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From the Icewind Dale II forums.
Doug Avery (Wolf)Moving 2D Art in the trailer
This is a guess because our video department is something that I won't pretend to understand. They are all very talented and fun guys to work with and they really busted hump on the trailer. That being said, I believe that they take one of our high res paintings and somehow (voodoo, black magic, etc.) pan the camera across the image onscreen. I don't know what tools they use (they're Mac guys), but it comes out looking really cool. I can probably get you the exact process if you're interested.
About the move to 3E
I can assure you that it definitely was not for convenience. If we were looking for the simplest solution possible, why would we have changed anything at all about the engine? We are making the change to 3E because that was what we originally planned for. To get the game as close to 3E as possible. As we've gotten more and more time to finish the game we've made more and more changes in this direction. Right now, it looks like we're a hair's breadth from being completely 3E. 3E is also Dungeons & Dragons. I grew up on AD&D 1E and made the switch to 2E when it came out. It clarified some rules for me and I really liked the optional rules. I believe that 3E improves on the rules yet again and is much more consistent than the previous versions.
Items
All of our items have been changed to reflect their correct 3E counterparts. For one example, two-handed swords are now called Greatswords and they do 2d6 points of damage instead of their usual 1d10.
Damine Foletto (Puuk)Drows and daylight
As it stands now, Drow get a -2 to attack bonuses, damage and saving throws when in the daylight. Considering all the advantages they get, this is actually pretty minor.
And no, the majority of the game does not take place in the Underdark. There are plenty of very diverse areas to explore.
The penalty only applies to the outside, in daylight. Indoors the penalties do not apply.
Can summoned creatures turn on you
Unless you summon in a demon and forget to cast Protection from Evil on everyone
And the demons in IWD2 are much nastier than in any IE game to date. Their abilities are as close as possible to the abilities they have in the Planescape Monstrous Compendium (with 3E updates).
Josh SawyerResponsibility and RangersIrresponsible? It is my responsibility to insure that the people who play Icewind Dale 2 have fun and feel like the characters they make are as fun, interesting, and useful as any other players'. It is not my responsibility to be a fascist. That's what slavish dedication to a book of rules is: fascism.
"Why is this rule good?"
"Because it's in the book."
Monte Cook helped design the 3E ranger and even he has written, repeatedly, that he was always concerned about how the class was balanced. That's why he created the Monte Cook ranger. That's why many people use it. That's why many third party 3E character generators allow you to select "Ranger" or "Monte Cook Ranger" from their list of classes.
Three feats at first level? Does that sound like a reasonable starting point for a class? It's the most often-abused multiclassing combination. Are you a rogue? Would you like three feats, a hated enemy, and d10 hit points? Take a level of ranger, never to return.
Rules do not exist for their own sake. Rules exist to create a structure in which "fun time" happens. If you want me to follow a set of rules just because they exist -- sorry, that's not a good reason.
And in addition to that
Fascism is a political or philosophical view in which the imagined all-encompassing merits of "the state" and its leaders are held above the needs and merits of the individuals that must live in that state. The root of the word is "fasces", the symbolic bundle of rods topped by an axe that Roman magistrates shoved in peoples' faces as a sign of their authority, much like you are now shoving the Player's Handbook in the faces of people who think a particular class structure is poorly designed. And, like a Roman magistrate, who did not need to justify his authority through things like reason or argument, you are attempting to prove that the rules in the Player's Handbook are worthwhile through fiat.
The 3E ranger is forced to have feats that have little or nothing to do with being a ranger (Ranger Ambidexterity, Ranger Two-Weapon Fighting). The 1st Edition ranger did not have any proficiency with using two weapons. On top of that, the 1st Edition ranger had d8 hit points. The only reason the 2nd Edition ranger had two-weapon fighting abilities was because of Drizzt Do'Urden. I have displayed this temporal chain before, but in case you missed it:
* Unearthed Arcana is released. Rangers have no special abilities with two-weapon fighting. However, dark elves, listed in the book, do have special abilities with two-weapon fighting.
* Crystal Shard is released. Drizzt Do'Urden, a dark elf ranger, uses two scimitars.
* The 2nd Edition Player's Handbook is released. Rangers have special abilities with two-weapon fighting. Unlike almost every other class ability in the Player's Handbook, this particular class ability is not explained. It is simply listed as a class feature of the ranger.
In 3E, rangers start with three feats, one of which makes sense: Track. If you do not want to wield two weapons, you are "wasting" two of the ostensible benefits of your class. However, if you are a rogue or sorcerer who happens to want the sweetest, cheapest deal in the Player's Handbook, you take a level of ranger and abandon it. That's poor design and class structure, plain and simple.
What weapon styles are in
Only two-handed style. Shields are a little more useful in 3E, and two-weapon fighting is not as useful.
A greatsword does 2d6 damage and the user adds his Strength bonus x 1.5 to the total.
A half-orc fighter with a 22 Strength and three attacks a round can do 33-63 points of damage.
If that same half-orc fighter were using two longswords, he would get four attacks per round. The on-hand attacks would do 1d8+6 damage. The off-hand would do 1d8+3 damage. He does 25-53 points of damage. On top of that, he has to take a sucking chest wound of two feats just to do it without having massive penalties to hit.
Why use a spear or halberd?
If you are playing a 12th level character (enough to get 3 attacks) you have three extra stat points. You could have started the half-orc at 19 or 20 Strength. That still leaves you enough points to have 14s and 12s in several stats (no penalties, either). Also, a Bull's Strength spell could easily bump a character from 18 to 22 Strength.
Spears are simple weapons; almost any character can use them. Halberds do a little less damage, but hardly enough to brand them as "useless". |
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Icewind Dale II Forum Update
