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So, there's an IG event recently that got me thinking about what happens with mass PvP. Some of the things about it, and some musings. I'm not hoping to encourage one line of thought or another, but I figure it's as good an opener to the discussion as possible and I think it's something worth discussing.

​Many fantasy or medieval stories have major battles as the climax or high points - Lord of the Rings has the Battle of Minas Tirith. Game of Thrones has the Battle of the Bastards in its latest season. How to Train Your Dragon 2 had the Glacial Sanctuary battle. So on and so forth - mass events where the plot all comes to ahead in a violent clash of force between two or more sides.
   
  Now it all falls in nicely in the movies, books, so on, but in Neverwinter Nights, particularly EfU, it's not so easy. Which is perhaps befitting of real battles, which were chaotic affairs where units had to rely heavily on their formations to maintain cohesion in the chaos.
   
  But this isn't just IC coordination, I feel. I think it is also, in part, OOC responsibility on all sides. It's okay to try and provoke the other side into an off the cuff LEEROY! as an IC matter - but from the OOC, it also means that such affairs will get confusing, fast. Dedicated PvP servers tend to have an advantage of having inbuilt teams. EfU lacks that, but it also means that it's not uncommon for off the cuff PvP to be blue on blue - guys who are blue attacking those who also are. Then NPCs sometimes get added to the mix and it gets worse, making it near impossible to maintain situational awareness. On one hand this is actually immersive -  battles are confusing, especially when it's irregualrs in an off the cuff on. But on the other hand, is it really FUN to be in an utter mess where you really are down to the luck and hoping you whack the right guy?
   
  There's also the build up - should there be restraint towards taking out players intended to be part of a major upcoming battle in order to have it play out in full story for all invovled, or should it be a free for all to seize every advantage before the battle is joined?
   
  This has been some tired rambling, but I do hope that it at least serves as a springboard for some discussion. Mass PvP can make some of the best events of the server, but are there OOC responsibilities tied to the IC ones as well to make a good story and battle fun for everyone, including the losers? Or is it ultimately a story that must write itself regardless of the complications, and there will be those who feel bitter over events?
   
  What are your thoughts, EfU?

There's nothing more annoying than having a serious conversation in Freedom Square, then suddenly having your chat box suddenly occupied with a massive wall of text that is the new arrival quests, or the checkpoints. My suggestion is to make some of these hidden from those not having them, such as how the Helmite by the Barbician has the conversation go hidden once you pick which blessing you buy.
 
  ​This isn't something that's critical, but IMO it would be really helpful for those trying to have a conversation between characters.

When attempting to access the thread ( http://www.efupw.com/forums/forum/ma...g-posts/page83 ), I get an error message which is as follows:

[h=1]Internal Server Error[/h] The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@efupw.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.
More information about this error may be available in the server error log.
Additionally, a 500 Internal Server Error error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

However, when I logged out I was able to access the thread normally. I got the above message both for Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome. It may be an error from the server updates as I have not used this account in a long time, but asking on the IRC no one else seemed to be having any problems.
​
EDIT:
Also occurred for this thread: ( http://www.efupw.com/forums/forum/ma...er-theme-songs ), but other old threads such as the Realmslore topics still seem to be functional for me
  ​EDIT 2: And now I'm able to access it, though it took some loading time. Original bug still seems to persist, however.

 

Exactly what it said in the title. I used the last CSW charge, but it consumed itself. It still had other stats and 3/day Cure Moderate.

I assume this is a bug, since it has /day powers

In a nutshell, there's a reocurring bug with the gnolls quest where a path doesn't form, and not every party is going to be able to blow it apart.

So two solutions come; one is to make the smaller trees bashable, leaving enough room to squeeze through, or make a forewarning in the quest that you may need magic to blow through the thick treelines. A third solution, I guess, is hidden secret paths that probably need rangers/druids/high-spot rogues to locate as another bypass in a pinch.

I just think it may be frustrating to parties, especially those not familiar with the quest, to be unable to do this because of something like that. The treeline's not a bad idea, it just seems to be baddly implemented in my personal oppinion

Something that I've always been intrested in is where we get insperation for our characters. Every character isn't just a blank slate that's filled in ambivelently, there's a reason and then there's comparable characteristics. There's the base insperation, and as personality grows there are subtler influences on characterization.

