b0rsuk

It's probably because I'm a freak, but these drawings are just vague enough to tickle my imagination. I wish there were more. They're cool and underused cutscene substitute, too.

To be fair it's unlikely Ranger will have twice the arrows in the air with Vicious Aim on. I wonder why he took Swift Aim at all - he didn't use it. Driving Flight would be much better.

And there's more than one way to build your chanter. You can chant Blessed to rush into combat QUICKLY, next phrase is Thick for reduced Concentration and stunlock. 8 seconds, 2 phrases chanted.

Expect to reach level12 later than in 1.04, because bounties got their xp reduced. That was a major reason why people were getting level 12 early. No matter how you slice it, Rogue needs teammates to get his damage boosts. Ranger is not only self-sufficient, he provides extra benefits to his team - flanking from animal and debuffs. Wounding Shot reduces reflex, which makes the target susceptible to Binding Roots. That's -40 Reflex total from a single character. You can also stack Binding Roots with Stunning Arrows, which produces -40 Deflection total.

What are the obvious facts ? List them, point by point. The longer you think about this quest, the less it makes sense. You don't understand, or pretend to not understand, how strong sexual drive is. Females of other races have been made to look attractive to us, players, which means humans. They need to be or female players would stay AWAY from them. If they are attractive to us, why not to humans of Eora ? Are the humans somehow different at fundamental level ? You don't need to be able to reproduce to feel attraction to someone. Sexuality of Eora is just a huge blank. Almost nothing can be found about it in game lore, books etc. Until proven otherwise, it's rational to assume they work the way we do. Plus whatever was said about mixing of races: they can't produce offspring. In Eora, there is abundance of sexual partners who have no need for contraceptives. There is huge supply of them, so except for very strict people, or people who consider sex without reproduction sinful, no one should get worked up about bitter squash seeds. People who consider sex without reproduction sinful have no business being in Salty Mast anyway. It's like a quest about selling ice cream to Inuit (a.k.a. Eskimo). This is a cop-out explanation, too, and it has serious consequences for the setting. I can't believe races stay away from each other because someone told them they're separate species.

You tested what you wanted to test, and proved what you wanted to prove. You dismiss Marked Prey for being once per fight, but happily use Fearsome Strike, which is 1/rest. Is this because you rest every encounter on PotD ? No +10 accuracy from Stalker's Link, no Wounding Shot, no Stunning Arrows (-20 deflection?). How about a new test where the goal is to use these abilities and not use Deathblows ? The skill makes the biggest difference. Animal Companion deals damage too, it flanks. It makes Ranger effectively get double benefit from most damage buffs.

Humans can be killed by punches, but punches are made of flesh. Snakes can kill each other with their venom. Wizards can kill each other with spells. Lions can bite each other to death. Speaking of encounters, I would like to see: * encounters where new enemies show up every 10 seconds or so, reinforcements etc. Currently area spells are too effective because in all cases enemies will cluster at your line holders. * encounters where tough but quite harmless monsters are blocking a choke point, and there are many ranged baddies behind * encounters where dangerous ranged enemies keep coming from multiple directions, like kobolds and kobold commandos in Nashkel mines. The game sorely lacks strong ranged enemies. Oozes and slimes technically count as ranged, and they're pathetic. * more encounters where you are fighting a small number of Strong enemies, that take a while to take down. 3-5. * encounters where most of enemies are weak, but there are two much stronger ones in the mix. * encounters where having Stealth allows you to position multiple party members in an advantageous position. For example the fight is in the open, but there is a choke point past them. If you can sneak there, it will be easier. * encounters where enemies are coming from 2 directions

I'm eager to hear what some designers and writers think about the issue, how they justify it. In my opinion the most elegant and complete fix would be "Races can have children with each other, but the child takes the race from father/mother." No swinger's paradise, no headache with elf-aumaua hybrids either.

General answer: why Ranger with an implement when you can have a monk ? Dangerous Implement, Human, Swift Strikes, Lightning Strikes (25% in 1.05), Turning Wheel.

Do you assume enemies have 15 DR?

I'm going to try Swift Aim arquebus ranger somewhere in the future. Swift Aim, because those +25% damage criticals are not worth it. Swift and Steady is a talent giving +5 Accuracy in Swift Aim mode, so Swift Aim only has a penalty of -2, not -7. -7 is with gun accuracy. If you add an animal as target spotter, you end up at +3. In fact, a party with 3 shooters (archery contest) is on my list of things to try.

