15235 réponses à ce sujet

[Alesia_BH]

polytope wrote...
May I ask how you manage to hit mages like Sion before they cast stoneskin? They've always had SS pre-cast in my games with SCS.

Sure. I can only comment on how it works in my install of course. I'm using SCS 15 (last pre-Tobex) with the full pre-buff component installed.

SS seems to be triggered by proximity. Divination casts are triggered by proximity as well but the radius is larger.

If my characters approach invisible, keep their distance, and then charge under Oil of Speed as soon as the Divination cast initiates, the can get a hit in before the Stoneskins can trigger. 


It works. I'm ambivalent about whether I should consider it an engine glitch to be avoided or good hunting...


Best,

A. 

[corey_russell]

Veene the level 12 thief dualed to level 8 cleric -- craziness in Trademeet

As I said in my last post I wanted to get some upgrades for Jaheira so she would be a better tank for us. So on that note we headed to trademeet.

First up was the Genies. Yoshimo pick-pocketed the genie lamp first, then we did some buffs with the most important buff being protection from petrification on Veene. We entered the Genie tent and battled and won. But in the process Jaheira got petrified. No problem I had a stone to flesh scroll handy just for this occassion. But I think her romance variable got turned off when this happened, which accelerated certain events.

We walked out of the tent and a harper summoned Jaheira to the Harper Hold. We reported our success to the guildmistress and now Veene will use the shield of harmony. We rested Jaheira appeared. She was spent for spells and such, so we rested once more we wanted her to have insect plague available. We then headed to Harper Hold.

I was very careful in my responses to make sure Jaheira fought on our side. Then the battle commenced. It went pretty badly, Jaheira was killed, Korgan nearly died himself, but somehow we managed to keep him at least a sliver of life left. We resurrected Jaheira. The wizard ring Edwin was quite pleased about. We sold our junk and headed to Trademeet. We got our upgrades, most important being the blackblood club for Jaheira.

We then head to the druid grove. All enemies here were beat fairly easily, the shadow druids dealt with using cloudkill from Edwin. Jaheira challenged Faldorn and did this: insect plague (saved against), Fire elemental, tried to cast nymphs twice but she was interrupted (realize now barkskin would have been an excellent buff to put on her since she is naked, oh well). So she just turned into a black bear, and her and the Fire Elemental were able to finish off Faldorn by themselves.

We get to Trademeet and get a rather nasty suprise - Revianne shows up with her buddies and of course with our poor rep (10) she was determined to battle. I know there's a lot of good loot here, so I had everyone do their best things. However there were a lot of blue circles around the party...after a couple rounds, Revianne saved against everything and I heard that special "sound" -- the sound when your reputation decreases! Oh, no, who did we kill? Checked the sheet, yep at 6 rep (well don't have to worry about doing good routes for the rest of the game, lol). The trademeet milita turned hostile. And in particular the militia wizard did some sort of spell devastating the party. I kept the game paused here a long time -- I decided this was untenetable, I can't kill more mililtia if each one is a rep loss. And I want to collect my reward. So I left for Athkatla, and here is the aftermath:


What to do, what to do, I want my reward! I then checked the length of the invisibility spell - 24 hours eh? I promptly had Edwin memorize 6 invisibility spells. We rested and headed to the grove, cast invisibility on everyone in the party, then to Trademeet. The militia can't see us, but apparently Revianne can see through invisibility and started attacking Yoshimo. I had the AI off of course, we ran south and through the south gate into the Mayor's house. Revianne followed. She has just awesome saves, we tried doom, hold person x4 and she just wouldn't be disabled. She killed Viconia in like 2 hits. Even the melees were having trouble hitting her. Finally Edwin took her down. Jaheira resurrected Viconia, looted the stuff, reported our success to the mayor and got our reward!

For the rest of the game, though, i will have to avoid Trademeet unless the whole party is invisible, unless I want more reputation loss. Would be a difficult fight with that militia wizard plus the Harpers.

Modifié par corey_russell, 20 octobre 2011 - 04:35 .

