Dynamic CR scaling on spawns questions

[dedude]

could my pet be causing the dynamic scaling to be disabled? i was in troll claws at 18 with a an 11th level pet, and the xp did not scale with me when i progressed i did level up twice and noticed the scaling not progress with me. my only thought was that perhaps my druid pet was causing it to min on me. not sure what else could be causing it. like i said i was alone there.

No, dynamic CR only takes player characters into account. But most trolls in that area, especially the cave, are CR 18-20. You need to be two levels above them when solo for the system to kick in. And I don't really know how your level vs the CR affects your XP as you level up. Maybe there are diminishing returns there...

[DreadArtemis]

Just came back the game after a 9 month hiatus. Loaded up, looked at all the goodie my thaumaturge had and proceeded to get some people together to go to the Goblin Cave outside Beregost. Didn't know anything about these monster scalings.
Noticed in there that the goblins were tougher than I was used to(awesome). Encountered some dark purple ones which were very difficult(awesome). Get to the end, And there was a boss worg rider guy and the goblin shaman at the end was wild shaped into a Treant(awesome)
A goblin tree!!! Was absolutely challenging.
Continued to roam around a bit in some lower level areas and definitely noticed the scaling. The only thing I can say is I heartily approve. If people complain some areas are too tough, take some time and smell the roses at some of the other locations that were weak for your level before. Also, DND is a party game so go get some other adventurers. Feels better than loading up loot run #13343.
On that note, who wants to start some fresh level 1's with no gear etc etc and do some serious testing? I have been dying to make a group of undead slayers or even a group of evil guys that can adventure together. I say lets make an evil group filled with blackguards, fiend summoners, and necromancers. Get a whole posse together


TLDR system is awesome, continue to provide more randomness, that's what it should be about!

[aaron22]

Had an awesome experience with this last night.

i was with another and we were running through the sharptooth orc cave and when we got into the chieftan room we got the commotion up ahead sign. so we entered the room fully aware that this could be trouble. at least there are two ways out in case things get weird. in from the other side of the room another player runs into the room. inside the room is the chief along with three of his regular archers along with the counter strike team of mystics. I charge the mystics and their now growing army of summoned bears. I cannot get to them and am quickly surrounded by these bears. my partner hangs back to try and cut a path to me. the mystics are casting away and the chief bee lines for my nephew. the other player sprints for the treasure room, but gets trapped in there by at least one mystic. my nephew takes the chief down, but the 3 archers were able to get her to fall. once down that character is quickly sent to the fugue. alone i am left with mystic counter strike team and the archers and slowly i take them down one by one. i cut a way to the counterstike commander and take him down, but am truly only making this by the skin of my teeth. i am dropped to single digit HPs many times before i can get it up enough to feel like i can get back to the fight. this character only had limited healing potions (low quality) and about 5 kits. totally trapped too. this had to make due. all my weak buffs easily dispelled by the machine gun of dispels we took at the beginning. i finally make it through and collect up my partner to bring into the treasure room. inside there i notice the other player's character lying there as well. so i use a raise dead on them both and we have some RP that would never have happened had this not occurred.

to the other player there. thanks for the RP and i know it was confusing but it is as it should be. what i wanted from it was you to see some orc culture even if it was hard to follow.

[cosmic ray]

This system is interesting, but I think it needs tweaking. The variation range seems to be way too wide and it can get unforgivingly brutal for no reason suddenly.

[Tsidkenu]

And it is at that point that players need to remember the 'better part of valour' and leg it

[cosmic ray]

Yea, but sometimes the disparity is so great that you're dead before you notice something is amiss. You know how high level characters can just deplete your HP in a couple of seconds, especially if it's a group.

It's those extreme cases that I think are bad and need tweaking. That aside, the idea is very interesting.

[Theodore01]

If anything, they should be made stronger.
Players need to be in jeopardy again and should have run for their life once in a while.

[dedude]

Yea, but sometimes the disparity is so great that you're dead before you notice something is amiss. You know how high level characters can just deplete your HP in a couple of seconds, especially if it's a group.

It's those extreme cases that I think are bad and need tweaking. That aside, the idea is very interesting.

Could you explain in more detail under which circumstances it seems too brutal? Are you soloing? Any other PCs in the area? What kind of enemies? Is it during a counter attack?

[Thorsson]

I can give two examples of where it seemed rather unforgiving and I didn't really have a chance to respond.

Lizard egg quest. Having cleared my way and got the egg I started re-casting my relatively short-lived buffs to head back when 4 Matrons spawned right next to me and started casting spells. I was dead almost before I realised what was happening.

Just south of Soubar I was fighting 4 wolves already, which I could just about cope with, when suddenly the game decided to spawn an ambush of two giant spiders. A few seconds later I was poisoned and despite trying to run I didn't make it.