You desperately cling to the fact the races are called different species. It's just that - a name. Differences in appearance and shape are superficial. They wear the same clothes, armor, and use the same items, speak the same languages, eat the same food, have the same emotions and goals. That they can't have common children looks almost meaningless by comparison. Iovara was an elf, but you can tell Thaos you were in love with her, even if you're NOT an elf yourself. That would prove that love between species is possible in Eora, so different race wouldn't matter much in practice. Sex comes naturally after love (not only after). And if PC loved Iovara because his soul was an elf at the time, that's interesting. It would mean the same soul can "power" different species. Which also means different races don't mean much other than reproduction. I believe the latter is the case, the ending of Hiravias' quest proves it.

Explainable in the sense that it can be explained by an error on the part of the writers. It's literally the simplest explanation. Why make up something convoluted ?

There's also selection bias. The poll only includes people who care enough about the game to create a forum. More dedicated gamers.

And a pig.

Sorry, I meant Stunning Shots might work in melee. I know for certain that Wounding Shot does. Also, don't overlook Binding Roots. It's not only about movement, Stuck gives -20 to Deflection. With 5/rest it's close enough to 1/encounter.

It's not as completely clear cut. Four extra damage sources is a lot and not easy to get on all classes. There are powerful attack speed potions, Potion of Power is +25% speed, Potion of Deletrious Something is +50%. Hastening Exhortation is something like +30%. Hastening Exhortation has the interesting property that it's good to use on targets who use other buffs, because it's essentially time bending device. Say you use Disciplined Barrage or Frenzy. They are limited by time, and haste allows you to make more attacks during that time. It doesn't shorten duration of other buffs.

Swift&Steady is a melee talent, because Swift Aim works in melee. You can count Accurate Wounding Shot the same way, because it's also melee-friendly. I need to test Wounding Shot. Strengthened Bond is a talent which improves skill that only really becomes useful in melee. Animal companion talents boost its melee skills mostly.

Once you allow half-elves in your game, what about other mixes ? Half-dwarves, half-aumaua, half-orlans ? And why limit it to humans ? You have 5 non-sterile races. That's 10 half races you'd have to create, balance, and make distinct and interesting. And if you add a sixth race, you will need 6 more half races. How do you even name them ?

in 1.04 Stun from ranged weapon like Borresaine only stops enemies from acting. It doesn't allow Sneak Attack, reduce stats etc.

You mean this thread is a true insult to any real BG fans ? I suppose you didn't pay for it because you couldn't figure out how to use a credit card. Terrible interpunction and post structure suggests you have other issues.

Only for companions, maybe their banters as well. I can count on fingers of my hand the NPCs that have memorable voices.

Okayyy... but I wasn't talking about reproduction. Just sex. Salty Mast, the brothel quest. Feel free to get worked up about something I wasn't talking about. Infertile women can be attractive. I still think women of other races are more attractive than a man of the same race (for a heterosexual). To make that fly, you'd have to edit the conversation with the harassing thugs, who are from the Dozens. They blame Maea for increasing prices, so that only nobles can afford them. They feel everyone deserves a visit in a whorehouse. They say absolutely nothing of having to do it with a dwarf, elf, or aumaua. And it would be inconvenient to suddenly make the Dozens racist, because - I think - that's one of the few cases of diversity they accept. Someone said he went with Dozens because Knights told him right away orlans are dirty thieves. If you suddenly make them openly racist, they will look even less attractive next to the other factions. Godlikes ?

He just seems lonely to me. He's an outcast. "It's good to run with a pack again.". Later, he says all he wanted was to earn a place as a respected hunter. Even when he joins your party, he doesn't truly fit. He makes some jokes no one laughs at. He is not in a hurry to reach the druids, he even says something like "as long as we're going to go to (...) at some point." Because he was cast out, he's not very loyal towards Glanfathans anymore. My ending with Hiravias mentioned he returned to his initial community, challenged every last of them to a spiritshifting duel, and then left.

It explains why you can build Laboratory and Hearth in the Stronghold. They used to do something. Was it fixable with enough gold ?