Free Blades ( New Guild)

Hiya Blade here, we lost Free Traders today as it exceeded 50 members . So I was offered a second chance, this time to create my own guild from scratch. Thus " Free Blades " was born today in rememberence of Blades of Honour and Free Traders, both guilds which have recently ceased to exist. Also 18 of the chars are my own " Something Blade " creations :)
However, i hope to invite some of my friends from the Dalakora PW Server into the Guild, along with other new found friends who i wish to invite. Obviously we shall need to be watchful not to lose this new Guild to over capacity, and i may well retire some of my Champions in due course.

The Guild is TN open to all Alignments and its Leader " Rev Blade " is Lawful Good. I have explained to Razius what happened to Free Traders, and that i have written into the Guild Description that we are a guild to Protect each other vs Pkers ......hence he does not " Fit the Mold " of a Guild member due to his past record of Pking lower level chars.

All the Best ...........Blade

Naked buffing can kill you

So last night, I'm running around the drow stronghold with Darian and Deurack. Deurack was playing a Bard/RDD/WM that he kept claiming was "going to be much tougher later on" (usually he would say that after he died). Anyway, it was a good thing that I was stocked up on Raise Dead scrolls, since we really needed them last night! But the main point of this post is to discuss the issue of naked "buffing" that so often takes place in the Badlands. Almost always, it's a bard. Your party has just rested, you prepare for the next encounter, then you look over only to see a half-naked female half-orc casting ghastly visage (and yes, seeing a female half-orc with the "fat" body shape is definitely ghastly). Characters like that need to be careful, however, if they decide to put Constitution on their armor or shield, since when they unequip those items, they lose the associated HP. Hence, each time (yes, that means multiple times) Deurack was raised from the dead back to 1 HP then removed his shield to "buff" he died. So be careful when putting certain abilities on your shield and armor. Also, some critters can strip your armor off with a successful attack and if you fail a Discipline check.

Spawn Killed by the GM

I just got spawn killed by one of the GM's. I didn't get the screen capture in time. It's really too bad it looked hilarious. There were so many polar bears in Gruzz's place that they couldn't move! (I think I pissed her off by not killing my spawns but since we were the only ones on I wasn't too concerned.)

I CLAIM NO CREDIT FOR THIS, THIS CAME FROM TERRY17

This was so good it HAD to be an original post and Terry17 doesnt have access to submit original posts, so I cut and pasted it in but wanted to give full credit to him. His post can be found in a reply to Q's post "WFT, my build still sucks, Again!" His post follows below:

ARMOR: always read the fine print.

One mistake I've seen alot of with newbies, is when they put AC on their armor. They don't check the type of AC.

There are 5 types of AC, and you will only use the highest of each type.

AC types and Locations.

Armor AC - Bracer and Chest
Deflection AC - Belt, Cloak, Helm, and Rings
Dodge AC - Boots
Natural AC - Necklace
Shield AC - Shield

Example: +3 belt and +2 helm = +3AC total.
+5 Belt = +5 AC total

I've tried to explain this to several newbies in game, but the usual result is they put +5AC on helm and leave the +3AC on belt, or make both +5AC. At this point, I log off for a while to pull at my hair...

I hope the above chart helps the newbies and reduces their questions.

Darkness Falls

I was having a conversation with Darian about how awesome the spell Darkness is, and I thougth I would share it with the rest of the community.

Darkness is awesome, and when combined with ‘Ultravision’ it can be your best friend when you’re xp’ing. Why? Well, unless a creature you are fighting has Ultravision or True Sight, when it is surrounded by magical darkness it is considered blinded. Another way to say it is that you become ‘invisible’ to that creature. What exactly does this mean? Consider this: Invisible attacking creatures get a 50% concealment bonus against enemy attacks and can ignore the dexterity modifier of any opponent unless that opponent has the uncanny dodge feat. Also, blinded creatures have a -4 penalty to all attack rolls, discipline, hide, move silently, open lock, parry, pick pocket, set trap and tumble.

So casting Ultravision on yourself before you start xp’ing and then casting Darkness on your opponent not only gives you +4 to AC against them and a 50% chance of having their attacks miss you, it also takes away all their Dex bonus to AC, which can be HUGE depending on what you’re fighting. For example, Darian said that he was able to hunt the Ice Spiders on the North Face with a build that had a 30 AB using Darkness and Ultravision.

