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Any workups on magical efficiency? in Avernum 4
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Wednesday, December 21 2005 21:15 Profile Homepage #8
Heh. I actually meant Pure Spirit because I didn't realize Natural Mage gives Magical Efficiency. It either gives none at level 1 or that was changed after the earlier betas. Since my characters have both traits, I stopped distinguishing between them.

—Alorael, who remembers thinking that mages get a good deal with a 15% permissible encumberance increase. Priests get... well, they must be fond of self-torture in the name of piety.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Game Life in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Wednesday, December 21 2005 21:13 Profile Homepage #31
Because it gets a lot of action, he says. Well, okay. He gets action.

—Alorael, who would rather live somewhere peaceful and quiet and hope that nobody drops a building on it. Kneece sets a bad precedent.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Slightly Belated Celebratory Topic in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Wednesday, December 21 2005 21:05 Profile Homepage #20
This is actually a fancy front from militant grammar policing, spam busting, and harassment of ordinary members on the most specious grounds I can devise.

That's a black question mark for questioning authority, kuc.

?

I, on the other hand, get a regular question mark for not questioning the transformation of kuc into Ben.

—Alorael, who would like to know if there's a good way to type the curl symbol and, if so, if it will display on Spiderweb. [Edit: Or delta, which also doesn't display.]

[ Wednesday, December 21, 2005 21:29: Message edited by: Un-Spidwebian Activities Committee ]
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Slightly Belated Celebratory Topic in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Wednesday, December 21 2005 18:27 Profile Homepage #15
About 3.3 years if you post an average of 100 times more than I do each month, but that fluctuates. We shall just have to wait and see.

—Alorael, who will have to reach 100,000 first. That's the only solution.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Any workups on magical efficiency? in Avernum 4
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Wednesday, December 21 2005 18:24 Profile Homepage #5
The only acceptable source of Magical Efficiency is Natural Mage. Your mages should have that trait anyway, so they get some points of a useless skill for free!

—Alorael, who would much prefer Magical Efficiency if it were weaker (hard to imagine) and predictable.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Game Life in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Wednesday, December 21 2005 18:22 Profile Homepage #26
Homeland isn't mediocre. It's horrific.

—Alorael, who ordered his legions of Lost Souls to take Homeland and shipwreck it on an island somewhere on a distant planet. An island with no trees for lumber. Then a planet killer can come and vaporize the top five feet of the planet just to be safe.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
spoiler about Tor in tower in Avernum 4
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Wednesday, December 21 2005 18:20 Profile Homepage #3
The NPCs haven't aged uniformly. Time flows strangely in Avernum.

Commander Johnson's still there, though, and so is Tor's wife, who changed her name. Some old wizards are hanging around. Crisper is surprisingly stable, and Kelner is surprisingly still practicing magic despite all the disasters he lives through. There are a few others scattered here and there, but those are the memorable ones.

—Alorael, who wanted to know what happened to Aimee, Chevyn, and Anaximander. No such luck.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
The End is near... in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Wednesday, December 21 2005 18:16 Profile Homepage #11
The end of the world as we know it will be nukes. We've been sitting on Armageddon for for half a century now, and statistically speaking it will have to blow up eventually.

Either that or we'll somehow survive long enough to reach a Dying Earth existence in five billion years, give or take a billion. Won't Jack Vance be laughing then!

—Alorael, who is reminded of an entertaining flash animation about this very subject.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
If I Could Make My Own Fantasy Game... in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Wednesday, December 21 2005 18:06 Profile Homepage #34
Coldstone is an engine of sadness. Your heart feels like a stone in your chest and you are filled with cold sensations.
quote:

You know, this makes a good divider!

—Alorael, who may take to insert horizontal lines more often.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
spoiler about Tor in tower in Avernum 4
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Wednesday, December 21 2005 09:02 Profile Homepage #1
You're surprised that a secret projects receives secret messages? Tor is loyal to Fort Avernum. Don't worry about it.

—Alorael, who at least assumes Tor is loyal. Maybe he'll be the villain in A5!
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Significant spell upgrade bug in Avernum 4
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Wednesday, December 21 2005 08:58 Profile Homepage #2
This thread explains it.

—Alorael, who can say in brief that you can now buy two levels of spells any time. It doesn't matter whether you find them first or not.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Slightly Belated Celebratory Topic in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Wednesday, December 21 2005 08:56 Profile Homepage #8
Congratulations, Thuryl! You're 6000 valuable pieces of experience closer to passing your Turing test and becoming a real boy!

—Alorael, who gives permission for Thuryl to eat his meat on a bun on Friday.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Lost Dispel barrier Spell book in The Avernum Trilogy
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Tuesday, December 20 2005 21:01 Profile Homepage #6
There's also another source of Dispel Barrier at level 3 much later in the game, if I remember right.

—Alorael, who doesn't remember all that well because he used Ernest's book.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Longest Word in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Tuesday, December 20 2005 21:00 Profile Homepage #35
Oh, sure. Now you're claiming that translation can introduce changes that call the absolute, verbatim veracity of the Bible into question. It's too much!

