KickStarter Knights of the Chalice 2 Thread - Augury of Chaos

[Reinhardt]

i think correct answer is "jews"

 

[Tweed]

Counterfeits.

 

[Pink Eye]

poison

you can google pretty much every riddle in every game

Poison doesn't work. I had to go into the module editor to dig out the solution. It's in there as some variation of "fake gold" or "fools gold."

Fake gold? Huh. I didn't except that.

 

[Dorateen]

There's also an option to kill the trolls.

 

[Reinhardt]

das raycis

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

There's also an option to kill the trolls.

Not many kodexers would survive that.

 

[FriendlyMerchant]

This dialogue keeps looping. Bad bug

But if you're fast enough clicking away...

It spawns a bunch of gloves and fills you with xp as you eventually get away from the trigger.

And then if you go into the center of the room again, the dialogue triggers again.... I don't know if you know about this... But it's quite odd

 

[kain611]

So what nice module marker is going to recreate Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor within KoTC2?

 

[mediocrepoet]

So what nice module marker is going to recreate Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor within KoTC2?

You? Let us know when it's done.

 

[Dorateen]

This dialogue keeps looping. Bad bug

Thanks, I have an update coming this week and I will fix the conversation script.

 

[Pink Eye]

So what nice module marker is going to recreate Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor within KoTC2?

You? Let us know when it's done.

 

[Butter]

Knights of the Chalice 2 Version 1.45
Hi everyone! Version 1.45 of Knights of the Chalice 2has landed.

Initially, I wanted to work on planned new feats in this new version, but then I found a bunch of bugs and it took me a lot of time to fix them.

Anyway, for the most part, the new version brings bug fixes, AI improvements and speed improvements. I'll post a Kickstarter update soon.
The new version may have new bugs, so if you find any, please drop me a line at enquiries@heroicfantasygames.comso that I can fix the game quickly. A saved game would be useful, too. Thank you!!

Here's the list of changes in version 1.45:

• Added quite a lot of code to accelerate gameplay in combat and elsewhere.
• Fixed a bug preventing movement in combat when the party leader is a flying creature.
• Fixed a bug with the repositioning of party members at the end of combat when the party leader is a flying creature.
• Fixed a bug with the feat Fast Whirlwind Attack in the macOS version only.
• Fixed a bug when drinking a potion of Protection from Energy or Greater Protection from Energy.
• The game will now save a backup file of the player's Character Roster whenever you open the Party Creation screen. Actually, it will save a copy of the last three CharacterRoster.cml files (and give them the file extensions .bk1, .bk2 and .bk3). My sincere apologies for the unintentional deletion of the file in the last update!
• Bards now have access to the Extend Spell Range feats.
• Improved the combat AI, mainly for enemy archers.
• Improved the AI when dealing with potions of Protection from Energy or Greater Protection from Energy.
• Fixed several issues in the AI when dealing with a Wall of Stone or Energy Wall separating the party members from the enemies.
• Improved the AI for Spell and Power Surge, Darkvision, Psionic Darkvision, Tower of Iron Will, Dispel Magic, and Greater Dispel Magic.
• Improved the AI for Energy Adaptation, Energy Absorption, Energy Shield and Mass Energy Shield when they can be used to reduce the damage from dangerous squares.
• Fixed a bug in the AI for Energy Absorption, Enhance Ability, Mass Enhance Ability, Transformation, and Mass Transformation.
• Fixed issues with the AI casting a spell using a wand.
• Fixed a bug with the combat log incorrectly saying that we've used a wand to cast a spell. Also fixed the combat log link to the Transformation condition.
• Fixed a bug with spells like Greater Ice Storm not affecting targets on different altitudes when cast on one of the towers in Chapter 4 of Augury of Chaos. That was due to Cover.
• Improved Cover and Standard Cover will now take into account altitude differences, if any. I made this change because creatures standing on a tower should nearly always get the benefit of Improved Cover versus opponents on lower ground. Also added a note about this in the help entry about Cover.
• Added some text and voice effects in the dialogue with Hallian, the head of the Adventurer's Guild. Also added a voice effect to a couple more dialogue scripts. Also added some extra information in three dialogue scripts of the Tutorial Adventure.
• Characters won't immediately recover with 1 Hit Point out of combat when you're exploring a map featuring map-wide dangerous terrain (
  underwater, sweltering or freezing). They will recover with 1 HP as soon as you leave the dangerous map.
• The game will no longer display the square grid over the Party Defeated screen.
• Information boxes displayed during combat for the acting character and the moused-over character will now adjust the font size automatically when the text can't be displayed entirely within the box.
• In the Druid's Character Sheet, the Feats & Abilities tab will display only the highest Natural Armour Enhancement bonus.
• Manifesting Psionic Eye Touch, Psionic Eye Personal, and Greater Psionic Eye Personal will no longer display 'No Effect'.
• Added the missing descriptions of the new Paladin feats Legendary Shield and Blessed Aura Of Courage.
• Added the missing help entry for Dismiss Terrain Effects, a combat action.
• Added the missing help entry for the Spell Resistance condition.
• Added some text in the help entries about the Barbarian's Spirit Animal Scorpion saying that you need to use the Full Attack action to receive the extra attack.
• Added some text in the help entries about the Barbarian's Spirit Animal Bull saying that the additional Bull Rush stacks with that from the feat Greater Bull Rush. Also improved the help entries for the Bull Rush combat action and the feats Greater Bull Rush and Improved Bull Rush.
• Improved the help entry about Combat Actions to clarify how Free Actions work, as well as Swift Combat Manoeuvres and special actions like the Five Foot Step.
• Added a reference to the Bypass Enemy ability of the Rogue in the help entry for the feat Overrun. Added a reference to Overrun in the help entry for the Rogue.

