Weekly Development Activities

October 16, 2006

Check out the latest updates to the "Weekly Development Activities."
The goal for this feature is to give solid expectations on what you can
expect to see in future updates.



In QA

These items are in QA and should be a part of Module 3.



General

• NEW - Fixed an issue
  where going link-dead/disconnecting during teleportation into a dungeon
  could prevent you from getting XP from that dungeon.
• NEW - Fixed an issue which prevented
  your XP panel from refreshing after returning from link-death into a
  dungeon.
• NEW
  - If your party completes an adventure, and you miss it (link dead, or
  healing in a tavern), the adventure will now complete when you reenter
  the dungeon. This way, you won't miss out on your XP, or miss out on
  advancing your quest.
• You will now slowly regenerate Hit Points and Spell Points while
  walking around the city and not just in taverns.
• NEW
  - Previously when players used a stat-enhancing tome (such as the
  Manual of Bodily Health) the increase in ability score from the tomes
  were not being considered as part of your "base ability." This means
  that they were not being counted for purposes of advancement. This has
  been fixed. Players who have used tomes in the past will see the
  correct behavior in the future. If you used the "Tome of Clear Thought"
  you will receive the correct number of skill points when you advance in
  the future, but will not receive retroactive skill points.
• A number of new emotes have been added to the game:
  
  • /beckon
    
  • /hug
    
  • /flex
    
  • /groan
    
  • /grovel
    
  • /kiss
    
  • /no
    
  • /poke
    
  • /sigh
    
  • /taunt
    
  • /yes
    
  • /cheer2
    
  • /dance2
  • /show (allows you to /show off your right-hand weapon).
    
• The
  Silver Flame has recognized that the brothers stationed in Taverns have
  been casting an inferior version of Restoration. From now on, the spell
  cast in taverns will remove 1 negative level in addition to all the
  other Restoration effects.
• Raid parties for the Dragon or the
  Warforged Titan will now have the option of setting the raid loot
  shards to go to a random member of the party rather than to the leader.
  The leader can switch the shard designation by right clicking on the
  party health-bars (in the same place he/she clicked for
  "convert-to-raid"). All members of the party will be notified in party
  chat when this happens, and later arrivals will be notified when they
  join the party. Once the party has been switched to "random loot", it
  cannot be switched back. Shards will be randomly assigned to any member
  of the party who is alive and still in the dungeon as soon as someone
  attempts to pick up the shard.
• Fixed a bug which prevented the player's encumbrance from being
  updated when sending an item through the mail.
• Some
  new Tips have been added to the game that will be displayed when
  loading a new area. Special thanks to ddo.com forum members apollojuly,
  Berjik, Chardros, Denomicon, DeusMortis, DrAwkward, Drogon,
  DuckOfDeath, Elurian, Fu-Inator, Furee, oronisi, patnodewf, Squeg,
  Thanatos, Thistle, tihocan, toddfox2, tr0tsky, Ustice, Volund, whysper,
  winsom, and Worg2k6 for the new helpful tips!
• Players will no longer get stuck while dismounting from ladders.
• NEW
  - Freedom of movement items and spells will now allow you to ignore the
  effects of slippery surfaces (i.e. grease and sleetstorm areas).
• We
  are pleased to announce the addition of the /showhelmet <on |
  off> command which can be used to hide your helmet graphic.
• We
  are improving the combat/damage feedback mechanism. This will not only
  eliminate "false" hits where the target would flinch but no attack roll
  would take place, but also give better feedback as to the strength of
  the hit.
• When you successfully swap a spell, you will now get an alert
  telling you that it worked.
• Poison
  dart and poison grenade traps will now actually poison you instead of
  doing poison hp damage. In addition, we have fixed several broken traps
  throughout the world.
• Soulstones are now ethereal to almost everything which means
  they'll fall properly if you die in mid-air, over water, etc.
• NEW - The barkeeps of Stormreach have
  started carrying and increased variety of food and drink.
• Lava Cam! When your camera is in lava, it now looks more like
  it's in lava, as opposed to water.
• Made
  some small tweaks to our avatar animations. For example, human female's
  wrists won't twist in the dual weapon combo attack, dwarven arms won't
  over-extend when they use an axe to cleave, etc.

Performance

• The landscape renderer has been overhauled to
  provide better performance (especially load times). In addition, the
  new landscape engine enables huge draw distances that were not possible
  before.
• The overall frame rate has been improved and ‘hitching' reduced.
• Avatars
  and monsters are now a bit brighter than other objects (the intensity
  depends upon the environment and lighting conditions).
• Overall
  bandwidth of the game will be reduced another 1-3%, and certain
  problematic dungeons and laggy areas will be significantly improved by
  20-50% (when your client gets flooded with information about objects in
  your local area). These changes will be most noticeable for modem
  users.

