KickStarter Knights of the Chalice 2 Thread - Augury of Chaos

[Yosharian]

I mean it's fine, now that I got past that fight I am really enjoying the rest of the module.

Except those giant spiders. They can fuck right off.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Fuck you too man.

 

[Serus]

bards are a weird in-between of martials, rogues and casters. they get enough feats and weapon proficiencies to be useful in combat but not enough to come close to a real martial. their songs are really useful though, not only the ones that buff but the offensive ones as well. pipes of pain and heavenly song are as good as some control spells, and arcane rhyme is great for magic-centric parties.

Read the rules, man. Pierre removed the rogue out of bard. Full BAB and no rogue skill. Their extra skill is even Nature. They are not much worse than martials with no wade-in if built similarly.
The SLAs that check DC are not bad and come earlier but mind affecting effect isn't worth too much investment. Imo, building them as a martial with choice SLAs is better than going all in SLAs,
seeing the most scalable ability is Arcane Rhyme anyway.

The fact that one has full BAB doesn't make "not much worse than martials" in my opinion. They don't only lack Wade-in of fighter but compared to fighters:
a) they lack tons of feats and from the ones they have you need some that bard has for bard abilities if you those skills to be effective. So ~1/3 of number of feats of fighters to fighting skills?
b) fighters have access to many good additional feats and ability to take them, including but not limited to: superior and oversized two-weapons-fighting, strength focus, 3x shake it off, damge focus and more...
c) Bards can't use some weapons and armor withe their abilities iirc. Depending on build - either irrelevant or not.
Other martials like Gladiators or Samurais have strong skills that make them better at being martials. And still more feats for fighting and better selection.

There are several classes with full BAB + some magic(-like) abilities: Champion, Paladin, Storm Warrior(?), etc... Most are much, much worse than pure martial classes at hitting things with sticks.

 

[Serus]

I mean it's fine, now that I got past that fight I am really enjoying the rest of the module.

Except those giant spiders. They can fuck right off.

I told you. I might have been wrong on the negative level thing but i was right about something at least. Have fun.

 

[Fireblade]

Yeah, I checked it as well and i have it on some enemies enemies but not on most. I simply haven't noticed the effect. That was what made me think that it works only with existing negative levels. Maybe that was one of reasons the game felt too easy somehow - at least when you fight those enemies that have it.
How many levels are we talkig about? I only found it at one battle in Chapter 2 and it was 2 levels - which isn't huge but later in game that might be more?

I am now confused completely. What is the logic in this? And why is it not mentioned in the help that only some enemies have it and not others then? Pierre...

In the big fight I checked in chapter 4, the +2 negative levels was only on enemy warlocks and wizards, but not on clerics or martial dudes. Maybe the notion is to nerf their offensive spellcasting a bit in normal mode?

 

[Jermu]

where did u find wade in item?

 

[Fireblade]

where did u find wade in item?

Spoiler

You mean the Belt of the Lion, right? If so, it's on the merchants in the northeastern area of chapter 3, the blueish rooms.

 

[Serus]

Anyone played Haerkenwold? In KotC2 engine or otherwise? How long it is and at what level are you supposed to finish the module?

 

[Dorateen]

Anyone played Haerkenwold? In KotC2 engine or otherwise? How long it is and at what level are you supposed to finish the module?

I've received feedback of playthroughs around 25 to 30 hours. Depends on how completionist one is. 9th level seems to be where most characters finish. The pace is a lot slower than Augury of Chaos.

 

[Yosharian]

Bro what the fuck is up with this arrow puzzle in the tutorial. It's preventing me from advancing. The game says I already have the solution in my inventory but I can't figure it out.

 

[Nortar]

Bro what the fuck is up with this arrow puzzle in the tutorial. It's preventing me from advancing. The game says I already have the solution in my inventory but I can't figure it out.

Iirc, there's a note with some seemingly meaningless text, the first letter of each word is the direction of the arrow: N - north etc.

 

[Yosharian]

Bro what the fuck is up with this arrow puzzle in the tutorial. It's preventing me from advancing. The game says I already have the solution in my inventory but I can't figure it out.

