Continuing the thread on IWD II highlights

[Larry_OHF]

Since the first thread is so long, I did not want to risk crashing it so I am starting a new thread.
For those that have no idea what I mean by crashing a thread, I'll just sum it up that too many posts (over 150 posts) or too much info on one post can overload the thread and cause it to crash. SO, this is the continuing thread concerning the new gane that will be coming out in May...IWD II.

[ 04-09-2002, 05:00 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[Larry_OHF]

Monday, April 8, 2002

On the Black Isle Developer Boards
Monday, April 8, 2002, 18:54 | MageDragon
From the Black Isle Developer message boards.


J.E. Sawyer (Lead Designer)

Sending updates to WoTC for approval: Actually, DMon (Darren Monahan) sends lists o' stuff that we are doing to WotC periodically. Unfortunately, many WotC employees (like our WotC liasons) have been playing "Descent to Unemployment". Our stuff is now reviewed by people who work directly for the pen and paper development team.

New spells: Gedlee's Electric Loop

(Evocation)

Level: Sor/Wiz 2, Talos 2
Range: Caster
Duration: Instantaneous
Casting Time: 2
Area of Effect: 5-foot radius
Saving Throw: Reflex half
Upon completion of this spell a ring of electricity erupts from the caster, dealing 1d4 electricity damage per caster level (maximum 5d4 electricity damage) to every creature within the area of effect. In addition, creatures struck by the ring are stunned for 1 round. A successful Reflex save halves the damage and negates the stunning effect.

Flensing

(Necromancy)

Level: Sor/Wiz 8, Bane 8
Range: Sight of Caster
Duration: 1 turn
Casting Time: 1
Area of Effect: 1 creature
Saving Throw: Fortitude half
This horrid spell strips the flesh from a target. The target creature takes 1d4 slashing damage per caster level. In addition, the creature is afflicted with a magically induced bleeding wound that deals 1 damage for every 5 caster levels per round for the duration of the spell. A successful Fortitude save will halve the initial damage and negate the bleeding wound.

Lutzaen's Frequent Jaunt

(Transmutation)

Level: Sor/Wiz 5
Range: Caster
Duration: 9 rounds
Casting Time: 5
Area of Effect: Caster
Saving Throw: None
Similar to Dimension Door, this spell allows the caster to instantaneously jump to another location within visual sight. In addition, the caster gains the special ability to jump a number of additional times, once for every 3 caster levels.

This last spell has frequently been called the "Game Breaker Spell" because Dimension Door = Screw Up Designer Plans.

New items:

Widow-Through - Keen Two-Handed Axe +1

Black Donald was a grim man with a twisted sense of humor. Though not quite malicious, he had little regard for human life. When his adventuring band, Winnowing Drake Company, asked him to fell an opponent, he did so without question. In addition to his wiry brawn and even temper, Donald was known for his fastidious care of his weapons and armor. He kept his great axe keen and shining at all times. When he waded into battle, crimson blood flew out in all directions from the gleaming blade. Donald's halfling friend, Tim Rootfield, commented that the axe was so sharp that it would make widows out of half the wives in Faerun. Black Donald smiled at the halfling and said that his blade was sharp enough to cut through the husband and back to village to get the wife on the follow-through.

Iron Mary's Reply - Light Crossbow +3

"Iron" Mary of Tantras was a woman of stunning beauty and deadly serious resolve. Iron Mary was easily spotted among her dark-haired mercenary company. Not deigning to wear a helmet, she knew her long blonde hair was visible from across a battlefield. Mary was often hired to track down groups of criminals in lawless lands and put an end to their activities. After five years, troublemakers throughout the Moonsea and Inner Sea knew that if Iron Mary was on their heels, they had angered someone of considerable importance. Instead of putting up a proper fight, many outlaws would attempt to surrender. Iron Mary never accepted surrender, so her reply was always a crossbow bolt shot into the forehead of the fool who dared to try talking his or her way out of impending doom.

Knucklehead - Buckler +2

This amazing ivory-white buckler has been carved from the head of a giant knucklehead trout. It is sturdy as bone, and light as well, and it makes an effective shield. The craftsmanship of the buckler is truly extraordinary, and the worker's symbol inscribed at the bottom spells out the name, "Apsel."

The temptation to go 'knuck, knuck, knuck' while wearing this shield is extremely high.

