Gromnir

fo2 ai were retarded... which is one reason that bis were gonna give the player control of npcs in bg3. even the slow learners at bis knew that a d&d party based game has gotta give the player control... bis and obsidian developers has specific noted that they would never makes a d&d game w/o player control. not care if you feel that the party leader situation for dialogues is feeling silly. is kinda obvious that without such a model you got some serious balance issues resulting. am all for adding more npc independence during non-combat encounters (and even infrequent during combat,) but the fo2 crap just ain't gonna happen again from obsidian. even the obsinaties has learned and moved forward. HA! Good Fun!

why? 'cause of balance concerns. in d&d you plays a single character. you play a character with crappy int or terrible chr and you is gonna pay the price... though wotc did a terrible job balancing usefulness of attributes in any case. still, with a competent dm, there is gonna be some disadvantage to having low int or chr in pnp d&d. in a crpg in which you control a party with no designated leader, chr and int becomes serious dump candidates... lower 'em to basement and it not gonna hurt the Party. dumbest character in world still gets at least 1 skill point per level. with a pool of even 6 characters you can be pretty damned sure that at least one character is gonna be maxed in every useful skill. and as for communication, you might as well make the paladin or sorcerer do all the diplomatic stuff 'cause they need charisma already. why makes your dwarf fighter have an int or chr 'bove 5? maybe for some feat or prc prereqs, but otherwise... d&d is a squad based tactical combat game. in pnp, 'round which the rulez is balanced, you control a single character. in a party-based crpg you controls a full squad, and typically have a recruiting pool from which to draw as well. why not let your crappy dwarf fighter with the 1 chr and 3 int avoid all the talking? for balance... so that there is some value to be taking points of int or chr, and commensurate cost if one chooses to tank such stats. HA! Good Fun!

"When a game, such as PS:T, tries to rise above its third class standing, a number of people in the gaming community pillory the effort as

has to do with the numbers and not tactics of players... which is the problem. and yes, a kobold with a spear can very easily slay a 1-3 level character with a single critical hit... as you is quite aware. dms is forced to cheat to keep 1-3 level players alive. once players get to level 4 or so it ain't such a struggle no more. clearly there is some flaws in the system. even if sand honestly believes that levels 1-3 is ok, the fact that those levels is much more dangerous than levels 4+ should be obvious to anybody that there is a problem with the system. HA! Good Fun!

cr guidelines don't help too much 'cause of simple problem that weakest opponents gots weapons capable of doing criticals. weakest and most worthless kobold adversary with spear is still capable of killing you with a single blow... but starting at level 3 or 4 is helpful... and simply cheating as a dm is most common scenario. HA! Good Fun!

oh, well, sure enough once people is down and unconscious they is complete safe... and trying to heal 'em with heal skill not makes you a target or nothing neither, right? how many heal spells does average level 1 cleric got? and Gromnir is talking 'bout sub-level 1 cr goblins for chrissakes. "Again, adventuring is DANGEROUS." it can be, depending on the dm... but more important is the fact that d&d is disproportionately dangerous at levels 1-3... if you use d&d guidelines for crs. honestly, you is being silly. HA! Good Fun!

you is not being rational. surprise! most weapons critical on a 20... some on a 19 and 20. every melee attack from a lowly goblin with a spear carries with it a 5% o' insta-kill? a dm creates 4 encounters with 3-4 goblins and you almost guarantee that somebody in sand's party is gonna die. ... gets annoying for everybody when rolling up a new character becomes a forgone conclusion for 1-2 people during each session... regardless of how smart they play... which is why all 3e d&d dms cheat. HA! Good Fun!

not matter how smarty or careful you is at level 1-3; you can die... fast... 'less the dm cheats, and all dms cheat to help keep d&d 3e characters alive until 3-4th level. spell casters has almost no spells, and other characters is also limited in their repertoire o' combat abilities. those means to protect self from insta-kills that is available to higher level players is not an option for 1-3. if you enter combat (and d&d is a squad-based tactical combat simulator, so combat is almost inevitable,) then critical hits 'n such make for pretty common insta-death nonsense. d&d at high levels is equally terrible. might as well throw 'way the dice. look at character record sheets and at a glance you can predict outcomes of virtually any encounter... pretty much all combat outcomes is predetermined. 4-12 is d&d sweet spot. HA! Good Fun!

"Yeah, I read through the changes that were posted (I had not before my first post). Instead of an Axe Master Prestige Class (example)...you'll just pick feats in that direction. Feats atop of feats atop of feats. It's the same thing, masked under a veil, to sell more books and make $$$." 'cause of pre-reqs, two players who wanna take red wizard prc is gonna have very similar character builds... prcs actually decrease customization as 'posed to a relative free feat choice format. end up with same old kit nonsense of past. ... 'course this raises another issue: all feats is not created equal. sean k. at least tried to come up with a system for giving some kinda cost range for feats, no? the more d&d depends on feat allocation for customization, the greater attention wotc must devote to making sure feats is better balanced. HA! Good Fun!