UI Improvements

• The text on the XP bar has been clarified
  to make it more obvious that you have not lost the XP you were accruing
  toward your bonus AP when you die and get an XP debt while you are
  working toward bonus action points.
• Race and Alignment requirements to equip items will now be shown
  in RED text.
• We've
  added a new button to the focus orb! The new "tell" icon appears next
  to the "invite" button when you have another player selected.
• Mail
  • The "New Mail" icon will now appear on the Focus Orb even if
    it is minimized.
  • The "New Mail" icon will now vanish from the Focus Orb when
    the last new letter in your mailbox has been opened.
  • It is no longer possible to put too much text into the
    Compose Mail' "To," "Subject," and "Message" fields.
  • It
    is no longer possible to compose new mail while your mailbox is full.
    The Mail Box is considered full when it has fifty or more letters
    inside of it.
  • The "To" and "Subject" line of the Compose Mail UI no longer
    accept carriage returns.
• NEW
  - The options panel now provides the choice to reset the chat windows
  back to their default window configuration (General, Party, Guild,
  Combat). All other windows will be removed.
• /retell can now be used with the alias /rt as well.
• When
  you type in "/r " the chat box will automatically replace that text
  with "/tell X," This works with "/r", "/reply", ";r", and ";reply".
  This functionality has also been added to the /retell command and
  should help eliminate mistells.
• NEW - Guild Officers should now see
  their own chat message appear in the Guild chat tab.
• NEW - The spell swap window will no
  longer get stuck closed if you close it by backing away from the
  trainer.
• NEW
  - The affordability status will now update when you acquire currency
  (i.e., from selling things) while the shop panel is still open.
• NEW
  - Mummy rot and mummy curse have new alert icons which look different
  from one another. Also, the alert icons for when players get hit by
  monsters using the feats stunning blow, sunder, and bewildering blow
  have been replaced with clearer ones which better depict the effect or
  feat rather than the exclamation point icon.
• In an effort to help clear up some confusion Ranks will now start
  at 1 instead of 0.
• ALT-Z will now hide/show the main UI.
• You will now see the dice rolls for dispelling.
• When
  using something other than the mouse to move the mouse cursor (for
  example, an Xbox 360 controller), the mouse cursor will not be allowed
  to move outside the game window.

Monsters

• NEW - A few old
  familiar spellcasters have discovered some of the same new spells that
  players have discovered and have added them to their spellbooks and
  repertoires, in some cases replacing older spells. While the difficulty
  of these spellcasters may change slightly (up or down) as a result of
  these additions, overall difficulty should not change by a significant
  amount.
• Many human enemies have had their alignments updated or
  corrected. For example, Agents of the Emerald Claw are now Chaotic
  Evil; Warriors of the Emerald Claw are now Neutral Evil; the
  necromancer Gerti is now Chaotic Evil; all Blackguards are now Evil,
  and many are Lawful Evil; City Guards are now Lawful Neutral; and
  several misaligned thieves and rogues are now Chaotic Neutral.
• Monsters can no longer remain stealthed/invisible when they are
  casting harmful spells on you.
• Adjusted
  some monster sneak attacks to function properly – some were not being
  blocked by fortification, while others were not triggering in situation
  where they should have (for example, with a blinded target).
• Monsters will now deal properly when hit with multiple behavior
  states (for example, mesmerized while dancing).
• The
  behavior of monsters that cannot reach their target because other
  creatures are in the way has been improved. Preventing a monster from
  reaching its target is now an effective way to gain the creature's
  attention.
• NEW - Summoned monsters now appear at
  the spellcaster's location.
• NEW - Some monsters (primarily on large
  landscape areas) will no longer follow opponents indefinitely.
• NEW
  - A pass was made for consistency on breath weapons of monsters.
  Several of these attacks were being applied incorrectly, preventing
  Protection from Energy or Resist Energy from functioning against them.
• NEW - Warforged Titan
  
  • When knocked over, the WFT will stay down longer.
  • The laser can be moved more times before the power runs out.
  • A crystal will keep the laser powered longer.
  • The WFT's claw attack now makes less attacks per round.
  • The WFT now fires less small shots per round.
  • Reduced the damage on the WFT's small shots.
  • Reduced the flight speed of the WFT's small shots.
  • The detect boxes of falling pillars has been increased
    (watch out below!)
  • The detect box of the laser has been increased (do not shine
    directly into your friends' eyes).
    