Dragons: The most impressive aspects of a dragon are often difficulty to convey in game.

1) Their ability to FLY: If dragons could fly in IE as they could in a pen and paper game, it would lay waste to just about any party. They fly so fast and so far that it would be very easy for any dragon to just take off when the going got tough, only to return later.

2) Their immense size: In a PnP game, it's easy to describe how a dragon lays waste to huge sections of forests and puny human houses. In a 2D engine that uses static backgrounds, dragons are forced to scuttle around on their hind legs just to maneuver through the search map.

Some dragons are intelligent, but not all are. Icasaracht was fairly intelligent (one might argue she was TOO intelligent for a white).

There aren't roving packs of dragons in IWD2, just a few isolated "incidents".

Targos: Targos takes up three exterior maps: the docks, the town, and the palisade wall. There are also about a dozen interiors. Here are the names of the "name" characters with dialogue there:

Black Geoffrey
Blanchard Pike
Brogan
Crandall
Eldgul
Firtha Kerdos
Gohar
Guthewulfe Henghelm
Hedron Kerdos
Honest Jon
Jorun Tamewater
Kickshaw
Magdar Shenlen
Reig Redwaters
Screed
Cahl Hyred
Deagle Elmwood
Deirdre Gallaway
Denham Fisher
Elytharra
Garradun Tanner
Ghille Laider
Jemeliah
Koluhm Bonecutter
Loman
Lumbar Grundwall
Maxiel of Silverymoon
Oswald Fiddlebender
Phaen of the Rags
Ragni Bellows
Ulbrec Dinnsmore
Urbek Stonefoe
Valin Geldencross
Anson
Caulder
Gable
Harlesford
Illigmar
Isherwood
Kadence
Menon
Niles
Olap Tamewater
Shawford Crale
Swift Thomas
Tabard Mooncalf
Tarran

Not quite bustling. Targos is preparing for goblin hordes to attack when you get there. There are very few people on the streets. Some are in buildings. In the palisade portion of town, there are a LOT of soldiers and mercenaries hanging out and doing dumb stuff.

For your level, there are a lot of goblins. There aren't SWARMING HORDES, but there are large packs.

Chad Nicholas (Sciptor)

Enemy bards and using bard songs against player: MAYBE to both of those.

Yeah, there are reasons. Basically, here's the gist of it:

If a sprite is in a modal state (bard song, the IwD1/BG/BG2 turn undead, rogue find traps, etc., etc.), and they perform ANY action, then they end the modal state. By "action", I mean moving, attacking and the not so obvious things such as setting a variable, printing a debug message, NoAction() is actually an action, etc., etc. Anyway, it took me pretty much a whole day to figure out all the little quirks in the engine with modal states while writing the "Bard Song" player script. I can see why no one ever attempted to do it before. I guess I'm just too damn stubborn sometimes.

Enemy clerics using turn undead against summoned undead: Yes. Also, it is possible to get into a sort of 'turn undead war' as you take control some undead and an enemy evil cleric turns them back to his or her side.

Tex Yang (Quality Assurance)

Dialogue: There will be more skill/class/race/stat/gender (not necessarily in that order) dependent dialogues which players get access to in IWD2 than in the original one. Players will not be able to see all the different dialogues in their first run-through of the game.

It's dependent on who talks to the NPC. For example:

Joe NPC: Hi, I heard this story about the Battle of Rencoe, do you know it?

Paladin PC: Why yes, the Company of the Feathered Plume held the fort valorously against the Black Horde of

or

Joe NPC: Hi, I heard this story about the Battle of Rencoe, do you know it?

Bard PC: The Battle of Rencoe, yes, as the story goes, the great Captain Joseph Talerin was assigned the task of overseeing the pass of Rencoe, about 100 miles off the coast of Sheffield, between the Chasm of Jorinheim and the Forest of Norwood, in a defensive campain that

Those would be the dialogues that'd show up for the two classes, but they would not both appear at the same time, only when the player talks to him with that particular PC.


[ 04-09-2002, 05:05 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[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.

[Larry_OHF]

Sunday, April 14, 2002


On the Black Isle Developer Boards
Sunday, April 14, 2002, 10:59 | MageDragon
From the Black Isle Developer message boards.


