KickStarter Knights of the Chalice 2 Thread - Augury of Chaos

[Humanity has risen!]

So did he fix the difficulty in patches yet?

 

[Darth Canoli]

So did he fix the difficulty in patches yet?

Next patch (i think) he'll release the complete new difficulty settings, on top of all the other options, you'll be able to play with encounter level.
Enemies with lower levels will know lower level spells, have less spells memorized, lower BAB, etc.

 

[Pink Eye]

I've done it! I'VE WON! Victory is mine! Bwahaha! All shall fear the heroics of my monk *and* party!

Spoiler

This will be the second time I've beaten the module. Yay me. Oh man, I love this game so much. Here are the stats of my awesome monk:

Here's a couple of nice screenies:

Spoiler

[

I shall now wait for next patch to do new run

 

[Tomas]

Congrats Pink Eye and thanks for recording the vids showing some of the tougher fights. Also it looks like the crashing bugs are now fixed, I might give it a try.

 

[Pink Eye]

I reported a bunch of bugs and crashes to Pierre. Wait until next patch to do new run. Lest you bump into the same bugs as I have.

 

[Dorateen]

Next patch (i think) he'll release the complete new difficulty settings, on top of all the other options, you'll be able to play with encounter level.

What are your thoughts about the Progressive Death Threshold? I'm used to characters dying at -10 hit points, but this option reduces an additional point for every level (so it is -15 by level 6). There are quite a number of difficulty configurations he sneaked in there between updates, besides the main difficulty setting.

 

[Pink Eye]

He also sneaked some new feats:

This one is new to me.

 

[Darth Canoli]

What are your thoughts about the Progressive Death Threshold? I'm used to characters dying at -10 hit points, but this option reduces an additional point for every level (so it is -15 by level 6). There are quite a number of difficulty configurations he sneaked in there between updates, besides the main difficulty setting.

I find it nothing less than required for high level D&D where damage never stops to grow.
PC die a lot if you don't invest enough in CON + use HP/CON bonus gear. Even with this, they die a lot on a first playthrough.
Well, they die either way, you just reload less with more HP.

Pink Eye
The luck feats were implemented long ago, it was already there on 1.13, probably even in 1.04 but i'm not 100% sure about the latter.

 

[Mortmal]

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...-revolutionise-old-school-crpgs/posts/3230835

Update #48: KotC 2 Version 1.15 Fixes Bugs, Adds New Icons & Expands Tutorial!

Hello everyone! Version 1.15 of KotC 2 Augury of Chaos is now available for download here for both Windows and macOS. The main changes are many bug fixes, hundreds of new character icons for NPC dialogue, and extra content in the tutorial module.

For now, the tutorial module ends soon after you meet the merchants. Play with a male Human or Elf to see a bit more dialogue when the party rests at the campfire. As for the Augury of Chaos module, for now you still need to rest two times at the inn then talk to the bailiff to start the goblin attack on the village.