• Troglodyte
  Stench is no longer called 'nausea' but is instead properly called
  'Troglodyte Stench' and flagged as a sickness. The functionality of the
  stench has not been otherwise changed.
• Liches can no longer be
  affected by command undead, halt undead, the undead fear portion of the
  chill touch spell, or control undead (not in game yet).
• Mephits now fly faster.
• NEW - Some wraiths can now cast spells.
• Most named troglodytes have been given more hp on the hard and
  elite settings.
• Trolls should no longer attempt to make melee attacks from out of
  range.
• Wight priests now cast attack spells with greater frequency.
• NEW
  - Ghouls now properly apply the Sickened condition on opponents rather
  than the Slow effect. Sickened creatures have a -2 penalty to attack
  rolls, weapon damage rolls, skill checks, and saving throws. Effects
  that remove or protect against poison function on sickness.
• NEW
  - Iron golems can now be slowed for a short time by electric attacks
  which do at least 1 point of damage. When iron golems are hit by fire,
  they are now healed by 1/3 of the amount of damage rather than the full
  amount. Fire damage will also cancel out the electricity induced slow
  effect if present.
• NEW - Fixed a bug
  that was preventing spiders and dwarven enemies from being affected by
  the Slow spell and similar effects that reduced their movement.
• Spiders
  • Some mid- and high-level (mostly CR 7 and up) spiders have
    new stronger poisons.
  • Most
    spiders on the hard and elite settings have had their attack damage
    reduced significantly, particularly those on the elite setting.
  • Widow type spiders will once again shoot functional webs.
  • NEW
    - Redfang – Redfang has been eating her Wheaties - her difficulty has
    been increased slightly to put her in line with other boss monsters.
  • NEW
    - Whisperdoom - Players should follow Ungurz's advice and not attempt
    to slay her – there is something in the air near Splinterskull that
    makes her practically invincible.
• The mind flayer and vampire's dominate abilities no longer dispel
  protection from evil.
• Vampires no longer cast shadows.
• Vampiric Domination is now properly "Dominate Person" rather than
  "Dominate Monster" (Celestial Dogs and Warforged rejoice!)
• Undead bosses can no longer be affected by turn undead fear.
• Some ogres have been eating their veggies and will be able to see
  and hear better than they could before.
• Several
  bow wielding enemies will now shoot various energy arrows like flaming
  arrows or cold arrows. These will do the typical piercing damage (1d6
  and up) in addition to various amounts of energy damage.
• Several
  resourceful enemies have begun using various alchemical substances in
  battle. In most cases, these will affect players as energy damage over
  time.
• Elemental Empathy will work properly on Earth Elementals that
  have used their Earthgrab ability.
• NEW - All earth elementals will now
  react appropriately to creatures they cannot reach.
• NEW
  - Flesh to Stone has been updated to only affect creatures that have
  flesh. As such, beholders will no longer petrify Warforged.
• NEW - Fire Elementals will no longer get
  stuck dancing at times.
• NEW - Mummy spellcasting AI updated.
• More
  powerful versions of Mummy Rot are now labeled accordingly: Pernicious
  Mummy Rot is more dangerous than regular Mummy Rot, and Virulent Mummy
  Rot is even more lethal.
• NEW - It is
  no longer possible to have more than one type of mummy rot on you at a
  time (if you were fighting a normal and elite mummy simultaneously).
• NEW
  - Brother Salasso and other creatures capable of going gaseous,
  ethereal, or otherwise incorporeal, should no longer have a chance of
  becoming permanently stuck in a half-ethereal state where they can
  affect you but you cannot affect them.
• Adran ir'Karsmore relies less on natural AC and more on his
  clerical buffs to provide him enough AC.
• NEW
  - General Xanti'lar - His fireshield now protects him from cold and
  does fire damage to attackers, more like the regular fireshield spell,
  the difference being that his fireshield gives him immunity to cold
  instead of half damage from cold. Additionally, his caster level has
  been brought up to the normal level instead of being improperly set low.
• Female humanoid villains will no longer charge into melee range
  if armed with spells or bows.
• Mind flayers no longer reappear after being killed by a fiery
  death.
• We
  are fixing an issue with the death animations of Arcane Skeletons. They
  will no longer "eat collectables" they should be creating.
• NEW - Humanoid monsters will no longer
  throw weapons from their feet.

Combat

• All enemy trips and knockdowns now have dual saves
  (an initial save and a secondary save). Most give you an ability
  modifier check for the initial save to determine whether or not you
  fall. This is usually your Strength or Dexterity modifier, whichever is
  greater on your character. Some knockdowns like grease give a reflex
  save as the initial save. Once you fall down, your secondary save
  checks will occur every two seconds and are versus your balance skill
  to determine when you stand back up.
• NEW
  - Bard songs can no longer be interrupted by people hitting you. Cleric
  enhancements that use turn-undead charges can no longer be interrupted
  by people hitting you. Turning on action boosts can no longer be
  interrupted by people hitting you.
• NEW - Player level no longer adds to DCs
  to resist your feats (trip, sap etc).
• NEW - All Construct Bane weapons now
  affect Warforged.
• Vermin Empathy and Elemental Empathy will now properly deduct
  from your Wild Empathy uses per day.
• Rangers
  can now choose Favored Enemy: Gnoll as one of their favored enemies,
  either during advancement or by using a feat respec.
• Favored Enemy: Construct now works on warforged opponents.
• Smiting weapons and other death effects now give better combat
  feedback in your chat box.
• Boss monsters will now give better feedback on spells that they
  are immune to.
• NEW
  - Critical confirmation rolls are now shown in the chat log. Victims of
  sneak attacks and crits will now get clearer messages about it.

