Icewind Dale II Forum Update

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(Originally posted by Tiamat)

Doug Avery, Associate Producer

Interface Graphics: I like the new character record screen and I really like the new inventory screen. My favorite things about the new interface, graphically at least, are the new icons that Brian Menze is doing. He just finished up the last of them today and they are superb.

Update: You guys are assuming that we are updating today. I said sometime this week.
Actually, we are updating today, but the screenshots of the interface will have to wait as it is still being finalized. I have two new portraits, an updated FAQ, an updated feats list, updated character races and sub-races and a sampling of some of our skills. I will update the site again with screenshots when the interface is ready. This should happen this week, but it hinges upon a number of factors.

Armor: Hide and Scale are in now.

J.E. Sawyer, Lead Designer

Fighter Feats: Fighters can't take Spirit of Flame, Lingering Song, or Improved Turning, because they don't meet the prerequisites for the feats. Just because a character "theoretically" has access to a feat does not mean they can buy it whenever they want to.

Deep Gnome Abilities: Deep gnomes have the ability to shape stone with their hands.

New Feats: I haphazardly updated the feats list.
You may notice a few feats (Riddlemaster feats, Death Blow, Shapeshifting Flammery) are gone. You're right!
However, the shapeshifting forms will probably be just additional shapes that the druid naturally gets.

Skill/point List: I updated the skill list/point list.

Ghostwise Halfling and Rage: When a ghostwise halfling is using rage, he or she certainly could have a 20 strength. When using improved rage, he or she could have a 22 strength. Of course, additional ability score points gained every four levels can raise this as well.

Untrained Skills: You can use almost all skills except Use Magic Device and Wilderness Lore untrained. Yes, I know that WL should be usable untrained, but it's only function in-game is tracking. Rangers start with the Track feat for free, allowing them to put points into WL. Other classes have to buy it.

The armor in the new Paladin portrait: Actually, it's plate armor that came straight out of a picture of historical plate armor

IWD2 Accents: Actually, most of the characters in IWD2 with VO have accented voices. The drow characters have VO that sounds sort of Spanishy/Eastern Europeany. Rural tundra natives have a somewhat Swedishy/general Scandy-accent.
So, you'd rather hear exotic races from all over a fantasy game world all talking with neutral American accents?
These V.O. scripts aren't for a world-wide audience. They're for the U.S. and other English-speaking countries. Every time the V.O. gets translated, it all the V.O. is re-recorded.
I don't know any American who talks like the woman in mystery.wav. I don't know any Eastern European who talks like Nym. Both actors were told that their characters had accent blends.
Personally, it annoys me to extreme ends when I play games where my characters encounter weird, foreign races, and hear them talk to me like they're reading off the 11:00 news.

Manuals: Baby boxes are becoming the new industry standard. The IWD2 manual is LARGE. If it were spiral bound, it would not fit in the baby box. Sorry. RPGs are the only games that really suffer because of the baby box movement.
They will both have the same info, but the CE will be spiral bound. That's my understanding, anyway.

Drow Colors: In the Forgotten Realms, drow were originally from an equatorial region on the surface. After they went into hideytowne, they got their white hair. However, they always had black skin.

Raising Stats: Many items raise attributes. You also get free ability score points every four levels.

Point buy and buying magical weapons in the first store: It's no less autocratic than deciding that people will be able to play tieflings and aasimar, but won't be able to play genasi. It's no less autocratic than deciding that there will be +1 versions of weapons available in the first store, but not +3 versions of weapons. It's no less autocratic than deciding your characters will be able to go to Targos, but won't be able to go to Bryn Shander.

I've explained time and time again why die rolling in IE games is nothing like die rolling in PnP. It's a randomized point pool -- a randomized point pool that a player is allowed to "re-roll" hundreds of times more than any PnP DM would ever let them. Point buy with a fixed point pool is implemented as 1) an element of gameplay (you are restricted to the points you have, so allocating them is, strangely enough, a process that requires thought) and 2) as a an element of balance. The more controlled the range of ability scores, the more likely it is that we can balance our game for a larger group of players. Adding a "die-rolling" option (randomized point pool would be the accurate name for that) wrecks those goals.

