Changes 2 Spells

Have you been changing spells on Drow Myrmidon's in drow they now completlt paralis you so you are help less...

I have a deep request can you make it so when we use raise dead on an undead they die...

I have thought about the raise dead and resurrection spells for some time. In original D&D, casting raise dead or resurrection on an undead would restore it to life, not kill it. That would be exceedingly difficult to do, as I would have to create living versions of every undead in the game. There's no way that I know of to switch an undead to a living creature short of deleting the undead and spawning the live version in the same location.

As for letting the spells just destroy the undead, that could be considered. You'd likely have to do a touch attack and then they'd get a saving throw and magic resistance check.

As for spells, they haven't been changed recently. The Drow Myrmidon are more effective, because you need to roll a saving throw against all spells now. There are no immunity items left in the game except for artifacts and set bonuses, and the set bonuses have lost most of their immunity properties.

You shouldn't see any items with immunity to any of the following:
Critical hits
Death Magic
Poison
Fear
Disease
Knockdown
Sneak Attack
Paralysis
Mind Affecting

You can help protect yourself with a freedom of movement spell I believe.

I discovered by casting mind immune help to avoid it...

If everyone has immunities to all the special attack forms, then KT becomes basically a physically slug fest. I originally started KT because DX was just that. Everyone was immune to everything and players couldn't even hit each other (the ACs were phenomenal). Absolutely nothing matter in DX beyond getting the right items.

I started adding immunity items back in the module this year, based on pleas from some players, and now I regret it. If you run into a monster that you can't melee because it disarms or knocks you down, then evade it, summon up something to shield you, or find another way to survive the encounter.

Casters complain that everything is immune to their spells while they themselves want the very same immunities!

If we're going to have a server where character development, like skills and feats, matters and spells actually work, that's fine with me, but it's a two-way street. If you want to scare a monster to death, expect to have to survive some of the same stuff.

I greatly reduced the penalty for death, btw, so dying isn't fun but it's not going to ruin your character.

The end goal here is to provide more variety than simply bashing things on the head until they die. Maybe rogues will actually be able to use their sneak attacks again, and maybe fighters will do a few extra points in melee against the far more common non-critical immunity monsters that now populate the server.

For the casters, all I wanted is one spell to take hold, it don't have to be everytime and for the immunity NA, I have had items that didn't have any immunity at all and did very well with my buff even if they didn't last that long .

It's not only this server that casters are out #, why, cause they are good. I played a caster for a long time, but as of lately she is crafting more than anything and thats ok.

Good job here Sarah. God Bless.

On KT, casters are pretty powerful. With default Bioware spell scripts, casters are no match whatsoever for a fighter. All the fighter has to do is get close and it's over for the mage. At least KT gives casters reasonable amounts of damage.

Why doesn't the negative energy protection , help against mutated spiders?

It would seem only fair that it works... else wise I will just have to leave the spiders for there next victims ...

The original negative energy protection spell gives 100% immunity. I rewrote that long ago, as I thought it a ridiculously overpowered spell. I don't know of any other spell that gives 100% immunity to a particular damage type. Such things as the fire shield only give partial protection.

When I rewrote the spell, I based it's power on the caster's level. A higher level caster gets a greater degree of negative energy damage reduction and a higher saving throw bonus from negative energy.

To tell the truth, I should probably do the same thing with clarity, as it makes all mind-affecting spells worthless. It could be rewritten to greatly increase your odds of survival but still give a chance of failure.

I don't mind that you want things to be a challenge, but I used ring with lvl 15 not ptoin lvl 5, and as barbarian, wm I have no other option (even tho anything else in the dungeon I can fight, the Harm on hit without and defense makes it an immpossible encounter)... Also when I went to hell I get hellballed kd is automatic ,can you give us a disiplin check at least for hellball's kd attack, cause when you get kd'd from that then sneak attacked that sucks causes instant death...

I don't like to die without a fight...

I'll check on the spells you mentioned and post a response on this thread. I actually redid harm a long time ago to allow a saving throw. Hell ball I'm not sure of.

Sarah the DM wrote:

With default Bioware spell scripts, casters are no match whatsoever for a fighter. All the fighter has to do is get close and it's over for the mage.

Not that true. All a mage has to do is use bigby to pin a fighter or just have mestils acid sheath, Elemental shield, death armour and epic warding and a fighter will most likely kill him or herself before he/she kills the mage. Also one other spell that gives 100% immunity to a type of damage is shadow shield which give 100% immunity to negative energy. Also it would be really neat to see the spell Great Thunder Clap do sonic damage to give mages a spell that does sonic damage to those creatures that are immune to every other elemental and magical damage(if any creatures exist) and to give them an alternative spell that they can use if a creature is mostly immune to elmental damage.