[Alesia_BH]

Sorry to hear about Veene's militia trouble in Trademeet. Glad he escaped though.

Interesting to think that the Trademeeters may have been putting the finishing touches on your statue while the militia was attacking you...

[corey_russell]

Alesia_BH wrote...

Sorry to hear about Veene's militia trouble in Trademeet. Glad he escaped though.

Interesting to think that the Trademeeters may have been putting the finishing touches on your statue while the militia was attacking you...

Yes. When this problem first happened, this is why I retreated, because I didn't want the hostile militia to follow then make the blue circle civilians/guards hostile. But if I arrive all invisible, I can move past them the the rest of the town still likes me.

Modifié par corey_russell, 20 octobre 2011 - 05:08 .

[corey_russell]

Veene the level 12 thief (inactive) > level 9 cleric - micro-update

Veene and the gang (Jaheira, Korgan, Viconia, Yoshimo, Edwin) successfully dealt with the murders in Umar Hills. Lots of undead to fight but the party did well. Yoshimo kept complaining that his weapons weren't doing anything - we didn't have enough magical arrows for him.

We saw a shadow dragon, but left it alone for now. Don't think the party is strong enough to deal with it quite yet.

As for the shade lord, haste/bless/chant was plenty to deal with him.

Mulling our next task. We got some stuff to put in our base (chest in Copper Coronet) then will head to D'Arnise Keep. Think with both tanks at -6 AC and Edwin's cloudkill we should do well there.

Modifié par corey_russell, 20 octobre 2011 - 06:13 .

[Vaclavc]

Alesia_BH wrote...
Yes. I have considered a Stalker. 

I would really like to see no reload solo Stalker run. But continuing with Alora would be even better!

corey_russell wrote...
For the rest of the game, though, i
will have to avoid Trademeet unless the whole party is invisible, unless
I want more reputation loss. Would be a difficult fight with that
militia wizard plus the Harpers.

Sounds like very exciting fight. Turning commoners hostile in no reload is annoying, but you solved it cleverly. I am glad that your thief/cleric surived. His chances to see his thieving abilities reactivated increase with every day

V

[Serg BlackStrider]

 A little update of BlackStrider & Co

The Band made it through the Underdark and Ust Natha. In the Drow City we made all possible quests except the Sondal's tavern duels due to some annoying glitch (I've encountered it in my previous run as well) - after defeating Lasonar Chalinthra challenged me to a duel anytime when I'm ready, saying something about insult in me beating him, and walked away right after the dialog. When I tried to talk with Sondal about that he only reply something like *Don't bother me. Watch the challenge*... So all subsequent  duels (and exp) were lost to me  
All else was quite straightforward:

  

We tricked both Matron Ardulace and Phaere, secured Adalon's precious eggs and now finally enjoys the fresh air and open sunlight.


to be continued...

Modifié par Serg BlackStrider, 20 octobre 2011 - 09:16 .

[Alesia_BH]

I would really like to see a no reload solo Stalker. But continuing with Alora would be even better.

Alora seems to be the popular pic. I'll probably go with her.

I'm also considering doing a duo with Aerie and a new Sorceress with Imoen joining later. I'm kind of in the mood for some magic...

Looking forward to seeing more from Avorunis.

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 20 octobre 2011 - 02:59 .

[C Barchuk]

Alesia_BH wrote...

polytope wrote...
May I ask how you manage to hit mages like Sion before they cast stoneskin? They've always had SS pre-cast in my games with SCS.

Sure. I can only comment on how it works in my install of course. I'm using SCS 15 (last pre-Tobex) with the full pre-buff component installed.

SS seems to be triggered by proximity. Divination casts are triggered by proximity as well but the radius is larger.

If my characters approach invisible, keep their distance, and then charge under Oil of Speed as soon as the Divination cast initiates, the can get a hit in before the Stoneskins can trigger. 


It works. I'm ambivalent about whether I should consider it an engine glitch to be avoided or good hunting...


Best,

A. 

Yep! That's exactly how to take out those pesky mages!

