KickStarter Knights of the Chalice 2 Thread - Augury of Chaos

[Abu Antar]

Knights of the Chalice 2 Version 1.56
Hello everyone! Here is the latest version of KotC 2. It's a small update.

Please don't hesitate to email me at enquiries@heroicfantasygames.com if you find any more bugs and annoyances. A saved game may be very helpful, too. Thank you!!

Feel free to check out the YouTube video I made about the planned changes of the Open Game License (OGL):

YouTube™ Video: OGL 1.1: Thank You. I Will Now Destroy My Video Games.
Views: 588
The new OGL 1.1 from WOTC will make the current OGL unauthorised. Revoked! Illegal! Completely banned retroactively! AND it will prevent the creation of OGL video games.
The video also has a bunch of preview images from the upcoming adventure module KotC 2: The Dark Arena.

Feel free to sign the open letter at https://www.opendnd.games/ and the petition at https://www.change.org/p/hasbro-please-take-no-action-regarding-the-open-gaming-license-v1-0a

There's an interesting update from Ryan Dancey here: https://www.change.org/p/hasbro-please-take-no-action-regarding-the-open-gaming-license-v1-0a/u/31237145

I'll post a new Kickstarter update soon.

Thank You So Much For Your Support, Brave Heroes of the Realm! Take care

List of changes in Knights of the Chalice 2 Version 1.56

• When mousing over the name of a party member in the top-right corner of the main view, the tooltip will now indicate the character's level and negative conditions, and it will tell you if the character is suffering from ability damage, ability drain or level drain. This new feature is intended to facilitate healing after combat.
• Fixed a bug with the Aura of Dread special ability of Death Knights, and the Paladin feat Blessed Aura of Courage. The game was giving a negative value to the radius of the Aura of Dread ability. Thank you so much Christopher for letting me know about this bug and for the suggestion to facilitate after-combat healing!
• Fixed a bug with the Decerebrated condition not being processed as Helpless and not reducing a character's Strength and Dexterity to zero.
• Fixed a bug with the modifier lists for Strength and Dexterity when a character is Helpless or Pinned. Also fixed the modifier lists for Intelligence and Charisma when a character is Feebleminded. Corrected the help entry for the condition Feebleminded to mention that it also affects Charisma. Also corrected the description of the spell Feeblemind.
• In Augury of Chaos, given the spell Boulder Strike to 20 Druids and Storm Warriors who are able to cast it. Also given the feat Aura of Terror to 13 Death Knights that have at least six class levels.
• Added some code to accelerate gameplay in combat.

 

[Jermu]

List that does not have psionicist ranked 1 is probably shit

Monk was okay class before dex to dmg but now it should be only second to Fighter when considering melee classes. Wade-in is too good (edit forgot about barbarian buff so dont know how well that class does now)

 

[kinzadza]

Bishop is quite good because there is a lot of domains with great powers, not having lv8 and lv9 spells is offset by having lots of useful abilites that can be used more often, probably A/A+ rank

Rogues with the new subclasses are good, especially dex to dmg and sneak attack against immune enemies. At least B

Ranger is surprisingly useful, u really want at least one ranged attacker because there are many fights where u have bad terrain, traps, disabling spells etc. They get str to dmg by default so u can freely max str and dex with them, and they have some good spells as well. Ammo is a non-issue most of the time. There is special ammo, and lots of good ranged weapons in the game. Ranger is A rank at the minimum

Psionicist is the strongest caster by far.

 

[Serus]

I don't know if something wasn't changed in Psionicist lately. When i played i had a feeling that he was only the strongest caster early game. Later in game Wizard became at least as good, probably even slightly better. It is mostly about spells and wizard's spells at higher levels are slightly stronger. Still it was very close, i wouldn't trade any of them for a second of the other.

The casters able the cast more than 1 type of magic/psionics weren't that good but then i only had in the party the story Warlock and she is worse than an own Warlock would be. Still, i suppose if someone wanted a heavy-melee setup then a perhaps a Warlock would be a good choice? Maybe even Psychic Healer? Just guessing here.

 

[FriendlyMerchant]

cool video worth watching (kinda nobrainer since its from Pierre)

French speakers tend to have terrible accents when speaking English even if they know it well in writing but Pierre... he is on another level.