Thank You For Your Support, Mighty Warriors and Sage Wizards! Best regards

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...-revolutionise-old-school-crpgs/posts/3595938

Update #62: KotC 2 1.45 Upgrades Mage Knight & Paladin, Improves AI & Speed + Review of Online Image Generator + My Ideas For The Upcoming Modules!​

Hello everyone! The latest version of KotC 2 is version 1.45. It can be downloaded here for both Windows and macOS. It can also be downloaded on Steam and GOG.

If you haven't updated your game on Steam or GOG yet, and you'd like to keep your Character Roster file, please be sure to make a backup copy first as that file will be deleted when you update the game.

In the past month, I've been focusing on new feats for the Mage Knight and Paladin, bug fixes, AI improvements and speed improvements. The Half Giant also gained a new feat, Skirmisher, which cancels the size penalties of Half Giants.

In this update, I'm also writing a little bit about my ideas for the new modules (scroll down to read).

Recently, l discovered a new tool, a free AI-based image generation website: www.dezgo.com. I couldn't resist using it to create a bunch of artwork that may go into KotC 2.

I was quite impressed, so I'm adding some of the newly-created artwork to this update. I'll post some more in the next update. Also, I've written some information about the tool below, after the recap of the latest KotC 2 updates (please scroll down to read it).

Only a few of the newly-created images that I'm posting here needed Photoshop work. For example, I had to fix the eyes of the female warrior in armour below.

Character Portraits. They can be used for Tokens, Dialogue Icons, Story Images and Character Illustrations.

New Feats for the KotC 2 Mage Knight​

The new feats of the Mage Knight are the following:

• Phase Spells: You can aim circle spells and single-target spells at creatures and squares located behind walls and large pillars.
• Improved Drinker Weapon: The effect of the Drinker weapon enchantment increases from 1d6 to 1d8. Requires level 5.
• Greater Drinker Weapon: The effect of the Drinker weapon enchantment increases from 1d8 to 1d10. Requires level 11, Improved Drinker Weapon.
• Improved Vorpal Weapon: The effect of the Vorpal weapon enchantment increases by 10 points. Requires level 11.
• Improved Energy Resistance Armour: The effect of Energy Resistance Armour and Shield enchantments increases by 10 points. Requires level 5.
• Time Control: You can cast the level-7 Wizard spell Time Control as a level-6 spell.
• Vortex Of Doom: You can cast the level-7 Wizard spell Vortex of Doom as a level-6 spell.
• Mass Mirror Image: You can cast the level-7 Wizard spell Mass Mirror Image as a level-6 spell.
• Greater Stoneskin: You can cast the level-7 Wizard spell Greater Stoneskin as a level-6 spell and the casting time is reduced from a Standard Action to a Move Action.
• Improved Interposing Hand: You can cast the level-6 Wizard spell Interposing Hand as a level-5 spell and the casting time is reduced from a Standard Action to a Move Action.
• Greater Chaos: You can cast the level-6 Wizard spell Chaos as a level-5 spell, and affected creatures always receive the Berserk condition rather than the Confusion condition.
• Improved Freezing Sphere: You can cast the level-6 Wizard spell Freezing Sphere as a level-5 spell, and the radius increases from 10’ to 15’.
• Improved Blast Of Force: You can cast the level-5 Wizard spell Blast of Force as a level-4 spell, and the range increases from medium to long.
• Improved Shocking Grasp: The damage per level of your Shocking Grasp and Greater Shocking Grasp spells increases from 1d6 to 1d8 and you can cast the level-5 Wizard spell Greater Shocking Grasp as a level-4 spell.
• Improved Globe Of Invulnerability: You can cast the level-4 Wizard spell Globe of Invulnerability as a level-3 spell and the casting time is reduced from a Standard Action to a Move Action.
• Improved Stoneskin Personal: You can cast the level-4 Wizard spell Stoneskin Personal (Wizard) as a level-3 spell.
• Improved Suppress Sword: You cast the level-3 Wizard spell Suppress Sword as a level-2 spell and the casting time is reduced from a Standard Action to a Move Action.
• Improved Haste: You can cast the level-3 Wizard spell Haste as a level-2 spell.
• Improved Flame Arrow: You can cast the level-3 Wizard spell Flame Arrow as a level-2 spell.