—Alorael, who simpli can't biliive that anione could make such a mistake. It contridicts the will of G_d!
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Our Anthem in Richard White Games
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Tuesday, December 20 2005 19:59 Profile Homepage #18
According to the member of that choir who sent me the song, it was a matter of finding volunteers and then practicing until they could manage it without cracking up. Not that I think it's funny. There's a majestic grandeur to the nonsense suited to Richard White.

—Alorael, who will entertain no comments on Richard White, majestic grandeur, and possible errors.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Level 3 spells in Avernum 4
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Tuesday, December 20 2005 19:55 Profile Homepage #11
The Augmentation description lies. The amount of health gained is not dependent on caster stats, or at least not dependent in a way that makes any detectable difference when I tried training Mage skill and Spellcraft.

—Alorael, who isn't too disappointed. Augmentation is already in the running for most abusable spell, although Enduring Armor really wins that category hands down.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Longest Word in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Tuesday, December 20 2005 19:48 Profile Homepage #33
Let's not start taking English too literally. Then we'd have to worry about the implications of rape and rapture having the same etymological root. Is the Bible hiding something?

—Alorael, who is now getting distinct Cthulhu/Arctic feelings from the New Testament.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Game Life in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Tuesday, December 20 2005 19:44 Profile Homepage #3
If you think Lost Souls is futile, try Ocean Bound. Build a ship, wreck on an island, build another ship, wreck it again, repeat ad nauseum.

I think I'd to live during A4 in Avernum's surface holdings. Too many people get sick and/or eaten by monsters in the caves, but the surface is bright and sunny and Avernum lacks all the restrictions of the Empire.

Geneforge wouldn't be so bad, what with the creations to wait on you hand and foot, but all the rogues, uppity serviles, and rebellions might become a problem.

—Alorael, who actually thinks a strong case can be made for SubTerra. Sure, you risk life and limb, but you get rich! Rock Solid would be even better if it were actually a Spiderweb game.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
What would you do with a billion dollars? in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Tuesday, December 20 2005 15:33 Profile Homepage #63
quote:
Originally written by An array cat:

Also, on second thought I would like to use the money to build a super computer capable of artificial intelligence.
I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Aran.

—Alorael, whose moniker is especially appropriate for this, and who chose the moniker before seeing the quoted post.

[ Tuesday, December 20, 2005 15:34: Message edited by: Automated Posting Unit AL0-335 ]
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Longest Word in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Tuesday, December 20 2005 15:31 Profile Homepage #29
You'll notice that I already posted tryptophan synthetase A without posting the entire thing, which still isn't a word.

Hippopotomonstrosesquipedalia is another construct, but it contains the real long (though not record-breaking) word sesquipedalian, which means either a long word or tending to use such words.

I've seen semihemidemisemiquaver more often (it's relative...) than quasi-, and hemidemisemiquaver is the only one I've ever seen used seriously (old manuscript), butyes, it's a real word. On the other hand, it doesn't quite count, because you can keep adding halving prefixes until your musicians quit on you.

—Alorael, who has played exactly one piece with 128th notes. It was not especially fast, because the rest of the piece was extraordinarily slow, but it was still fun to see the notes and how many bars can be crammed into one place.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Level 3 spells in Avernum 4
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Tuesday, December 20 2005 14:36 Profile Homepage #8
Yes, levels are much less signifcantly different now. They all do the same thing; it's just a matter of how high the numbers are or how long the effects last. Level 1 is the critical one, and after that it's not all that important.

—Alorael, who would like to know the exact rates of equivalence for Magery, Spellcraft, and spell levels. Unlock is probably the easiest spell to test, but he doesn't have any party ready to test it.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Trainers in Avernum 4
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Tuesday, December 20 2005 14:32 Profile Homepage #6
Mainly it was laziness. I stopped paying attention to spells, and it left me more money for paying trainers.

Having a high level in Minor Heal is good because it's much cheaper that Heal and works almost as well if you have as much skill. For Heal it's less important: even low levels will fully heal characters. Mass Heal is good to boost, though.

—Alorael, who wouldn't say that his decision was particularly tactically sound. He just did it and it didn't impede his completion of A4.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
So What Makes a Torment Capable Party? in Avernum 4
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Tuesday, December 20 2005 14:29 Profile Homepage #46
I agree with Kel, though. Experience penalty doesn't matter. Even with 30% penalty you'll still spend a lot of time killing monsters that give no experience. If you're lower in level, they'll give experience until you catch up.

Advantages are no longer a tradeoff. They're purely advantageous. Disadvantages are also no longer a tradeoff: you'll end up with the same levels but hauling around crippling traits too!

—Alorael, who doesn't see why giving someone Divinely Touched is so bad. Buy a fighter a couple of points of casting in Cotra and you've made the most of your non-penalizing penalty.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00

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