New item:

Here's one that's actually in the game. I can't give the description, since it ties into the game's story (don't want to give too much away), but here' s its name and stats - oh, and it's a club.

The Monkey Paw of Discipline

STATISTICS:

Damage: 1D6 + 3
Attack Bonus: +3
Damage Type: Crushing
Special:
Speed: One extra attack per round
Spell Process: 15% chance of casting the 4th level Mage spell Emotion: Fear on target per hit
Spell Process: 5% chance of casting the 4th level Mage spell Confusion on target per hit.
Weight: 3
Speed Factor: 4
Proficiency Type: Mace
Type: 1-handed

[Larry_OHF]

Monday, April 15, 2002


Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance Review
Monday, April 15, 2002, 21:12 | MageDragon

Spell resistance: Yes it is in.

Wild Elf: The very rare wild elves are rarely seen by others, because they live in the heart of thick forests and they have incredible skill at keeping hidden. Also called green elves, their skin tends to be a dark brown, and their hair ranges from black to light brown, lightening to silvery white with age.

Advantages: +2 to Dexterity, +2 to Search, Immunity to Sleep and Charm spells, starts with the Feats Martial Weapons: Large Sword and Martial Weapons: Bows.

Disadvantages: -2 to Intelligence.

Favored Class: Sorcerer

Just looked in the PHB and they get both. The only real difference is the Favored Class - I think. JE is much better than me with all of the rule stuff.

More than 6 characters: It will only ever be six players in a party. Modifying the interface to support more as well as the code would be tantamount to asking the programmers if they would like a relaxing trip to the Middle East right now.

Level cap: I'll answer the question as directly as possible. The level cap is going to be 30, this will be the sum of all class levels that a character has. In other words, you can be a 30th level monk or a 20th level fighter / 10th level rogue.

The only exception to this will be for Forgotten Realms races that have an ECL (Effect Character Level) that is greater than their normal character level, they will still will be able to advance to 30th level even though their ECL might be 31, 32 or 33. In other words our XP table goes through 33rd level, but this is only for purposes of the races that have an ECL that is not the same as their normal character level.

For all of the classes, we have just followed a logical progression to increase the levels from 20th to 30th level. In other words, we are not using the yet to be released Epic Levels Handbook.

To be honest, we have just continued the progression of things that can progress. Things like Barbarian's Rage and Rogue's Sneak Attack - they keep on increasing through 30th level. For Monk's fists, JE and I talked about just adding the top of the list to the bottom - in other words a Monk gets 1d20+1d6 for Unarmed Damage at 21st Level and 1d20+1d10 at 30th.

That's not a complete list - just a few to exemplify what we are doing.

Doug Avery (Associate Producer)

Armor: Hide and Scale are in now.

Kevin Osburn (Line Producer)

Dual-Wielding: Yes Dual-Wielding is in, and it will stay in.

J.E. Sawyer (Lead Designer)

Set traps: The ghostwise halfling's ability is a unique power that they alone use. They have the power because they lack the PnP ghostwise halfling's ability to communicate with other halflings using crazy telepathic junk. Basically, you pick where you want the halfling to place his or her trap and he or she throws a little skull (like skull trap) at the spot. When a creature walks over the skull, it explodes into a mini-Entangle. It's pretty useful, but not mind-boggling in its power. Oh, and remember -- the ghostwise halfling's favored class is barbarian, not rogue.

Races: These are the races in IWD2 (slightly revised)

Aasimar (-1 level), FC: Paladin
Dwarf, Gold, FC: Fighter
Dwarf, Gray (-2 levels), FC: Fighter
Dwarf, Shield, FC: Fighter
Elf, Dark (-2 levels), FC: Wizard
Elf, Moon, FC: Wizard
Elf, Wild, FC: Sorcerer
Gnome, Deep (-3 levels), FC: Illusionist
Gnome, Rock, FC: Illusionist
Half-Elf, FC: Highest
Half-Orc, FC: Barbarian
Halfling, Ghostwise, FC: Barbarian
Halfling, Lightfoot, FC: Rogue
Halfling, Strongheart, FC: Rogue
Human, FC: Highest
Tiefling (-1 level), FC: Rogue

Attributes affecting dialogue: That aside, there are opportunities in IWD2 where you can step up and intimidate enemies by essentially saying, "HELLO, MAYBE YOU SHOULD THINK BEFORE ATTACKING US, SINCE WE KILLED ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS WHO WERE REALLY NOT THAT WIMPY COMPARED TO YOU."

