Increase the Magic Level....?

[Dhark]

In reply to the first post , the major draw back in balancing the classes regards magic items is the fact the toolset does not allow you to make "not usable by X class" items , so anything a fighter can equip , a cleric could too.  Even if all plate as marked as only useable by fighters , every cleric would take 5 levels of fighter.

Its a great shame & i'm not sure if this could be altered via HAKs

[Anarcoplayba]

In reply to the first post , the major draw back in balancing the classes regards magic items is the fact the toolset does not allow you to make "not usable by X class" items , so anything a fighter can equip , a cleric could too.  Even if all plate as marked as only useable by fighters , every cleric would take 5 levels of fighter.

Its a great shame & i'm not sure if this could be altered via HAKs

But the witch-hunter armors can't be used by the caster classes.

Anyway, put a penality to wisdom. Or spell failure 100%. That should help.

[harlock]

What i'd like to see is outcast rating increased with every visually noticeable spells, displacement-stoneskin-barkskin-ghostly visage etc. more like give an outcast rating modifier to noticeable spells.

[Norture]

Stoneskin and barkskin aren't visible. Displacement things are though.

[Singed]

You're basing this on the PC population, which is never factored into whether a world is high- or low-magic.

This.  

It's sort of like how Ezra is the dominant religion of the playerbase, whereas sourcebooks quote that the Morninglord is the dominant deity due to the appeal to Gundakrites, which make up 50% of Barovia's population and are actually the most concentrated ethnic faction according to the Gazetteer Volume: 1.    

In PnP, I totally agree without a shadow of doubt, but in a persistent world where we have around 35 players on at one time, probably at least three times that in active players, and with most players having more than one active character, the PC population reaches into hundreds, and therefore does become a significant portion of the world. Even if only 25% of all those 300+ active character are magically able, that's still 60+ casters. Forgotten Realms tends to have less than that in a city.

According to the same sourcebook, Barovia's population is 27,700.   If you factor in a population of 300+ PC's, and 60 of them are casters (1 out of 5), and we add in 10 secret casters from Barovia just to make the math simpler, that's still only 0.25% of the population.  If all 300 were magicians, that's still only 1% of the population.  Now if you apply the same numbers to just Vallaki, which is classified as a small town in Barovia with a population of  1500 and the city's net worth being 68,000 gp, the population percentage of those able to cast spells becomes quite larger if all the PC's were to live in Vallaki.  If there were 60 caster PC's, the total would come to 4% of the total population, and for 300, the total would be 20% being magically inclined. 

So with this information and these numbers, even if the player base's magical talent was factored into the populace of the canon, these figures (barring 300 wizards moving to Vallaki) are still negligable.

[harlock]

Stoneskin and barkskin aren't visible. Displacement things are though.

I think they should be especially stoneskin, actually they are visible in single player but for some reason not in our server.

[HellsPanda]

it was changed because it was decided it shouldnt be visible, this goes for alot of spells.

[Threefold]

Really? So it's feasible to walk around, buffed to the nines, and nobody be able to tell the difference?

Dosen't this kind of defeat the purpose of a Fighter-types main advantage over a Cleric, that being if they catch them unbuffed they've got a decent chance?

[HellsPanda]

thats not the fighter types sole benefit over a cleric, a well prepared fighter type will tear apart a cleric here, but it does require you stock up on certain items, and know how to use them. My favourite is the Disjoiner potions

[Emomina]

Basically the spells that do not have a visual effect in DND do not have a visible effect here.
The makers of NWN added visuals where there should not be. 

And My Rogue, and my Fighter/Rogue and my Barbarian would have a very good chance to end my clerics without even much of a fight.  Cleric-phobia is funny to me, and yes Disjoiner is a very nice tactic, as is greater dispell. Even better is to wait until their duration has almost ended, they have zero chance unbuffed.

[DM Tarokka]

I want a +4 light saber with +2 dodge AC and a flying pony.

[EDIT] Oops was it the wrong place to post this?

[EDIT2] *was being sarcastic*

[Threefold]

I suppose everyone can rejoice that only in NWN2 did Clerics get a turn/level 2nd circle spell (meaning it could be made to last 24h at level 15) that made them immune to critical hits and sneak attacks.

Because if there was anything that Clerics needed to correct balance issues from NWN1, it was easy immunity to crits!

[Emomina]

many spells in NWN have been made shorter duration on potm.

[Soren / Zarathustra217]

I'm so excited about the enchanting system. I'd really like some teaser about what you guys have in mind for it and what possibilities you're looking at at the moment, if you care to share some.  

Spoiler: show

It'll be powerful, at least as powerful at the best items you can find, but it'll come at a hefty price. Someone's life force has to be sacrificed and put into the item...

[Badelaire]

There's plenty of cheap tricks to drop even the most insanely buffed PC. I have a certain combination with one of mine that allows you to whack out up to 129 damage in the first round (172 if I ever get my 4th attack) with a little preparation and varnishes. A lot of survival in PoTM does stem from aquiring the right tools for the right job but it's not impossible to play a pure fighter and do well.

