Jump to content

Unidentified Potions / Gemstones


SixOfSpades

Recommended Posts

Speaking of which, is there some reason that, for instance, pureclassed Mages are physically incapable of putting a Potion of Master Thievery to their lips and tipping it down their throats? Sure, they wouldn't gain any benefits from drinking it, but they shouldn't be barred from doing so. Or is the restriction because all Potions are poisonous to anyone who cannot metabolize their effects?

Link to comment

The reason is that the game doesn't need to be paranoically realistic in certain cases...Of course everyone could drink something from a bottle but what would be the point of doing so if iit would give no actual benefits (we are speaking of a identified potion here of course) ? It would just be a waste...It is different if we speak about an unidentified potion instead. In this case, I think we should be given the choice of drinking it no matter what it contains...

Link to comment

AKAIR drinking the potion would actually confer the thieving bonuses to a non-thief. In the normal course of the game they cannot be use because to buttons are not avialable, however, the actions can be scripted and the bonuses would be taken in to account then. So, there is a potential exploit there (although it could also be argued that non-thievies should be allowed magically conferred bonuses to thieving skills).

Link to comment
In the normal course of the game they cannot be use because to buttons are not avialable, however, the actions can be scripted and the bonuses would be taken in to account then.

What, you mean a Paladin choosing the "Thief Cautious" AI, and using Potions of Perception to Hide in Shadows? That does seem very odd, but seriously, how often is anyone actually going to do that?

 

I just say it's more realistic to allow everybody to drink everything.

Link to comment

The problem with that will be those potions which are actually only supposed to exert their effects on certain classes (like potions of invulnerability for warriors), which would mean if you were to allow everyone to drink them, you'd have to insert some code that makes sure only warriors get the benefits.

Link to comment
The problem with that will be those potions which are actually only supposed to exert their effects on certain classes (like potions of invulnerability for warriors), which would mean if you were to allow everyone to drink them, you'd have to insert some code that makes sure only warriors get the benefits.

While that's certainly true, I personally feel that when game balance and realism collide, game balance is the one I'd prefer to chuck out the window, especially when it makes as little difference as Thieves being able to drink Potions of Fire Giant Strength several levels earlier than they would have anyway. I mean, what kind of sense does it make that a Mage can use a Staff perfectly well, but his fingers will break off if he tries to pick up a Spear?

 

(And, of course, it's perfectly logical that he can stop time, call down meteors from the heavens, suck out people's life forces, etc. :p Yeah, I know.)

Link to comment

Well that's true, there's no reason that mages shouldn't be able to pick up a spear and monks strap on some full plate, they just suck at using them (non-proficiency isn't coded into the game though, from what I remember). But if part of the magic for an item is that it will only work for certain individuals or groups of individuals, I consider that others can't make proper use of them more realism than game balance (even if most of that stuff is done for game balance :p ).

 

For PnP, working out all that stuff is easy, I just don't know how feasable it is from a codng perspective.

Link to comment

There is a (hardcoded, I think) penalty for using weapons without being proficient in their use. The penalty varies from class to class and is detailed in the manual. I'm pretty sure it works as advertised although, IIRC, it is also bugged in that there is no penalty applied to the non-proficient use of launchers.

Link to comment

There's definitely a penalty; it's how we got the bug report for the Lorekeeper kit missing grandmastery in DR. Linguist in Training noticed the character's THAC0 going up when the spiritual weapon was equipped--because the character had no pips in longswords.

Link to comment

I believe it's pretty simple to verify if the weapon proficiencies malus is or not implemented. Just let's start a normal game and let's give an allowed weapon to a character that is not proficient with it. Then let's look at the THAC0. If it changes according to what SixofSpades posted above, then there is and is also faithful to the rules... :)

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...