[OC] What do "soak damage" and "shadow spells" mean pls?

[Richard Buckle]

Hi all,

For background, I've spent many happy evenings playing and eventually
completing the OC with a chaotic good elven Ranger called "Legebril
Galinfer".

After a bit of playing around with the "Aribeth's Tale" and "Kiss of
Fate" mods, I am going though the OC again with a rather willful
chaotic neutral human Evoker Sorceress who is called simply "Morgana",
about whom see my footnote[1].

Morgana has of course hired all the mercs and kept them all sweet (did
I mention she was chaotic neutral?), but against my better judgement,
she has decided she wants to do all her adventuring with Linu. Don't
ask me why: they seem to have bonded and that's that. They have agreed
to forego familiars and summons unless /in extremis/.

Anyhow, Morgana is now in Port Llast (clvl 9) and a couple of items
have came up whose descriptions I don't understand, as I haven't played
PnP since the original TSR 1st edition. I've read the printed manual
and all the FAQs I could find on the Bioware site and Google without
enlightenment, so I'd be grateful for any info, or pointers to same:-

Q1. Morgana has picked up scrolls of "Shadow Conjunction" and "Greater
Shadow Conjunction". These conjure a "shadow variant" of various
spells. I am unclear what a "shadow variant" of a spell means and I
can't find any clarification of this in the NWN manual. So my question
is, what does a "shadow variant" of a spell mean please?

Q2. Neurik of the Annoyingly Loud Greeting has a "Protector" shield for
sale. Since this time round, I'm playing with the HenchInv 0.99 hack, I
wonder whether it would be worth buying it for Linu (she currently
wears a Tower Shield +1 and the Chromatic Breastplate that you can make
in chapter 1). The description for the "Protector" shield says "Damage
Reduction: +1 Soak 5 Damage". So my question is, what does "Damage
Reduction: +1 Soak 5 Damage" mean please?

TIA,
Richard.


PS ccs by email would be appreciated, as my Usenet feed is terribly
flaky right now and I'm in the middle of organising a transfer to a
better ISP.


[1]
Morgana has not only discarded her surname but had it magically
expunged from her mind. When her talent was recognised at the age of
seven, her parents agreed that she should be fostered by their tribe's
"Zann Esu" school of Evoker Sorceresses and raised as their apprentice,
this being a very high honour among their folk and conferring great and
magical good fortune to the family of the apprentice. The bitter side
of this bargain was the complete and irrevocable sundering of all
family bonds and obligations, in both earthly and spiritual matters.

The fact that this discarding of all family connections may also serve
to prevent reprisals and blackmail by enemies of the Zann Esu has not
escaped Morgana's notice.

I love playing Morgana, she's one of those characters who has taken on
her very own personality in my mind, so much so that she can build
unexpected stories under my fingertips even in single player mode.
Those of you who read alt.games.diablo might have heard of her...

[Barry Scott Will]

Post by Richard Buckle
So my question is, what does "Damage
Reduction: +1 Soak 5 Damage" mean please?

Anything less than a +1 weapon will have the first 5 points of damage
"soaked" by the shield, so the user gains 5 points of damage reduction
unless the opponent is wielding a +1 weapon (or higher). As a sorcerer,
you will see this in the "Stoneskin" spell, which provides +5 Soak 20
Damage, i.e. the first 20 points of damage will be taken away, unless
your opponent is using a +5 weapon (or higher).

HTH

[Richard Buckle]

Post by Barry Scott Will

Post by Richard Buckle
So my question is, what does "Damage
Reduction: +1 Soak 5 Damage" mean please?

Anything less than a +1 weapon will have the first 5 points of damage
"soaked" by the shield, so the user gains 5 points of damage reduction
unless the opponent is wielding a +1 weapon (or higher). As a sorcerer,
you will see this in the "Stoneskin" spell, which provides +5 Soak 20
Damage, i.e. the first 20 points of damage will be taken away, unless
your opponent is using a +5 weapon (or higher).

Thanks Barry. Can anyone explain "shadow spells" to me please?

Richard.

