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

I just died w/ 100 xp to lvl due to a potion stack size issue where if you have 11 in your inventory the shortcut will only let you use one potion. Friday the 13th was supposed to be yesterday btw

I think that is a game engine issue but I also think it could be fixed by changing the maximum stack size of healing potions to 9999. I believe what happens is that the shortcut is attempting to use the stack that had been exhausted on imbibing the first potion.

Sounds good.

chambordini wrote:Any objections?

As long as Potions continue to weigh as much as they are supposed to weigh in D&D—one ounce / 16 potions equal 1 lb..

Well yes, objection, inventory size should matter. If you want to carry plenty of potions at least they should use many inventory slots.

Valefort wrote:inventory size should matter.

Oh man...where does my PC put those 12 halberds?!?

Inventory is a terrible thing, and though it does reflect the STR ability to carry something, or not, it also is a bit like:

I don't have any objections, again as mentioned for the weight involvement.

agree

Steve wrote:

Valefort wrote:inventory size should matter.

Oh man...where does my PC put those 12 halberds?!?

Inventory is a terrible thing, and though it does reflect the STR ability to carry something, or not, it also is a bit like:

Sure but why make it even worse ?

Valefort wrote: Sure but why make it even worse ?

Well, I too have died because my Heal potion stack, on the Toolbar, said 11...but then I used the 11, and the supposed 10 that were there would not activate, and then I died quicker than I could open up the Inventory screen and replace that 10 stack on the toolbar (again).

I've learned the hard way that one has to be very careful to place THE LAST STACK on the Toolbar, so that if it runs out, it will disappear and not pretend to actually carry over. So actually one really needs to put 2 stacks on the Toolbar, even though they'll both read the total added amount, they are not really connected like it advertises itself to be.

That's all, really.

Weight is almost irrelevant for those with high strength. With this change they could carry a ton of potions. That sounds neither realistic nor balanced to me.

Didn't arrows, bolts and bullets get stack increases recently?

chambordini wrote:

Steve wrote:Didn't arrows, bolts and bullets get stack increases recently?

I mean, he has a point. And those don't even have weight, so much for realism there.

Sure there's a point in that. But archers need hundreds of arrows to play. No one needs hundreds of potions. Does it improve the game to have (rich, strong) people able to conveniently chug hundreds of potions?

Why not just increase the stack size to ~50?

Of course then the request will be to make healing kit stacks able to go to 50.
And gem stacks.
and scroll stacks.
and then what is the purpose of wands? Many spell scrolls are cheap enough from merchant vendors to be cheaper than a similar/same wand.

Therein lies the issue (IMO) with balance, not in the inventory slots. If potions can stack to 50, Invisibility wands are moot, since the potions only cost about 5,000 for 50, same thing with Heroism/Greater Heroism, and many others. Of course to address the route cause we really just need all NPC vendors to sell potions and scrolls for a more appropriate cost.

chad878262 wrote:and then what is the purpose of wands?

Wands can be cast on other targets (if applicable), don't provoke an AoO, activate instantly, and have a lower UMD check than scrolls.

Potions, wands and scrolls all have different strengths regardless of stack size changes.

Personally, I'd like to see more items increase in stack size since inventory space is sharply limited, and Bags of Holding are all but banned from use. It's not unusual for characters to have at least two full inventory pages of gear and consumables as it is, and over the lifetime of a character you tend to pick up a lot of curios and momentos from events and character interactions. Anything that frees up some more slots without increasing BIC size and server load would be welcome.

The real issue based on the OP isn't to be able to more easily take a billion potions along for the adventure, but that the Engine auto-links stacks of potions when you place a Potion Type on your Hotbar, but in actuality they are not linked, and in the heat of the moment, your PC will fail to use the Potion because of this false linking, and your PC can die (losing you perhaps hours of your time IG).

For example, if you have a Stack of 10 Heals and a second stack of 7 Heals, and you place a stack of Heals in your Toolbar for insta-use, the Icon in the Toolbar will read 17 Heals.

However, once 7 Heals are used, the Icon may or may not still read 10 Heals, but you will not get a reaction if you click the Icon in the Toolbar for the 10th use.

I believe this effects not only potions but scrolls and heal kits as well.

I think I'm remembering this correctly, but I haven't tested in some time, but if you have multiple stacks of a potion, say 10 10 10 5 because you're like me and far too prepared to not die, if you place the last/smallest stack in your Toolbar, THEN the engine will actually utilize the entire 35 amount off of that Icon put in your Toolbar (or is it Hotbar...whatever).

It is kinda like the engine reads from Right to Left, when it comes to Items in the Inventory, not Left to Right (which one would be inclined to think it SHOULD work, since it adds like items from Left to Right... ).

So I think there is a work around for the OP problem, but it isn't very pretty.

The only other full-proof way to prevent this stacking-but-not-really-auto-stacking issue is to rename every stack of 10 to something different: Heal Potion, Heal Potions from Ao, Heal Potions from Lloth, Heal Potions from Santa Claus, etc. Then they WON'T auto stack and you won't be caught grasping as the Balor pounds your PC's head into the stone floor.