Gnoll Challenge Bug
The Gnolls in AREA 5200 (SW of Nashkel) don't seem to be working correctly. I tried this several times with varying results.
1. Accepted the challenge, the gnoll attacks Imoen. I killed the Gnoll with my main character. 35 xp awarded for killing the gnoll.
2. Accepted the challenge, the gnoll attacks Imoen. I deal around 30 points of damage to it with Imoen. The gnoll appears to stop attacking, but still follows Imoen when running away. I initiate dialog with the gnoll and he tells me I won. The gnoll resumes attacking Imoen.
3. Told the gnolls I was going to kill them. They all turn hostile. I attack the main gnoll with all characters and deal a good amount of damage. The gnoll initiates dialog and tells me that I won. I am awarded 500 xp and all of the gnolls walk away.
1. Accepted the challenge, the gnoll attacks Imoen. I killed the Gnoll with my main character. 35 xp awarded for killing the gnoll.
2. Accepted the challenge, the gnoll attacks Imoen. I deal around 30 points of damage to it with Imoen. The gnoll appears to stop attacking, but still follows Imoen when running away. I initiate dialog with the gnoll and he tells me I won. The gnoll resumes attacking Imoen.
3. Told the gnolls I was going to kill them. They all turn hostile. I attack the main gnoll with all characters and deal a good amount of damage. The gnoll initiates dialog and tells me that I won. I am awarded 500 xp and all of the gnolls walk away.
Post edited by Balquo on
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Southwest of Nashkel, gnoll asks you for a 50 gp or fight. Beat him with bare hands, gnoll became unconscious. Woke up after some time (remained the blue circle) but tried to attack me. If I talk to him he tell me I can pass, but continued to attack anyway. The other gnolls won't go away eighter. Tried sever times always the same result.
*Note, this is pre EE advice. Feel free to ignore if this doesn't help*
As you approach 4 gnolls one initiates dialog, dialog 1 results in a challenge, if you refuse the challenge they all attack but when you do enough damage to the primary gnoll he congratulates you. You get 500 xp and the 4 gnolls walk away.
If you accept the challenge, all gnolls remain neutral and while neutral the primary gnoll attacks your strongest party member as pr the challenge, the fight does not stop until the gnoll is dead and you only get the standard 35 xp, the 3 remaining gnolls just stand there neutral.
Expected behavior
As you approach 4 gnolls one initiates dialog, dialog 1 results in a challenge, if you refuse the challenge they all attack.
If you accept the challenge, all gnolls remain neutral and while neutral the primary gnoll attacks your strongest party member as pr the challenge, the fight stops when you do enough damage to the primary gnoll, he congratulates you and you get 500 xp, the 4 gnolls walk away.
Now, from what I remember from the original unmodded Baldur's Gate, the lead gnoll should target the party's highest strength character, admit defeat after being knocked out with fists (and only fists), and the party gain 500XP for meeting the challenge.
However, what I've found is that Ludrug always targets Imoen (if she's in the party), regardless of anything else; only asking Imoen to leave the party causes Ludrug to attack someone else, usually whoever he speaks to first.
Even stranger, after he's defeated and knocked out, he continues fighting after regaining consciousness, despite giving a dialogue implying he's admitting defeat. No XP award is given unless Ludrug is knocked out, and then allowed to kill the party member he wants to attack (!); after their death, the party earn 500XP, and the gnolls walk away and disappear.
Rather weird!
As to why he targets Imoen, i'd guess she has the highest level in your party, she did in mine any way.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/9243/gnoll-toll-challenge-in-ar5200-southwest-of-nashkel#latest
Observed behavior: Beating him unconscious with fists and triggering the "You won?!" dialogue does not stop him from continuing to attack you, nor does it grant an XP reward, forcing player to kill him. Weapons kill him outright, but I believe that was the case in Vanilla as well.
Intended: Stop fighting, other gnolls wander off, small xp reward, if I recall correctly.
Actual: In dialog, Ludrug (GNOLL5) offers a challenge against the party's strongest member. The battle ends up being a fight to the death with no reward for winning the challenge
Expected: After some combat (10HP damage to Ludrug) combat stops, Ludrug and his companions leave and the party gets 500exp
Looking at the scripts, GNOLL5.dlg sets GnollFightOver to 1 when you say that you want to kill them (no challenge). In GNOLL5.bcs, it only evaluates ends the challenge if GnollFightOver is 1. So ending the fight and awarding the XP can never happen.
GNOLL5A.bcs has the companion Gnolls attack when GnollFightOver is 1, so this would also have to be corrected to agree with the meaning chosen for GNOLL5.
Another point worth mentioning - the action Attack(StrongestOf) doesn't resolve in a way that makes sense to me, anyway. As noted above, Ludrug picked Imoen, probably because she was the highest level at the time. Not who I would have picked for hand to hand combat with a Gnoll...
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwOwEmwBQcTWQUVBYUQ1LXFVUEE
Let me know if there are any problems.
* Accidentally kill Ludrug (crit hit) and there is no XP for the challenge
* More that one party member can engage Ludrug with no penalty (I can't find a way to fix this)
There have been efforts made so they notice if you cheat, in that case the other gnolls become hostile.
I also think it doesn't worth to bother more with it.
I tried leading Minsc forward to speak to Ludrug and then have Minsc, and only Minsc accept the challenge and fight Ludrug. The red circles always appeared. The party leader, Charname, was able to challenge Ludrug without any hostility occurring. It seems the top-most portrait is the only challenge Ludrug will accept as honorable.
Minsc - Ranger
STR: 18/93 DEX: 15 CON: 15 INT: 8 WIS: 6 CHA: 9
Charname - Swashbuckler
STR: 16 DEX: 18 CON: 15 INT: 13 WIS: 9 CHA: 19
Minsc has more attacks per round, a better THAC0 and rolls superior damage. He also has a better dice roll towards HP per level due to his class, dispelling the equality of a matching CON score. The only area where Charname takes the lead is in relation to DEX. But, I had Minsc rocking the DEX gauntlets to boost his score to 18 also.