Messages

I was gunning for death there. You took the mustacheplosion far too well. :P

People tend to flip their shit when the entire world goes black for no reason

And in a battle with spells flying everywhere, they know who just turned out the lights? :P There are numerous problems with it being hostile. NPCS can walk into it and go berzerk when  you've already had it up to help your allies or yourself, and most of the ones likely to are invincible, like the Stygian Gate Guards. Even if you Ultravision an NPC to negate the effects, they will still go batshit. This makes it unusable on server invasions, an irritating irony since it is the one of the best ways for a caster to actively level the playing field against a horde. Any change that promotes active participation in big events over "buff and invis" is good. Darkness items like the potions are also lifesavers for melee PCs usually but likely to drop them in a ton of shit if NPCs are about.

On a related note, I really think that the Stygian gate guards should not be invincible. If something gets led to the gates, the archers will finish it off eventually. The invincible gate guards mean that one  charging into an AOE, a misclicked KD etc in an invasion means they will never stop pursuing your PC all reset, and won't just die to the Orc invasion first.

[Human Level 2 population.]

Roleplaying Attributes

This is something that probably will help.

Actually, that's why I started this thread. The thread is useful, yes, but it was Mort claiming I wasn't RPing Si's attributes well, and he posted that list. I have pretty much given up on Si right now, but I'd like to run future PCs with low scores when they fit the concept, without underplaying them or overdoing it so much I torpedo myself.

The average ability score is ...10. For all races. 8 is below average. Just because a race has a ~difficult time~ raising an attribute. Does not mean its acceptable... to be weak in that attribute.

Actually, it does. It still means you're weak compared to the human average, just not your species average. Different population means. I shall prove it with... MATHS. Because I have a chance to outdo The Naga on numbers This is rare :P. Also I'm bored and in a statistics class.

[hide="Excusing 8 Int Halforcs using Statistical Distributions"]
So, you've bothered to read this. Oh dear... Well, luckily I'm NOT excusing 8 Int halforcs. I'm excusing 20 DEX Halflings because I like Halflings better. Hooray.

Anyway, distributions. They're going to be skewed heavily to the left, as the average score is close to the lowest possible value. This is an odd distribution, but we're doing statistics on fantasy populations, so it's cool.
Probably looks a lot like this:


Human Level 2 population.
STR: Minimum score is 8, maximum is ~18, mean is 10.
DEX: Minimum score is 8, maximum is ~18, mean is 10.
All adjustments to stat scores in NWN are made relative to Human.

Halfling L2 population.
Halfling attribute adjustments. +2 DEX, -2 STR. If you apply a change to every point on the distribution, the mean and limits of the data change by that amount. So...
STR: Minimum score is 6, maximum is ~16, mean is 8.
DEX: Minimum score is 10, maximum is ~20, mean is 12.

Kobold L2 population:
Kobold attribute adjustments. +2 DEX, -4 STR (-2CON but that's irrelevant). So...
STR: Minimum score is 4, maximum is ~14, mean is 6.
DEX: Minimum score is 10, maximum is ~20, mean is 12.

From this, we can see:
A halfling with 10 DEX is the lowest score possible at creation and is also below average for the population. Therefore a halfling with 10 DEX is relatively speaking, lame or clumsy.
A Human with 14 STR is an average soldier. A halfling with 14 STR is pretty ripped, halfling-wise. A *kobold* with 14 STR is the tiny lizard equivalent of Charles Atlas among his peers. If the average for everything was 10, it would make ability adjustments redundant, and Faerun would be full of incredibly buff kobolds and skinny halforcs who are still 10 STR because they're 7 foot tall and have as much muscle as a human.

This  makes sense, since an attribute change is meant to penalise or boost that attribute, not the other ones because "It's got to be 10 to be average".

[/hide]

Real men don't wear armour!:  If your fighter fights in cloth armour he gains +1 ac and +4 fear saves.

If that was Armor AC it would be cool but Dodge AC would be nasty. Small finessers in Mage Armored cloth can gain fairly obnoxious AC and Dodge would stack.

[Finesseable Blunt Weapons with Bonus Diremace Mode]

 
Rock - You no longer need to use Discipline.

Necromantic Penetration - You no longer need to use Dispel.
 
Monk -
 I am not your Pincushion - Missile weapons suck even more in addition to your potentially hilarious AC.
 
Spell Barrier - Your Uber Saves become Doppel-Uber.
 
Iron Fist - You gain even more hilarious damage than you usually get with your Finesseable Blunt Weapons with Bonus Diremace Mode.　

There I fixed it, 'kay?

@Drakill.
IMO that staff thing doesn't go far enough. Staves can't use Flurry in NWN and they don't allow Monk Unarmed AB/ I think it prevents Deflect Arrows too. Not even worth it for high STR monks over fists. i thought of it, but it's IMO more gimped than a non-monk with Unarmed Strikes.

I'd say:
Gain Weapon Spec: Staff and Imp Crit: Staff. No penalty. That way a staff is useful with this perk because it's got a better crit range than fists and it's 2 handed, but less flexible because it can't use combat modes. A monk with a staff is

If you choose the wrong cleric domain, you can't cast spells..

