KickStarter Solasta: Crown of the Magister Thread - now with Palace of Ice sequel DLC

[Jedi Master Radek]

You do get regular AoOs though, just not in response to every sneeze. And besides that, to make positioning meaningful, you get cover, disadvantage on ranged attacks (including some spells), rogue's sneak attack etc.

Standing up from prone position next to an enemy with an axe isn't exactly a sneeze.

Cover can be potentially cancerous if it makes fight less dynamic.

 

[Thonius]

you'll hit max level well before game end.

I finished the game being level 9, having done roughly half of the side quests. I did have an Oblivion cleric though, which meant I could bypass 2/3 of random encounters on the world map. They probably need their XP rewards heavily rebalanced.

DnD5 is poor choice for PC game. Like have you seen level up screens on games with DnD5? UGH like 0 choices. Where's my build porn?

Looks like someone hasn't played anything before 3e.

Played bgs some golden box series games. Character building was not a high point of them. Duh. More like opposite.

 

[V_K]

Standing up from prone position next to an enemy with an axe isn't exactly a sneeze.

Ah, the realism argument. As if there's anything at all realistic about TB.

 

[Cryomancer]

This on LoTR. Tolkien has a strong bias towards manlet races. Just like TSR has a bias towards humans.

I mean, he is practically the creator of the modern interpretation of elves and dwarves that almost all of fantasy is inspired by. If the creator favored the manlet races, there was probably a good reason for it.

Elves and Dwarves on D&D are more akin to the Norse mythology counterparts than to Tokien idea of this two fantasy races. For eg, on D&D elves are a bit shorter than humans. On LoTR, they are taller. However, LoTR has some interesting scenes which would be cool in a TT game. eg :

As if there's anything at all realistic about TB.

TB is a abstraction. You had alternative rules for everyone declaring what to do and taking actions at the same time, but was too chaotic.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Standing up from prone position next to an enemy with an axe isn't exactly a sneeze.

Ah, the realism argument. As if there's anything at all realistic about TB.

I like more simulationists systems. Saying that you can't have a simulationist approach because the system is abstract is just wrong.

Also: having AoO on standing up is better from a gameplay standpoint because it makes being knocked prone be more consequential. As it is now if there are no friendly turns after your character knocks an enemy prone, the enemy gets up and there are no consequences for knocking them down. That makes shoving people to the ground an action that is extremely situational and have a high opportunity costs, so in most situation when this action would be useful you would just forget about its existence.

 

[V_K]

As it is now if there are no friendly turns after your character knocks an enemy prone, the enemy gets up and there are no consequences for knocking them down. That makes shoving people to the ground an action that is extremely situational and have a high opportunity costs, so in most situation when this action would be useful you would just forget about its existence.

I don't necessarily disagree with that. But I still don't think AoO is necessary to make it better - for example, standing up could eat up your main action instead.

 

[Spectacle]

You do get regular AoOs though, just not in response to every sneeze. And besides that, to make positioning meaningful, you get cover, disadvantage on ranged attacks (including some spells), rogue's sneak attack etc.

Standing up from prone position next to an enemy with an axe isn't exactly a sneeze.

Not standing up and just lying there on the ground would be far more dangerous, but for some reason that doesn't provoke anything..

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

I don't necessarily disagree with that. But I still don't think AoO is necessary to make it better - for example, standing up could eat up your main action instead.

That's certainly better than what is implemented now, but what about drinking potions when engaged with an enemy? Without punishing this action you either have to cut potions or have characters effectively multiplying their hp pool. Do you create a new mechanic for that? What about changing equipment when engaged? You could effectively create a web of separate mechanics dealing with engagement and make whole system a mess.

Having AoO as an universal engagement punishment mechanic works better, it makes system more intuitive without losing depth and it is fun to poke things with a sword during their turn.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

You do get regular AoOs though, just not in response to every sneeze. And besides that, to make positioning meaningful, you get cover, disadvantage on ranged attacks (including some spells), rogue's sneak attack etc.

Standing up from prone position next to an enemy with an axe isn't exactly a sneeze.

Not standing up and just lying there on the ground would be far more dangerous, but for some reason that doesn't provoke anything..

It buffs attacks against the person lying.

 

[lukaszek]

You do get regular AoOs though, just not in response to every sneeze. And besides that, to make positioning meaningful, you get cover, disadvantage on ranged attacks (including some spells), rogue's sneak attack etc.

