Help: Having secret door trouble...

Remove all ads!

I can't seem to reveal secret doors very often, even when I know they're there. Here's my current party:

Human Lv 6 Paladin
Half-Orc Lv 6 Fighter
Human Lv 5 Druid / Lv 1 Rogue
Dwarf Lv 5 Cleric / Lv 1 Fighter
Elf Lv 6 Wizard

So far, I'm loving this party. Lots of great tanking, lots of great spells (the Druid's Produce Flame spell is excellent). But I wonder if having only a single level of Rogue in the entire party is what's hurting me. I've even tried crafting my Druid/Thief a +6 Intelligence Band (a boost from 13 Int, making it 19) and she still isn't noticing a secret door that I knew from previous experience is there. Her search skill is 10.5 right now, still nothing. I'm aware that only rogues can detect secret doors.

Even when I was in the moathouse, and I opened the pillar in the zombie room, the ladder didn't show up (despite moving the panel, you'd think I would have seen it). Same with when I went to the basement into the ghoul catacomb. I've done concentrated search checks ad nauseum in both of these places, no dice.

A few questions:

1. What am I doing wrong? I find it hard to believe that I'm that unlucky - I must be messing up somehow.

2. I'm considering adding a few more Rogue levels to my druid (maximum of 3 rogue levels, to take advantage of the extra sneak attack damage), but I don't want to sacrifice her 5th level spells to it. If the 5th level druid spells aren't all that special, I won't worry about it. Any advice here would be helpful. I really thought a single rogue level would suffice, because in my last few play-throughs, my Rogue/Bard was by far my least-used character.

3. What if I added a single Rogue level to my Wizard, and dumped all the skill points from that level into Search? As an elf, she'd already get a natural search bonus, and with such a high Int, her search skill would go through the roof. This wouldn't sacrifice any spells for her, though it may effect her item crafting ability. Does your character have to be a level 10 caster to make the really good items, or just level 10 total?

4. Hypothetical - what if I were to add 3 levels of Rogue to the Wizard? It would sacrifice 5th level spells if I did. What are the good spells I would miss out on, and would it be worth it?

5. Upon leveling up my Wizard, I noticed that "Find Secret Doors" is a selectable spell. It always seemed like a waste to me, but now I'm wishing I had it. This would probably solve my problems - is there a scroll for this spell available anywhere in the game, so I can learn it?

[ July 28, 2006, 22:58: Message edited by: Death Rabbit ]

 

Finding hidden doors is a Search check. I'd guess that no one in your group has a high enough search modifier to meet the DC of the doors?

One of the mods that is integrated into the Co8 mod at this point is Livonya's mod, which attempted to make rogues a more viable class by raising many of the DCs of things that relate to a rogue's abilities. Something simply can't be done without a high level rogue (with many ranks in search, open lock and disable trap).

 

Just let your elf walk by an suspected secret door. He (or she?) should detect it automatically.

 

According to 3rd edition rules, an Elf gets an automatic spot check when he comes in range of a secret door, whether he/she was looking for it or not. But if spot isn't high enough, the Elf won't find the secret door.

It's been a while since I last played ToEE, and it's possible that they implemented this differently, but I'm pretty sure that they didn't.

Assuming they followed the rules, your Elf would only locate the door with a sufficiently high spot check.

By the way, I ammend my previous comment when I said finding a hidden door was a "search" check, it's actually a "spot" check.

 

You're right.

But in 3.5, it's a search check.

 

I think my search was just too low.

I ended up going with option 3, and gave a single rogue level to my elf wizard. I dumped like 6 points into search immediately, added a few points later as levels progressed, and once I gave her a headband of intellect +6, and I've immediately noticed every secret door since.

What sucks, though, is that I guess once you fail the search, you fail it forever. I went back to the old places (the moathouse, and the secret passageway on level 3 of the temple that connects to the ruined tower) and the passageways still won't show. It's not game-ruining, however.

Edit - to settle the dispute over whether it's a spot or a search check - I'm almost certain it's search. I didn't add ANY spot points to my wizard/rogue, and began seeing secret doors like crazy. Plus, the info panel within the game clearly says it's a search check. Must be a 3.5 thing.

 

It's said that when you're answering a question on an exam, your first impulse is generally correct. That logic certainly applies in this case, as I first stated it was a search check, and did so without a second thought.

The spot check idea I think came from too much thinking on my part, after the fact. Actually I think the thought came from a DM I sometimes player pen and paper D&D with who sometimes has players make spot checks to find secret doors.

Re-reading the 3rd edition rules, this should absolutely be a search check, not a spot check. So, I'm hereby ammending my ammendment and sticking with what I said the first time around!

 

Well, it does make more logical sense. When you "search" for something, it means you're actively looking. When you "spot" something, it means you notice it unintentionally. So I can see how you'd think that. I actually thought that's how it was originally.

 

There is also a bug which prevents search from working. There is no known cause for it and once it happens, it 'infects' all old games and new games on that particular install.

The only known fix is to delete all save games.

A workaround can be found by using the console to teleport if you know the co-ordinates of the places you should be able to gain access to.

Be aware of this as if this is the bug (and to me it sounds like it) it can have an effect on how the game plays out for you.