Break out your Bow...

On my 3rd web host at this point. Somehow I always get mixed up with the shitty ones like 000webhost.com. Seriously, worst customer service I have ever dealt with.

Let's just say they pulled down my site, with no warning or explanation, and refuse to say anything but "TOS violation". Now being the sort of fellow that I am.. I read their TOS over 3 bloody times before I uploaded anything, much less pulled down the site from my previous host, so I knew there was nothing I did that would violate TOS.

Anyway, New host, playing at being a bit less open about things now too. I think I'm gonna keep this a private party, so I know who's interested and who's involved. Anyway, map's back up I'm working on forums, and going to be saving ALL information as text documents now(000 Screwed me out of roughly a years worth of writing and planning).

I've gotten in a tentative Arcane Archer imbuing system, and Probably gonna try and knock out Archer, and AA classes for the next test build.

Archer will be just that, Any race, Any class, 2 or 3 BAB and a bow focus feat needed I think.
Will gain the +1AB/dam that AA use to, as well as Seeker arrow(Minus the idiotic spiral), and hail of arrows, both of which will be on a recharge timer.
Additionally, it'll get "fletching" which boils down to some math details. Any arrows that have a gold cost below a threshold value(calculated off of class level) Won't run out. Simple as that.

Arcane Archer, will better live up to its name. It will gain +1 magical damage(per 2 class levels) to any equipped arrow. The ability to imbue several combat spells onto arrows, and a caster level increase.
This boils down to say.. an 8 wizard, 12 AA
Having 4 caster levels from wizard(normal)
And 3 caster level's from AA(4 class levels = 1 caster level).

That's 7 caster levels, where a pure wizard would have 10. Weaker caster than a pure caster, Weaker BAB than a pure warrior. But a nifty mix of the two.

Additionally, I've got a new notion in mind. Archer, AA, and Ranger(I think), and possibly Jester(harper scout) will get access to a pair of new feats related to entrenching a position.

Right now, Entrench will take 1+1d2 rounds, and create a barricade in front of the user(I'll probably make it target able later) To keep this useful, my plan is to allow for 1 barricade per 4 levels. At max level you can throw down 10 in 20-30 rounds(2-3 minutes real time) and build yourself a nice little fort. Of course the barriers can be bashed down, and any player who can put 'em up, can take 'em down. Take them down instantly in fact.

Let's face it, range units in NWN get screw in about every way possible. You can't run and shoot easily, you run out of arrows constantly, Heck with it! I want to give rage shooters, and rangers some love back, and allow them to control the combat area some. We'll see how it plays out, but its a novel idea, and I really think its a good one.

After all, any idiot in the woods can drag some fallen tree limbs and rig up a place where its hard to be flanked. I know, I'm just such an idiot.

Mmmmm! Tastes like Q!

Begin with the link..

Then we can get into "about damned time" followed by "Totally worth it."

Let's poke around a bit.. Gallery of portraits.

MY personal favorite?

Even after a victorious battle, the march home is exhausting. It is only discipline and honor that prevent the Sapphire Knights from discarding their heavy steel shields that only 2 days prior, kept the barbarian hordes at bay.

Breaking Bards...

Bards have gained my Ire attention lately.. Thus I share some plans. Scheme is to lower BAB, Potentially add more spells, And to add in bard songs.

What do you mean bard songs? They already have Bard song?

Yes.. they have a song. Sort of like how a fighter may have A Sword. Or a mage may have A spell. Screw that. I'm making specialist songs for bards, and by that I mean.. They do one specific thing, and its much stronger than the generic "Everyone can do every thing a tiny bit better" that normal bard song does for allies. I'm doing songs that

1. Last longer.
2. Recharge after use. You'll only have 1 use of each song, but use it.. wait a while, and it comes back.
3. Do one specific thing much better.

So what sort of benefit does this provide?

Well, for that, I give you a song sampling:

Name	Duration	Skill	Targets	Effects
Decant of Dawn	1 Round per song power	Persuade	Allies	+1/2 bard level Positive dam Vs Undead. 1/4 Bard level ATK/AC Vs Undead
Firey Retort	1 Round per song power	Persuade	Allies	(2 * level) Fire Damage Shield. (2 * level) Fire immunity
Ballard of the Bastion	1 Round per song power	Persuade	Allies	(1/2 level) / CHA(score) Damage reduction  I.E +5/18 with a tenth level bard . Immobile(Legs) for Duration.
Ditty of Damage	1 Round per song power	Persuade	Allies	+1 Blunt/Slashing/piercing/2 bard levels to all within range.
Hymn of the Hidden	1 Round per song power	Bluff	Allies	Invisibility
Melody of Masking	1 Round per song power	Bluff	Allies	10+ level Concealment for duration. 50% max.
Blizzard Ballad	1 Round per song power	Intimidate	Enemies	1d2 Cold damage to enemies per round(Total issue at time of song), with a slow effect for the duration.
Fermata of Fouling	1 Round per song power	Intimidate	Enemies	-1 ATK/2 bard levels to all within range.
Carol of the Clumsy	1 Round per song power	Intimidate	Enemies	-1 AC/2 bard levels to all within range.

