@Chronicler@mlnevese There's a bit of doggerel that we used to quote whilst learning latin: Latin is a language as dead as dead can be. It killed off all the Romans, and now it's killing me!
Fun fact about the final battle song for Shadows of Amn, the song that plays in the Nine Hells when you open the door: the first few seconds, the shrill brass notes, also play during the start of action scenes in a lot of South Park episodes.
In Icewind Dale 2, the voice-acted lines have hidden captions that describe how the lines should be pronounced (probably would've been read by the voice actors). For example, here's part of the dialogue between Sherincal and Guthma:
[Severe declaration]You must trust me, [Share-in-kull]Sherincal. This army will crush [Tar-gos]Targos and the other towns will fall... [added, as for impact]and *burn.*
[irritated and contemptuous] After your abysmal failure with the sappers sent to [Tar-gos]Targos, and the wasted vanguard of troops that followed, *and* your forces' utter failure at the crossing of [shane-garn]Shaengarne Ford, I find it extremely difficult to trust you.
[Frustrated parent talking to a child]This will serve as your last warning, [guth-muh]Guthma. I grant such to so very, *very* few... But I have pressing business with other forces on [said to make sure it's understood who is in charge]my western front.
[dismissive]I have no further patience to discuss this.
Make it so I can't speed, jaywalk, text at stoplights, wear my non-safety glasses at my lab desk, not wear my steel-toed safety shoes when I'm transporting 1 gallon of methanol 25 feet to the next lab, sit inside my vehicle while I'm gassing up and it's 30 below zero outside, not make a complete stop at a 4-way stop when there's nobody around, cross railroad tracks when the cross-bar is down and the lights are flashing for no apparent reason because there isn't a train anywhere near, etc..., etc..., etc...
Fun thing I just found out!
The refinements mod maintained by @subtledoctor has a component that brings in an updated set of High Level Abilities.
Many kits in this mod have an HLA or two that's unique to them. The Priest of Helm kit has one that's called "Circle of Law".
It's described
By casting this powerful spell the Helmite priest turns into a bastion of Law and gains unassailable protections against chaotic or evil creatures and effects. The priest is granted complete immunity to all Necromancy spells, gains a 5 point bonus to saves vs. poison/death, and his AC is decreased by 5. Furthermore, the priest and his companions within a 15' radius are protected from Evil and all chaotic spells or effects such as Chaos, Drunkenness, Fear, Berserk, etc.
This ability lasts for 10 rounds.
It's surprisingly anti-evil for a kit based around a god that's pretty ambivalent towards good and evil, but here's an actual interpretation of what a Sphere of Law would do. Or Circle of Law as the case may be.
Here's how weapon breaking works in Baldur's Gate 1. Each time you hit someone with a breakable weapon, it has a 2% chance to break. Missed attacks don't count. Weapons also never break once you reach Chapter 6 (this was added in Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition).
Here's how weapon breaking works in Baldur's Gate 1. Each time you hit someone with a breakable weapon, it has a 2% chance to break. Missed attacks don't count. Weapons also never break once you reach Chapter 6 (this was added in Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition).
My understanding is that the chapter 6 thing was always in the code. It was just bugged and didn't work. There were some fixpacks for it even before the enhanced edition.
It ultimately didn't make much difference to begin with, since by chapter 6 you usually have some form of enchanted unbreakable weaponry anyway. Still a nice touch that after you fix the iron crisis the weapons stop breaking.
Did you know that in SoA's chapter 3 you may see Spellhold's video, in game, twice?
Head for spellhold to see it first, then go back and ask Desharik to take you there so you can see the video for the second time.
Did you know that there are four different ranges of distance the engine observes when calculating the attack roll of a ranged attack?
These ranges cascade outwards - the applied modifiers (from an attacker's perspective) are as follows: MINIMAL => Attacker inside the red circle: attack roll penalty of -8. This is the commonly known "target too close" modifier. NORMAL => Attacker inside the green circle: attack roll is normal. MEDIUM => Attacker inside the blue circle: attack roll penalty of -2. LONG => Attacker outside the blue circle: attack roll penalty of -5.