[corey_russell]

Veene the level 12 thief (inactive) > level 9 cleric - D'Arnise Keep

As expected, Korgan and Jaheira tanked well here, though of course they did need healing now and then. Incidents of note:

* Korgan took down the Yuan-ti Mage protected by rage, chaotic commands, protection from lightning and fire. It was all unnecessary, however, as Korgan timed his attacks perfectly and the stonefire's elemental damage kept interrupting the mage's spells. Think the only spells the yuan-ti mage successfully cast was shadow door and stoneskin.
* Doom plus hold person was very effective against Glacias (unlike Revianne). Yoshimo's backstab didn't help him either. Veene, Korgan and Jaheira are all now using full plate plus a +1 ring/cloak. They also all have +3 or +4 shields.
* We fired a cloudkill into the main room, 1st floor, but we got 4 large trolls, some of which flanked the party. We took out all the stops on this fight, including cone of cold from Edwin, and vampiric drains from both Veene and Edwin. This was enough to insure no deaths.
* I got to the golem room, and I realized I was in for some pain...namely I did NOT have a +3 two hand weapon. We did have 4 +3 weapons but they were all 1- handers. This means we have to fight in the poison cloud. Well I did haste the group but of course all the divine casters got poisoned (and the non-divine didn't). I found this ironic since they are the only ones who could cure it. Managed to keep everyone alive but Viconia - she had be resurrected (poor girl, she's had to take a number of dirt naps this run. Guess drow aren't as superior as you think, are they Viccy?). Veene got hit hard, however, down to 1/5 life, he managed to heal himself in time however. The iron golem did eventually succumb. The +5 warhammer went to Viconia, the frost axe went to Korgan.
* Umber Hulks - We had summons do the initial fighting. Edwin assisted with magic, to speed up the kills. Handled OK.
* Torgal - somewhat anticlimatic.  A cloudkill by Edwin killed him instantly. His buddies were a bit tougher, but Yoshimo got lucky and managed to lay a bunch of traps despite his poor trap score, so they were dealt with fairly easily. Veene's vampiric drains didn't help them either.

We will probably do the bridge district area next.

Modifié par corey_russell, 20 octobre 2011 - 03:58 .

[amanasleep]

Alesia_BH wrote...

polytope wrote...
May I ask how you manage to hit mages like Sion before they cast stoneskin? They've always had SS pre-cast in my games with SCS.

Sure. I can only comment on how it works in my install of course. I'm using SCS 15 (last pre-Tobex) with the full pre-buff component installed.

SS seems to be triggered by proximity. Divination casts are triggered by proximity as well but the radius is larger.

If my characters approach invisible, keep their distance, and then charge under Oil of Speed as soon as the Divination cast initiates, the can get a hit in before the Stoneskins can trigger. 


It works. I'm ambivalent about whether I should consider it an engine glitch to be avoided or good hunting...


Best,

A. 

Are they casting SS or does it say pre-buff?  In SCS, prebuffs are supposed to be "in place" and not interruptible when the enemy mage surprises the PC (example: Cowled Wizard enforcers).  However, even when I ambush enemy mages I try to let SS resolve because IMO it should be a buff that mages travel with active.  I justify this because one of the goals of SCS is to allow the AI to make decisions that the player might make.  Maybe the solution for SCS is to have max range on SS activation detection.

[Alesia_BH]

I just thought I'd let everyone know that I have rolled up Ashoka. I like her. She's coherent (her portrait, soundset, class, kit, stats, and abilities all fit together) and that's important to me. Alessandra's lack of character coherence was the biggest issues I had with her- even bigger than my shield/arrows concerns actually.

Since there has been some interest in the Stalker idea, I'll post a few screenshots from the Copper to give a sense of what gameplay has been like with her. If people think she's interesting, I may continue with her. Otherwise, I'll set her aside for another day. 

Her current character record.


Ashoka began the Slaver Quest by Stealthing to the back, and Charming the Winter Wolf.


She then Stealthed over to the Beastmaster, and Charmed his pet Tabitha. The Winter Wolf got the kill.