OH Burst yeah..

Just got my batch of Burst VFX from Ben Harrison and going to stuff 'em into the Media hak, and rewrite the Burst animations starting now.

Needless to say.. I'm excited.

Knightly Virtures

So.. I've been on a class kick lately.

In particular.. I've finished Warlock, made some tweaks to Shadow dancer, and now I'm onto the Difficult Behemoth.. Paladin, BG, and CoT. Now, this is one of those area's(Like removing Sorc{can't edit the classes spell gain table}, and adding warlock) that I'm going to either:

1. Create myself a legion of rabid fans
2. Piss off everyone who liked any of those three classes originally.
   

Know what I'm saying? Ya either Like, Love, or Tolerate how they function presently.. but such is Familiar, ya know it, ya plan around it, and it works good. Me.. well, I'm a fan of changing things up for a better(or at lest much more diverse) balance mechanic. So.. Paladins now occupy a Prestige class(Bye Bye Champion of Torm) Blackguards will likewise function with the same spellbook as paladins.

And what does the base class become you ask?

I give you.. The Knight.

A knight is a proud, skilled melee combatant who fights in the name of honor and chivalry. A knight relies on more than a sharp sword and a stout suit of armor to defeat her foes. Her drive, determination, and fighting spirit allow her to control the battlefield in ways that others cannot match. A knight can challenge an opponent to a duel, calling upon the foe's pride and ego to force his hand. The knight's talent with heavy armor, shields, and defensive tactics grant her the ability to disrupt her foe's plans. Only the most talented rogues and monks can slip past a knight's defenses to strike at her allies. An adventuring group with wizards, warlocks, and other lightly armored members thrives with the assistance of a knight. While the knight keeps enemies occupied, her allies can use their talents and abilities without fear of attack or harassment.

The knight class is a great choice if you want to play a tough, durable melee combatant whose strong personality allows you to manipulate your foes. Weaker foes cower in fear before you, while stronger foes move to strike you rather than your allies when you play on their egos and challenge them to duels. Your expertise in using armor and carrying a shield allows you to form an impregnable defensive line. Once you engage a foe, he has difficulty moving away to threaten your allies. If you want to be a front-line melee combatant who defends the rest of the party and manipulates opponents, the knight is a good choice.

Requirements: Any Lawful(Due to limitations of the character creation process, this will function as a choice after character creation where one may become Evil/Neutral)

LVL	BAB	Fort	Will	Ref	Skills	HP	Feats
1	1	2	0	0	2	12	-
2	2	3	0	0	4	24	Armor Mastery
3	3	3	1	1	6	36	Hold The Line(Below)
4	4	4	1	1	8	48	Test of Mettle(Below)
5	5	4	1	1	10	60	Bonus feat, Shield Bash(Below)
6	6	5	2	2	12	72	-
7	7	5	2	2	14	84	Mounted Combat
8	8	6	2	2	16	96	-
9	9	6	3	3	18	108	-
10	10	7	3	3	20	120	Bonus feat
11	11	7	3	3	22	132	-
12	12	8	4	4	24	144	Daunting Challenge(Below)
13	13	8	4	4	26	156	-
14	14	9	4	4	28	168	-
15	15	9	5	5	30	180	Bonus feat
16	16	10	5	5	32	192	-
17	17	10	5	5	34	204	-
18	18	11	6	6	36	216	-
19	19	11	6	6	38	228	-
20	20	12	6	6	40	240	-

Starting at 2nd level, a knight is effective by armor mastery, which increases speed while wearing armor.

Beginning at 3rd level, the knight can elect to become an all but immobile bastion of defense, gaining physical damage resistance equal to (10 + class level + CHA mod), subsequently, the knight looses a good deal of their mobility(45% speed decrease). Additionally any nearby foes(at the time of use) are forced to treat the area near the knight as difficult terrain.

Starting at 4th level, a knight can issue a Test of Mettle. This is a general challenge to all foes within 30 feet. Affected creatures must make Will saves (DC 10 + 1/2 knight level + the knight's CHA modifier). Creatures that fail this save will attack the knight. Using this power is a swift action(Instant/Free).
Recharge time (30 - CHA mod) Rounds

Starting at 7th level, a knight can attempt to shield bash any enemy engaged in melee(And targeting the Knight). This is assumed to be successful(hitting), and the target is provided a will save, failure results in the target being Dazed for 2-3 rounds.
The difficulty class of the save is 10 + ½ character level + strength modifier.
Using this power is a swift action(Instant/Free).
Recharge time (Daze Duration + 1) rounds.

