Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

CooCooCachoo wrote: ↑Mon May 10, 2021 7:08 am I like the changes. Now maybe Hierophant can actually feel like a prestige class instead of a willfully imposed nerf.

I'd still like to see Hierophant customized a bit more for druids. Of course, if you say that out loud people get ignorant and nasty. I swear if I hear, "But blood to water!" one more time. . . Druids don't cast blood to water. Druids don't cast blood to water. DRUIDS DON'T CAST BLOOD TO WATER!!! It's gearing toward cleric makes it less appealing and the built up anti-druid sentiment from a bunch of people who have never PLAYED druid makes it near impossible to broach the subject but here I go again lining up for abuse.

What would you like to see Hierophant get to make it more appealing to druids?

I play a lot of classes, shammy and druids are just my favorites.

And I love your RP with both. <3

Druid is not overpowered.

Agreed. It was maybe too easy to get really high tank ability, and I'm envious of druids being able to Owl's Insight up to huge DCs, but that does not make it overpowered. Hopefully the changes will make things a bit more even all around.

I do think making dragon druid easier is a mistake, but as someone who respects druid lore, I really think dragon shape ought to be a DM awarded feat. It should remain frightfully imposing and give even more bonuses to damage, ab, and ac. It should be a RARE and FREAKING MAGESTIC thing to see. Perhaps hold it for druid players who respect the lore consistently and hold leadership over a circle for at least a year. SOMETHING so that every time I turn around there aren't fifteen dragons in a fight.

I admit, I've never been a fan of dragon shape. If I was playing a druid, all I'd ever want to turn into would be normal stuff like wolves.

DM reward wouldn't be appropriate (same reason shaman Blood Magic, while once saying it could be gained as a DM reward, had that removed), there'd be accusations of favoritism and all that, unless it was purely cosmetic and offered no differences in stats compared to a normally-acquired form.

It'd probably be better to just make the other forms more competitive against dragon shape, so that people don't just default to it. It was the hope with some of these changes to make that happen, but I'm not sure if that's enough yet without touching up the other ones directly.

I'd like to see BG have some changes that support a more versatile use of the class. As long as dragon shape is around and other druid builds can't hit anything (and are hit by everything) because the server is built to cater to fighter style power builds (who for some reason don't need to be nerfed? BUT DRUIDS RABBLE RABBLE!), that's what we'll have.

Word.

Great work DMs - I love the changes, especially the breath weapon.

As to wisdom, I have a human 30th level dragon druid and it was not that difficult getting the requisite wisdom to take the feat. I also do not understand the post concerning, miss, miss, miss, hit, miss. My druid has never had trouble hitting just about anything on the server, to include the dragons and other high-level bosses.

I just love that the server keeps adding cool changes, big thumbs up!

Deathgrowl wrote: ↑Mon May 10, 2021 1:28 am

Rhifox wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 11:45 pm Already hearing from some human druids how beneficial the removal of the Wisdom requirement is, because if you're not an aasimar it's quite hard to reach. And anything that promotes less planetouched races is a boon in my book.

Is it? (Also isn't it 27?)

You can start a human with 14, 12, 12, 14, 14, 14 - yes 14 wisdom - and still comfortably reach 27 wisdom and be able to pick Dragon Shape at level 29 as a pure druid. But then you could start at 16 and free up two epic feats for epic companion and dragon companion as well, if you wanted. That would be 12, 12, 12, 14, 16, 12 for example. Obviously you could spread points out differently here. Where are you losing stats elsewhere?

It's like saying it's too difficult to get good DCs on a wizard because it requires such high intelligence that you lose out on stats elsewhere. If you want to have good DCs, expect your strength to perhaps not be on par with fighters.

Or compare it to EDM, which requires 21 charisma and strength, to the detriment of other abilities. Herein, in fact, is a greater cause for people picking aasimar, for it is difficult to reach those two high stats without sacrificing your intelligence for skill points, dexterity for AC with light armour for whatever evasion class dip you choose and so on.

Whether you think the high investment necessary is a good thing or not, 27 wisdom for a dragon shape isn't that difficult to reach.

If you want to go pure mechanical power, sure. You can simply get the WIS. But starting at 16 WIS as a human, you have to put every single point into WIS leveling up, and then use 4 of your 7 epic feats to reach 27 WIS. Starting at 14 WIS, you have to use 6 epic feats to get get the 27 WIS, then the last one to get dragon. You have absolutely zero room for flavor. The 27 WIS requirement made dragon druids a "cookie cutter" build.

Then we get to RP skills. At least human gets skilled, which helps with that. But even at 16 INT, I find my druid starved for skill points in things he should by rights know. 4+1+3 = 8. Sounds like a lot. But then you think what druids are supposed to be able to do, and you then get caught in a cookie cutter build.

You pretty much have to invest in enough UMD, so there goes many of your points.
Spellcraft if you want to take any epic heals.
Concentration is a must, and makes sense lorewise.
Spot + Listen are a given.
Survival is a must.
Diplomacy is supposed to be a must.

That's 7 of my 8 skill points right there. Throw in heal, and that's your cookie cutter druid.

Then there's Lore: Nature, Lore: Geography, Search. I obviously play a fey-kin druid who plays the lute. So I have perform ranks as maxed as I can.

So, I have to start with 16 WIS, use most of my feats to get my dragon shape (which is also basically a must if you want to go out and fight anything. Even the magical beasts pale in comparison), then I have to have at least 16 INT, though I prefer 18. 14 STR is a must unless you want to crawl as soon as you pick up a single piece of armor.

So my starting line is literally, 14 8 8 18 16 8, and I -hate- that. I don't want to dump a single stat, much less three of them.