Ranger hated enemy:
Bugbears
Driders
Giants
Goblins
Harpies
Hook Horrors
Lizard Men
Ogres
Orcs
Salamanders
Shapeshifters
Trolls
Umber Hulks
Undead
Wyverns

Feyrs aren't included on the hated enemy list because there aren't that many of them in the game.

Goblins: You've already seen the goblins on worgs, haven't you? They're no pushovers.

Maybe this guy can tell you about it.

They are, from left to right: goblin axeman, goblin archer, elite goblin axeman, elite goblin archer, goblin caster, goblin captain, and goblin w/worg.

Goblins are usually very cowardly and selfish. They are as intelligent as humans, but not as strong. They are often bullied around by orcs and bugbears, but it takes strong leadership to keep them together when trouble arises. While most human cultures would rather stand and fight than run, goblins are typically quite content to creep off of the battlefield at the first sight of resistance.

Dave Maldonado (Designer)

Gold box area effect days: I was joking around the other day, with good Senior Sawyer I think, about the old Gold Box days and how area-effect spells were handled in that engine. Everything was on a clean isometric grid, and the spells locked onto it like nice little cut-out templates.

I wonder how many battles my party held in that odd circular formation that allowed just enough room for a fireball (or stinking cloud, or whatever) to go off and catch all the monsters - but stop just short of the adventurers. I envisioned roiling balls of magical plasma expanding to their boot tips, briefly enveloping whatever they were in melee with in sorcerous hell-fire before receding.

Damien Foletto (Junior Designer)

Evil hide armor: You'll have to wait and see, but there are varied hide armors in the game.

Fighters and Charisma: Well, you can set your CHA to 14, which gives you a +2 to the modifier, then choose the skills Diplomacy, Bluff, and Intimidate when you level up. This should give you the better reactions in the game, even for a fighter. It's not really necessary to min/max your fighter to make him effective. I've got an aasimar fighter (named Bort) in my #1 slot with a 16 STR, 12 DEX, 16 CON, 10 INT, 12 WIS, and 14 CHA (aasimar's get the WIS and CHA bonuses). He does really well in dialogs, and, to further enhance him, I will take a level or two of Rogue, when he levels, so I can jack up his Diplomacy and Bluff skills even more. Very effective.

CHA will play a roll, but only as the relevant modifier applies. A dialog check for the above example would be a skill check based off, let's say, Diplomacy. So, if your character needs at least 6 Diplomacy points to get the optimal dialog choice, then the program looks at the protagonist’s Diplomacy skill and adds in his CHA modifier. Example - if the protagonist has 4 points in Diplomacy and a 16 CHA (+3 modifier), then his total is 7 - thus letting him/her get the optimal dialog choice.

Religion: Yes, religion will play a role, if the protagonist is able to choose a religion upon character creation - like clerics. And yes, there are dialog responses catered to paladins as well. As for paladins choosing a deity, I'm actually unsure. I'll look into it and get back to you.

When I say "protagonist," I do mean the character that is doing the conversing. Generally, that's the person in the #1 slot. However, we are looking into implementing a feature that lets the player choose their own protagonist and that person will always do the talking for the party, no matter what position in the line-up. It's not yet in the game, but it is something that is being looked into by the programmers.

Playing the game, XP in HoF mode and number of characters: Oh, I'm not playing the game in my off time - it's a regular work day for me. At this stage, designers go through the game much like the testers do, with a focus on the areas we designed. Since we know what our areas are supposed to do, we can nit-pick until it's working the way we envisioned. It's also a great opportunity to check out the rest of the game and give feedback (and find bugs).

As for the HOF stuff, from what I understand, yes, the XP will be increased as compared to the "regular" mode. XP tables are constantly being tweaked for balance, and this should remain true through the next four weeks or so. It's all part of the testing process.

Lastly, if you're planning on going through the game with 4 or 5 characters, they should reach a very acceptable level by end game, even by your standards, I'm sure. I'm playing with a full 6 character party, using all the sub-races that have level penalties, and they reach kick-ass levels by mid to late game (comparatively speaking to the areas that they are in). Having a party consisting of 4 to 5 should really bump your XP. I know there are a few in QA who use parties of 4 to 5, so it is very doable - although very challenging.

