Flipz

Realizing he'd forgotten to replace the Elixir he'd used before, Arthur slots a new Elixir into his Hollow Blade Dagger. "Dunno, it's behaving strangely. I think it's having trouble tracking him down--maybe he's working on the same sort of system the Wolfgang use to foil them? I don't think it's perfect, though--I think it's starting to slow down now." What he didn't mention was the fact that the needle was not spinning, as it usually would when faced with an untraceable target, but instead swinging back and forth between two points...one of which was behind him, towards the party. "Why is it doing that? C'mon, you stupid, expensive piece of trash, work!"

Oddly enough, given the setting of my upcoming Quest, this sort of thing may actually be possible... Speak for yourself. The tree falls down on top of Alexandre, crushing him and Knocking him Out. Since he is out of battle, he is revived to 1 Health by his fellow party members, but the damage is done: he has lost his positive effects, and he feels Weakened and Fragile as a result of the tree's crushing weight. "Ah, I hope, for your sake, that you don't try that again."

Arthur was sharing Karie's sentiments, though he had learned enough from his encounters with Haldor not to say so. "Magic Compass here we go..." he mutters.

I wouldn't mind specific enemies that disregard theft, but I would definitely not be cool with a "humanoids-only" theft rule. That's just a bit too crazy (and punishes existing and prospective Rogues for the sin of...what? Being of a certain class? Of having money...?). To be honest, I don't see why people are getting so much into this when it comes to Gold. If you want Gold, go Rogue; if you're a Cleric, we owe you more money. I don't understand how some people having money is so harmful to the people who don't have it, especially considering that after Level 15, it's easy enough to switch to a Rogue AC if it bothers you so much. (Yes, Witches get the shaft in that regard, but honestly, if you picked Cleric as your starting class, you most likely enjoy helping others more than seeking your own riches anyway.) Yes, I speak as a "have" in Heroica, but I've seen this phenomenon across all sorts of games and MMOs, where I am unilaterally among the have-nots, who despite this finds myself incredibly "meh" about ordinary wealth. Is it simple jealousy? Or is there some other social phenomenon at work here that I'm not aware of?

It's not? Huh. Seems like it should be.

"Lord Boomingham, Master Bishop--kindly shut the hell up. You're not helping, and you're not the representative of the Watch here--that would be me." "Karie speaks the truth, Ma'am. I've held from the start that your master's tragic flaw was one of improper means. Karie and her compatriot insist that he will listen to reason, and I believe Karie is telling the truth. If we can resolve this situation without bloodshed, that would be preferable." "My orders are to end the threat the Stealer poses with the Harvester. If I can do that and gain the Watch new allies in the fight against the Wolfgang, all the better. Karie said it better than I; the Syndicate and the Watch together can accomplish much more good allied than they would with the former being hunted down by the latter. We have in our hands a rare opportunity. Let's not squander it." "I give you my word that if Masson cooperates with us as Miss Alderflask has indicated, he will not be placed under arrest for his previous actions against us. I'm still not 100% clear about the events surrounding Miss Alderflask, Master Bishop, and Master Em's previous encounter with him, but as I understand it he himself did not authorize those actions; they were performed against his orders, so he is not responsible for them and he can't be placed under arrest for them, either." He looked to Karie for confirmation that he had his facts correct. "So long as he and you work within--or better yet, with--the law, the Watch has no quarrel with you. So let us bring this situation to a peaceful end."

Actually, if the party is already Encouraged, Berserkers do get an AoE attack against them. It's one of the changes they got in part because of Q50.

In my experience, few non-Mage Heroes pick a Mage AC at Level 15--I think you, Tomas, Elgar, and Alexis were the only ones that did it, and Elgar and Alexis both swapped out before Expert level. Also, I'd argue that Barbarians' biggest strength isn't Natural Respite but rather Extra Critical Hits and other offensive abilities. Leaving in just under half an hour--I'll see you all either tonight (if I'm lucky) or tomorrow (if I'm not).

Man, I really want to fight an Aquaphant one day. And an Electriphant. And the fire version. Because reasons. And magic elephants. Magic elephants with elemental powers are cool. If only they wore fezzes. Or bow ties. Or both. There is a non-zero probability that I have had WAY too little sleep recently and may be suffering from some form of mild insanity as a result. Also, I'll be gone all afternoon tomorrow, so no starting minigames without me, Q70! Kthxbai! *exits stage right, pursued by an elephant*

Nope, that was Masked, I believe. I'll try and figure that out.

I think we're overthinking it, trying to force a solution when time is the best solution. I honestly think general policy is the better way to handle it. RE: Upgrading artifact SP: I dislike the idea in general. Artifacts can't be upgraded beyond slapping immunities on them. Simple as that. To be honest, Bright Polish is rather OP in my opinion, and I wouldn't object to the existing jars magically turning into a fair amount of cash and then the item never appearing again. While I appreciate the intention, I've always maintained that SP translates to HP at a MUCH higher ratio than most people think. 1 point of SP is a MINIMUM of 5 HP, MINIMUM. Take two Heroes with identical stats and weapons, give one a +1 HP artifact and the other a +1 SP artifact, and put them against identical foes, rolling one die for both Heroes; you'll quickly see how much difference SP makes compared to HP. (Also note that the effects of additional HP increase along a linear progression, while the effects of additional SP increase along a sharper, almost exponential progression.) Agreed, 100%. (DO drop shields that have more than just 5 or 6 SP, though--make Knights worthwhile to play in the loot department. And yes, I'm aware that Clerics face a similar problem, I just haven't worked out a good reward for Clerics that won't help Mages just as much.)

