Gold Box SSI's Gold Box Series Thread

[Beans00]

Yeah, Red Mages get Mirror Image which is a huge benefit for Fighter/Mages.
They also get Enlarge, which is my favourite buffing spell, giving Giant (23 IIRC) STR for many hours at high levels. So with only White Mages you'll miss that, not to mention Haste which is the ultimate buffing spell.

My white mages have enlarge and haste

 

[octavius]

Hmm...then the manual must be wrong.
Although I seem to recall that there was some bug with spell scribing, so Red mages could scribe White spells, and vice versa.

 

[Beans00]

Hmm...then the manual must be wrong.
Although I seem to recall that there was some bug with spell scribing, so Red mages could scribe White spells, and vice versa.

I can confirm I am not able to scribe red spells :'(

 

[Cael]

The bug is ONLY in DQK.

At a specific point, you are able to buy spell scrolls for your mages. These scrolls are randomised, but always cost the same, so it is a gamble. Every time you return to the store, the selection changes including whether it is for red or white robes. This is important as the game doesn't know this. It only knows that the scrolls were originally red or white. So, if a red scroll appears in a slot that was originally for white robes, you get white robe spells on a red scroll, which your red robe can scribe into his spellbook, and vice versa.

That is how your mages can eventually get every spell in the game, red or white.

 

[octavius]

I wouldn't be surprised if there was even a difference between the DOS and Amiga versions of the games.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Yeah, Red Mages get Mirror Image which is a huge benefit for Fighter/Mages.
They also get Enlarge, which is my favourite buffing spell, giving Giant (23 IIRC) STR for many hours at high levels. So with only White Mages you'll miss that, not to mention Haste which is the ultimate buffing spell.

My white mages have enlarge and haste

I checked the Dragonlance Adventures hardcover rulebook, and each order of mages is restricted from a few schools of magic:

White: Alteration, Illusion, Necromancy, Phantasm, Summoning
Red: Abjuration, Charm, Enchantment, Necromancy
Black: Abjuration, Alteration, Conjuration, Evocation

Note that the Players Handbook lists spells as belong to Charm/Enchantment, Conjuration/Summoning, and Illusion/Phantasm but never just one of these separately, and even the Spell Summary section near the end of Dragonlance Adventures still lists these pairs together, so it isn't entirely clear which spells are allowed to white mages being able to use conjuration spells but not summoning spells or to black mages being able to use summoning spells but not conjuration spells.

Enlarge and haste are both alteration spells and therefore should not be usable by white robe wizards or black robe wizards.

 

[Cael]

Yeah, Red Mages get Mirror Image which is a huge benefit for Fighter/Mages.
They also get Enlarge, which is my favourite buffing spell, giving Giant (23 IIRC) STR for many hours at high levels. So with only White Mages you'll miss that, not to mention Haste which is the ultimate buffing spell.

My white mages have enlarge and haste

I checked the Dragonlance Adventures hardcover rulebook, and each order of mages is restricted from a few schools of magic:

White: Alteration, Illusion, Necromancy, Phantasm, Summoning
Red: Abjuration, Charm, Enchantment, Necromancy
Black: Abjuration, Alteration, Conjuration, Evocation

Note that the Players Handbook lists spells as belong to Charm/Enchantment, Conjuration/Summoning, and Illusion/Phantasm but never just one of these separately, and even the Spell Summary section near the end of Dragonlance Adventures still lists these pairs together, so it isn't entirely clear which spells are allowed to white mages being able to use conjuration spells but not summoning spells or to black mages being able to use summoning spells but not conjuration spells.

Enlarge and haste are both alteration spells and therefore should not be usable by white robe wizards or black robe wizards.

I think it means Black Robes are not allowed to use any Conjuration spells, Summoning or otherwise, whereas Whites can use non-Summoning Conjuration spells.

It sorts of track with the books, as both Fistandantilus and Raistlin had problems with their experiments, but Raistlin solved the issue when he turned from Red to Black. The reason was given as the experiments needed both Conjuration AND Necromancy spells, so one or the other can't do it. In the later books (Seventh Guardian Trilogy), the first bad guy had to rely on a Red Robe doing something before he could get to the Citadel, and the second bad guy went Rogue to did something similar (something like that; it was years ago).

 

[Beans00]

So, I'm going to be a bit contrarian on this one.

I did not care for Champions of Krynn, and I would rank it as the 2nd lowest GB game above treasures of the savage frontier so far.


My problem was the difficulty curve was so out of wack. The first 5-6 areas of the game. Throtl, gargath, probably up to jelek was some of the most ball busting difficult content I have ever played.

Regular encounters killed me on a consistent basis, and I was constantly having to redo them because I had to leave maps to go back to the outpost to level up. There was so much cleric and mage spam in every fight, every fight was pure rng and I was dying on the regular.

Then after that, the game became so easy and trivial I was completely at a loss(considering the beginning was so hard). Starting at Nareka(or maybe the optional stuff before that) the game became a complete joke. This also wasn't a case of getting stronger so the game got easier.

Sanction city, which is the last area before the end game was full of 40 hp minotaurs which posed zero challenge. Much easier than fighting 3 level 5 clerics, 2 level 5 mages, and 6 level 5 fighters in the 2nd area.

The 2nd tier draconians were also the most dangerous because they can paralyze. The 3rd tier explode when you kill them which actually makes fights way easier.


The last series of fights was also pretty easy. Unlike most of the other end game stuff I didn't need any reloads. I killed the final 3 dragons before they even had a turn.

Game took 15.5 hours to beat. Really not long at all, probably inflated by at least 4-5 hours of reloading in the first few areas.


My party was probably garbage so maybe that gave me trouble.

Will do death knights of krynn, or maybe secret of the silver blades next.

As of right now I would rank the games

Curse
Por
gateway SF
Cok
treasures SF

 

[octavius]

The encounter design is quite variable in quality CoK.
I love the first area, since it feels like something out of the books, and it's a good challenge. Iniative is important, and you should not be afraid to use Wands or a Necklace of Missiles to disrupt or kill enemy spell casters.

 

[smaug]

I played this a while ago but I forgot.

I want to take my party through this game all the way up through Pools of Darkness

What is the recommended party? All humans for duel classing ability so I don’t need to worry about race level caps later?

wanting to know ahead of time so I don’t get cock blocked by an unbeatable difficulty later on

aren’t thieves also useless?

 

[Cael]

If you are going all the way, use humans. There is no real alternative, unfortunately.

Definitely have at least 1 paladin to stop any NPCs from doing stupid things and getting killed constantly. Then as many rangers as you can stand to dual in to mages later.

 

[octavius]

A Dwarf or Half-Elf Fighter/Thief can be very useful, especially in Curse of the Azure Bonds, but will be limited to 1.5 APR. Otherwise Humans are the only choice, with Ranger/Mage the most powerful character you can have.
In the first game it's the Elf multi-class characters that are the most useful ones, though. You can't have too many Sleep spells in PoR.

You will also need 18 Dex for all or most of your characters to be able to beat the final battles, since Initiative will be crucial there.