New Feats for the KotC 2 Paladin​

The new feats of the Paladin are the following:

• Greater Favour: You can cast Divine Favour, Shield of Faith, Enhance Weapon, Mass Protection from Alignment, Align Weapon, Protection from Energy, Enhance Ability, Mass Greater Protection from Alignment, Greater Enhance Weapon, Death Ward, Freedom of Movement Touch, Mass Death Ward, and Judgement with a Move Action. In addition, your spell Holy Sword creates a +6 Holy weapon rather than a +5 Holy weapon.
• Righteous Healing: You can cast Cure Light Wounds, Cure Serious Wounds, Cure Critical Wounds, Mass Cure Light Wounds, Mass Cure Serious Wounds, Heal, Remove Blindness, Remove Curse, Remove Ailment, Remove Paralysis, Remove Fatigue, Remove Fear, Remove Negative Levels, Lesser Restoration and Greater Restoration with a Move Action.
• Legendary Shield: The effects of Holy Shield, Heroic Shield and Mystic Shield now cover allies within 15' of the Paladin.
• Blessed Aura Of Courage: The radius of your Aura of Courage increases from 10 feet to 15 feet.

Now, let's review the list of changes in versions 1.44 and 1.45.

Isometric Temples and Ruins in the Jungle. Perfect for use as Location Icons in Regional Maps.

Knights of the Chalice 2 Version 1.45​

• Added quite a lot of code to accelerate gameplay in combat and elsewhere.
• Fixed a bug preventing movement in combat when the party leader is a flying creature.
• Fixed a bug with the repositioning of party members at the end of combat when the party leader is a flying creature.
• Fixed a bug with the feat Fast Whirlwind Attack in the macOS version only.
• Fixed a bug when drinking a potion of Protection from Energy or Greater Protection from Energy.
• The game will now save a backup file of the player's Character Roster whenever you open the Party Creation screen. Actually, it will save a copy of the last three CharacterRoster.cml files (and give them the file extensions .bk1, .bk2 and .bk3). My sincere apologies for the unintentional deletion of the file in the update 1.44!
• Bards now have access to the Extend Spell Range feats.
• Improved the combat AI, mainly for enemy archers.
• Improved the AI when dealing with potions of Protection from Energy or Greater Protection from Energy.
• Fixed several issues in the AI when dealing with a Wall of Stone or Energy Wall separating the party members from the enemies.
• Improved the AI for Spell and Power Surge, Darkvision, Psionic Darkvision, Tower of Iron Will, Dispel Magic, and Greater Dispel Magic.
• Improved the AI for Energy Adaptation, Energy Absorption, Energy Shield and Mass Energy Shield when they can be used to reduce the damage from dangerous squares.
• Fixed a bug in the AI for Energy Absorption, Enhance Ability, Mass Enhance Ability, Transformation, and Mass Transformation.
• Fixed issues with the AI casting a spell using a wand.
• Fixed a bug with the combat log incorrectly saying that we've used a wand to cast a spell. Also fixed the combat log link to the Transformation condition.
• Fixed a bug with spells like Greater Ice Storm not affecting targets on different altitudes when cast on one of the towers in Chapter 4 of Augury of Chaos. That was due to Cover.
• Improved Cover and Standard Cover will now take into account altitude differences, if any. I made this change because creatures standing on a tower should nearly always get the benefit of Improved Cover versus opponents on lower ground. Also added a note about this in the help entry about Cover.
• Added some text and voice effects in the dialogue with Hallian, the head of the Adventurer's Guild. Also added a voice effect to a couple more dialogue scripts. Also added some extra information in three dialogue scripts of the Tutorial Adventure.
• Characters won't immediately recover with 1 Hit Point out of combat when you're exploring a map featuring map-wide dangerous terrain (underwater, sweltering or freezing). They will recover with 1 HP as soon as you leave the dangerous map.
• The game will no longer display the square grid over the Party Defeated screen.
• Information boxes displayed during combat for the acting character and the moused-over character will now adjust the font size automatically when the text can't be displayed entirely within the box.
• In the Druid's Character Sheet, the Feats & Abilities tab will display only the highest Natural Armour Enhancement bonus.
• Manifesting Psionic Eye Touch, Psionic Eye Personal, and Greater Psionic Eye Personal will no longer display 'No Effect'.
• Added the missing descriptions of the new Paladin feats Legendary Shield and Blessed Aura Of Courage.
• Added the missing help entry for Dismiss Terrain Effects, a combat action.
• Added the missing help entry for the Spell Resistance condition.
• Added some text in the help entries about the Barbarian's Spirit Animal Scorpion saying that you need to use the Full Attack action to receive the extra attack.
• Added some text in the help entries about the Barbarian's Spirit Animal Bull saying that the additional Bull Rush stacks with that from the feat Greater Bull Rush. Also improved the help entries for the Bull Rush combat action and the feats Greater Bull Rush and Improved Bull Rush.
• Improved the help entry about Combat Actions to clarify how Free Actions work, as well as Swift Combat Manoeuvres and special actions like the Five Foot Step.
• Added a reference to the Bypass Enemy ability of the Rogue in the help entry for the feat Overrun. Added a reference to Overrun in the help entry for the Rogue.