Spells

Spell Changes

• NEW - We have
  optimized and polished many of the spell effects, so don't be alarmed
  if your favorite spell doesn't look exactly like it did before..
• The valid arc for casting spells on a target has been increased
  from a forward 90 degree arc to a forward 120 degree arc.
• Resist
  Energy is now available for clerics, paladins, rangers, and wizards.
  Protection from Energy is now available to Rangers, Wizards, and
  Clerics. This change allows these classes to cast Protection From
  Energy and Resist Energy the same way a sorcerer can, by memorizing a
  single spell and then choosing which damage type to ward against. The
  days of memorizing several Resist Energy: (Element) are no more!
• NEW
  - Spell crits were not working properly on some AOE spells; now they
  will properly register the crit when casting and then apply the extra
  damage to all targets for the full duration of the spell. Spell crits
  will now also work properly on burning hands and cone of cold.
• Protection
  from Evil has been fixed to work correctly. It no longer protects
  against *all* charms and compulsions (including Otto's, command, hold
  monster/person, etc). Rather, it only protects against charms and
  compulsions that give ongoing mental control, such as the vampire's
  dominate ability. Also, as per D&D rules, it no longer protects
  against mental control from evil creatures, but ALL mental control,
  regardless of the target's alignment.
• NEW - Break enchantment now removes all
  petrification effects (such as from the beholder).
• NEW - Since the Heal spell is now
  available for players, Restoration no longer removes Feeblemind.
• NEW - Dispel Magic now correctly
  bypasses Spell Resistance.
• Phantasmal killer is now a fear effect.
• NEW - Phantasmal Killer damage on a
  successful save is no longer negative energy damage, but rather untyped
  damage.
• NEW
  - Sleep spells (Sleep and Deep Slumber) now have recurring saves every
  minute that the spell is active. This allows players who have been
  affected by sleep to have a chance to break free of it before the full
  duration has elapsed without significantly impacting its usefulness in
  combat situations.
• Players will now be immune to charm and suggestion spells.
  Players will no longer be immune to command spells.
• Stinking Cloud is now properly considered a 'nausea' effect.
• Holy smite will now damage spiders.
• The
  Teleport spell no longer has a Somatic casting component so players
  will not suffer an arcane spell failure chance for Teleport while
  wearing armor.
• The Dispel Magic spell (for bards, clerics,
  paladins, sorcerers, and wizards) no longer requires a material
  component to cast (as per P&P rules).
• Niac's cold ray now uses the proper ray cast animation.
• Mind Blast now affects all enemies within the area of effect.
• The
  flame arrow spell now allows the caster to choose what type of ammo
  he/she would like to add the "flame" property to. Choices include
  Arrows, Bolts, Throwing Daggers, Throwing Axes, Darts, and Shuriken.
  Each requires 1 base unmodified type of that ammo (so Flame Shuriken
  requires 1 plain shuriken) and produces a stack of 50. All players and
  items that can cast flame arrow will now cast the "new" version.
• Ice
  storm no longer creates a slippery surface on the ground that causes
  players or monsters to fall. Instead it slows the land movement speed
  of enemy monsters for a very short time while in the storm area.
• Stoneskin
  and Protection from Energy spells now work as per PHB - they have a
  total amount of damage that they protect you from, after which they
  will vanish.
• When blind, you will no longer see the names
  floating above the head of named friends/foes. In an update sometime
  after Module 3 we will be restoring the ability to see friend's names.
• Casting/Cooldown
  
  • Slightly reduced the cooldown timer of all level 5 spells.
  • The 'projectile' portion of Fireball and Ball Lightning have
    been sped up slightly.
  • The Flaming Sphere ball of fire has been sped up slightly.
  • Significantly sped up the casting time of Command to be in
    line with other spells of that level.
  • Significantly sped up the casting time of Flame Strike.
  • Significantly sped up the casting time of the Spell
    Resistance spell to be in line with other spells of that level.
  • Significantly sped up the cast time of the sorcerer's
    Dimension Door spell to be in line with other spells of that level.
  • Significantly increased the cooldown timer of the sorcerer's
    Suggestion spell to be in line with other Suggestion spells.
  • Made
    several minor tweaks to casting times and cooldown timers of other
    spells to bring them in line with similar spells of the same level.
    