An attempt at Charming the Panther failed. Due to his speed, Ashoka was forced to take him down with her Quarterstaff. Despite being unenchanted, it's range of 2 and Speed Factor of 2  (2 Handed Weapon Style) make it a passable weapon. On the melee side, Quarterstaffs will complement her Dual Wielded Scimitars.


Once the speedy Pather was taken down, Ashoka was free to use her new found bow.


She put her presently modest backstabbing abilities to use in the end.



I think she's kind of cool. 

I haven't made a personal item for her yet- that's the only thing she's lacking. It'll likely be a ring. I haven't settled on a name, description, or abilties yet.

If there is interest in Ashoka, let me know.

Best,

A.


 

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 20 octobre 2011 - 10:41 .

[Alesia_BH]

amanasleep wrote...
Are they casting SS or does it say pre-buff?

It's not "cast" nor is it part of the full pre-buff routine. It seems to activate instantly once you get within a certain distance whether visible or not. It appears as though it will not activate during a Divination cast. 

The full pre-buffs don't fire untill you are seen.

However, even when I ambush enemy mages I try to let SS resolve because IMO it should be a buff that mages travel with active.

That makes sense. And that's primarily why I'm ambivalent about whether I should view it as a scripting glitch and avoid it.

Maybe the solution for SCS is to have max range on SS activation detection.

Agreed. I can't comment on the mechanics really, but they should get their Stoneskins up before fiddling with the Divination stuff.

You'd still be able to bake them in their Skins, but that is a little more difficult and expensive to execute at least.

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 20 octobre 2011 - 05:18 .

[Vaclavc]

corey_russell wrote...
* Torgal - somewhat anticlimatic.  A cloudkill by Edwin killed him instantly.

I did not know that he is susceptible to Cloudkill, thanks.

Alesia_BH wrote...
If there is interest in Ashoka, let me know.

I think she rocks !



Adventures of Avorunis, chaotic evil Priest of Talos:
Avorunis recruited Korgan and helped him in his search for book of Kaza:




With Korgan and Jan he completed various quests available in Athkatla. Most importantly, party defeated war party in the Temple Sewers, freed Haer’Dalis and completed Renal Bloodscalp questline.




Avorunis completed some parts of the game solo or accompanied only with Jan because frankly, I am quite disappointed by Korgan‘s performance: he is hit often and that is very bad thing on the insane difficulty, despite his high HP total. Berserker rage helps somewhat, but it costs Korgan 30 HP when it ends, which is quite dangerous. Few times, both Korgan and Jan died during the fight, though fortunately they were not chunked.



 
It is obvious that I fail to micromanage even a small party properly during the fights.
On the other hand, I am positively surprised by the awesomeness of Priest of Talos kit
 
Buffed with Righteous Magic, protected with Chaos Shield and with Blade Barrier active, Avorunis is extremely potent warrior.
 
All in all, Korgan and Jan serve only as meatshields/arcane support for Avorunis, which is far from ideal. On the other hand, I will have (hopefuly) plenty of opportunities to improve my tactics.

Party is currently heading to de’Arnise Keep.
Avorunis: Priest of Talos L14, 84HP
Korgan: Berserker L12, 146HP
Jan: Thief/Illusionist L10/11, 48HP.

V

[HoonDing]

Alesia_BH wrote...

Her current character record.

Nomi Sunrider? Good avatar choice.

[Alesia_BH]

 

I think she rocks!

Thanks. I think she could be fun. 

I still haven't decided on a personal item yet though...

Nomi Sunrider?

I guess so. 

I didn't know where the picture came from actually. I downloaded a bunch of pictures I liked from the old French BG portrait site a number of years ago. This one was one of my favorites.

It's just a coincidence that I picked the name "Ashoka" for her, but now it seems oddly appropriate...

On the other hand, I am positively surprised by the awesomeness of Priest of Talos kit 

I was impressed with it as well when I did my Priest of Talos->Mage Ascension Solo. The Storm Shield is really great. 

In retrospect, I kind of wish I had refrained from dualing her. I would have liked to have seen how she'd play as a pure Cleric. I guess I'll just have to watch Avorunis.


Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 20 octobre 2011 - 10:39 .

[Stworka]

polytope wrote...
(not as much as Tactics mindflayers, whose ballistic attack deals 12d6 damage).

Try that on Insanity   You really have to drop bombs before even first ballistic is used.

My own Run is on Pause. I've gotten into Supremacy game too much. Besides, rolling over Illasera and Gromnir is easy, so i'd probably not even record these curbstomp fights. I guess i got bored.. But i shall return in a few weeks!

Until then : You show that game who's boss, people!

Modifié par Stworka, 21 octobre 2011 - 01:00 .

[corey_russell]

Veene the level 12 thief dualed to level 10 cleric adventure continues - Bridge District

As stated before, the party was about to explore the bridge district. But first a major decision, to side with Linvail or Bodhi? 4 party members are evil and 2 are neutral. Decided to go with Bodhi. I very RARELY side with her with my many runs, partly due to the fact that usually the only characters I have that are evil are thieves, but she doesn't like thieves. Also usually play goody-goody.

The first task was to intercept a shipment (sounds familiar, in a different life...). We had to battle Arkanis Gath and we got a really nice item off him. This was perfect, now Korgan doesnt need to worry about restocking range ammo (not that he ranges very much, but still could be quite useful against golems).

Next task was to kill a merchant and blame the shadow thieves. Child's play. I think everyone in the party except Yoshimo could have soloed this portion.

We finally hit the bridge district. We figured out a tanner was the murderer wanted by the city guards. He had a lot of traps, but no problem for Yoshimo. For the next level, Viconnia had true seeing running. No bone golem this time was a bit suprised by that. Just a couple rune assassins and ghasts. The party was hasted so made short work of all these enemies. Reported our success to the guards and our reputation went up - to 9.

Oh I forgot I got the mace of disruption while in Bodhi's lair. However, it looks like I won't be able to forge the IMoD. Nobody in any temple will give me the Sir Sarles quest. I can't even investigate the cult of the eyeless. It could be my CHA (3), low rep, or the helmite boss could just be sore that he said to meet him right away and I took a few weeks. It would still be worth it to do the quest even without the reward, for the gauntlets of dexterity.

But in preparation for that, I need more anti-undead stuff. Therefore, the party went to the Crooked Crane Inn, picked a hidden locked door, and Korgan had a STR buff and protection from undead and berserked and charged a lich. We got a bunch of wands for Edwin and importantly, the daystar. Of course once Viconia and Veene can both cast level 7 spells they can cast sunray but that day hasn't happened yet.

Around this time Jaheira left to face the music at the Harper Hold. We followed her and defeated 3 melees/archer types. Took a while for some reason but thanks to a fear wand the battle was never in doubt. Next, using some old-fashioned meta-gaming, Yoshimo laid 3 traps and the party had 5 summons, 2 very strong (Ariel servants). We went upstairs and what do you know we found Jaheira. She joined the party, we went downstairs, the enemies were completely dominated by the traps and summons, they could do nothing.

In the Bridge District Yoshimo scouted and found a warehouse with a hostile party. He laid some traps outside the only door, then stealthed and backstabbed the mage. It didn't kill him, sadly. So Yoshimo went back to the party and we battled everyone except the mage who was still inside. The enemies managed to hold Jaheira and Viconia, but the remaining party members took care of business. Vampiric Drain bhaal power has been real useful in BG 2. Yoshimo laid some traps again and tried to backstab the mage. It was a critical but no damage thanks to stoneskin. Nevertheless the mage ran since his morale broke and set off the traps.

We rested and were doing some buffs to prepare Captain Dennis. I foolishy did a buff with Edwin and Cowled Enforcers appeared (I had already used my warning up at Harper's Hold). Doh! So we had to battle these guys instead. These wizards had nice defensive buffs, but I was not impressed with their offense. However, it is possible they were being interrupted by our elemental damage. I did have some summons assisting as well. We did win the fight, and without any delay we went to the government district and got our magic license.