If you don't want to use the feature, then don't. You don't have to select the protagonist, it's just an option. If you want to play the line-up like in IWD1, you can. It's all about options.

Chad Nicholas (Sciptor)

Charisma: Party Average Charisma (PAC) is not used in dialog checks. I'm not certain if it's going to be used to determine store prices since I have nothing to do with that.

[Larry_OHF]

Tuesday, April 16, 2002


Icewind Dale II Collector's Edition
Tuesday, April 16, 2002, 10:02 | MageDragon


Scheduled for a simultaneous release with Icewind Dale II, the Icewind Dale II Collector's Edition features all of the amazing gameplay elements of Icewind Dale II plus completely new limited collectibles for Icewind Dale fans. Among the collectible items is a special Collector's Edition bonus disc containing additional gameplay enhancements and tracks from the game's captivating music soundtrack. One of the most visually stunning elements of the Icewind Dale II Collector's Edition is a full-color cloth map of the legendary region of Icewind Dale. Also, a set of four collectible character trading cards will be included describing in great detail the characters and creatures found in the game. The Collector's Edition also features a high quality spiral-bound manual, a set of dice, Black Isle Studios stickers and writing tablet to enjoy while questing. Enclosing the extraordinary Collector's Edition is a splendid hinge book style box. More comprehensive information can be found on the official Icewind Dale II web site.

Icewind Dale II is being created internally at Black Isle Studios and offers more of the classic dungeon crawl experience, using the Dungeons & Dragons(r) license from Wizards of the Coast. Based in part on the series of books by New York Times best-selling author R.A. Salvatore, Icewind Dale II will amaze players with new monsters, spells, and areas to explore within the popular FORGOTTEN REALMS(r) campaign setting. Icewind Dale II expands upon gameplay elements found in Icewind Dale, offering players the ability to hone their combat skills and obtain even more powerful possessions, spells, and experience levels. The game also hosts a large variety of new weapons, armor and magical items as well as all of the spells from the original Icewind Dale and its expansion Icewind Dale(tm): Heart of Winter(tm). Icewind Dale II makes use of a heavily modified version of the award-winning BioWare(tm) Infinity Engine, originally developed for the Baldur's Gate(tm) series.

Black Isle Studios, the creators of the Fallout(tm) series, Planescape(r): Torment(tm) and the Icewind Dale saga, is proud to bring Icewind Dale II and the Icewind Dale II Collector's Edition to Windows(r) 95/98/ME/2000/XP-based computers in May, 2002.

[ 04-16-2002, 08:35 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[Larry_OHF]

Tuesday, April 16, 2002

Tuesday, April 16, 2002, 19:12 | MageDragon

Doug Avery (Associate Producer)

Sorry for the tardiness of the update today. We have added a skills section to the World tab of the website, and a sample of some of our skills are included there. Also updated are our portraits with two new additions from Justin Sweet. The FAQ has been updated to reflect a few more of the 3E changes. We also changed the Races to reflect their more finalized versions. The final thing that has been updated is the Feats section under the World tab. You'll notice a few of them have been removed and a bunch more have been added.

On the Black Isle Developer Boards
Tuesday, April 16, 2002, 17:30 | MageDragon
From the Black Isle Developer message boards.

Doug Avery (Associate Producer)


Update: You guys are assuming that we are updating today. I said sometime this week.

Actually, we are updating today, but the screenshots of the interface will have to wait as it is still being finalized. I have two new portraits, an updated FAQ, an updated feats list, updated character races and sub-races and a sampling of some of our skills. I will update the site again with screenshots when the interface is ready. This should happen this week, but it hinges upon a number of factors.

Kevin Osburn (Line Producer)

Music: We will probably release an .mp3 sampling of the music sometime in the future.

Not sure yet, we will of course try to release an entire track.

J.E. Sawyer (Lead Designer)

Manuals in regular and collector’s editions: Baby boxes are becoming the new industry standard. The IWD2 manual is LARGE. If it were spiral bound, it would not fit in the baby box. Sorry. RPGs are the only games that really suffer because of the baby box movement.

They will both have the same info, but the CE will be spiral bound. That's my understanding, anyway.

