also as some one who only knows rule sets from video games is there a massive differance between 3 and 3.5? cus theres a massive difference in votes between the 2 rule sets.
3.0 and 3.5 are essentially the same rule set. 3.5 simply cleans up some problems and exploits to the games system. The most noticeable change is that bonus's that are the same no longer stack. Honestly 3.5 could have been an pamphlet sized update to 3.0, other then some stacking issues on class adjustments, the only real changes I can think of are exploits that a good GM would never allow in the first place.
Apparently the great cleave feat had to be changed because someone played in an important game somewhere using a fighter with great cleave and whirlwind attack feats, carrying bags full of rats. He claimed he could dump a bag of 20 rats on the ground, do a whirlwind attack and get 20 cleaves on the actual target. I believe it wasn't allowed, but by the specifics of the rules it did work that way.
@element Sharn (above me) is right. There isn't that much of a difference between 3 and 3.5. I don't know why they ever published it as a sort-of standalone edition, especially with Rule Zero in effect. I don't believe the voters really make a big distinction between the two, either - most likely they just voted what they played back in 2002, whatever edition that was, and didn't think too much about it.
Imoen is an obvious "winner" due to the PG advantages inherit in her build - one can do the dual-classed Rogue/Mage route with her, which basically makes her the most versatile of all the NPCs that one can choose from.
Same thing goes for Neera - a "specialist" Mage that can use all spells. You really cannot top that.
The most versatile NPC, if you go strictly by the ability to dual, is Xzar. He can be dualed to cleric or thief. Besides the pitiful con, his stats are very decent for a mage - 14 str to wear most armors and shields as cleric, high dex to be efficient with ranged weapons and as thief, high wis and int for above average lore. Sure, he needs a tome for either option, but especially wisdom is available easy and early (around the time it makes most sense to dual him), there are 3 of them, and unless charname is a divine caster, no-one else needs them, so it's not a big deal.
I'd pick Minsc over Neera any day. Neera's backstory was a bit too generic for me ('American teenager who feels left out') and I don't really like her voice set. Also, I'd like to have a more reliable mage who knows what they're doing when casting a spell.
@element Sharn (above me) is right. There isn't that much of a difference between 3 and 3.5. I don't know why they ever published it as a sort-of standalone edition, especially with Rule Zero in effect. I don't believe the voters really make a big distinction between the two, either - most likely they just voted what they played back in 2002, whatever edition that was, and didn't think too much about it.
I know the answer to that one... CHA-CHING! Money. By printing all the books over again, they made people think they were needed, and this led to more sales. That's also the reason for the sheerly insane number of sourcebooks released in a mere 4 years (for 3e) and 3 years (for 3.5e). I got them after most of them had already come out, and I have 57 TSR/WOTC sourcebooks for 3/3.5 edition. And that's not counting the third party ones... Seriously, we're talking insane sums of money if your DM/GM was expected to keep up with everything. And that's only core stuff. Add Forgotten Realms, Kingdoms of Kalamar and Eberron, and there are probably closer to 80 sourcebooks. By the end of 3.5, I was seriously afflicted with edition fatigue. I have only 2 4e sourcebooks, because I got them before I realized they were 4e. One is the Grand History of the Realms (which is more fluff than crunch because it covers all the ages of the Realms- I just ignore the Spellplague and anything that happened after it) and the Dungeon(eers?) Survival Guide. I still have my 1e stuff as well.
I have to say, I am playing an all-good party right now, and it consists of Driana, my human female LG kitless fighter, Imoen (of course), Minsc, Branwen, Dynaheir and Rasaad. I love all the characters. Neera got killed early on at low-level, so I dumped her for Dynaheir wheni she died at the Gnoll Fortress. I finished Rassad's Quest a bit ago, and I enjoy his character (and his voice) a lot. Encountered Dorn, but haven't used him yet. That'll do for my evil play through.
The survey does not include the "Cheat style" for style of play? Strange... Isn't ctrl+J and ctrl+Y the most effective style? (Please do not hit me please please please... *run away*) Just thought it could be interresting to see how many people use the console in the game (whether for debugging or really cheating).
Ctrl+J isn't really a cheat if you don't use it to get to areas you wouldn't be able to access at that point. It's a time saver when navigating through safe areas for me, for example "beam" from Feldpost Inn to Thunderhammer in Beregost, or from map entrance point inside the Friendly Arm Inn. After you visited the first time, nothing will happen on the way (except Elminster and Vai's messenger girl, but both approach near the smith's door). I also rarely use Ctrl+T (advance time) if I do the "midnight" quests in Baldur's Gate (Hall of Wonders, the two Darkwalk burglaries) if there's nothing else I could do in the remaining time. Though that's a a very specific situation, most of the time I just do the quests when it's night already.
Neither qualifies as "cheating" to me. I haven't used any other ctrl+ commands. What does Y do? I remember X is instant-kill and R (?) instant-heal, and those would qualify as cheating... and take the fun and challenge away, so that's rather pointless.
Ah my bad, I thought ctrl+Y was instant kill I fully understand the fact that travelling safe maps is a time consumer. But for me this is also cheating (not the bad kind as to put 25 on all stats).
The cheat that I like is the command which change the appearance of the selected character. It's so much fun to see the drows murdered by a bunch of xvarts or squirrels °°
Maybe it is ctrl+Y, I'm not sure. I also don't see how beaming from one store to another is a cheat. I don't get any advantage except 30 seconds less in game time from that. Or how changing the appearance of the paperdoll is cheating. All it does is change the appearance, you don't get the stats of whatever you pick. If you make your party look like drow, you don't get magic resistance. It's a cosmetic change, same as using a mod to have a different color armor or weapon. It doesn't change anything about the game mechanics.
