Gold Box SSI's Gold Box Series Thread

[Cael]

That ability only affects things within 30ft that are flatfooted. It is a poor man's sneak attack :D

Never said it was a great option. 3rd Edition apparently really hated Dexterity damage options for ranged weapons.

To be fair, missile weapons were notoriously ineffectual in every edition, with the sole exception of IE games.

DnD basically didn't want ranged weapons to be powerful enough to overshadow melee weapons. If that were allowed to happen, no one would use melee weapons. It is even worse in 3.x. Even if there is someone screaming in your face, you can always take a 5ft step back and drill him full of arrows to the face.

 

[smaug]

So, I am running CoK in DOSBOX at 600x800, is there a way to to get higher resolution without losing visual quality?

 

[Cael]

So, I am running CoK in DOSBOX at 600x800, is there a way to to get higher resolution without losing visual quality?

I doubt it. The game was done in, what? 320x200?

 

[Dorateen]

In the Gold Box games, I thought the tactical use of bows, the ability to interrupt enemy spell casters from a distance, made them invaluable. Not so much about raw damage output.

 

[smaug]

I have a cleric ranger and she’s not working out to well. I should have taken a hoopaking Kender Fighter/Cleric

 

[smaug]

Also, I went into Jelek without a backup save and now I can’t get out without dying. I didn’t do gargareth before and find the hidden Dragonlance in the other town. I thought I could do some Jelek first but I didn’t realize you can’t leave untill you are capable of killing everything. My last save is from 4 hours earlier so I’m permanently stuck in Jelek.

 

[Cael]

In the Gold Box games, I thought the tactical use of bows, the ability to interrupt enemy spell casters from a distance, made them invaluable. Not so much about raw damage output.

You are better off just dropping a magic missile on them. Instant cast and autohit. You only have to damage them that round in order to disrupt them for the entire round, not have to wait for them to start casting.

 

[ProphetSword]

So, I am running CoK in DOSBOX at 600x800, is there a way to to get higher resolution without losing visual quality?

I assume you mean 800x600?

You can run DOSBox in a much higher resolution. The games can scale up. I run my copy of DOSBox at 1920x1080, I just make sure the Aspect Correction is on so that the game isn't stretched out.

If you want your version of DOSBox to replicate a CRT screen, you can also try DOSBOX-CRT. You can find it here: https://mattiasgustavsson.itch.io/dosbox-crt

Here's a screenshot of CoK I took using it. Not everyone likes the CRT filters, though, so it really just comes down to preference.

 

[Strange Fellow]

My last save is from 4 hours earlier

Big mistake, buddy boy.

 

[Cael]

I have a cleric ranger and she’s not working out to well. I should have taken a hoopaking Kender Fighter/Cleric

Ranger/Cleric is exceptionally bad because of the XP requirements of Ranger is pretty nuts and when you half the XP income, you are in for a hell of a ride. I recall a Ranger/Cleric of mine that lagged behind a Knight of the Rose (who required 500,000 XP to level as it is).

Kenders have level restrictions for both fighter (5) and cleric (12). On top of that, they have that -2Wis that bites. Your Kender will never cast any cleric spells above level 5. You will be better off with a Qualinesti F/C/M.

 

[smaug]

My last save is from 4 hours earlier

Big mistake, buddy boy.

I’m either going to start over or lose 4 hours, damn.

I’ve aready started over 3 times.

 

[Cael]

Also, I went into Jelek without a backup save and now I can’t get out without dying. I didn’t do gargareth before and find the hidden Dragonlance in the other town. I thought I could do some Jelek first but I didn’t realize you can’t leave untill you are capable of killing everything. My last save is from 4 hours earlier so I’m permanently stuck in Jelek.

How could you not do Gargath Outpost? It is the area straight after Throtl. In fact, you don't move to the next outpost until after Gargath is done, and only then do you get the mission to go to Jelek.

 

[smaug]

Also, I went into Jelek without a backup save and now I can’t get out without dying. I didn’t do gargareth before and find the hidden Dragonlance in the other town. I thought I could do some Jelek first but I didn’t realize you can’t leave untill you are capable of killing everything. My last save is from 4 hours earlier so I’m permanently stuck in Jelek.

How could you not do Gargath Outpost? It is the area straight after Throtl. In fact, you don't move to the next outpost until after Gargath is done, and only then do you get the mission to go to Jelek.