Happy Hunting!

Damn, I'm dying!!

Heal me!!

Hello, after all the math problem topic thing below, I decided to write about something easier and less complicated: healing.
Lately, I've seen a lot of players using potions and not spending any points on healing skills.
When you are a lowbie and have like 40hp or so, it doesn't really matter which one you use; well, it does, a cleric with a high wis can usually heal all his hp with only one heal kit; but when you get on your epic lvls and all, you can see the difference between healing 30hp and 50hp each round..
Since I started making builds I've always concentrated on maxing discipline, heal and tumble when possible. Getting a stack of ten Healing Kits + 10 for 1720gp is not too much when you have more than 500hp and need to be healed as fast as you can.

Cure Critical Wounds: The target creature is healed of 4d8 points of damage, + 1 point per caster level to a maximum of +20.
Healing Kit: 1d20 + Heal Skill + Heal Kit Bonus + Wis modifier

So a lvl 40 with maxed heal (+43) and standard crap wis (8) with upgrades would have a wis 20 (mod +5), plus the healing kit bonus of +10.. = +58 then we need to add the rolled 1d20 that can be maxed out if the char isn't in combat. It would go from 59 to 78 healed hp. With skill focus or epic skill focus it would be even better, +3 and +10 respectively.. do the math there..

That's just an example.. as you level, the skill gets higher. And if the char has a high wis to start with.. hmm..
Well, after hearing a lot of heal me mg and buff me mg.. I kinda got stuck with that on my mind..
Later Badlanders.. lol

Love for the rapier

This post is in response to Deurack’s post in which he provides a convincing argument on why the kukri should be the weapon of choice for melees--- primarily because he believes that “Mysteria” is a more powerful weapon than the “Rapier of the High”. Deurack makes some excellent points, but I’d like to expand, clarify and give a little “love” back to the rapier.

First, I’d like to compare the two boss drops, “Mysteria” and “Rapier of the High”. Click on the image below for the side-by-side comparison of each drop.
As you can see, both weapons have the same critical threat range and critical multiplier and keen property. The only discernible difference is in the base damage and damage bonuses. Based on my admittedly poor arithmetic skills, I calculate that (not including Strength bonus) Mysteria will do 11 – 44 hp damage on a normal hit, and 22 – 88 on a critical hit. The “High” will do 10 – 42 hp damage on a normal strike, and 20 – 84 on a critical. So, Deurack is correct in that the tiny kukri is more of a damage dealer than the rapier. Which begs the question, why would anyone ever choose a rapier at all? The answer for me is simple: in order to wield a kukri, you have to use an additional feat (exotic weapon proficiency). The rapier, being a “martial” weapon, is typically usable by all melee classes and elves get rapier proficiency for free. “Well, it’s just one feat you say”… yes, that’s true, but when your build is feat-starved (like most of my melees- for example, a dev-crit Barbarian/Bard/RDD) you really don’t want to spend that exotic weapon proficiency early in your career. This is especially true when you need to spend feats on things like heavy armor proficiency or weapon finesse on a dex-build. The kukri is definitely the best option though for a dual-wielding dev critter and/or weapon master. I just don’t play dual-wielders in the Badlands (with the exception of dual-kama monks), simply because the best drop, in my opinion, in the entire server is the Devastation Shell, so I want to sport that shield in my off-hand.

One additional correction to Deurack’s post- He mentioned that because the kukri is a “slashing” weapon, you can cast ‘keen edge’ on it. However, despite what the spell description says on NWN wikia, ‘keen edge’ will work on any weapon. I cast it on my rapiers all the time until I can obtain the “Rapier of the High”.

Finally, I’m going to really go out on a limb here and recommend that neither “Mysteria” nor the “Rapier of the High” is the best option under all circumstances. The boss dropped weapons are very powerful indeed, however, they cannot be altered outside of casting ‘Dark Fire’ on them. If you have access to the ‘Greater Magic Weapon (GMW)’ and ‘Keen Edge’ spells, then a mundane rapier or kukri upgraded in the Stone Conjoint may be your best option. Here’s why:

For example, you can add the following upgrades to a rapier (or kukri): Magical damage 1d10, Divine damage 1d10, Sonic 1d10, Electrical 1d8, and Cold 1d4.
By casting ‘Keen Edge’ and GMW (enhancement +5) on that same rapier, you’ll be doling out 11 – 53 hp damage on a normal hit (compare that with the 10 – 42 damage the “High” will get you). A kukri, with the same properties and GMW will do 11 – 51 damage (compared to 11 – 44 hp damage by “Mysteria”).