New Features In KotC 2 Version 1.15

• Pressing the Tab key will now display characters and enemies on top of the overlay layer to make it easier to find them when they're behind trees, particularly in the village map when the goblins attack. I've updated the help entries for Game Controls about this.
• Added an Eye Button in the Level-Up screen allowing you to open the person's Character Sheet.
• If you have both the Mobility and Wade In feats, you can now freely alternate between movement and attacks.
• Upgraded the spell Spell and Power Surge so that it now affects all allies in a circle of radius 10' and provides a +4 bonus to both the Difficulty Class and the check to overcome enemy Spell Resistance.
• Added 593 new character icons for use in dialogues, using the PVG High Fantasy asset packs.
• Added new tokens for Mimic, Animated Chalice, Giant Rat, Red Dragon and Giant Snake using PVG assets. Also added new sprites for the four-armed Girallon / Dire Troll, armoured and unarmoured, using PVG assets.
• Break Enchantment, Greater Break Enchantment, Contingent Break Enchantment, and Contingent Greater Break Enchantment will now affect party members who have been controlled or dominated by the enemy, allowing you to remove the enchantment. Also, these spells will no longer affect any enemy creatures that have been controlled or dominated by your party.
• Changed the castle map and the code so that it's easier to bull rush or slide enemies from the battlements and towers down to the lower level, or from the courtyard down into the well.
• Expanded the Tutorial Adventure. It's still not finished, though. For now, it ends when you open the second corridor from the main room, but you can still check out the rest of the map. As mentioned above, play with a male Human or Elf to see a bit more dialogue when the party rests at the campfire. Special Thanks to Juhani for all the help on the tutorial and on feat suggestions!
• Improved the sounds that play when you move items around in the Inventory Screen.
• When cast on allies, Reduce will bypass the saving throw and any Globe of Invulnerability effect.
• Mousing over a character's Experience Points in the Character Sheet will now display in the information tooltip the XP of the character above his or her current level.
• In the Module Editor, you can now press the Tab key to display the adventure map as it appears in the game. I've also updated the help entry for Editor Controls about this.
• In the Script Editor, you can now use Left Shift + Left Click to select a range of script commands. This can be much faster than having to click on each command that you'd like to copy and paste.
• In the Module Editor, added a menu option to open the Game Options (shortcut key Left Alt + O). It is now much easier to switch from windowed mode to full-screen mode while working on a module.
• In the Module Editor, added a menu option to switch between Sprite and Token Display (shortcut key Left Alt + T). It is now much easier to see if there's any problem with either display mode.
• I didn't want for all characters starting a module to receive Leather Armour. So, instead, the game now distributes various fancy-looking armour to the starting characters, but these are clothing items that provide no bonus to Armour Class.
• When healing Asharzaelle after removing the petrification, the healing character won't have to be standing very close to her. Likewise, in any other scenario where you have to cast Cure spells on an NPC, the player characters won't have to be adjacent to the NPC.
• At the end of a fight, if your party's position would trigger the next encounter too soon, the game will automatically reposition the party at the position it occupied when starting the fight.
• When talking to an NPC, the party members will look in the direction of the NPC automatically.
• In the Creature Editor, expanded the index column so that we can now see the index number of creatures above 999.
• Expanded the help entries about the Base Attack Bonus and Speed.
• Added new help entries for the combat manoeuvres Pull and Slide/Swap. These can be displayed through the combat-actions menu when the party is fighting.
• Added new help entries for the conditions Feebleminded and Transformed.
• Added a Human Cleric called Jarren to the list of pre-generated characters. This list is contained in the file CharacterRoster.cml, which only gets installed by the Windows version if you first rename your existing CharacterRoster.cml file to something like CharacterRoster_old_1.cml.
• The Ring of Mental Fortitude will no longer stop beneficial mind-affecting spell effects. It will give the Mind Blank condition rather than immunity to all Mind-Affecting effects.

