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(Spoiler) Black Wizards/Orc Brutes

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Script Wrecked:
(BTW, where you see "I", nine times out of ten, you can substitute "my character"; however, "I" is much quicker to type.)

After meeting Xora in her tower for the first time, I meet a black wizard out side and get whisked away to the Black Wizards' tower to have a conflab. At the end of the conversation, they don't whisk me back. Now, this wouldn't normally be a problem, because, hey, I enjoy a good walk, but, in this case, the only way back entails a jaunt through "Orc Brute" territory. The problem is, the Orc Brutes thump me, thump me good, thump me dead.

I think you can see my point; not having initially travelled through an area to get to the Black Wizards' Tower, I now have to travel back through an area that is too tough for me.

It seems to me, either the Black Wizards should whisk me back from whence they whisked me, or the Orc Brutes are too tough. Or I am doing something totally incorrectly, and need advise.

BTW, my character is a third level bard, and has the dwarven henchman.

Talan Va'lash:
3rd level? hm I see precisely your point.

If at some point in the future I have the opportunity to release a patch I'll make these encounters more scalable. Right now they don't scale down far enough for a 3rd level PC.

For now, I advise trying to slip past them... only to return and wreak your bloody vengence later when they least expect it.

Armin:
Let me add right more of the same...

*** HEAVY SPOILERS ***

For a non-linear mod it takes WAY too long to notice if one is on a path not suited for one's level. Half an hour into a quest or AFTER I stepped through a one-way door is too late.

Two examples I ran into:

The pirate quest. I need to have a looong walk south for some potion, a naval battle with some orc pirates (no trouble so far), a loong walk across some island and underwater caves only to notice that the captain who had registered as only "very difficult" (usually doable) is in fact *completely* undoable as he's obviously equipped with some totally insane whip of utter doom and mass destruciton +12 (kills both me and the henchman in 2-3 hits). Had only 2 options - reload a saved game and forfeit at least 30 minutes of game time or give up the quest (switching sides not being an option from a roleplaying PoV). So I cowsfromhelled the sucker only to notice that I can't even pry that whip of utter doom and mass destruction +12 from his cold, dead hands.
Two things that I'd suggest:
- in a non-linear mod a level 7 fighter (that's what Hrolf is) should be a level 7 fighter and NOT have the feats of a level 7 weapon master (ki critical, weapon of choice), a 1st level assassin (death attack) and a 10th level fighter (10 picked feats alltogether) - AND the stats of... acually, no idea... what HAS a strength AND dex of 24??? When I don't know what to expect I at least expect the enemies to be fair :P
- there needs to be an earlier indication that I'm in over my head and an easy way to bail out and pick up later. Being caught red-handed in the treasure cave ain't it ;)

Second example: I step through some "moon gate" in the blackfeather foothills only to find that there's no way back. I kill some branch golems (tough but doable), climb a cliff (one-way AGAIN) to find myself faced with ice spirits that cast cone of cold AND ice storm at me in numbers. Almost undoable, but after a 45 minute game of lure, save and reload in case of accident I got 'em all just to notice that the only way out if through a roadblock "spirit guardian" who AGAIN has illegal feats for his class level (9 barbarian) like weapon of choice, ki critical, EPIC toughness (those feats are called EPIC feats for a reason!!!), excellent equipment that's not dropped and just plain one-hit-kills my brown bear companion with his first attack. General note: enemies with keen two-handed greataxes and improved critical: greataxe are just plain mean anyway even if everything else about them is NOT plain out of bounds.

Sorry if I sound a bit frustrated, but that's exactly what I am atm. I'm going to quit and play a mod that's more entertaining and less running into walls...

Thanks for sharing this mod anyway, even if it's completely not my pice of cake.

Talan Va'lash:
Thank you for your candid report.

It seems like some of the creatures are balanced more with a PW/multiplayer mindset. That is not the intent and I will revisit the creatures and quests that you mention.

Lalaith Va'lash:
*** SPOILERS ***
  As Talan said, thank you for your report.I do hopefor the possibility of a re-release with amore balanced creatures and I'm sorry this was frustrating.
  On the priate quest there is the possibility of switching sidesto get you out. Though for RP reason you did not (props for that). The creatures in this quest should admittedly be a bit easier, as it is inNorth Point where the PC generally reaches earlier in the game.
  As for the Blackfeather Mountains moongate however, To be fair, Xora does warn you about the dangers of this place. She states somthing like:
  "I should warn you about Blackfeather Mountains though... you will be hard pressed to find many willing to travel there with you. Too many have heard the story of The Shaman of Blackfeather Mountains to take steps to close."
  You also recieve a journal entry that specifies how dangerous the mountains and the shaman are: "She warned me about the dangers of the mountains though, saying that many find the rumours of the shaman alone reason enough not to tread there."
  There is also an NPC in the North Point Library, who, when talking to her will give you a book. I know, there are a ton of books in the mod, but what makes this one speical is that an npc actually hands it to you. The book again details the dangers of the Shaman of the Blackfeather mountains, The Valley of the Moons, and I think even how those who go looking for the Shaman rarely ever come back.
  There is a fine line between: Artificially constructing a reason for a low level PC not to go there, when realistically they can in a non-linear module (even if it meant death) and trying to balance the creatures to be challenging at higher levels. Perhaps more warning? Or perhaps the Shaman should not give you the quest if you are not of high enough level to successfully walk the dangerous path? It will be looked into.
  2 Quick notes:
  1. If you didn't meet the Shaman to get the key to the moongate, this isa bug, and I can understand then that there wasn't warning. You shouldn't be able to get the key without speaking to the Shaman. I'm pretty sure we fixed that though.
  2. The Spirit guardian does drop the armour he wears ;)
  All in all, I'll admit, in a non-linear situation, it would be easy to miss those clues. Your situation reminds me of BGII when I got stuck in the Planar Sphere at way to low of level, needed to fight the same battle 20 times at a chance of getting out.
  But again, thanks for the comments, I wish you luck in finding the type of mod you are looking for.
  Lalaith

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