We rested once more and buffed again for Captain Dennis and engaged. Key opening spells/plays was insect plague by Jaheira, fear (via wand) by Viconia, chaos by Edwin and silence by Veene, which appeared to silence their high level mage. After that was just mop up. Viconia will use one of the full plates here (I had gotten the strength belt for her earlier).

We think freeing a bard and seeing where that leads should be our next order of business.

Modifié par corey_russell, 21 octobre 2011 - 03:48 .

[corey_russell]

Veene the level 12 thief dualed to a level 10 cleric - saving Haer'Dalis (sort of) and Planar Prison

The party started to explore the Temple Sewers, in order to free Haer'Dalis. But while scouting Yoshimo found an obvious bandit party. Yoshimo backs off. Jaheira casts entangle (out of sight), then Edwin gets to work. Edwin casts web x2/cloudkill x2/ice storm x2 and backs off and we see what happens. Viconia gets to level 13 off this, even though all she did was cast remove fear. The party never had to engage in melee, Edwin killed them all. There was one draw-back. We could never find Tarnor the hatchet-man's loot, we can only assume he got chunked. His throwing axe is usually helpful but in this case not needed, as Kagain's is actually better.

We then cast a lot of summons and cleared out the rest of the sewer. No Keldorn, can only assume I can only see him if I have the temple quest (which I can't get).

We get into Mekrath's and the mephits and Yuan-tis and traps were dealt with easily. As for Mekrath himself, several choices here. But we went with the slow but sure - we sent summon after summon ONE at a time untile he started to melee. Then Yoshimo sneaked up and backstabbed -- stoneskin was up, but it fell shortly after that. And with no spells, even Yoshimo wasn't afraid of Mekrath's melee. The RoR found here proved very helpful in our next major project.

We returned to the playhouse, and eventually we fought the planar creatures. Haer'Dalis foolishly did not keep his distance and was killed. Guess I won't be recruiting him later. The Troupe was captured by bounty hunters. We buffed to the max and followed them. Jaheira's insect plague was devastating as usual. A nicely timed breach by Edwin finished the last mage.

We battled some more thralls then had to fight two air elementals and the master of thralls. This was a difficult fight as Jaheira and Yoshimo got held. Only the RoR kept them alive. Lots of wand of heaven shots and of course magic from Edwin. But after what seemed like forever finally he fell. Several of the party members couldn't get a clear shot because the pillar was in the way plus held party members blocking movement.

As for the Warden, he was a bit anti-climatic. The plan was for Viconia to dispel his buffs, but Jaheira and Kagain's elemental damage kept interrupting the Warden's spells including defensive ones, and they also got criticals, finishing him -- then about 2 seconds later Viconia's dispel magic landed.

The party sells their junk, putting us at 50,000, Edwin figures out the Nether scroll and got 50,000 experience, but he saved vs. death so I am guessing he won't be a woman? The 50,000 won't last long, we haven't bought anything yet from the special merchant and at the very least would want the shield of balduran.

Modifié par corey_russell, 21 octobre 2011 - 06:09 .

[Alesia_BH]

 Quick Note on Ashoka:

I've decided to continue playing her. She has completed the Slaver, Trademeet, Umar Hills, and the De'Arnise Keep quests in that order. She is approaching Level 12.

I'll post more on Ashoka later, but I'll share a few observations now. Ashoka is far more potion dependent than Kensai Alessandra was and disabler defense is a bit less user friendly. With Kensai Alessandra, an occasional Potion of Stone Form to counter Doom or Malison was all that was needed to keep her saves out of the danger zone. She also had the Sword of Arvoreen available to her whenever her HP total went below 90 and PW:Stun could be in play. Nonetheless, the disabler threats are manageable with Ashoka- they're similar to those Alesia faced in her run and she was never disabled. Alessandra had more margin for error however.

Offensively they are comprable. In melee, Kensai Alessandra could do more damage per conventional hit, Ashoka has the option of backstabbing however and her backstabs do around the same amount of damge as Alessandra's Critical Hits. The distinction is that Ashoka can exercise control over when they occur. Advantage Ashoka here. Alessandra's range damage was, unsurprisingly, better but Ashoka's ability to use tactical ammo more than compensates to my mind. 