The same problem of fighter's relatively mundane power in later levels compared to a caster was addressed on another low magic, low level RP server I jump on now and then. To answer this they added a temple of war (Tempus and for some odd reason Garagossian shrines together in one building) that sold equipment that only a fighter was allowed to use such as shields with either slash, blunt or pierce 10% immunity, themed +1 plate mails with 5/- DR to elements (Frost Drake for cold, Salamander for fire, Scoured mail was acid and so on) etc. An OOC note in the descrip laid out that only a PURE fighter could use the armour regardless of UMD or cross classing.

Two other nifty ideas were a "How to be a better fighter" book that gave a fighter additions to their disicpline, will and ac as the higher (pure) fighter levels they were. THe other was a healing item that used a fighter's discipline ranks as a modifier to how much HP they recovered and was comparatively cheaper than potions of the same strength since a fighter is more inclined to use them than other classes. None of it was overpowering or made the fighter class any more surviveable against mages but it did encourage people make pure fighters with these little carrots as an incentive. With the level range of PoTM however multiclassing is more beneficial and even on single player modules I don't think I'd ever stay a pure class unless it was a mage or cleric if the level range was beyond 1-10

[Telkar]

Spoiler: show

It'll be powerful, at least as powerful at the best items you can find, but it'll come at a hefty price. Someone's life force has to be sacrificed and put into the item...

Awsome.  

[DM Tarokka]

Guys really. I don't want to sound either snobbish or whatever. Today I got my own character Arden who is pretty mundane apart some very base bard's spells. Partenered with a lev less than 10 rogue/fighter and a lev 7-8 wizard, Arden is 13 biclassed bard/ranger. With the help of varnishes and a few magic of the wizard buffer (who NEVER entered in any fights), and with a good organization which never required even a single tell we made the marshes risking badly just with the final monster (alone I would have died with my lev 18, in two I would have died with my lev 16). And planning further adventures because that trio was awesome. Sometimes I feel all the arguments which come periodically on items, gear, magics, classes, fatigue, raise come out because people keeps soloing a lot, or plays parties as if soloing in more people, while organized partying is really fun once one learns thinking about tactics also just ICly. Honest, try...

[HellsPanda]

I prefer calling it soloing in the same direction Tarokka

[DM Tarokka]

Which is doomed to failure most of the times?

[Norture]

I'm so excited about the enchanting system. I'd really like some teaser about what you guys have in mind for it and what possibilities you're looking at at the moment, if you care to share some.  

Spoiler: show

It'll be powerful, at least as powerful at the best items you can find, but it'll come at a hefty price. Someone's life force has to be sacrificed and put into the item...

This sounds amazing.

[Bato]

Guys really. I don't want to sound either snobbish or whatever. Today I got my own character Arden who is pretty mundane apart some very base bard's spells. Partenered with a lev less than 10 rogue/fighter and a lev 7-8 wizard, Arden is 13 biclassed bard/ranger. With the help of varnishes and a few magic of the wizard buffer (who NEVER entered in any fights), and with a good organization which never required even a single tell we made the marshes risking badly just with the final monster (alone I would have died with my lev 18, in two I would have died with my lev 16). And planning further adventures because that trio was awesome. Sometimes I feel all the arguments which come periodically on items, gear, magics, classes, fatigue, raise come out because people keeps soloing a lot, or plays parties as if soloing in more people, while organized partying is really fun once one learns thinking about tactics also just ICly. Honest, try...

You know, about three level ten dwarves (A wizard, a paladin, and a Korvek), with good tactics and communication. We can wipe the floor with Invidians+Neureni, and that includes Buril-Kai.
It's tricky, but you can do it, all you have to do is not solo.

[Vespertilio]

Guys really. I don't want to sound either snobbish or whatever. Today I got my own character Arden who is pretty mundane apart some very base bard's spells. Partenered with a lev less than 10 rogue/fighter and a lev 7-8 wizard, Arden is 13 biclassed bard/ranger. With the help of varnishes and a few magic of the wizard buffer (who NEVER entered in any fights), and with a good organization which never required even a single tell we made the marshes risking badly just with the final monster (alone I would have died with my lev 18, in two I would have died with my lev 16). And planning further adventures because that trio was awesome. Sometimes I feel all the arguments which come periodically on items, gear, magics, classes, fatigue, raise come out because people keeps soloing a lot, or plays parties as if soloing in more people, while organized partying is really fun once one learns thinking about tactics also just ICly. Honest, try...

You know, about three level ten dwarves (A wizard, a paladin, and a Korvek), with good tactics and communication. We can wipe the floor with Invidians+Neureni, and that includes Buril-Kai.
It's tricky, but you can do it, all you have to do is not solo.

There are few things which compare to the fun and sheer beauty of a group of characters all working together in concert to lay waste and obliterate everything in their path.  It's a major reason why dungeoning is fun to me. Everyone has a role, everyone 'shines' in that role and the entire group becomes something far greater than the individual parts.  It's also somewhat rare that people want to work together on this level, in a group where everyone knows their role and what to do and no one has to be told what they need to do.  When such a group does come together, it really is lovely. When such a group is together based on ic reasons and motivations.....to me that's the pinnacle of dungeoning adventures because you get the best of both 'action awesomeness' and ace role play.  Soloing really has nothing on such an experience.

[DM Tarokka]

Golden words in the last two posts...

[Threefold]

*Rages whenever he is in a group with a Cleric, Caster, Fighter, and Paladin self, and ends up being the only person buffing the fighter.*

Arrghalabhlabhlg.

[HellsPanda]

thats why I have become vary of random groups