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That will teach me not to read THIS thread for a few months. I just today discovered the BiG World which makes BGEE modding super easy...assuming it works. Spent all day installing mods the old way till I found out BiG existed. It only seems to be applying mods mostly for BG1EE - does it do BG2EE? Does it load Dragonsphere directly after you finish with Saravok?
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Sep 18, 2016 11:07
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The BiG World project is "Let's put every single BG mod into one package". If you want a mod to do something specific you need to install it specifically. I would advise against installing everything.
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Sep 18, 2016 11:40
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Kavak posted:Gorionwraith I haven't played ToB in a really long time but this was the stupidest poo poo wasn't it?
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Sep 18, 2016 21:39
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Decrepus posted:I haven't played ToB in a really long time but this was the stupidest poo poo wasn't it? The dialogues aside from Aerie's are actually interesting because they're playing off of real guilt rather than being made up out of whole cloth. The problem is that it forces you to keep going until you exhaust all the dialogue options rather than being able to cotton on faster, no matter your Wisdom. The writing in ToB does feel kind of...off. People are acting like Bhaal's return is going to be an apocalyptic event. He's only been dead for about 11 years, Cyric has been the God of Murder since then (How is Bhaal going to get that portfolio back anyway?), and Faerun was chugging along just fine for however many centuries he and the other Dead Three were gods. I guess the idea is that hate and paranoia will make Alaundo's prophecy self-fulfilling, but also keep talking about it like there's more to it than the few lines you've heard- reminds me of the "bring balance to the Force" poo poo in the prequels.
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Sep 18, 2016 22:45
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Kavak posted:The dialogues aside from Aerie's are actually interesting because they're playing off of real guilt rather than being made up out of whole cloth. The problem is that it forces you to keep going until you exhaust all the dialogue options rather than being able to cotton on faster, no matter your Wisdom. I think it's a casualty of how cut-down Throne was. Throne was originally intended to be a fully fledged Baldur's Gate 3 before getting cut down to an expansion for time and money reasons.
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Sep 18, 2016 22:48
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Cythereal posted:I think it's a casualty of how cut-down Throne was. Throne was originally intended to be a fully fledged Baldur's Gate 3 before getting cut down to an expansion for time and money reasons. I knew it was rushed, but I'm only now starting to see how much so. Many areas don't even have a day-night cycle  .It might just be sour grapes, but I feel like a Baldur's Gate III would've fallen into a lot of the same pitfalls that Mass Effect 3 fell into a decade later. You're at the climax of a long-running, player driven story, but you have to account for brand new players, so everything ends up simplified- Illasera was a pushover solely because new players would start without a party. Already well established information would be repeated like some kind of revelation (Seriously stop telling me I'm surprised when people know I'm Bhaalspawn), there'd potentially be a canon party for BG II with space for the romance option. Plus throwing someone potentially unfamiliar with AD&D 2nd Edition straight into an epic-level campaign? No, I think Throne of Bhaal was better off as an expansion pack- it just shouldn't have sucked.
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Sep 18, 2016 23:17
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Cythereal posted:I think it's a casualty of how cut-down Throne was. Throne was originally intended to be a fully fledged Baldur's Gate 3 before getting cut down to an expansion for time and money reasons. Does there exist any information about what was cut?
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Sep 18, 2016 23:17
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Max Wilco posted:Does there exist any information about what was cut? None that amounts to much more than hearsay in the modding community, from back in the early days when some actual Black Isle staff worked with modders. The only two things I heard about that were supposedly from lead Black Isle people were that Illasera was supposed to be a fully fledged antagonist and not just a game-intro speedbump - she was supposed to have been an adventurer herself, a deliberate mirror to the PC that way as opposed to the more settled power bases of the other Five, and that the fake-Gorion master wraith was supposed to have been a recurring enemy that would chip away at the resolve of all your companions in different guises.
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Sep 18, 2016 23:25
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I'm guessing some of you have played Temple of Elemental Evil; my question is "does it ever get anything less than hard as nails and sort of inconsistent about what is and isn't an animal". Maybe it's just a still being level 2 thing but the combat feels really really dicey even with the meagre buffs I can put on people.
