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I have always felt that until the Pathfinder games D&D-style games always seemed weirdly resistant to just letting you have a single character and a bunch of weirdo summoned monsters following you around all the time. Like, I want a gang of skeletons, why is there no way to just have a semi-permanent corpse horde following you around in most games
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Jul 24, 2023 22:33
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| # ? Jun 10, 2024 00:16 |
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Computer game problem which usually has design limitations that they'd rather you don't for performance of the game or saving or just for balance. Ex. 2e AD&D animate dead is permanent so you can be on a level playing field with the necromancers populating dungeons.
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Jul 24, 2023 22:53
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How do I deal with Beholders/Gauths? I'm doing the Eyeless cult quest and I'm just getting shredded by them. I tried to put all my buffs and silence them but I keep getting my party wiped.
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Jul 24, 2023 23:34
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The “cheesy” way is to buy the shield of balduran from the adventure’s market. It reflects beholder rays and the base game ai can’t handle it
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Jul 24, 2023 23:55
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There's also a whole list of cleric buffs that you can slap on a single dude and have them beat the beholders to death, but yeah just buy the drat shield.
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Jul 25, 2023 00:25
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I'm pretty sure you have to tank their eye attacks with big saving throws and HP pools; they fire on a special script that ignores anything you do to disable them. Even if you charm them, they'll still shoot at you. or, as mentioned, get the cheese shield
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Jul 25, 2023 01:33
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Problem with buffing vs beholders is they'll just anti-magic ray that poo poo off almost immediately. "Normally" you'd only fight such a creature if you have a significant advantage over it (got the drop on it, have a net ready maybe? idk.) They're not a fair fight. They're not meant to be. Cheese away. If you have a druid in your party, fire elementals are an excellent, low-level way to clear them. For the most part, the beholder AI will reserve its beam attacks for party members (make sure they can't see any). Against summons, they almost only use their bite attack. Very ineffectively. It takes a bit of patience, but a single fire elemental will mop them all up.
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Jul 25, 2023 01:39
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What is the thing they do that infuriatingly can actually get through the anti-ray shield? Or did I somehow have the worst luck ever the time I tried to clear out the whole thing without saving and ended up with a disinegrated/turned to stone and exploded/otherwise irretrievably dead character
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Jul 25, 2023 01:42
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Dr. Quarex posted:What is the thing they do that infuriatingly can actually get through the anti-ray shield? Or did I somehow have the worst luck ever the time I tried to clear out the whole thing without saving and ended up with a disinegrated/turned to stone and exploded/otherwise irretrievably dead character Elder orbs can cast spells.
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Jul 25, 2023 01:44
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With the Shield, the only thing to worry about is Elder Orbs and their Imprison ability, which isn't reflected. So just take them down ASAP. The other solution is finding some skelly friends and - no judging here - save-scum until you can get a Resist Magic cast on them, then send them in. Without using the Shield, I guess you could cast a bunch of Fireballs or Horrid Wiltings in their general vicinity and hope for the best. A Greater Malison + [insert status effect spell here] could also work if you get really lucky. But since you'd have to get really lucky 8-9 times during that questline, just buy the Shield. There's still no judging here.
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Jul 25, 2023 01:46
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Thanks everyone, I got the shield and it was a drat lifesaver. I'm going to hold on to it for any future beholder fights.
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Jul 25, 2023 01:59
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Dreamsicle posted:Thanks everyone, I got the shield and it was a drat lifesaver. I'm going to hold on to it for any future beholder fights. There's only like 1 more and it's easy to miss.
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Jul 25, 2023 02:08
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Zulily Zoetrope posted:I'm pretty sure you have to tank their eye attacks with big saving throws and HP pools; they fire on a special script that ignores anything you do to disable them. Even if you charm them, they'll still shoot at you. Hah, I haven't played in at least a decade and I still remember the exact tunnel he's going through. I remember taking a single step and one little grey ball appeared and suddenly my whole party was getting blasted apart and CCd. I think it felt pretty out-of-nowhere, too -- I knew I'd be fighting beholder and friends, obviously, but I'd been getting through everything pretty smoothly up until then. I tried a few things to try to CC it or alpha strike it but it always ended up doing too much damage until I went and got the shield. I never knew why nothing else worked on them until now!
