Icewind Dale II Forum Update

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(Originally posted by Tiamat)

Feargus Urquhart, President – Black Isle Studios

The CE from different stores: Here is hopefully an answer to all of your questions.

IWD2 ordered from places like EBWorld has the following:
Bonus Disc (Gameplay plus 4 .mp3's of music)
Poster of all the Monsters in the game
Trading Cards of Characters and Monsters

IWD2 CE ordered from Interplay.com
Bonus Disc (Gameplay(same as above) plus entire soundtrack)
Character Cards (4) Large cards - not trading card size
Dice
Cloth Map
Spiral Bound Manual
Poster of all the Monsters in the game (most likely)

As you can see they are fairly different and believe me the extra $10 that the CE is costing is barely covering just the extra stuff in there.

Extra Gameplay: There is a store in there that lets you buy new items, similar to the bonus disc from BGII. I am pretty sure they are new items.

The Dice Set: It is going to be a set of 10.

Doug Avery, Associate Producer

Screenshots Directory: It will save it to a directory called Scrnsht or something very close to that in the root of the directory where you installed the game. The file folder gets made after the first time you press Prnt Scrn. I hope that helps.

Dave Maldonado, Designer

Knowing what spells you have scribed when shopping: No, there's currently no special mechanic for displaying a character's spell list while they're in a store.

Bard Songs: Nothing new. The current Bard songs:
Bard Songs. Bards have the ability to sing melodies that have magical effects on creatures within thirty feet. As they advance in level, they gain additional songs. The songs are described in detail below.
* 1st level: The Ballad of Three Heroes. When the Ballad of Three Heroes is played, all the bard's allies gain +1 attack bonus, +1 damage, and +1 saving throws.
* 3rd level: The Tale of Curran Strongheart. When the Tale of Curran Strongheart is being played, any fear effects on the bard's allies are removed, and they gain an immunity to fear effects for as long as the song lasts.
* 5th level: Tymora's Melody. When played, Tymora's Melody gives the bard's allies +1 luck, +3 saving throws, and +2 to their Knowledge(arcana), Alchemy, and rogue skills.
* 7th level: The Song of Kaudies. When the Song of Kaudies is played, the bard's allies have a 50% chance to shrug off the effects of spells such as Silence, Shout, Great Shout, Command, or any other sound-based attack.
* 9th level: The Siren's Yearning. When played, the bard's enemies must make a Will save or be entralled, unable to take action until ten rounds pass or they take damage.
* 11th level: The War Chant of Sith. When played, the bard's allies gain +2 armor bonus, damage resistance of 2/-, and they regenerate 3 points of damage per round in combat.
There is no Perform skill (and thus no requirement).

Are there any broad swords? No, none.

Design Lock: Yeah, some stuff isn't in yet but we've plans to put it in... if it happens, YEY!, if not, BOO! but release dates must be met. Also, some things are still in a "tweaking" state... we may change the nuances of a sub-system's functionality for the final product (e.g. skill points per level or whatever, not that we currently have plans to change that or anything).

Multiple Sneak Attacks: Currently, if a PC can somehow get him or herself undetected by the enemy again, he or she can get his or her sneak attack on again.

Do monks get a wisdom bonus to their AC? Currently, yes: "When not wearing armor a monk adds his Wisdom bonus to his AC in the same manner as his Dexterity bonus."

Do Svirfneblin get racial bonuses? Yes. Here's the current list:

YEY!
+2 DEX
+2 WIS
+ 1 to hit vs. kobolds, goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears Spell Resistance 11 + Level
+ 2 to Search (STONECUNNING)
+2 to Hide, +4 when "Inside"
+2 to all Saves
+4 dodge bonus to AC (instead of vs. giants)
Mirror Image 1/day
Invisibility 1/day
Blur 1/day
Nondetection (as a wizard of their character level)
Illusionist is Favored Class
Darkvision

BOOOO!
-2 STR
-4 CHA
3 Levels Lower

High Level Rogue Ability: Hrm... well, right now, at 10th level, the rogue gains access to a number of new feats available only to rogues. These include Crippling Strike, Improved Evasion, and Slippery Mind. Bleh, I forgot to mention that rogues get extra feats at the relevant levels (10th, 13th, 16th, etc.). So YEY, it's all good.

Do skills have more than one purpose? Generally skills have their "major purpose(s)" - e.g. identifying potions for alchemy - and that/those alone... this is the stuff listed in the manual or whatever. Occasionally there are "bonus uses" for skills... but these are almost Easter Eggs, not really something to be documented in an official manner. Stuff like, "if you have Item X and Skill Y when you get to area Z, you can do Action A."

Does maximized attack apply to spells? Not as I understand it, no. The major spell-boosting feats are the focus Feats, like Spell Focus, Evocation or whatever.