As you've probably guessed, I'm very pleased to have the Reflection Shield back... 

On balance, Ashoka has a wider range of tactical options available and has a higher powerceiling. Before I even started Kensai Alessandra's game, I knew her adventure would end in death. Ashoka has more potential. I hope she'll realize it. We'll see.

Best,

A.

Btw. I have created a personal item for Ashoka. It's called "Force of Nature" it's a robe that confers the same elemental bonuses as Aeger's Hide. She uses the robe in conjunction with Bracers of AC3 as her "armor'. The combo is similar to Aeger's Hide minus the Confusion immunity. It also consumes 2 equipment slots rather than one.

This may sound like a tactically useless item. It is. But using her robe and an Ioun stone rather than Aeger's hide and the Helm of Balduran allows her in game avatar to match her portrait. I like that.

Obviously her robe is less powerful than Valygar's Armor. Valygar is a more capable character than Ashoka.

Ashoka's current character record and inventory.



Btw II. I'm curious: what is the consensus on recharging limited use items? I'm leaning towards restricting it in my runs.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 21 octobre 2011 - 11:22 .

[corey_russell]

In my install, recharging limited use items costs a lot of gold, so I think that is enough of a balancing force, as I can't recharge everything, I have to be real choosy.

[Alesia_BH]

Yeah. It is expensive.

I definitely find it unbalancing in BG1 and have been limiting it. I'm undecided in BG2.

They Staff of Striking is the primary one at issue in Ashoka's run (and Alora's too for that matter). A charge costs over 100 gold and it only corresponds extra damage above the Martial Staff. That's reasonable. But when you multiply it into backstabs, it starts become a real bargain.

There are other great bargains in the game no doubt (Azureedge, Sling of Seeking, etc) but I shake the feeling that the Staff of Striking becomes far more important than intended if recharge is allowed.

It's on my mind because Ashoka is running low on charges...

[Alesia_BH]

Apologies for the typos everyone. I really need to be more careful when posting from my iPad...

I just did a little nosing around online. Apparently Staffs of Striking are rechargeable in PnP. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean it makes sense to allow it in BG.

[corey_russell]

Perhaps I'm not understanding the real issue here. The game allows it and it's not a bug, so why can't you recharge?

[Grond0]

I think the potential issue is one of game balance.  There are various types of resources in the game, which seem to be designed to be used in different ways.  There are the permanent items (such as armour), the use once items (such as potions) and the charged items (such as wands).

Potions are clearly not designed to be re-used, but it is not entirely clear what was intended to happen with charged items.  As Alesia said such items are rechargeable in PnP and as far as I know the ability to recharge within Baldur's Gate is deliberate rather than an engine oversight.  However, it might be thought this logically makes less sense - if the designers wanted an item to be used continuously why not just make its ability permanent (or x times per day).

I think the question is whether the ability to recharge items seriously unbalances the game.  Certainly it can have an effect - an example would be making multiple uses of the rod of resurrection in order to win a combat that was really beyond the party (this done in the knowledge that the rod(s) can be recharged for the next combat).  As you say the potential control on this is the availability of gold, but (as I understand from hearsay) that's not much of a constraint by the end of the game.  In any event gold is effectively unlimited right from the start if you want to abuse thief stealing.

On balance I agree with you that recharging should be allowed and I have only occasionally restricted it in my games.  A major reason for that is that I don't think charged items do actually unreasonably unbalance the game.  Sure they can make it easier - for instance continuous use of wands in BG1 can make that a trivial challenge - but I think they are rather less unbalancing than use of many permanent items (Azuredge, robe of Vecna, simmy helm etc). 

Therefore, I think it is entirely reasonable to use charged items extensively during some runs in order to experience the different feel that gives gameplay and would certainly support Ashoka's use of the staff of striking.  However, I can also understand why some players might want to restrict use of recharging (at least for some of the time).

Modifié par Grond0, 21 octobre 2011 - 03:14 .