Traveller's robe description
lunar
Member Posts: 3,460
This always bugged me somewhat, as the description says 'its enchantments provide protection from the bandit's arrow and from the jealous thief-mage that lies in ambush with his Stinking Cloud.' Okay, it gives +1 AC vs missiles, but Stinking Cloud requires a save vs death, not breath. So either the description is misleading, or the spell is wrong?
In what instances a save vs breath is required in BG:EE, given there are no dragons to actually use breath weapons. Ghast's stench ability (on hit:save vs death or held, save vs breath or sickened), kobold comando's special fire arrows (regular fire arrows require save vs spells to negate fire damage) , umm summon insect spells in which no enemy uses it in BG:EE AFAIK, oil of fiery burning (interesting that potion of explosions uses save vs spells instead) IIRC. Are there any more?
It is interesting that ghast's stench requires a save vs breath, maybe the game developers interpreted it as in 'holding your breath to avoid the effects?' so it is a 'save vs breath.' The combat log even says it not as 'save vs breath weapon' but 'save vs breath', so maybe it was their intention. Ofcourse, in PnP ghast stench is like an aura, not an on hit effect, and requires save vs poison. But attack of a ghast already uses save vs death to determine paralysis, so using the same save again was not feasible. Maybe in this interpretation, cloud spells should require a save vs breath, it means you 'hold your breath' to avoid the effects.
Also, slightly off-topic, why do rogues (thief/bard) characters have such lousy save vs breath weapons? If breath weapon save is about agility and avoiding a breath weapon-an explosion like effect that is not a spell like fireball-they should be good at it. (3e rogues excel in reflex saves and even get evasion) Maybe a thief in 2nd edition should not be foolish enough to be the target of a breath weapon in the first place, he should be hidden, skulking, devising a trap etc. So the game punishes the thief if he ever gets caught in a red dragon's flames. Sorta. Heh.
In what instances a save vs breath is required in BG:EE, given there are no dragons to actually use breath weapons. Ghast's stench ability (on hit:save vs death or held, save vs breath or sickened), kobold comando's special fire arrows (regular fire arrows require save vs spells to negate fire damage) , umm summon insect spells in which no enemy uses it in BG:EE AFAIK, oil of fiery burning (interesting that potion of explosions uses save vs spells instead) IIRC. Are there any more?
It is interesting that ghast's stench requires a save vs breath, maybe the game developers interpreted it as in 'holding your breath to avoid the effects?' so it is a 'save vs breath.' The combat log even says it not as 'save vs breath weapon' but 'save vs breath', so maybe it was their intention. Ofcourse, in PnP ghast stench is like an aura, not an on hit effect, and requires save vs poison. But attack of a ghast already uses save vs death to determine paralysis, so using the same save again was not feasible. Maybe in this interpretation, cloud spells should require a save vs breath, it means you 'hold your breath' to avoid the effects.
Also, slightly off-topic, why do rogues (thief/bard) characters have such lousy save vs breath weapons? If breath weapon save is about agility and avoiding a breath weapon-an explosion like effect that is not a spell like fireball-they should be good at it. (3e rogues excel in reflex saves and even get evasion) Maybe a thief in 2nd edition should not be foolish enough to be the target of a breath weapon in the first place, he should be hidden, skulking, devising a trap etc. So the game punishes the thief if he ever gets caught in a red dragon's flames. Sorta. Heh.
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No castable spells in BG:EE use it, so the Stinking Cloud part is just a bit of misleading flavor text. It says Save vs. Breath Weapon in both EE and BG1.
Err, I remember wrong, about the game text, it seems. Robe's description is misleading flavour text it is. Thanks. ^^