A couple of mechanical questions from an old returning player

[freekender]

Hello all!

I'm planning on returning to the server, since I'm ben off since some years ago. I'm impressed of all the changes going around, all look awesome! Taking this into account, I need to rebuild my old chars, so two questions come to my mind.

My first question is about the Epic Spellcasting. I've read the following on the wiki (but, I've been unable to find the same info here at the forums or IG): "A spellcaster who can cast epic spells has a number of open epic spell slots per day equal to one-tenth her ranks in the highest of her Lore (Arcana), Lore (Nature), or Lore (Religion). In addition, epic spellcasters gain one additional epic spell slot for each epic spell they know. Thus, a spellcaster with 30 ranks in Lore (Arcana) and two epic spells could cast five epic spells in any 24-hour period." So, is this really implemented? If this is true, I imagine the epic spells would share the number of casting, right? And the period mentioned is really 24 h (IG I assume) or per rest?

My second question is about skill synergies. I've found some inaccuracies between the wiki, forums and IG. Where is the most reliable and updated info about this?

Finally, my third and last question is about the Disguise skill. How good (or bad) does it work? Is easy or difficult for the disguise to be spotted? Does it deserve the skill points inversion? And what about the spells to disguise?

Thanks in advance for your answers. And I hope to see some good old known faces around!

[Ithrinael]

Hello!

Epic Spellcasting: You have 1 shared slot for each epic spell you know, plus 1/10th of your invested skill points in one of the Lore spells. If you begin to cast other epic spells, the global amount should be reduced, to my knowledge, yes.

I'm not so sure about the synergies, but in general the patchnotes in the forums should hold all information. The Wiki is outdated, I'm not sure if the descriptions ingame got updated as well

Disguise: I'm not too sure actually. The spells speak of a bonus to the disguise, while the wiki does not mention it.
https://wiki.bgtscc.net/index.php?title=Disguise_system
But if it is against spot, it will be a hit or miss, as we have some super-spotters, while others will not be able to look through your disguise.

[Aspect of Sorrow]

Oh no.... the Sai'zzels again

[freekender]

Oh no.... the Sai'zzels again

Be careful Ssamathians! Take your little drows inside your stalagmites!

[freekender]

Bumping this.

[DaloLorn]

So, is this really implemented?

Yes.

If this is true, I imagine the epic spells would share the number of casting, right?

Yes. Epic spells are now basically a single-level sorcerous spellbook on top of your regular spellbook. Keep in mind, however, that they are still implemented as feats, so you can't use them when shapeshifted. (The Shapechange spell offers an illithid shape which retains normal spellcasting these days.)

And the period mentioned is really 24 h (IG I assume) or per rest?

Per rest.

My second question is about skill synergies. I've found some inaccuracies between the wiki, forums and IG. Where is the most reliable and updated info about this?

BG implements a bunch of extra synergies on top of the handful of hardcoded vanilla synergies. All of these require you to have 5 unmodified skill ranks in the synergistic skill. Per the script:

• Bluff boosts Diplomacy, Disguise, Intimidate, Sleight of Hand.
• Arcana boosts Spellcraft.
• Nobility boosts Diplomacy.
• Sense Motive boosts Diplomacy.
• Spellcraft boosts UMD.
• Survival boosts Nature.
• UMD boosts Spellcraft.
• Acrobatics boosts Athletics.
• Athletics boosts Acrobatics.
• Linguistics boosts UMD.
• Disable Device boosts Engineering.
• Engineering boosts Disable Device.
• Local boosts Gather Information.
• Geography boosts Survival.
• Architecture boosts Search.

Finally, my third and last question is about the Disguise skill. How good (or bad) does it work? Is easy or difficult for the disguise to be spotted? Does it deserve the skill points inversion? And what about the spells to disguise?

Pretty lousy for anything more than a name swap, between huge penalties, questionable documentation, and various bugs. The system is a convoluted mess that defies explanation, but a few notes:

• Defeating another player's disguise via Appraise Creature will break their disguise, exposing them to everyone.
• The disguise spells replace the target's Disguise skill with their spell DC for the purposes of determining the target's disguise DC. This can be a serious boon to low-skill/undergeared disguisers, but falls off hard if you're investing hard into the skill and equipment.
• I've known some people to aggressively use elaborate disguises with barely any skill ranks (or even supplementing equipment, for heavens' sake!) at all and go around pretending they're master spies when their disguises are trivially beatable with a modified Spot skill of +0. It's embarrassing: Please don't do that. If you're expecting to use disguises regularly, and want to be genuinely good at it, invest in it somehow.
• Despite the above being a pet peeve of mine: As a general rule, mechanically contesting another PC's disguise is frowned upon, and I vaguely remember a section in the DM rulings thread about the myriad scenarios where Appraise Creature might give you more information than you're supposed to get. If you have any reason to believe your PC might be able to recognize that another PC is disguised (or even identify them, specifically), send a tell to the disguising PC to ask for guidance. If you're in a DM event, you can poke them about it, too.