Reduce paralysis duration of Death Attack

[Howlando]

Let's go over a few basics first, since despite NWN being seven'ish years old people still get confused.

Round is six seconds.

Turn is one minute.

Hour is module dependent. In EFU, it was 5 minutes. In EFU:A, it is like 27 minutes or something so we have reasonable day/night cycles. However, we changed the duration of (hopefully all) hour-based duration spells and abilities to just be 5 turns (or 5 minutes).

So hopefully death attack paralysis is 5 minutes per assassin level, which it appears to be judging from the comments in this thread.

Anyway, I'm inclined to agree that 5 minutes is a bit much, and 2 turns/level would be more reasonable, since it can be a bit tedious otherwise (for NPCs).

I think it's perfectly fine and flavorful that we have some NPCs who have this ability, although I agree we don't want it to be too common.

Any demonstrated cases of death attack paralysis firing inappropriately should be documented and reported on the bug reports forum, if it has happened I have never seen it.

[Caddies]

I may be wrong, but I am sure the duration of Death Attack paralysis is one turn/assassin level. So one minute IRL/level, which I think is perfect.

As for Death Attack firing when you're in combat, I'd wager that would simply be due to the fact that an assassin's sneak attack is always shown as a 'Death Attack', irregardless of whether a fort save is made against the paralysis (which only occurs if you're not in combat). I have never ever seen a proper Death Attack occur when the target has been in combat. Are you sure you actually made saves in the combat window against the Death Attack DC, Nihm?

[Sandstorm]

Death Attack is the first attack made by an assassin on a flat footed enemy, I think! I am unsure if it matters whether or not the other person is in combat or not, as opposed to fighting -you- or not. Everything else is sneak attack.

[AKMatt]

Turn/level, which is the standard duration, seems perfectly reasonable to me.  Even if a character only has 1 assassin level, that gives them 10 attacks minimum, which should be enough for most PC assassinations.  The assassin might even have a haste potion, which would leave a pretty slim chance of any victim of a death attack surviving.

[CunningPlan]

I'd actually say stick it at 1 Minute/Turn full stop. Enough time to kill someone, not so long that a gob assassin or counterattacked PC assassin still leaves people standing around for ridiculous time lengths.

[I can has fun?]

As for Death Attack firing when you're in combat, I'd wager that would simply be due to the fact that an assassin's sneak attack is always shown as a 'Death Attack', irregardless of whether a fort save is made against the paralysis (which only occurs if you're not in combat).

A winner is you.

[Talir]

I believe the save is done for something else than paralysis. A recent run in with a Shargass Disciple made me roll a fortitude save, but when I failed it I was not paralyzed (another effect happened though).

[tooh]

At nwn wiki, death attack is 1 turn by assassin level, paralysis is prone, so victim loses Dex AC and attacker gains +4 AB.

[Letsplayforfun]

I had no idea what death attack was. I thought it was something like "save or die" useable n times/a day by assassins, and i thought it was cool...

[ScottyB]

http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Death_attack#Notes

Turn/level.

Also, it is hardcoded, there is nothing we can do to change how death attack works!

[PanamaLane]

ok, turn/lvl is actually reasonable, sorry I equated the 5mins/turn. I was thinking hour/lvl.

On thing is this though, with death attack even as it stands now, it's essentially a save or die without the instant death. What's the point of waiting around? I guess the only thing it offers is that if you are with a body guard, perhaps he/she could save you.

I guess it just feels a little overpowered to me.

[CunningPlan]

Since it can't be altered, what I would suggest is a proliferation of no-restriction Remove Paralysis gear, so that the best defence is an ally who can trigger off one of those. Stuff that should drop in the quest level ranges with assassin NPCs.

[Nihm]

an assassin's sneak attack is always shown as a 'Death Attack', irregardless of whether a fort save is made against the paralysis

This could have been the case, yes, as the combat log was too full to find the saves with a log filled with 40ish things all making combat rolls.

[Howlando]

I humbly eat crow. I was mistaken about the duration, I thought it was hour/level - I swear it must have been that once, or something.

I think the Shargaas Disciple has some kind of level drain effect on its spear, which is also a fortitude save, which may also be causing confusion.

[Thomas_Not_very_wise]

It's a Constitution Drain.