The +6 enhancement on ‘Mysteria’ and the “High” are definitely a boon, as you will hit your opponent slightly more often. But the damage output from the mundane upgraded rapier example above might make you want to sheath the “High” and pull out your Stone Conjoint rapier. For example:

Your AB with the above rapier with GMW and keen edge spells might be 60. Your opponent has an AC of 70. In 20 rolls, you will hit them 11 times (on average) and nail them for 121 – 583 hp damage on normal hits (average 352 hp damage). All critical hits would add up to 242 – 1166 hp damage (average 704 hp).
Compare that to if you were wielding the “Rapier of the High”. Your AB would be 61, so you hit that same AC 70 a total of 12 times (on average) and dish out 120 – 504 hp on normal hits (average 312 hp) and 240 – 1008 hp on all critical hits (average 624).
Based on that example, I suggest using your Stone Conjoint upgraded rapier. Unless your AB is really low, in which case you might need that extra attack bonus the Rapier of the High provides. It’s entirely up to you.

In case you’re wondering how an upgraded kukri stacks up against Mysteria. A kukri with the same upgrades as the rapier would dish out 11 – 51 damage on normal hits, compared with Mysteria’s 11 – 44 hp. I’ll let you do the rest of the math.

***note, none of the above examples includes damage from the spell Dark Fire, since it can be cast on all weapons, including boss drops.

The Arcane Brotherhood Rides Again.

So last night I buckled down and used Hellie Layne to tear BadLands a new one. I managed to kill multiple bosses without dieing, and claimed two territories in the name of the Brotherhood. Hellie also purchased the helm of the north in order to gain more level 9 spell slots which are being used for MIGS.

I read the descriptions of the other guilds and will write one up for the Arcane Brotherhood sometime this weekend. Also we are finalizing a list of qualifiers in order to be considered for membership. More on that later.

WTF my char stills sucks, AGAIN!

Some Character Building Tips
by Qwildurn

I was in DM mode one day and a player started shouting, "Why can't I hit anything? What's wrong with this server?" I took a peek at his char. He/she had a dex based monk holding two dwarven waraxes. Weapon focus for a kama and no feats for two-weapon fighting. He was level 10 in the Dozo Warfields ( a level 3-5 area ) with an AB of -xx and -XXX. You know something, I'm not a miracal worker. Some are beyond help.

Lets face it, it's easier to build a bad char than a really good one. I'm sure some of you have found a build list somewhere that was supposed to be "the best build ever", and it turned out to be crap. Maybee even worse than what you screwed-up yourself. Not everybody's idea of "best" is good and most IMPORTANTLY: WHAT WORKS IN ONE REALM MAY NOT WORK IN ANOTHER REALM.

BadLands and BadLands RPG is it's own Realm. It's not any other realm that you may have played on in the past. Some of our playable subraces and monsters (to hunt) have been invented just for BadLands RPG. The monsters have been tailored to fit the maximum player abilities.

You should pick one thing to focus on in your build and then if you have room left over, pick a second focus. This might be a melee Strength based fighter wanting Dev Crit (epic feat devistating critical) or a Dexterity based monk wanting Epic Dodge. The biggest problem here is the str base will have low AC (armor class) while the dex base will have low damage.

(Mage based builds are not for beginners)

A Fighter or Cleric or even a Fighter/Cleric is the easiest to build and play. A well built Fighter/Cleric can be very dangerouse in the higher levels too.

Mixing classes in the first twenty levels can be detrimental if done wrong!

Pay attention to the BAB (base attack bonus). This can be seen on your stat-sheet just under the saves. The first 20 level are CRITICAL here. After level 20 you will get 10 more BAB no matter what. in the first 20, a pure fighter will get 20 BAB while a cleric gets 15 and a wizard gets 10 BAB. 10 fighter/10 cleric is BAB 17. Adding some wiz levels here can reduse the BAB to 15 or 16. Do you want 30 BAB at level 40 or 25 BAB?