I'm sure there are some people who might want +3 weapons available in the first town for 100 gp a pop. That doesn't mean we should put them in there. There's a difference between listening to fans and pandering to fans. When fans have good ideas, yes, they should be listened to and contemplated. When fans have requests -- requests that are at odds with requests from OTHER fans -- well, of course you can't just do everything every person asks you to do. Requests have to be evaluated for feasibility and gain. While adding a randomized point pool is certainly feasible, I believe it compromises the goals of the majority of people who want point buy. I've stated and repeated the three most oft-heard complaints about IWD1, but I'll do it again:

* It takes too long to generate characters
* It's too hard
* It's too easy

Static point buy dramatically reduces the time it takes to generate characters, and makes the difficulty of the game more uniform between players. Judging from how QA has been playing through the game, it seems very obvious to me that IWD2 will not have the wild fluctuations in difficulty that plagued the original game and HoW. Remember: this is not a pen and paper D&D game.

PnP feel and uncontested re-rolls: The primary reason is familiarity. Even though the rules are not implemented to the letter, many of them are implemented at least in spirit. Players know that elves can resist sleep spells, halflings are good at being sneaky, and armor makes it hard to hit something.

However, there are a lot of rules that present potent problems in a CRPG environment. Most of these rules revolve around what I call "uncontested re-rolls". I've actually discussed this a great deal with Dave Maldonado, who has very strong opinions on the subject. In a PnP RPG, there are many situations where a player rolls a die or dice for a particular result, and that result cannot be re-rolled, cannot be immediately re-rolled, or a botch/critical failure results in immediate dire consequences.

In a CRPG, most of these situations can be avoided through the use of uncontested re-rolls. Blow that roll to disarm a trap? Just re-load it and try again. Fail to memorize your spell? Just re-load and try it again. Didn't get the HP you wanted on level up? Just re-load and try it again. Failed to pickpocket that dude, thereby enraging the town? Just re-load and try it again. Don't like those six ability scores you rolled up? Just click again. FOREVER.

The situations where a player cannot use uncontested re-rolls are usually situations where there are so many other random elements flying around that they cannot simply isolate that one check. Perfect example: almost all battles. My opinion is that any situation where a player could make an uncontested re-roll should be re-worked so that there is no random element after the level is loaded for that particular game.

Blow that check to disarm a trap? Raise your Disable Device skill, find a way around the trap, or set it off and accept the consequences. Fail to memorize your spell? No, you didn't -- just remove the check. Didn't get the HP you wanted on level up? Forget that. Just set it to max. Failed to pickpocket that dude? You don't make him hostile, but you simply fail to pick his or her pocket. Raise your skill and try again later. Don't like those six ability scores you rolled up? Here, take these 16 points and add them to 10 in each stat.

Uncontested re-rolls have a tendency to make player choice impotent. If you can make uncontested re-rolls to disarm a trap, it doesn't matter if your rogue put two points in Disable Device or eighteen. A DM isn't there to scold you or force you to deal with your choices. When the possibility for uncontested re-rolls is removed from gameplay, player choice is much more important. When your rogue with eighteen ranks in Disable Device strolls down the hall, there aren't going to be many traps that he or she cannot disarm. Feel good about that, Mr. or Ms. Player. You made character choices that result in easy success over the challenges your character was designed to overcome. When your strong fighter does epic damage to a target, feel like you made a good decision, Mr. or Ms. Player; you chose to put a lot of your points in strength.

A failed pickpocket will result in a message that reads, "You are not skilled enough to pick the target's pocket." If you reload and try it again, you will receive a message that reads, "You are not skilled enough to pick the target's pocket." If you do something like use the Tymora bard song, have Cat's Grace cast on you, or raise in level, you may be able to pick the target's pocket.

Set Traps: The ghostwise halfling's ability is a unique power that they alone use. They have the power because they lack the PnP ghostwise halfling's ability to communicate with other halflings using crazy telepathic junk. Basically, you pick where you want the halfling to place his or her trap and he or she throws a little skull (like skull trap) at the spot. When a creature walks over the skull, it explodes into a mini-Entangle. It's pretty useful, but not mind-boggling in its power. Oh, and remember -- the ghostwise halfling's favored class is barbarian, not rogue.