• The
  cloud spells Acid Fog, Cloudkill, Fog Cloud, Glitterdust, Mind Fog,
  Obscuring Mist, Sleet Storm, Stinking Cloud, and Solid Fog have had
  their FX altered slightly. Now, if you or an ally cast any of these
  spells you will see the particle effects only, and not the obstructive
  visual overlay. Cloud spells cast by enemy spellcasters will still
  display screen overlays on any target that didn't resist the spell.
• NEW
  - Stinking Cloud, Obscuring Mist, and Fog Cloud no longer blind
  players. Instead, Stinking Cloud, Obscuring Mist, Fog Cloud, Solid Fog,
  Acid Fog, and Cloudkill now give a 20% concealment miss chance to enemy
  attackers due to the obscuring of sight. Players in sleet storm,
  however, are still considered to be blinded. Obscuring mist, fog cloud,
  and sleet storm effects can no longer be avoided with blindness ward
  items.
• NEW - Changes to Web
  
  • The
    vast majority of monsters that had previously been flagged as immune to
    web now can save against it normally. This includes both per-genus
    immunities (like giants) and immunities based on hit dice (which was
    causing many monsters on hard and elite settings to suddenly become
    immune to web).
  • The monsters that will continue to be immune to
    web are incorporeal creatures, spiders, oozes, fire elementals, other
    creatures largely comprised of fire, and bosses. In other words,
    incorporeal creatures can pass through webs, spiders are spiders, oozes
    squish through webs, and creatures that look like they're on fire can
    burn through the webs.
  • Spiders now properly display an 'immune' message when hit
    with a web spell.
  • Spider webs now have recurring str checks and hold players
    the same way the web spell does.
  • Ghouls and wights can no longer run through webs freely (they
    were missing their entangled animations).
  • To
    compensate for the removal of many of the immunities to web, web now
    has recurring saves. Any monster that fails the initial reflex save can
    attempt to make a strength check to break out of the web. After
    succeeding on a save the monster cannot be affected by a web again for
    the rest of the round (~3 seconds).
  • The area of webs effect has shrunk slightly to better fit the
    physical appearance of the web.
  • Area
    of Effect fire spells, both friendly and harmful, now properly burn
    through webs (previously they were burning the web itself, but leaving
    creatures that were already caught entangled, now all creatures that
    are entangled when the web is destroyed will be freed).
  • Players caught in webs cast by enemy monsters can no longer
    move freely.
• Obscuring Mist can now be burned away with fire spells (like the
  Web spell - as per D&D rules).
• Glitterdust's penalty to hide is no longer resistible with a Will
  Save.
• The teleport spell now uses the correct particle FX.
• NEW - Bards now get feather fall as an
  optional level 1 spell.
• NEW
  - Beneficial AOE spells, such as haste or remove fear, will now center
  on the caster rather than some distance in front of the caster when
  cast without a target selected (or with a monster target selected).
  These spells when cast with a friendly player targeted will still
  center around that target.
• NEW - Fiery
  Inferno, Burning Touch, Thaarak Hound Breath, and Scorch will now be
  stopped by the appropriate Resist Energy spells and items, and not by
  physical DR.
• The visual for the Grease spell now matches more closely the area
  of effect.
• You will now get chat feedback in the combat window when you hit
  someone with a non-damaging spell (like fear or slow).
• NEW
  - The delay between when some AOE offensive and defensive (buff) spells
  are cast and when the spells actually applies their effects has been
  shortened. This makes these spells easier to land on moving creatures
  and make it slightly less likely that the party barbarian will keep
  running out of range of haste before it lands.
• NEW - The radius of Sleep, Deep Slumber,
  and Feather Fall have all been increased to "standard" AOE radii.
• NEW
  - Fixed a problem with the Dismissal spell wasn't adding the spell
  level (4 for clerics, 5 for sorc/wiz) to the spell's save DC, making it
  much harder to land than it otherwise would be.
• NEW - Protection from Energy and Resist
  Energy selector spells now all share the same cooldown timer across all
  versions.

