Erroneous and ineffective creatures.

[Bluebomber4evr]

"Deep forest alpha" is going away as a name and is not coming back. It is far too specific and modern. It sounds like something a modern biologist would come up with.

"Advanced" might not be the best descriptor, but it is the standard term in D&D for a monster that has in advanced in levels and hit dice over the standard monster. It also sounded better than "strong", "tough", or "dangerous".

"Large" might work as a descriptor, since the stronger wolves will be slightly larger. "Advanced" definitely sounds too modern as well.

"Large" works. It will have to wait until the update after next, though.

[Knas]

Advanced makes me cringe!

[Bad_Bud]

How about "Great" Deep Forest Wolf?

[Feronius]

How about "Great" Deep Forest Wolf?

I'm pretty sure that with "too specific" they meant the Deep Forest reference, not the Alpha bit.
Fully support the use of "Large" over "Advanced" by the way, it sounds much more fitting.

[Bad_Bud]

 

[Bluebomber4evr]

Right the deep forest part was out of place. Not all wolves spawn in forests, for one, and there was a real lack of worg and dire wolf spawns when both should be common. There were also far too many redundant wolf spawns in the palette with only a name that was different. We really don't have the luxury of space for 19 of the same creature with slightly different names that signify a hyper-specific location and/or sub-sub-sub-species. Especially since in a medieval society, they would give the wolves more universal names. They wouldn't care whether a wolf was from a forest or mountain or meadow, so why would they name them as such?

[Meriana]

Especially since in a medieval society, they would give the wolves more universal names. They wouldn't care whether a wolf was from a forest or mountain or meadow, so why would they name them as such?

Does the average person care now? 

My only personal "discerning" skills in terms of wolves is: "wow! White! Must be tundra wolf!" (which may or may not be the case)

[INSTINCT92]

Not sure if this is where to put this, but will'o'wisps are immune to nearly 'all' magic, and pretty much slaughtered.
And just an opinion but these 'advanced wolf'ves running about using KD spam is going to make things hella hard for low level and new players..

[Bluebomber4evr]

Not sure if this is where to put this, but will'o'wisps are immune to nearly 'all' magic, and pretty much slaughtered.

I don't understand this statement. Are you saying they're immune to magic and getting slaughtered, or that their immunity to magic made them able to slaughter your group?

And just an opinion but these 'advanced wolf'ves running about using KD spam is going to make things hella hard for low level and new players..

They aren't new; the only thing that has changed is their name and appearance. Mechanically they are the same as they have been for many years under the name and appearance of a normal wolf.

[INSTINCT92]

they're immune to magic and getting slaughtered, or that their immunity to magic made them able to slaughter your group <-- This

And just an opinion but these 'advanced wolf'ves running about using KD spam is going to make things hella hard for low level and new players..

They aren't new; the only thing that has changed is their name and appearance. Mechanically they are the same as they have been for many years under the name and appearance of a normal wolf.

Fair enough, just never seen them knock down spam the way they did to my unfortunate mage recently..

[Bluebomber4evr]

they're immune to magic and getting slaughtered, or that their immunity to magic made them able to slaughter your group

<-- This

Which? The second one? So they slaughtered your group?

BTW: I edited your post to fix your quote tags

[Gideon]

As a historian, I feel compelled to point out (with very little discernible point or purpose) that medievals were very concerned with ideas of classification and quantification. They'd have six names for every precise sort of wolf, and they wouldn't fit into any schema or particular order.

[Lady Dwayna]

Not sure if this is where to put this, but will'o'wisps are immune to nearly 'all' magic, and pretty much slaughtered.
And just an opinion but these 'advanced wolf'ves running about using KD spam is going to make things hella hard for low level and new players..

To clarify this for you blue

The will'o'wisps and Great are impervious to nearly all magic/elements it seems. I threw acid, fire, ice at it and took no damage. I threw issacs missles at it, immune, and Instinct threw even stronger spells and nothing. They pretty much nearly wiped us out even after the entirety of our barrage.

As for the wolves. I've been attacked by the emaciated and the stronger, including worgs and I've never been KD'd by them, but today one "Advanced wolf" was spamming it.


Hope that clears things up

[Bluebomber4evr]

Not sure if this is where to put this, but will'o'wisps are immune to nearly 'all' magic, and pretty much slaughtered.
And just an opinion but these 'advanced wolf'ves running about using KD spam is going to make things hella hard for low level and new players..

To clarify this for you blue

The will'o'wisps and Great are impervious to nearly all magic/elements it seems. I threw acid, fire, ice at it and took no damage. I threw issacs missles at it, immune, and Instinct threw even stronger spells and nothing. They pretty much nearly wiped us out even after the entirety of our barrage.

That's normal for will-o'-wisps and they've been that way on the server for years.
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/willOWisp.htm

Immunity to Magic (Ex)
A will-o’-wisp is immune to most spells or spell-like abilities that allow spell resistance, except magic missile and maze.

I can perhaps look into a different way to implement this ability than what is being used now, however, since its spell resistance will usually protect it from magic missiles

As for the wolves. I've been attacked by the emaciated and the stronger, including worgs and I've never been KD'd by them, but today one "Advanced wolf" was spamming it.


Hope that clears things up

Again, they've had that feat for a very long time. The only changes made were the name (from "wolf" to "advanced wolf") and the size (scaled larger by 10%).