I don't know about that. I had older French woman who was my differential equations teacher, for both the elementary and advanced ODE classes. It was somewhat attractive to hear and she too was still quite attractive for her age, especially as she was Mediterranean looking from southern France and petite. I still fantasize about that Shiksa even today.

 

[LabRat]

Shadow Storm spell is also great in final battles. If you're not sure you can kill their wizards on first turn. At least prevent them can't cast spell above 8th-level.

 

[Covenant]

Is there a console or wizard mode anything like that? I accidentally equipped my Death Knight with a +10 Power Points crown, and it now seems impossible to remove it ('Not enough power points!', even after using Figs to restore them to 10/10). I've done a few battles since then and really don't want to backtrack, but permanently losing the helm spot is a kick in the teeth.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Is there a console or wizard mode anything like that? I accidentally equipped my Death Knight with a +10 Power Points crown, and it now seems impossible to remove it ('Not enough power points!', even after using Figs to restore them to 10/10). I've done a few battles since then and really don't want to backtrack, but permanently losing the helm spot is a kick in the teeth.

So you're saying that the problem is your Death Knight's PP is too small?

 

[Dorateen]

I suppose you could go into the Module Editor, open up Augury of Chaos and then open item editor. Find the crown and remove the power points condition, and anything else that could prevent removal. Save, and then when you start the module again the item should be changed so the character can take it off.

 

[Covenant]

I suppose you could go into the Module Editor, open up Augury of Chaos and then open item editor. Find the crown and remove the power points condition, and anything else that could prevent removal. Save, and then when you start the module again the item should be changed so the character can take it off.

Worked like a charm, thank you.

And honestly the Death Knight has been more trouble than he's worth. He rarely gets sneak attacks (I flank when I can, but it's not that often), and otherwise he's a poor fighter. I'm going for Greater Feint to see if that makes a difference.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...-revolutionise-old-school-crpgs/posts/3695664

Update #67: KotC 2 Version 1.56 Fixes Bugs + Update on The Dark Arena​

Hello everyone! I hope you're well. The latest version of KotC 2 is version 1.56. It can be downloaded here for both Windows and macOS. It can also be downloaded on Steam and GOG. In the past month, I released two bug-fixing updates and I worked on the upcoming adventure module, The Dark Arena.

Preview image from The Dark Arena
Also, after the announcement from Wizards of the Coast that the Open Game Licence would be updated, I published a video on YouTube calling on people to reject these plans. And it seems we've won! A few days ago, Wizards said that they will leave the original OGL untouched. It's a great result! Thank you so much to everyone for having made your voice heard loud and clear!! Congratulations: thanks to YOU and your efforts, creators will be able to keep making OGL video games and other types of content!

The YouTube video also contains some preview images from The Dark Arena.

This month, I also received the long-awaited ruling on the family-home inheritance. It is exactly as I was expecting it. Now, the only question is how long it's going to take for this ruling to actually come into effect. Hopefully, not much longer. I'm so looking forward to that, and having my own place at last.

Some animations I made for The Dark Arena​

Recently, I created a new moving water animation effect for the game. It will be available in the next version of the game, version 1.57. The water animation effect is applied in the Module Editor using a new menu option under 'Other Tools'. You can specify the effect's opacity from 1% to 100%. Lower the opacity to create a subtler effect.

I've also added a new game option allowing the player to turn this effect on and off. Here's a GIF animation showing what the effect looks like with 100% opacity.

Moving Water Animation Effect
Also, since there's a drawbridge in the map of Crossroad Castle (see the world map here), I couldn't resist creating a drawbridge animation for The Dark Arena. Here's a GIF animation showing what it looks like, below. That feat requires quite a few Half Giants! ^_^

Drawbridge Animation for The Dark Arena
I'm planning to add more animations to the game. The ones I am interested in are the rain, falling snow, falling leaves, glowing will-o’-the-wisps, and moving natural fog. I've already done a bit of work on the rain effect.

Now, let's review the changes from the last two updates.