Are feat prerequisites like the PnP version? We wrote out numerous random requirements on slips of paper and drew them from a zany hat - while doing jello shots - to come up with the Feat prerequisites. Somehow - divine providence, perhaps - many seem to resemble the PNP requirements. CRAZY! So they're currently pretty close, yeah.

Are there any holy symbols? Nope. Would have been neat though, huh? But I think there's a sacred tome in HoF mode that's actually used as a shield, so a character can run around with a holy book in one hand and a bloody mace (or whatever) in the other.

Have metamagic feats made it into the game? No, not that I know of.

Making checks when using/casting a spell directly from a scroll: Eh... here's my understanding of the current system:
"The current system is that if a spell is on your spell list, you can cast it without chance of error. Otherwise, you can only activate it with UMD." <– (not me speaking)
So what the game is currently "missing," rules-wise, is the check for wackiness when using a scroll (or whatever) that contains a spell that's on a PC's list but requires a higher caster level than the PC's got. For instance, that hypothetical 1st-level wizard/14th-level rogue and a Stinking Cloud scroll.

Tracking: In fact, there currently is no Tracking Feat; it's all about the Wilderness Lore skill now. It's cross-class for everyone but barbarians, druids and rangers, of course.

Are the human monk avatars in? Still currently in. Currently.

Fire Elemental avatars: There's a mix, e.g. the smaller fire elementals use the smaller BG2 ones while the huge mega-HD fire elementals use the big fat IWD ones.

Non-magical items color selection: Not currently in. Currently.

Does race SR stack with class SR? Currently, yes.

Feat pre-requisite list: I'm hesitant to post the current list only as it's changed a couple of times in the past few days - little tweakies here and there and all that. Perhaps when they're more "locked down."

Difficulty Levels: In reference to the Magical Happy Difficulty Slider, it works as it has in all other IE titles. In reference to the per-area stuff, there are basically three levels of difficulty for each level based on party level ranges. The more levels there are, the more monsters there will be. Oh, I should also add that it's not always "more monsters." Sometimes nastier monsters replace the easier ones, or entirely new enemies will appear. We now use Challenge Rating for XP awards instead of flat values, so a lower-level party gets more XP for doing harder quests and less for doing easier ones, with "harder" and "easier" being relative to the party's level.

Do Aasimars and Tieflings getting an additional 1st level feat and extra skill points? Currently, no.

Damien Foletto, Junior Designer

What are Malarites? They're seven feet tall, and lightning shoots out their arse! Sorry, I couldn't help paraphrasing from Braveheart. Yes, they are nasty, and can spell cast.

No, driders can be females as well. One way Lolth gets her carapace off is to take an above average drow, higher than 6th level, and put them through some messed up kind of "test." If the drow fails, Lolth will turn them into a drider. Check out pg. 78 of the Monster Manual for more details about these lovely creatures.

Dragons: I don't want to spoil the discovery, but I will say the possibility of dragon(s) is quite possible - with a definite maybe. Will the AI be different than that of, say, BGII? Most likely. Different designers and scripters. The AI for any of the critters is all based on the scripting (and what the designers would like their critters do, of course). Hope that has the possibility of maybe answering part of your question - to some degree of perhaps.

Half-Dragons:The half-dragons are new renders and animations, never before seen in an IE game. Same thing for the feyrs, bugbears, and hook horrors. The half-dragons look really cool when they cast (they have some casting abilities). They actually thrust their great swords into the ground and reach up into the air to start casting. Very cool.

Tentative Release Date: MAY 28TH! Everything's on track for a MAY 28th release! Things are coming together great for a MAY 28th release! Nothing has changed for the MAY 28th release! We still plan on MAY28th to be the date of release!

Killing Gods: Gods can be killed by mortals if the god takes on his/her mortal, avatar form. However, this is not a permanent death. All it means is that it'll be a long time before the god can muster enough power to come back in their avatar form. Some gods take 1,000 years to accumulate enough power to come down in their avatar form. Of course it's damn hard to kill the god's avatar - they are a god, after all. To permanently kill a god, I believe it takes another god to kill it - but I could be wrong about that part. I've never read anything that said so one way or the other.

Spell Icons: Actually, Brian did over three hundred fifty new spell icons. Every spell in the game has a new icon. He is also finishing up the icons for the interface. They are all new and exciting, but they have a familiar look to them. I am planning on putting up more icons this weekend and if all goes well, I'll be showing them in the new interface. I am planning for a pretty impressive update tomorrow so please check back then. I will post either way and let you all know.

