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Messages - Egon the Monkey

#1
Screen Shots & Obituaries / Re: Jason Undt - The Tracker
December 14, 2020, 10:59:33 AM
A great buddy in the Beer Hall days. Those really felt like some sort of bizarre EfU Lad Sitcom, like Red Dwarf in D&D. :)
#2
Suggestions / Re: True Seeing
December 14, 2020, 10:54:57 AM
Stranger: Yeah, the problem with default Wormsight IMO is that Necromancer wizards could inexpensively negate the biggest drawback of their school (No See Invis)
If it got a Spell School Transmutation/GSF Trans Sorcerer bonus it'd be a lot more handy. I don't think it needs a straight up Transmutation duration improvement, as GSF is already strong on a druid.
I'd argue that the nerf means it's now a spell that would sit really nicely on the Ranger list as a L2, as turn/2 levels means you can't keep it up all day but it's a cheap Paranoia Button for pure rangers.
#3
Suggestions / True Seeing
December 09, 2020, 01:28:43 PM
Ah, the Level 3/4/5/6 Spell, a notorious bugger to balance because of that.
Currently it's kind of useless. PfX blocks Phantasmal Killer, Clarity blocks PhK and Colour Spray. It's just a super expensive See Invis. For a L4-5 spellslot, you may as well just quaff potions.

Suggestion: Treat this as a L4 spell, and balance it accordingly. It's hugely expensive as a L5, and only worth it off Animal Domain really.

Quote from: 'True Seeing'
Provides See Invisibility, Ultravision and immmunity to Illusion spells. Grants +2 Spot and Search.
SF: Divination: Adds +2 Spot and Search
GSF: Divination: Applies to caster as well as target, Adds the Blind-Fight fight if the character does not already have it.

This would let Clerics make Search checks, which are an incredibly common PVE obstacle in CoR.  Blind-fight is a powerful feat, but 99% of melee and ranged PCs have that already. Which means granting it would be powerful, but only really for full-caster builds who want to hit with their melee and touch attacks. And for PvP or long fights, it is a buff, and can be dispelled.
#4
One of the PCs who convinced Dr Brogan that he might be able to be a 'real doctor' and aspire to be slightly better as a person than the stabby little backstreet mercenary quack that he started out as.

Obviously, since they were both professional, dedicated, crazy prepared healers, they had very similar tactics, gear and contingency plans. Occasionally this got ridiculous.
#5
Bug Reports / Re: Armor Bonus
December 03, 2020, 11:37:20 AM
Is it even necessary though? There are basically no bracers with +1 AC, the only ones I've seen are relics.  And a Cleric can cast MV anyway.
So the power level of bracers seems effectively controlled by the fact bracer AC is super rare. Meaning it might be possible to just fix this bug by removing the script and purging any bracers that aren't meant to be that strong, or are Monk Only Do Not UMD.
#6
Suggestions / Re: unnerf the starting experience
December 01, 2020, 09:46:57 AM


  • Drips diseases can be a complete killer if you don't have Heal or access to Glumdrum Hall. Because it hits CHA, sorcs and bards can't rest it off and just use ash. They'll lose spellslots. My suggestion here is to just slap Cure Disease on the Pitter Peter ponds priest, someone in the Peerage (if that isn't there already) and someone in the Kobold Lair (because goblins can use the Ponds priest but it's not exactly near the kobold lair)
  • Search piles are a pain because so much of the loot is trash. Meaning even if you pass most, you still have no guarantee of finding healing. This could be balanced out by just placing a weak Crates of Supplies placeable in lowbie quests. That way, everyone is guaranteed a reasonable mix of stuff, not yet more spare whatifs.
#7
The downside of them is they mean one person passes a check and then shares it out to everyone. Meaning the check's not individually valuable.
The check in the furniture quest where everyone gets to make some rolls for loot is my star example. Because then a high score is good for you, personally.
#8
Suggestions / Re: Player-cast cure spells
November 29, 2020, 11:59:56 AM
in hoc signo vinces: Yeah that's why I suggested +2 not +1. :P It's the amount of regen that's given to undead by a L1 spell.
With all the changes I suggested (inc. the 1d6 on top that Neg Ray gets) that makes a L8 Cure Light into a total of: 1d8+1d6+5+16. 
So an average of 13 healing +16 over time, for a total of 29HP.
For comparison, that's what I can get off a decent Heal roll on my specialised Rogue. So feels decent for a L1 spell. And I'd pick that in order to slap undead bosses with 10% damage vulnerability on top of the 13 damage. Other option would be to apply 2 damage a round like Combust, to Undead.