I'm kind of curious as to what kind of influences affect EfU. I'll share mine later once the post gets off the ground.

But for a rough format, probably
"Basic Insperations"
"General Insperations"
"More Specific Insperations"

Or whatever floats your boat. Works for me.

Neverwinter Night's greatest strength, easily, is the Toolset. It's allowed EfU to be created, and it also has another purpse: To create a DM run campaign for a group of players to enjoy, with imagination and mechanics the only limits.

This is an FR based setting, but not in Faerun or any other part of the Forgotten Realms, while using some of the lore. The idea is that it's a land on Toril/connected somehow, yes, but it is far enough from Faerun or other places that contact is rare (for comparison, think the gulf between the 'New World' and the 'Old World', but to the 2nd power or something like that). Contact and knowledge of Faerun would be nothing. The setting will be custom built from scratch with some FR lore involved at specific points.

The setting is European feudal in nature, much like the European Middle Ages. The main deity in the area being Siamorphe (as unlike in Faerun, her faith is strong here), which would play out as sort of the Mideval Catholic Church in power/prestige, amongst the large human kingdom that's easily considered an 'empire'. Other races, such as the Dwarves or Elves, maintain their normal Pantheons, though that'd be some FOIG stuff on the details. It'd start out fairly smaller scale, IE, a small town, but steadily build up to an epic conclusion.

All playable races are avalible, and you can go for a PrC if you wish (though it'd have to be earned). Currently the story has our group moving towards prominence but still small scale, so now would probably be a good time to join.

While certainly rebuilding the keep and bringing it to prominence is a major part of the campaign, it is not the main focus of the campaign, which will be partially player driven, partially DM driven. There will be major choices that the player can choose, and the ends are as unlimited as can be done in the game. I'm refering to failing hard and total wipe out all the way to the players becoming kings.

If you're intrested, hit me up in IRC. Some roles are now open and could use covering, but I won't railroad anyone unless it wouldn't work in the setting.

Mechanical Notes:
Using the latest CEP, if you want to join and need help setting up CEP, I can help.

Time: I intend to play this at about 12 Noon Eastern Standard Time (APX. 5 PM Greenwich Mean Time), if you can't make it, it can be moved an hour ahead or later, but that's only if all the others can make it.

Player limit:I'm taking roughly six players, but currently there's a few slots open due to issues with consistant participation; to those already playing but have had difficulty, if you can come back, slot's always open.

Currently: 2/6 players involved

IRC: #Stronghold

Tried to access the store... got the "There is no store" message.

Trying to update the labtop I'm using so I can play EfU, but I constantly get this message:

Your game version is: 1.59.8037 English

Pinging: nwpatch.bioware.com
Retrieving autopatcher version information
Retrieving game patch information
Connecting...nwpatch.bioware.com
Downloading nwn_x12_english_from1598037_to1698109.md5
Latest Game Version Available: 1.69.8109
Connecting...files.bioware.com
Locate patch file nwn_x12_english_from1598037_to1698109.zip
Can not find patch file: nwn_x12_english_from1598037_to1698109.zip
Get the critical rebuild.
http://nwn.bioware.com/support/patch_english_hotu.html#crit
The patch has been aborted

Any clue on what this is?

All I have to say is this: AWSOME!

It's nice now that we can have PC's take on the role of the moste dreaded foes on Ymph. I'd assume, of course, that they're 'fresh recruits' or something similar and thus have little in the way of spoiler knowledge.

I recall my first encounter, the person logged in and ran into the sewers, I was thinking 'WTH?' when I saw that, and I had a hunch that there were now PC risers.


However, this does concern me a bit. I know that playing a Riser would be difficult, you can't use healing potions (unless you want to blow yourself up), but I fear that greifers may try and play it as so they can justify killing people, or on the flip side, someone shouts, "RISER! //OOC: PC too!" and then we have half the server joining in the battle. I know Mort made a comment on that, but I find that to be cheap. Utterly cheap.


