Silent Winter

- Lart the Liar - Here lies the liar Who said he was dead We took him to the graveyard And made it truth instead

Well, they don't have a good-evil alignment system so technically no. I also read they (devs) see Paladins (in PoE) as 'zealots' so they (paladins) probably consider themselves to be 'good' but not everyone might agree.

Awesome, so I can start planning my 210x330 portrait(s) and be ready to crop them down for the HUD one

For me, the HUD portraits should be a facial closeup because there'd be no detail at all in a bigger shot - they're just used to quickly identify who's who while selecting. On the other hand, I like to get a bit more detail on what my character looks like when I've got time to look at the portrait and admire it, i.e. when I'm not fighting/exploring. So I like a more head+shoulders approach for that. (Plus I like making portraits for my PC to use) YMMV

I agree that would be better - I was just going on a half-remembered dev statement. I could be remembering wrongly though.

I'm assuming this is the size of portraits for character sheets? Last I heard, yes, that's the size for the character sheets. I also think it's going to be an auto-reduced form of that portrait (not a separate pic) on the main game-screen, the size of which was still in flux at the last mention.

Well, there's much more you can do than just have them stack and call it a day. They could stack in with progressively-reduced intensity (1 success is a .5 second interrupt, 5 successes is a 1.5 second interrupt, etc., for example). I was merely pointing out various example approaches/possibilities. Stunlock is a concern, but so is the situation in which you just command your whole party to attack that Wizard who's trying to cast a bad-news spell, only to only get 1 actual concentration check simply because you didn't manually ensure that everyone's attack fell 1.3 seconds apart. Does that make sense? Imagine if other stuff did that. "Oh, 6 people attacked all within 1 second? Well, you only got 1 armor penetration check." So, I'd say they're both concerns, which is why I'm curious what Josh's/the team's thoughts are on that. Or the advantage to getting all 6 attacks 'at once' is that any attacks landing during an interrupt animation can land for a guaranteed hit (though your way may be easier to implement). Definitely don't think they should stack but a progressively reduced increase would be ok (logorythmic increase?). Either that or no increase and it's down to the animations and leave it at that. How often will 6 blows land at exactly the same time anyway? If they're landing just after each other then the timer/animation can reset.

I think the expansion for PoE is as inevitable as the expansion of a marshmallow in a microwave. Quick, someone remind Fearghus to plug the microwave in

*mind boggles at metaphysical nature of a 'tele-ounce'*

If hardcore fans will buy on day 1, then what are we? *coins new phrase for when hardcore just isn't hard enough* 'Diamondcore' or possibly 'Nailcore' (as in 'hard as nails') Ok, so those are 'diamond core' Those of us who missed the 'K' due to blissless obliviousness but backed it early are now 'IgneousRockcore'. Day one buyers are 'hardcore'. Those who wait for a sale are 'Marshmallowcore' ...I'm getting a T-shirt made up

Deja-Boo (when the hamster comes round the wheel again). These were all gone over and suggested in the other thread - they changed it to 'might' instead - I'm now at the 'rationalising what's there' phase.

Don't worry, someone without the internet who runs only OS2/Warp will still complain. I don't know how. Probably via handwritten letter postmarked from a cave in Siberia. Nay, it shall be a telegram: want game STOP DRM STOP Please send 1's and 0's by return telegram STOP You can't touch this STOP Hammer (of thunderbolts) time

I like having the portraits in the dialogue bar. Best is if every important NPC has their own portrait but I think budget constraints mean that for PoE there'll be some but not all. (Josh previously mentioned in one of the update threads that some of the NPCs have portraits). So I think it'll be like BG2 in that regard. And if it's moddable, we can put our own portraits into it to fill the missing ones if we like.

Memorable characters, examples: Mazzy, who wanted to be something that 2nd Edition D&D wouldn't let her be. (If only she'd been born in NWN-era.) Khelgar, who wanted to be something he didn't understand. Ammon Jerro, who didn't understand and so became something he didn't want to be. Minsc, because Boo, so there - but don't try to repeat 'a Minsc' , it's been done, move on. I agree with what others have said, that a character needs to be their own person. They can agree or disagree with the PC or other party members. They can work to their own goals, which may or may not coincide with the main quest. They can leave the team and come back later (though this is mostly just annoying from a gameplay perspective unless the absence is a short test of 'can you do without them?' proportions). They should interact with each other, not just the PC (this helps with replayability with different party combinations) My biggest problem with NWN2 OC companions was the lack of choice as to whether they were in the party. Thankfully, we've been told that there won't be forced companions in PoE.

