Post by Psionic-Entity on May 4, 2021 18:13:19 GMT -5
New updates today, special thanks in this one to Kaybrie who's helped identify a couple dozen bugs by playtesting on the live server. Will be opening this up to a larger group soon, but for now there's enough intentionally unfinished bits to keep it to a small group.
Rituals and Magic Advancement
Players who choose to learn magic start with 75 insanity tolerance, but until now there hasn't been a way to get more of it. This new mechanic relies on a vfx system added to a recent iteration of nwnx4, which makes it possible to spawn visual effects for only a subset of players in an area. The result is that some places in the gameworld have effects only visible to magic users. The most basic location for these effects is at altars where magic users have made sacrifices or performed other rituals in order to bring themselves closer to the unknowing void. Here's an example of what a perfectly sane player can see in such a place:
In this example, the other player (not holding the torch, because he doesn't need one) sees this:
The glowing ball is interactable, but if the sane character uses it they'll get a generic message. The insane character is able to sacrifice one level of hit points in order to obtain one level of insanity, or a 5 for 5 swap. There are also green and orange versions of these altars to increase insanity at the cost of toxicity or stamina. Characters can't go below 75 in any of their stats.
Shock Therapy
Just like insanity can be increased by meddling with the unknown, it can also be cured. If you're insane and would prefer not to be a magic user, you can check yourself into the psych ward at the hospital in Calidor. There, you can find a doctor who will administer shock therapy, curing one statistic at a time and eventually eliminating your insanity entirely. If you get your insanity to zero with this method, magic interactions no longer show up and you can retrain any magic abilities.
Game Manual Update
Thanks again to Kaybrie for the suggestion, I edited the game manual pages about spells to have a skill filter, this should make it easier to see what kind of magic you'll have access to by progressing in each skill. These tabs in the manual only show for characters who have some kind of magic attunement.
Rituals and Magic Advancement
Players who choose to learn magic start with 75 insanity tolerance, but until now there hasn't been a way to get more of it. This new mechanic relies on a vfx system added to a recent iteration of nwnx4, which makes it possible to spawn visual effects for only a subset of players in an area. The result is that some places in the gameworld have effects only visible to magic users. The most basic location for these effects is at altars where magic users have made sacrifices or performed other rituals in order to bring themselves closer to the unknowing void. Here's an example of what a perfectly sane player can see in such a place:
In this example, the other player (not holding the torch, because he doesn't need one) sees this:
The glowing ball is interactable, but if the sane character uses it they'll get a generic message. The insane character is able to sacrifice one level of hit points in order to obtain one level of insanity, or a 5 for 5 swap. There are also green and orange versions of these altars to increase insanity at the cost of toxicity or stamina. Characters can't go below 75 in any of their stats.
Shock Therapy
Just like insanity can be increased by meddling with the unknown, it can also be cured. If you're insane and would prefer not to be a magic user, you can check yourself into the psych ward at the hospital in Calidor. There, you can find a doctor who will administer shock therapy, curing one statistic at a time and eventually eliminating your insanity entirely. If you get your insanity to zero with this method, magic interactions no longer show up and you can retrain any magic abilities.
Game Manual Update
Thanks again to Kaybrie for the suggestion, I edited the game manual pages about spells to have a skill filter, this should make it easier to see what kind of magic you'll have access to by progressing in each skill. These tabs in the manual only show for characters who have some kind of magic attunement.