Kudos to Mort on the idea however, now I'm shaking in my boots thinking about the sewers :P

OK, I'm running Windows Vista now, and I'm trying to play NWN 2... but while I can play it, I can't pick feats, and am forced to hit 'recomend' (which is pretty faulty, in my oppinion, as it always trys to stack craft feats or feats I'm not going to use). Anyone have any idea what this is about? I know NWN 2 isnt as good as old NWN in some oppinions, but I wouldn't mind being able to play the second one without having to let the machine pick shitty feats for me.

I've been trying out a new spellcaster, but I can't select a summoning theme from the summoning table in the Start area, is there a reason for this?

Playing a Generalist wizard with Spell Focus: Conjurjuction when I realized this. Been aiming for the Earth summoning theme.


Edit: Ignore, I found out it was because generalists can't pick a summoning theme

I seriously think the Sharborneth Deputies should get a forum for the purpose of relaying general orders and filing reports to their superior officers. Obviously higher Ranking Sharborneth plays should be able to, and given the fact that Deputies are in a sense organized in the Sharborneth forces, they should be able to use a forum to send reports in, as well as recive orders.

Alright, I'm playing a cleric at the moment, and I'm having a Divine Spellcasting domain bug, I'm completely positive that the domains are correct, but for some reason, it seems to say 'your domains are not approperiate for this deity'.

I had rested before the reset, so it's not that bug with domain charges being out.

Character is a cleric of the Red Knight, domains War and Plot (AKA Planning)

Can we -please- return the clock at the upper righthand cornor of the forums (just under Welcome, [username])? It's really irratating to have to calculate in your head to figure out GMT times, especially given many DM's and players use GMT times. The Old Forums had it, so why not the new ones?

A Journey to the Positive Energy Plane
 - by Rob Darkspell

Positive energy is quite common, be it in the form of the spell known as Aid, a Healing Potion or spell, even the abilities of a Paladin to heal an ally or smite an undead foe with a simple touch. Many forget that these spells are of positive energy, and thus just as potent to aid a living ally as they are in harming an undead enemy.

By all technical terms, Positive energy is the force of life itself. The Positive Energy Plane itself is a blissful place where all is warmth, happiness and a sense of calm. When Positive Energy is manifested in our plane, it tends to appear in some form of white color. For example, a fragment of it floating around would resemble a ball of white light floating around. I have witnessed such a manifestation use healing magics, and one even cast the spell known as Aid upon me.

There truely is no description of the Positive Energy Plane able to do it justice, thus I doubt this short writing is sufficient to describe it adequately.

But for those who use potions of healing, wield healing magics, or even cast spells like Aid, you tap into the positive Energy Plane to cast such. However, I must remind you that positive energy is, while certainly inclined towards Good, it not inheritly good.

Just remember, it is a combination of positive energy and negative energy that (according to theories) makes up our plane, particularly creatures such as ourselves. A major reminder here is that too much positive energy, for too much of it -can- have adverse affects, as witnessed when an entire generation of Ymphian Cockatoos that had a encountered a fragment floating around were bloated, unable to fly, even left to die by the other cockatoos!

If you wonder how I was able too see the Positive energy Plane, this is no secret. I was with druids, to be particular, Stewardess Bark and Steward Mezoar (Bark and Mezoar now deceased) and Steward Turor. Along with the group was myself and Jharla Decker, a woman from the Abledoes times. We were recruited as we were allies of nature (Myself, being a Ranger, and Jharla due to reasons that are none of my buisness). It turned out the 'Cockatoo Queen' (I am unsure of the specifics, as the druids were the only ones able to communicate with her) was in need of help. We traveled through some (rough) woodlands, finally arriving at the shore, where a Cockatoo nest was. A fragment of Positive Energy had inhabited the place, and was protecting and nourishing the chicks, to an over-dosed degree, as they were bloated. We needed to solve the problem, as the bloated chicks would not live outside the area, and it was disrupting the area's 'Balance' (a druidic concept refering to weather everything is in balance, not one thing dominating). It turned out a gnomish wizard was experimenting with positive and negitive energy, and had come to the beleif that you had to choose, one, or the other. He then let us pass through his two portals, one to the Positive Energy Plane, the other to the Negitive. In the end, the positive energy was canceled out by a fragment of negitive energy recovered, and, to my knowledge, the portals are closed.