Arthur inspects the terminal, using his Magnifying Glass to search it for traps. "Shouldn't we heal up Nevron before we continue?"

Indeed, it does get rather ridiculous at times.

"So we should make the choice to kill someone who's doing the wrong thing for the right reasons, instead of at least trying to convince him to do the right thing for the right reasons? Why shouldn't we give him the chance to make better choices? Especially when his own followers admit that change is possible."

Arthur drinks a Grand Tonic, followed by the Double Rainbow and a Remedy. "Yes, because redemption is just a myth. People can never be convinced to change their ways." Arthur rolls his eyes, but there's a hint of fire behind them that contradicts the flippancy of the response. "You don't listen very well, do you, Lord Boomingham? Among all your admirable qualities, that is one of your weaknesses. You've heard my story. Several times, in fact. I'm living proof that a man once dedicated to evil ways can turn his life around." "Heroica, the Watch, and Eubric in general are too willing to shed blood as it is. Let's not prove the Stealer right. You are a Knight, are you not? Have faith in your own diplomatic abilities. Maybe if more people did that instead of pulling out blades when faced with conflict, this city would be a better place."

I also think QMs can help regulate it by offering Knights more opportunities to upgrade their shields, either through drops or, better yet, with specific opportunities (i.e. "complete this secondary task for me and I'll upgrade your shield"), or Blacksmith's Writs specifically for upgrading shields (NOT Bright Polish, since that can be used on Artifacts). It should definitely be worked on on both fronts, though--Artifacts should be less generous with SP, and QMs should also offer Knights more opportunities to raise their shields' SP.

Healers, definitely, Tanks, ehh... Thing is, for a tank class, Smelling Salts can potentially effectively halve your SP or more, because of the (brilliant!) way that Free Hits work. Even with multiple turns, the SP is only applied once, which can get dangerous, fast. Also, yeee, Sandy's back in a few days!

RE: "Who's the strongest?", stick me in the Arena with ANY of those three and just see how long I last. Who says squishiness is dead? That actually might not be a bad idea, once the Arena rules get revamped--an Arena-based bracketed knockout tournament. Funnily enough, I've been thinking exactly the same thing about my Smelling Salts. Ironically, the best use I can think of for them nowadays would be to intentionally Hasten an enemy to enable both attacks AND Counterstrikes against it. Nothing against Smelling Salts in general (there are classes that make good use of them, especially healers), it's just that my own luck and build isn't quite suited for them.

"Might I suggest using your Frozen Saber, Lord Boomingham? If by some stroke of misfortune my spells all fail, it would allow at least someone to attack safely."

The return of TEC?!

My ability to score overkill the way I do DOES depend on those factors. Without Ether, my potential damage (and thus ability to Overkill) is divided by 8, unless I want to risk full damage. Number one rule of Flipz: everything in my build is built off of and/or built to accommodate something else. If you can critically disrupt one of my Artifacts, my whole build falls to pieces. To be fair, Ether-drain just freaks me out and makes me panic. Lucky enemies, on the other hand, piss me off like nothing else. Do note that both of those are non-rational reactions, though--which means they both disrupt one of my Player Artifacts: "Rational Analysis". Free Hits also have a tendency to do that to me--mind games in general will take me down pretty quick. Argh, again, why am I telling you this?! Hmm...maybe it was just me, then. I started at WP:3, and got an Amethyst and a WP:5 staff from Q17. Then I got a WP:7 staff and a Topaz from Q31. That seemed like a pretty reasonable advancement for me, at least considering the length of the Quest. To be honest, you're pretty much the standard I work from in terms of Quest loot balance and pacing, so...

Applies to regular Sorcerers as well, actually. People REALLY underestimate how expensive Ether is. Disagreed. I'm harping on it, but Ether is a real issue for me (I expend, on average, 3-4 Ether per Round), and I am still quite squishy--I don't have a lot of SP compared to most Heroes, or even most of my fellow Mages; I generally go for Artifacts that grant me new abilities rather than Artifacts that grant me SP. That may change as I adjust my build to suit the melee classes I'm headed toward, but it's still something to keep in mind; the only thing that provokes my ire quicker than a Lucky enemy is something that drains Ether. ...I should shut up now, I keep telling all the QMs how to counter me. Though I do think squishy should be brought back, the easiest way I see to do it is to drop generic shields a bit more frequently for the Knights, like we did back in the early days with weapons--I remember that pretty much everyone in 31 got a weapon upgrade that was WP:2 higher than their current weapon, or some other upgrade that boosted them along a similar scale. Rather than forcing Knights to be penny-pinchers, perhaps it'd be a good idea to drop shields according to a similar principle.

Necromancer has the best Critical Hits, hands down.

Someone round or someone around. *looks at my avatar and tags* Well, crap.