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Again.... the latest from the IWD2 forums.Josh SawyerWhat was that odd looking ball on the IWD box
It's the heartstone gem.
It's supposed to be a visual reinforcement of the "heart" theme. Elisia pulled the blade of Aihonen from Icasaracht's heart, heart of winter, you get to the expansion through a house in Kuldahar (which once held the heartstone gem), blah, blah.
The negative red space under Icasaracht is also in the shape of a heart.
Remember the three standing stones in Kuldahar? At least one villager tells the party that the heartstone gem used to rest at the center of the three stones. The IWD logo shows the gem in exactly that spot: at the sloping base of the tree.
About the point buy system in the DMG
That system is nonsensical, and I have no apologies for violating your fascist regard for it. The DMG's scaling system tries to convince the reader that sometimes, +1 is equal to +1, but sometimes, it's actually equal to +2 or some other amount. That's what happens when you weight values that correspond to a linear progression of bonuses.
To go from 10 to 12 on the DMG scale, you spend 1 point to increase from 10 to 11, 1 point to increase from 11 to 12. The net effect is +1 on all values derived from that statistic. To go from 14 to 16, you spend 2 points to increase from 14 to 15, 2 points to increase from 15 to 16. The net effect is a +1 on all values derived from that statistic. So, in essence, +1 is equal to 2 points sometimes, 4 points other times. That makes absolutely no sense.
It's clear that for well-rounded characters, spending points to raise stats over 14 is wasteful. Why raise one stat to 18 if two stats have to sit at 8 or 10? I could give my fighter 14s in Strength, Dex, and Con and get a much greater net effect out of it. That's why we're not using the DMG's system; it makes no sense, and it excessively punishes people who want to give their characters one or two high stats.
Racial minimums and maximums
A character's minimums and maximums are applied to the starting values in each statistic, and DO NOT subtract from the character's available point pool. For most races, this evens out perfectly; they have one +2 and one -2. Some other races, like dark elves, gain more bonuses than penalties. It is important to note that these bonuses are not taken from the point pool.
At character creation, a player may distribute points up to, or down to, 3 or 18, plus racial modifiers.
The point is that you can start an elf with a 20 Dex if you wish to do so. However, that elf has a maximum of 16 Con. If you think that this somehow "dilutes" your bonuses and penalties, think again. It's a mathematical balance. Whether you roll or allocate points, those characters are typically getting the exact same values of bonuses and penalties. How many of you have never done the following: you roll a 14 and a 16 for an elf character. You want a 14 Con and a 16 Dex, so you put the 16 in Con and the 14 in Dex. Big deal, it's just switching numbers. The bonuses are only really there to stretch racial mins and maxes. In the case of dark elves, they actually do gain +2 ability score points out of "the deal".
The bonus points you receive from leveling can exceed starting racial values.
Well, assume that you make an elven rogue and a human rogue. The elven rogue starts with a 20 Dexterity, the human starts with an 18 Dexterity (let's pretend). At 4th and 8th level, the human raises his Dex to 20. OOOOOoOOooh. At 4th and 8th level, the elf raises his Dex to 22, staying 2 points ahead of the human. Yay.
Are the benefits from the extra point per four levels retroactive?
Yes.
When doe negative modifiers come into place?
They kick in at the same rate, starting at 9.
8-9: -1
6-7: -2
4-5: -3
2-3: -4
1: -5
About the size of Chult
The areas aren't incredibly large in size. The main area of Chult can be approached through two methods: sneaky guiley and slaughter everyone. If you go through in the sneaky guiley way, it can be a very interesting sneaky/explorey/talky area that takes quite a bit of time. If you slaughter everyone -- well, it's pretty difficult, but it goes much faster.
About settlements
I believe that the settlements in the game are very fleshed out. In Targos, the opening town, there are often several ways to solve quests and very few generic characters. Character race, alignment, stats, and class often affects dialogue options and character reactions. Here's a sample of such affects:
- Another warrior come for healing from Ragni? The only people welcome in this house are those who give or take blood. Are you one of the brave, or are you just another talker?
- If Bard is my name, and I am here to inspire the fallen with songs to stir their hearts and calm th- Goto 3
- If Paladin By all that is holy and just in this world, I swear I will aid this town in its fight against evil. Goto 4
- If Cleric of Tempus I am a fellow Battleguard of Tempus. I am here to fight. Goto 5
- If Cleric of Bane Tempurans. You sit around and wait for war to come. If we from the church of Bane were in charge, this army would have been crushed long ago. Goto 6
- If Cleric of Selune I am here to spread Selune's light, and let her light help all find their chosen path through these dark times. Goto 4
- If Dwarf Axes, hammers, or blades. Whatever ye have, give 'em to the dwarves. We'll sort this mess out. Goto 7
- We came to help in the war effort, yes. Goto 2
These special reply nodes typically just put more flavor into conversations, and allow the NPC to give feedback based on what you say. For example, if you give the bard line, Ragni says:
- STILL YOUR WAGGING TONGUE! You waste breath while brave men gasp their last not a league from where we stand!
Ragni's associate, Denham, then steps in to calm the priest of Tempus down. If you give the paladin or Selunite responses, you get this:
- Hrnhh... feel free to do good as long as you do it well. What can I do for you?
And from the Banite:
- Hrmph. When clever words, sneering, and intimidation fail, you'd best be ready for war, Banite. What do you want?
However, there are also times where having a character of a particular class or race makes quests much easier; it has a very real effect on how you play the game. Another simple example, from Targos:
You are, at one point, asked to talk to a priest of Myrkul who is using his "talents" to speak with the corpses of goblins. When you arrive and ask the priest, Koluhm, what the goblins said, he tells you the following:
- Hmn... I fear to tell you what I have learned... which is to say, precious little, yes. The goblin tongue is not one familiar to me, and making sense of its words has been, hmm... difficult, yes.
- PC is a Half-Orc, Dwarf, Gnome, Elf, Drow, Wood Elf, Gold Dwarf, Gray Dwarf My race knows something of the goblin tongue. Speak what the goblin says, and I will see if I can translate.
- PC is a Half-Elf, Halfing My race knows a little of the goblin tongue. Speak what the goblin says, and I will see if I can translate.
- Player is Human, INT > 15 I picked up a little of the goblin tongue during my travels - speak what the goblin says, and I will see if I can translate.
- Player is Human, INT < 16 Hmm. Perhaps if you try to write down the words, you can send them to Shawford, and he can have someone translate them.
From there, your character translates the dead goblin's words with varying levels of accuracy. Not only does that allow you to wrap everything up right there, but you also gain some more knowledge about what's going on with the attacks on the town.
Overall, I think players will have a fun time exploring the few communities in the game, especially Targos.
The friendly settlements
There's Targos, the wandering village, Ahk Kyorl Kulg (the House Despana drow camp), the Black Raven Monastery, Kuldahar and... that's about it.
Attacks per round
There are animation limits in the engine that cause the number of attacks to max out at 5 (4 + 1 from dual-wield = 5). It least, I believe that's how it works.
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Icewind Dale II Forum Update