Knights of the Chalice 2 Version 1.44​

• Added the feat Phase Spells for the Mage Knight. It allows you to cast spells through walls and pillars. Also given the feat Phase Spells to all Mage Knights in Augury of Chaos and the Tutorial Adventure. Enemy Mage Knights can make use of the feat.
• Also added the Mage Knight feats Improved Drinker Weapon, Greater Drinker Weapon, Improved Vorpal Weapon, Improved Energy Resistance Armour, Time Control, Vortex Of Doom, Mass Mirror Image, Greater Stoneskin, Improved Interposing Hand, Greater Chaos, Improved Freezing Sphere, Improved Blast Of Force, Improved Shocking Grasp, Improved Globe Of Invulnerability, Improved Stoneskin Personal, Improved Suppress Sword, Improved Haste, and Improved Flame Arrow.
• Also added the Paladin feats Greater Favour, Righteous Healing, Legendary Shield, and Blessed Aura Of Courage.
• Also added the Half Giant feat Skirmisher. It cancels the size penalties of Half Giants. I've given that feat to all of the Half Giants in Augury of Chaos and the Tutorial Adventure.
• Given elemental-damage weapons to a bunch of Mage Knights who have the feat Improved Elemental Weapon in Augury of Chaos. Also given shocking weapons to a bunch of Storm Warriors who have the feat Storm Weapon in Augury of Chaos.
• Added Drinker weapon enchantment damage to the tooltip when mousing over enemies.
• Clicking on the Class button in the character sheet will open the help entry for the character's class. Previously, it would open the help entry for all classes.
• Changed the way the game loads the Character Roster file. Now it will load both the default roster (the file Data/BaseCharacterRoster.cml) and the player's roster. That way, I can modify the pre-generated characters without deleting the player's file. Also, the player's Character Roster file will no longer be deleted when uninstalling.
• Upgraded the pre-generated Barbarian, Monk and Rogue in the default Character Roster using the recent class upgrades.
• Fixed a source of freeze in combat when a Death Knight tries to use Life Drain on a player character wearing the Mantle of Frazzagar (or using the spell Globe of Invulnerability).
• Fixed a source of freeze in combat when you're playing a single character wearing the Mantle of Frazzagar (or using the spell Globe of Invulnerability). A freeze could happen if one of the enemies was scripted to cast a certain spell but that spell could not affect your character because of the Globe of Invulnerability. If the spell was supposed to have a metamagic effect, the AI could cycle infinitely between attempting to cast a metamagic and non-metamagic version of the spell.
• Fixed a bug with Spread spells like Fireball not finding any targets when aiming at a square adjacent to an inter-square wall or door.
• Fixed a bug with the AI sometimes casting Heal or Cleansing, or using a potion of Heal / Cleansing, in order to remove the Dexterity penalty caused by the size increase from Righteous Might or Enlarge (this penalty cannot be removed using Heal or Cleansing).
• Improved the AI for casting Mind Blast / Mind Blast (Psionicist) and the associated ability of Psionic Beetles.
• Improved the AI for casting Enhance Armour and Mass Greater Enhance Weapon.
• Fixed a bug with the targeting tooltip displaying the text 'Mirror Image' for targets that don't have the Mirror Image condition.
• Fixed a bug with the psionic power Demoralise not granting a saving throw.
• Fixed a bug with the Elephant Spirit Animal not applying the Shaken condition, when activated by a player character.
• Fixed a bug with the spell Cause Fear not upgrading an existing Shaken condition into the Cowering condition when targets succeed on their saving throw.
• Fixed a bug with the Swashbuckler being able to learn Rogue spells from spell scrolls, and the label 'Learn' being displayed on Rogue spell scrolls in the Inventory Screen.
• Fixed several bugs in the Module Editor when changing the name of a weapon / armour / item carried by a monster or NPC from the Inventory Tab of the Creature Properties interface.
• Fixed a bug in the Creature Wizard when creating a Mage Knight, Champion or Storm Warrior. They could receive a magic armour with an enchantment reserved to weapons, and they wouldn't receive a good magic weapon even at high levels.
• Fixed a bug in the Creature Wizard when assigning to a new creature feats that improve spellcasting.
• Fixed an issue in the Module Editor with the Creature Wizard needlessly creating duplicates of basic items like the +1 Light shield or +1 Full plate.
• Improved the search function of the help system, as searching for 'half giant' wasn't returning any help entries. Also fixed a number of broken links and errors in the help system.
• Corrected the descriptions of the spells Cause Fear, Cause Fear (Cleric), Scare, and Fear, to mention that they upgrade the Shaken condition into Cowering.
• Added some text in the help entries for the Destruction weapon enchantment, Valorous weapon enchantment, all of the Bane weapon enchantments, Vorpal weapon enchantment, and Double Damage Against Charging Creatures. Damage from these effects is not multiplied on a critical hit or through the Valorous enchantment.
• Also added some text in the help entries for Size, Enlarged, Reduced, the True Seeing condition, Natural Reach, Weapon Group Proficiency Reach Weapons, Solid Fog, and Acid Fog.
• Added quite a lot of code to accelerate gameplay in combat and elsewhere.

