JarlFrank
I like Thief THIS much
Did you start the ironman run yet?
Yes, still in Finchbury and trying to plan my course. Hardest part in Finchbury will be the vanishing sword quest.
Did you start the ironman run yet?
Gaem too hard. Filtered by the tutorial. Welcome to RPG Codex, home of true, monocled gamers.
tbh the tutorial is harder than the first and second act of the main game
He also created a sort of "prologue" that is more difficult than the first chapter and half of the game. This is why everyone loves him. Or hates him but it is hard to remain unaffected by his "design" choices if you play his games.
Gaem too hard. Filtered by the tutorial. Welcome to RPG Codex, home of true, monocled gamers.
tbh the tutorial is harder than the first and second act of the main game
So what I'm hearing here is that visionary designer Pierre Begue listened to all the whining about difficulty and created a tutorial that will tutor players to be able to more easily pass the first two acts of the game. Genius!
Yes, still in Finchbury and trying to plan my course. Hardest part in Finchbury will be the vanishing sword quest.
This isn't true because I have seen a video of someone playing on Normal difficulty and he is hitting / succeeding on spells far more easily than I was. Normal applies a level drain to enemies which makes them weaker, so it doesn't just change long-term difficulty.There is little difference in that case. What difficulties do mostly is changing long term balance, number of feats, having to pay for levelling, etc... Things that make the game easier/harder because your party becomes stronger or weaker. The change in combat itself are the initiative penalty for the AI on Normal and Hard and higher dying threshold - on per level basis on Normal. Let's forget easy. The initiative plays a big role, the bigger the stronger enemy, especially casters get but only Archmage by default doesn't have the penalty for AI. Btw a 25% penalty doesn't guarantee anything, just makes it much more likely.
There is a "Zen Archery" feat though, WIS replaces DEX as the stat to give the attack bonus. Included in Hunting domain. Nice for a cleric archer, i would say, and affects ranged touch spells too.
Normal doesn't apply any "level drain" automatically. Level drain is a rare effect from, mostly, higher level spells and a high level, rarely used, weapon enchantment. This is what normal difficulty modifies. The change only affects spells resistance and armour class - at least according to help files. This means that if the video wasn't showing mid game at least AND the players wasn't spamming the effect AND the enemy had SR (in case of spells) to begin with - the option didn't do squat - at least to my knowledge. Also See "observer bias".This isn't true because I have seen a video of someone playing on Normal difficulty and he is hitting / succeeding on spells far more easily than I was. Normal applies a level drain to enemies which makes them weaker, so it doesn't just change long-term difficulty.There is little difference in that case. What difficulties do mostly is changing long term balance, number of feats, having to pay for levelling, etc... Things that make the game easier/harder because your party becomes stronger or weaker. The change in combat itself are the initiative penalty for the AI on Normal and Hard and higher dying threshold - on per level basis on Normal. Let's forget easy. The initiative plays a big role, the bigger the stronger enemy, especially casters get but only Archmage by default doesn't have the penalty for AI. Btw a 25% penalty doesn't guarantee anything, just makes it much more likely.
What about healing? Only Psion in main team is capable of healing. Everything else from potions scrolls? You can't even read cleric/druid scrolls. I think you need the one of the two companion druids - or at least the elemental bodyguard of the "good" one. But then i'm a noob in this game compared to you.The village is a better tutorial but when you're done with the main game, maybe after playing it twice and after playing Hearkenwold, the tutorial is a nice short module.
Ok, I'm going :
For my Archmage (no gold and more feats) Ironman run.
- Kobold Red Wiz
- Human Black Wiz
- Elf Psion
- Drake Fighter
- Mantis Rogue
- Centaur DK
Probably with fire druid and pizarra or the monk if he's good enough.
I barely used necro spells so far, aside from malison on some tough enemies so i'll try to fix that. I'll miss the Barbarian, he's fucking good early on.
I was just thinking about trying a prismatic wall for the Spider Queen fight since I've never tried it.
Silence + Prismatic wall + fighters behind her and some summons on the other side, probably malison once she spawns, ectoplasmic cocoon worked once so it might work again and there's also the guaranteed 1 level drain aoe (probably if not resisted) which might remove her some spells.