Spoiler

List Of Bug Fixes In KotC 2 Version 1.15

• Fixed a bug where a charging character would stop moving before reaching his or her target after a failed Attack-of-Opportunity (AOO) Trip Attempt by the enemy.
• Fixed a bug when using a ranged full-attack action and getting Slowed through an AOO.
• Fixed a bug when using a ranged attack that triggers a Trip or Disarm attempt as part of the enemy's AOO. This would usually result in a crash to desktop.
• Fixed a pretty bad bug causing a crash to desktop whenever the AI would try to cast a summoning spell using a magic scroll. Also fixed a bug that occurred when fighting close to the edge of maps.
• Fixed problems in version 1.14 in the options of spells (e.g. Fire, Cold, Electricity, Acid) that you can select in the Character Sheet.
• Fixed a bug in the Character Sheet's Spec tab that was preventing the player from changing the spell selection of the last level-up.
• Fixed a bug where you could not talk to the friendly Dwarf in the final chapter of the game.
• Fixed a bug with the Genie not healing the party when the player only wants healing from him.
• Fixed a bug in the Character Sheet where switching the spell level using a number key would crash the game quite frequently.
• Fixed a bug in the castle map, in the small house inside the courtyard, when the door opens to reveal more enemies. This would trigger the automatic repositioning of the party members.
• Fixed a bug where the bandits in the beginning of the Augury of Chaos module are supposed to leave the map, but upon reloading the game they're still there, doing nothing.
• Fixed a bug with the Share Potions button when you have fewer potions than party members.
• Fixed a problem with the scroll Mass Disrupt Armour, which was missing from the list of items.
• Fixed a bug in the Module Editor with character sprites occasionally not being displayed with their armour on after changing something in the Creature Editor.
• Fixed a bug in the Character Sheet that could cause a crash after switching characters using the Left and Right keys and then clicking on a tab in the right side of the Character Sheet.
• Fixed a bug when talking to Asharzaelle and having her join the party.
• Fixed many broken links in the help system, including dozens of broken links in spell descriptions. Special Thanks to Sangarunya and LordSith for highlighting the broken links in the forum.
• Fixed a bug with large creatures standing on Grease squares not falling to lower-altitude squares.
• Fixed an issue with the party-names box not getting refreshed after the party is split or reunited.
• Fixed the display of Giant Scorpions in token display mode in the village map.
• Fixed the missing sprite of Horned Devils and Vrocks in Chapter Three, Blue Dragons in Chapter Four, and Monstrous Centipedes in Chapter One. Somehow I got their sprite names mixed up at some point and, as a result, they weren't showing up at all in previous versions (though their token display was fine). Also fixed the sprites of Psionic Beetles and Giant Snakes.
• Fixed a display problem in the Victory Screen showing the Experience Point awards and XP required for the next level-up.
• Corrected the damage of the Recurve Bow when used by small characters.
• Fixed a bug where characters with both Darkvision and True Seeing would benefit from the effect of Darkvision but not from the effect of True Seeing.
• Fixed a bug allowing you to split items that are not supposed to be split, such as Bracers and Boots.
• Fixed a problem with the 'Hide pre-generated characters' button in the party-creation screen.
• Fixed a problem with the feat Greater Heroic Weapon.
• The Slowing weapon enchantment will now remove the Hasted condition before slowing a creature.
• Fixed a bug with the feat Breath Weapon Shaping.
• Fixed a bug where the saved-game preview image would appear upside-down on some computers depending on graphic-card settings.
• Fixed a bug in the Item Editor when changing the 'Launch Script on Pick Up' field.
• If anyone has an issue with weird lines displayed in the main view, we've discovered that you need to open your Nvidia graphic-card settings and change every setting to ‘off’ or ‘application-controlled’, particularly all settings related to << Filtering >> or << Antialiasing >>. Thank you Angry Lux for reporting this issue!
• Also, if anyone experiences a slow down in the High Sewers map, turning off the game option Display Environmental Particles seems to help a lot.
• If you don't talk to the Giant Spider Prince in chapter three, he will now disappear when you start fighting the other Giant Spiders and you will not see him at all.
• Fixed the effect of Spell Surge when you use it before casting Dominate Monster. Each of the three Dominate attempts will now receive the bonus from Spell Surge.
• Fixed some problems with the display of Dispel Magic (Area) when you're targeting the spell over a circle area. For example, the game will not display 'Fire' but 'Fire DR' and it won't display 'Adamantine' but 'DR', meaning Damage Reduction.

Special Thanks to LordSith for all the bug reports in the forum. Also Special Thanks to Angry Lux for all the help in fixing bugs and crashes. You can watch his Archmage-mode final battle video on Youtube.

Road Map To The Upcoming Trilogy
For anyone who's wondering about the upcoming new modules, The Dark Arena, Forces of Chaos and Heart of Evil, the focus in all the modules will be a mix of gameplay and adventure, pretty much like Augury of Chaos but with more freedom to choose where you’re going. This means that there will be a world map or regional map.