If you encounter positive energy fragments, it may be a boon, but too much of it and you will suffer from over-exposure. Of course, if the Riser spellcasters are slinging negitive energy at you like there is no tomorrow, then it certainly helps.

Seriously, if a DM tones down spawns to make it 'managable' for a group, they should be able to turn off the spawns so that they don't have to worry. This also applies with DM quests I guess, and I think it would be a very beneficial tool for the DM's.

The normally unreachable side of the wall (due to a OOC blockadge) can get people stuck if they are unlucky. I suggest either a transit on the wall, or a ladder be added to get up there and a ladder top for back down, as so that such a situation doesn't happen again and need DM help to fix. Given the other half of the wall is accesible, I think it'd be best for the other to be so as well.

Call me sentimental, but I miss Caddies' char, Governor Ortred, being the ruler of Ymph, and Rinaldo Montezzi, self-appointed Prince of the Lower. Maybe it's because I like the conflict that sparks from player factions when one gains power, rather than players VS a DM faction(Spellguard I'm looking at you!).

With Ortred, you could feel the heavy tension, even though it was drowned out by Red Elient (thus making people drop it). I loved how he seemed invincible, seem impossible to tackle head on.

I liked it that it was a -player- who could affect the Server directly. Admitidly, I am still a bit sore from Galleous' attempt and the Malatesta-backed government by Ortred (it hit me pretty sorely given certain factors involved, but I've gotten over it mostly). But I loved that it was a player who was determining the server, a great RPer and brilliant player in general. I loved how Ortred gave orders like a conscription and such to fight in the war, and (I can't beleive I'm admiting this), but I miss the paperwork uproar his call of conscription made (honestly, we couldn't track half of the people who showed). I loved how the PC's and oh, a few key plot-line NPC's were the bulk of the defense in the final battle of Red Elient, the Second Battle of the Webbed Woods, rather than a bunch of NPC cannon fodder like the Colonial Guard NPC's. How the Second Battle of Fort Senusper was mostly a PC attempt (Lead by no less than Ortred himself). And finally, he held the city in a grip, personally getting involved against trouble makers. He's one of the -few- PC's I've seen get an entry in the important characters of the server, a testiment to a single PC changing the server.


Onto Montezzi, it was a well done faction, it had great players, great characters (Rinaldo Montezzi himself, Semaj Lemalian, Elizabeth Ravenlock, Ghyrrt, Jaques Montezzi, Duke Waylon (of Savagry), Laith, and so many others that I can't list them), I utterly -miss- the faction, even though for most of my Underdark career I -hated- them, admitidly a bit IRL as well as consideribly ICly. I still can't think of what faction caused such major changes in the server as a -entirely PC faction with no DM faction backage-. Montezzi was a staple of what I hope the server becomes, PC factions being a dominant, while DM factions also being dominant and a bit more powerful, but still contendable. Several of the most prominant PC factions (The Mithrilsoul Dwarves, the Greycloaks) and a DM faction (The Seekers) were wiped out / nearly wiped out entirely. It was a testament to what a PC faction can do if they put themselves to it.


I've been bottling it up too long. The server was at it's best when these two were around, and damnit if I'm not sentimental and missing the good times with these PC's. I only hope that the next great PC faction is not far off, because to be honest, the server's strength -is- these PC factions. When it's got PC's running the server (obviously not litterally, the DM's are, as DM's, obliged to stop things eventually) ICly, than it's great, you can often -see- these PC's, and I think it's the PC's walking around and getting personally involved that -gave- the server such strength.

*sighs* I've ranted long enough, discuss or agree or not, I'm no poet so I suspect this won't be very beautiful, but I tried to say what I meant. If I caused offense or poured salt on old wounds by accident, I'll say 'sorry' in advance for that, I only had to say this about EfU. It's something that made it a -very- worthwhile server to play on.

It said I needed 25 GP to make a True strike scroll. . . it cost me 125 to make it.

Sounds like a bug to me, should overhaul the system.

Character in question was Rob Darkspell when it was done.