[Bishop Edward]

I'm around this morning... Assuming you pop on when you push through the update, I'll be there!

[Wids]

I just had a couple of quickie questions. I see that 3rd Ed's 7th-Level Cleric Spells Blasphemy (which whammies anything non-Evil) and Dictum (which whammies anything non-Lawful) are being brought in. Are there any plans to bring in the other two spells from that family: Holy Word (whammies anything non-Good) and Word of Chaos (whammies anything non-Chaotic)?

I'll think about adding the other two spells. No promises though.

"I'll think about adding the other two spells," he said. "No promises, though," he said.



Oh, Thayan, I knew you'd come through! What a kidder. :D

I'll have to get around to actually trying those spells out, if only to figure out whether they affect allies and/or the caster; I imagine that casting Blasphemy when you yourself are Good wouldn't end all that swimmingly.

Corella did get to try out Bless Water and Curse Water earlier on, while she was hanging out at the Temple of Leira. I tested Bless Water with three new water flasks: One empty, one filled with potable water and one filled with foul water. Bless Water didn't turn the empty flask into holy water, but it did work on the other two. Makes sense to me.





So it's nice to know that clerics have an easier time of stocking up on holy water now, and they can actually get their hands on unholy water too (whether for roleplaying infernal rites or simply for pelting those pesky archons whenever they show up). A water flask costs around 6 Talons in the market and it's free to fill up. That's quite a bit cheaper than sailing out to Murbant and paying Gwydion 27 Talons for a holy water vial, isn't it? :)



Also, Wall of Dispel Magic is a beast. If you can convince an enemy spellcaster to stand around in it for a couple of rounds, he's hosed.

Corella tested Symbol of Sleep on some enemies too, both during a caravan attack and in the East Surthay Sewers. I cast it, the symbol aura effect stuck around for a few seconds, then it disappeared. "Is that it? Is it gone? Is it still there?" Then a Fanatical Paladin came charging through the area of effect and dispelled all doubt; the glyph didn't put him to sleep, but it nailed the half-orc mercenary who was stealthing along right behind him. So I got to work casting Slay Living on the paladin, finishing him off when Slay Living didn't quite do the job, then poking holes in the half-orc until she woke up and died.

All in all, this is a mighty fine update. I don't see how Thayan's going to top this one any time soon. Kudos again, Big T!

[Balanor]

I don't think this one will ever be topped for sheer size and complexity. So enjoy. Glad to hear you're liking some of the new spells at least. ;)

I'm not sure if everyone caught it in the Server Update thread; but the damage of Holy or Unholy water has been increased to 2d8. Hopefully that will make paying the ~6 talons for an AOE against undead worth the effort spent implementing those two spells and the time PCs take to create them.
Symbol and Glyph VFX will disappear within about a round of casting them. Creature AI is too dumb to notice them anyway, but making them disappear is mainly for PvP scenarios where you don't want other PCs to know where you may have laid a glyph or symbol.

[LifeLikeSage]

You can bless water now?!

That's nice.

[Wids]

Oh, yes, I caught the increased damage for holy water and unholy water too. Corella pelted an Elite Dread Warrior with two holy waters before closing for melee. The water helped (particularly since it seems to ignore DR). Too bad the superzombie didn't have any friends with him, or it would have helped even more. :)

[Wids]

Blasphemy:






Dictum:






Holy Word:






Word of Chaos:

Cool SFX, huh? :)

These "Word of Alignment" spells have some similarities to the Word of Faith spell of equal spell level: Their areas of effect are all Colossal, and they dispel summoned creatures. Beyond that, there's a number of differences:


Word of Faith:
• Only affects Hostile creatures.
• No Saving Throws, period.
• Stuns creatures for [Caster's Level / 2] rounds.
• ...unless they're 4 Hit Dice or lower, in which case it flat-out kills them.
• Only unsummons Hostile summons.


Holy Dictum of Blasphemous Chaos:
• Affects any creature who isn't Lawful/Good/Chaotic/Evil, including allies and the caster himself/herself/itself!
• No Saving Throws, except for the unsummoning effect, which can be avoided with a Will Save.
• Has various effects, depending on if the affected creature's Level is equal, 1 below, 5 below or 10 below that of the caster. Effects vary for each spell (ie. Word of Chaos can inflict Confusion, Blasphemy can reduce one's Strength by 2 to 12 points for 2 to 8 rounds, etc) and are cumulative (ie. a Level 14 Cleric blasting a Level 9 Blackguard with Holy Word would deafen, blind and paralyze the Blackguard).
• ...except that any of the four spells will flat-out kill or destroy any creature with [Caster's Level -10] Levels/Hit Dice or lower.
• Unsummons any creature whose Alignment doesn't match that of the spell (unless it aces the aforementioned Will Save).


So all in all, it looks like Word of Faith is the one to pick when in mixed parties, since your teammates might not think too highly of you blinding them and dispelling their pets. But it's a pretty static spell; whether you're Level 13 or Level 40, it's pretty much the exact same spell. The effects of the Word of Alignment spells are a bit more dynamic; an 8 Hit Dice medusa that might be blinded, deafened and paralyzed with a Level 13 Cleric's Dictum spell is going to be knocked completely dead by the same spell if a Level 18 Cleric's casting it. So while Word of Faith can be a bit more damaging for mid-level casters, high-level casters might be served better by the Word of Alignment spells instead (particularly in those parties where everyone else shares your cleric's philosophical point of view).

Thoughts?


(As an aside, the only spell which didn't even make Corella's tailoring model wince was Blasphemy. Therefore, tailoring models are Neutral Evil. I knew it! :D )

[Wids]

Hmm. This place needs more mist.




Much better.

You wouldn't believe how much Corella has been casting Obscuring Mist ever since the last update. Why go through the trouble of hunting down a bank of mist for your prayer time when you can bring the mist to you, right? It's kind of like asking your goddess for a prayer rug so you can tell her how awesome she is, I suppose. :)


It sees the occasional use in battle too, but that's mostly if Corella's peppering some enemy grunts with spells. Spells ignore Concealment, which gives spellcasters an edge over non-spellcasters, since Obscuring Mist knows no friends. (I'm not sure if the Concealment bonus from Obscuring Mist stacks with that from Entropic Shield, as far as foiling enemy archers caught in the mist. I might have to test that.)

[Animayhem]

Obscuring mist is a nice spell as is disguise. The obscuring mist good to escape assassins or slavers. Just make sure you are near a good escape like a tavern or some such.

The ranger arrow spells nice as well.