Races: These are the races in IWD2 (slightly revised)
Aasimar (-1 level), FC: Paladin
Dwarf, Gold, FC: Fighter
Dwarf, Gray (-2 levels), FC: Fighter
Dwarf, Shield, FC: Fighter
Elf, Dark (-2 levels), FC: Wizard
Elf, Moon, FC: Wizard
Elf, Wild, FC: Sorcerer
Gnome, Deep (-3 levels), FC: Illusionist
Gnome, Rock, FC: Illusionist
Half-Elf, FC: Highest
Half-Orc, FC: Barbarian
Halfling, Ghostwise, FC: Barbarian
Halfling, Lightfoot, FC: Rogue
Halfling, Strongheart, FC: Rogue
Human, FC: Highest
Tiefling (-1 level), FC: Rogue

Attributes affecting dialogue: That aside, there are opportunities in IWD2 where you can step up and intimidate enemies by essentially saying, "HELLO, MAYBE YOU SHOULD THINK BEFORE ATTACKING US, SINCE WE KILLED ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS WHO WERE REALLY NOT THAT WIMPY COMPARED TO YOU."

Racial Enemies:
Bugbears
Driders
Giants
Goblins
Harpies
Hook Horrors
Lizard Men
Ogres
Orcs
Salamanders
Shapeshifters
Trolls
Umber Hulks
Undead
Wyverns
Feyrs aren't included on the hated enemy list because there aren't that many of them in the game.

Goblins: You've already seen the goblins on worgs, haven't you? They're no pushovers.
Maybe this guy can tell you about it.
They are, from left to right: goblin axeman, goblin archer, elite goblin axeman, elite goblin archer, goblin caster, goblin captain, and goblin w/worg.
Goblins are usually very cowardly and selfish. They are as intelligent as humans, but not as strong. They are often bullied around by orcs and bugbears, but it takes strong leadership to keep them together when trouble arises. While most human cultures would rather stand and fight than run, goblins are typically quite content to creep off of the battlefield at the first sight of resistance.

Kevin Osburn, Line Producer

Mp3 Sampling: We will probably release an .mp3 sampling of the music sometime in the future.
Not sure yet, we will of course try to release an entire track.

Dual-Wielding: Yes Dual-Wielding is in, and it will stay in.

Dave Maldonado, Designer

The Interface: No actual problems, just some functionality additions and aesthetic tweaks. I won't make any promises (or even estimates) as to when it'll be ready - I'll leave that dangerous business up to Wolf n' friends (^_^) - but I will say I was talking to one of the artists yesterday about some more buttons recently being crammed in, and the skill/ability icons are being redone as the spell and item icons were...

Success and failure based on abilities: If the NPC makes his or her spot check and goes hostile, WHOOPS IT'S TIME FOR ME TO RELOAD... and you've got scumming again.
Of course, there are ways around it... design the game so that PC's can escape from angry shopkeepers (or what have you) and later return when they will no longer be recognized... but heck, that's a whole other thread for a whole other game at this point.
I'm personally more inclined to have players live with the consequences of bad choices rather than bad dice rolls.
When lucks hands someone his or her arse in PnP, I think most blame the dice/fate/"dumb-arse Fred because he touched my dice," not the DM or game rules. In a CRPG, though, I think players tend to get frustrated with the game directly: "Time to reload, stupid game; thanks for wasting my time."
Eliminating such both rewards players for making good choices/decisions as well as teaches players how to avoid making poor choices/decisions in the future (rather than showing them how bad luck can ruin their adventure) - in other words, shows them how to become better/more proficient players. All this and no more goofy, immersion-breaking reload-fest - it's WIN-WIN!!!

Damien Foletto, Junior Designer

Evil hide armor: You'll have to wait and see, but there are varied hide armors in the game.

Fighters and Charisma: Well, you can set your CHA to 14, which gives you a +2 to the modifier, then choose the skills Diplomacy, Bluff, and Intimidate when you level up. This should give you the better reactions in the game, even for a fighter. It's not really necessary to min/max your fighter to make him effective. I've got an aasimar fighter (named Bort) in my #1 slot with a 16 STR, 12 DEX, 16 CON, 10 INT, 12 WIS, and 14 CHA (aasimar's get the WIS and CHA bonuses). He does really well in dialogs, and, to further enhance him, I will take a level or two of Rogue, when he levels, so I can jack up his Diplomacy and Bluff skills even more. Very effective.
CHA will play a roll, but only as the relevant modifier applies. A dialog check for the above example would be a skill check based off, let's say, Diplomacy. So, if your character needs at least 6 Diplomacy points to get the optimal dialog choice, then the program looks at the protagonist’s Diplomacy skill and adds in his CHA modifier. Example - if the protagonist has 4 points in Diplomacy and a 16 CHA (+3 modifier), then his total is 7 - thus letting him/her get the optimal dialog choice.

