Improved Encounters Options

[Berzerkerzz]

I figured I change the thread title. The Sibel mod was alright in the end, could use exit points from the village though.

Riskbreaker: This kit was overpowered before and now ever more so. I removed all the speed bonuses but kept the speed bonus from the new boots later on. Did not upgrade the boots however as they are very overpowered. Also the potions of invulnerability makes the Riskbreaker lose all it's cons. I didn't end up using the Risk Decrement ability as it's overpowered as well. Also thanks to the new Flail of Ages buff this kit is ridiculously overpowered now. Even before v7 I was using the Improved Haste ability only once my mages got lvl 6 slots, otherwise it comes a bit early and throws the game off balance. So to recap: no heal/damage spell, no speed bonus, no use of invulnerability potions, and either tone down passive damage or even the new Flail of Ages bonus damage, and no use IH until your mages get it as well.

Wizard Slayer: I played this with Haste, not Improved. So he had one extra attack throughout the game, around 4 if I remember right. There was no way to play without it and have a character limping behind when moving around the map. I didn't upgrade the Regiment boots either as they are overpowered. I tried not to use the purge magic ability too often because it makes certain battles too easy. Purge Magic was used on a few dragons and other foes to speed up their demise. Some notable encounters where this ability was useful, a bunch of Grave Liches in WK and Demogorgon fight. Sibel was my only arcane caster in that run, dualed to a Mage at 9 wearing Vecna, and the Demogorgon fight would have been not doable without the purge magic from the Wizard Slayer. I did cast it in the middle so everybody got purged including Rozvanke which I baited towards the middle, and so it made the fight significantly easier. It really strips the enemies of their buffs this one. Anyway, Purge Magic is very powerful and I tried not to use it too often, perhaps it would be better balanced as a single target instead of area of effect. It's a strong kit now with ridiculous regeneration but needs basic Haste and the Purge Magic ability throws the game off balance if not use sparingly.

Avenger: Did not forge the Avenger Dream gear as it seemed a bit too overpowered, stayed with Rust Armor. Overall this kit is very strong and in another run I'm using it without the Clan Hunter summon, much more balanced imo without the clan hunter summon. The Clan Hunter could be better used perhaps on a different type of Druid kit.

Archer: Once you change missile damage into piercing he becomes a viable character. A ranged Kensai basically. However Called Shot needs nerfing, I set mine to 4 seconds for the effects. So with about ten shots per round, it would lower the Thac0 by about 8 max and Strength about similar. Seemed a bit too strong still, I think the effects should last 3 seconds, this way it would lower Thac0 by about 5-6 max and STR as well but only to the target that he is focusing on. The point is to soften the target. Archer comes in handy in many tight places but is a bit boring to play and the gear selection is not quite linear.
I set Fire, Acid and Ice arrows to +3 and lowered prices for +4 Arrows. He was using Gesen Bow most of the game and switched to Tuigan Bow and +4 Piercing arrows for the tough fights.


Party was: Avenger, Wizard Slayer, Riskbreaker, Sibel(Swash9/Mage), Shaman, Archer
Difficulty: Hard
No use of tomes, no max hp on level up, no milking of spawns as it throws the game off balance completely, no doing quests of random NPCs and no breach on clerics as their power is severely diminished if breached.

This post has been edited by Berzerkerzz: May 28 2025, 01:01 AM

[Berzerkerzz]

Guarded Compound:
I redid this one again and now everybody is behaving properly, simplified their fleeing strategy as well. The slavers are stronger and better equipped and all of them back on AttackOneRound as AttackReevaluate simply didn't work out at all, Koshi has over -30 thac0 for example. Everybody hits here including Sion who is under Energy Blades several times throughout the battle. The Arvoreen Champion, was a bit too strong here initially and I nerfed him a little bit after this encounter, he had about -27 slashing armor so even Koshi was missing hits on him. Olaf and Maferan only hit about 4 times per round but they do some decent damage now. Sion got off his Time Stop this time followed by ADHW and Energy Blades. Stalman did well too I think, he was stalling in earlier tries as I tried to prioritize his healings. Now he casts his offensive spells without issue. He is pretty resilient for the first turn after which he slowly becomes more and more vulnerable to attacks. He got off an Earthquake spell too, which I reworked (2 Rounds of Damage only, less shaking and a different visual effect which I think is much better suited). Gave Implosion a different animation which i think is slightly better suited though far from perfect. The Assassins also have better thac0 so better chances to hit the player. Made Ketta stronger, she is a mix of a Fighter/Thief/Swashbuckler now, takes off not long after the fight starts and rejoins later on. She has very good thac0 now though not many attacks. Party was still below 5M XP here. This one took over 40 mins and several reloads, definitely a late SoA encounter now.
The video quality should be better as well and slightly more saturated, it was a bit blurry before as the resolution was not quite set correctly.

https://odysee.com/@Githzerai:e/Guarded-Compound:4

This post has been edited by Berzerkerzz: May 13 2025, 11:29 PM