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#1
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Forum Member Posts: 638 Joined: 30-November 20 ![]() |
Hi
Welcome. Yet another journal, as the weather is terrible and I have some time (well, a few days) The rules: - Auramaster PC - Max HP's for NPC's - No non protagonist related forging (though if auramaster doesn't get amazing equipment, we will most likely forge Vagrant's stuffs) - One custom NPC (a fighter mage multiclass, we'll decide later which one) - Rotating crew in the beginning - We are looking to completely dominate and blast away all encounters - Looking to try the new stuffs - Tomes from bg1 - Starting exp from BGTotSC - Insane all the way (well, except two early game liches & final part of the final ![]() Edit:And we have the following tweaks - Multiple strongholds - Simplified Economy - A few class changes from IAtweaks - Tower of Deception (we did it in chapter 6) Let's see how far we can go. This post has been edited by pekkae: Oct 14 2024, 07:39 PM |
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Post
#2
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Forum Member Posts: 638 Joined: 30-November 20 ![]() |
Part 5, notes etc.
Our cheats & tweaks: - Valygar the Vagrant got 19 con. (Valygar has 18 con, protector gets -1 so 17 and Vagrant gets +1 ,so he should have 19) - We didn't do the liches at temple ruins. - We skipped over Hexxat's quests, but got the exp! - We took elven chain from underdark for a while - There's a chance you won't get Vecna at all, if you do Samia in the wrong order. We just added Vecna at some point later in the game (I think with twisted rune). - We lost a fight somewhere, tanking an elemental. It was near death and we lost because Nalia's contigency:stoneskin didn't trigger, as it should have. We considered the fight won and moved on - We blew through Sibel village and didn't max out coins, until we reloaded much later on and had a closer look and maxed out coins. But we gave Sibel the most op gift anyway, hence we had succesfully completeld the quest. We didn't "take" the other rewards for maxing out the coins. - We gave F/I permanent spell slots, instead of her using the reaching ring and then switching over to a Ring +2 (=> the end results is the same, without the overly annoying swapping of rings during a fight) - Sibel got permanent boosts to thieving skills once we found ring of danger sense + ring of lock picks. Didn't bother with the other ones (pick pocketing gloves etc.) - "Alchemy" gives us unending availability of alchemy potions, without the need to rest in between. (we use potions of defence & potions of regeneration). For simplicity, Alchemy could be revamped to providing 5 potions at once and the player could choose which ones. The end result is the same, without the annoying bits. - We got the full helm of the rock in chapter 6. it doesn't make a difference (the abilities aren't useful) but the animation is much nicer. We deducted 5000 gp for it. - We finished duchess on "easy", for we couldn't re-try because of a bug we encountered. - We re-upped reputation after the SG fight with console. We could have just made sure throughot the game we have easy access to + reputation points, so the end results is the same. Without the annoying micro managment. We're not really here for that. Possible "bugs" - Speak with animals cancels Sibels' quest (if you cast speak with animals at sibels village) - Silent hunt's (+4 version) spells seem to be "cast" at level 10? (at least mirror images) - Silent hunt's (+4 version) hits which trigger beneficial spells count as "spell cast" for cowled wizards - Master of the high forest doesn't give +25% resistance to magic, it sets magic resistance to 25%. - The onyx amulet says it's wearable for any mage, when it is only for single class mage & ones that have 18 wisdom ... ? It looks like an amulet that would be a nice addition for any mage through, it won't be mod-breaking but provides a nice boost. - A number of items, like "red coral gem" kept disappearing from inventory. I think it was with pirates but later on I didn't have it. I spent good half an hour digging through my bags of holding (had 4 at the time) and gem bags (3) and the 2-3 merchants I frequently sold to. Only to discover that when consoling it in, it disappeared. I don't know what is the point? I think I had the loosened forging restrictions in place, though I don't use items that I'm not supposed to forge, unless that's explicitly stated. I think this just makes play testing more difficult. - Noble Spider description says 100hp, when in fact it has 150hp (as it definitely should, it's awesome! ![]() - The Sibel encounter, when getting the gloves, on my initial attempt I think I whacked the mage first (with implosions), which made the sub-sequent tries a lot harder. - Duchess quest launches tolgerias to the council of six building (we didn't talk to Tolgerias previously, just whacked him the sphere). This messes up the game completely. - We can cast spells outside in Amn? We got the initial warning from the cowled wizards earlier (from using SIlent Hunt), but later on we can cast away freely. - Fight at temple of Rillifane (Suldanesselar) doesn't give any exp - Sibel couldn't use case of the plenty (so can't equip it) - Sometimes casting 2nd level cleric spell "draw upon holy might" also completely heals the character (saw this with Sibel 1-2 times) Top-3 toughest fights list (under development): - Golem Ambush at spellhold - Kruin (resorted to terrain "abuse") - Melissan (finished on easy) Feedback General: - I much appreaciate the attention to detail, great job dear Sirs! - Archedeva is really, really good. It's puts the planetar now into shame, though a planetar has it's moments when it shines too. - Adding numerous "needed" items throughout the game is nice, like to oils of resurgence at mithril golem. Also I appreciate the addition of RRoR scrolls throughout as well as some additional permanency scrolls. They add flexibility. - But there are too many permanency scrolls now. I had maybe 8 extra ones in chapter 6 already and nothing to forge with them. - I'm missing the 6.6. beta's cleric rebalancing changes. Overall I think it had