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Sep 18, 2016 23:38
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Cythereal posted:the fake-Gorion master wraith was supposed to have been a recurring enemy that would chip away at the resolve of all your companions in different guises. That sounds...dumb. Like, once can work, maybe twice for a bit, but after that it'd stop working on anyone except maybe Minsc. If it kept its secret until a "Nope it was all fake!" revelation at the end, it makes the entire thing cheap as hell.
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Sep 19, 2016 00:02
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jBrereton posted:I'm guessing some of you have played Temple of Elemental Evil; my question is "does it ever get anything less than hard as nails and sort of inconsistent about what is and isn't an animal". Lower level combats get easier as you level up of course but the combat stays challenging throughout. Lower level combat is always dicey and unpredictable. But it wants you to burn spells, use potions, scrolls, wands, and consumables in the vast majority of encounters.
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Sep 19, 2016 00:12
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MrL_JaKiri posted:How many RPGs change the world based on how long you take with the main quest Fallout did, areas of the map would become overrun/destroyed by Super Mutants over time, and this was before Baldur's Gate. Or maybe it was just one town? I know the Super Mutants would do something before the actual game over. JustJeff88 posted:Agreed. I think that BG's biggest flaw isn't even its flaw, which is the inherently lovely nature of low-level 2nd edition combat. Mind you, some other editions weren't much better and I never understood why they didn't do something sensible like give level 1 characters hit points equal to one hit die plus Constitution or something; my 2nd edition group did that for years and it was great. Woolie Wool fucked around with this message at 00:40 on Sep 19, 2016 |
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Sep 19, 2016 00:35
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Woolie Wool posted:Fallout did, areas of the map would become overrun/destroyed by Super Mutants over time, and this was before Baldur's Gate. They eventually overtook the whole map if you wasted too much time, but canonically they only destroyed the Ghoul settlement at Necropolis.
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Sep 19, 2016 00:51
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Woolie Wool posted:I think starting at level 1 is a bigger problem for IWD, especially since you're supposed to start out as a band of hired mercenaries, not a helpless, sheltered teenager. Starting at level 4 with basic equipment (essentially similar to a level 1 Pillars of Eternity character) would have made more sense for IWD. You may be right there with the very heavy focus IWD puts on combat. It's been so long since I played, though, that I'm in no position to really add any insight.
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Sep 19, 2016 02:33
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Suspicious posted:Bastard swords and long swords were both in the large sword proficiency so I'm not sure what you guys are talking about. Also the sword with a bonus vs shapeshifters is a bastard sword. Oh I meant when I replayed on EE and completely forgot that you get like... 2 or 3 decent bastard swords in BG1.
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Sep 19, 2016 03:28
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One of the rumors in Amkethran posted:The sky turned a deep red only two days ago. Elders said this was from a great spell being cast in the eastern lands. What effect this will have on us, we cannot say. Anyone know what that's supposed to be about? Also they keep talking about the Sword Coast like Amn on south is part of it. I can't tell if this is me nerd nitpicking or another sign of some change in the writing staff.
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Sep 19, 2016 07:37
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Kavak posted:Anyone know what that's supposed to be about? Also they keep talking about the Sword Coast like Amn on south is part of it. I can't tell if this is me nerd nitpicking or another sign of some change in the writing staff. My guess is maybe Yaga-Shura's ascension? There's nothing else going on in the Realms at the time to cause that. Amn and Tethyr are part of the Sword Coast, yes. The part that most people think of when you say Sword Coast is really the Sword Coast North.
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Sep 19, 2016 08:58
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Might be a mod/EE addition. I've never seen them labelled as such on any map. Realms wiki says it goes from Luskan to Baldur's Gate, counting the North.