Metamagic Fixes

• Characters using the Quick feat will find their spellcasting
  greatly improved.
• Resistance, Restoration, Raise Dead and See Invisibility spells
  can now be used with the Eschew Materials feat.
• The spell point cost of using your Eschew Materials metamagic
  feat has been reduced.
• Find
  Traps, Ice Storm, Magic Missile, Scorching Ray and Searing Light no
  longer consume additional spellpoints while the Heighten Spell feat is
  active.
• Holy Smite and Niac's Cold Ray can now be used with the Heighten
  Spell feat.
• Dismissal no longer consumes extra spell points while the
  Maximize or Empower spell feats are active.
• Feeblemind and Waves of Fatigue no longer consume extra spell
  points while the Extend Spell feat is active.
• Ray of Exhaustion can now be used with the Heighten spell feat.
• Sleet Storm no longer consumes addition spell points while the
  Heighten spell feat is active.
• Wall of Fire
  • No longer consumes additional spellpoints while the Heighten
    spell feat is active.
  • Wall of Fire can now be used with the Extend Spell feat.
• Shocking grasp can now be affected by the Heighten Spell
  metamagic feat.
• Solid Fog and Grease no longer consume additional spellpoints
  when under the effects of the Heighten Spell metamagic feat.
• Melf's Acid Arrow no longer consumes additional spellpoints while
  the heighten spell feat is active.
• NEW
  - The enlarge spell metamagic feat no longer consumes additional
  spellpoints when used on the self-only spells Find Traps, Divine Favor,
  Divine Power, Detect Secret Doors, Expeditious Retreat, and False Life
• NEW - The enlarge spell metamagic feat
  now works properly with Wall of Fire.

Spell Description Updates

(these are just text changes, not changes to spell functionality)

• Spell descriptions now use color for greater readability!
• Player
  spells will now state in their descriptions if the spell has a saving
  throw to resist, and if so, the results of a successful save.
• Niac's Cold Ray now properly includes max damage (please note:
  there has been no functional change to this spell).
• Ray
  of Enfeeblement description fixed, it had been indicating an extraneous
  +1 STR damage that it did not do, and was missing max caster level
  information.
• Hold spells have been updated to state that they have a save
  interval.
• Player spells that have a max Hit Dice cap should now state this
  in their description.
• Melf's Acid Arrow description has been updated to list the
  correct interval.
• Wall of Fire description now been updated to include damage
  amounts.
• Scorching Ray description now includes information about
  additional rays and their levels.
• NEW
  - Updated Solid Fog description to remove reference to blocking missile
  attacks (which did not work) and added information about melee attack
  and damage penalties. There has been no functional change to the spell.
• NEW - We have corrected several other
  spell descriptions as well.

Skills, Feats, & Abilities

• NEW - Trained-only skills now require a
  full rank, not half a rank, to use.
• NEW - Resolved an issue where only the
  first person to walk near a secret door would make a spot check to see
  it.
• The
  magnitude of the bonus provided by Action Boost: Attack and Action
  Boost: Skills have been reduced at the higher level enhancements.
• Bards
  can now activate their singing abilities while moving! The activation
  time on their singing abilities has been reduced significantly as well.
  An animation glitch has also been fixed!
• Fixed a bug with some
  AOE abilities and spells. Formerly, if you had a dead monster targeted,
  Turn Undead would fail. Now, it will work, but will be centered on you
  since your selected target is dead. The same is true of other feats,
  skills (Intimidate, etc.), and spells (Burning Hands, etc.), for which
  the default behavior on an invalid target should be "happen, centered
  on me", or "happen, aiming directly forward".
• NEW
  - At level 6, Drow erroneously received the option to purchase an Elven
  ranged combat enhancement intended for high elves only. Drow can no
  longer select this enhancement.
• The description for the
  Paladin's Lay on Hands ability has been corrected to better describe
  the amount of healing/damage that the ability does.
• The Bard
  Inspire Competence ability is now correctly flagged as a 'competence'
  bonus to skills, not a 'morale' bonus as it was.

Enhancements

• Warforged who take the fighter's armor
  mastery enhancements will now see it affect the max dex bonus from
  their armored body feat.
• The Divine Healing enhancement now affects warforged characters
  equally effectively as non-warforged characters.
• The Human Improved Recovery Enhancements now will properly
  increase the value of heals cast on you.