In regards to casters destroying fighters, you assume the caster already has all the protection spells in place. However, I agree the Bioware version of Bigby's is way overpowered. Some of the Bigby versions don't use normal saving throws, like a reflex save. Those particular ones almost always worked against humanoid-sized creatures.

When I played the default Bioware modules, I never had any problems destroying any of the assorted casters with fighter characters. Playing against a human player, especially one who has all of their protections in place, would be an entirely different matter. I remember how frustrating it was playing online against Bigby spammers.

I hope that the fighters and casters are evenly balanced on KT. The meteorite is a great equalizer for casters who think they are unstoppable. It works both ways, though. A fighter without buffs would be a pretty easy target for spells since the immunities are gone.

All is good, but I never thought or said my caster was unstoppable, just let one knockdown her down and it's all over and that's with buffs, so I will stop playing them now and make the fighter's!....

Back to the casters. . . . What have you done to the bigby's hands ? I know they were a little overpowered but now I'm getting Bigby's Resisted in higher dungeons where it's needed more? I can understand them all not taking hold but come on this is a little much I think, I have notice that a lot of my spells are weaker than they should be, why? Is it more less over for casters now? Am I the only one seeing this.

I'm sorry if I upset anyone over this but I enjoy playing a caster or did.

i noticed it when i tried d14 out with my mage and told you dark when you were lvling up your mage that 9lvl bigby's were nerfed. It seems that you just have to have 40 fortitude saves to resist from being held... this is bs.. even fire giants, from d8 Charred ruins easily resist bigbys casted by 60lvl mage.

It was really hard to play test in d14. If i was playing without summons it is impossible... if i summon mummy or the dragon... i get so many spawns that i have to rest after each area.

Now, even if casters deal good damage, they're limited to how much spells they can hold onto. No melee character should be able to out damage mage. Unlike mages, they don't have to rest to recharge weapon, they're not limited to how many times they can hit with a weapon. Characters that use ammunition to deal damage are limited to how much ammunition they carry with them, how much one can take with them?

If you want to limit bigbys to saves, fine with me, but make it fortitude save 60 and nothing and no one can resist bigby any other way. Items with immunities were replaced with saves, so getting your saves this high is nothing. Caster's increase in power past 40lvl right?? Yet i don't see DC saves increase past 40. Spells cast by 60lvl or 40lvl have the same DC saves, all that changes is damage. Well, it if would be possible and not much job i would make it like this. Spells Damage and DC increases more if you focus in that school magic. Lets say i choose Evocation school magic. My Evocation spells will have higher DC and maybe damage than if i choose necromancy or general school magic. That's my few cents

Thank you!

The Bigby's spells were completely rewritten. When I see casters using the same spell over and over again on virtually every creature, I know the spell is unbalanced. Bigby's is definitely one of the worst for that. Undead to death is another one.

However, I should have explained the mechanics of the new Bigby's versions so that the casters will know how it works and use it accordingly. I tested the changes extensively with a level 60 mage and felt the spell was working appropriately, but since all the Bigby's spells call the same script now for a resistance check, it's easy to tweak it further.

One of the biggest differences now is that all of the Bigby's spells can be more effective against certain creatures. The only one that really irritates me is the one where you can knock the monster down. I haven't yet figured out how to stop the monster from getting up, walking closer, and then laying back down next to the mage. I'm assuming it's something in the monster AI scripts which take a lot of work to alter.

However, you'll find that nearly all of the Bigby's are better than before in that when you hit with them, they do substantially more damage per round. One of the other ones cuts the opponent's speed way down and gives the monster -10 to hit (the old version--pretty much useless--only gave the "to hit" penalty, but the monster ran after you at full speed).

The first thing the Bigby's script does is run a magic resistance check. If the monster rolls magic resistance, the spell fails. In the past, monsters would get a magic resistance check every round. The new version only rolls the check once when the spell is cast. Caster level and spell level improve the odds of beating magic resistance.

Then a KT version grapple check is made. The caster roll is a d20 plus ability modifier plus a level bonus (max +5). The creature rolls a d20 plus strength modifier plus creature size modifier (ranges from -10 to +10 based on creature size).

Accordingly, high strength and very large creatures are going to be very difficult to restrain with a Bigby's. Humanoid sized creatures with moderate strength (about equal to the caster's ability modifier) are held better than half the time (if the magic resistance check fails). Small and/or weak creatures should be very easy to hold.

As I noted before, I'm still in the process of changing monster ability scores so that 60 is about the highest they'll ever have on any ability. A dragon with a 60 strength would roll a d20 + 25 + 10 = 36 to 55. A level 60 caster with a 40 intelligence would roll a d20 + 15 + 5 = 21 to 40. That seems pretty reasonable to me, since dragons, giants, and other creatures significantly larger than adventurers should be pretty difficult to hold.

