Suppress Affliction is either bugged or bad

[DragonDai]

So I am about to fight some guys that like to charm. I've tried the fight once and noticed that my Wizard LOVES to get charmed even with Prayer Against Treachery running. And Suppress Affliction doesn't work on my Wizard, cause he's now an foe and the friendly AoE of Suppress Affliction doesn't work on foes (a HUGE problem, IMO, with the way the game handles spells, but that's a topic for another thread). So I'm like, **** it, I'll throw up Suppress Affliction BEFORE he gets charmed. He'll get charmed, but the affliction will be suppressed cause he already has the spell running...but NOPE! For some reason, Charm still works. He still has Suppress Affliction running, but he is also Charmed. So either Charm/Dominate > All, which is awful (which is the topic for another thread) and Suppress Affliction just isn't that useful, or this is a bug. Anyone know which?

[Climhazzard]

I noticed this same problem with liberating exhortation, turned out to not be half as good as it is in the description.

[ErlKing]

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/76065-liberating-exhortation-not-working/

 

It does not work on charm/domination, also it does not work on petrify. I am suspecting that it does not work on paralyze either (I havnt tested that one).

 

So all it does is just suspend stat debuffs for a time, that definitely should be in spell/ability description.

 

Actually I wonder if liberating exhortation remove debuffs from charm, making it worse for you.

Edited April 11, 2015 by ErlKing

[DragonDai]

Yeah, this is a HUGE problem with the current buff/debuff system. Basically, one of your characters gets charmed/dominated for a long time (10+ seconds) and it's basically all over. Sure, you can cast a 6th level priest spell (and, AFAIK) literally nothing else, to help protect against it, and there are some VERY minor bonuses against it you can get if you feel like sacrificing an entire talent. But seriously, all it takes is one lucky roll from a high level enemy and suddenly you have no AoE cause they charmed your druid/wizard. Suddenly your tank is no longer guarding your squishies and all the enemies he was engaging just saunter on by and slap your priest upside the head.

 

And don't get me wrong, I get that Charm/Dominate are supposed to be powerful. I get that. But there is literally no way to "fix" the problem once it happens. Waiting and hoping for the best/reloading is not a valid solution. I should have SOME tool, no matter how limited, that allows me to "fix" the problem if applied correctly. That tool does not exist currently...even if I prepare ahead of time. And that's a massive issue (among many other massive issues this game has when you get down to the nitty gritty).

[ErlKing]

Actually thats true even other way around, I mean wizard and cipher confuse/charm/dominate spells - throw AoE confuse spell and at least one enemy ll be confused, becoming target for other enemies, keep throwing confuse and opponents ll kill themselves. That turn hard fights into park walk.

Cipher unbalanced powers obvious - fast paralyze or slower confuse or even slower charm/dominate outperform each and every possible debuff, while having same Acc bonus as most powers (or even more).

 

Currently only Cipher countercharm could return control to you, making cipher even more "must have" for party than it should be.

 

1) Personally I think suspend spells/powers should return control of character to you, but place huge debuff or paralyze target (like struggling wills), so charm would still possess great threat, but wouldn't be such annoyance.

 

2) Talents, spells, abilities that add defenses vs specific status effects should be like +30/+40/+50, not +10

 

3) Confuse should not change friend/enemy polarity.

 

4) Some debuffs and status effect attacks should have additive post effect to prevent spamming - charmed once -> +10 to charm resist, charmed twice -> +20 to charm resist and so on.

[Ichthyic]

 

So I am about to fight some guys that like to charm.

let me guess...

 

Fampyrs?

 

egads, I hit level 8 in the endless paths, and it was like Aloth must have been here before... because they all knew him and loved him, charming no other characters, but ALWAYS charming Aloth, without fail.  I had to basically plan my fights around only having 5 guys and no mage, AND having to paralyze or knockown Aloth on my first turn.

 

which, btw, is the easiest and cheapest thing to do when your mage gets charmed... just knock him down, with slicken, or a priest seal, or whatever have you.  by the time he gets up, the charm will have worn off.

 

that said...

 

supress affliction works against any spell that disables your characters, debuffs your characters, or gives them a DOT effect.  it's actually extremely useful.

