Are Stores too Expensive?

[nezzerscape]

In general I thing the idea of % based adjustments are good. I also feel they should be lower for stores that sell 1-5 level equipment. Change the % based on what the stores sell. What each store sells could be grouped by level by the items it caries to further segment costs with out grating your hands.

I realize that a lot of stores specialize and you would not want to have the armorer selling scroll. but if there are multiple armorers (which there are) segment those.

Some "on subject" thoughts.

[GodBeastX]

NWN2 has a property (not an item property) where you type a gold value in to mod the item. Can be negative or positive. I used to use that alot. So you can totally make the most awesome item costs 1 gold.

[Phantom Lamb]

Right, I thought I said that? Anyway, the problem is, it would be a lot of work to do that for the number of items we have at this point, unfortunately.

[gbbishop]

The prices are good.

On the comment of gold gathering efficiency... try a shifter they dont need ANYTHING to work. My 18th lev owns a mundane wood club and I still have not seen him matched for damage output. He also has a "few" stags in a hollow log somewhere in the V-dale.

Your cleric should not be sitting on a pile of gold. They should be using their money to fund do-gooder projects or do-dastardly projects.. I forget, was it 10 or 20 percent that was a required donation as per o'school pnp rules. Here is an idea outfit your tank!!! You know he is low on cash. Don't have a tank buy one... If you are walking around buffin bashin restin and repeatin you are being a....... a.... a... well you fill it in. Get a tank, get a party, have fun!

sorry back to topic...

I say the prices are fine with a few discrepancies here or there that could be fixed (such as throwing axes) which this would be solved entirely by a recipe for returning enchantment on thrown missles... gah I can't help it PL!!! It's like an affliction.

[Kaeldorn]

Hmm, perhaps failure to enchant/craft should cause damage?

It already does. You may fall asleep for a moment, take a bit of direct damage from hurting yourself, or incur a temporary dex penalty for ravaging your hands. The worst one is a bleeding effect that may do up to several hundred points of damage to you. If you're a squishy mage and don't get healing help, you're as good as dead.

[GodBeastX]

Right, I thought I said that?

I don't be knowin'. I was just reading and just started talking.

[Usurper]

Sounds like me..lol

[KimKandor]

I haven't replied to anything in a long while, but this topic is one that's vexxed me for a bit so I'll chime in.

The problem stems from the cost of healing, a cleric/druid with the ability to heal in battle cheaply is able to gather money a factor of 10 times quicker than a fighter/non caster. I say only one thing needs it's cost adjusted, healkits. I know they aren't supposed to be used like candy but it would do huge amounts to balance the classes and give low lvl fighters an chance to gain the gear that will keep them somewhat marginally close in power as your average cleric/caster.

Everything elses cost is just fine now as gold is not hard to attain if you lower the cost of healing. So PL, instead of grating your knuckles you can polish your nails and edit the cost of the healkits with the other hand and maybe a few cure potions as well

[Phantom Lamb]

I think our eventual plan is to do away with magical heal kits and replace them with non-combat-use bandages. These bandages would indeed be cheaper, but it would improve the value of potions that can be used in-combat. A good point though

[GodBeastX]

Maybe you guys didn't notice, but I made potions maximized. Healkits are inferior to potions now IMHO.

Cure Critial wounds heals, like 40hp. And it always does max HP.

[KimKandor]

I don't think it was a healkit vs potion problem, it's more the overall cost of healing for the non magical fighter/item dependent PC which throws things out of whack.

I do understand that that as most of you know Ariel was joined together at the hip with Evananda, hence making her one of the richest PCs on the server most of the time. Why? mad offense and free healing. The free healing means never having to leave, never spending a coin on kits, potions.

Now if everyone had their own personal healer this cost aspect would never come up, but most don't :P

[BedlamX]

Maybe you guys didn't notice, but I made potions maximized. Healkits are inferior to potions now IMHO.

Cure Critial wounds heals, like 40hp. And it always does max HP.

I noticed...and my fighter and rogues are most appreciative of it


...when they can afford the potions, that is

[Kajae]

The following includes gross generalization. Viewer discretion is advised.

I'd agree that there's a rather large imbalance in effectiveness between Casters and Scrappers, particularly due to the rather short resting cooldown; before level 6 and after level 10, a player can effectively keep their spells running permanently as long as they can find a place to rest. While they may not have the same damage output as a Scrapper, Casters certainly have a significantly greater deal of survivability (damage reduction, concealment, AC through the roof, healing, etc.), which means they can go longer and do more even if they progress more slowly.

Additionally, they generally don't need to worry much about upgrading their gear, since many defensive and offensive bonuses would overlap with those granted through spells. Ironically, most Casters in NWN end up becoming Eldritch Knight-types (even without using said PrC) because AoE damage-dealing spells are fairly impotent when Hit Dice rolls are maximized, and there aren't enough spell slots to effectively utilize only single-target damage spells. So you've got a lot of wizards walking around self-buffed out the wazoo and hitting things with their staves. When their spells are about to run out, they rest, rebuff, and start at it again. Unless, of course, they have a meat shield, in which case they stand far behind and use a crossbow rather ineffectually. Plink.

Fighters, Rogues, Barbarians, and the other Scrapper classes all do need to worry about their gear, though, which means not only are they spending much more money on healkits, but also more just trying to have equipment that's up to snuff. It's very difficult to match the AC of a Caster just using magic items, when geared appropriately to a equivalent level, and the other special bonuses often come at a price.

Even if the Casters were spell-slinging, as opposed to being Buffomancers, they'd still be away from the front lines and wouldn't need healing anyway.

While this may be offset in PnP somewhat, through fewer resting opportunities, reagent costs, sacrifices/behavioral requirements for Clerics/Druids, and most of all, prepared parties, the fact of the matter is that the game (both DnD and NWN) aren't designed around total balance. Fighters do well at low levels. Casters do well at high levels. Fighters do well at high levels only if they're well-geared and/or have a Pocket Caster.

Since the Developers have said that they want people to work in groups instead of soloing, there are a couple solutions that I see, as far as equality of dungeon-running goes:

-Implement the much-discussed Dispel Traps, which would certainly throw a wrench into the otherwise powerful Mages/Battlebishops without really harming the gear-dependent folks. Bring a Rogue to disarm the traps, or bring a guy with a Big Stick who doesn't care about magic removal.
-Increase the Rest cooldown. Ten minutes is kind of short, in my opinion, and seems to sort of push the Buff-Fight-Rest-Rebuff course of action.
-Tack a Reagent Cost onto Arcane spells, and some daily Tithes to the church for Divine casters. Alternatively, maybe have high-level Arcane/Divine spells incur Fatigue like Crafting does; after all, constantly manipulating eldritch energies is taxing on the mind and body, and a God isn't going to do everything for you, now is (s)he? A similar system was in place on another server, and it seemed to be rather effective at preventing frivolous spellcasting. GBX knows what I'm talking about.

Alternatively, the cost of Fighter/Rogue/etc. gear and supplies could be reduced, but that might lead to a whole new slew of problems, and not just logical ones.

[Phantom Lamb]

While I appreciate the post (and agree with it), it is WAY off-topic

Let's reign it in please folks!

[Kajae]

Er, right.

Prices are fine. We just need to get Casters spending more!