks for that big FAT 5% reduction to ASF?

Either way, it's still worse to use AA even at 10% than to NOT use AA and simply cast Mage Armor and Cat's Grace. We're talking about three feats just you can still blow one out of twenty spells while wearing armor that gives you a total AC equivalent to the casting of Mage Armor and the use of Cat's Grace or a pre-existing high Dex. If you dream of adding a shield to such a character, you're going to blow one out of FIVE spells.

There are definitely feats that are more useful to a fighter, mage, or fighter/mage than one that reduces ASF by 10%. I imagine you can certainly find THREE that are more useful that that simply stacked three times.

Is anyone actually going to buy three AAs at 5% pops so your mage in full-plate can have a 20% chance of automatically losing any spell he or she casts? Anyone?

In my example, yes. You have successfully argued for the usefulness of AA at 10% increments. It's certainly an interesting alternative to using Mage Armor and Cat's Grace. It gives the player more options for what to do, and depending on the player's goals, it might seem like a good thing.

But -- that's not how it's going to work in IWD2. AA is going to lower your ASF by 5% per rank, not 10%. In full plate, that's a 20% chance of spell failure. Add a shield and it's a 35% chance of spell failure -- a third of all your spells would be lost.

I believe that AA at 10% increments is just dandy. Not awesome, not horrible. If we go by the general "20" scale of D&D, all of the saving throw-mod feats increase the chance of success on a save type by 10% (+2). Skill focus increases the chance of success on a skill check by 10% (+2).

I believe that 5% just isn't worth it. I'd rather wear bracers and a Ring of Protection with Cat's Grace on top, then spend my feats on Dodge, Combat Casting, and Expertise.

Okay. Since mathematics seemingly has no bearing on this situation, let's make AA reduce ASF by 1% per rank. To someone, I suppose this would still be useful and fair. I'm not trying to make design decisions for that person; I'm trying to make design decisions for the vast majority of our players.

When their mathematical values are uneven in value and/or (more importantly) in the context of normal gameplay, they are bad. A player should not feel like he or she is getting punished by the system because of the choices they make.

Fiendslayer: What's to say? You can take a feat like Weapon Focus that gives +1 to hit vs. every creature in the game, or you can take a feat like Fiendslayer that gives +1 to hit and damage vs. 5% of all the monsters you encounter in the game. Which one sounds like the better deal?

Better yet, let's do some more math! As we all know, Still Spell in 3E is a feat that allows a caster to cast a spell without any chance of ASF, regardless of what type of armor he or she is wearing. In reality, the application of that feat is equal to two feats: Still Spell and one spell slot. As WotC laid out in Tome & Blood, one spell slot is equal to one feat (Extra Slot). So, for two feats, I can cast any spell below my highest level without any chance of failure, or for three feats, I can cast any spell I want with a 5% chance of failure in the heaviest armor. Sorry, I mean... I can cast any spell I want with a 20% chance of failure in the heaviest armor. Huh?

Dual-wielding: There is a clear advantage to dual-wielding that using a greatsword cannot compensate for: additional chances to hit. A dual-wielding character has more opportunities to land attacks in a round than a character with a two-handed weapon.

Weapon focus: Did you ever play a kensai? If so, did you ever not use the weapon you were best with? This is one of those "opt-out" penalties. Kensai and Red Wizards fall nicely into this category. "You suck at using the things you never use, but you're awesome with the things you use all the time." How is that really a drawback? There is no drawback to weapon focus; you simply take the feat and get the bonuses unless your character spasms and drops every item that you happen to be focused in. And heck, if we're talking about fighters instead of paladins (since fighters can't take either Heretic's Bane or Fiendslayer), what about Weapon Specialization? That's a flat +2 bonus to damage to everything while using that weapon type.

Still spell: Still Spell still negates all ASF penalties, and the player has a CHOICE for when he or she wishes to invoke Still Spell -- either spontaneously (sorc/bard) or at memorization (wizard). Someone with AA has those feats whether he or she is wearing armor or not. When someone with Still Spell doesn't have any need to wear armor, the "cost" of having the power is simply one feat.

The Still Spell cost for "severely limiting" the number of spells is only done if the character absolutely wants to cast all of his or her spells in armor -- and if he or she does, it doesn't matter how MUCH armor it is. They could be wearing Half-Plate with a Tower Shield for a whopping 90% ASF and get their spells off with no problem. Wheee!

Damien Foletto (Junior Designer)

Druids, armor and clerics: The prime attribute for a druid is actually Wisdom. A druid gets bonus spells based on Wisdom. Charisma only comes into play for Animal Empathy skill checks and Diplomacy (both are class skills for the druid) - Animal Handling is not in IWD2. So, if you want your druid to be able to get the diplomatic dialog options in the game (if they are the protagonist), make sure you put some points into your charisma. The game will check both your skill and your attribute modifier.

As for armor, the druid is restricted to light and medium armors - no metal armors for the druid.

Clerics are proficient in all armors and do not receive a casting penalty. However, they do receive all the normal penalties for armor vs. skill checks, like Hide, or Move Silently, etc.

Chad Nicholas (Sciptor)

Bard songs and scripts: Well, it depends. If you're talking about a Player's bard character, then yes. You can sing a song, move around, equip armor, and you keep singing. However, if that character (or any character really) is controlled through script, ANY scripting action will have the sprite end it's modal state. As far as I can tell, that's just the way it is in the IE.

Absolute Immunity spell: There isn't any "Absolute Immunity" -type spell in the game, AFAIK. And I'm scripting the end game areas so I'd know.

Miscellaneous scripting information: Well, the scripts need a good overhaul currently since they were written before the addition of Feats and Skills and Cleric Domains, etc., etc. I'll most likely work on player scripts last for two reasons, so I don't have to rewrite them again and priorities.

For the fact that the See() trigger takes an extra parameter (so you can "see" dead creatures or not). Since See() is used in pretty much every script, it almost guarantees that no script from any previous IE game will work.

I have begun documenting all the functions for IwD2 a while ago. Now that we're in crunch mode I haven't had the opportunity to go back and finish/update it.

As I said in another thread, it isn't possible for a script to have a creature do any modal action and any other action during the modal action. That means bards can't walk and sing, rogues/monks can't search for traps and move, etc.

I'm not sure what you mean by, "Also a full range of various modals is required to truely see, or show, the script, the different modes you are in........."

As for a beta, you wouldn't be able to really do any serious scripting if I just gave you the compiler without the game, would ya?

Actually, you can assign a different AI (or no AI) to each party member individually. So you could always give a script to your fighters, but not your rogues and mages.