A humanoid creature with a 30 strength (typical for the highest dungeons) would roll a d20 + 10 = 11 to 30 versus the caster roll of 21 to 40, giving about a 50% chance of success (not counting the magic resistance check). Once held by Bigby's the creature is pretty much finished/dead.

In PvP, a level 60 caster should have the same ability bonus as a level 60 fighter, they are the same size, and the caster gets the +5 level bonus, giving the caster an advantage.

Again, I think the new version Bigby's are reasonably effective. I spent quite a bit of time testing them to ensure they worked as I wanted, but I understand this is a complete change from the old Bioware versions. The new version is also less effective than I ultimately intend, until I finish reworking the rest of the monsters.

I appreciate your work and i can see you did a lot of working on that one. But how is a mage supposed to fight monsters solo. Before a monster fails a roll and gets grabbed its already next to the caster, now since a pure caster can't resist Knockdown and is easily hit (in case of sorcerers or wizards with 40AC wearing no shield or heavy armor). The caster is dead before he could deal some damage with the spells. If summoning help (ie. dragon or mummy) they get so many more spawns that you can't even keep the summons alive for a long, especially when you have to be next to the dragon healing it while you're surrounded by monsters because the dragon is out there on the front line taking the damage.

When i play my wizard i don't go solo with no summon because its just a suicide. Even with my mummy taking hits, i can't kill and keep him alive for too much because i soon run out of spells since the summon spawns so many monsters. With bioware bigbys i could hold one monster, pull other ones closer, and finish them off with several spells. But now, i have have to waste a lot of spells because damage is equally divided between the monsters that are in the area of effect of that spell.

I just hope that your bigbys will be effective. Right now, when i last time played my mage, maybe 1 out of 11 lvl9 bigbys worked in d14. I played with 9lvl bigbys for some time in that dungeon and i was getting 1 successful grab in 11 casted.
The same situation took place when i tried it with reptilicus and these giants and giant lords around that place. Maybe i was this unlucky, but i just stopped using bigbys after that play testing with bigbys.

Knockdown is one of those things that causes perpetual frustration. It should be a useful feat, but it's way too powerful and hard coded into the game. Otherwise, I'd rewrite it. Possible fixes: Remove knockdown feat from most monsters. Give casters the ability to get a knockdown immunity item. I'm in the process of doing the first and will give the second one some thought.

Thank you for your reply's.

First a 40 intell is accomplished without taking ANY other feats except one, 41 being the max possible for a wizard,cleric or a bard and sorcerers are even lower-stat wise,35 i think. If you specialize in spells, like any caster should: spell penn x3 and spell focus x3. . .much lower. So to start let's assume 34-36 as a reasonable stat not 40. If a fighter type took only str or dex, depending on which it's based in, it wouldn't be nearly as strong as those that specialize in weapons especially weapon masters. So why aren't casters that specialize in certian spell types respectively as powerful? You would immediately send a fighter type to the pit if it missed as much as these casters do. There is a huge lack of balance between casters and fighters on this sever. We are already limited by spells we can hold - fighters arent - we miss most of the time - they don't. . .spells are designed to hit for a reason just like a sword in a strong arm is. The only way to get a 40 strength in a fighter type and not be rediculously imballanced is to go rdd therefore losing pure status bonuses, another thing to consider, casters are usually pure. You stated that pure toons were more powerful than multiclasses. The way things are now with all the limitations on casters, it is equivical too hitting a couple times with your sword out of many tries then having it placed in your pack until you rest, lol. If you had a fighter type like this you would laugh 'em into early retirement! A powerful mage is feared and rightly so, just as a hero type fighter is. Can't have one without the other - or sword and sorcery becomes just swords. final note : a fighter type with a henchman doesn't spawn nearly as much as a caster with a summons (drag/mum), and at least has a fighting ( no punn intended lol) chance to survive,if the henchman dies, where as a caster is almost always overrun,if summons expires.

Thank you El Gabardine, I couldn't word it better than this.

I don't think it's all that tough to get a 40 intelligence (or 40 charisma if you're a sorcerer). That includes your base plus up to +12 from potions and items. A helm +8 plus a potion of intelligence would give you the +12 pretty easily. With an 18 to start and 10 more at level 40 (not counting epic feats to gain more points), you'd have 28 + 12 or 40. Plus, we are only talking about the Bigby's spells, and people are upset because they were using Bigby's predominately.

On the other hand, I agree spell damage is generally too weak. That's after I increased damage considerably over default versions. A fireball, for example, should pretty much kill someone if they aren't immune to fire and fail to save. 60d6 will only do an average of 210 damage. The higher level monsters scoff at that kind of damage.

Yes I am upset that my Bigby's are not like before, what is a level 60 sor/wiz going to do in the higher dungeons when they spawn a mess and they all come after them if NONE of her hands take hold, some people like to play alone but can't now if your a sor/wiz. I feel this is a losing battle so I'll end my battle here.

Thank you guys for your replys, God Bless