The color of Drow: In the Forgotten Realms, drow were originally from an equatorial region on the surface. After they went into hideytowne, they got their white hair. However, they always had black skin.

Items that raise attributes: Yep. Many items raise attributes. You also get free ability score points every four levels.

Point buy and buying magical weapons in the first store: It's no less autocratic than deciding that people will be able to play tieflings and aasimar, but won't be able to play genasi. It's no less autocratic than deciding that there will be +1 versions of weapons available in the first store, but not +3 versions of weapons. It's no less autocratic than deciding your characters will be able to go to Targos, but won't be able to go to Bryn Shander.

I've explained time and time again why die rolling in IE games is nothing like die rolling in PnP. It's a randomized point pool -- a randomized point pool that a player is allowed to "re-roll" hundreds of times more than any PnP DM would ever let them. Point buy with a fixed point pool is implemented as 1) an element of gameplay (you are restricted to the points you have, so allocating them is, strangely enough, a process that requires thought) and 2) as a an element of balance. The more controlled the range of ability scores, the more likely it is that we can balance our game for a larger group of players. Adding a "die-rolling" option (randomized point pool would be the accurate name for that) wrecks those goals.

I'm sure there are some people who might want +3 weapons available in the first town for 100 gp a pop. That doesn't mean we should put them in there. There's a difference between listening to fans and pandering to fans. When fans have good ideas, yes, they should be listened to and contemplated. When fans have requests -- requests that are at odds with requests from OTHER fans -- well, of course you can't just do everything every person asks you to do. Requests have to be evaluated for feasibility and gain. While adding a randomized point pool is certainly feasible, I believe it compromises the goals of the majority of people who want point buy. I've stated and repeated the three most oft-heard complaints about IWD1, but I'll do it again:

* It takes too long to generate characters
* It's too hard
* It's too easy

Static point buy dramatically reduces the time it takes to generate characters, and makes the difficulty of the game more uniform between players. Judging from how QA has been playing through the game, it seems very obvious to me that IWD2 will not have the wild fluctuations in difficulty that plagued the original game and HoW. Remember: this is not a pen and paper D&D game.

PnP feel and uncontested re-rolls: The primary reason is familiarity. Even though the rules are not implemented to the letter, many of them are implemented at least in spirit. Players know that elves can resist sleep spells, halflings are good at being sneaky, and armor makes it hard to hit something.

However, there are a lot of rules that present potent problems in a CRPG environment. Most of these rules revolve around what I call "uncontested re-rolls". I've actually discussed this a great deal with Dave Maldonado, who has very strong opinions on the subject. In a PnP RPG, there are many situations where a player rolls a die or dice for a particular result, and that result cannot be re-rolled, cannot be immediately re-rolled, or a botch/critical failure results in immediate dire consequences.

In a CRPG, most of these situations can be avoided through the use of uncontested re-rolls. Blow that roll to disarm a trap? Just re-load it and try again. Fail to memorize your spell? Just re-load and try it again. Didn't get the HP you wanted on level up? Just re-load and try it again. Failed to pickpocket that dude, thereby enraging the town? Just re-load and try it again. Don't like those six ability scores you rolled up? Just click again. FOREVER.

The situations where a player cannot use uncontested re-rolls are usually situations where there are so many other random elements flying around that they cannot simply isolate that one check. Perfect example: almost all battles. My opinion is that any situation where a player could make an uncontested re-roll should be re-worked so that there is no random element after the level is loaded for that particular game.

Blow that check to disarm a trap? Raise your Disable Device skill, find a way around the trap, or set it off and accept the consequences. Fail to memorize your spell? No, you didn't -- just remove the check. Didn't get the HP you wanted on level up? Forget that. Just set it to max. Failed to pickpocket that dude? You don't make him hostile, but you simply fail to pick his or her pocket. Raise your skill and try again later. Don't like those six ability scores you rolled up? Here, take these 16 points and add them to 10 in each stat.

Uncontested re-rolls have a tendency to make player choice impotent. If you can make uncontested re-rolls to disarm a trap, it doesn't matter if your rogue put two points in Disable Device or eighteen. A DM isn't there to scold you or force you to deal with your choices. When the possibility for uncontested re-rolls is removed from gameplay, player choice is much more important. When your rogue with eighteen ranks in Disable Device strolls down the hall, there aren't going to be many traps that he or she cannot disarm. Feel good about that, Mr. or Ms. Player. You made character choices that result in easy success over the challenges your character was designed to overcome. When your strong fighter does epic damage to a target, feel like you made a good decision, Mr. or Ms. Player; you chose to put a lot of your points in strength.