Nice update - love the undead lore. Looking forward to Druids in the next one

Well, magic power doesn't equal mental potency - that's a D&D thing - the nearest way I can figure the current system is that magic power actually does require physical exertion. (not the first fantasy world I've encountered where powerful wizards need to be physically strong). Intellect now governs control rather than power. Edit: so this allows for more of a 'brute' wizard versus a 'finesse' wizard or something.

I think that's his point - if you do 5 damage to 4 enemies - that's 20 damage. 10 damage to one enemy is only half that. If the 5 damage is repeated over 3 'turns' (I know PoE doesn't have 'turns' per se but you get the idea) then that's a lot more damage from one spell. Of course, the might-wizard casts more spells in that time too (but then so can the intellect wizard) so it's balanced rather than one being so much better at their job. Until we know the exact figures, we can't really speculate as to whether pumping might and ignoring intellect or vice-versa will be beneficial or not. Might would be better for single target insta-damage spells, intellect might be better for AOE spells to get more enemies in one hit for a battle-opener, whatever-stat may be better for keeping an enemy suffering from acid-attack/constant drain attack/etc, depening on your strategy. (I've probably mixed up which stat is which here but that's the general idea)

I guess, in PoE world, it takes 'strength' to create 'flash in the pan' higher damage magic (though we don't know how much higher yet) but it takes concentration/willpower to control that magic to spread in a certain area or to last longer. The thing is - both might-based and intellect-based (and dex-based or whatever the stat is) wizards can 'kill things with magic' - the might-based wizard just has higher damage in a short time in a small area, whereas the intellect-based wizard does more/the same damage over time to a larger group of enemies, with one spell. And as Tajero said, there's also the interrupt/penetration/whatver aspect. It won't be a 'High-ThisStat' wizard is 'best' - it's now a strategic choice based on play-style. Your non-'mighty' wizard is actually behaving more intellectually by controlling their magic rather than shooting it off in a powerful burst.

In PoE there's an infinite stash - so you'll be able to put all that junk into it on your first run. No need to go back to scavenge. My only concern with this is that now I'll have unlimited junk to sort through when at campsites/towns and then selling 100 longswords for 1gp each.

'Evil' characters don't think they're 'evil' - they may have their own version of a 'noble goal' or simply think it's a dog-eat-dog world and act accordingly. (The ultimate 'evil' in NWN2 OC was a bit like this 'noble goal' approach - I especially liked the story of his/its origin when you were talking with the dwarves and elves in the library/place/thing and ultimately understood why it was doing what it was doing (even if Black Garius was more of a 'mwahaha' type)) But more so. Others have already said it in more detail so I'll just echo that good characters have layers and their own motivations. And if someone's supposed to be the secret hidden antagonist behind the veil - it shouldn't be obvious the first time you meet them

Please tell me you don't mean the OC. Don't get me wrong - the 2 different endings were a great difference (and the 'evil' ending was very well done, made for a better story ending for me), but they were somewhat of a last-minute decision on your part and for the rest of the game, your choices had virtually no effect. (Brief spell with the Watch or Thieves aside - after that it's Knight Captain and the same quests in the same order whether you like it or not).

"Big-boned" is an euphemism for "fat." Yes, I know, that's why I said it But my actual (less tongue in cheek) point was the 'broader' v. 'fatter' thing.

...said the assassin to his prey sorry, OT from the quoted post but: I'd like to be able to use assassin techniques in an assassiny way - I mean, being able to sneak in, past the guards, quietly dispose of a victim by knife/poison/whatever and then sneak out. Having my handiwork only discovered later. There was an "Assassins" mod for BG2 and whilst it was a fun diversion with a little story, every 'assassination' turned into a regular fight against a group.

"Wu-Chi [stillness / void] is the mother of Tai-Chi [movement / yin-yang]" But then yin gives rise to yang and vice-versa ... so S/He's her/his own parent?

When I think of 'bulk' for the character models, I'm thinking general broadness - could be muscle and a little fat (or a bit skinnier than normal - you still wouldn't have a muscleless weakling with no body fat carrying that equipment all that way - the walking alone would build some muscle). So 'big-boned' rather than 'fat' That and height are enough for me. Not that the BG approach bothered me at all - but as suggested earlier, the TOEE system might be easy enough to do.