List of changes in KotC 2 Version 1.56​

• When mousing over the name of a party member in the top-right corner of the main view, the tooltip will now indicate the character's level and negative conditions, and it will tell you if the character is suffering from ability damage, ability drain or level drain. This new feature is intended to facilitate healing after combat.
• Fixed a bug with the Aura of Dread special ability of Death Knights, and the Paladin feat Blessed Aura of Courage. The game was giving a negative value to the radius of the Aura of Dread ability. Thank you so much Christopher for letting me know about this bug and for the suggestion to facilitate after-combat healing!
• Fixed a bug with the Decerebrated condition not being processed as Helpless and not reducing a character's Strength and Dexterity to zero.
• Fixed a bug with the modifier lists for Strength and Dexterity when a character is Helpless or Pinned. Also fixed the modifier lists for Intelligence and Charisma when a character is Feebleminded. Corrected the help entry for the condition Feebleminded to mention that it also affects Charisma. Also corrected the description of the spell Feeblemind.
• In Augury of Chaos, given the spell Boulder Strike to 20 Druids and Storm Warriors who are able to cast it. Also given the feat Aura of Terror to 13 Death Knights that have at least six class levels.
• Added some code to accelerate gameplay in combat.

List of changes in KotC 2 Version 1.55​

• Added the new Druid / Storm Warrior spell Boulder Strike. You'll find the spell's description here. Earth Druids benefit from an increased range when casting this spell.
• Fixed a bug with infinite enemy grapple attacks from enemies that have the feat Greater Grapple. This was due to the recent change in the feat Greater Grapple.
• In the Feat selection screen, when right clicking on the feat Improved Throw Creature, this would open the help entry for Improved Grapple. The game will now open the correct help entry.
• In Augury of Chaos, given the 'Rush to the Enemy' AI setting to the Mimics of the Lower Sewers.
• Fixed a source of crashes when the AI tries to cast Chromatic Orb and the caster's level is above 20. Also fixed the Chromatic Orb damage when the caster level is above 20.
• Fixed a bug with enemy Mage Knights not making use of the feat Phase Spells.
• Improved the in-game help entries for Dexterity, No Dexterity Bonus to AC, Flat-Footed, Falling, Balancing, Bull Rush, Trip, and Earth Sphere.
• Fixed a display bug when mousing over the list of party-member names in the top-right corner of the main view.
• Fixed a tooltip display issue in the Module Editor when mousing over creatures.

Preview image from The Dark Arena

Next Steps for Knights of the Chalice 2​

Unchanged from the previous update, the next development steps are the following:

• Work on the three upcoming adventure modules. Create the new world map & new dungeon maps.
• Hire a graphic designer to create new sprites, new maps and other types of artwork.
• Fix any remaining issues mentioned on the Steam Forum, GOG Forum, website Forums, and by email.
• Implement new features such as new monster abilities, subraces, familiars, items & weather effects.

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 Loyal Support, Wise Mages and Fearless Warriors! Best Regards

 

[Dorateen]

Recently, I created a new moving water animation effect for the game. It will be available in the next version of the game, version 1.57.

The next patch is shaping up nicely. I look forward to placing the new animation on water tiles in the Hearkenwold module.

 

[Serus]

Recently, I created a new moving water animation effect for the game. It will be available in the next version of the game, version 1.57.

The next patch is shaping up nicely. I look forward to placing the new animation on water tiles in the Hearkenwold module.

Sorry for being lazy and not checking it myself but you are in this thread often and i like being lazy. What is the "suggested" difficulty level for playing your module? The hardest one i presume?

 

[Dorateen]

Recently, I created a new moving water animation effect for the game. It will be available in the next version of the game, version 1.57.

The next patch is shaping up nicely. I look forward to placing the new animation on water tiles in the Hearkenwold module.

Sorry for being lazy and not checking it myself but you are in this thread often and i like being lazy. What is the "suggested" difficulty level for playing your module? The hardest one i presume?

I had tried to balance it for Challenging. There has been feedback that characters can get quite strong making some battles too easy. But there have also been a lot of updates to the module since it was first made, such as the new Barbarian special abilities, which a lot of enemies now have. It is a non-linear adventure though, so it is common for a low level party to run into difficult encounters, but they can come back when they are stronger and stomp on those enemies. So, balance really depends on what content the player has explored, and at what level they take on certain fights.

 

[Tacgnol]

Recently, I created a new moving water animation effect for the game. It will be available in the next version of the game, version 1.57.

The next patch is shaping up nicely. I look forward to placing the new animation on water tiles in the Hearkenwold module.

Sorry for being lazy and not checking it myself but you are in this thread often and i like being lazy. What is the "suggested" difficulty level for playing your module? The hardest one i presume?