The Bioware Engine counts class levels in groups of 4 here. Rogue, Monk and Cleric all have a BAB of 15 (pure 20 levels). Multi-Classing with 4-4-12 will get 15 BAB while 5-5-10 is 13 BAB. The order you take these is not the issue (for BAB, it can be for other things such as feats and skills)). At the end of 20 levels, it's the count: 8-4-8 will get you 15 BAB but 7-6-7 won't.

One of my better builds is this: 14 fighter / 7 Weapon Master / 19 Cleric. I took 13 fighter levels then 7 WM levels. Level 21 was my last fighter followed by 19 cleric levels. I had my 30 BAB and those famose Cleric buffs. The 7 WM levels improved my crit range. If the monster is crit-proof the cleric levels and high damge work well. (str based with dev crit)

AAB (adjusted attack bonus): is your str bonus added to your BAB. Dex builds will need Feat: Weapon Finess and a small weapon then it's your dex bonus added to your BAB. Then other things are added such as a +5 weapon enhancment, buffs from Bless, Bard Song, ect.... Most just refer to this as AB and can be seen on you stat-sheet near the top. Watch this change as you get buffed or change weapons.

Damage: This come from STRENGTH, weapon base type, feats and buffs. Weapons upgraded with elemental damage provide extra damage. Some monsters are immune or more susceptible to one or more types of damage. Strength based builds do the most damage. Large weapons do the most damage.

AC (armore class): This is one of several things that determines how easy or difficult you are to hit. Plate Mail might seem attractive, and might be best at low levels, but later when you can buy more dex, padded armor or no armor can actually get you more AC. That because your dex bonus is added to your natural AC. Heavy armor has a dex limit. a DEx build will want to use clothing to get the full advantage of your high dex. Some buffs can add to your AC.

Choose you weapon(s) wisely. Dual swords sounds so hot but in the end its snot. I've built plenty of two-weapon-fighters.....it's not an easy build. A single sword with shield will get you more AC and more AB.
A str build can pick and choose most any weapon. Big is probably better.
A dex build has its limits. Small is probably better. A Human Monk can use a kama and weapon finess while a Halfling can't. "HUH?!?", you say? To the Halfling, a kama is a large weapon and weapon finess wont work, loosing the dex bonus to AB. Try monk gloves or a kukri.

Yes, I've build some hard and/or exotic Characters like a Kobold with a Scimtar (two-handed-weapon) and Dev Crit. A Half-Orc monk with unarmed dev crit. But if you just want a decent first chararcter, try a cleric or fighter. Pick a subrace that adds to your desires. A Dwarven Cleric/Fighter can go a long way.


Happy Hunting

Qwildurn Bluemoon (huntress of evil)

*** There is no way that any one build can have it all, not even at level 60. It is a trade-off. To get This I lose That. In the end it's supposed to be rock-paper-scissores. No one build, class, race or .... is really best. Go Pure or Mix-It-Up, it's all fun in the end.

Q

"WTF, My Build Sucks!!" (Part 2)

Deimonos’ post got me thinking about other mistakes that new players make, and here is another big one we see all the time.

The monsters in Badlands RPG are all fairly powerful, and most of them have very good Armor Classes. The monsters that you will be expected to kill while leveling up to and beyond level 40 especially all have very decent Armor Classes. If you are playing a Melee build and your character cannot hit your opponent, you have some serious problems. This problem is especially bad if you are playing a Str based build where you are relying on your ability to kill them quickly before you take too much damage due to your low AC.

That being said, I believe that the single biggest mistake we see Melee builds making is not incorporating any way to “buff” their Attack Bonus. Some do it out of ignorance, and some are just fucking morons (Shadow521899) who “Prefer Natural Power” (his direct quote) and don’t want buffs. Either way, not being able to buff your attack bonus even as much as 5 points can seriously lower the effectiveness of your build and make the difference between you being a powerhouse that others want to Xp with or an Xp leech that make others groan when they see you.