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Sep 19, 2016 09:33
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Kavak posted:Might be a mod/EE addition. The Realms Wiki is not good. It's trying to be better, but it's generally not good. Lands of Intrigue specifies the Sword Coast as the western boundary of Amn and Tethyr. The Nelanther Isles and the pirates thereof are repeatedly mentioned as a plague on the Sword Coast (3e FRCS, 2e FRCS, Lands of Intrigue.) Empires of the Shining Sea notes the Sea of Swords as the western boundary of Calimshan (and notes that Calishites think of it more as the Trackless Sea, and that they consider themselves more related to the Shining Sea, which makes sense.) So the Sea of Swords and the Sword Coast do technically run that far south as noted by many sources. I'd think you could maybe make an argument the Sword Coast itself ends at Cape Velen, but that's still in Tethyr. Just for the hell of it, I checked the wiki page in question. Okay, that just references Volo's Guide to the Sword Coast. Volo describes the Sword Coast as being "in the middle" - so between Amn, Waterdeep, and the Inner Sea, arranged as triangles on a point. Volo's speaking politically and culturally, not geographically. I can see why that would be confusing without context however. (Remember that Volo is always used as a specific voice by Ed Greenwood; he has his biases, failings, and a particular focus and way of talking.) What you've honestly hit on here is just common naming structures in the Realms - there's a lot of places and areas with different names used in different ways. Waterdeep is on the Sword Coast, is the southern terminus of the Sword Coast North (which extends to the Spine of the World), and is the gateway to the North, the Savage Frontier, and other areas depending upon what names you give it. Ed has stated this is intentional, one of his many tricks to make the Realms "come alive" and feel real. If I was running a campaign in the Lands of Intrigue, it'd be easy to follow BOTH. Culturally and specifically, the Sword Coast refers to the lands between the Spine of the World and the Cloud Peaks. That outlander's from the Sword Coast, fine they're from Beregost or Daggerford or whatever. But geographically? The coast of Amn and Tethyr is the Sword Coast. If something happens "on the coast," that's the Sword Coast. Events along the Sword Coast (such as the Threat from the Sea, or the Bhaalspawn campaign in ToB) include Amn and Tethyr. Either way, it's certainly not incorrect for ToB to refer to itself/events in Tethyr as being along the Sword Coast. There's plenty of stuff to pick nits at lorewise throughout the Baldur's Gate games, but calling Tethyr as being on the Sword Coast isn't one of them.
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Sep 19, 2016 10:26
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MrL_JaKiri posted:The BiG World project is "Let's put every single BG mod into one package". If you want a mod to do something specific you need to install it specifically. I think comstar is talking about big world setup which lets you pick and choose the garbage you install.
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Sep 19, 2016 17:23
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Vikar Jerome posted:I think comstar is talking about big world setup which lets you pick and choose the garbage you install. I figured out after 2 days of trying that you have to click BACK once and it shows you BG2/BIG/IWD/PS:T installers. I couldn't get the BIG world mod to work with a Steam install, looks like it's the GOG only version, but you can install all the mods for BG1EE and BG2EE separately. With the 15+ failed attempts of the BG Iron Man challenge I did this year, I need some extra changes to the world.
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Sep 19, 2016 22:56
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Comstar posted:I figured out after 2 days of trying that you have to click BACK once and it shows you BG2/BIG/IWD/PS:T installers. I couldn't get the BIG world mod to work with a Steam install, looks like it's the GOG only version, but you can install all the mods for BG1EE and BG2EE separately. With the 15+ failed attempts of the BG Iron Man challenge I did this year, I need some extra changes to the world. do you have siege of dragonspear? that tends to gently caress up mods for steam unless you patch it first. there's a link to it in this thread a good few pages back.
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Sep 19, 2016 23:49
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Vikar Jerome posted:do you have siege of dragonspear? that tends to gently caress up mods for steam unless you patch it first. there's a link to it in this thread a good few pages back. No, the BiG world complains you're missing a dozen+ files, that look to not be in the Steam version for some reason. Movies and area map files I think. The BGEE 1 and 2 individual mega patch everything options both work, least the BG1 did.
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Sep 20, 2016 13:11
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I've always wondered why there are so few original portraits to pick from in both games, female characters only get two and the only one added by BGII was a male half-orc portrait.
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Sep 21, 2016 20:48
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Vichan posted:I've always wondered why there are so few original portraits to pick from in both games, female characters only get two and the only one added by BGII was a male half-orc portrait. For BG1 it feels like they made the portraits first then made too many NPCs- BGII probably just ran out of money.
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Sep 21, 2016 22:24
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Kavak posted:For BG1 it feels like they made the portraits first then made too many NPCs- BGII probably just ran out of money. That makes sense, Imoen's portrait always had a 'female default portrait' feel to it. It makes even more sense considering she was almost literally a last-minute NPC.
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Sep 23, 2016 15:49
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  My first and second challenges made some cool rune pads and an oasis, but the third and fourth challenges have taken some of the eyeballs off the wall and none of the teeth off the floor. I guess it's just another sign of how Chapter 9 got gutted in development. Kavak fucked around with this message at 06:34 on Sep 29, 2016 |
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Sep 29, 2016 06:29
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After some hemming and hawing I picked up BG1&2 from the GOG sale. The only isometric CRPG I've played to completion is Pillars of Eternity, so here's hoping I make it out of the starting zone.
