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

Hi,
I hope this is the correct board, apologies if it is not.

I was fighting the lich in the cave on the Cloud peaks mountain. My fort save is 27 and I have a spellcraft rank of 30. He first cast Bigby's Clenched Fist, requiring a save of 32. The game used my basic score of 27 when rolling for a save, although I rolled high. It did not apply the +6 to saves.

He then cast Vampiric Feast and that did count my +6.



He then cast Bigby's Crushing Hand, which again did not give me my +6 to spells bonus. The roll was 27 v 32 instead of 33 v 32. I really only should have failed on a 1.




Is this usual? Do Bigby's ignore the spellcraft bonus? If not, what happened? It seems strange that I got the bonus from a spell like ability but not an actual spell from a spellbook. Is this a bug or a custom change of some kind?

Thanks.

Bigby's Crushing Hand has no saving throw as its an opposed grapple check vs higher of your STR or DEX. You should be getting +6 vs spell for Bigby's Clenched Fist, though. Probably an oversight in the scripting of its saving throw somewhere.

Tsidkenu wrote:Bigby's Crushing Hand has no saving throw as its an opposed grapple check vs higher of your STR or DEX. You should be getting +6 vs spell for Bigby's Clenched Fist, though. Probably an oversight in the scripting of its saving throw somewhere.

Are the attacks from the Bigby Hand spells or physical?

False dichotomy. It's a spell (evocation) causing physical damage. They're not actual creatures unlike being wailed on by a summoned pit fiend or whatever.

Tsidkenu wrote:False dichotomy. It's a spell (evocation) causing physical damage. They're not actual creatures unlike being wailed on by a summoned pit fiend or whatever.

What is the hand? Isnt it a construct or whatever? Because it can be attacked. It has physical form. Its tough to tell whether the bonus should be applied or not.

Yes, because this server's mechanical representation of a magical evocation force effect must therefore imply they are one and the same.

Congratulations. You have won this argument.
/sarcasm

uhm.... ok

Let's not get too riled up for nothing... I looked up the scripts on the server and then the vanilla ones, on that point they're similar and spellcraft is not taken into account. Therefore I have no idea if that was intended or not.

Is the behaviour correct ? It's a magical hand sure but it tries to squeeze and stun you, should spellcraft apply at all here ? I have no idea and it's not clear to me, if someone has clear insight on this please share it.

Clenched Fist first makes an SR check. If that fails, the spell should fizzle out.

If it overcomes SR, then the save. It IS a spell, so Save Bonus vs. Spell should apply, for the stunning.

Now, the argument comes down to whether the Stun is a magical effect directly, or being stunned is an indirect effect from the "clenching."

From the wiki:

This check occurs every round, including the initial round. If the target has been struck, they take 1d8 + 11 non-magical bludgeoning damage - then they must also make a fortitude save else be stunned for 6 seconds.

The wording implies the stun comes from being struck, so it would be a purely physical stunning, not a purely magical—without form—stun.

Unlike a Fort save mind effect, for example.