[Bad_Bud]

If Will-O-Wisps are a problem for you, you should do some research and look for spells that do not allow for spell resistance, such as Evard's Black Tentacles.

[Chaoshawk]

I don't know, improved critical feat with a weapon seems to work fine for me. 

Non-magical solutions are always there.

[de_reguer]

This isn't so much a comment on their effectiveness so much as curiosity, but why do the mechanical golems in the Alhoon Layer drop unusable bars of steel. I was wondering if maybe the steel bar could be made so it can be smelted down into several ingots of steel or maybe swap out the steel bar with an electrical essence since they tend to shoot off relatively powerful lightning bolts and there's a bit of a shortage of creatures that drop electrical essences anyway. Just an idea.

[Claymora]

This isn't so much a comment on their effectiveness so much as curiosity, but why do the mechanical golems in the Alhoon Layer drop unusable bars of steel. I was wondering if maybe the steel bar could be made so it can be smelted down into several ingots of steel or maybe swap out the steel bar with an electrical essence since they tend to shoot off relatively powerful lightning bolts and there's a bit of a shortage of creatures that drop electrical essences anyway. Just an idea.

Or they could just CNR iron or steel ingots?

[Purist]

Problems with Will-O-Whispers? Get a melee fighter(not a cleric) in the party. I've had few problems with Will-O's while playing my paladin. Pure casters aren't supposed to win always, right?

[de_reguer]

GREATER Balisks have a DC of 13 vs petrification. Thats actually lower than the DC for a Bodak's death gaze. I know not every person who comes across them is going to be a fighter but that seems kind of low given that most players wandering around Hazlan tend to be mid level characters.

[Nemesis 24]

The reason for the baslisks, I'd say, is because while death magic can be protected against, there is no defense spell against petrification.

[Syied]

Giant weasels! I like the idea of bleed effects and damage over time. However, -holy -crap.-

There are giant weasels in kobold caves, which are something of a lowbie staple dungeon. I'm still okay with bleeding damage in lowbie dungeons, but the disorienting, thematically inconsistent element is that their bleed damage continues to very, very quickly whittle you down once you've been knocked unconscious/below 1. My PC was knocked to 0 (by the bleed, in fact, I think) and then hopelessly bled out along with her three other party members. Had the bleed been the sort to stop at 0, it might not have been a total party wipe - but even that's not truly important. What I find important is that Ravenloft's system for handling dying, which I like very much, does not align with what happens when you die to bleeding damage like this.

Ravenloft's dying system is nicely-developed, and I don't think this kind of bleeding damage is healthy for the expectations of new players.

I'm not sure if this necessarily belongs in" Erroneous and ineffective creatures.", but it certainly strikes me as "erroneous" given the way dying works in Ravenloft in all other cases (in my experience).

[McNastea]

Giant weasels! I like the idea of bleed effects and damage over time. However, -holy -crap.-

There are giant weasels in kobold caves, which are something of a lowbie staple dungeon. I'm still okay with bleeding damage in lowbie dungeons, but the disorienting, thematically inconsistent element is that their bleed damage continues to very, very quickly whittle you down once you've been knocked unconscious/below 1. My PC was knocked to 0 (by the bleed, in fact, I think) and then hopelessly bled out along with her three other party members. Had the bleed been the sort to stop at 0, it might not have been a total party wipe - but even that's not truly important. What I find important is that Ravenloft's system for handling dying, which I like very much, does not align with what happens when you die to bleeding damage like this.

Ravenloft's dying system is nicely-developed, and I don't think this kind of bleeding damage is healthy for the expectations of new players.

I'm not sure if this necessarily belongs in" Erroneous and ineffective creatures.", but it certainly strikes me as "erroneous" given the way dying works in Ravenloft in all other cases (in my experience).

I find it strange that bleed dmg is only found on the lowest lvl dungeons (well i guess swamp leeches do it too actually) I think they'd be better off in mid to high level dungeons with varying strength.

[EO]

Giant weasels! I like the idea of bleed effects and damage over time. However, -holy -crap.-

There are giant weasels in kobold caves, which are something of a lowbie staple dungeon. I'm still okay with bleeding damage in lowbie dungeons, but the disorienting, thematically inconsistent element is that their bleed damage continues to very, very quickly whittle you down once you've been knocked unconscious/below 1. My PC was knocked to 0 (by the bleed, in fact, I think) and then hopelessly bled out along with her three other party members. Had the bleed been the sort to stop at 0, it might not have been a total party wipe - but even that's not truly important. What I find important is that Ravenloft's system for handling dying, which I like very much, does not align with what happens when you die to bleeding damage like this.

Ravenloft's dying system is nicely-developed, and I don't think this kind of bleeding damage is healthy for the expectations of new players.

I'm not sure if this necessarily belongs in" Erroneous and ineffective creatures.", but it certainly strikes me as "erroneous" given the way dying works in Ravenloft in all other cases (in my experience).

That looks like an oversight to me. I'll check to see if we can stop the Bleeding effect once the PC is down.

[NWN_lovableweremink]

SO, I found one but it isn't a encounter monster, it's a summon. The level 4 spell shadow conjuration will summon a level 7 shadow fiend. the level 6 spell shades will also summon a level 7 shadow fiend. the difference, summoning via the 6th level spell lasts 2 rounds shorter.