Items

• NEW - When you attack most
  creatures, the chance that your weapon will be damaged is now
  significantly less (on average). Weapon damage chance after hitting
  oozes and rust monsters has not changed.
• The prohibition the
  Coin Lords had placed on the sale of handaxes in Stormreach has been
  lifted. Handaxes now for sale in fine weapon shops near you.
• NEW - Docents should now always appear
  properly both on your screen and on everyone else's.
• NEW - Removed a bug causing equipment to
  be generated with race restrictions, but without setting the UMD
  difficulty on the item.
• NEW
  - Tomes and Manuals that grant statistic increases can no longer be
  destroyed by monster attacks. They will instead become broken and can
  be repaired.
• NEW - Stacks of higher level Resist
  Energy potions now list the energy resistance gained (either 20 or 30
  points).
• NEW
  - Superior [ENERGY] Lore item effect descriptions now match the actual
  bonuses given by these items, a 15% chance to critical for 1.5x damage
  when casting a spell of the correct [ENERGY] type.
• There is a
  new weapon effect "Vicious". This effect causes the weapon to do an
  additional 2d6 of damage to the target, but also does 1d6 of damage to
  the wielder.
• Generic Masterwork and +1 items sold in various shops around
  Stormreach are no longer bind on acquire.
• NEW - The Grease Scroll now has the
  appropriate caster level for a level 1 spell.
• NEW
  - Fixed an issue with Bane weapons where they were not getting the
  proper +N bonus to damage their specified enemy (they were getting the
  +d6, just not the +1 on lesser/+2 on normal/+4 on greater).
• Bolts
  of X Bane have had their minimum required level reduced to match Arrows
  of X Bane. This change is not retroactive, but all new bane bolts found
  will have the new minimum required level.
• Corrected a treasure
  issue where some slashing weapons were generated without an intended
  effect. The affected weapons will not suddenly gain a new effect but
  they will retain their inflated monetary value for sale to vendors.
• NEW - Steel Bucklers will now have steel
  hardness.
• The
  following bane weapons will now have the appropriate attack bonus. At
  the moment there is not a retroactive fix for older copies of the
  weapons that do not have the bonus but we are working on one.
  
  • Kelmar's Justice
    
  • Sword of the Giant Slave-Masters
    
  • Giant Stalker's Knife
    
  • Spider Spike
    
  • Spiked Mace of the Elements
    
• NEW
  - Darkleaf Banded Mail will now actually be made out of Darkleaf. This
  benefits of Darkleaf include; +1 to max dex bonus, armor skill check
  penalty reduced by 2, arcane spell failure reduced by 5%, and armor is
  non-metallic (which matters if a rust monster bites you).
• NEW
  - Any new Roguebane Breastplates from Gwylan's Stand will now have a
  minimum required level of 4 as well as having a higher value and
  durability.
• NEW - The Star of Irian
  that drops in Tempest's Spine is getting a makeover. All existing and
  new Stars of Irian will have the Righteous effect work as described (+2
  to-hit/damage vs. Evil creatures). It will no longer do an additional
  1d10 damage on critical hits. Newly created Star's of Irian will have
  increased durability and hardness as well as an increased minimum level
  requirement. The durability change will not affect already existing
  Stars.
• Crests will now sparkle to make them easier to see.
• Thrown
  weapons (axes, daggers, darts, and shuriken) will now rotate
  appropriately when thrown. Thrown daggers and axes now also have
  streaks as they spin through the air.
• Elemental weapon particle FX have been toned down.
• The
  "Protection from Chaos" effect found on the Planar Gird and the
  Chaosgarde has been renamed "Chaosguard". This is to prevent confusion
  with the D&D rules Protection from Chaos which includes a ward
  against mental control. Our effect was never intended to include that
  ward (and never has). There is no change in the actual benefits of
  these items.

NPCs

• Wandering NPCs (such as Altan Eguilan) should no longer slide
  away while talking to players.
• NEW - Petra Pollister the Potion Peddler
  in the Portable Hole has a new potpourri of puissant potions.
• NEW - Guard Joalam in the marketplace is
  no longer suicidal.
• Summoned and charmed monsters should no longer attack Derward
  Ironhill.
• Durk the Deranged has noticed that his friend Loghan is no longer
  in the Leaky Dinghy.

PVP

• Sneak attack works as follows:
  • If the target player is helpless, sneak attack applies.
  • If the target player is blinded, sneak attack applies.
  • If the target player is asleep, sneak attack applies.
  • If the target player is stunned, sneak attack applies.
  • If the target player is bluffed, sneak attack applies.
  • If the target player is dazed, sneak attack applies.
  • If the target player is flanked, sneak attack applies.
• In PvP arenas only, inflict wounds spells can be used to heal
  friendly undead.

Quests

• NEW - It should no longer be possible to
  find an empty chest in a low level adventure in solo mode.
• Fixed a problem where some floor puzzle tiles weren't lighting up
  when they should have.
• NEW - Arzag-Khor Sewers
  • Several
    new champions of the Arzag-Khor have joined them in their sewers. These
    are powerful warriors who have the potential to be guarding new special
    equipment. /
    
• NEW - Black Anvil Mines
  
  • Duergar survey crew should no longer respawn.
    
• NEW - The Butchers Path
  
  • A secret door that wasn't so secret has been fixed - players
    will now need to use the search skill to locate the secret door.
    
• NEW - Catacombs
  
  • The final fight in the Catacombs has been made more
    challenging.
    
• NEW - Delera's Tomb
  
  • Charmed monsters should no longer prevent progression through
    the dungeon.
    
• NEW - Den of the Kobold Brothers
  
  • Balanced
    the treasure tables on the chests in the Den of the Kobold Brothers to
    be more in line with dungeons of similar length and difficulty.
    