I expect that you'll start at level 1 and you'll reach level 10 to 12 by the end of the first module, then you'll reach level 20 or so in the second module, and finally you'll finish the last module around level 30. In terms of the length of each new module, I'm also aiming for something close to Augury of Chaos.

Please refer to the Kickstarter page if you'd like to read a short description of each new module.

As for the expected release dates, it's likely that they will have to be pushed back by a few months, mainly due to the unexpected amount of time it's been taking me to fix the bugs in Augury of Chaos. So, I am now expecting May 2022 for The Dark Arena, January 2023 for Forces of Chaos and September 2023 for Heart of Evil. My sincere apologies for the delays!

Hearkenwold Adventure Module Released By Dorateen
Hearkenwold is a module developed by Dorateen for several years initially using the IceBlink adventure-creation kit. Dorateen has now rebuilt Hearkenwold using the KotC 2 Module Editor.

Hearkenwold is an open-world campaign, inspired by games like Pool of Radiance, Dark Sun, Might & Magic and Wizardry 7. Thus, there is some shared lineage with Knights of the Chalice. It aims to present a classic party-based Dungeons & Dragons type adventure with a focus on exploration and tactical combat. This adventure module offers around 25 hours of playtime.

• Download the module here: https://www.nexusmods.com/knightsofthechalice2/mods/5
• Read the forum thread here: heroicfantasygames.com/Forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=995#p6356
• Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgrclpsiPp0
• Watch an encounter video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bXDfOmKeAg

The adventure begins with the party fleeing an attack on a feudal manor, and seeking refuge in Castle Hearkenwold. From there, the party members can be enlisted into service of the Kingdom, or try to explore on their own. This is designed as an open-world sandbox style campaign. While not set in a specific world setting, Hearkenwold does draw upon the Dungeons & Dragons experience, with the aspiration of recreating the atmosphere of a pen and paper adventure.

Special Thanks to Dorateen for this awesome creative work!

Next Steps for KotC 2 And Closing Words
Essentially the next steps are unchanged from last month, as presented in the previous update.

• Wrap up the Village content and Tutorial content and make sure that all quests can be completed. Also, it would be good to add a few extra quests in Chapter Two and Chapter Three.
• Allow the player to save the game in a few particular places where you have to go through a long dialogue sequence before fighting, or you have to go from one fight to another without any chance to save (I'll see what I can do about this).
• Highlight the recommended Feats and Spells when characters gain a level, as it shouldn't be too hard to implement and it will improve the experience for new players.
• Improve the item descriptions of Magic Scrolls, Potions and Wands.
• Add a new section in the PDF Guidebook on How to Create a New Module.
• Of course, I will add the names of Kickstarter backers to the Credits Screen before release.
• Remove the remaining bugs in the game and editor. Prepare the Steam and GOG Achievements.
• Add the Spell Shortcut System. This might improve gameplay quite a lot. I'll see if it can be added before release.
• Add a few new Magic Items like the Prismatic Helmet and Amulet of the Second Spell. They were mentioned in the Kickstarter update about magic items. These items would be nice to have for the Castle Map of Augury of Chaos, where you face many high-level spellcasters.

As always, if you find bugs or if you have any feedback, thoughts and suggestions, please feel free to let me know here, or in the forums, or by email at enquiries@heroicfantasygames.com.

Thank You For Your Stalwart Support, Dear Knights and Wizards of the Realm!! Rejoice! ^_^

 

[Pink Eye]

I'm so flattered, ahah. Anyways, glad to see he fixed a bunch of things! Super excited to do new run, but am playing Colony Ship at the moment - great game, by the way. Highly recommend it.

 

[Mortmal]

I think we can easily identify the two guys doing bug reporting there . And again i was right modules are delayed . But maybe its for the best , the base KOTC2 might end up on steam, more playable with coherent visuals by the end if everything is replaced by the pvg assets.