Religion: Yes, religion will play a role, if the protagonist is able to choose a religion upon character creation - like clerics. And yes, there are dialog responses catered to paladins as well. As for paladins choosing a deity, I'm actually unsure. I'll look into it and get back to you.
When I say "protagonist," I do mean the character that is doing the conversing. Generally, that's the person in the #1 slot. However, we are looking into implementing a feature that lets the player choose their own protagonist and that person will always do the talking for the party, no matter what position in the line-up. It's not yet in the game, but it is something that is being looked into by the programmers.

Playing the game, XP in HoF mode and number of characters: Oh, I'm not playing the game in my off time - it's a regular work day for me. At this stage, designers go through the game much like the testers do, with a focus on the areas we designed. Since we know what our areas are supposed to do, we can nit-pick until it's working the way we envisioned. It's also a great opportunity to check out the rest of the game and give feedback (and find bugs).
As for the HOF stuff, from what I understand, yes, the XP will be increased as compared to the "regular" mode. XP tables are constantly being tweaked for balance, and this should remain true through the next four weeks or so. It's all part of the testing process.
Lastly, if you're planning on going through the game with 4 or 5 characters, they should reach a very acceptable level by end game, even by your standards, I'm sure. I'm playing with a full 6 character party, using all the sub-races that have level penalties, and they reach kick-ass levels by mid to late game (comparatively speaking to the areas that they are in). Having a party consisting of 4 to 5 should really bump your XP. I know there are a few in QA who use parties of 4 to 5, so it is very doable - although very challenging.
If you don't want to use the feature, then don't. You don't have to select the protagonist, it's just an option. If you want to play the line-up like in IWD1, you can. It's all about options.

Auto-pause: Auto-pause is still in the game. We have no intention of taking it out.

Feargus Urquhart, President - Black Isle Studios

Magic Resistance: Yes it is in.

Wild Elf: The very rare wild elves are rarely seen by others, because they live in the heart of thick forests and they have incredible skill at keeping hidden. Also called green elves, their skin tends to be a dark brown, and their hair ranges from black to light brown, lightening to silvery white with age.
Advantages: +2 to Dexterity, +2 to Search, Immunity to Sleep and Charm spells, starts with the Feats Martial Weapons: Large Sword and Martial Weapons: Bows.
Disadvantages: -2 to Intelligence.
Favored Class: Sorcerer
Just looked in the PHB and they get both. The only real difference is the Favored Class - I think. JE is much better than me with all of the rule stuff.
More than 6 characters: It will only ever be six players in a party. Modifying the interface to support more as well as the code would be tantamount to asking the programmers if they would like a relaxing trip to the Middle East right now.

Level Cap: I'll answer the question as directly as possible. The level cap is going to be 30, this will be the sum of all class levels that a character has. In other words, you can be a 30th level monk or a 20th level fighter / 10th level rogue.
The only exception to this will be for Forgotten Realms races that have an ECL (Effect Character Level) that is greater than their normal character level, they will still will be able to advance to 30th level even though their ECL might be 31, 32 or 33. In other words our XP table goes through 33rd level, but this is only for purposes of the races that have an ECL that is not the same as their normal character level.
For all of the classes, we have just followed a logical progression to increase the levels from 20th to 30th level. In other words, we are not using the yet to be released Epic Levels Handbook.
To be honest, we have just continued the progression of things that can progress. Things like Barbarian's Rage and Rogue's Sneak Attack - they keep on increasing through 30th level. For Monk's fists, JE and I talked about just adding the top of the list to the bottom - in other words a Monk gets 1d20+1d6 for Unarmed Damage at 21st Level and 1d20+1d10 at 30th.
That's not a complete list - just a few to exemplify what we are doing.

Chad Nicholas, Scriptor

Party Average Charisma: Party Average Charisma (PAC) is not used in dialog checks. I'm not certain if it's going to be used to determine store prices since I have nothing to do with that.