Iirc, there's a note with some seemingly meaningless text, the first letter of each word is the direction of the arrow: N - north etc.

You've got to be kidding.

Nah man you're pulling my leg, that is not it

 

[Yosharian]

Yep, that was it. Godammit Pierre!

 

[Yosharian]

Yeah so the Aberration summon with 6 attacks per round? Yeah. It's pretty insane.

I think part of what makes it so good is that its Blindsight allows it to bypass the concealment effect. That's really potent on a summon with 6APR.

 

[Yosharian]

Man I already have 25 hours logged and all I've done is sit at the character creation screen and complete the tutorial

 

[Desiderius]

The fact that one has full BAB doesn't make "not much worse than martials" in my opinion.

Yeah, exactly this. Bard's are weird. My first three parties had Bards and at first I was impressed by the D10, full BAB, and copious Bonus Feats compared to non-Martials but the thing about the martials (including Ranger!) is they all have specialized abilities that leave Bard in the dust. And the songs/casting is nice but the amount of activations you get don't keep up with the extra spells casters get.

The other thing is that they're stat hungry so don't work well for any of the low stat races you might want to work in to unlock unique content/avoid surprise. And Halfling/Kobold make their poor damage output even worse. Unlike Rogue, they don't make much money (it costs more to buy the instrument in Finchbury than you make) and I have yet to find an interaction past Finchbury where their skills are irreplaceable (maybe the Crones?). We'll see. I've replaced it with a Half-Giant Ranger which... does some unique things. Ranger is great for the low-stat Races since it only really needs two stats.

So far mainly missing the Silence since Bishop action economy is crowded (the Domain summons are full round).

Trying to pass all skill checks is a bear but this is as close as I've gotten:

Half-Sal Reach Sam
Halfling Bishop (Magic/Justice, Mysticism at 5)
Stygian Human Rogue
Half-Giant Ranger dumping DEX with Zen Archery
Human Psionicist with Reach Weapon and 16 STR (this may be a mistake since I thought you could use Reach with Touch spells. At least gives you decent action economy when not using Psi powers)
Human Necro Wiz with Xbow

If you want a good Bard realize the Archery Feats and Finesse are mostly a trap. If something is engaged in melee you want to be hitting it to set up flanking not shooting it. Your main function is to provide a home for non-finessable one-handed weapons (mostly Swords) that no one else can use because they're two-handing or finessing themselves (Rogue/Water Druid companion). You can also pick off things at range with your Bow but that doesn't require the Feat investment to get to Precise. You can craft a cheap Brigantine early and along with your Shield be ok AC-wise without maxxing DEX. INT doesn't do much but you can't dump it. Something like 16/14/12/10/8/18 I think. You can't really dump CHR to spam Healing and Silence since then you get no activations.

 

[Sacibengala]

Is it possible to change the ingame resolution? Some menus are really hard to read, like the character sheets.

 

[Late Bloomer]

Has anyone beat the game? Looking at the global steam achievements is a rather depressing affair.

https://steamcommunity.com/stats/1233530/achievements

 

[Darth Canoli]

What about healing? Only Psion in main team is capable of healing. Everything else from potions scrolls? You can't even read cleric/druid scrolls. I think you need the one of the two companion druids - or at least the elemental bodyguard of the "good" one. But then i'm a noob in this game compared to you.
Also necro spells on lower levels are mostly crap.

It was hidden in the second paragraph but I've mentioned taking a companion druid along, otherwise, I'd have to take Erzimon along, you need at least someone able to read healing and True res scrolls even if the psion can heal a bit and resurrect.

I've reached the Crypt with my new team.
With the Black wizard, you have access with some extra content in the village (waves of undead when you pick the skull) which takes your party to level 5 if you do all the quests and kill everything (I murdered everyone in the sword's cave)

Why the hell does this Gareth chap have 3 domain powers?