Ctrl+J isn't really a cheat if you don't use it to get to areas you wouldn't be able to access at that point. It's a time saver when navigating through safe areas for me, for example "beam" from Feldpost Inn to Thunderhammer in Beregost, or from map entrance point inside the Friendly Arm Inn. After you visited the first time, nothing will happen on the way (except Elminster and Vai's messenger girl, but both approach near the smith's door). I also rarely use Ctrl+T (advance time) if I do the "midnight" quests in Baldur's Gate (Hall of Wonders, the two Darkwalk burglaries) if there's nothing else I could do in the remaining time. Though that's a a very specific situation, most of the time I just do the quests when it's night already.
Neither qualifies as "cheating" to me. I haven't used any other ctrl+ commands. What does Y do? I remember X is instant-kill and R (?) instant-heal, and those would qualify as cheating... and take the fun and challenge away, so that's rather pointless.
Yeah definitely, Ctrl+J can be used to eliminate the tedium of traversing a map when there is nothing new to be encountered.
I also use CLUAConsole:ExploreArea() to remove the fog of war. It doesn't change the perception range of characters. It just let's you the player view the entire map that you know oh-so-well after countless playthroughs.
And to answer the new survey - I always play with console, mainly for beaming around. I didn't know there was an explore area, that will come in handy, too. Other than that, and rarely advance time or triggering bugged stuff, I don't know/use most things it can do. Shadowkeeper to change colors is a must. There are so many more colors possible, and I often dislike the low saturation versions offered in game (i.e. my Baeloth is dressed in purple, not in washed out somewhat greyish lavender). Rarely to change thief skills if I use late game NPCs, but I don't change weapon profs or classes/kits.
Oh, I remember. That's when you don't know the stash locations blindly.
And yeah, I know I can change the colors... but the palette is quite ugly, imo. There are 4 greens, but no real gold/silver/white/matte black, the two purples are washed out... I much prefer the options in SK, also for hair and skin. Charname is a redhead, not a textmarker-neon-orangehead.
Comments
NPC1Project: options to move Alora, Eldoth, Quayle and Tiax.
Sword Coast Stratagems: 'Move NPCs to more convenient locations'.
Two of my most favourite NPC's are Alora, whom I pick up in Gullykin and Quayle whom I pick up at the Nashkel Carnival.
Sword Coast Stratagems has the 'Allow player to choose NPC proficiencies and skills'-tweak as well.
So two reasons for impopularity can easily be dealt with, if you're like playing Tutu or BGT instead of Vanilla.
Apparently the great cleave feat had to be changed because someone played in an important game somewhere using a fighter with great cleave and whirlwind attack feats, carrying bags full of rats. He claimed he could dump a bag of 20 rats on the ground, do a whirlwind attack and get 20 cleaves on the actual target. I believe it wasn't allowed, but by the specifics of the rules it did work that way.
cool, thats pretty interesting. The numbers did seem odd when i wasnt realy aware of the differances.
I feel like ive learnt something today thanks for the replies
Same thing goes for Neera - a "specialist" Mage that can use all spells. You really cannot top that.
I have to say, I am playing an all-good party right now, and it consists of Driana, my human female LG kitless fighter, Imoen (of course), Minsc, Branwen, Dynaheir and Rasaad. I love all the characters. Neera got killed early on at low-level, so I dumped her for Dynaheir wheni she died at the Gnoll Fortress. I finished Rassad's Quest a bit ago, and I enjoy his character (and his voice) a lot. Encountered Dorn, but haven't used him yet. That'll do for my evil play through.
Isn't ctrl+J and ctrl+Y the most effective style? (Please do not hit me please please please... *run away*)
Just thought it could be interresting to see how many people use the console in the game (whether for debugging or really cheating).
I also rarely use Ctrl+T (advance time) if I do the "midnight" quests in Baldur's Gate (Hall of Wonders, the two Darkwalk burglaries) if there's nothing else I could do in the remaining time. Though that's a a very specific situation, most of the time I just do the quests when it's night already.
Neither qualifies as "cheating" to me. I haven't used any other ctrl+ commands. What does Y do? I remember X is instant-kill and R (?) instant-heal, and those would qualify as cheating... and take the fun and challenge away, so that's rather pointless.
I fully understand the fact that travelling safe maps is a time consumer. But for me this is also cheating (not the bad kind as to put 25 on all stats).
The cheat that I like is the command which change the appearance of the selected character. It's so much fun to see the drows murdered by a bunch of xvarts or squirrels °°
"Just thought it could be interresting to see how many people use the console in the game."
I also use CLUAConsole:ExploreArea() to remove the fog of war. It doesn't change the perception range of characters. It just let's you the player view the entire map that you know oh-so-well after countless playthroughs.
And to answer the new survey - I always play with console, mainly for beaming around. I didn't know there was an explore area, that will come in handy, too. Other than that, and rarely advance time or triggering bugged stuff, I don't know/use most things it can do. Shadowkeeper to change colors is a must. There are so many more colors possible, and I often dislike the low saturation versions offered in game (i.e. my Baeloth is dressed in purple, not in washed out somewhat greyish lavender). Rarely to change thief skills if I use late game NPCs, but I don't change weapon profs or classes/kits.
And yeah, I know I can change the colors... but the palette is quite ugly, imo. There are 4 greens, but no real gold/silver/white/matte black, the two purples are washed out... I much prefer the options in SK, also for hair and skin. Charname is a redhead, not a textmarker-neon-orangehead.