Newbie would like help with words

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These are used in walkthroughs:
buff spells dmg spells
tanks scouth
hof

 

You're right to be mad as I'm always mad when there is no abbreviation explanation in public stuff. Anyway, this is what I know and think:

buff spells
- ??? Beats me, never heard of these, but since buff means polish, I guess buff spells are spells that polish your hero so he gets so slippery that noone can grab him/her.

dmg spells
- Easy! Spells that inflict damage.

tanks
- Vehicles used in WW1 and WW2 (WW - world war).
- In Fallout2 and some other games = containers.
- Jailcells in BG2 and IWD2 - you'll see some of these, IIRC there is illithid tank in IWD2.

scouth
- Excuse me, but I don't think this is an english word.

hof
- Heart of Fury mode available in IWD2 only when you finish the game at least once. Allows you to boost your characters up to level 30, however it's played on the hardest game difficulty.

Anyway, in this case I'm with you, if the walkthrough author can't explain abbreviations in few lines, how can he explain the whole game then?

 

Buff spells are pells that buff up your attributes(like eagles splendor or bulls strength)

 

Um, I know that my english sucks, but I always thought that it's "beef up" not "buff up"? Or I use the lame dictionary...

The dictionary I use is from Princeton University, it's freeware version is downloadable here:
http://wordweb.info/

 

It is pretty much just the way we talk. It means what jesper898 said. What can I say, english just isn't english anymore!

 

Tank -> biggest fighter that you have in your party. The one with the largest Hp (hit points) and the best attack rolls etc. Usually means a monk or dwarf fighter.

scouth -> FIIK. (f*cked if i know) what context is it used in?? you should be able to figure it out.

 

Personnaly I there are two different types of tanks:

Killers: These characters have good hp, but more importantly can kill anything in the game, allowing other people to hide behind them and do whatever the want. Best character for this is most likely the monk

Meat Sheilds: These characters have only one purpose in life, to make sure that every single enemy attacks them so that the mages can cast spells and thiefs can use sneak attack.
best character would be barb(ie in nwn, take dmg reduction, loads of parry, regeneration, and more damage soak items, and any item that gives constiton bonus)

 

scouth? You probably mean Scout. This is a character who recons the area, so you are less likely to stumble over monsters. Most commonly used scouts are rangers and rogues, though it can be done by anyone who is able to hide in shadows.

 

"Buff" comes from buffer -to add padding or protection between two items. When you buff-up you're increasing the protection of your PCs against the NPCs. So buff spells are Bless, Barkskin and other protection spells that you cast before going into battle.

 

Extremists first reply was quite funny!

A comment in the debate about how fantasy images are stereotypes of the hero and his/her body?

Tanks have been used in many other wars.

Seriously though, the basic meaning of tank in these games is a character who can take lots of punishment, i.e. he/she has very good defense and plenty of HP's.
By "tanking" a "tank" buys time for the characters who have a good offense, but weak defense - like spellcasters - to get off their powerful attacks in relative peace.

- Buffs
Capt. Tripps and Jesper898 are both right. IMO (In My Opinion) buff spells are those that in any way can pump up your hero's capabilities, be they defensive or offensive.

 

Really?

I guess then that buff spells include spells that can summon an ally which is "a character who can take lots of punishment".
Also I bet that tank spells are spells that pump up your hero's capabilities.

Yes, I'm trying to be funny and sarcastic here, and not because I don't understand those words (I do know what they mean), but because if you're using them in publically released material, you should explain their meaning.

IIRC every single game manual in this world explains what is NPC, noone expects from player to know it before reading the manual. When you're using an uncommon word that is not explained with the manual or within the game, what do you expect from people? You know pretty well that Elder Brain in IWD2 actually *is* inside a tank. Does that mean your party consists from (example):
- a bard,
- a rougue,
- and two elder brains with legs?

I bet you'd get better response if you've used Arnold and Sly instead of "tanks". Oddly noone asked where to buy those WW2 tanks and where to find fuel for them. Um, at least not yet. But if anyone asked this, would that be a stupid person or a stupid person is that one who expects from people to read someone's mind?

Anyway, excuse me for my bragging, but isn't it really strange that a person who actually speaks english since born asks for explanation on this wording?
Or perhaps people in New Zealand don't speak english?

 

Not really, "dmg" and "hof" are not words in English, acronyms and abbreviations...

Of course people won't know these terms without explanation. You're right though, we should be more careful with our meanings. Helps us understand each other, ti znash...