Spell List: All spells are broken up according to class. Rangers, Druids, Clerics, Wizards, Bards, Paladins and Sorcerers. If I forgot something, don't cook me, it is just that I am not looking at the .docs right now. Some of the spells cross over and are available at different levels to different classes, just like in PnP. There is a very good mix of spells in the game. If I do post one, it will not be a complete list. Sorry, but I really do not want to post the final "anything". It might ruin the surprise for those that don't want it ruined. I'll see what I can do, though.

Is the normal version of the game too small for extras? Unfortunately, the smaller boxes that we're going with don't allow for an SB manual and the game CDs to fit inside of it. The CE comes with a big box (the size of the BG2 CE) and the aforementioned goodies.

The Interface: The main interface buttons (the ones along the top) are customizable. In the interface screen shown in the screenshot, I added the racial abilities of the deep gnome wizard I was using and also added four spells as options. Oh, by the way, a couple of those spell icons are also new and so are the static interface buttons. On another note, you can completely hide the interface text box, the buttons or both so it shouldn't obstruct your view too badly.

Can enemies follow you through doors? Well, we can't really make the critters follow you from area to area very well (although, in a couple of areas it has been scripted to do that - for special reasons). However, if you're in a fight with a bunch of critters and decide to leave the area to take a rest, when you come back, the critters will have rested as well - i.e. they'll be healed up just like you.

Sword Types: Short sword, long sword, great sword, bastard sword, and scimitar. That's it for swords.

Attributes: INT will affect your response options to certain npc's. Also, CHA has a direct affect on diplomacy, intimidate, and bluff skills. The CHA bonus is added to the appropriate skill total, which the dialog then checks to offer you certain responses as well as NPC responses.
The game takes how many points you have in either diplomacy, intimidate, or bluff (dependant on what the dialog is looking for), AND adds that number to the CHA modifier. If that number exceeds the minimum required to get the particular dialog response or starting condition, then that appropriate response/dialog string pops up for you to choose.
INT checks are a different animal, and does not have any relation to the diplomacy, bluff, or intimidate checks. An INT check could happen to see if your character is smart enough to possibly know a particular language, or military tactic, etc. This check is also done in dialog, similar to the above skill checks.
An aasimar would allow you to bump up your CHA to 20, but then there is that +1 level adjustment. Bard is a great choice to max out both skills per leveling, so is rogue. Other than finding items that enhance your CHA, I can't really think of anything off hand to buff those skills/CHA more. However, with an 18 CHA and maxing your diplomacy and bluff every level, you won't have to worry about being too low - at least you shouldn't.

Multi-Class Rogue: If your multi-class rogue has a reasonable INT (14 and up), then the bonus skill points you get can be applied to Search and Disable Device skills. If every time you level you throw a point or two into each of these skills, you should do fine without having need for a 15th level rogue, or something similar. Of course, you can always get your brawny fighter to smash the container you want to unlock. He/she can handle the damage - maybe...

Darkvision: It's pretty and sparks the imagination...? Uh, hmmm... well... It does hilight anything alive (or un-alive) during the night, and really dark and spooky areas. It's the best that can be done with the IE. Personally, I wish it would turn everything into a night vision look (black and white, but it looks like you're looking at a film negative). That'd be sweet, but not possible with the IE.

Half-Elf Immunities:Half-elves are only immune to sleep magic.

Drow Proficiencies: Drow are proficient with large swords and bows (but not crossbows). This is how it's in the game currently.

Balancing Magic Items: That's one of the balancing tasks we're doing right now. Yes, there are a lot of magic items in IWD2, but they are in tables in the database, which the computer then chooses one to drop for a critter (usually a minor boss, a particular trapped container, etc.) One of the things we're trying to avoid is loading up areas with a bunch of magic items, having the player return from a quest with a dozen magic items, and selling the loot for 200,000 gp - thus allowing the player to equip their level 4 party with all the best, store bought items.
Another thing we do with the unique and magical random items is to make sure their power is in line with the area level and party level. With the new 3E rules, the max hit points per level, the XP table that is currently getting tweaked, etc., it makes it a lot easier to balance item power levels for areas. So, you won't be running around at level 2 wielding your Hammer of Bigness +5 and donning +5 Mithral Barrel Chest Plate Mail.

Max Hit Points: Max hit points are so the areas can be balanced, not for making perfect characters. Sorry if this disturbs you, but it actually works quite well.

Do you cheat while testing? I do, but only if I'm testing global settings and critical path stuff (not play balance stuff). I made "for testing only" armor and swords that gives me immunities, +10 to my AC, damage resistance 25/+5, sets abilities to 26, and deal out damage within the 256 range - with a fire and acid mix for those pesky trolls. Kinda funny having one guy plow through big battles like a hot dagger through warm butter. Oh, and the character is a half-orc named Puuk - go figure.

Brian Menze, Artist

Chimera Concept art: I used the description right outta the 3E Monster Manual.

