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Even though Josh Sawyer said goodbye for a week, he still had time to reply to some topics:The Landsknecht kit has been modified a bit
* Removed 3rd level AC bonus.
* Added "Long Reach" at 3rd level, which increases the effective reach of melee weapons by 1. To be honest, I don't even know if this could be done, but man, it would be cool.
* Switched around critical attack and knockdown. Reduced knockdown's duration to one round and limited it to living creatures.
* Added a 1 point movement penalty.
And on the effect of a longer reach
Have you ever been jammed behind a bunch of characters, or blocked from reaching some big bad guy behind a row of fodder yahoos? Having a longer reach allows you to attack from a greater distance. Characters with spears in IWD can already attack from behind another character. Increasing it by another rank would allow them to attack past two standard characters. Currently, there's a magical spear in the game with a reach of 3. It is quite useful.
About loosing all penalties when you reach 10th level and multiclassing
Well, it certainly wouldn't be ten total levels, but perhaps we could make an allowance so multi-classed characters dropped the penalty one level earlier for each of their additional classes. That way, a deep gnome fighter/thief (for instance) would lose the XP penalty at 9/9. A dark elf f/m/t would lose the penalty at 8/8/8. That should keep them roughly even... I think.
About the (lacking) storyline in Icewind Dale
Visceris, I hate to point out what I believe should be public record, but a lot of people complained about BG2's storyline because it was so forceful in its presentation. Did you not complain? Very well -- you obviously enjoy and appreciate a storyline that is more tightly controlled and well-defined. Not all games need to be made in that manner.
In Icewind Dale 2, you create six characters who can be every color in nature, from shining paladins to cold-blooded assassins. If you were playing a party consisting of a dreadmaster of Bane, an assassin, a ravager, and a chaotic evil stalker, would you like to be told, "You are going to Targos to take care of your dear old mother and her pet cats" or "You are going to Targos to fight for truth, justice, and the Faerunian way"? Why? The characters you have made obviously don't fit into either of those approaches. The most practical way to handle the wide variety of characters that people can make is to start with the motivational premise pre-defined: you did come to Targos because of the conflict. Why? That's up for you to decide. Maybe you are a cold-blooded mercenary. Maybe you're a bloodthirsty ravager. Maybe you're a goblin-hunting ranger out for a little sport. If you don't like that approach to presenting the story, that's perfectly fine. This may not be the game for you.
On the subject of random traps
That's an excellent idea, but it would be hard to implement at this point in development.
This would actually involve placing multiple triggers and launch points for each trap. If a level had twelve traps, it would require thirty-six triggers and launch points, and a mechanism in code for linking a "set" of trap triggers, activating only one trigger per set, and then disabling the whole set once a trap had been deactivated.
EDIT: Overall point: it is a programming and design issue, not just a design issue. I actually thought about it about a year ago for another project. PERHAPS THAT MYSTERIOUS PROJECT WILL HAVE SOMETHING SIMILAR.
BTW, in case any of you are wondering how we have time to revise/replace kits, it's because two months ago, we allocated time for ripping out or restructuring subraces and kits that QA or fans might just not like. I know, I know, forethought is not something we are known for, but we might have actually scheduled something well for once. |
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Icewind Dale II Forum Update