[Patrick Dobson]

Post by Richard Buckle

Post by Barry Scott Will

Post by Richard Buckle
So my question is, what does "Damage
Reduction: +1 Soak 5 Damage" mean please?

Anything less than a +1 weapon will have the first 5 points of damage
"soaked" by the shield, so the user gains 5 points of damage reduction
unless the opponent is wielding a +1 weapon (or higher). As a sorcerer,
you will see this in the "Stoneskin" spell, which provides +5 Soak 20
Damage, i.e. the first 20 points of damage will be taken away, unless
your opponent is using a +5 weapon (or higher).

Thanks Barry. Can anyone explain "shadow spells" to me please?

Try them and see, report back and tell us ;)

I can't remember actually having used them myself, I would imagine it makes
a slightly weaker version of the original spell.


Ok, just looked it up in the D&D 3e players manual and it says that a Shadow
Conjuration is only 20% of the strength of a normal effect, but you have to
pass a will save to disbelieve it, otherwise it effects the victim as if it
was full strength.

So it would seem that it has the same effect as whatever it is imitating,
unless the victim passes their will save, when it is only a fifth as
effective. Quite how it has been implemented in NWN, I don't know.



Patrick

[Devast8or]

Post by Patrick Dobson

Post by Richard Buckle
Thanks Barry. Can anyone explain "shadow spells" to me please?

Try them and see, report back and tell us ;)

They look pretty much like the original when you fire them.

Post by Patrick Dobson
I can't remember actually having used them myself, I would imagine
it makes a slightly weaker version of the original spell.
Ok, just looked it up in the D&D 3e players manual and it says that a
Shadow Conjuration is only 20% of the strength of a normal effect,
but you have to pass a will save to disbelieve it, otherwise it
effects the victim as if it was full strength.
So it would seem that it has the same effect as whatever it is
imitating, unless the victim passes their will save, when it is only
a fifth as effective. Quite how it has been implemented in NWN, I
don't know.

So you can use a higher level spell slot, to fire of a lower level spell.
<irony>Wow, that sounds great!</irony>

How come none of this is nowhere to be found in the manual or the game?

Devast8or

[Patrick Dobson]

Post by Devast8or
So you can use a higher level spell slot, to fire of a lower level spell.
<irony>Wow, that sounds great!</irony>

Well, one spell to cover several different possibilities? How many
different spells can it emulate?

Gives a wizard some of the flexibility of a Sorceror. Now a sorceror who
chooses it needs to be hit over the head with his own familiar!

Post by Devast8or
How come none of this is nowhere to be found in the manual or the game?

Bad manual!




Patrick

[Devast8or]

Post by Patrick Dobson

Post by Devast8or
So you can use a higher level spell slot, to fire of a lower level
spell. <irony>Wow, that sounds great!</irony>

Well, one spell to cover several different possibilities? How many
different spells can it emulate?
Gives a wizard some of the flexibility of a Sorceror. Now a sorceror
who chooses it needs to be hit over the head with his own familiar!

Ah, of course. I play a sorcerer right now, so I didn't think of it that
way.

Post by Patrick Dobson

Post by Devast8or
How come none of this is nowhere to be found in the manual or the game?

Bad manual!

Yes, very bad.

Devast8or

[Speller]

Post by Devast8or
So you can use a higher level spell slot, to fire of a lower level spell.
<irony>Wow, that sounds great!</irony>

well, Really it is great...esp if your an illusionist :) Or if you just want
some flexabality. using a higher level slot also means one more point in
Spell res checks, maybe to in the will check but i'm not 100% sure on that.
as for Class, its great for a Mage, who now mem one spot and have 4 choices,
and a new summon at a higher level, which is an Illussion summon. for Sorcs
is even better, because as a Sroc your limmited to 6 spells per level...having
one spell you can cast, that gives you 4 more, well thats great.

Post by Devast8or
How come none of this is nowhere to be found in the manual or the game?

Becuase when they Print the manual, its about 10mounths before the press
the cds, or so it would appear, just think about all the "last minute changes"
you can do in 10 mounths :)

Post by Devast8or
Devast8or

Speller