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Jul 25, 2023 03:39
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Dr. Quarex posted:I have always felt that until the Pathfinder games D&D-style games always seemed weirdly resistant to just letting you have a single character and a bunch of weirdo summoned monsters following you around all the time. Like, I want a gang of skeletons, why is there no way to just have a semi-permanent corpse horde following you around in most games One annoying thing that BG introduced me to and that many other games have carried on is not being able to make my own characters and have to pick from pre-made NPCs. I appreciate the work that went into character and world building, but if I want to have a party made up entirely of gnomes, including a gnome fight and cleric and rogue and illlusionist and cleric/illusionist and fighter/cleric/rogue/illusionist/baked beans/spam/spam and SPAM!!!, then let me. The point is this... once I've seen all the character-specific quests and conflicts between NPCs and the zany mad-cap humour, let me finally make my own band of murderous dipshits. I know that BG allowed this in a roundabout way, but it should be an option by default. Suspicious posted:Problem with buffing vs beholders is they'll just anti-magic ray that poo poo off almost immediately. "Normally" you'd only fight such a creature if you have a significant advantage over it (got the drop on it, have a net ready maybe? idk.) I always assumed that their big anti-magic eye would dispel summons too. I am a prat.
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Jul 25, 2023 03:46
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I would simply have a wild mage that can summon planetars use reckless dweomer to summon planetars until you get the wild surge that causes the spell to be cast twice and allows you to bypass the summon limit of 1 celestial. Seems a lot simpler than some shield.
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Jul 25, 2023 04:05
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Air Skwirl posted:There's only like 1 more and it's easy to miss. Not really? It's pretty predictable when it happens if you know basic poo poo about D&D lore, and it's required if you're there as far as I remember.
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Jul 25, 2023 06:02
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Arivia posted:Not really? It's pretty predictable when it happens if you know basic poo poo about D&D lore, and it's required if you're there as far as I remember. It's completely optional.
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Jul 25, 2023 06:42
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I'm pretty sure I killed the beholders without the shield the first few times I played by using summons to tank the beams. Summons will get you through the whole game. If it isn't working just use even more summons.
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Jul 25, 2023 06:50
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Flowing Thot posted:It's completely optional. I’m never taking the other option. You can’t make me.
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Jul 25, 2023 07:18
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Arivia posted:I’m never taking the other option. You can’t make me. There are three options. You don't have to do either of the really bad ones.
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Jul 25, 2023 07:39
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Arivia posted:Not really? It's pretty predictable when it happens if you know basic poo poo about D&D lore, and it's required if you're there as far as I remember. It'd been a while since I've played BG2 past act 3, so I might be completely wrong on this, but my memory is there's three things the drow want you to do, but you only have to do 2 of them, one of the three things is beholders.
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Jul 25, 2023 07:53
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Thinking about it, the drow do require you to fight a beholder at some point in their questline, but just a single one. There is also another part where you need to get an item for the drow, which you have three options to choose from, and can avoid two really awful dungeons for a not very hard fight instead. I stand by my words that it's optional because you can just totally ignore the entire drow questline.
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Jul 25, 2023 08:41
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There's also a beholder in the Twisted Rune and its eye is the key to getting out of there. Of course the Rune is optional, too. I would say that the beholder nest is the easiest, or at least fastest, of the Underdark choices if you're not interested in completing it. There's no super-notable loot in the rest of the nest, and the quest target is on the first elder orb you see the second you walk in the door. You actually have to wade through most of the other 2 dungeon options to get the quest items. Of course clearing out the beholder nest is a huge chunk of XP!