I don't mean the "What domains are legal for what god" list, I mean the "What spells a domain gives you" list. For example,I have a Priest of Baravar who likes illusions. He could take Gnome, Illusion or Trickery Domains. But which one will give him the Color Spray he wants to use to show the power of distraction in battle?

"18 year old kid dabbling in magic shouldn't necessarily know what his rat, chicken etc... will be able to do by the time he turns 30."

Saying that for other mechanical factors, you would invalidate making *any* character choices based on future options, for example building a Fighter towards learning Whirlwind Attack. Or taking feats for a Prestige Class you have apped for before you ICly know that the class requires them. "I'm a Smiter of the Undead with my WF:Warammer! What's that Kelemvor, you want me to use a Bastard Sword or I can't get promoted to Champion? B'awww.... :(". Also, ICly, you'd expect the guy with the magic to be influencing the familiar's development by enhancing and experimenting with it.

Familiars can be mechanically and concept-wise an important part of a mage build. I've played at least one mage where the familiar's been as well-known as the character, and even had its own personal rivalry with a PC. I've had a trap-master wizard who would work alongside his Raven to clear an area. For both of these, the abilities of the familiars were what made them interesting and frequently used, rather than an occasional accessory.

Allowing people who don't play many wizards or sorcs to know familiar abilities through a proper list, not word of mouth or observation of other players would help them choose complementary familiars for their PC.

[Effect:]

Two-Fisted
Your two weapons move as one, strike as one, take magic as one.

Effect: Whenever a weapon spell is cast on you, it affects both the weapons you are wielding.
I think this would be a great way to promote dual wielders not always using double weapons because they don't take twice as many spells to enhance.

Eye of the Tiger
Whether by affinity to them, or looking like a threat, not prey, you can stare down the deadly cats of Ymph and back away unharmed.
Effect: All cats will ignore you as if you had a high Animal Empathy score.

Mystery Ally
You have gained the attention of a mysterious tracker who will occasionally aid you in fights.
Effect: Gain an item or player tool that has a 50% chance of summoning a longbow-wielding ranger mid-level Ranger for 2 turns once a day. The Ranger cannot be commanded.

Yes, some PCs will naturally suit familiars because of what they are, but others will want them for what they can do *with good IC reasons*. Remember they're supposed to be assistants and even magical experiment subjects. It makes just as much sense for a wizard to pick a familiar he can train to do a task or cast a spell that is useful as it does for certain concepts to pick one because of their background.

I would rather just pick a familiar weapon/armor type/domain that suits my character based on what it is, rather than what it does..

There's a reason the server has a "mechanics changes" page, and a cleric domains page. The new cleric domain spells and powers aren't hidden under the reasoning "Choose one that suits the aspect of the god your PC most reveres", for example. Keeping people ignorant of the mechanics just lets players who do find the answers out have an advantage as they'll know for their next PC.

Clerics can take Alchemy just fine, it's an EFUSS skill with no stat modifiers. And clerics get Animate as a L3 spell and plenty of useful negative spells anyway.

Pup, I didn't mean "poison items" can be used to poison food and drink, I mean the spell "Poison" apparently can too. Poisoning should be documented too though I think, as it's not clear you have to drop the item on the ground. There aren't game breaking big deals by their omission on the mechanics pages, but it's the sort of thing that can make concepts interesting. A law-enforcer wizard who creates cursed, Continual Flamed prisoner suits to foil escapes. A Talonan who can corrupt food with his touch, etc.

If the bug's going to take a while to dig out, perhaps a "Room in use" sign using the rent stall scripts, but a 0 gp charge?

Yep. Because also tagging a Gloom Walker with Light at night would do them a whole lot of pain too. Even more than lighting up a stealther is normally a Screw You.IMO, keep it as it is but add that it gives you Low-Light Vision too, as that would make a lot of sense. Nobody's forcing you to take it, and it is meant to be a real "night person" or "Underdark refugee" perk. It is a total tribute to Night Person in Fallout :D. Low-Light vision or Darkvision would let you be comfortable in the darkness and add extra "Put out that damned light, it's blinding me" flavour.

You mean there's people who DON'T fill the "Soldier Package" with a bedroll, oil, and their spare helmets? :eek:

I'm sure you can think of something, Nut, having created all those awesome familiars. Mini dragon, talking Ball of Light Celestial, Tiny Golem....

I'm way ahead of those people. I did that out of curiosity when ithe new familiars was introduced along with about 1/4 of the server at that time XD. That only shows you the spells and feats for L1 anyway. My point is that the knowledge gap between people who've played multiple mid/high level mages and those who hasn't is a Bad Thing as it leads to veteran players knowing the mechanics while newer folk are left in the dark.

Players can be trusted to not relentlessly powergame everything just because they know the mechanics. The server isn't entirely populated by Bastard Sword wielding fighter/bards, True Neutral Sun Elf Illusionists, and 6 CHA 20 STR Half Orc Scythe Fighters. There's no one uber familiar anyway. Yes the rat has stupid HP, but I've never seen it used to tank.