Standing up from prone position next to an enemy with an axe isn't exactly a sneeze.

Not standing up and just lying there on the ground would be far more dangerous, but for some reason that doesn't provoke anything..

It buffs attacks against the person lying.

unless its ranged attack, then its disadvantage!

Laying on the ground doesnt feel punishing. If it was you would be spending actions to shove enemy on the ground, are you?

Im playing mountaineer and even though i can do it for free, I often dont - half of my party would be at disadvantage

 

[Harthwain]

unless its ranged attack, then its disadvantage!

...which makes sense.

Going prone is exactly the sort of thing you do when under fire and there is no cover, because by doing so you make yourself less of a target.

Laying on the ground doesnt feel punishing. If it was you would be spending actions to shove enemy on the ground, are you?

Im playing mountaineer and even though i can do it for free, I often dont - half of my party would be at disadvantage

Is this really the game's fault that you made a team which does not synergize with your other classes though?

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

It makes sense that lying at the ground makes one a worse target for ranged weapons, you should be able to lie down on your own. I like that for mostly ranged party knocking people on the ground is bad strategy. This makes the action value dependent on party composition which is great. The strategy you use is affected by party composition. That's a good thing!

 

[V_K]

what about drinking potions when engaged with an enemy? Without punishing this action you either have to cut potions or have characters effectively multiplying their hp pool. Do you create a new mechanic for that? What about changing equipment when engaged?

If I'm not mistaken, all of those already eat up the main action as a general rule. So effectively enemies do get a free attack on you since you can't do anything major in the same round; no need for additional punishment. Personally, I find the pacing of combat to be better that way than overusing AoOs.

 

[lukaszek]

...which makes sense.

unless im directly above

in other news ive pulled +1 longsword. Too bad that it cant be enchanted Im not meant to craft longsword it seems.

btw that crafted chainshirt stacks with bracers of defense?

 

[fantadomat]

Even Sawyer criticized BG3...

And he is right,RNG is shit,especially on lower level campaign. Doesn't help that 5e is total garbage lol,3.5 had the best skill levelling from all of them.

 

[Denim Destroyer]

The Lava Forest is the only place I can think of where the dungeon exterior was orders of magnitude harder than the interior. Sure the elemental chest room and area boss took an attempt or two neither of those left me at near death with half my party!
Also has anyone found a way to craft/buy magical arrows other than poison? Up to this point I have only found a small handful of fire and acid arrows while drowning in multiples types of poison arrows.

 

[Tacgnol]

Even Sawyer criticized BG3...

And he is right,RNG is shit,especially on lower level campaign. Doesn't help that 5e is total garbage lol,3.5 had the best skill levelling from all of them.

Skills, especially at low levels, are probably my biggest hatred in 5e and derivatives. It annoys me that a character trained in something complex is barely more competent at it than a random adventurer.

On the tabletop it's somewhat resolved by DMs giving advantage, but even then it would be better if they just let trained characters have higher skill rolls.

 

[fantadomat]

Even Sawyer criticized BG3...

And he is right,RNG is shit,especially on lower level campaign. Doesn't help that 5e is total garbage lol,3.5 had the best skill levelling from all of them.

Skills, especially at low levels, are probably are my biggest hatred in 5e and derivatives. It annoys me that a character trained in something complex is barely more competent at it than a random adventurer.

On the tabletop it's somewhat resolved by DMs giving advantage, but even then it would be better if they just let trained characters have higher skill rolls.

It is not only on lower levels,skills are pretty useless because of proficiency. You end up gaining a point every few levels in them and you can't affect them after the initial skill pics. So you end having the same results later on as in early levels. It is pretty retarded system,i honestly don't know how people could play that shit. And yeah tabletop kind off works because the dm could add shit and make it more interesting. In PC games it is total shit,it have more levelling diversity than diablo.

 

[Strange Fellow]

OK I finished it. Was gonna write a big post with my thoughts and feelings and stuffies, but luckily for you I can't be bothered. Meh is how I feel.

 

[fantadomat]

OK I finished it. Was gonna write a big post with my thoughts and feelings and stuffies, but luckily for you I can't be bothered. Meh is how I feel.

LoL and you were the dude that was bitching and getting offended when people were saying that the game is shitty meh. What a cunt!