What do you work on at BIS? As most know by now, I worked on the spell and interface icons. But as for what else I've done for IWD2, its sort of a mixed bag.
Most of the new monsters/creatures added to IWD2 were concepted, built in 3D and textured by me ( driders, hook horrors, etc. ) plus, I concepted the look for the new interface. Also, I help ensure the high quality of the backgrounds by painting over the top of the 3D renderings. By doing that I can add little touches that would be much too difficult in 3D time wise. I did backgrounds and icons for Torment as well. Before Torn was cancelled I concepted, created and built about 50% of all its player characters, monsters and critters.
My first game with Black Isle was Blood and Magic, where I did portraits, backgrounds and cinematics. However I didn't work FOR Black Isle at the time, since Black Isle only published it.
Roughly I joined Black Isle 4 1/2 years ago. I started out doing the Pip Boy drawings for Fallout 2 before moving on to animating "blood effects" and 3D modeling characters and objects.
Okay, writing WAAAY more info than asked for.....

Inspirations: Oddly, I don't look at that stuff for inspiration per se. I'm really just a big geeky fan for all of it. Some around here say my stuff often looks a little like Moebius, but that would be giving me WAY too much credit. I do like a lot of European artists though, so maybe I do tend to have an influence of that in my drawings. Just to name a few off the top of my head: Eduardo Rizzo, Milo Manara, Serpieri, Carlos Meglia.
The comics I'm geeking over now are a lot of the Crossgen comics. No company provides a higher quality product. One book in particular is Scion. Jim Cheung is the penciller, and damn is that guy good.

Chad Nicholas, Scriptor

New Interface: The button bar (attack, spell, hide in shadows, portraits) can be hidden separately from the lower section (text window, "wheel") or both can be hidden at the same time.

Level Cap: The level cap is always 30, regardless of what mode you play in. Now, as to whether or not there is enough XP to hit that cap in normal play, the answer would be no. You should have a party of 6 end up at about level 15 when you beat the game on normal mode.
According to the PHB, a level 15 character has 105,000 XP. Multiply that by 6 and we get 630,000 XP. Yeah, that's higher than what's required for a level 30 character I believe. Of course, since you're a higher level character than a 6 person party, you'll get less XP per kill, so I'm not sure how that's going to end up working when you get to the final battle.
Yes, you will get the more difficult challenges. But at the same time, you get less XP because the amount of XP you get per kill is modified (in some manner I don't quite understand) by the creature's Challenge Rating and your Level.
There really isn't a level 15 'cap', it's more of a target level we want a full party of six to be at when they have the final battle.

Will you release editing tools with the CE? It's a nice idea, but one that wouldn't occur in time to make it on the CE disk. Any tools that we may release (and I don't even know if we are going to release any) would have to have a programmer do some work on them (decouple from database, remove reliance from any proprietary BioWare stuff, etc., etc.). It'd be a non-trivial task.

Kit Creation:Kits are not trivial to make in IwD2. Everything about them is done in code (C++) so I doubt they are anything that you can edit in any meaningful way.

Druid Shapeshifting: Your druid will inherit the STR, DEX, and CON of the form you take. So if you change into an artic bear, your STR will be set to 27 (IIRC). That'll give you a nice +8 to-hit and damage bonus.

PC vs. PC: From what I've heard from the programmers, the engine is so hard-coded for a party of 6 (that are on the same team) that it'd be a nightmare to have one PC be the enemy of another PC AND be controllable by a player.

Is Hide in Shadows being faster than in IWD1? Not currently. I believe HiS is still a modal state, so it's tied to the game's timer. You'll have to wait up to 6 seconds (or less) before HiS kicks in.

Tex Yang, Quality Assurance

Challenge Ratings: The way that challenge ratings work doesn't make for a linear type of advancement for "less party members, more XP rewards". The leveling for a solo player will actually be quicker in some parts but slower in others because of this I would think - I haven't had a chance to do a whole lot of experimenting around with it since CR was implemented, so this is purely from a mathematical point of view. Once I've had a chance to mess around with it more extensively I'll know for sure.
Keep in mind that those numbers were from before CR was implemented.

Kevin Osburn, Line Producer

Soloing: Well it is a lot harder to solo through the game, especially this game.

Justin Sweet, Artist

Portraits: hmmm....looks like I need to do another Drow man. I like the one I did, scroungy dog I guess that some say he is, but I'll do another, mostly because I like painting Drow, lastly, because there is a need for some younger looking characters. Josh has given me great descriptions of a couple of young monks and a wood elf that I'm working on when I can. Thanks for all the nice words. I probably should have come on here sooner to say that. Its nice to get good feedback and I can take the bad so no worries. I'm glad some of you have enjoyed what I've done. I'll keep doing more till the game ships.