Building Interiors and a Mysterious Scroll. Great for Story Images and Puzzles. Use the Sepia Keyword.

AI-based Image Generation​

The image generator I've been using can be found at www.dezgo.com. It produces square images covering 512 x 512 pixels based on your text query.

It's pretty good at creating landscapes and environmental artwork, even isometric environments. You often get better results when you add 'highly detailed realistic picture' at the end of your query.

You can use keywords such as Cyberpunk, Steampunk, Dark Fantasy, Medieval, Arabian, Egyptian, Norse, Manga Style, 3d Style, Isometric, Portrait, Painterly, Pastel, Sepia, style of Gerald Brom, style of Luis Royo, Throne Room, Great Hall, Cave of Crystals, etc.

You can use multiple browser tabs to create multiple images. Using the same query two times will produce different images.

You can be very descriptive in your text queries. However, when the query is too complicated, the AI will probably ignore some parts of it.

A drawback of using a long text query is that when you save the file, the file name is the text query, so you may have to shrink the file name afterwards due to the operating-system limit on file name size.

The AI can create character portraits. Sometimes that works very well. Often, though, there's a problem with the eyes, or the character has three arms or some other weird feature.

It can create objects such as magic weapons, shields, jewellery, statuettes, etc. It can create maps of fantasy islands and continents.

It usually fails at producing good images containing more than one character, or combat scenes.

I'm looking forward to much higher image sizes in the future. Potentially, the AI could create in a few minutes an entire isometric dungeon map covering 10,000 pixels horizontally and vertically, each time with a different style and design. Imagine that!

For the moment, considering the limited size, it can provide textures and objects that I might use in adventure maps. I'm looking into using custom isometric wall and floor textures in Campaign Cartographer 3+ with the Perspectives 3 add-on.

In conclusion, I recommend you try out this new tool, especially if you're interested in creating a new adventure module or if you want to create new tokens for characters and monsters. When it works, it's quite impressive.

Some Ideas For The Upcoming Adventure Modules​

Fred recently asked me about what I'm planning for the new modules, so I'll reproduce my answer here. Thank you so much Fred for all the encouragement!

Okay, so it's definitely not set in stone yet, but the idea for the first module, The Dark Arena, is to have a regional map with at least two important places where you can receive new quests: the Adventurer's Guild, and the stronghold of the Knights of the Chalice.

The stronghold may be similar to the fortress found in the beginning of KotC 1 or in the D&D module The Keep on the Borderlands (see the KotB mod for Temple of Elemental Evil).

You will be able to explore the map freely in the first part of the game. The second part of the game, with gladiatorial combat, will probably be more linear.

My sources of inspiration for the slave-gladiator part include a Dark Sun module that I love: the one called Freedom (AD&D 2nd Edition). My sources of inspiration also include the Dark Sun module called Bloodsand Arena (D&D 4th Edition), the two Dark Sun computer role-playing games, and KotC 1.

The second module, Forces of Chaos, and the third module, Heart of Evil, will concern an invasion by an army of monsters, and the recovery of ancient artifacts of power.

So, for the moment, my sources of inspiration include the D&D 3.5 module called Red Hand of Doom, the Dark Sun module called Road to Urik (AD&D 2nd Edition), the two Dark Sun CRPGs, the roguelike CRPG ADOM, and the classic CPRGs The Bard's Tale II, Temple of Elemental Evil, Baldur's Gate 2, Planescape: Torment, Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, Champions of Krynn, and KotC 1.

Isometric Arabian Palaces and Marketplace. Great for Location Icons in Regional Maps.

Next Steps for Knights of the Chalice 2​

For the most part, the next development steps remain unchanged from the previous update:

• Reply to posts on the Steam Forum, GOG Forum and the website Forums, and fix any remaining bugs and issues in the game mentioned by the players on the forums or by email.
• Work on the Kickstarter Social Goal promises. They include: custom spell effect sounds, the new Druid spells Vampiric Spores, Creeping Doom and Iron Grip, a new option to display spell icons during level-up, a new option to display the monster injury status rather than Hit Points, and a new option to distribute only 80% of Combat Experience Point awards.
• Work on planned features: the iconised combat actions menu, new feats (including epic feats), new subraces, new spells, new Wizard familiars, new items, and new sound effects. The new spells I'm interested in include Wail of the Banshee, Mass Hideous Laughter, Reach, Mass Reach, Fly, Mass Fly, Vampiric Spores, and Creeping Doom.
• Hire a graphic designer to create new sprites, new maps and other types of artwork.
• Work on the three upcoming adventure modules. Create the new world map & new dungeon maps.