 

[Thac0]

uff that final fight. That was not good. I was ready to call out this thread and call the fight completely adequate until the final turn.

Spoiler

Then the timer went out and I just won. This is not how you do the climax to your game. And it is so ridiculous, because it is another error that would have been really easy to remedy. First the survive 3 waves fight, then the kill the Sor Akkath leader fight. Putting it in the other order is so absurdly anticlimatic.
The bronze dragon almost died in the first turn, but actually got a turn in and managed to frighten half the enemies with a roar. Nice work!

The final dungeon leading up to the bossfight was so-so. It felt too long and somewhat arbitrary, but it was well calculated attrition wise as I was almost out of level 3+ spellslots after the wind elemental fight. That made the following bossfight much more intense. Strange to have the first real attrition challenge after level 5 be the final dungeon, but why not.
The reverse gravity area was really cool, as my ranger was attuned to a cloak of spiderwalking. It looked funny how she completely ignored the strange gravity and just beelined for the treasure. Shame there was no fight in there.
Idk who is insane enough to put crafting recipes as optional loot in the final dungeon.

Rating my party after the game:

Half Elf Fighter Spellblade: Really good in the early game, really bad in the midgame until I got the bugged Greataxes, above average in the lategame. Spellblade is a pretty bad subclass all things around, as it does not get shield. Still I gave him expeditious retreat which gave him two bonus actions, and the feat that allows extra attacks with a two handed weapon on a bonus action. With that bug exploit that is probably the best way to play a two handed fighter.

Halfling Ranger Sharpshooter: Waste of Space for most of the game. I really should have went with the gloomstalker variant, I had a high level gloomstalker NPC in my party for a few quests, and he does so much bonus damage with that darkslayer ability. Strangely enough she became really usefull in the lategame, when she could finally cast conjure animals aswell, and with a quiver full of magical arrows she dealt a lot of damage in the final dungeon.

High Elf Wizard Greenmage: Very strong for most of the game. In the late game she kind of got derelegated to just summoning a bunch of stuff, and then hiding in the corner holding concentration, shooting arrows of entanglement and throwing fireballs. Maybe the odd counterspell. Summoning is fairly boring in this game, because for the two good summoning spells conjure animals and conjure minor elementals there are clear dominant choices.

Excerpt on summoning:

Spoiler

Conjure animals:
4 spiders are shit, almost everything is immune to poison and they die in one hit. Two wolves is the best option. The flying mantis is actually decent, it only has one attack and also poison damage, but it flies and is immune to poison. A lot of enemies beeline for it, particularily other flying mantis, and only bite it for low damage due to the poison immunity.
Minor elementals:
4 wind snakes is borderline busted, 4 flying bodies with 60 hp, 1d8 frost damage, decent to hit, resistance to physical damage and immunity to frost and poison. 2 Fire elementals is very bad because most enemies are immune to burning. 1 Earth elemental is awfull, less hp than even a single wind snake and less resistances. Never hit a single attack, always got bursted first.
The two single target summons are bad, summon insect summons a single 30hp ish spider that gets oneshot, summon elemental is dangerous as it may betray you.

Dwarven Ice Cleric:
Clear MVP. Dealing damage close and at range, holding devastating concentration spells, reviving the entire team at once with mass healing word against the green dragon, that little dwarf was a trooper. In the final fight he held a level 5 spiritual guardians and a level 4 spiritual weapon for the entire fight, and probably had the highest overall damage through that. He also had 25AC and permanent blur through his cloak, so he didn't get hit once. Gigachad, the only thing that could threaten him was aoe damage.

 

[Strange Fellow]

That reminds me, I forgot to try out Cause Wounds with the cleric. Mine mostly stood around casting Bless and serving as an assist for the Rogue's sneak attacks. Oh well, it's not like I needed him to contribute to any fight past the lava forest bit.

 

[Harthwain]

unless im directly above

Good point. I guess that's because the game isn't a simulation.

Then again, how hard would it be to give an advantage against targets who are lower than you?

 

[Reinhardt]

You do get regular AoOs though, just not in response to every sneeze.

So enemy can literally twerk in your face while chanting some satanic spells but you can't kick them because they do it right next to you?

 

[V_K]

You do get regular AoOs though, just not in response to every sneeze.

So enemy can literally twerk in your face while chanting some satanic spells but you can't kick them because they do it right next to you?

You can. On your turn.