alhoon

1 minute ago, mikeprichard said:

OK - not sure whether you're referring to a particular thread, but I'll mess around with the above same edits later on and see if they cover all the fyora/cryoa critters to my satisfaction without breaking anything!

You need to change the Cryoas too. I make Cryoras at 70%. 

5 hours ago, Mechalibur said:

The lore on drayks is a bit inconsistent. The codex description says you can shape them with a license. I guess the situation in Drypeak is so extreme you get fast tracked for a license 😄

That license is supposed to be hard to get and for limited studies. Something no apprentice would get. But as you said, the situation in Drypeaks is not exactly following protocol. 

6 hours ago, Slarti said:

 

I remember that quote! But are you sure it was the PC to Khyryk? 

6 hours ago, mikeprichard said:

Alhoon:
I loved your G1 Mutagen "smaller fyoras" mod tips (here), because those monstrously large lizards don't look right. Should I be able to apply the same simple trick safely/effectively again here? Specifically, it looks like I added the line "cr_scaling=60" in the "PC created fyora" section, edited "cr_scaling=80" to "60" in the "Rogue Fyora" section, edited "cr_scaling=90" to "60" in the "Enraged Fyora" section, and skipped the "Basic friendly fyora"/"Warped Fyora"/"Charged Fyora"/"cryoa" sections. (Not sure why I skipped the sections I did - maybe those were already smaller.) Cheers.

The short answer is yes. 

The long answer would be in a thread with my mods. 

Ohhhh, so I have to return back there. I didn't know. I thought the only time after the tutorial you go there is to leave and rat out to the Council what happens there. 

40 minutes ago, mikeprichard said:

z0 - Drypeak Ascent
Emily - destroy her as a rogue/let her live/tell her to flee +4/-2/-4

???

What or who is Emily?! I didn't see any Emily person, I think. 

Hello. Agents are considered the most difficult class and they need special playstyle. I don't play agents but others will tell you. 

What I wanted to contribute here is: What difficulty do you play at? Have you tried to recruit NPCs to join your party? 

I think that could work because the Barzites in their first quests target the Awakened. I am not sure. 

Wait, will I lose my 1 dot in of create thahd? 

1 hour ago, ultra112 said:

Perhaps a human lifecrafter would be suited to interact with them 

So, what kind of non-D&D crossovers would you imagine? 

There's ... a book of Shaping thahds in the rooms of Keeper Thossila, who is a common. She also mentions spells to heal serviles (I don't see any such book and I would like more healing) and healing falls under Shaping although perhaps Shapers don't consider it so. 

What happened? 

Could we use this thread for a bunch of mini-mods? Like the one someone made as a trainer or one I use to make Fyoras look smaller to be closer to what they are in the art and not as big as you? 

A possible change I noticed was with Shanti and Sharon. Shanti apparently told Sharon ... good things about me. That is peculiar, considering I have been saying pro-Servile things day in and day out. Perhaps I have not said enough by the time I reached Sharon. Or there is no different choice. Regardless, Shanti seems more likeable in this version, tough but not obnoxious and more involved in your training. Or it could be that I know what happens to her but I think not; I think she is written as more likeable to make a bigger impact. 

I don't know the Order of the Guardians and the Dawnslayers bring only a vague familiarity with the name, but the Keepers of the Feather would probably give the Shaper a wide berth and even spy to see that he is not going to fall under Strahd's thrall or he isn't going to be a know-it-all butthole that looks down on non-shapers and oppresses his Creations. And unless the Shaper is a rebel, they will be disappointed. I do not think they would move against the Shaper though just for this.  

Now, if the Shaper you are talking about is a Drakon Lifecrafter... that is a very very different discussion. Ravenloft is a land of prejudices. 

Magic skill also increased their cone attack damage too. 

27 minutes ago, Randomizer said:

If you join you are officially a Servant

They could have at least picked a better name! Loyalists. Faithful. Believers. Traditionals. See? I found four. Was it so hard? 

10 hours ago, Slarti said:

  I guess someone else had the same bright idea I did and Jeff closed that loophole.

What was that idea? 

Also, hardcoded exit? 

At least, she could be in the town so you could talk to her. Say "hi", chat a bit, invite her back to your apartments for some wine when Shanti is not there...  