Starting at 12th level, a knight can issue a Daunting Challenge as a swift action. Like a test of mettle, this is a general challenge to all foes within 30 feet. Affected creatures must make Will saves (DC 10 + 1/2 knight level + the knight's Cha modifier). Creatures that fail this save are frightened for (Intimidate skill/2) rounds. Additionally, for each frightened foe, The knight, and Allies are granted a +1 cumulative attack bonus again for (Intimidate skill/2) rounds.
Recharge time (30 - CHA mod) Rounds

Yet another way..

Posted 04/30/09 17:30 (GMT) by Barry_1066

It should be noted the DMFI changed several default Bioware scripts as well to make DMFI work well.

On that note -- the future holds a brand new CEP DMFI all recoded and far more advanced than anything seen before. The project will not be completed for 2.3 but some of the now completed parts will be released in 2.3.

See, here's CEP.. Taking well known existing packages.. and screwing them up by putting a corporate logo on 'em. "its brand new, much better, blah, blah, blah..."

And god help you... if you customized the version that's been out and around.

FYI: the past 6 places I've worked.. I've had to rewrite sections of the DMFI to make it work with the module.

In other news, Atari finally got off its ass, Project Q is still making me sit on mine, and I've been busy working on Warlock, & Shadowdancer anyway.

On the upside.. This has given me a chance to grind, and get my "Sit On Ass" skill up as high as I can. Given I can still take Epic skill Focus: Sit On Ass.. but we'll see if I need to in a week..

Daily Debriefing

Download page updated

Daily Debriefing

Alright, last night Linda and I worked off and finished up Southern Sentinel.

I haven't put it up for testing yet, but no one seemed to bother last time I did(Post here if you want me to put it up). I've also written up the long and short of Juggernaut of War. Hopefully motivation will come, or I'll talk Linda into doing it for me.

Personally, I'm hoping on the latter, but its a lot of active feats so it would count as good practice I think.

OMGWTFBBQ.2da

Miscellaneous playing around today, and finally re-assaulted baseitems.2da and remembered why it was useful, and why CEP needs to edit it so much.

• It controls all item types in the module using it.


• Its how CEP adds the new(half-functioning) weapons, like double-bladed kazoo


• It controls the critical modifier(X2, X3, X4), critical range(20, 19-20, 18-20), and damage of an item.


• I honestly don't recall what I was going to write here, but I had a fourth point.

This has been long overdue, but I began with some simple changes, namely making crossbow's actually feasible as an alternative to bow's. This of course was done by raising their damage, because let's face it 1d8 on a longbow(max 6 attacks attacks a round) vs a 1d10 crossbow that does max 5 attacks. It looks even, but consider this, Longbow needs a feat to get 1 more attack a round to hit six. Crossbow needs a feat to get more than 1 attack a round.

That playing field is about as level as Bill Clinton's marital vows.

Besides, most Longbow users usually opt for Arcane Archer if at all possible. I for one have never seen a dwarf with a longbow, its always elves or half elves. Not to mention a dwarf would never be able to string a longbow, couldn't hold the base still while managing to reach the top to bend it down.

Daily Debriefing

Northern Armsmen is available for testing. It was pretty easy to just take similar .2da entries and tweak values as needed, still it will require admittedly more effort later to go ahead and get all the right feat options in at the right levels.

Right now, the epic feats this class can pick(As class feats) are absolutely strange, but time and effort will change that easily enough. I think I just need to make a -1 into a 21 in a few instances to allow them to be taken as epic class feats but I can't(and won't) pretend to tell anyone I'm sure.

110MB Rant

Alright, this is done:
Module

(This will never change, once you have it.. you have it.)



Hak

(This will change frequently, usually with an annotation somewhere that something has changed. I will bump this topic when hak is updated.)

However in the doing of that, I required a beer. For those who don't know, I'm weird, I think drinking and smoking, and other such vices are simply a lack of willpower and a failure to exhibit adult behavior. Essentially, they are the recourse of those who have lead such a shitty life due to their own mismanaged choices that they require such things to continue, and/or experience a bout of happiness.

Be that as it may, 110MB.com made me drink today. To start with, I couldn't upload a .7z file. Understandable I guess, the listed reason is they don't want their site to become an alternative to yousendit.com. Again, understandable I suppose. Seems to me their deliberately avoiding a business opportunity, but that's not my problem.

