Older versions archive part 5: Shadow Thieves

I'm testing the new beta enhancements now. One thing I noticed were the priests of mask throwing melf's minute meteors at ally Shadow Thieves.

This, I suspect, will be tough.

I'm testing the new beta enhancements now. One thing I noticed were the priests of mask throwing melf's minute meteors at ally Shadow Thieves.

Already fixed, it was just a slight glitch in defining the LastSeenBy() target.


BTW, I'm nearly finished with the guild umprovements. I'm just doing some routine tests and checks right now, and balancing the encounter (read: toning it down Although I've removed all of his 'extra' stats that were put there by Bioware (his DEX, Thac0 and HP were too good), properly recreated his classes (he was actually multi classed) and even replaced his Elven armor +1 with a standard suit of Elven chain (so that he can now actually wear his Ring of Protection +2) his new AI makes him pretty tough. Aran now dual wields the Dagger of Venom and the improved SSOB (yes, this means that Bodhi lovers can now get this fine weapon as well, and earlier than the do-gooders to boot ). He no longer casts 'Summon Cacofiend' since the demons proved to be too unreliable and often blocked the doorway for the other characters during my testing. Instead, he will now cast Black Blade of Disaster (from a scroll) which completely turns the tables IMHO...


As Aran now has PfMW, Mislead and Improved Haste in his spell trigger, every one of his 4 attacks per round is considered a backstab! And what a backstab it is...I've seen him do 200+ damage at times while he is wielding the BBOD An amazing spell indeed, but that's not all there is to Aran. He will try to re-cast Protection From Magical Weapons whenever he looses it (as a lvl 14 Mage he has three of those) and he uses a couple of potions (Magic Blocking, Rogue Strength...) before the battle as well. Also, he is a fairly decent mage and his Chaos/Confusions/Feebleminds are not to be underestimated.


BTW, you'll have to be very careful around his inner sanctum now since it's littered with poison arrow/dispelling arrow/floor spike traps and they ALL reset until disarmed, meaning that it is possible activate a trap more than once! This stands true for most of the other traps that I've placed in the guild as well, so watch your step and bring along a skilled thief to remedy this. The other guild characters have been kept at relatively low levels as I mentioned, the notable exceptions being 'mini bosses' like Haz, Booter and Dedral. Some of them had to be toned down a bit though (i.e. Dedral was defined by Bioware as a lvl 21 Fighter), since I wanted all of the guild characters (including the bosses and Aran) to fit under the old SoA XP cap (2.95 million XP). So, don't expect any of them to use ToB abilities or any non-standard SoA items. There is also no extra treasure to be gained in the improved guild, well except for Aran's SSOB and the generic +1 and +2 items, potions and wands which some of the regular thieves wield.


Anyway, as already noted, I'm finishing up the encounter and creating a new version of the distribution archive. You can expect mod revision 2.40 to be ready in a couple of days.

I actually just spawned ARAN02 on his own to test his effectiveness. Indeed, he's extremely deadly, but one dispel will slow him down and negate his improved invisibility status. Without using any dispel/true sight spells, he--on his own-- killed my entire party via backstabs. With those spells he's less effective but nonetheless deadly as he relies on his remaining spells/potions.

Now I'll run through the guild with an average party. So far, I've been killed at the lower level entrance each and every time! However, I used a tank only melee combat approach which works throughout the game. A tank party will find these encounters difficult; I'd like to see that silent and deadly operative of Bodhi--namely Valen-- fight her way through now.

*Gets back to beta testing*.

One other thing: I think the assassins in the lower guildhall should wear darker colors. Assassins would wear clothing that helps them blend with the night.

Longinus wrote:

I actually just spawned ARAN02 on his own to test his effectiveness. Indeed, he's extremely deadly, but one dispel will slow him down and negate his improved invisibility status. Without using any dispel/true sight spells, he--on his own-- killed my entire party via backstabs. With those spells he's less effective but nonetheless deadly as he relies on his remaining spells/potions.

He works a better alongside the cohorts which I have placed in his chamber, especially the Mage and the Priestess of Mask help him out a bit. There are some nasty traps in that area as well.

Now I'll run through the guild with an average party. So far, I've been killed at the lower level entrance each and every time! However, I used a tank only melee combat approach which works throughout the game

Shear melee might nor work out that well. Try casting some mind affecting spells (i.e. Chaos, Confusion, Domination...) on the rogues, since most of them are low level characters their saving throws are quite easy to beat. Also, most of the rogues use normal (mundane) weapons so summoning a (Lesser) Fire Elemental or casting Protection From Normal Weapons will stop them cold.

One other thing: I think the assassins in the lower guildhall should wear darker colors. Assassins would wear clothing that helps them blend with the night.

Eh? I actually have changed their colors to pitch black/dark green in the semi-final beta, although this probably didn't take effect if you had already visited that area. It seams that once again IE limitations dictate that a new game has to be started...

I have just uploaded revision 2.40 of my Rogue ReBalancing mod which now contains all of my Shadow Thief Improvements including the newly enhanced ST Guild and Aran Linvail battles. For more details check this thread

Since I have created a new sticky for the ST Improvements component this thread will be closed to avoid confusion. Post any comments, suggestions and bug reports about this mod in the new thread.