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Josh Sawyer gave his goodbye on the forum (well for the next week at least, while he is working on "The Other Project"). But he did manage to answer the following things: Any big towns out there?
The first town, Targos, is bigger than Easthaven (three maps with interiors on each map), but smaller than, say, Baldur's Gate or Athkatla.
About why paperdolls and avatars are not changed in IWDII
BG1 paperdolls do not have off-hand weapons. If you use BG1 paperdolls and attempt to equip an off-handed weapon, the engine tries to update the paperdoll, can't find a resource, flips out, and crashes. Theoretically, this could be solved by making new off-hand weapons for BG1 paperdolls.
It would be a serious pain in the ass to change the avatars -- no joke. All avatars for creatures (including PCs) in the IE are renders of 3D animations taken at a number of angles. Every armor and weapon combo is a layer that is rendered separately and slapped on when the appropriate change animation effect is called. To make new layers, we would need the original 3D models. We don't have those. To make new avatars entirely, we would have to create the following from scratch (minimum):
* Human Male
* Human Female
* Elf Male
* Elf Female
* Dwarf Male
* Dwarf Female
* Halfling Male
* Halfling Female
Each model would require:
* Leather
* Chain
* Plate
* Robes 1-3
* Buckler
* Small Shield
* Medium Shield
* Large Shield
* Helmets 1-4
* Two-Handed Sword
* Bastard Sword
* Quarterstaff
* Spear
* Halberd
* Bow
* Crossbow
* Longsword On-Hand
* Longsword Off-Hand
* Scimitar On-Hand
* Scimitar Off-Hand
* Mace On-Hand
* Mace Off-Hand
* Shortsword On-Hand
* Shortsword Off-Hand
* Dagger On-Hand
* Dagger Off-Hand
* Flail On-Hand
* Flail Off-Hand
That is a great deal of work.
About using 2E or 3E XP tables
Currently, all characters use the 2nd Ed. fighter's XP table. Priests and rogues got significant boosts to their abilities that arguably put them on par with the weakened warrior classes. Wizards are still wizards, and they have spell disruption now, but they don't advance as slow as the mystics from Dark Crystal.
*waits for explosion*
However, this could change. When Daddy Weirbucks did a conversion of all the creature files to support 3E saving throws, we included something that gave each creature a 3E Challenge Rating based off of the XP they granted. It's not a terrific 100% conversion, but it always comes within 1 CR of a creature's 3E counterpart. We could use 3E CRs, but that still doesn't solve the messy multiclassing issues.
About multi and dual class options
The multi- and dual-class options available in IWD2 will be the same as in IWD. Currently, classes still use 2nd Ed. race/class restrictions, with a few notable changes (elves can be druids, duergar can be cleric/rogues). This may be loosened more over time, but there are a few things that are highly unlikely to change:
* Races that do not use human avatars will not be able to be monks. There are no monk avatars for demihuman races.
* Races will not be allowed to take new multi- and dual-class combos like ranger/bards or druid/bards or paladin/clerics.
Kit restrictions operate in the same manner as BG2. Dual-classed characters will be able to start with a kit, then hop over to the new class. I'm not sure how equipment restrictions work once the original class has been passed.
About weapon styles
Four weapon styles have been implemented:
Weapon & Shield Style:
One Slot: +1 to AC when shield is equipped.
Two Slots: +2 to AC when shield is equipped.
Single Weapon Style:
One Slot: +1 bonus to Critical Hit when single weapon is equipped.
Two Slots: +2 bonus to Critical Hit when single weapon is equipped.
Two Handed Weapon Style:
One Slot: +1 to Damage when two-handed weapon is equipped.
Two Slots: +2 to Damage when two-handed weapon is equipped.
TWO WEAPONS: This weapon class allows the character to fight using two weapons.
One Slot: Penalties for two-weapon fighting are reduced to -2 for the primary weapon, -6 for the secondary weapon.
Two Slots: Penalties are reduced to 0, -4.
Three Slots: Penalties are reduced to 0, -2.
I'm not sure if the two-weapon fighting style description is accurate, but the others should be.
On the matter of how much of 3E is in the game
3E damage reduction, 3E elemental resistances, pseudo 3E concentration checks for spellcasters, 3E saving throws, pseudo 3E armor types, pseudo 3E ability scores stacking rules, 3E spell progression and bonus spells for high ability scores, 3E alignment restrictions (no lawful bards, rangers of any alignment, etc.), 3E BAB and attack progression. Many spells have 3E statistics (Flame Strike, for instance). |
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Icewind Dale II Forum Update