As always, if you find bugs or if you have any feedback, thoughts and suggestions, please feel free to let me know here, or in the Forums, or by email at enquiries@heroicfantasygames.com.

Thank You For Your Steadfast Support, Mighty Warriors and Sage Wizards! Enjoy!!

 

[Pink Eye]

Those isometric graphics for the levels aren't bad at all, I like em'. Also, yesss, very hyped for Dark Sun inspired content.

 

[Jermu]

Okay, so it's definitely not set in stone yet, but the idea for the first module

+ to-do list makes me think that we are not going to get new module for over a year

oh well if its even close to good as first module dont mind waiting

 

[Dorateen]

I have just posted version 1.45 of Hearkenwold, which is now available to download. This is the most up to date version of the Knights of the Chalice 2 Adventure Module:

Hearkenwold

The campaign now includes a new adventure called Edinmoor, which was designed for 7th level characters. However, it is possible to visit these areas earlier for more of a challenge. Here are a couple of screenshots of the new content:

Spoiler

This version also adds fixes and improvements to the original module.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Okay, so it's definitely not set in stone yet, but the idea for the first module, The Dark Arena, is to have a regional map with at least two important places where you can receive new quests: the Adventurer's Guild, and the stronghold of the Knights of the Chalice.

The stronghold may be similar to the fortress found in the beginning of KotC 1 or in the D&D module The Keep on the Borderlands (see the KotB mod for Temple of Elemental Evil).

You will be able to explore the map freely in the first part of the game. The second part of the game, with gladiatorial combat, will probably be more linear.

My sources of inspiration for the slave-gladiator part include a Dark Sun module that I love: the one called Freedom (AD&D 2nd Edition). My sources of inspiration also include the Dark Sun module called Bloodsand Arena (D&D 4th Edition), the two Dark Sun computer role-playing games, and KotC 1.

The second module, Forces of Chaos, and the third module, Heart of Evil, will concern an invasion by an army of monsters, and the recovery of ancient artifacts of power.

So, for the moment, my sources of inspiration include the D&D 3.5 module called Red Hand of Doom, the Dark Sun module called Road to Urik (AD&D 2nd Edition), the two Dark Sun CRPGs, the roguelike CRPG ADOM, and the classic CPRGs The Bard's Tale II, Temple of Elemental Evil, Baldur's Gate 2, Planescape: Torment, Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, Champions of Krynn, and KotC 1.

In case some people missed it in the wall of text, Pierre gave some info about the next module.

 

[Fatberg Slim]

I finally finished Augury of Chaos after getting my backer copy 2+ years ago. It’s hard to say whether I enjoyed it more than KOTC1 – if so, it’s because of the engine and the greater build variety than because the campaign itself. AoC was certainly more frustrating, and when I encountered especially painful battles I needed to force myself to get through them before ending my playing session or else it was very difficult to get going next time. In an interesting twist on typical RPG design, the prologue was in many ways the most balanced and “normal” part of the game. It would be great to have an entire module structured like that.

This was on Archmage difficulty with no-gold level-ups. I played around with the option to reduce enemy initiative by 25% to see if it would make the quick-draw bullshit more manageable, but it tended to result in my characters all going first most of the time which is not what I was aiming for so I turned it off permanently before the end of the prologue. The saved game menu says I played for just over 100 hours which seems impossible – maybe I left the game running while doing something else a few times.

My party for those who care:

• Mantis Fighter: Not the most inventive build – focused on TWF and trip feats and using reach weapons/AOO. Started off slow but was MVP once he was able to use multiple oversized weapons, improve his strength, and get Wade In
• Human Death Knight: Difficult to evaluate due to uncertain impact of Aura of Terror, but it did provide a noticeable improvement in grapple/spell success when applied. Took feint feats which I thought would synergize well with sneak attacks and smite, but the damage and bonus to hit didn’t wow me. Swift Life-Steal was occasionally useful when HP were low or he ran out of attacks but the enemy still had a small amount of HP left, otherwise I don’t think I would have used it at all. Was the best fighter until around level 5, and definitely fell behind when the other frontline attackers got Wade In. Wielded the few scythes that the game provided just for thematic effect
• Half-Giant Monk: Not an optimal build. I started the game right after the update that introduced monk specialties (but before the update that added a feat that eliminates the half-giant size penalties ), and since I was focused on maximizing grappling ability I went with high STR and therefore didn’t need the obvious best specialty that gives you free Weapon Finesse feats. Instead I went with the one that gives you True Sight, which wasn’t useful early on but definitely was significant when grappling mages and the many other bullshit mirror-imaged enemies you encounter late. Actual fighting ability was so-so until level 10+ or so, after getting Wade In and a better BAB and when the reduction in enemy DR became meaningful. I wasn’t too impressed with the other monk abilities. What is the point of Stunning Fist if you can’t use it with Flurry of Blows?
• Dwarf Cleric: Went with Reach and Mysticism domains as they seemed the most generically useful. No real surprises with this build. Was less effective as a melee fighter than I expected – again, not having access to Wade In hurts
• Halfling Psionicist: Probably not much I can say about this class that hasn’t already been said. It’s annoying that there are separate Spell Shaping feats for each of the Energy powers, but I guess that’s to keep things balanced
• Elf Wizard (Evoker): Again, not an especially novel build. I underwent the Phoenix transformation a couple of levels late since I couldn’t find the button for it