Oh, Gromnir's already there... they are changing spells AFAIK. From what I get theere will be less spells and they'll workf per encounter. I may be wrong tho. am not a fan of the warlock as a class in 3e, but the notion o' having a relative small number o' possible invocations that can be improved or customized as one levels seems like a good idea. the huge catalog o' spells is one thing that makes mages so powerful... is just no possible way to balance all possible spells and combinations o' spells and metamagic enhancements. with each new d&d supplement we gets new spells, which only seems to exacerbate the balance issues. if d&d 4th moves away from huge spell lists we will be pleased, but just as d&d 3e only started with a tiny number of prestige classes, it seems inevitable that the numbers will explode... 'less they revamp and does more similar to warlock. ultimately we would likes to see divine v. arcane split done away with... and abolish classes altogether, but that will have to wait for 10e we s'pose. HA! Good Fun!

star wars/saga combat is better than d&d 3e... or 3.5 or wherever we is at now. the thing is that most of the things that is really busted with d&d for Gromnir will inevitably remain... alignment, prestige classes, growing number o' playable ecl races, excessive spells lists, etc. if d&d were a house on fire, wotc efforts to makes a new edition would be equivalent o' installing pergo in the kitchen. sure, the pergo is a cost-effective improvement, but for chrissakes, the house is on fire! HA! Good Fun!

disagree. always listen to fans... just don't let what you learn from fans prevent you from doing what you thinks would make game better. HA! Good Fun!

"It's a business matter about a really old trademark license-- it's nowhere close to molesting children or buying Bentleys for their executives." you and Gromnir both know that facts of the case will not be what plays in court of public opinion. media will dig and find dirt on both j&j and rc for just so long as this is a relevant and juicy news topic. the actual facts of the case will be dry and dull, and that wont stop journalists from making interesting. the rc has dirt... loads of dirt. as for walsingham points... there is many other charities that not spend donated money on organizational costs. you donate money for katrina victims or homeless in Albuquerque and you probably want more than 30 cents on dollar going to those particular causes, no? HA! Good Fun!

"But irrespective of how good or bad the Red Cross are, they are certainly seen as good, and picking a fight with them? Sure, and why not punch a few nuns whle you're at it? Genius!" the red cross has loads of dirty laundry. they get a free pass from most of us 'cause they is the biggest charity in this country and we all recognize that they is present at every major disaster. your "punch a nun" example is actually worth mentioning, 'cause for a long time it were also taboo to sue the catholic church. the % of pedophile priests is actually far less than % o' pedophile school teachers or pedophile little league coaches, 'but 'cause of well-documented court cases the church has taken a serious pr hit with the general public. somebody had to be willing to punch a nun somewhere along the way, no? as for anecdotal evidence 'bout how wonderful individual red cross members is... please. taks already pointed out the flaw in that logic, so no need for us to reexamine. regardless, when you give money to the red cross, some significant % of every dollar you donate is going to cover their organizational costs and to be thrown into their interest bearing rainy-day funds. even w/o corruption concerns, the red cross is a business that is in business to stay in business. most people working for red cross is not volunteers. many such employees gots company cars and go to work at offices/facilities that is at least as nice as Gromnir's. you thinks people is gonna stop buying band-aids 'cause of this law suit? HA! red cross is the folks who has more to lose. johnson and johnson is still gonna sell toothpaste and band-aids as long as they makes a good product and sell at competitive prices. red cross, on the other hand, has no product to sell other than their reputation. HA! Good Fun!

google it if you wish... we did the research a few years ago, but is not as if we saved it. search for red cross + corruption or embezzlement. search for american red cross + (add some foreign disaster here.) search for info regarding % of a donated $ that actually reaches victims. ... there is a reason that the well-paid red cross president resigned post 9/11. all that media exposure weren't good for red cross. most big charities with paid employees is gonna suffer similar problems... which is why Gromnir tends to avoid such organizations when we donate. HA! Good Fun!

actually, the red cross has a pretty well documented history o' deceit and corruption. as a large charity with lots o' paid employees, it probably should come as no surprise that the red cross has taken some considerable pr hits of their own over the years. in point o' fact, in a complete 180 to gd pov, the red cross is one charity that Gromnir would never volunteer monies to as we is quite disappointed with their track record of actually getting a significant % of donated money/supplies to victims. HA! Good Fun!