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Jul 25, 2023 11:29
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If any of you have tried to get into IWD2 and failed, I'd recommend getting past the goblin fortress area and around level 5 or 6. That's when your party start getting really good and you have access to a lot of good feats and spell interactions. (Yes I realize this is a 4-5 hour time investment, but this game is the best Infinity Engine combat game imo) Also, I figured out how to kill the Crystal Golems a while back purely by happenstance. I had a wizard who was using a sling and I was stunned when the combat log said "Wizard deals 2 damage to Crystal Golem (21 bonus damage)". There's actually a scroll that is on the ground which is basically "dammit, quit throwing rocks at these golems!!!" and that's the in game hint. I actually really like how IWD2 was designed in that regard because the lore notes and environmental storytelling give you the hints you need to succeed. My monk is level 9 and if I use mage armor and cat's grace, his standing AC is 27. It's crazy!
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Jul 25, 2023 13:29
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I've never tried it but would a Protection from Magic scroll let you cheese beholders or would their anti-magic eye negate it? SCS Improved Beholders will telekinetically yoink away the Shield of Balduran though I think sending wave after wave of summoned skeletons at them still works. I tend not to install that module because I find beholders annoying rather than an interesting challenge and just want every fight with them to be over with as little fuss as possible.
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Jul 25, 2023 13:40
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Not Infinity Engine but Neverwinter Nights related, still thought I'd share: Crimson Tides of Tethyr just got an enhanced edition that was released as part of Beamdog's Curated Content program, since Siege of Shadowdale and Tyrants of the Moonsea were already rereleased now's the perfect time to do a playthrough of the trilogy! 
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Jul 25, 2023 16:26
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Zulily Zoetrope posted:every encounter should be engaging and surmountable, but also there should be a smattering of trash encounters that I can snooze my way through to feel like a badass, and there shouldn't be so many of either type that I get frustrated dealing with them, nor so few that I will derisively refer to the game as a walking simulator I know you're joking, but imo the biggest problem that CRPG designers are really bad at signposting. Most CRPG players are savvy enough to realize there are generally: 1) lightweight speed bumps, 2) advanced encounters with purposeful compositions, 3) boss fights against true bastards, and 4) gimmick fights. Everyone has their own play styles in terms of prebuffs and consumables and builds, and that's really hard to design for, but it flattens out quite a bit if you tell them beforehand what the encounter is going to be. even pre-buff haters are going to at least cast a Bless if they know there's a big scary dragon up ahead but they rarely give us the tools to figure out which one is which until after you're already in the middle of it. it feels bad to expect one type but get another, and it really sucks when you get the sense the designers intended save / load to be a key part of your strategy making Wolfwere Island is so infamous because the greater wolfwere is in most ways a gimmick boss, but the (easiest) key to his gimmick is in the locked and trapped chest in the same room he's in. How the hell could anyone possibly think to check there? How many people even know greater wolfwere have regen and insane immunities? It could have been a neat idea if they bothered with some connective tissue, maybe you put the chest closer and have an NPC or journal log hint that Karoug is practically invincible except for this one thing which he keeps near him at all times
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Jul 26, 2023 05:37
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Finished up BG1 and TotSC before bed last night. I always make a note of something that I've learnt this time around that I never used when I was playing this as a dumb teenager - slow and hold person spells really are the bee's knees aren't they? Speaking of the greater wolfwere, after a greater malison I managed to nail that room with an AoE slow and even got him with a wand of paralysation which made it the easiest time I have ever had with that boss.
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Jul 26, 2023 07:16
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Has anyone tried the Companion Project for Icewind Dale 2? (The one here, I mean.) I've tried the ones for Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, and they're decently fun. I now don't play BG without the mod tbh, and the various different characters and combos are mostly pretty decent, with the caveat that I've not experienced all the characters and the one romance I blundered into (Branwen) was very horny and not enjoyable. But the mod for ID2 has a huuuuge potential party roster of original characters and I'm wondering if anyone's tried it out and noted any characters worth including / avoiding? Bearing in mind that I'm likely to only play this game the one time in the foreseeable future, given BG III, Rogue Trader, Broken Roads, Wrath of the Righteous finally being finished, etc.