This is what I'd consider the minimum effect to try making Cure spells worthwhile, rather than slapping on every possible buff, finding it's OP, and rolling it back. Since Cure is sort of a free pick for Clerics, they get the most use here.

For Bards, I think the best way to make it definitely worth it would be to give them extra effects. Bards get Remove Blind/Deaf and Remove Curse but those are so situational it's a terrible pick. If Bardic Cure Light removed Fear, Bardic Cure Moderate removed Fear, Blind and Paralysis, and Bardic Cure Serious just cast Restoration at the same time, I think they'd become strong picks. Because then it's not about the healing, but the fact a bard can specialise in undoing magic.  Otherwise, they can't really compete with Haste, as it's easily possible to have 30 CSW charges kicking about but not 30 haste you can use on others.
#9
Suggestions / Player-cast cure spells
November 28, 2020, 12:57:08 PM
These are basically pointless for PCs, as healing is so common on EFU. Which is a good thing, but means that the only point of CSW on a bard is "making potions" for example. I would doubt any Ranger has cast the Cure Light Wounds spell in the entire chapter. Interestingly, while playing a kobold necromancer, I got an idea for how to make player cast heals see the light of day.

Quote from:  Negative direct damage changes
Negative Energy Ray
The following two changes only come in to play the spell is not cast from an item.

  • If a wizard has Spell School Necromancy or a Sorcerer has Spell Focus Necromancy, casting the spell deals an additional 1d6 negative energy damage to the target.
  • Greater Spell Focus Necromancy also gives a targeted undead creature +2 regeneration for 1 round per caster level.
Inflict Spells now reduce healing received from Cure Spells by 10% per level of the Inflict Spell.
These were great changes and meant my yippy little boneboi held a couple of rays in reserve for topping up his skeletons.

I propose the following changes. Not linked to a Spell School or Focus, though.  Given how Cures aren't also a useful attack against most things, and are incredibly common as loot.
Quote from:  Player-cast Cures
All of these only occur if not cast from an item:
  • Cure Light Wounds: Applies +2 Regeneration for one round per level on a living target. Applies 10% physical damage vulnerability to an undead for 1 round per level (Will negates, does not stack)
  • Cure Moderate Wounds: Applies +3 Regeneration for one round per level on a living target. Applies 15% physical damage vulnerability to an undead for 1 round per level (Will negates, does not stack)
  • Cure Serious Wounds: Applies +3 Regeneration for one round per level on a living target. Applies 20% physical damage vulnerability to an undead for 1 round per level (Will negates, does not stack)
  • Cure Critical Wounds: Applies +4 Regeneration for one round per level on a living target. Applies 25% physical damage vulnerability to an undead for 1 round per level ((Will negates, does not stack)
  • Healing Circle  Available as a L3 Spell (it's the inverse of Negative burst, why is it L5 by default?).  Deals an extra +1d8 healing/damage with SF Abjuration. Applies +2 Regeneration for one round per level on all living allies. Applies 10% physical damage vulnerability to all target undead for 1 round per level (Will negates).
In line with the Negative Ray changes, they could also get an additional +1d6 from player casts.

Regen is pretty easy to apply off herbs in the short term now, and Monstrous Regeneration has been buffed to turn per level not round. Which means this change to player cast cures won't make it obsolete. Since a lot of undead have DI, lowering that seems like a useful utility to add to the Undead-smiting side of the spell. Meaning the spells become useful to slap boss monsters with, and for example CSW can compete with just defaulting to Magic Vestment (Cleric)  or Haste (Bard).

From my experience of using 3 Regen herbs, I find you rarely get the full benefit of regeneration with an effective team anyway, as they'll slap ash on you before the regen has a chance to patch up the damage. So I feel this is a change most likely to benefit less mechanically-adept players rather than massively force-multiply strong ones.
#10
Suggestions / Seed Merchants to have stores.
November 25, 2020, 10:54:44 AM
Much like the Bard Song random mecrhants, all the random seed merchants do is make a player spend inordinate amounts of gp on stuff that isn't useful or fun for their character. The only reason you're likely to need to buy seeds is that someone is ripping up your plants faster than you can regrow them. Which sucks anyway, as they can do it while you\re offline/elsewhere. And staking out gardens is not an exciting way to spend all your EfU time. You need a specific seed to replant, but you can't choose to buy that one.