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Oct 1, 2016 10:17
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 You see that motherfucker right there? Be afraid. Be very afraid.
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Oct 1, 2016 11:19
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You also see the main strategy for early BG1 already, which is use bows. Also, if you play or recruit a spellcaster, the best spells are Sleep, Web, Slow and Haste. Sleep reigns supreme during the first levels. Aganazzar's Scorcher for damage early on. Oh, and the stat system in this is weird and honestly pretty stupid, so look at what the stats do and where cutoffs for bonuses are. The short version is that, independent of class, you want to max Dexterity and put 16 into Constitution. And max Con if you are a Fighter/Paladin/Ranger/Barbarian and/or a Dwarf/Gnome/Halfling.
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Oct 1, 2016 11:34
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Wizard Styles posted:Oh, and the stat system in this is weird and honestly pretty stupid, so look at what the stats do and where cutoffs for bonuses are. The short version is that, independent of class, you want to max Dexterity and put 16 into Constitution. And max Con if you are a Fighter/Paladin/Ranger/Barbarian and/or a Dwarf/Gnome/Halfling. Just make your little brother sit there and roll until you get 110.
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Oct 1, 2016 22:07
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Who needs high stats? Just go with the 75 roll you're given.
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Oct 1, 2016 22:15
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Suspicious posted:Who needs high stats? Just go with the 75 roll you're given. I am the child of a god and I demand a 100 point spread!  Anyway, 14 or so years after first buying it and after almost a year of on-and-off playing, I have beaten the Baldur's Gate saga. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixoolJmLjgk Goddamn that is a great piece. Combined with the epilogues it actually makes me kind of misty-eyed. Did Bioware ever give a reason why they didn't have Bhaal as the final boss other than the lame-as-hell twist of Amelyssan? It just seems the logical escalation- the only place to go after a villain like Irenicus is to fight your divine father and either destroy his essence once and for all or take it for yourself. He's been a constant throughout the series, in your dreams and as the taint, and the entire expansion is building up like Bhaal is going to be resurrected no matter what you do... then suddenly it's "Remain dust, my foolish god" and the final boss is unveiled just before we fight her. It's so anti-climactic. I'd chalk it up to how rushed things were, but I can't imagine that any amount of buildup would make Amelyssan intimidating. In the two CGI cutscenes with her she just looks goofy. She should've been the penultimate boss, the loyal Deathstalker that manipulated you into ressurecting Bhaal, and then you travel to the Throne itself to kill him before he can absorb enough of the essence to restore his divinity. You wouldn't even need to change the mechanics of the boss fight, just switch it up so Bhaal in his Ravager form is the final boss and make Amelyssan the final Pocket Plane challenge. Also, when was Throne of Bhaal started, while they were working on Shadows of Amn? Did they even try to modify the story to take Imoen into account? The plot seems to literally forget about her until the ending. "Oh poo poo, there's actually two of you left- yeah you can just give up your essence, whatever. Probably should've told Balthazar that was an option..." Ascension's idea also sucks- she gets victimized again and you can't do anything about it, no matter how long she's been in your party or how important she is to it. So, can anyone recommend me a party building guide for Icewind Dale II? 
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Oct 1, 2016 22:23
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Melissan specifically addresses that point if you ask about it. Most of Bhaal's essence has gathered, enough for her to ascend but not all of it. She fully intends to hunt down every last drop, however. You're actually interrupting her ascension ritual in the last area. She realizes she needs to be a goddess to take you on.
