KickStarter Knights of the Chalice 2 Thread - Augury of Chaos

[Darth Roxor]

So uh... what's the optimal level for the spider queen? We're talking 100% core rules here. Thank god I made a backup save before entering that room, because this deranged frenchman's idea of a fun is locking you inside from behind to battle some weak ass demons, then out of nowhere, tossing a goddamn 22 wiz to assrape you back to 2.5e.
Holy fuck man.

I think there's an autosave before each point of no return.

 

[Brickfrog]

Enjoying the aoc more and more as I play. Got past the moon crypt without too much trouble due to over leveling. Didn't need to proc the one hit kill effect from the mace to down the annoying incorporeal dragon.

I used to wrestle when I was a bit younger and it's really cool to see an RPG with grappling mechanics. I wonder if it would be possible using the module editor to include more options aside from just pins. Applying chokes against air breathing enemies would be fun.

I managed to damage yanos in the first fight with him in the sewers by bull rushing him into the flame wall. Since he's not targetable by most abilities Im pretty sure your not supposed to be able to hurt him. I don't know why I was able to bull rush him but he only took damage from the fire a single time, so I couldn't finish him off. Wondering if it's possible to kill him.

 

[Tacgnol]

So uh... what's the optimal level for the spider queen? We're talking 100% core rules here. Thank god I made a backup save before entering that room, because this deranged frenchman's idea of a fun is locking you inside from behind to battle some weak ass demons, then out of nowhere, tossing a goddamn 22 wiz to assrape you back to 2.5e.
Holy fuck man.

The prince's prismatic spray can insta kill her if you can get his initiative before hers. It'll take some RNG though, both on the initiative and the insta kill.

Other methods:

Send all martials to grapple her.

Drop stinking cloud and other aoe disable fields down where she spawns and pray she gets nauseated after spawning.

She always casts prismatic void on her first turn which will kill or petrify half your party even if you get lucky.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Send all martials to grapple her.

All you need is one dedicated grappler and you're set for life.

 

[TigerKnee]

How is quality compared to original game?

It's OK - I had more fun with Hearkenworld in earlier versions when AoC was a giant ballbuster so it was a nice change of pace but nowadays there are a bunch of things that bug me about its implementation, like fiddly interactions with having to open every doors before entering a buildin and the quest journal only updating your quests AFTER you complete them, so you better take notes of what you were trying to do.

Finchbury is probably the best designed part of the original module, but the majority of Hearkenworld is nice because it doesn't get as silly as Augury of Chaos late game for the lack of better word. Hearkenworld is more open-world if that's your preferred experience though.

 

[Jermu]

Was there some time limit stuff in the first area (getting companion without resting too much maybe)?

 

[TigerKnee]

Was there some time limit stuff in the first area (getting companion without resting too much maybe)?

After the first rest, the inn visitors (except Jorad?) will be replaced with a new batch, so finish your stuff with them first.

After the second rest Griffith will immediately take you to the defense battle if you talk to him but... the solution is to turn in the bandit quest then not talk to him ever again because he offers nothing useful and you can rest an infinite days without anything progressing if you want.

 

[JarlFrank]

If I didn't bring a divine caster am I gonna have any ways to deal with death outside of the finchbury water fountain? I'm about 5-6 hours in and wondering if I need to replay a long fight because my dog shit 15movespeed, 42hp-at-level-6 DK died.

If you died in Finchbury already, there's no spells to get back to life yet.

What? There is a fountain with 2 uses there.

He asked if there's anything outside of the fountain, lern2reed

 

[Dickie]

Send all martials to grapple her.

All you need is one dedicated grappler and you're set for life.

I'd surely roll a 1 on the touch attack, though.

 

[Tacgnol]

Send all martials to grapple her.

All you need is one dedicated grappler and you're set for life.

I'd surely roll a 1 on the touch attack, though.

Your grappler also still needs to win initiative. Roxor is definitely correct though that a dedicated grappler increases your odds of winning that fight greatly.

 

[Darth Roxor]

a dedicated grappler generally increases your odds of having a good time with this game

 

[Raghar]

Send all martials to grapple her.

All you need is one dedicated grappler and you're set for life.

I'd surely roll a 1 on the touch attack, though.

Your grappler also still needs to win initiative. Roxor is definitely correct though that a dedicated grappler increases your odds of winning that fight greatly.

How does that even work?

 

[Grunker]

if you can get his initiative before hers

sounds like 3rd ed alright!

