Bought the game, loving it, and a pile of thoughts

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Ok, I just thought it does 1d6 sonic dmg on hit, like in ToEE. Nevermind.

Mass Heal does not work on enemy undead - but if you dominated an undead then he is included in mass heal (suffers damage). I think enemy undead should suffer damage too.

[BlueSalamander]

Yes I'm aware of that. It's by design that the mass cure spells can only be used to cure your characters (and not hurt enemy undead). It makes it easier for the engine. You can still use spells like heal and cure serious wounds to hurt undead, though.

[domein]

Firstly - this game is amazing, it got me glued to my computer for over 30 hours straight! Last time something like that happened was many many years ago, so it is really mean something =)

Secondly - during my playtime i was bothered by crafting system, especially how generous and forgiving it was. No need for materials, tools, workshops, not even a safe spot or time! Need cold iron for that demon behind a corner? Here you go! Dragon slaying arrow? 1 second, here you go! No spells left? Here, take this bunch of scrolls and wand of fireball with 50 charges!
Seems too easy, almost like cheat to me. I understand of course that placing workshops and tools and materials in the game now is just not possible, but can't we make something about it? Like restrict crafting to some "safe" areas, like towns and campfires? Reduce number of charges in wands to something like 30/spell_level? Then there will be wands of magic missile with 30 charges, acid arrow with 15, and fireball with only 7. And it still will be quite generous

Thirdly - just some minor questions:
Charisma = dump stat???
How come Clerics forgot how to "Turn undead"???
What's happened with low level mage's best friend "Mirror Image"???

[getter77]

Charisma affects shop prices in the usual way.

[Pod]

It's still a crappy stat.

[BlueSalamander]

Hello domein, glad you like the game.
Yes, charisma isn't as useful as the rest. Mirror image is a nice spell to add in a sequel.
Turn undead - never liked it very much. The mechanics for that are complicated, especially if you want to give evil clerics some kind of equivalent ability.

[domein]

So, any thoughts on tweaking crafting? =)

[BlueSalamander]

Mmmm tweaking crafting, not really, no. I quite like it the way it is. I know quite a few people have suggested changes. One thing I think would be good for another game will be to require ingots when crafting adamantine, mithral, silver or cold iron items. The safe-area idea may be good too, but I'm not planning to add it to KOTC, it's difficult enough.

[screeg]

Turn undead - never liked it very much. The mechanics for that are complicated, especially if you want to give evil clerics some kind of equivalent ability.

I also missed this one, a lot. The equivalent ability in the rules is for evil clerics to be able to convert enemy undead to friendly units, but since playing an evil cleric is not an option, I don't see why it matters. Wouldn't it work as an area effect spell with a fixed number of casts per day, that only affects undead? Clerics turning undead goes all the way back to the roots of the ruleset. It's a shame to leave it out.

[BlueSalamander]

I have been thinking some more about the Turn Undead ability. I don't like the way it is in the Player's Handbook - it's complicated and has lots of outcomes including undead running away from you (irritating when you just want to destroy them). Here's my idea:

A good cleric gets 3 + Charisma modifier Freeze Undead attempts (minimum 1) per day.
An evil cleric gets 3 + Charisma modifier Bolster Undead attempts (minimum 1) per day.

Both abilities are similar to area-of-effect spells with a radius of 10 feet.

* Freeze Undead makes the affected undead Cower for 1d6 rounds. Cowering undead lose 2 points of Armor Class and cannot take any action. Targeted undead must succeed on a Willpower save of difficulty class 10 + half of cleric level + charisma modifier to avoid the effect.

* Bolster Undead gives the Bolstered condition to friendly undead. Bolstered undead get +2 on attack rolls for 1d6 rounds. Used on cowering undead, the ability removes the cowering condition instead. (Using freeze undead on bolstered undead would just remove the bolstered condition, too).

Interesting feats that could be added (inspired by D&D book Libris Mortis)

* Sacred Vigor: use two of your freeze/bolster attempts to cure an ally (or self) for 2 points times your cleric level.
* Life Leech: use two of your freeze/bolster attempts to damage living enemies in a 15 foot radius for 1d6 points. The cleric is healed for an amount of damage equal to the damage dealt to enemies (up to the cleric's maximum hit points).

How does that sound?

PS - even if the player can't use an evil cleric, AI clerics should have something to compensate.