These ranges assume the target of the ranged attack is in the center. I find it interesting that these values are programmed, because they occur extremely rarely, if at all. Since ranged attacks adhere to the normal visual range of an attacker, usually the NORMAL range cannot be exceeded in normal play. Mods can increase a character's visual range and allow the MEDIUM category to go into effect, but funnily enough, it is completely impossible to increase a character's visual range into the LONG category.
The only way I've gotten the LONG category to trigger is by using the guard exploit, allowing a character to "protect" another without requiring a line of sight.
If you don't let him talk to you in Candlekeep (say, by having the protagonist invisible), Koveras chants a prophecy repeatedly. It's voice-only with no text in the log, so here's an approximate transcription:
"In the year of the turrets, a great host will come from the east like a plague of locusts. So sayeth the wise Alaundo"
Did you know that there are four different ranges of distance the engine observes when calculating the attack roll of a ranged attack?
These ranges cascade outwards - the applied modifiers (from an attacker's perspective) are as follows: MINIMAL => Attacker inside the red circle: attack roll penalty of -8. This is the commonly known "target too close" modifier. NORMAL => Attacker inside the green circle: attack roll is normal. MEDIUM => Attacker inside the blue circle: attack roll penalty of -2. LONG => Attacker outside the blue circle: attack roll penalty of -5.
Do these range penalties also work in a similar sense for the protagonist's ranged attack, and I assume the penalties would be less for longbows over shortbows and crossbow's over bows and Ballistas over crossbows?
Also what of magic missiles? I'd imagine they have no range penalties - Range of caster's eyesight IIRC.
Do these range penalties also work in a similar sense for the protagonist's ranged attack, and I assume the penalties would be less for longbows over shortbows and crossbow's over bows and Ballistas over crossbows?
Also what of magic missiles? I'd imagine they have no range penalties - Range of caster's eyesight IIRC.
Yep, these penalties apply to all creatures. The engine doesn't differentiate between ranged items - a shortbow, longbow, crossbow, throwing weapons, and innate creature ranged attacks all follow the same rules. Spells aren't affected by distance, only ranged weapons have this penalty system in place.
Many people know of the AC cap - that you can't do better than -20 before Dex modifier. But did you know that there's a cap in the other direction too?
Your AC can't get worse than +20 before Dex.
For the picture, I had a test character in rat form from the Cloak of the Sewers (20 base AC, 18 Dex), blinded (+4 AC penalty), wearing the robe of Goodman Hayes (+1 AC penalty) and having drunk a Violet Potion (3 Dex). If there were no cap, that would have been an AC of 28; instead it's 23.
Not that the difference matters; even at 23, a blind gibberling could hit you 95% of the time.
Faithless souls have to worry about the total destruction of their soul within the Wall of the Faithless, but this isn't the only way. A faithful soul, one loyal to their god, is the perfect food for Kezef the Chaos Hound, a powerful primordial being, similar to but not quite a god. Kezef doesn't eat faithless souls. It was said that Cyric sent Kezef after the still-mortal Kelemvor, who was hidden away by Mask.
By the time you reach the end of TOB, some of your characters could potentially win 1v1 duels against the avatars of most gods, and certainly as a group.
For example, Gruumsh, the chief orc god, is only a Fighter 20/Cleric 9 in avatar form. Not super impressive. And he is a Greater Deity!
By the time you reach the end of TOB, some of your characters could potentially win 1v1 duels against the avatars of most gods, and certainly as a group.
For example, Gruumsh, the chief orc god, is only a Fighter 20/Cleric 9 in avatar form. Not super impressive. And he is a Greater Deity!
Others would wipe out your whole party.
But that would only be fair if you reached such levels on a no-reload game
There's a little BG2 reference at the beginning of Icewind Dale.
huh? Doesn't this mess with the timelines? Or how often does this cult resurface?