I did go but I then, I wanted more EXP and better stuff so I went to other places instead.

Plus, I didn’t know I would get stuck permanently in Jelek.

 

[Cael]

My last save is from 4 hours earlier

Big mistake, buddy boy.

I’m either going to start over or lose 4 hours, damn.

I’ve aready started over 3 times.

Do yourself a favour and form a party of the following:
1 human knight
2 Qualinesti fighter/mage
1 Qualinesti thief/mage
1 Qualinesti f/c/m
1 Silvanesti (just for variety) cleric/mage

Remember that you can cast mage spells in armour.

EDIT: And follow the damned adventure! :D

 

[smaug]

My first playthrough I ran into Hill Giants and found out how much EXP they gave, and killed a lot of them. Then I went Gargath and then back to THROTL. Then I ran into the army up north and tried to fight it but kept dying.

I’m trying to brute force my way out of Jelek, I’m hoping there’s a way out.

 

[Cael]

Also, I went into Jelek without a backup save and now I can’t get out without dying. I didn’t do gargareth before and find the hidden Dragonlance in the other town. I thought I could do some Jelek first but I didn’t realize you can’t leave untill you are capable of killing everything. My last save is from 4 hours earlier so I’m permanently stuck in Jelek.

How could you not do Gargath Outpost? It is the area straight after Throtl. In fact, you don't move to the next outpost until after Gargath is done, and only then do you get the mission to go to Jelek.

I did go but I then, I wanted more EXP and better stuff so I went to other places instead.

Plus, I didn’t know I would get stuck permanently in Jelek.

OK. I know this is counterintuitive because of the way modern games are, but GB games are 1st Ed. In that, the XP you get from fights is fixed. It doesn't matter what level you are. You fight the same fight at level 1 or level 40, and you will still get the same XP. There is no point fighting tougher encounters!

 

[smaug]

Also, I went into Jelek without a backup save and now I can’t get out without dying. I didn’t do gargareth before and find the hidden Dragonlance in the other town. I thought I could do some Jelek first but I didn’t realize you can’t leave untill you are capable of killing everything. My last save is from 4 hours earlier so I’m permanently stuck in Jelek.

How could you not do Gargath Outpost? It is the area straight after Throtl. In fact, you don't move to the next outpost until after Gargath is done, and only then do you get the mission to go to Jelek.

I did go but I then, I wanted more EXP and better stuff so I went to other places instead.

Plus, I didn’t know I would get stuck permanently in Jelek.

OK. I know this is counterintuitive because of the way modern games are, but GB games are 1st Ed. In that, the XP you get from fights is fixed. It doesn't matter what level you are. You fight the same fight at level 1 or level 40, and you will still get the same XP. There is no point fighting tougher encounters!

I killed a single Hill Giant and got 500 EXP from the 1k platinum they drop, that doesn’t matter? Draconions and fighters in the first dungeon gave like 100-200 EXP, hobgoblins even less?

 

[Cael]

Also, I went into Jelek without a backup save and now I can’t get out without dying. I didn’t do gargareth before and find the hidden Dragonlance in the other town. I thought I could do some Jelek first but I didn’t realize you can’t leave untill you are capable of killing everything. My last save is from 4 hours earlier so I’m permanently stuck in Jelek.

How could you not do Gargath Outpost? It is the area straight after Throtl. In fact, you don't move to the next outpost until after Gargath is done, and only then do you get the mission to go to Jelek.

I did go but I then, I wanted more EXP and better stuff so I went to other places instead.

Plus, I didn’t know I would get stuck permanently in Jelek.

OK. I know this is counterintuitive because of the way modern games are, but GB games are 1st Ed. In that, the XP you get from fights is fixed. It doesn't matter what level you are. You fight the same fight at level 1 or level 40, and you will still get the same XP. There is no point fighting tougher encounters!

I killed a single Hill Giant and got 500 EXP from the 1k platinum they drop, that doesn’t matter? Draconions and fighters in the first dungeon gave like 100-200 EXP, hobgoblins even less?

Not if you keep dying from it. Remember this if you play a Elf heavy party: You can't Raise Dead them. You have to wait until Resurrect before you can bring them back. You don't want to run the risk of getting your party members killed by fighting encounters you are not ready for yet. Get to a point you can comfortably kill stuff, then start hunting them. Until then, hunt lesser creatures. Don't get impatient or it will be your funeral and probably your ragequit. GB games are unforgiving as hell.