Can we get a "store" option for the seed merchants. So you can buy a random seed for 10gp or whatever, or a specific seed for 40gp? it would allow you to actually replant without constantly wasting money.
#11
Suggestions / Re: Remove XP Requirements from Crafting
November 25, 2020, 09:32:05 AM
Richørd: The issue isn't so much "I can't level up, I'm making all these potions" and more "I just leveled up, now I need to quest in order to have enough XP to actually craft".  It's especially bad if you're a PC like Ordyn who was supplying an entire ringrunning team and had reached a high level.

XP isn't a useful cost because it doesn't really have any effect on the market. It inconveniences the occasional PC sometimes, but it's not a limiting factor on the overall supply of Blur etc. It has previously meant that I've burned XP on making a bulk supply of potions just before leveling up, as it's easier to get XP at L8 than L9 for example.

The XP cost could go away, and it would barely affect the server because the actual limiting factor is "How much people are willing to spend". In general, there's more than one PC selling potions at a time.
#12
I mean, the argument here also when  is the party did bring some ropes but then someone without one had to log, stranding them for OC reasons. Grapple guns and rope are heavy and not everyone needs to carry one.

I've been stuck there before after having to log in a hurry, and not having a grapple, but I carry jumping boots for this reason.  However, it makes no sense for players to be stuck until reset because of purely OC matters.

I've also been stuck because there's a transition bug that can cause you to suddenly port to the Mongrelwoods from the centre of the Weald.

The fact you got across in the first place indicates that you had a means to cross a Horizontal Transition in the party. Rather than remove the requirement, there could be a placeable of "swing across on a creeper" or something on the far side of the transition. This way, you can get back from the woods without a grapple but you can't get to the woods without one.
#13
Yeah, this does seem like a natural progression. It's trivially easy to enter any hub from invis, and guards are so ineffective that hit and run attacks in the middle of town are a fairly safe and reliable PvP move.   Ticker now has no law, and the Peerage has been ineffectual at enforcing its own, even up to "no violence in the Ward".

Meaning there's no consequences for breaking the rules. It's rare to win the battle but lose the war by taking 50% casualties in that gank. Attacker advantage from buffs is pretty wild, so it always makes sense to hit first.

Knaves have just been a strong recent example because the Mask gives them enough plausible deniability to not immediately end up as outlaws. Their biggest strength is they don't need to all log in together. They can use the allies and safe houses of their public identities, and only need to be visible when attacking. Whereas anyone expecting a mugging needs to "run silent, run deep" or coordinate logins for a show of force.

The knaves have a solid tactic, and it's unsurprising someone wanting to fight Evil/Crime would use a winning formula.

Remember, the Classic Orzan Bandit (TM) tactic was to mug people and then run away and hide behind either the faction HQ (to buff up again), or "I'm tough and I demand you duel me". The Classic Ticker Thug tactic was to mug in the Commons then run to the Open door and hope your pursuer didn't have a DM.

Trying to pin this on "It's just Knave salt" doesn't make sense. They're just the latest effective group to lack a strong rival that refuses to fight them on favourable terms.

The last 'vigilante' group we saw seemed to go down pretty well. It was when the Church of the Timeless enforced a 3000 gp murder tax or they'd kill you for Unlicenced Murdering.
#14
Quote from: Doc"Yeah, well. Never wore colours for anyone before. But Ordyn's got one big benefit over any other boss in the 99. He *makes some fucking sense*

Was fun scheming with him from those early days, to the Torc war, to exile in Towertop and beyond. An inventive character who kept reinventing himself but always falling back to PLUNDER when he needed it. Very much the CMOT Dibbler of EFU.
#15
Currently it wants the Ring 84 Key and the Ring 86 Keystone. It's possible to be robbed of or otherwise lose the 84 Key, and regaining that key requires a full party to do the ring challenge. It doesn't make sense for the Captain to not accept the Keystone of Ring 80 as proof you can reach 82.