by the time your son is in high school there probably won't be no textbooks anymore. and Gromnir loves standardized tests. the the federal bell-curve were invented so that we coulds stomp on our peers and embarrass our teachers. if meaning o' life were filling in the correct bubbles with a number 2 pencil, then Gromnir would be king o' the world. oh, and just so that we is all clear, Gromnir acknowledges that our preternatural ability to bust standardized tests is pretty much proof that they is worthless. HA! Good Fun!

we got ours for free... an xbox 360 elite. is not having the new chip. however, as we got as a gift, we splurged and got the super extendo warranty. ... am considering whether we shoulds develop mysterious problems so as to get new model. is there a performance boost with the new chip? if not maybe we waits til they work out new kinks with new chip 'fore we experience our accidental meltdown. HA! Good Fun!

were not til high school that Gromnir started going to school on a regular basis, so our pov regarding formal education is atypical at best... and the school we first went to on a regular basis were widely considered to be one of the worst in Chicago. very little o' Gromnir's education (pre-university) ever happened in a school. in any event, we thinks that the biggest mistake many parents make with their kids is that they feels that formal education ends parental responsibility insofar as teaching their kids is concerned (no suggestion that taks is such a fool.) sure, maybe mom or dad helps with a science project or a homework question, but for the most part it seems that parents leaves the teaching o' their kids to teachers. is a mistake? thinks back and try to recall the number o' teachers who got you to enjoy learning. is you more or less likely to be able to instill love of science, reading and/or history in your child than than some yutz who only gots a teaching job 'cause their GRE/MCAT/LSAT scores weren't good 'nuff to get 'em into a good grad school? ... who gots time to genuine teach their children? not Gromnir... which is why we not have children. even so, we thinks that more important than paying for expensive education is the continuing parental duty to attempt to show children that learning can be fun. read to 'em. take'em to museums. does basic science experiments in the garage... whatever. other than those weird asian kids with the pocket protectors and 0 social life, the kids who did good in school always seemed to be the ones who liked to learn. parents got inside track. taks not need Gromnir advice... but we is a preachy bastard by nature. HA! Good Fun!

from games radar "Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer is currently scheduled to release on December 10. " tack on another few months? can't recall the last expansion that got this kinda development time... but we didn't pay attention to that oblivion expansion, so maybe over a year is now nomal? hope it pays off with a better product. HA! Good Fun!

based on i can't recall how many years worth of posts, i'm convinced you'd give vol's right or left anything to get such things, maybe even both. i've never been a cleric fan from an RP perspective so the issue never bothered me. i can understand, sort of, why it bugs those of you that are bigger into pnp, however. taks taks is the guy that developers such as obsidian and bio has to make games for. in spite o' what fergie said, rules accuracy is not a big concern for the average fan, so we understands why stuff likes domain spell lists is low priority. nevertheless, being an unreasonable guy our self, and recognizing that josh's big complaint 'bout bg were the way it mangled d&d rules, we hopes that maybe josh can reconcile his personal standards with the demands o' obsidian. if bg were so broken 'cause of busted rules... this is a crpg. is simple reality that not all pnp rules can be actualized accurate in a crpg... 'least not in a cost effective manner. but for those rules that can be done right... why not? HA! Good Fun! ps makes skills more important in motb than they was in nwn2. thanks in advance.

do what you can. one of the things in iwd2 that impressed the heck out of Gromnir were your domain implementation. sure, it were all deity specific, but the results were clerics with spells lists far more recognizable as 3e cleric spell lists than we ever has seen in any nwn game. josh getting stuck playing a nwn2 red knight cleric with horribly butchered spell lists? unthinkable. HA! Good Fun!

is this possible patch fodder, or simply a dead end feature that if it not make it into motb won't make it into nwn2? after all, fergie made a specific 'point in q&a suggesting that more accurate rulez implementation issues were a big deal/focus for obsidian with motb. HA! good Fun!

that was kinda our point. nevertheless, as to the interview, this is well-trodden ground and chrisA has said little that is new... though your contribution to the thread is notable in that it seems that chrisA will finally admit that mechanics were clunky/bad. is maybe a good way for collin to get his name back into public conscious just in time for his book... but that might be just our cynicism speaking. HA! Good Fun!

btw, domain spells shoulds fills a domain slot... is not simply added to cleric's spell list. some of the domain spells (such as the new and improved 3.5 disintegrate) is pretty powerful and shoulds probably be limited to a 1-a-day use situation. air were a real popular nwn1 domain 'cause call lightning and chain lightning were simply added to spell lists... which ain't really resulting in good balance compared to some other domains. g1 explanation makes sense... al we know is that we asked nwn2 developers if domains would be fixed in nwn2 so as to match da rulez more close, and they said, "No." were pretty much the end of the story. HA! Good Fun!