I had tried to balance it for Challenging. There has been feedback that characters can get quite strong making some battles too easy. But there have also been a lot of updates to the module since it was first made, such as the new Barbarian special abilities, which a lot of enemies now have. It is a non-linear adventure though, so it is common for a low level party to run into difficult encounters, but they can come back when they are stronger and stomp on those enemies. So, balance really depends on what content the player has explored, and at what level they take on certain fights.

That's what I loved about your module, it captures that old feeling of wandering into somewhere you shouldn't go, getting stomped and then having to come back later.

 

[Serus]

I missed the discussion (if there was one) about the changes Pierre made in the last .20 versions.
Do anyone find the Monk specialisation a bit unbalanced? The one that gives Dex-to-dmg is bonkers. The one with Mirror image is... ok. Other 3 are crap. Am i missing something?


On another note, is there anyone working an a real module. Other than Pierre himself of curse?

 

[Jermu]

yup when I saw changes for monk dex to damage seemed like an easy choice. I have not played with the new changes but I would not be surprised if mantis monk is equal or even better than half giant fighter. Probably would end up bringing both since str is needed for certain mechanics.
true seeing as a free action is also good if you use your monk for grappling I would consider this one if I wanted to do ironman again with the new changes (dont remb anymore when you get true seeing item so would depend on that).

for rogue I would say there are only 2 real choices between dex to dmg and bypassing crit immunity

regarding module there is Hearkenwold

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/knights-of-the-chalice-2-editor-module-creation.134120/page-10

 

[Desiderius]

I missed the discussion (if there was one) about the changes Pierre made in the last .20 versions.
Do anyone find the Monk specialisation a bit unbalanced? The one that gives Dex-to-dmg is bonkers. The one with Mirror image is... ok. Other 3 are crap. Am i missing something?


On another note, is there anyone working an a real module. Other than Pierre himself of curse?

Guys, stop trying to make one weird trick happen. Pierre is simply the best. There’s always a use case and it’s always at least interesting and viable. He doesn’t do strictly worse.

Rogue and Monk are no exception. It’s ok to admit that you don’t have time to explore them all (does anyone over 14?). Pick the one you like and go with it. No need to pretend its optimal or a no brainer or whatever.

 

[Serus]

I missed the discussion (if there was one) about the changes Pierre made in the last .20 versions.
Do anyone find the Monk specialisation a bit unbalanced? The one that gives Dex-to-dmg is bonkers. The one with Mirror image is... ok. Other 3 are crap. Am i missing something?


On another note, is there anyone working an a real module. Other than Pierre himself of curse?

Guys, stop trying to make one weird trick happen. Pierre is simply the best. There’s always a use case and it’s always at least interesting and viable. He doesn’t do strictly worse.

Rogue and Monk are no exception. It’s ok to admit that you don’t have time to explore them all (does anyone over 14?). Pick the one you like and go with it. No need to pretend its optimal or a no brainer or whatever.

What "trick"? What do I want to happen? What does Pierre being "the best" have to do with anything? What?
And yes, we all know how "brainstorming" is evil. Unless it is you who do it. It's ok to admit of being a hipocrite.

I get it, you had a bad day. Go out, have some fun, be happy just... don't to that.

 

[Jermu]

Its not like you need to do whole playthrough to determine is for example

Rogue Specialisation, Ninja: You are a Shinobi, a dreaded master of espionage, stealth, deception and assassination. Your exacting training grants you benefits related to your magical abilities. You receive a +2 bonus to Willpower saving throws. You get the feat Fast Spells for free at level 1. In addition, you gain one extra spell slot of each available spell level.

or

Monk Specialisation, Way Of The Candle: Your focus on pious meditation in a candlelit monastery has granted you profound insights into energy manipulation through mystical means. You receive a +1 bonus on all Damage Rolls. You also gain an Energy Shield personal-range Free Action supernatural ability, as the spell Energy Shield (Wizard). You can use this ability once per day from level 1 to 3, twice per day from level 4 to 6, three times per day from level 7 to 9, four times per day from level 10 to 12, five times per day from level 13 to 15, six times per day from level 16 to 18, and seven times per day from level 19.

as good/useful as dex to dmg. I know what those spells and feats do so I can use my imagination.

there are classes, subraces, feats and spells in same tier/school that are simply better that other options.

