Unearthed Arcana presents Might & Guile: tweaks and kits for warriors and rogues

[Enigmajazz]

@subtledoctor Apologies another bug report. 

1. It looks like the improved ranger component is not working with feats installed, the ranger kits are given abilities but they are abilities that do not actually exist in the game, I assume they might be old versions of the feats and need to be replaced with the new versions. I think it is d5uwc5.spl for poison/disease evasion and d5ura9.spl for tracking but you will want to check that of course. Not sure what the other ability is that the code is trying to apply. Looking back at when this component was added it looks like D5_RFF1 used to be poison/disease evasion and d5_rfa9 used to be tracking. Even at that point I can't see what D5IRVAR was meant to be as it doesn't seem to be mentioned in the feat component even then. 

2. The abilities that are given are not applied to trueclass rangers, not sure if this is intended  but I don't think so as they are given to true class rangers without the feat system installed. 

[ptifab]

@subtledoctor small typo in setup.tra line 183 -> May learn efats should be feats

Does the barbarian kit description got the new "berserking" name instead of "barbarian rage" ?

Edited April 27, 2022 by ptifab

[subtledoctor]

On 4/27/2022 at 4:41 AM, Enigmajazz said:

It looks like the improved ranger component is not working with feats installed,

Fixed in v4.21. The "D5IRVAR" thing is a real mystery... looks like maybe I was starting to work on an addition to the component, and then left it aside? Maybe? My own mind is a mystery sometimes...

[Awachi]

2 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

a real mystery... looks like maybe I was starting to work on an addition to the component, and then left it aside? Maybe? My own mind is a mystery sometimes

[Nori]

I got my install together and decided to run new kits from your mods. Bladesinger is my main person. So far I'm only level 1, but it's been interesting. A few questions on it. So I thought something was broke when I could only cast one spell. Then I read the description again and I believe at level one I only get one cast. Does that sound about right? What stat increases the # of casts assuming I have SoB stat overhaul? I have 19 int and 19 chr so I was hoping I'd get another cast.

For purposes of casting spell, is the bladesinger considered arcane for the SoB armor revision? Meaning I would have increased cast time for anything more than a robe?

Currently my only complaint on the class is a kind of tedium. Aura: Blur is essential early on so I like to use it, but since I can't cast spells with it, I can't keep it on before a fight. That's fine, except it seems to take several rounds to enable and then take effect. That means my person can miss several rounds of combat if I wasn't able to buff then enable blur before the fight. Is there a way for the enabling of aura to be faster?

 

Thanks!

[subtledoctor]

On 5/17/2022 at 4:32 PM, Nori said:

So I thought something was broke when I could only cast one spell. Then I read the description again and I believe at level one I only get one cast. Does that sound about right? What stat increases the # of casts assuming I have SoB stat overhaul? I have 19 int and 19 chr so I was hoping I'd get another cast.

I think bards have no spellcasting at 1st level, so in this case the only reason you can cast anything is due to your high INT. You will get more spellcasting from 2nd level on.

[subtledoctor]

On 5/17/2022 at 4:32 PM, Nori said:

Currently my only complaint on the class is a kind of tedium. Aura: Blur is essential early on so I like to use it, but since I can't cast spells with it, I can't keep it on before a fight. That's fine, except it seems to take several rounds to enable and then take effect. That means my person can miss several rounds of combat if I wasn't able to buff then enable blur before the fight. Is there a way for the enabling of aura to be faster?

The effect should kick in between 1 and 6 seconds after you press the button, so less than one round, but sometimes uncomfortably close to one full round. (Six seconds can sometimes seem like forever in this game!) I can take a look at improving this but to an extent this is simply how it works. These are species of bard song, and you'll note that bard song always has this small delay in taking effect.

As far as how to use the Blur Aura, the answer is, you don't have to very often! It is usable at will, it is always available, so it is a pseudo-magical ability available to you when your spells run out, especially useful at low levels. Once you get the Bladesong aura it will specifically enable you to integrate melee and magic, which should mesh well with your favored weapon (the 1/2 APR bonus from the favored weapon will offset the 1/2 APR penalty from the Bladesong aura). The Blur aura may not ultimately be very useful, but a traditional 'bard song' didn't seem appropriate for this kit, so this aura can be seen as kind of "training" to develop melee expertise, in the levels before you get Bladesong and favored weapon focus.

Edited May 24, 2022 by subtledoctor

[TheGreatGandalf]

Is it safe to use EE Keeper if I have the feat system and Revised Bards Components installed? I remember that the program used to break them but just want to make sure.

