Rather than having the "Super nasty killer bow of doom" I would rather the big I have a moderately powerful bow, a selection of arrows, and a number of HLAs & specail Bhaal powers. In other words she should be more like a regular PC than a demigoddess.
More scripting yes, but I'm tired of big bosses that cheat. IMO they mostly cheat because it's easier to give them mack-daddy attacks and loads of HP rather than build a really good script. I was really hoping that Refinements would would go the hard but good route rather than the 'easy' way.
Now, we must separate two things here Rath. First, I agree, one must use better scripting instead of super-power files. I always praised the CoC encounter done by aVENGER, it was the best example how a hard battle should look like - without using any superpowers at all.
On the other hand, this battle (and all the Five battles) is different. Accept it or not, the whole plot of
ToB is built upon uber characters and uber opponents. Don't forget that we aren't talking about normal archwers, monks, dragons here.. no, we are talking about the most uber-deadly archers, monks and dragons. These are no ordinary opponents, these are superhuman foes, all of them. They all have a noteable amount of powers at their disposal, so it's not just scripting. Either way, they are considered to be more powerful than most other characters of their level.
So, what I (we) promise in Refinements: all these super-foes with more believeable and nastier scripts and tactics. Overall things will be tougher, I believe.
Oh, and just like Balthazar is to monks, Illasera is one of the reasons I've largely avoided archers. It ticks me off that I could never make a PC that could compete with her even at munchy levels
Nono, this reasoning has its flaws, as I tried to point it out on many different topics before. Yes, Balthazar may be more powerful at start than PC monk at the same level - he has better
HP, better regeneration, better statistics and better HLAs (not true once Refinements is installed, even more so with the upcoming new HLAs in v2). Still, he lacks many abilities the player has: for example the Slayer. And really, the PC is NOT the most poweful Bhaalspawn ever born on Faerun - he only becomes the greatest of them, and only AT THE END of the saga.
Also, the fact that some people claimed that Kiara can take care of I.Balthazar by herself, is rather warning to me...
This seems the best solution; of course, with the 2 bows (wing buffet and not wing buffet).
Before someone might get me wrong, I suggested that she should use one 1 bow, the more powerful one in my description. The other one (with the nerfed abilities) should be droppable and useable by the party.
The save to wing buffet could be reduced to a -2
Thats exactly what I was suggesting.
About the life-stealing attacks, I?d say no, cause this will increase the ?power gap? .This means that a powergamer party will kill her with more ease, thanks to less HP, while less powerful parties, solo-ers and TOB-only parties won?t be able to overcome her regenerative/life stealing powers
Agreed, good points.
Illasera is not a fighter. And the knocking back effect of a fighter is due to a HLA.
And as I remember, in unmodded
ToB rangers would get this HLA as well...
And I still think that -6 saving throw for the magic damage is too much. Remember that it's permanent : every shot will require such a save, while Bodhi's abilities are limited
No, I'm positive the -6 on the damage will remain, and trust me it is essential. And BTW, the same -6 was used on her original bow as well, as I remember. Maybe - and I say MAYBE- we could lower it to -4.
I would have to agree, its the arrows usually that knock bodies back. Maybe the bow has been encanted for extra punch an arcane mass driver of a sort.
Btw I dont get the black bow part? Is it necromantic(life drain and later the penalt to con & cha) and did she make the bow hereself?
In my interpretation, her bow was partially enchanted by someone else (maybe a powerful mage, maybe she found it in an ancient ruin, who knows?) and partially enchanted by her own powers. She is a potent Bhaalspawn, and among her other abilities, one could be to improve her bow with deadly powers. Remember, she sucks big time with any other weapon (for example with her dagger), with those in her hand she wouldn't stand for a minute against the PC. Her only real power lies in her skill with her special bow.
And about the curse on it: that comes from her link with her weapon. Parts of Illasera are now forger into the bow itself, they were almost one. This will be clarified in the description of the dropped weapon of course.
The second bow sucks
Some small improvement could be acceptable I guess, but the drawbacks will remain.
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