numerous well thought of changes that were ably balanced. - New areas look superb & the new monsters graphics are so nice, they rejuvenate the game! - Sibel's quests are nice, though I think the rewards need to be toned down, especially for the talks. They look, well, overblown. As documented in this journal, I've never had so many quests (xp) left for chapter 6 in the games. I think this is because of the additional exp gained from BA & Sibel. - Loved the fact that werewolfes were not completely resistant to missile damage (and they kept running away), so Valygar the Vagrant was very valuable in those fights using a throwing axe (instead of just moving in as a precision weapon since he can't get hit that much). Spells & HLA's: - Nature's fists are now a difference maker vs. raksashas! They are really potent now adding to the mixture on how to deal with them. And they make the Auramaster so much more powerful. - The HLA additions were nice and seemed to be quite well balanced. - I think the ability to turn golems into chickens should be re-instated. It was a useful "power-gaming" technique that almost no-one was using and it of course made the arcane casters (much) more powerful. Would suggest a tradeoff of if a golem was turned into a chicken, the loot it was carrying (so gems/chunks/coins) would be destroyed. So there would be a tradeoff. Equipment: - I though there was an initiative of nerfing the excessive Necro stuff. Now it basicly got an upgrade (with the Undoer). - Some of the new items (or old items but upgraded version of them) are now completely OP in my humble opinion. So in a way, they are in line with Necro's equipment. Would definitely reserve those equipment for PC only (like Barbarian Dream & Riskbreakers equipment). - I didn't play with Vagrant's equipment, as acquired items kept disappearing so no feedback from actual fights from those, but since I just did a playthrough on a Vagrant and he had more than 300hp in the end with almost 100% elemental resistances and constant 9 APR, he was already powerful enough. Now there's just ... more. At least on my playthrough I didn't need those upgraded stuffs. An upgraded Vagrant can now reach about 350-360 HP's ... that seems like quite a lot. - We did develop Valygar the Vagrant into comprehensively OP levels, by giving him numerous new items, which I don't think are that OP, but actually add a nice blend of new to the game. And they give you much variety to try out different things & approaches (new upgrades to morning stars, belts, axes and helmets especially). Classes: - Auramaster is now probably the most overblowly effective spellcaster in the game, though I wasn't that big of fan of the upgraded equipment (they were troublesome for us). That's nice because Auramaster is also one of my favorite classes ![]() - Defender of Arvoreen looks like a really tremendous addition to a party. Mazzy look like about the best fighter companion in the game. - Keldorn needs the judgement day to function, otherwise he will be kind of a drag to play - as you need to babysit him until the very end. - Wild Mage looks like it's now a proper choice and Neera gets improved gear! It looks like it's balanced nicely, it has numerous advantages and a big disadvantage (as far as I can tell WM only reaches -3 in casting time, -4 with blessings?). This looks like a great job! - Imoen's amulet works now like it should work. Take Imoen + Cernd for most OP brutal spellcasting overpoweredness or Imoen is nice complimentary caster to an Auramaster protagonist. - Minsc can now reach 100% DR for a turn, at least this diminishes the op-factor of RvE:Regen and of course he can be breached. But still. Like ... why?!? - Minsc isn't as powerful as a generic Barbarian (for a generic LG Barbarian can use the gauntlets....) - Avenger is still too OP in my book, but it's better balanced now. Jaheira is still the most OP NPC, besides the new addition of Sibel. - So about Sibel. She ... => reaches better AC than anything in the game in any version of the game (outcounting maybe the 6.5 Hexxat) => while doing more damage per hit than anything in the game in v. 6.5. (outcounting possibly the biiffed up rb / swashie with on-hit effects). => the damage doesn't vary, but it's consistently maxed (for RM maxes out damage, Kensai gets this ability for 1 round. Sibel for 20 rounds). => while having better elemental resistances than the Vagrant through most of the game => and having access to full range of cleric spells => while having numerous additional spells for the most important levels => and reaching better thac0 than anything besides the Kensai & maxed out Swashbuckler in the game => while having better permanent casting time bonuses than Necro => In my game I just buffed her up & let her whack away. I don't know what is point of nerfing other classes while then providing such a character? Before reaching the Sibel's gloves but post getting armour & club we had exactly 2 fights where she was in trouble, where we needed to heal her or rest of the crew came to her rescue. Once at Twisted Rune (vs. both Shangalar & Revanek) and once at Umar Witch vs. a few Skellys (though at UW she had improper buffs). At some point we just stopped caring, buff a little and leave her whacking away. The most troublesome part about tanking with Sibel is that she does so much damage she kills the golems too fast, which is not a problem when you are surrounded by 4 elementals.. With the right equipment, she doesn't even need a regen (she heals for 20 hp per round without regen/oils). The only thing she needs is an IH. In larger fights continual cure + re-upping those spell protections becomes necessary. A final notes! Even though there is a little bit of criticism here, I had an absolute blast. Again. Thank you for upkeeping and developing the mod. I have had so much fun with this! I'm sorry I didn't make it to the BA finale yet. I'm not sure when I can continue this but it looks like super nice part now, as we don't even need to babysit the Vagrant anymore! (it reaches -24 with effective being less + it has almost 300 hp + extensive perma immunities!) This post has been edited by pekkae: Oct 9 2024, 06:34 PM |
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