Coming Soon: Announcement Thread (2021)

[Ewe]

Due to a longstanding engine bug, Automatic Failure for Will and Reflex did not function.

This means if your saving throw beat the DC on a critical failure (roll of 1) for Will or Reflex you still counted as "passing" by the engine despite the combat message stating the save failed.

We are in final stages of development and testing of an engine level patch that will fix this bug.

I know this is a huge change, but I felt it was such a core rule to d20 that it ought to be respected and put in the time and research to create a fix.

At this time the staff will not be issuing RCRs for this change, as it is considered a bug fix. Our current stance around propping up builds around certain known bugs is "do at your own risk" as those bugs could be fixed in the future.

Note: this effects all saving throws be they against PCs or creatures.

[Rhifox]

As of today, a new map has been added between Trollclaws, Boareskyr, Misty Forest, and High Moor. This is a mostly non-combat map, though a gang of highwaymen do skulk the town and may be encountered by some players, either through ambush or through trade.

Northwest Tradeway also uses a new weather system that determines weather and weather strength at server reset instead of random changes every hour or whatever, and does not change it until the next reset.

Description
The Northwest Trade Way past Boareskyr links the Trade Way coming from the east Heartlands to the Coast Way moving up from Baldur's Gate through the Fields of the Dead and the Trollclaws. The combined roads continue on north towards Waterdeep and the Sword Coast North region. It sees less traffic than might be assumed - most trade between Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate happens by sea, and recent wars have further discouraged travel through this route.

The North Trade Way is near Castle Dragonspear, a dwarven fortress which once served as a local bastion against raiders but more recently has been infested by orcs and devils (including a portal to the Nine Hells). The Dragonspear War - and the demon hordes of Orcus more recently - caused heavy devastation in this region. Those who did not flee were killed in most cases. The Northwest Trade Way is now a desolate land of empty, burned out homes.

[Ewe]

A fix went in with the most recent patch that addressed bugs with Dodge vs. Damage Type. That is: Dodge vs. Slashing, Dodge vs. Piercing, and Dodge vs. Bludgeoning.

Items with these properties should now function as expected.

[DaloLorn]

A slightly more thorough list of the changes I'm experimenting with for a future update. All of these are subject to change pending testing, experimentation, and further discussion.

First off, chat and RP XP changes:

• DMFI ventriloquism will let non-DMs use any of their known languages. Please use this reasonably - just as you previously wouldn't make a boar companion speak Common, you shouldn't make it speak Elven now.
• Possessed familiars and ventriloquism will now be eligible for RP XP.
• Possessed familiars and ventriloquism will respect the master's colored text and auto-emote settings.
• Possessed familiars will be allowed to whisper, use party chat, send tells, or send messages to DMs.
• DMFI rolls will no longer erroneously get translated. Yikes.

There's also a Sending overhaul in the works. Again, subject to change:

• Sendings will now respect the use of languages. This can technically be done on the live server already by using verbatim blocks, in the format @[PlayerName] Message:@ [Message], but because it doesn't convey translations yet, it's a very niche thing at the moment.
  • Sendings will *not* work with any sign languages or Animal Empathy.
• Sending metadata will no longer be emitted into the chat, as it is not IC information. "Shali Menner Message: Greetings from Caili!" will be reduced to just "Greetings from Caili!"
• Failed Sendings (invalid languages, nonexistent recipients, or excessive word counts) will no longer be emitted into the chat. You will receive a tell with the contents of the failed Sending, in case you want to try the same message again, but other PCs will no longer hear you stumbling through half a dozen failed Sendings.
  • Syntactically incorrect Sendings (for instance, "Shali Menner Mssage: Greetings from Caili!") will still be emitted, though, and they will no longer throw out error messages. A custom Sending UI might be added later down the line, to avoid syntax errors, but for now, you will just receive a message every time you cast the spell to remind you of the correct format.
• A new Sending reply method is being introduced, using the format Reply: [Message]. For example, "Reply: Hi, Caili!" Using this mechanic will enforce the correct 25-word limit on Sending replies, as per PnP.

I'd hoped to implement cross-server Sendings, but I don't think I can quite pull it off yet.