Feats and Weapon Skills Discussion

[Kreador Freeaxe]

To add to what Killing Moon said, I wonder why somebody would leave a bucket just sitting at the side of the road in the forest?

[Antigrav]

To add to what Killing Moon said, I wonder why somebody would leave a bucket just sitting at the side of the road in the forest?

I always assumed it was for sanitary reasons.

[Kelakhai]

Sounds like you've overlooked her. I'll give a hint, but I'll put it in a SPOILER:
>>Search for hidden forest lanes!<<

Oh that's magnificent ! I'm so happy it's well hidden so that I could not be able to find it, it's so much fun ! (Yet I did search a lot)

No, just kidding, this sucks.

[KillingMoon]

There are a couple more like this in the game. I found the ranger in Wolf's Wood on my own; I sensed there had to be more here than just a straight path through the woods...

What I didn't find on my own was a whole area east of Ironpool Dam, as I simply wasn't looking for anything there, but when you're at the dam, search east (if you haven't done so yet)!

[Farwalker]

In my recent suggestions I included stun effects for certain attacks, and thought I'd comment further on my thinking there.

It's currently possible to stun via magic - there's a resistance/save system against that, which is good. My suggestions for melee stun work a bit different.

The key point is there is no "save" against a stun from a melee feat / attack. Most of those attacks trigger only a certain part of the time - and if it triggers it triggers. However, in certain cases the game designer may want a particular type of creature/NPC to be harder to stun (high end boss type for example). I don't think complete immunity to stun is a good idea. My suggestion is that such creatures can be made "resistant" which divides the number of turns of stun by half (round down). In that case some of the weaker (1 round) stun effects won't be effective, but the stronger stun effects (2 round) can still trigger and provide at least a 1 round stun benefit.

Cheers,
Farwalker

[Farwalker]

The most current list of my suggestions has been moved to the top of this thread for easy reference, since we're into a bunch of pages on this one now.

[IJBall]

Revised Feat Cooldown:
I recommend requiring more skill investment to minimize the cooldown of feats across the board. Currently it's something like 100 - (skill level * 3), with a minimum level of 5. If it were adjusted to 100 - (skill level * 2) instead, our bow feat spamming friends can still do their thing, but it will require another 5 levels worth of skills for them to get there.
That also emphasizes the whole point of the feat - big benefit, spend it wisely you only get it once in a while.)

Having played through once, I agree that the 'cooldown' period for 'Feats' needs to be lengthened, perhaps even more than you're suggesting.

But it was crazy with Bows: once I got to Bow Level 32-34, you get Intense Focus once every 5 rounds or so, and the game becomes a breeze at that point: even Taurax, even bosses, can be defeated with relative ease at that point.

Feats should probably be constructed in such a way that they can only be used once, at best twice, in most melee situations. IMHO...

[Randomizer]

Feats should probably be constructed in such a way that they can only be used once, at best twice, in most melee situations. IMHO...

I got around that at lower levels by using a bow focus shot feat and retreating to a safe spot to quick camp long enough to regain the feat. Goliath boreheads would go down in 2 or 3 shots in power mode.

[Farwalker]

One reason I think it's so attractive to max out the feat refresh for a weapon is the increased difficulty to max out your to-hit ability in Book 2. There was a lot more to-hit enhancing equipment available in Book 1 (certain rings for example - and are there any to-hit bonus rings in Book 2?). With the feats I don't have to worry about that difficulty.

For example, let's say I have the following:

Base stats: 5
Bless: 6
Nimbleness: 4 (ok almost 5, so add an extra one if you like to my numbers)
Weapon skill to level 10: 5
+3 to hit on weapon: 3

That's only 23 so far... There are necklaces that can give you another 2 or 3 (3 or 4 if they line up with the weapon you're using).

From Slarty's work we know most enemies have armor in the 5-37 range (45 and 65 for Gen Ghorr and Korren). To maximize your ability to hit regular enemies you need a 41 to hit, 47 for Gen. Ghorr and 60 for Korren.

It's true you can get closer by using precision attacks (sacrificing damage), but overall it's more attractive to maximize your feat refresh than it is to maximize your regular to hit. You do improve your regular to hit with that weapon in the process, but you still may not fully maximize regular to hit. And with the feats you can change to power mode with no downside...

[Kreador Freeaxe]

One reason I think it's so attractive to max out the feat refresh for a weapon is the increased difficulty to max out your to-hit ability in Book 2. There was a lot more to-hit enhancing equipment available in Book 1 (certain rings for example - and are there any to-hit bonus rings in Book 2?). With the feats I don't have to worry about that difficulty.

For example, let's say I have the following:

Base stats: 5
Bless: 6
Nimbleness: 4 (ok almost 5, so add an extra one if you like to my numbers)
Weapon skill to level 10: 5
+3 to hit on weapon: 3

That's only 23 so far... There are necklaces that can give you another 2 or 3 (3 or 4 if they line up with the weapon you're using).

From Slarty's work we know most enemies have armor in the 5-37 range (45 and 65 for Gen Ghorr and Korren). To maximize your ability to hit regular enemies you need a 41 to hit, 47 for Gen. Ghorr and 60 for Korren.

It's true you can get closer by using precision attacks (sacrificing damage), but overall it's more attractive to maximize your feat refresh than it is to maximize your regular to hit. You do improve your regular to hit with that weapon in the process, but you still may not fully maximize regular to hit. And with the feats you can change to power mode with no downside...

The closest I know to "to hit" bonus rings are the concentration rings, which raise your to hit by raising the stat. Same for dexterity rings. I'm not sure which is more effective for to hit, specifically.

[jwrickert]

Anybody else tried using ALL the Feats at one time?
Using Haste to switch weapons in between, it's kinda cool to have 7 Feat Strikes in a row.

[SpottedShroom]

Anybody else tried using ALL the Feats at one time?
Using Haste to switch weapons in between, it's kinda cool to have 7 Feat Strikes in a row.

I'd rather have one strike with skill 70 than 7 with skill 10, personally. Plus it'll be ready again in 10 turns.

[Kreador Freeaxe]

Anybody else tried using ALL the Feats at one time?
Using Haste to switch weapons in between, it's kinda cool to have 7 Feat Strikes in a row.

I'd rather have one strike with skill 70 than 7 with skill 10, personally. Plus it'll be ready again in 10 turns.

5 turns, actually. At around skill level 34 you max out the refresh rate for a weapon feat at once every 5 turns. Of course, for five of the weapon feats, you can get to level 10 without spending any skill points, and one other you only spend two points on. Unarmed combat is really the only "expensive" combat option skill point wise. I've used characters with 5 feats before, one my "primary" weapon that I keep pumping points into, and the others I'd swap in doing a rotating series of attacks. Crush feat to reduce armor, sword feat to damage as many opponents as possible (particularly when fighting groups), cleave feat to do more overall damage, then my primary piercing double-strike to finish them off. I also had thrown weapons up and would occasionally use that while opponents approached.