I was thinking the same thing. Either Gorion's Ward ignored that particular quest and some other adventurer came along and did it, or the identity of Gorion's Ward in the IE games is instead this Thom Wainwright. For the better I say!
Its an immortal, or near immortal, Beholder that can only be killed by a device so powerful that the gods locked it away. I can imagine it coming back to cause trouble.
Comments
Apparently there's a different casting voice line for every school of magic, all saying something thematically appropriate in latin.
"Latin is a dead language because every time someone tried to have a normal conversation he ended up summoning a demon"
And if Edwin learns that factoid, he'll start calling Dorn a mandrill.
However if you walk up or down the stairs while he is still alive, he follows you up and down the stairs.
Fun thing I just found out!
The refinements mod maintained by @subtledoctor has a component that brings in an updated set of High Level Abilities.
Many kits in this mod have an HLA or two that's unique to them. The Priest of Helm kit has one that's called "Circle of Law".
It's described
It's surprisingly anti-evil for a kit based around a god that's pretty ambivalent towards good and evil, but here's an actual interpretation of what a Sphere of Law would do. Or Circle of Law as the case may be.
My understanding is that the chapter 6 thing was always in the code. It was just bugged and didn't work. There were some fixpacks for it even before the enhanced edition.
It ultimately didn't make much difference to begin with, since by chapter 6 you usually have some form of enchanted unbreakable weaponry anyway. Still a nice touch that after you fix the iron crisis the weapons stop breaking.
Head for spellhold to see it first, then go back and ask Desharik to take you there so you can see the video for the second time.
These ranges cascade outwards - the applied modifiers (from an attacker's perspective) are as follows:
MINIMAL => Attacker inside the red circle: attack roll penalty of -8. This is the commonly known "target too close" modifier.
NORMAL => Attacker inside the green circle: attack roll is normal.
MEDIUM => Attacker inside the blue circle: attack roll penalty of -2.
LONG => Attacker outside the blue circle: attack roll penalty of -5.
These ranges assume the target of the ranged attack is in the center. I find it interesting that these values are programmed, because they occur extremely rarely, if at all. Since ranged attacks adhere to the normal visual range of an attacker, usually the NORMAL range cannot be exceeded in normal play. Mods can increase a character's visual range and allow the MEDIUM category to go into effect, but funnily enough, it is completely impossible to increase a character's visual range into the LONG category.
The only way I've gotten the LONG category to trigger is by using the guard exploit, allowing a character to "protect" another without requiring a line of sight.
"In the year of the turrets, a great host will come from the east like a plague of locusts. So sayeth the wise Alaundo"
Also what of magic missiles? I'd imagine they have no range penalties - Range of caster's eyesight IIRC.
Yes, the moment the projectile starts flying is when the check is made.
Yep, these penalties apply to all creatures. The engine doesn't differentiate between ranged items - a shortbow, longbow, crossbow, throwing weapons, and innate creature ranged attacks all follow the same rules. Spells aren't affected by distance, only ranged weapons have this penalty system in place.
Your AC can't get worse than +20 before Dex.
For the picture, I had a test character in rat form from the Cloak of the Sewers (20 base AC, 18 Dex), blinded (+4 AC penalty), wearing the robe of Goodman Hayes (+1 AC penalty) and having drunk a Violet Potion (3 Dex). If there were no cap, that would have been an AC of 28; instead it's 23.
Not that the difference matters; even at 23, a blind gibberling could hit you 95% of the time.
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Kezef
For example, Gruumsh, the chief orc god, is only a Fighter 20/Cleric 9 in avatar form. Not super impressive. And he is a Greater Deity!
Others would wipe out your whole party.
But that would only be fair if you reached such levels on a no-reload game
I was thinking the same thing. Either Gorion's Ward ignored that particular quest and some other adventurer came along and did it, or the identity of Gorion's Ward in the IE games is instead this Thom Wainwright. For the better I say!