[subtledoctor]

2 hours ago, TheGreatGandalf said:

Is it safe to use EE Keeper if I have the feat system and Revised Bards Components installed? I remember that the program used to break them but just want to make sure.

I have no idea. I vaguely recall that EEKeeper was doing something akin to a Ctrl-R to the party every time you edited a save with it? Why, I don't know, and it was not documented anywhere which is very bad. Maybe it's been changed but I don't even know if EEKeeper is being maintained by anyone these days.

I recommend editing characters in savegames with Near Infinity... it's a tad bit clunky to open each character but fairly straightforward after you've done it once or twice.

[Graion Dilach]

EEKeeper voids character biographies for sure and it is indeed unmaintained so I fully agree with the previous post.

[TheGreatGandalf]

17 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

I have no idea. I vaguely recall that EEKeeper was doing something akin to a Ctrl-R to the party every time you edited a save with it? Why, I don't know, and it was not documented anywhere which is very bad. Maybe it's been changed but I don't even know if EEKeeper is being maintained by anyone these days.

I recommend editing characters in savegames with Near Infinity... it's a tad bit clunky to open each character but fairly straightforward after you've done it once or twice.

Thanks will look into it!

17 hours ago, Graion Dilach said:

EEKeeper voids character biographies for sure and it is indeed unmaintained so I fully agree with the previous post.

Didn't even know about that, explains why it always disappeared randomly.

[ratatosk]

I'm looking into this mod for the first time, and I'm confused about how dual classing is supposed to interact with the feat system. For instance, for a trueclass thief -> fighter dual at level 9, I gain thief feats as normal until I dual, then for fighter levels 1-9 I don't gain any fighter feats, but upon regaining my thief class I gain an additional 3 feats drawn from the fighter or thief pool, after which feat progression is frozen. Is this the intended behavior?

[subtledoctor]

Not sure I’ve specifically tested that combination. The way it basically works is, you get feat choice A at 1st level and then can never get feat choice A again; feat choice B at 3rd level and then never again; etc. So it makes sense that if you get feat choice A, B, and C as a thief, you will not gee them after dualing to fighter (or vice-versa). 

Getting several feats upon restoring your original class is a surprise, though. It’s possible that, for a moment there, the game considers you a F/T multiclass and this gives you the multiclass feat choice spells, which operate on a different track than single-class feats. 

What “class” the game considers you to have at various points when you dual-class is really weird and complex. There’s only do much I can do to code for every contingency. 

But in general, the design intent is that you will get feats in your first class and then not any more. So I guess consider those three extra feats as a bonus. 

Edited August 13, 2022 by subtledoctor

[ratatosk]

Thanks, that explains it! On another note, the same logic (of the dual class being treated like a multiclass) must be why Imoen gets only two feats in the starting dungeon despite dualing from thief at level 7.

[subtledoctor]

Small update to version 4.24, giving Rangers some love:

• Improved Rangers now lets all rangers backstab at x2 starting at 6th level
• Improved Rangers now gives all rangers an "Alertness" passive effect which provides a small boost to their visual range, letting them more often spot enemies without themselves being exposed.
• This is in addition to what the component already did, giving them the Tracking HLA at level 1 and making them resistant to poison and disease.

I often see posts here and in other D&D forums about how rangers are underwhelming, underpowered, etc. What is the point of a ranger? Do you want to be a tough warrior who cares about forests? Great - but that's a character, not a class. There are few instances of ranger archetypes that could not be achieved with a fighter/thief or a fighter/druid.

So the point of this component is really to make rangers an ideal scout and tactician. With enhanced visual range they can see enemies without being seen - use the "pause game when enemy spotted" setting to get the most of this. Then they can decide how best to handle the situation: they can step back, armor up, and tank; they can hide and approach with stealth; they can use their stealth for high-damage backstabs; they can use the Quickstride ability (the next component) to move faster than enemies to get away, lure them back to the party for an ambush/team fight, etc. Thieves can backstab better and have more skills, fighters and paladins can fight better, but I want to build up rangers such that no one can scout better, or better exploit their scouting ability.

Another mod lets all rangers set traps, but I don't think I want to step on thieves' toes to that degree. I give that ability to Stalkers particularly. But maybe rangers should have some ability to detect traps? They couldn't disarm them - you would still need a thief for that - but rangers could have a sense of "if I was going to set a snare this is how I would do it" or "I've seen how evil poachers work" and so be able to find them out. Or would that be too much? Is this enough as it is?

EDIT - I suppose this also gives a pretty major boost to ranger/clerics in the perennial question of R/C vs. F/C vs. F/D.

Edited September 1, 2022 by subtledoctor