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Jul 26, 2023 08:04
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Open Source Idiom posted:Has anyone tried the Companion Project for Icewind Dale 2? (The one here, I mean.) I played it once. Nord and Hildury were stereotypes but at least they were kind of amusing. Peony acted like a child. I can't remember who else I had, they didn't make any impression on me.
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Jul 26, 2023 11:46
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WarpDogs posted:Wolfwere Island is so infamous because the greater wolfwere is in most ways a gimmick boss, but the (easiest) key to his gimmick is in the locked and trapped chest in the same room he's in. How the hell could anyone possibly think to check there? How many people even know greater wolfwere have regen and insane immunities? It could have been a neat idea if they bothered with some connective tissue, maybe you put the chest closer and have an NPC or journal log hint that Karoug is practically invincible except for this one thing which he keeps near him at all times Those are all fair points, and I agree that good signposting is a virtue that is all to rarely exercised. But I feel like there is a hint to Karoug somewhere? Like, in a journal or from some NPC after doing their quest? I definitely remember making a beeline for the chest and being annoyed that I still needed to cheese him by spamming wands of paralyzation until I broke through his magic resistance and have a hasted Minsc hack away at his prone body with it to even make a dent.
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Jul 26, 2023 12:26
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Why is Kivan's strength stat 18/12? What does that mean?
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Jul 26, 2023 19:16
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Baron Porkface posted:Why is Kivan's strength stat 18/12? What does that mean? It's called percentile strength and is this weird AD&D2E artifact. In practice it means that there's like five different breakpoints for an 18/XX strength score with corresponding bonuses to attack rolls and weight allowance. There's tables in the game manual that explains it.
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Jul 26, 2023 19:24
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To expand slightly, the maximum you can roll on three dice (for chargen) is 18, but warrior types (fighters, rangers, paladins) get super special extra strength by rolling a d100 and making their actual score anything from 18/01 to 18/00 All of which is made redundant if you're a half-orc or have some other way of getting a +1 to your Strength, because any kind of 18 goes straight to 19 without having to step between all the various levels of 18ness. Which makes 19 a massive improvement over 18. sebzilla fucked around with this message at 19:47 on Jul 26, 2023 |
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Jul 26, 2023 19:35
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i don't get the thinking behind it either
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Jul 26, 2023 19:36
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Look there simply isn't a meaningful difference between a person with a strength of 8 who can max press 50 pounds and someone with a strength of 15 who can bench 170. Clearly they would hit someone else exactly as hard as each other. But 3d6 only goes so high so to cover the full spectrum we need another tier of strength for the top .4% of physically specimens. There is simply no other way to distribute all these modifiers to attack and damage that we are adding to the game.
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Jul 26, 2023 20:01
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Jay Rust posted:i don't get the thinking behind it either "Men can lift objects twice as heavy as women, right? But 19 would be superhuman... Ah, I know!" - some weird old bigot
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Jul 26, 2023 20:06
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The world record bench for a woman in the real world is roughly equal to a strength of 19 (the same as a typical hill giant), but women in AD&D 2e, a realm of magic and heroic feats, were capped at 18/50, which doesn't sound very different but is five tiers under a 19 in that very sane and normal system.
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Jul 26, 2023 20:16
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The first two editions were pretty much ad-libbed from whatever campaigns Gygax and pals happened to be playing, right? I figure it doesn't go any deeper than "all of our fightmen have 18 strength and are exactly equally strong, we need to differentiate them," and not having that issue with whatever other stats because the other classes primary stats aren't as impactful. Except maybe dex, but you're not gonna have multiple thieves in one party often enough to annoy people. E: I didn't know women had a lower cap, that's hosed
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Jul 26, 2023 20:20
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I've not read the pertinent player's handbook, but if I'm not mistaken it even more or less goes "this is heroic fantasy, there's no thing like arbitrary penalties to a female character's strength. Anyway, female characters have a max strength of 18/50, while men have a max of 18/00" without batting an eye.
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Jul 26, 2023 20:30
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