 

charm does not disable your character... it makes it NOT your character.  that's why it doesn't work on them.

 

if you want to have your best chance at resisting charm, you can create 2nd level "scroll of defense" that boost all your defenses for your entire party by 20 for about 20 seconds. only takes 4 lore to use, so most of your characters can use it at the start of combat.  if you manage to cast it before the fampyrs see your mage, you at least have a 50/50 chance of avoiding him being charmed.  unfortunately, you can only cast it in combat, so the timing is a bit tricky.

 

 

[ErlKing]

egads, I hit level 8 in the endless paths, and it was like Aloth must have been here before... because they all knew him and loved him, charming no other characters, but ALWAYS charming Aloth, without fail.  I had to basically plan my fights around only having 5 guys and no mage, AND having to paralyze or knockown Aloth on my first turn.

 

That made me thinking... What if we give Aloth heaviest armor, biggest shield and unenchanted hatchet (or just bare hand).

[Emptiness]

I haven't really had any luck getting Suppress Affliction to suppress anything.  It seems like it is either completely broken or else doesn't suppress anything that I would bother trying to suppress.  I haven't tested it exhaustively, but I have given up on using it because it's just a waste of an action.

[Odd Hermit]

I've found it extremely useful against stat debuffs and damage over time spells. It doesn't work on domination 'cause they're not considered friendlies anymore - which is perhaps arguable whether it should be that way or not.

 

It absolutely works on most debuffs though. It totally saved my party against ogre druid/matron fights where their insect plague is freaking scary on PotD but suppress affliction stopped it from doing anything to me so yay.

 

I also find it really strong for creating windows of high accuracy against enemies that terrify. They'll reapply since it's an aura, but you get a period where you can nail them with paralyze or whatever if you can suppress affliction right before using something like mental binding.

 

 

It should be noted that it doesn't prevent or completely remove anything. Essentially it counters the effects on a character with its own duration. While Suppress Affliction is on a character, the debuffs that were on them before it was applied will do nothing. Anything applied afterward works normally.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Odd Hermit

[Climhazzard]

 

1) Personally I think suspend spells/powers should return control of character to you, but place huge debuff or paralyze target (like struggling wills), so charm would still possess great threat, but wouldn't be such annoyance.

 

 

Charmed does, according to the description, it says "speed accuracy and all defenses are reduced by 25".

[PIP-Clownboy]

1) Personally I think suspend spells/powers should return control of character to you, but place huge debuff or paralyze target (like struggling wills), so charm would still possess great threat, but wouldn't be such annoyance.

 

 

Paralyze is way more lethal and annoying than Charm/Dominate/Confuse imo.

[Spam101]

I too am struggling to understand what this spell is actually supposed to work on or if it's just totally broken. It doesn't fix a knockdown but I'm guessing that's intended.

 

I will say that it seemed to suppress the spell: infestation of maggots (which, erroneously or not, stacked up 4 times in one battle on my protagonist)

 

due to me suppressing it with this spell it's now stuck on my character sheet forever.. which is whack.

Edited April 17, 2015 by Spam101

[KKDragonLord]

The counter for charm/domination is simple, you just need to charm your charmed party member

[Concordance]

The counter for charm/domination is simple, you just need to charm your charmed party member

 

It's not that simple. The cast time on Cipher's charm/dominate is long enough for a dominated Rogue/Cipher to butcher a squishy. Not to mention that Ciphers seem to be priority targets, and my party's Cipher is always the one dominated if she is in range.

 

It's also worth noting that, while counter-charm returns the party member to your side, he cannot do anything but auto-attack until both charms run out. Which is not a problem on a Fighter/Paladin/Barbarian/Rogue, but somewhat disastrous on a Priest/Wizard/Druid/Cipher.

 

Prayer Against Treachery doesn't seem to do much unless your Will is already in the triple digits. If the priest had to pick spells on level up like the Cipher does, PAT would be considered a trap choice.

 

To add insult to injury, enemy charm/dominate has much longer range and faster cast time than the player equivalents, making them much harder to interrupt. Vithrack Dominate has a Fast casting time, and Vithracks have very high Will saves against any magical interrupts. Fampyr Charm is both instant cast AND is the longest ranged attack in the game!

 

Charm/Dominate are just terribly balanced across the board.