 

[Mortmal]

Btw, to the two guys still playing it. I started augury of chaos again. In the new area the guard captain gives you quests, but how do you trigger that goblin attack ? I barely see anything i can interact with on the map,only the mysterious cave on the northwest. Tell me you are not supposed to clear those spiders at level 1 ? Right ?...

 

[Pink Eye]

No. You can try though. Woman at guard tower sells you silence scroll. Use that to defeat the spider queen of cave. It's a hard fight though. Unless he changed something - haven't checked yet - when you talk to guard inside tower. He tells you that there's an invasion. He'll tell you that you need to defend the village. You'll need to fend off two waves, then your party will be forced to split up and defend from two sides; or alternatively you can choose to *not* split the party up. Afterwards you have a big battle to look forward to. Once you've survived that, you can finally go to well and enter Yanos's underground complex.

 

[Mortmal]

No. You can try though. Woman at guard tower sells you silence scroll. Use that to defeat the spider queen of cave. It's a hard fight though. Unless he changed something - haven't checked yet - when you talk to guard inside tower. He tells you that there's an invasion. He'll tell you that you need to defend the village. You'll need to fend off two waves, then your party will be forced to split up and defend from two sides; or alternatively you can choose to *not* split the party up. Afterwards you have a big battle to look forward to. Once you've survived that, you can finally go to well and enter Yanos's underground complex.

Yes he tell me that, but nothing happening once going out from the tower.

 

[Pink Eye]

Looks like a bug then...

 

[Dorateen]

Doesn't the update say you have to rest twice at the inn, and then talk to the baliff? I'm not familiar with this part, so not sure if that is what you are referring to.

 

[Pink Eye]

>As for the Augury of Chaos module, for now you still need to rest two times at the inn then talk to the bailiff to start the goblin attack on the village.
Oh, lol. Yeah, you need to rest twice to initiate the monster invasion.

 

[Mortmal]

Looks like a bug then...

It isnt, someone on discord told me you need to rest two times... Its not mentioned anywhere, there's no reason to rest either , but you have to. Typical of pierre, great combat Ai, great design ton of features, but make it so anyone will beleive the game is broken and unplayable.

 

[Mortmal]

Doesn't the update say you have to rest twice at the inn, and then talk to the baliff? I'm not familiar with this part, so not sure if that is what you are referring to.

That's it yes , but the bailiff doesnt mention it, i just launched it and play like any casual would do....
By the way great work on your module, combat is a lot more in check with CR and common guidelines.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I only tried the spider fight once and didn't put much effort into it (and failed), i tried to reach level 2 beforehand but i came up a little short but i'm sure it's doable if you go all-in.
Also, if someone wonders, when fighting the goblins in the village (chapter 1) chosing to split up your party is a difficulty mode of its own, the second party will face a very difficult fight (failed as well and didn't try it again)

Spoiler

Fighting a psi-bug at low level is quite annoying, there's probably some spells helping if you save them and a favorable party composition while i played it with a sub-optimal party.

Time to launch download it again...

 

[Mortmal]

That fight isnt so hard with ton of greases, prone and several AOO solve that bug trouble.

 

[Darth Canoli]

You were lucky if you had your wizard in the second half (with remaining spells) on your first try.
I tried a rogue or psion grease (or a scroll maybe) and the bug didn't care and then i was out of spells.

I'll come back to my dream team : druid + bishop + DK + psion party with probably a wizard and either a fighter,gladiator or barbarian.

1.6Go...

 

[Pink Eye]

They way I did that fight was only send two people - one melee, one wizard. That way I had more people on the other fight to deal with the enemy.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I didn't even think it was possible (i only did the fight once though), very good tip.

 

[Mortmal]

Dorateen, to find the manor i went in the forest path at level 2 barely geared party , manage to down one encounter of undeads exhausting every spells and half the melee hp. Then on the way back i am auto ambushed by 10 goblin wizard wiping out the party in 2 rounds,.... Is it supposed to happen like this ? Have you caught the same disease than pierre?
So party is screwed , other saves ages ago , are they supposed to be all mele knight no squishies ?