I picked up the prologue NPCs but never used them, except to mooch off their skills where needed . For actual combatants I picked up Erzimon (good), Pizarra (good), and Asharzaelle (eh – Paladin class seems weak but her flying ability was a big help in Chapter 4). I also recruited Maphistor in Chapter 4 but he died while storming the castle and there was no way in hell I was going to replay that battle, so I don’t know what other role he plays in the story.

Some random thoughts:

• One thing that bothered me more than I expected was the lack of weapon proficiencies each class gets. I guess that’s a way to make the gladiator a better option since it gets all of them, but it really limited what my guys were able to use and I wasn't going to spend a valuable feat on this. Also, why the hell do hammers and maces need different proficiencies?
• Really liked the interface and level of information provided for the most part. The only weak spots I saw involved seeing elevation changes/pits and status effects on characters. I had some guys who were cursed or ability drained for a long time because I didn’t catch it
• One battle that wasn’t exactly epic but that I found memorable and used the game systems and AI well without much bullshit was in Chapter 3 where you fight a vampire lord and several skeletons in a small room with many pits. My party was in bad shape and didn’t have many spells left, and the enemies did a great job of using Grease and combat maneuvers to knock my guys into the pits – I probably saw more “Slide” attempts here than in the rest of the campaign combined. I got through it by secluding my party outside the room, using Wall of Stone to block line of sight while allowing a narrow opening, and waited for them to come to me over the Resilient Grease the vampire kindly laid down for me. It was very rewarding to watch their asses fall over, slide down the various levels of elevation, and end up in the pits for once
• Wall of Stone was generally fun to play around with
• After reading the guide, I saw that casters can increase their range by using reach weapons. That would have been nice to know earlier
  
• The various logic puzzle mini-games were odd but on-brand and not terrible
• Classes I’d like to try in a different module: Samurai (probably does well with skewer weapons which I didn’t appreciate until late), Psychic Warrior (maybe a better situational grappler than the monk and probably more overall utility), Rogue (Rogue skills came up quite a bit in AoC), and Mage Knight (more magic should help, plus the Unlimited Spells and Phase Spells feats look promising)
• Did not craft or enchant anything, other than making some basic equipment at the start of the game for 0 XP cost. I was tempted to craft some really high-end stuff but couldn’t stomach the XP cost

I’m glad Pierre survived long enough to finish this and I’m looking forward to playing more traditionally designed modules down the road. I plan to check out Hearkenwold but I’m pretty sure I need a mental rest first.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I’m glad Pierre survived long enough to finish this and I’m looking forward to playing more traditionally designed modules down the road. I plan to check out Hearkenwold but I’m pretty sure I need a mental rest first.

You need a mental rest if you want to get the most out of character creation but other than this, Hearkenwold is a traditional adventure, less trying than AoC, one or two encounters aside, Cokatrix comes to mind but they're off the beaten path and it's very optional.

 

[FriendlyMerchant]

• Classes I’d like to try in a different module: Samurai (probably does well with skewer weapons which I didn’t appreciate until late), Psychic Warrior (maybe a better situational grappler than the monk and probably more overall utility), Rogue (Rogue skills came up quite a bit in AoC), and Mage Knight (more magic should help, plus the Unlimited Spells and Phase Spells feats look promising)
• Did not craft or enchant anything, other than making some basic equipment at the start of the game for 0 XP cost. I was tempted to craft some really high-end stuff but couldn’t stomach the XP cost

Samurai is really strong even early. You pretty much start with a greatsword by default and with cleave+great cleave or just the whirlwind attack he starts out with for free, he has the potential to clear several enemies in a round early game. In earlier versions I liked to run one with a Gladiator using the Gladiator as a shield tank in light armor + grapplebot.

With Psychic warrior and Mage Knight, you really have to pay attention to buffing to get the most out of them.