The in-game help says "Negative levels may be assigned to certain opponents, depending on the Difficulty level. Negative levels resulting from the difficulty setting apply a penalty to Armour Class and Spell Resistance, as well as the standard effects of negative levels detailed below". Then it goes on to list Attack Rolls, Saving Throws, Hit Points, and Effective Level (affecting spellcasting/psionic powers).Normal doesn't apply any "level drain" automatically. Level drain is a rare effect from, mostly, higher level spells and a high level, rarely used, weapon enchantment. This is what normal difficulty modifies. The change only affects spells resistance and armour class - at least according to help files. This means that if the video wasn't showing mid game at least AND the players wasn't spamming the effect AND the enemy had SR (in case of spells) to begin with - the option didn't do squat - at least to my knowledge. Also See "observer bias".
So yes, there is a difference between Normal and Hard in combat but it isn't a big one and not early in game at all. The death threshold change is, probably, the bigger one of the two between normal and hard difficulties. The big difference in combat is between normal/hard vs Archmage, namely the initiative.
Normal doesn't apply any "level drain" automatically. Level drain is a rare effect from, mostly, higher level spells and a high level, rarely used, weapon enchantment. This is what normal difficulty modifies.
So you admit that the negative level effect makes the fight easier, and having defeated the encounter before and knowing exactly what to do, you were able to defeat it again on the higher difficulty!Using v1.29, I was only able to beat the battle on very hard after setting reduced initiative 25%. No one was even unconscious at the end! The negative levels make the fighter less of a problem, that's true. Only him and one of the mummies has that effect, from what I saw in the editor. Either way, it's still one of the best battles I've ever played.
Yes and it does make a big difference to the fight.The in-game help says "Negative levels may be assigned to certain opponents, depending on the Difficulty level. Negative levels resulting from the difficulty setting apply a penalty to Armour Class and Spell Resistance, as well as the standard effects of negative levels detailed below". Then it goes on to list Attack Rolls, Saving Throws, Hit Points, and Effective Level (affecting spellcasting/psionic powers).Normal doesn't apply any "level drain" automatically. Level drain is a rare effect from, mostly, higher level spells and a high level, rarely used, weapon enchantment. This is what normal difficulty modifies. The change only affects spells resistance and armour class - at least according to help files. This means that if the video wasn't showing mid game at least AND the players wasn't spamming the effect AND the enemy had SR (in case of spells) to begin with - the option didn't do squat - at least to my knowledge. Also See "observer bias".
So yes, there is a difference between Normal and Hard in combat but it isn't a big one and not early in game at all. The death threshold change is, probably, the bigger one of the two between normal and hard difficulties. The big difference in combat is between normal/hard vs Archmage, namely the initiative.
Ahh yeah I might try that, I do like the effect of having sprites though to be fairGiven all the positioning problems you've mentioned...are you using sprites, or tokens? I ended up switching to tokens because it made positioning so much easier, it's like a completely different world. Also when using tokens you can see each unit's health on the token, and you can turn on green/red circles around each token for friendly/hostile.
Give it a try in a few combats, and you may never go back. Also keep in mind you can modify the token that's used for each of your characters at any time (click on their portrait on the char sheet). Set recognizable ones so you know who's where at a glance, that will be a big improvement over the sprites too. Alt+T toggles between the two modes if you don't already know that.Ahh yeah I might try that, I do like the effect of having sprites though to be fairGiven all the positioning problems you've mentioned...are you using sprites, or tokens? I ended up switching to tokens because it made positioning so much easier, it's like a completely different world. Also when using tokens you can see each unit's health on the token, and you can turn on green/red circles around each token for friendly/hostile.
i hope you realise there are consoomables that can refresh your spell slots and from what i remember they are plenty plentiful
Read the rules, man. Pierre removed the rogue out of bard. Full BAB and no rogue skill. Their extra skill is even Nature. They are not much worse than martials with no wade-in if built similarly.bards are a weird in-between of martials, rogues and casters. they get enough feats and weapon proficiencies to be useful in combat but not enough to come close to a real martial. their songs are really useful though, not only the ones that buff but the offensive ones as well. pipes of pain and heavenly song are as good as some control spells, and arcane rhyme is great for magic-centric parties.