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Oct 1, 2016 22:32
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Kavak posted:Did Bioware ever give a reason why they didn't have Bhaal as the final boss other than the lame-as-hell twist of Amelyssan? It just seems the logical escalation- the only place to go after a villain like Irenicus is to fight your divine father and either destroy his essence once and for all or take it for yourself. He's been a constant throughout the series, in your dreams and as the taint, and the entire expansion is building up like Bhaal is going to be resurrected no matter what you do... then suddenly it's "Remain dust, my foolish god" and the final boss is unveiled just before we fight her. It's so anti-climactic. I'd chalk it up to how rushed things were, but I can't imagine that any amount of buildup would make Amelyssan intimidating. In the two CGI cutscenes with her she just looks goofy. She should've been the penultimate boss, the loyal Deathstalker that manipulated you into ressurecting Bhaal, and then you travel to the Throne itself to kill him before he can absorb enough of the essence to restore his divinity. You wouldn't even need to change the mechanics of the boss fight, just switch it up so Bhaal in his Ravager form is the final boss and make Amelyssan the final Pocket Plane challenge. Imoen was originally supposed to die in Shadows of Amn - you would never have freed her, and been forced to fight and kill her in Suldanessellar while she was transformed into the Slayer. Nalia was very explicitly created as Imoen's replacement. As for Bhaal and Amelyssan, from what was said way back when, Amelyssan was a victim of ToB being cut down from a full sequel. Bhaal and Amelyssan were supposed to be the two antagonists - one internal, you were supposed to have ultimately slain Bhaal inside your own soul via the pocket plane (which was supposed to be a strictly late-game thing), then gone on to face Amelyssan who was meant to get a lot more build-up.
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Oct 1, 2016 22:33
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Cythereal posted:Imoen was originally supposed to die in Shadows of Amn - you would never have freed her, and been forced to fight and kill her in Suldanessellar while she was transformed into the Slayer. Nalia was very explicitly created as Imoen's replacement. I've always been curious about that draft of the story, because I keep seeing different versions of it- she was supposed to be the boss in Spellhold which is why Irenicus suddenly forgets his insta-kill magic when you bring in the prisoners, she was supposed to be left completely insane, etc. The dream sequences feel like some of their dialogue was recycled from that version, and they and Irenicus' early behavior make a lot more sense to me if the story in the novels (He needs the Slayer form as a weapon, rather than just your souls) was in the original draft. Cythereal posted:As for Bhaal and Amelyssan, from what was said way back when, Amelyssan was a victim of ToB being cut down from a full sequel. Bhaal and Amelyssan were supposed to be the two antagonists - one internal, you were supposed to have ultimately slain Bhaal inside your own soul via the pocket plane (which was supposed to be a strictly late-game thing), then gone on to face Amelyssan who was meant to get a lot more build-up. That makes a lot of sense. I still wonder how they were going to do a high-level 2nd Edition AD&D campaign as a stand-alone game- they would've needed the mother of all tutorial sections or to gut the difficulty.
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Oct 1, 2016 22:48
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I don't think Amelyssan could ever have been a good villain, no matter how much was cut from ToB.Kavak posted:So, can anyone recommend me a party building guide for Icewind Dale II? Wizard Tanky Cleric, optionally with 4 levels spread across Fighter and Paladin Cleric that does all the other stuff Druid Bard/Rogue multi-class This is the only way. Oh, and somebody needs to level Alchemy.
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Oct 1, 2016 22:54
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Wizard Styles posted:I don't think Amelyssan could ever have been a good villain, no matter how much was cut from ToB. Agreed, though actually throwing down with Bhaal would've made her presence more tolerable. Thank you!
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Oct 1, 2016 23:01
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Kavak posted:I've always been curious about that draft of the story, because I keep seeing different versions of it- she was supposed to be the boss in Spellhold which is why Irenicus suddenly forgets his insta-kill magic when you bring in the prisoners, she was supposed to be left completely insane, etc. The dream sequences feel like some of their dialogue was recycled from that version, and they and Irenicus' early behavior make a lot more sense to me if the story in the novels (He needs the Slayer form as a weapon, rather than just your souls) was in the original draft. Not to mention that she IS insane when you first meet her in Spellhold only for her to regain her sanity when you get thrown in the dungeons. Did they ever explain that?
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Oct 1, 2016 23:28
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This is a Neverwinter Nights question, which I know isn't infinity engine, but this thread is the most likely to have people who know about it. What happens with your base attack bonus when you multiclass? I have a level 6 ranger, which means my base attack bonus is currently +6/+1. If I multiclass into rogue does my base attack bonus stop increasing until my rogue gets to a level at which they'd start getting more BAB than my ranger left off on, or does it add on top? An example for what I'm asking: a level 2 rogue would normally have +1 BAB, so would a ranger6/rogue2 have +6/+1, +7/+1, or +7/+2?
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Oct 2, 2016 00:32
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