Both of you talked about the differences between optimal and viable. I think that for normal difficulty, even veteran difficulty, it is viable to have more than one Shaping type. Not the best, but viable. For all it's worth, I want my late-level party to have a combo of: 

Drayks, Gazers, a single rotdhizon + a Vlish for blessings and/or Drakon there just to have a drakon. 

My early-mid party I envision Fyoras/cryoas, a clawbug and vlish.  Or a Drayk if I can get them early. 

14 minutes ago, Iguana-on-a-stick said:

Upgrading all 7 roths costs 35 essence, so until you do that 5 times, 35 essence is much better than a level of fire shaping. Let alone 44 essence.

With 10 battle Shaping and 2-3 in the other shaping trees ... could you even control 7 fully leveled Roths? 

One of my Fyoras went rogue in the mines (the attack-them kind) and I have "weak" control. 

45 minutes ago, ultra112 said:

I wonder if the Shaper in question could help regrow Ezmeralda's leg?

I  would expect not. While they do healing their services are not for free and I am not sure that Shapers do regrow limbs for people. A lifecrafter that was skilled enough probably. If Ezmeralda could pay - or the Shaper needed her services and goodwill and the shaper had the necessary skill perhaps. 

But I am not sure new-version Ezmeralda would even want to be indebted to a strange mage she doesn't know for him to use on her powers she doesn't understand in order to regrow her leg. 

2 hours ago, ultra112 said:

Also going back to Ravenloft, I wonder what the reaction will the big time heroic npc like Ezmerelda Radanavich or Rudolph van Richten have when they meet a shaper?

I would say that depends heavily on the Shaper, but I would assume Ezmeralda would be more understanding while VRichten would be more cautious. 

At level 16, that would be 150 skill points to play with, leaving 90 for shaping and essence mastery. With essence mastery starting at 4 +8 from any source, you get according to that formula: 4 + (12+1) x 18 = 238 essence. Which is already a ton, at the expense of at least 2 levels of shaping. 

It seems from your very useful break up above that 200 or so essence would get a bunch of drayks and rots with key upgrades, with plenty of essence leftover for spells or to boost them with more levels etc.   

Thus 200 essence is a nice target for say... level 18? 

The equation becomes 4+(EM+1)x(18+2) = 200 => (EM+1) = 196/ 20 => EM=9. 

With Essence Mastery 9 from any source, you would have 204 Essence by level 18. 

So the question now becomes: When you say "three are reasonable by endgame even without killing faction leaders", is it reasonable to expect at least +2 by level 18? 

If yes, then Essence mastery above 7 is a waste for a Shaper. 

Honestly, I would think: Magic for Guardian (For the buffs) and Battle for the Agent (For tanking/melee/meat-shielding) 

I have found that I am very fond of Zora the Scout, which is a very useful (but not very brave) scout with a battle roar. Her dialogue and picture are all good too. I like her very much and I wish she had more dialogue which can be arranged for future games. 

I really want to see what Zora does after GF2 and I think her being sent to the Ashen Islands for being involved in Drypeaks is a reasonable outcome. 

Furthermore, Zora is awesome to have in your party early game.

Here are some wise words about Zora the Scout: 

On 3/27/2024 at 1:24 PM, Randomizer said:

It really pays to have some Leadership to recruit creations or NPCs to join you Some are better than your character at this point in the game and will make it much easier. An example is Zora in Drypeak Mines for her buffing ability, Battle Roar. 

2 hours ago, Slarti said:

Nora is exceptional period -- unless you're eschewing other party members entirely, any party wants her around for 100% of the Drypeak area.  

Ehh... guys, I am at level 4 and I have bought a bit of essence mastery and a bit of Fire Shaping. I kinda feel that the one thing both of you agree is that I should not have done that. 

I will probably soon be level 5 and ... 

You know what? I will buy leadership and mechanics. I have 4 essence left and all the rest tied by my 3 Fyoras. I have them with the haste and cone breath and fast recharge (which seems a waste to be honest as so far nothing survives three breaths). 

But after level 5, should I focus on Shaping Mastery instead? 

53 minutes ago, Iguana-on-a-stick said:

(Ur)Glaakhs/Eyebeasts/Gazers/Rothgroths costs 100s of essence, requiring a large investment?

Even in GF5, I had to reach like level 40 before I could field 7 top-tiers. 

I plan to have some decent blessing, a bit of battle magic and mind magic and decent healing by end game. It may be suboptimal but it's what I want to do. I doubt I will get battle magic 5, but some battle magic to get a few decent attack spells is something I will buy.