Nov. 25: Hak update, new spells, minor changes

Sometime tomorrow/today (Nov. 25th), I'll be uploading a new aenea.tlk file and aeneahak_updates.hak file.

Once these file are live on the server, there will be a few minor additions/changes:

13 New Spells:

arcane lock - instantly close and lock a single door or placeable, pick DC = caster level + 10.
erase - instantly erase a single scroll or book, or the every tattoo from a targeted creature (if they fail a save).
glitterdust - cancel out concealment and invisibility for creatures in the area that fail a Will save.
conceal alignment - keep those pesky paladins from knowing you're evil (or good).
telemus arcanum (9 spells) - this set of spells is a very basic "magic ray", with spells level 1 to 9, inflicting raw magical damage

Paladin Detect Evil:

Won't detect evil creatures under the effects of a conceal alignment spell. Will no longer make evil creatures glow red, instead the paladin will get a private message stating which beings are evil.

Meteor Swarm:

Damage limit increased to 30d8. Half damage will be fire, half will be bludgeoning.

Hellball:

Will still be subject to Reflex saves for half damage, but neither Evasion or Improved Evasion will apply.

Knock:

New spell and scroll icons for the knock spell, to better match up with the new arcane lock spell.

Cool !! ... That takes Aenea's custom spells well above the 100 mark ??

Will glitterdust effect the "natural" concealment of shadowchildren ??

Will scrolls for the new spells be availiable for existing Mages to learn the spells without too much hassle ?

I likes the sound of these, thanks again !

Yes, glitterdust will affect even shadow children. And yes, scrolls will be available in-game. And this brings us to around 111-112 Aenea spells.

The glitterdust thing does bring up a point I'll need to put a fix in for...restoring subrace concealment after the spell expires. Perhaps a VC command to make it quick (and not rely on sleeping to get the concealment back).

I think Miow is suddenly glad that she's racially spell resistant and can quite probably just resist glitterdust! ... if it offers SR. *hopes*

crap...a vampire can be glitterfied... may have been watching Twilight!!!

Grey_Stooge wrote:crap...a vampire can be glitterfied... may have been watching Twilight!!!

No. I refuse to watch anything where vampires "sparkle".

I've been looking in the Players' Handbook and testing out additional visual effects in the game.

Oooh! Vampire Disco balls!.. (Yeah, right)

How about we take whatever that guy's name in Twilight and use *him* as a disco ball? That'd be funny to watch!

Ok, erase seems semi-bigged. It erases books just fine, but not scrolls. Off to the toolset for me again.

Hiya ... ...

I don't think I've ever disagreed with an addition, but the glitterdust spell being able to cancel the *main* subrace effect of shadowchildren, that doesn't sit too good with me unless the other races also get a similiar anti-subrace-effect spell .... "wing-chopper", "penetrate stone blood defense", "super-drown-the-kin", "eclipse-the-moon".. etc etc etc....

Whilst I like new things, this one doesn't sit too good...

RustyDios wrote:Hiya ... ...

I don't think I've ever disagreed with an addition, but the glitterdust spell being able to cancel the *main* subrace effect of shadowchildren, that doesn't sit too good with me unless the other races also get a similiar anti-subrace-effect spell .... "wing-chopper", "penetrate stone blood defense", "super-drown-the-kin", "eclipse-the-moon".. etc etc etc....

Whilst I like new things, this one doesn't sit too good...

It's not meant as an "anti-subrace" spell. It's basically just a D&D spell that temporarily reveals the true location of invisible and concealed things. It's a 3rd level conjuration spell (who takes Spell Focus (Conjuration)?) that allows a Will save to negate it, allows for spell resistance, and lasts only 1 round per caster level. Oh, and the VC command to restart the concealment is already in the game for those shadow children affected (pc tool shadowfix). I'm adding a message to the spell script to make sure shadow children affected know about the VC command.

If you're thinking about PvP in the Bloodsand Pit...that's up to players to work around.J ust like other area of effect spells (like fireball, ice storm, etc.), casters will have to be careful about hitting friendly allies with the spell (since it will affect even the caster if he/she is in the area of effect and fails the save).

OK.. all sounds good... and I was thinking that the other subrace advantages *could* be overcome in various ways with some thought put behind them... such as fighting a winged being underground, a +2 weapon, the slow spell, having an ioun stone of air and having an underwater fight (not negating but maybe equalling the battle), fighting during the day.. etc etc...

With some thought put behind it I guess the game was actually bias *towards* shadowchildren in this respect that there was previously no way to cancel thier concealment (other then true seeing).... ...

Sorry about an undeserved complaint, guess I was having a really really bad day yesterday.... ...

RustyDios wrote:and now I suppose I need to do some more rustic coloured scrolls, thats
14 new spells (the ones above and mount), only for the players of Aenea

Always keeping you on your toes, ain't I?

The Amethyst Dragon wrote:

RustyDios wrote:and now I suppose I need to do some more rustic coloured scrolls, thats
14 new spells (the ones above and mount), only for the players of Aenea

Always keeping you on your toes, ain't I?

Um, yes please!

Updated hak with coloured scrolls for Aenea's 14 new spells has been added to the vault here

Enjoy !!

RustyDios wrote:Updated hak with coloured scrolls for Aenea's 14 new spells has been added to the vault here

Enjoy !!

I can just download the file into my NWN hak folder and I'm good to go?

Svair wrote:

RustyDios wrote:Updated hak with coloured scrolls for Aenea's 14 new spells has been added to the vault here

Enjoy !!

I can just download the file into my NWN hak folder and I'm good to go?

Nope. You'll have to download it, open your cep2_custom.hak file in the NWHak program (it's found in your NWN directory), and put the image files in. Then'll you'll be able to see them in-game.

Some good stuff here.

Three thoughts:

1. If you *must* have a spell to conceal alignments, and that spell essentially counters a class feature... then you need a higher level spell to counter the concealment, and also either give that class the higher level detection spell or make the concealment spell use a check of some sort. A level 10 evil PC under a concealing spell should be able to be detected by a level 15+ caster or paladin.

2. Telemus Arcanum opens the possibility of the Warlock class.

3. With Meteor Swarm now doing half physical damage, which is subject to damage reduction, the increased damage cap combined with the reflex for half still keeps the spell below Horrid Wilting in effectiveness. Yes, you can possibly do 5d8 more than horrid wilting/hypothermia, however, the damage gets reduced by 2 different defenses and the reflex save allows the damage to be automatically halved, or avoided entirely by improved evasion... both of which do not apply in the case of horrid wilting/hypothermia. With physical damage introduced, I propose the spell use a system similar to Phoenix's Frigid Bolts, and remove the save altogether. High enough touch AC can still make it miss, but if it doesnt, then there would be no nerfing due to multiple resistances combining with automatic halving of the damage.

Warlocks would make me happy. I consider them one of the easiest ways to introduce new players to the concept of playing a spellcaster in PnP. They don't exist in 3.0, though, so that's a bit of a problem.

Maeglin Dubh wrote:Warlocks would make me happy. I consider them one of the easiest ways to introduce new players to the concept of playing a spellcaster in PnP. They don't exist in 3.0, though, so that's a bit of a problem.

Thats true, but neither do some of the Aenean PrC's

Just a note - the website's number of custom spells on the front page could use a bit of updating. It lists 94, and I believe there are more currently.