Not just this, did you check his inventory?
It's insane, I robbed him blind with my rogue and then, I checked his inventory and he has an archmage cloak, a bone ring and a warrior's belt (+6 STR and DEX) among other things and I don't think there's a way to get anything, after you give his name to the kids, I think this quest is over.
Hum, maybe there is a way to provoke him after gambling, I'll have to check that next playthrough.

Yeah but I figure that a lot of the time it's going to end up succumbing to AOE stuff or maybe even getting charmed or whatever. I figured an Undead summon is pretty unique and could be immune to a lot of nasty stuff that enemies might throw at me. Plus, it still has two attacks and if any of them land it could paralyse the enemy.

Back when it was hardcore, the tentacled horror could carry your team through chapter 1 and 2 and still be useful in chapter 3.

 

[Yosharian]

Why the hell does this Gareth chap have 3 domain powers?

Not just this, did you check his inventory?
It's insane, I robbed him blind with my rogue and then, I checked his inventory and he has an archmage cloak, a bone ring and a warrior's belt (+6 STR and DEX) among other things and I don't think there's a way to get anything, after you give his name to the kids, I think this quest is over.
Hum, maybe there is a way to provoke him after gambling, I'll have to check that next playthrough.

Yeah but I figure that a lot of the time it's going to end up succumbing to AOE stuff or maybe even getting charmed or whatever. I figured an Undead summon is pretty unique and could be immune to a lot of nasty stuff that enemies might throw at me. Plus, it still has two attacks and if any of them land it could paralyse the enemy.

Back when it was hardcore, the tentacled horror could carry your team through chapter 1 and 2 and still be useful in chapter 3.

Give his name to the kids? Err wat I just recruited him to my party I dunno what you mean. His aberration summon dominated quite a few fights tbh.

Btw what weapon proficiencies does Jorad have?

 

[Serus]

I have a question about mechanics. Wizards with an evocation focus feat have access to a group of feats called Fire Magic, Cold Magic, etc... The issue is that, they only work with spells that have a "descriptor". From what i understand those are found after the name of the school, say "Evocation [fire]". However few spells have it and many that logically should have it - don't. Example, Fireball or Electricity Sphere don't have [fire] or [electricity].
Does it mean that Fireball doesn't work with Fire Magic feat or Electric Sphere with Electricity Magic feat or i misunderstand something?

 

[Serus]

Why the hell does this Gareth chap have 3 domain powers?

Not just this, did you check his inventory?
It's insane, I robbed him blind with my rogue and then, I checked his inventory and he has an archmage cloak, a bone ring and a warrior's belt (+6 STR and DEX) among other things and I don't think there's a way to get anything, after you give his name to the kids, I think this quest is over.
Hum, maybe there is a way to provoke him after gambling, I'll have to check that next playthrough.

Yeah but I figure that a lot of the time it's going to end up succumbing to AOE stuff or maybe even getting charmed or whatever. I figured an Undead summon is pretty unique and could be immune to a lot of nasty stuff that enemies might throw at me. Plus, it still has two attacks and if any of them land it could paralyse the enemy.

Back when it was hardcore, the tentacled horror could carry your team through chapter 1 and 2 and still be useful in chapter 3.

Give his name to the kids? Err wat I just recruited him to my party I dunno what you mean. His aberration summon dominated quite a few fights tbh.

Btw what weapon proficiencies does Jorad have?

Axes, swords (1h and 2h) and reach weapons.

 

[Tweed]

What resolution should I be running to turn off ant mode? I whittled it down to 1366 x 768 and that seems to give a nice comfy fullscreen view. I'd rather record the menus in full screen instead of jolting back and forth between a giant play field and a postage stamp UI. Unfortunately I don't have Adoflsatan's program anymore.

 

[JarlFrank]

Has anyone beat the game? Looking at the global steam achievements is a rather depressing affair.

https://steamcommunity.com/stats/1233530/achievements

Yes, I did on normal difficulty. Now on my ironman run (also normal difficulty).

 

[Late Bloomer]

Yes, I did on normal difficulty. Now on my ironman run (also normal difficulty).

How was the end fight? Does the game conclude so to speak?