Don't force encounters you are not ready for yet, and especially do not enter areas you are not ready for yet. This goes doubly so for DKK, which is very open sandbox and you can get killed fairly quickly if you wander into the wrong place with a party not ready for it. And yes, there is at least one place in that game also where you will be trapped unless you can fight your way out. DQK has another, but by that time, you shouldn't have a problem fighting your way out.

 

[smaug]

Also, I went into Jelek without a backup save and now I can’t get out without dying. I didn’t do gargareth before and find the hidden Dragonlance in the other town. I thought I could do some Jelek first but I didn’t realize you can’t leave untill you are capable of killing everything. My last save is from 4 hours earlier so I’m permanently stuck in Jelek.

How could you not do Gargath Outpost? It is the area straight after Throtl. In fact, you don't move to the next outpost until after Gargath is done, and only then do you get the mission to go to Jelek.

I did go but I then, I wanted more EXP and better stuff so I went to other places instead.

Plus, I didn’t know I would get stuck permanently in Jelek.

OK. I know this is counterintuitive because of the way modern games are, but GB games are 1st Ed. In that, the XP you get from fights is fixed. It doesn't matter what level you are. You fight the same fight at level 1 or level 40, and you will still get the same XP. There is no point fighting tougher encounters!

I killed a single Hill Giant and got 500 EXP from the 1k platinum they drop, that doesn’t matter? Draconions and fighters in the first dungeon gave like 100-200 EXP, hobgoblins even less?

Not if you keep dying from it. Remember this if you play a Elf heavy party: You can't Raise Dead them. You have to wait until Resurrect before you can bring them back. You don't want to run the risk of getting your party members killed by fighting encounters you are not ready for yet. Get to a point you can comfortably kill stuff, then start hunting them. Until then, hunt lesser creatures.

Don't force encounters you are not ready for yet, and especially do not enter areas you are not ready for yet. This goes doubly so for DKK, which is very open sandbox and you can get killed fairly quickly if you wander into the wrong place with a party not ready for it. And yes, there is at least one place in that game also where you will be trapped unless you can fight your way out. DQK has another, but by that time, you shouldn't have a problem fighting your way out.

So, elf’s are better than mostly any other race because of multi-classing? Kender sucks in that regard.

These race limitations are brutal.
Also if this is the case of certain races being way to good, would it be considered cheating by using GBC to remove Race limitations for other races or no? I probably won’t do it but on a subsequent replay it would be an interesting setting to use, I would think.

 

[Incendax]

Krynn games had very forgiving race limits. Pool games were way worse, and so was actual D&D for that matter. I miss a lot about those old editions, but racial level limits can go away forever.

 

[Cael]

Also, I went into Jelek without a backup save and now I can’t get out without dying. I didn’t do gargareth before and find the hidden Dragonlance in the other town. I thought I could do some Jelek first but I didn’t realize you can’t leave untill you are capable of killing everything. My last save is from 4 hours earlier so I’m permanently stuck in Jelek.

How could you not do Gargath Outpost? It is the area straight after Throtl. In fact, you don't move to the next outpost until after Gargath is done, and only then do you get the mission to go to Jelek.

I did go but I then, I wanted more EXP and better stuff so I went to other places instead.

Plus, I didn’t know I would get stuck permanently in Jelek.

OK. I know this is counterintuitive because of the way modern games are, but GB games are 1st Ed. In that, the XP you get from fights is fixed. It doesn't matter what level you are. You fight the same fight at level 1 or level 40, and you will still get the same XP. There is no point fighting tougher encounters!

I killed a single Hill Giant and got 500 EXP from the 1k platinum they drop, that doesn’t matter? Draconions and fighters in the first dungeon gave like 100-200 EXP, hobgoblins even less?

Not if you keep dying from it. Remember this if you play a Elf heavy party: You can't Raise Dead them. You have to wait until Resurrect before you can bring them back. You don't want to run the risk of getting your party members killed by fighting encounters you are not ready for yet. Get to a point you can comfortably kill stuff, then start hunting them. Until then, hunt lesser creatures.