So yes, I'm all in favor of the change. And I don't think it will have the impact that people are predicting, where we have an influx of dragon druids. The loss of 6 AC is a huge deal, and the loss of 3 more for those who dip other classes is an equal deterrent. If anything, I think this will more diversify the druid class. I, for one, only use the dragon form because I must. It would much better fit my druid's RP if he could as adequately fight as a winterwolf. And if there's an influx of druids, I think we'll see more diversity in the forms used to fight.

matelener wrote: ↑Tue May 11, 2021 11:55 pm In the next update, crusaders will receive couple of bonus feats:

5. Power Attack
10. Indomitable Soul
18. Divine Shroud

Divine Shroud:

Crusader calls upon his patron to protect himself from hostile magic. He receives Spell Resistance equal to 12 + crusader levels for the duration of the effect.

Duration: 10 rounds
Cooldown: 10 rounds
Uses per day: 3

Disclaimer:

The feats are received AFTER the level up.

This all sounds great!

The Crusader is a class I have tried out and always found lacking compared to the excellent buffs paladins get which sort of negate all the benefits of what the crusader gets, especially if like me you invest in a lot of pre buff items, so after you have buffed you still sit on 6-7 level 4 spells for revenants or great short term buffs for boss fights etc

I would say they still need more loving, but I am really happy to see that the staff have added some new flavour to them as the 2 handed paladin with either a greatsword or hammer looks immense.

I do hope they get a bit more love, but I really like the 3 additions so far.

Great stuff!

Very good changes especially the Indomitable Soul. It somewhat balances the kit's sustain with the loss of the spellbook.

Deathgrowl wrote: ↑Mon May 10, 2021 7:52 am Is it even part of the druid spellbook? I don't recall seeing it on my old gnome druid, but then I probably would have never used it, because I don't really see its effects as all that appealing for such a high level spell (I did use dehydrate, of similar effects, but lower level!). But if it is indeed part of the druid spell book, why wouldn't a druid use it? There may of course be certain gods that would not grant their druids that particular spell, and that's fine. But it's not an evil spell, and even if it was, there are evil druid gods. If it is indeed in the druidic spell book, then I don't see why it wouldn't be used.

It is not, that's my point. Druids do not cast blood to water! It is not in their spell books. I have brought up that hierophant isn't really useful to druids for being a "prestige" class and been treated rather roughly on the BG discord server because "DRUIDZ IZ STRONK AND BLOOD TO WATER OMG." It would have been annoying once, but it's come up -multiple times-. I tried arguing the first few times. Now I just faceplam and turn off discord.

Now I saw another question posed to me on what I would change about hierophant to make it more like an actual prestige class, and I would love to fully entertain that discussion, but maybe it should be a new thread? I may start it this weekend after I am done with my dissertation and senior presentations. One week until I am a Veterinarian.

"That's DOCTOR CooCooCahoo to you." (no I would not ask you to say that. It's just funny to write.)

Rhifox wrote: ↑Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:44 pm Hello!

In a coming update, we'll be making a few changes to polearms. First off, all polearms except the scythe and magic staff will be getting increased range. Spear reach will be increasing to twice the current range while Halberds and Quarterstaves will receive a slightly shorter increase. That is 3.0 for spears and 2.4 for Halberds and Quarterstaves.

In addition, we will be implementing shortspears. Shortspears are 1d6 x3 one-handed weapons, with a standard melee weapon range of 1.5. They are mechanically classed as Tiny in order to have them use the proper animation set. This also means both medium- and small-sized races are able to use them one-handed. Shortspears cannot be finessed.

All of this will be going in on the next update.

[Edit] Updated information to account for development changes.

Will the shortspears be considered monk weapons? Thanks.

This is so cool. Thank you for your work!

matelener wrote: ↑Fri May 14, 2021 1:00 pm Shadow daze

- in addition to daze, it lowers the AC of the enemy by 5
- no longer is subject to Spell Resistance
- is now on 1 minute Cooldown

Shadow Evade

- is now instant
- passively regenerates charges over time -> you gain a charge every 10 minutes after the first use

Shadow Jump

- cooldown reduced to 2 minutes

New feat at Shadowdancer level 9: Shadow Master

At level 9th, the Shadowdancer masters the use of shadows to walk unnoticed. He receives +4 bonus to Hide and Move Silently.

Shadowdancer's Shadow

- the highest blueprint receives additional +20 hide

The 1 minute per cast shadow daze?

.. Even at my measly 25 DC, sounds awesome as all hells.

Am I right in reading that it pierces spell mantle?

Wait, you're telling me SD will be good as more than a HiPS dip?

*Insert Tychus from Starcraft 2 meme here*

Love it. Looking forward to seeing people role-play shadow dancers! <3

It would be good to address whether their shadow is actually good, neutral or evil, just so everyone is on somewhat the same page.

Already been addressed: it is True Neutral in alignment.

Shadowdancer Shadow Summon
In PNP these share alignment with the summoner but in NWN2 and on BGSTCC they are currently Chaotic Evil. A fix is in the works to shift the Shadow's alignment to True Neutral, to allow the use of this ability by non-Evil characters. As a rare exception to the play what is on your character sheet rule, please consider the Shadowdancer's Shadow as True Neutral for RP purposes.

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blacksoft wrote: ↑Fri May 14, 2021 12:51 pmWill the shortspears be considered monk weapons? Thanks.

They aren't monk weapons, sorry.

Its nice to see that more feats/abilities are changed to MMO-style of abilities with cooldowns instead of uses-per-day. More should follow suit

mrm3ntalist wrote: ↑Fri May 14, 2021 4:58 pm Its nice to see that more feats/abilities are changed to MMO-style of abilities with cooldowns instead of uses-per-day. More should follow suit

Yeah! Like Divine Might, Dervish Dance, Rage, Stunning Fist, Ghost Step, etc. etc.!!!