Alright, alright. I get it, these motherfuckers are dangerous and hungry.
But all precautions handled to the best of my (admittedly lackluster) abilities, I've died three times to one of these suddenly coming out of my AE and leaping on me with a few strikes before I can do anything about it. To make things worse, the Underdark isn't filled with wide-open areas, so the whole thing becomes a tragic back-and-forth of wonky player tool use and /c recalls to make things work out. A lot of the issues revolve around the age of NWN's pathing and AI mechanics; if I turn a corner and try to AE something, it's already gotten a few attacks of opportunity on me and I'm engaged in combat, so I no longer take 20 to calm it down.
Granted, this is a partially rage-induced post, but I think it warrants some consideration.
EDIT: To clarify, I mean to make it so that they're affected by whatever scripting makes various other animals walk away or simply ignore druid PC's (and any ranger PC's with AE? -- I don't know the intricacies of the scripts).
Maybe make it so larger and non-intelligent creatures are easier to "spot" via listen around corners, etc. So you don't just wander up to them around the corner all of a sudden. Or enable it so some animals don't "see" you as easily if you approach them from behind in stealth?
I'm sorry to say, but I think the easiest thing to do for now would be to not AE deep lizards and take them on walks around the Underdark. Or keep a timer to warn you when AE is about to drop off.
Just in case you didn't know this already, you can refresh your AE control of an animal before it breaks but eventually it will break no matter what given enough time. Plan accordingly.
I'm not sure if it would even be desirable to remove all of the risk from using AE on Deep Lizards to gain a temporary, extremely powerful companion.
There's no point in being a Ranger or Druid if you can't strut the UD with a deep lizard and make people worship your walking Lizard Zeppelin.
It's like when you managed to AE a sabertiger on Ymph. Sure it's fun riding around sitting on its shoulders like the king of the isle, but always remember kings were made to be overthrown.
The more AE you have, the less likely these (and other dangerous animals) are to attack you.
SF: AE, maybe?
Quote from: xXCrystal_Rose;346686It's like when you managed to AE a sabertiger on Ymph. Sure it's fun riding around sitting on its shoulders like the king of the isle, but always remember kings were made to be overthrown.
Quote from: John Fitzgerald KennedyIn the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding on the back of the tiger ended up inside.
Besides, we tend to forget our PCs are not mighty heroes and great druids, mostly beginners in their trade. AE at low lvls is mostly to keep the animal at bay while your party crosses it's path, not so much to have a new pet to ride.
It would be nice to be instant lizardlord and all, and I'm sure everyone can give you a bunch of Animal Empathy tips, but this is silly.