A failed pickpocket will result in a message that reads, "You are not skilled enough to pick the target's pocket." If you reload and try it again, you will receive a message that reads, "You are not skilled enough to pick the target's pocket." If you do something like use the Tymora bard song, have Cat's Grace cast on you, or raise in level, you may be able to pick the target's pocket.

Dave Maldonado (Designer)

New interface: No actual problems, just some functionality additions and aesthetic tweaks. I won't make any promises (or even estimates) as to when it'll be ready - I'll leave that dangerous business up to Wolf n' friends (^_^) - but I will say I was talking to one of the artists yesterday about some more buttons recently being crammed in, and the skill/ability icons are being redone as the spell and item icons were...

Success and failure based on abilities: If the NPC makes his or her spot check and goes hostile, WHOOPS IT'S TIME FOR ME TO RELOAD... and you've got scumming again.

Of course, there are ways around it... design the game so that PC's can escape from angry shopkeepers (or what have you) and later return when they will no longer be recognized... but heck, that's a whole other thread for a whole other game at this point.

I'm personally more inclined to have players live with the consequences of bad choices rather than bad dice rolls.

When lucks hands someone his or her arse in PnP, I think most blame the dice/fate/"dumb-arse Fred because he touched my dice," not the DM or game rules. In a CRPG, though, I think players tend to get frustrated with the game directly: "Time to reload, stupid game; thanks for wasting my time."

Eliminating such both rewards players for making good choices/decisions as well as teaches players how to avoid making poor choices/decisions in the future (rather than showing them how bad luck can ruin their adventure) - in other words, shows them how to become better/more proficient players. All this and no more goofy, immersion-breaking reload-fest - it's WIN-WIN!!!

Damien Foletto (Junior Designer)

Auto-pause: Auto-pause is still in the game. We have no intention of taking it out.

[ 04-17-2002, 08:45 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[Micah Foehammer]

Custom Portraits:

Due to the new Interface, the character portraits in IWD2 are different than previous IE games.

The new sizes for the character portraits are:

Large - 210 x 330
Small - 42 x 42

Spell Icons:

All i can say is check out this link!

http://feedback.blackisle.com/images/icons.jpg

Dave Maldonado (Designer)
Forgeable weapons: There's a few instances where items are combined (or even made from scratch) in one way or another, but it's not a big part of the game. Often times it's part of a quest, e.g. use X and Y to produce Z which you then use somewhere else, or an excuse for a character with Alchemy skills to upgrade potions or whatever.

Damien Foletto (Junior Designer)
The new interface: There are no troubles with it, it's not a mess, it looks great, it's just getting some final love before it is shown. You have to remember that the interface consists of several screens, not just the start-up screen and the main game interface.

Gameplay feel with 3E rules: Aside from the obvious differences, like in character creation, the subtle differences really become apparent during battles and dialog interactions. In combat, I feel myself getting giddy when my fighter makes his reflex save vs. a Web spell, thanks to my foresight of making his DEX 14 and taking the Lightning Reflexes feat. Or when my thief is on the receiving end of a fireball and his evasion kicks in, thus negating all damage.

In dialog, it's extra rewarding to have my protagonist make a successful Diplomacy (or Intimidate, or Bluff) check and squeak out that extra XP for convincing "blah" to leave rather than stay and fight (or let me in somewhere). It really makes it seem like I have more choices on how I handle situations within the game.

I won't go into too much detail because I don't want to spoil the "discovery" that you folks will make within IWD2. Just suffice it to say that the 3E changes will become very apparent and really enhance the game - and that's no gibberling dung.

Larry .. hope you don't mind me dropping this into your thread. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 04-19-2002, 01:17 PM: Message edited by: Micah Foehammer ]

[Larry_OHF]

Thanks for the help!
I was beginning to wonder if all my work was being in vain;
that nobody seemed to care if I was posting!

You saved me from hacing to do it, at least.

[Lopadamus Flimbog]

I'm reading it all the time.
Just never knew what to say