What is my problem, is that I couldn't upload the 7zip, alright no big deal, I'll upload the 5.01MB file and let them deal with the increased space on their server. Oh Fracking well, they brought it upon themselves. As it completes uploading, I get this lovely little message in my FTP client.

[R] TYPE I
[R] 200 TYPE is now 8-bit binary
[R] PASV
[R] 227 Entering Passive Mode (195,242,99,102,157,145)
[R] Opening data connection IP: 195.242.99.102 PORT: 40337
[R] STOR Black_Book Class Test.mod
[R] 150 Accepted data connection
[R] 550-File too big. Max allowed size is 5120 kb.
[R] 550 Black_Book Class Test.mod won't be saved.
[R] Transfer Failed!
[R] TYPE A
[R] 200 TYPE is now ASCII
[R] PASV
[R] 227 Entering Passive Mode (195,242,99,102,156,74)
[R] Opening data connection IP: 195.242.99.102 PORT: 40010
[R] LIST -al
[R] 150 Accepted data connection
[R] 226-Options: -a -l
[R] 226 4 matches total
[R] List Complete: 263 bytes in 0.47 seconds (0.5 KB/s)
Transfer queue completed
1 File failed to transfer

Ugh. 5120 kb? It was 5.01MB, or 5010kb What in fracking blazes? Vile bastards. Alright, I open it in the toolset, Gut it down, remove a worthless area and upload it again. No problem. 4.88mb is apparently less than 5120, while 5.01 mb is not. What-fracking-ever.

Thinking I had reached a mutually hostile truce with the software, I went to upload the hak BB_Top.hak knowing full damned well it was 1.28mb and would upload.

Ahh, the foolish pride of youth, you see I had forgotten it didn't like some file types, apparently .hak is one of them. I was half way to SevenZipping it when I remembered it didn't like 7zip either. I swore. and started to .Rar it, then I realized .rar also has a good file compression. I swore again, and decided to use .zip.

For those who aren't as technologically savvy as I am, I'll put it in perspective. 7Zip is like using K-Y Jelly when jerking off. Zip, being years older is like using Sandpaper instead.

Not so much in the fact that zip isn't even remotely designed to do the job, it was designed for compression, but in the age of E-tech its outdated by years and outshone by present alternatives. While there is a leisure(as well as a health) aspect of riding a bike when traveling distance, its rarely done with the intent to travel distances, or move cargo a distance with speed.

Those two goals are the core of compressing data. To move it quickly, and in large loads. .Zip is outclassed easily by .rar and .7z just runs circles around it.

Daily Debriefing

Well, Todays trial has been experimenting towards class changing. I'm slotting out quite a few that will get either full or partial reworking to provide what I believe to be a better overall arrangement. Todays goal was to change the Assassin class on the two primary levels.

1. Changing the 2DA to alter what feat's the class gets/what level they become available at.
2. Changing the TLK (Talk table) to reflect the above changes and display properly in game.

Suffice to say, I've only made one change so far, a Simple one, let's show you the basic assassin:


- Hit Die: d6.
- Proficiencies: Simple Weapons, Light Armor Proficiency.
- Skill Points: 4 + Int Modifier.


Not bad for a start, but I've always disliked one thing about the class.. How most of the cool and strange weapons.. it can't use by default.


- Hit Die: d6.
- Proficiencies: Exotic Weapons, Light Armor Proficiency.
- Skill Points: 4 + Int Modifier.


See the change? Its minor, until it comes to weapon selection. Anyway, I've tried before to tamper with a talk table and met with a level of success that resulted in only a single change: I got a beer, it seemed preferable.

Not so, with the Tabular Framework application I've kicked around in for this latest attempt. It's actually a TLK and 2DA editor in one app, allowing the user to drag around and alter both, with the added convenience of having both open and drag-around-able while tampering.

This is to say you can have both the talk table(only one allowed per module) and all the 2DA's open that you want and you can switch between them, or drag and place them to keep all the data coherent.

Coherent, that's something I'm not at the moment, but its difficult to explain properly how easy this makes it. Suffice to say, I could train my dog to use this program, getting her to work the keyboard may be difficult. However the software is empathetically not the hardware.

This is a rave review from me to be honest, for the simple fact it handles 2 tasks together that are needed to produce changes, and it does it without bells, whistles, or flaming hoops that seem to be listed as 'features' in so much of todays software. To put this in perspective, my Cell phone has a Calculator(1), a calendar(2), an alarm clock(3), a world clock(4), a stopwatch(5), and a notepad(6) build into its software.

I've used the alarm clock once. It did not meet expectations and I've never used it again. Nor were any of the other "features" I listed above used. Their Fucking Junk. Tabular Framework thankfully does the job, does the job well, and does it without Junk.