Don't force encounters you are not ready for yet, and especially do not enter areas you are not ready for yet. This goes doubly so for DKK, which is very open sandbox and you can get killed fairly quickly if you wander into the wrong place with a party not ready for it. And yes, there is at least one place in that game also where you will be trapped unless you can fight your way out. DQK has another, but by that time, you shouldn't have a problem fighting your way out.

So, elf’s are better than mostly any other race because of multi-classing? Kender sucks in that regard.

These race limitations are brutal.

Yes, elves are the best for multiclassing. Qualinesti the best of all (able to achieve max level 40 in 4 different classes, all of which are multiclass options; and level 14 fighter is all you need for 2 attacks/round).

 

[smaug]

I’m planning on transferring my party from CoK to DKoK and I don’t want to be completely fucked by race-limits and not able to progress.

 

[Cael]

Krynn games had very forgiving race limits. Pool games were way worse, and so was actual D&D for that matter. I miss a lot about those old editions, but racial level limits can go away forever.

Basically, there was no reason to play anything other than humans in non-Krynn GB games. Krynn was geared more towards multiclassing elves due to no dual-classing for humans. However, you need a Knight for the game or you are in for a very frustrating time in any fights with NPCs on your side.

 

[ProphetSword]

There's no one right way to play any of these games (no matter what Cael will try to tell you). Build the party you want to build and don't worry about level limitations. Unlike later versions of the game (except maybe 5th Edition), AD&D was a bit more forgiving when it came to level differences as the number spread doesn't usually go high enough to worry about it. Plenty of people sitting at actual tabletops played with those same restrictions and did fine.

I can also tell you I've done several runs through the game series (Pool of Radiance - Pools of Darkness, for example) and I never had any issues with my characters even when they were limited in some levels. The key is to sometimes pair them off with a class they aren't limited in (for example, I tend to play a half-elf Fighter/Thief in my party configuration...I never give a single thought to whatever level they stop being a fighter and they can take Thief all the way to 40).

Having a Kender in the Krynn games can be extremely helpful. Their "Taunt" ability is not to be underestimated. Forcing the enemy to act like idiots while they rush toward your Kender and let their guard down or having enemy spellcasters try to target only the Kender with a Fireball while he's standing in the middle of a bunch of other enemies can be pretty rewarding. You can turn the tide of some battles just by using taunt and setting your characters up so that enemies have to run through them to get to the Kender, giving your party a lot of free attacks. They're also immune to fear, which makes them essential in fights against dragons. They're the only race that can use the Hoopak (a combination melee and ranged weapon), and considering you find magical ones in the game it's best to have someone to give them to. They can also backstab with Hoopaks if they take the Thief class.

Do what is fun.

 

[smaug]

There's no one right way to play any of these games (no matter what Cael will try to tell you). Build the party you want to build and don't worry about level limitations. Unlike later versions of the game (except maybe 5th Edition), AD&D was a bit more forgiving when it came to level differences as the number spread doesn't usually go high enough to worry about it. Plenty of people sitting at actual tabletops played with those same restrictions and did fine.

I can also tell you I've done several runs through the game series (Pool of Radiance - Pools of Darkness, for example) and I never had any issues with my characters even when they were limited in some levels. The key is to sometimes pair them off with a class they aren't limited in (for example, I tend to play a half-elf Fighter/Thief in my party configuration...I never give a single thought to whatever level they stop being a fighter and they can take Thief all the way to 40).

Having a Kender in the Krynn games can be extremely helpful. Their "Taunt" ability is not to be underestimated. Forcing the enemy to act like idiots while they rush toward your Kender and let their guard down or having enemy spellcasters try to target only the Kender with a Fireball while he's standing in the middle of a bunch of other enemies can be pretty rewarding. You can turn the tide of some battles just by using taunt and setting your characters up so that enemies have to run through them to get to the Kender, and ending up with a lot of free attacks. They're also immune to fear, which makes them essential in fights against dragons. They're the only race that can use the Hoopak (a combination melee and ranged weapon), and considering you find magical ones in the game it's best to have someone to give them to. They can also backstab with Hoopaks if they take the Thief class.

Do what is fun.

I will balance my team out and I do want a Kender with their yell. However, the only reason I asked about multi-class restricting is I read somewhere that later games such as Pools of Darkness and DQoK were not possible with level limitations but if you say it’s fine, then I will use limiting races and that’s what I wish to do. (Something about Dave’s/David’s trial or something like that is what I read about to)