Psychic Warrior especially. It's strengths are definitely buffing itself and then using something like Psionic pounce to charge and kill a deadly enemy as quickly as possible and then to use its self-healing and its few cc options situationally. Monk is probably the better grappler though since it's all unarmed attacks during the grapple

Mage Knight is more of a limited wizard that can wear light armor and attack with a weapon as effectively as a fighter. It's a great character if you run it as a Wizard that can go into melee. Psychic Warrior has the option to buff weapons with a variety of effects whereas Mage Knight just gets the standard wizard buffs which is kinda weird since its Improved <X> Weapon feats seems like they would be perfect if the character could give their weapons <X> property. Mage Knight really seems like it needs its own specialized Spell list to sync with its feats rather than just being a Wizard with fewer spells and good at melee or with a bow if you need it. As it is, it seems best as an evoker wizard that can melee to save spells when you don't need the magic anymore. Phase spells is very situational and unlimited spells is pointless unless you're at the point where the spells you use are already capped. But they will help with AoE evocation.

Rogue is quite strong with some of the new specializations. Fencer is quite strong especially as a two-weapon characters and the option to grease an enemy and then spam attacks on it until it's prone is fun. Swashbuckler is great. It's bonus to damage is more limited, its abilities require you to split up your stat points into more places, and you lose spells. But it's a strong finesse melee character and the abilities it gets more than makes up for the lost spellcasting. An excellent specialization for an Elf since it favors, int, dex, and cha; the stats Swashbuckler utilizes. Assassin is good if you want to have your rogue focus primarily on flanking though. Ninja is meh, +2 to will saves is nice (with 14 CHA, swashbuckler gets +2 to all saves and initiative and then buffing CHA more means higher saves), but can be done without and the limited casting ability of rogues makes it's fast spells not worth it at low levels even with the one additional bonus spell for each spell level. It's better to use an actually caster class or true caster hybrid class like Mage Knight or Champion for that type of thing and if you wanted fast spells, it would be better just to take it as a feat selection when you have access to enough spells to make it worthwhile.

 

[Pink Eye]

Psychic Warrior (maybe a better situational grappler than the monk and probably more overall utility)

Don't give up on the Monk just yet. The new class kits it got are a fine addition to the class. I think my favorite one is the one, can't remember name, which gives Mirror Image Spell Like Ability, love Mirror Image.

I’m pretty sure I need a mental rest first

Besides Hearkenwold, you can also try Dungeon of Naheulbeuk next. It's a pretty fun and far more relaxing experience than Chalice 2 is. It's what I've been playing for the last couple days and am having so much fun with it.

 

[Fatberg Slim]

Mage Knight is more of a limited wizard that can wear light armor and attack with a weapon as effectively as a fighter. It's a great character if you run it as a Wizard that can go into melee. Psychic Warrior has the option to buff weapons with a variety of effects whereas Mage Knight just gets the standard wizard buffs which is kinda weird since its Improved <X> Weapon feats seems like they would be perfect if the character could give their weapons <X> property. Mage Knight really seems like it needs its own specialized Spell list to sync with its feats rather than just being a Wizard with fewer spells and good at melee or with a bow if you need it. As it is, it seems best as an evoker wizard that can melee to save spells when you don't need the magic anymore. Phase spells is very situational and unlimited spells is pointless unless you're at the point where the spells you use are already capped. But they will help with AoE evocation.

Thanks for the suggestions. Yes, when I saw the new Mage Knight feats I though this meant the class had the ability to situationally add these qualities to weapons a la Final Fantasy V, but no. It'sl probably a class I'll try later to avoid repeating previous class/race choices.

Don't give up on the Monk just yet. The new class kits it got are a fine addition to the class. I think my favorite one is the one, can't remember name, which gives Mirror Image Spell Like Ability, love Mirror Image.

I may try a DEX-based mantis monk to see (and exploit) if the extra arms are included in Flurry of Blows and do monk unarmed damage. The help files made it sounds like this is not the case but I'm not so sure.

 

[FriendlyMerchant]

Don't give up on the Monk just yet. The new class kits it got are a fine addition to the class. I think my favorite one is the one, can't remember name, which gives Mirror Image Spell Like Ability, love Mirror Image.

I may try a DEX-based mantis monk to see (and exploit) if the extra arms are included in Flurry of Blows and do monk unarmed damage. The help files made it sounds like this is not the case but I'm not so sure.

Mantis attacks are added to the end of your full attack whether or not it's with flurry. It works the same way with the kobold claws.

 

[Pink Eye]

Not sure if Mantis extra limbs get increase to unarmed die like main arms do, correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[FriendlyMerchant]

Not sure if Mantis extra limbs get increase to unarmed die like main arms do, correct me if I'm wrong.

According to the character sheet, it does look like the additional attacks do get the die. They just get a different damage bonus. For this example, I took Way of the Heavens for dex bonus to damage. The damage to the main unarmored attacks is +7 (dex bonus) while the remaining three attacks coming from the Mantis's claw get a +3 bonus since the additional attacks are considered secondary hence only half of +7 rounded down.