rjshae

Hmm, can I capture evil monsters and cage them in the basement for use in alchemical experiments? If I'm going to earn a stronghold, I'd also like to have something to defend (and suffer the consequences when I don't).

Underbridgeth federus colecti. A curious species. Maybe time for a moderator to retire this thread?

One generation's medicinal remedy (laudanum) is another generation's hard drug (opium). It's difficult to map the modern views of drugs into a game that is set in a different time period and cultural viewpoint. That may be an argument against including heavy drug use as a serious topic. I mean, we are talking about a period when sugar and spices were a luxury for the wealthy.

Yeah, dice rolling is just a big time sink that doesn't add value (even though it was kind of nerdy fun to see if you could roll up a slightly better character). Point buy makes more sense if the ability scores are in the 1-20 range. For percentile, I'm not so sure.

They were talking about an episodic release plan anyway; the expansion pack will keep the development team active once the work load drops off under the release schedule. Plus they can add in a bunch of extras that aren't feasible under the current budget and Kickstarter requirements. It's a good thing, not a bad one.

Feels like a room full of old men in here. Grumble, grumble, grumble, ...

Hey, I had a thought about this concept. As written it sounds like the Grimoire is functioning as a type of focus for the spells held inside. But what if the focus was a separate item, like a charm or a gem stone? Then the focus acts as a storage device that the Wizard must periodically renew with the set of spell instructions. He does this by referring to the grimoire and performing a ritual to rebind each of the hard-coded spell links. This way the Wizard need only carry one copy of each spell that is recorded in the focus, rather than multiple grimoires with redundant spells. He would still need to think carefully about what spells to put in each focus, because the entry is permanent. Hence, the game mechanic is still there. But now the Wizard could leave his grimoire behind for a brief foray, with the knowledge that the focus would temporarily lose the spell links if he ever rested. What do you think?

This is similar to how it worked in Oblivion. If you sneaked into a house and a patrolling guard heard you, he entered the house and confronted you. But that works because it's all one contiguous area.

Just curious: have they done an X-play interview yet? The show is on at odd hours so I only get to see a few of the episodes. Great news on that expansion pack! Huzzah!

Yes. Something like the way that Skooma is portrayed in Oblivion would be good. Recreational drugs often do have negative consequences, and that can form an element of the in-game culture that realistically drives crime, smuggling, and societal decay. But they can also form a strong social bonding agent.

Exactly. It is just the type of thing that the modding community revels in.

It's a blend of troll juice with glands from that land octopus thingie, rendered into a greasy substance then imbibed with a platter of raw oysters. You'll likely also need the counteractant, or else some new armor.

Unprocessed drugs in the sense of Belladonna, Mandrake, Wormwood, and certain mushrooms? Sure, why not? Every culture has its socially acceptable and socially unacceptable mind-altering substances. The Elves probably have some really freaky herbs that provide enhanced metaphysical experiences. Dwarves maybe have a few special brews using underground fungi toxins that make their beards extra curly.

Coming from a NWN2 toolset background, I wouldn't expect that it would be difficult to implement an area effect that improves magical ability and a detect effect that allows you to see it. It would just be two of many effects that they are likely to need to cover spells and special abilities. I'd speculate that the uneven heat overlay would probably be the most difficult part to implement, since the area may be non-symmetric.

So is this mysogyny is just a trolling tactic?

It's not a momentum issue; it's a market saturation issue. Many of those who are likely to give by this means have already done so. Adding huge goals that are unlikely to be achieved may not help much. I think they've done a good job of adding realistic, reachable goals. But you're probably just a troll.

Sure, gypsy, carney, stage magician, vaudeville actor, jester, shadowcaster, illusionist, arcane trickster, scam artist, deceiver, mysterion, what have you. Just a name that captures the bard/illusionist/trickery combo.

While the budget won't allow that, it would be very nice if Obsidian allowed modders to do an ex post facto voiced dialogue with timed delays and so forth.

Plus a pool of sharks with frickin' lasers attached to their foreheads...

Hopefully they will have a follow-on expansion pack and add a few special-interest races and classes.

As long as they make a satisfying "whomf!" noise and release a small cloud of dust.

Yep, I agree. The Bard and Paladin are culturally oriented classes, much like the Ninja and Samurai. Unique classes that are particular to this world could roughly incorporate the premise of the Bard and Paladin, but with their own unique interpretation and capabilities. They already have rangers, barbarians and monks, clerics even - these are all "culturally oriented" - clerics are medieval Europe, for example.... and monks are Asian (these are not occidental monks in fantasy.) Silly argument is silly. Presumably they can change the names of those classes as well, yes?

Yep, but they can also sequence when the goodies are given based on whether you are a contributor. Getting a +1 whatsit at 2nd level is more beneficial than a +1 whatsit at 10th level.

You are hopeless dlux. Romance, yes, but you should also have to spend time with the future in-laws.

Customization allows you to play through with class combinations that may not be possible with the available companions. What if you want to try the game with an all-rogue party? Or all Wizards? I think the Adventurer's Hall is a fine goal and does not seem to break anything about the original concept. The main drawback is that the game may require more testing for balance, but that's covered by the stretch goal amount.