[Tsidkenu]

One of my gripes with the server in general is how utterly prolific spellcasting spawns can be. Mae once entered the orc caves as a level 20 cleric and met no less than 5 shamans in the very first room. Fortunately a single Dismissal meant their horde of Dire bears didn't last more than 2 rounds, but she nearly died because of it. I can't imagine a group of 10-12s doing much better. There is a goblin ambush near the ruins on the road south of Wyrm's Crossing that once spawned a full compliment of 7 goblin shamans. If I were level 3-4 or in a group of level 2-4's, we all would have been completely dead.

It would be nice if spellcasting spawns were limited to bosses/boss ads, including boss spawns with the new dynamic scaling, with exception to monster races that have innate spellcasting (eg. nagas/yuanti). No more than one or two spellcasters at max (one cleric one mage), should ever spawn in a given area.

[cosmic ray]

Yea, but sometimes the disparity is so great that you're dead before you notice something is amiss. You know how high level characters can just deplete your HP in a couple of seconds, especially if it's a group.

It's those extreme cases that I think are bad and need tweaking. That aside, the idea is very interesting.

Could you explain in more detail under which circumstances it seems too brutal? Are you soloing? Any other PCs in the area? What kind of enemies? Is it during a counter attack?

I don't play nearly as often as perhaps the majority of players here, but I ran into two such cases in the Nashkel Mines and in the Ruins of Oghrann, which are two difficult epic areas, but not impossible either alone or in a group, as long as you prepare properly.

Once in each place I was suddenly met with epic boss-level spawns that killed me in one go before I even realized what was happening. I was like "whaaaaat!!"

I assumed it was the result of these new scripts.

[NeOmega]

please dont nerf anything. my vote.

tired of sqeaky wheels getting their grease, so im squeaking now.

and bring back stone gaze basilisks in the underdark, too.

[Hoihe]

One of my gripes with the server in general is how utterly prolific spellcasting spawns can be. Mae once entered the orc caves as a level 20 cleric and met no less than 5 shamans in the very first room. Fortunately a single Dismissal meant their horde of Dire bears didn't last more than 2 rounds, but she nearly died because of it. I can't imagine a group of 10-12s doing much better. There is a goblin ambush near the ruins on the road south of Wyrm's Crossing that once spawned a full compliment of 7 goblin shamans. If I were level 3-4 or in a group of level 2-4's, we all would have been completely dead.

It would be nice if spellcasting spawns were limited to bosses/boss ads, including boss spawns with the new dynamic scaling, with exception to monster races that have innate spellcasting (eg. nagas/yuanti). No more than one or two spellcasters at max (one cleric one mage), should ever spawn in a given area.

I echo this. Spellcasters are ridiculously frequent spawns for the power they possess, and the risk they pose to both pure mages, gishes, rogues and fighters. Well, maybe not pure mages.

[aaron22]

My vote is to leave as is. Really like knowing that I may not make it out alive.

[NeOmega]

One of my gripes with the server in general is how utterly prolific spellcasting spawns can be. Mae once entered the orc caves as a level 20 cleric and met no less than 5 shamans in the very first room. Fortunately a single Dismissal meant their horde of Dire bears didn't last more than 2 rounds, but she nearly died because of it. I can't imagine a group of 10-12s doing much better. There is a goblin ambush near the ruins on the road south of Wyrm's Crossing that once spawned a full compliment of 7 goblin shamans. If I were level 3-4 or in a group of level 2-4's, we all would have been completely dead.

It would be nice if spellcasting spawns were limited to bosses/boss ads, including boss spawns with the new dynamic scaling, with exception to monster races that have innate spellcasting (eg. nagas/yuanti). No more than one or two spellcasters at max (one cleric one mage), should ever spawn in a given area.

I echo this. Spellcasters are ridiculously frequent spawns for the power they possess, and the risk they pose to both pure mages, gishes, rogues and fighters. Well, maybe not pure mages.

sash of shimmering? maybe amulet of fire protection? prepare yourself to fend off magic?

Let's punish the monk's SR feat, because magic is dangerous.. ..and the sword coast isn't. battles are only fair if you get attacked in a predictable way, take damage in a predictable amounts, (lets get rid of crits too.. i mean, sometimes there are two crits in a row! No fair!)
I only want to fight magic users if i can predict where they are, what spells they'll cast, so i can have time to buff myself up for every possible spell they'll use, and then kill them without batting an eyelash, and grab their sweet, sweet boss loot.

why are we forced to live in such a harsh world? we can end all this war and fighting, and make the sword coast safe again for all! Why should we only have tea parties at the white mask? I say, it is our right to have tea parties anywhere! This is an RP server, afterall.

i mean, people might lose some precious, precious XP!!!

(even though XP has been jacked up immensely since i last played... it feels about 50% to 100% greater per kill now)