There are many different ways of ‘Buffing’. One of the most effective is to work some levels of Cleric into your build. Having 15 levels of Cleric and a Wisdom of 16 will give you access to many different AB Buffs, for a minimum of +15 to attack and damage, not to mention all of the awesome utility spells (True Sight, ect) and healing spells. Another way to ‘Buff’ is with levels of Bard. Depending on how many levels of Bard you take, your 2 Bard Songs can make all the difference in a fight. Having 16 levels of Bard and using both “Bard Song” to buff yourself and “Curse Song” on your enemies will give you the equivalent of a +7 to attack, +3 to damage +7 to AC.

I hope this helps people think a little differently when designing their builds. If anyone has some suggestions as to how they incorporate buffs into their builds, let us know below :-)

WTF, my build sucks!!

Hello, my friends. I made this topic after poking around and noticing a common mistake the new players are doing.
Wandering around I've seen many players complaining about their char's lack of power and not knowing why they are having so much trouble at xping.And it's something easy to see. Most of the new players like to spread their points on their abilities. They don't make the most important decision a builder must do when they are making a new char: "Is it going to be str or dex based?"
That's the basic question you need to ask yourself. You see, spreading your ability points and ability raising feats may sound cool in theory but when you have to go out and bash all those creatures you may find out that it's going to be harder than you thought..
Using the classic gith monk as an example.. make it with str8 and dex22.. weapon finesse and lvl 40, ok? I'd have 10 stat points to spend, right? Consider I didn't take any Great Dexterity or any other related feat. Build 1: Str 14, Dex 26. Build 2 Str 8, Dex 32.
Build 1, as you can see I've spread my ability points, +6 on str and +4 on dex. Build 2, on the other hand, got all points on dex.
Does that really make any difference at all?Well, with upgrades it would be like this:Build 1: Str 26(+8), Dex 38(+14)Build 2: Str 20(+5), Dex 44(+17)
What you got to ask yourself, is it really worth losing AB and AC to raise your str? Well, build 1 can carry 613lb, almost twice what the build2 can carry. And of course, more damage too.
This is just a simple example about how spreading your ability points can compromise your build's effectiveness. Most of the builds around have even wider ability discrepancies.. like points spent on not so useful abilities or almost making your 2 attack related abilities half/half.. Ex: Gith monk with weapon finesse and str 32, dex 36, he sure was struggling to lvl his char at sheelo. Maybe he wanted to get dev crit, oh well.. Or even a deep orc rdd, of course str based, with an unusual high dex..
Thing is, unless you aim to try making something "exotic", please don't weaken your char by spreading your stat points.DMs and the other players will be grateful. Some are stress out already by our regular annoying/whining players.. Less weak chars around = less whining = Happy players :D

Google Groups

Oki, so I added all the contributors to a 'Google Group'. If everything works you should automatically recieve updates in your email when people post comments on the blog.

If you don't get anything let me know. Don't forget to check your Junk Mail folders just in case.

Zelda Live Action Movie!

I'm an old school console gamer from back in the NES days. I though you all might find this entertaining!

Zelda Movie Trailer Debut!

Love for the Kukri

I see many people running around with Rapiers in their hands. This is good, because it means that more people are realizing the power of the large Crit range. However, I believe that not enough people love the Kukri.

The Kukri has the same massive Crit range as the Scimitar and Rapier. The only drawback to the Kukri is that it only does 1d4 points of damage, instead of 1d6 like the Scimitar and Rapier. However, it has some wonderful advantages. First of all, being a small weapon, you can easily dual wield it. Secondly, it is a Slashing Weapon, and this means that you can use the spell "Keen Edge" on it. Why is this a good thing, you ask? Because if you can put Keen on your weapon with a spell instead of in the Crafting areas, that means there is more room for elemental damage.

Thirdly, and in my opinion the best reason to use the Kukri, is Mysteria.

As you can see, Mysteria is a Keen, +6 Kukri that is dropped by Shadow StridAst. Note the rather substantial elemental damage. Not as much as you can put on a 'Crafted Weapon', but you cant get +6 on a crafted weapon either. Contrast the damage on this weapon with the damage on the 'Rapier of the High' and you'll see that Mysteria does MUCH more damage per hit.

So there you are. I hope that this will encourage all of you to love your local Kukri. It is one of the best weapons in all of Neverwinter Nights.