 

[Darth Roxor]

How does that even work?

you grap a nigga

you pin a nigga

nigga now cant do nuffin

 

[Dickie]

How does that even work?

you grap a nigga

you pin a nigga

nigga now cant do nuffin

 

[ERYFKRAD]

He asked if there's anything outside of the fountain

An entire fucking dungeon.

 

[Tacgnol]

if you can get his initiative before hers

sounds like 3rd ed alright!

Unfortunately the case with fights vs high level casters.

My suggestion to Pierre to give groups a mere chance against the Spider Queen without the RNG fest was to make it so she spends her first round buffing up.

Her first move being to cast Prismatic void, whilst perfectly intelligent, is also a little bullshit as unless you manage to beat her initiative then she is always going to kill most (if not all) of the party in a single round.

 

[Grunker]

Unfortunately the case with fights vs high level casters.

I wasn't joking. It's a well-known inherent problem in mid- and high-level 3rd ed, 3.5 ed and Pathfinder that offenses are so strong relative to defenses that initiative becomes the most important stat

It can be fought with encounter design of course, but the "natural state" of the system can degenerate to that binary if you're not careful

 

[Tacgnol]

Unfortunately the case with fights vs high level casters.

I wasn't joking. It's a well-known inherent problem in mid- and high-level 3rd ed, 3.5 ed and Pathfinder that offenses are so strong relative to defenses that initiative becomes the most important stat

It can be fought with encounter design of course, but the "natural state" of the system can degenerate to that binary if you're not careful

That's how our party got TPK'd in the final encounter of the Strange Aeons PF module. One of the enemies was a high level lich witch (try saying that after a few drinks) who rolled really high on her initiative.

She managed to disable half the party on her first turn, and that was with the DM pulling punches.

 

[Daidre]

Her first move being to cast Prismatic void, whilst perfectly intelligent, is also a little bullshit as unless you manage to beat her initiative then she is always going to kill most (if not all) of the party in a single round.

My suggestion is to remove Prismatic Void from the game. There is no such spell in OGL or anywhere and Pierre just homebrewed it with an only intention of making uber-random fuck you spell for high-lvl-AI to spam, since player could never prebuff against everything it does.

 

[Serus]

Her first move being to cast Prismatic void, whilst perfectly intelligent, is also a little bullshit as unless you manage to beat her initiative then she is always going to kill most (if not all) of the party in a single round.

My suggestion is to remove Prismatic Void from the game. There is no such spell in OGL or anywhere and Pierre just homebrewed it with an only intention of making uber-random fuck you spell for high-lvl-AI to spam, since player could never prebuff against everything it does.

This is Pierre, he can design great encounters - and some great games overall. Otoh, he has a system where, as posters above have said, initiative is overpowered on high levels. So what he does with it? Adds a powerful offensive high level spell that makes initiative even more crucial. Pierre, Pierre never changes...

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

a dedicated grappler generally increases your odds of having a good time with this game

grappling a giant spider...its just hard for me to want to do that, seems sort of silly. Can you trip them too?

 

[Dickie]

My suggestion is to remove Prismatic Void from the game.

Yeah, I was happy to see that he added stuff to kind of mitigate save or die spells for your party and improve the negative hit points situation (where getting dropped to -1 is often better than getting dropped to 1), but then he adds this shit.

 

[JarlFrank]

Her first move being to cast Prismatic void, whilst perfectly intelligent, is also a little bullshit as unless you manage to beat her initiative then she is always going to kill most (if not all) of the party in a single round.

My suggestion is to remove Prismatic Void from the game. There is no such spell in OGL or anywhere and Pierre just homebrewed it with an only intention of making uber-random fuck you spell for high-lvl-AI to spam, since player could never prebuff against everything it does.

This is Pierre, he can design great encounters - and some great games overall. Otoh, he has a system where, as posters above have said, initiative is overpowered on high levels. So what he does with it? Adds a powerful offensive high level spell that makes initiative even more crucial. Pierre, Pierre never changes...

A spell? Friendly reminder there is not only prismatic void, but also prismatic cone and prismatic wall...

 

[Serus]

a dedicated grappler generally increases your odds of having a good time with this game

grappling a giant spider...its just hard for me to want to do that, seems sort of silly. Can you trip them too?

They have a bonus from having additional legs iirc (maybe i'm mixing it with pathfinder?). Grapple might be easier. But yes.