If you dont want to be an epic powergamer thats obviously fine but its quite retarded to assume everything is equally good. Even our lord and saviour Pierre agrees with this considering he has been making balance changes.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Its not like you need to do whole playthrough to determine is for example

Rogue Specialisation, Ninja: You are a Shinobi, a dreaded master of espionage, stealth, deception and assassination. Your exacting training grants you benefits related to your magical abilities. You receive a +2 bonus to Willpower saving throws. You get the feat Fast Spells for free at level 1. In addition, you gain one extra spell slot of each available spell level.

or

Monk Specialisation, Way Of The Candle: Your focus on pious meditation in a candlelit monastery has granted you profound insights into energy manipulation through mystical means. You receive a +1 bonus on all Damage Rolls. You also gain an Energy Shield personal-range Free Action supernatural ability, as the spell Energy Shield (Wizard). You can use this ability once per day from level 1 to 3, twice per day from level 4 to 6, three times per day from level 7 to 9, four times per day from level 10 to 12, five times per day from level 13 to 15, six times per day from level 16 to 18, and seven times per day from level 19.

as good/useful as dex to dmg. I know what those spells and feats do so I can use my imagination.

there are classes, subraces, feats and spells in same tier/school that are simply better that other options.

If you dont want to be an epic powergamer thats obviously fine but its quite retarded to assume everything is equally good.

It depends what you want the character to do in the context of your party. If you have a decent strength score, Dex to damage isn't all that important. If your character isn't a primary damage dealer, Dex to damage isn't overly relevant, but some of the other abilities might be.

 

[Jermu]

Well thats quite obvious if you are not making dex based monk then dex to dmg is not that useful.

When I take a look at monk special abilities anything else than mantis seems suboptimal to me and that pretty much naturally leads to dex based monk already. As I mentioned before I could see myself skipping dex to dmg for true seeing but I have a hard time imagining taking energy shield being the best option in any scenario.

 

[Zed]

How long is KOTC2? For a KOTC noob, is it more like 20h, or 100h?
Apparently I got this on KS but I still haven't touched it.

 

[Serus]

Its not like you need to do whole playthrough to determine is for example

Rogue Specialisation, Ninja: You are a Shinobi, a dreaded master of espionage, stealth, deception and assassination. Your exacting training grants you benefits related to your magical abilities. You receive a +2 bonus to Willpower saving throws. You get the feat Fast Spells for free at level 1. In addition, you gain one extra spell slot of each available spell level.

or

Monk Specialisation, Way Of The Candle: Your focus on pious meditation in a candlelit monastery has granted you profound insights into energy manipulation through mystical means. You receive a +1 bonus on all Damage Rolls. You also gain an Energy Shield personal-range Free Action supernatural ability, as the spell Energy Shield (Wizard). You can use this ability once per day from level 1 to 3, twice per day from level 4 to 6, three times per day from level 7 to 9, four times per day from level 10 to 12, five times per day from level 13 to 15, six times per day from level 16 to 18, and seven times per day from level 19.

as good/useful as dex to dmg. I know what those spells and feats do so I can use my imagination.

there are classes, subraces, feats and spells in same tier/school that are simply better that other options.

If you dont want to be an epic powergamer thats obviously fine but its quite retarded to assume everything is equally good.

It depends what you want the character to do in the context of your party. If you have a decent strength score, Dex to damage isn't all that important. If your character isn't a primary damage dealer, Dex to damage isn't overly relevant, but some of the other abilities might be.

Sure some abilities could be good in certain scenarios but that is why i asked. Maybe someone played with them, maybe he has something to say. That is where the "am I missing something" part of my post comes into pay.
However DEX, if you can get DEX-to-dmg and finesse, simply does majority of things STR does and a ton of important things more. And monks are more DEX oriented than before and than most other classes. But if you want a STR monk for say, party grappler then it might work i guess. And if some did that - i would be glad to hear about the experience.
I just don't see how abilities that can be (more or less easily) replicated or are have uses in specific situation can be better than a strong ability that works all the time. Assuming you create a build that is capable of using such ability effectively.
Also what Jermu said.

 

[Serus]

How long is KOTC2? For a KOTC noob, is it more like 20h, or 100h?
Apparently I got this on KS but I still haven't touched it.

Between the two mentioned numbers. I am a very slow player but even for me it isn't 100.