• Garl's Tomb
  
  • Old Grey Garl will no longer fall through his hatch while
    fighting you.
    
• Ghola-Fan's Compound
  
  • The
    chest in the Iron Golem training room inside Ghola-Fan's Compound will
    no longer pickable to help prevent quest completion issues.
  • NEW
    - The ogres under the instruction of Master Tar-Lom will now attack
    those who seek to rain missiles down on them from above, instead of
    sitting around wondering what to do.
• Haunted Library
  
  • The floor puzzle in the Haunted Library now requires that all
    4 runes be lit at the same time in order to open the door.
    
• NEW - Hidden Chapel
  • The experience granted for completing "Purge the Heretics"
    has been increased.
• NEW - Hiding in Plain Sight
  • Fix an issue with unintentional respawns in the end room of
    Hiding in Plain Sight.
• NEW - Irestone Inlet
  
  • If you use a tar keg and don't have a powder keg, the tar keg
    will remain useable.
    
• Osgood's Basement
  
  • Some breakables in this dungeon were not counting towards the
    XP bonus for number of breakables smashed. This has been fixed.
    
• The Pit
• NEW - The experience granted for this
  dungeon has been raised dramatically.
• NEW
  - A powerful and well equipped conjurer is rumored to have been killed
  in the Pit. Wonder if the slimes have left any of her equipment intact…
• NEW - The third furnace room is now more
  friendly to players.
• Made some changes to the Pit's instruction manual - Step 9 is a
  little bit difference since the final objective has changed.
• Redfang's Nesting Ground
  
  • More spikes are now disabled by the control panel in the
    spike-trapped room, creating a wider "safe path" for travel.
    
• Restless Isles
  
  • We have added another encounter.
  • The locked gates in the tunnels beneath the isles can now be
    picked with a high enough dc roll.
    
• NEW - Ruins of Threnal
  
  • We've
    made some changes to the giant caves in the Ruins of Threnal adventure
    area to balance and spread out the loot across all 3 of the caves. Each
    cave will now have 1 chest at the end of it which will give level
    appropriate loot.
  • The chest at the end of the Gate of the Black
    Moon has been re-added. Also, the door that Kharvos Valadan opens at
    the end of the Southern Threnal Ruins quest will close after a time and
    will not reopen.
  • NEW - It is no longer possible to
    "miss" the first giant encounter in the Threnal Ruins.
• Sharpwood's Warehouse
  
  • The enemies will no longer respawn.
• NEW - Shrouded Vale
  
  • Shrouded Vale now properly acts as an adventure area and not
    an individual quest.
  • The cart will now take you back to Phiarlan.
    
• Sorrowdusk Island
  
  • NEW - The Rest Shrine in Grey Moon
    Den is open for business again.
  • NEW
    - After players complete "Cult of the Six" by speaking to Lord Hragg,
    they can revisit Bruku the Elder to repeat the "Cult of the Six" quest
    without also repeating "Grey Moon Waning."
  • The puzzle wheels at the end of the Fane of the Six now work
    correctly.
  • NEW
    - The chests at the very end of the Cult of Six quest series will now
    only spawn after both the Fire Reaver and the Idol have been destroyed.
  • The 2 floor puzzles in Sorrowdusk Temple now require that all
    3 of their runes be lit at the same time to complete the puzzle.
  • NEW - You can now carry the Libram
    of the Six out of the dungeon and Hragg will take it from you.
• Splinterskull
  
  • Chief Ungurz will now offer an option to repeat the
    Splinterskull quest arc.
    
• NEW – The Sunken Sewer
  
  • Reworked the final encounter in this dungeon to prevent
    players from getting stuck while fighting the boss.
    
• Tempest Spine
  
  • The
    "Bridge to the Inevitable" gate trap will now open after 3 minutes to
    prevent parties from getting stuck should someone run ahead, trigger
    the trap, and then die.
    
• NEW - Three Barrel Cove
  
  • Previously,
    Lars Riflee would behave as if you had already done his quest before if
    you had done the Sunken Sewer quest, not his. This has been fixed.
    
• NEW – Troglodyte Clutch
  
  • More XP will be awarded for the optional objectives of
    Freshen the Air.
  • The
    Troglodyte Shamans were not getting along with each other. Some have
    left the clutch entirely while others simply put some distance between
    themselves and their brethren. As a consequence, Harven Gralak now
    requires fewer Troglodyte Shaman to be killed.
  • When the shamans left, the troglodyte tribe enlisted the aid
    of some kobolds to fill in the gaps in their ranks.
  • Adventurers
    weary from battle with the Troglodytes now have a place to rest, but
    the clock's still ticking, so they shouldn't dawdle!
  • The
    Troglodytes have cleared a hallway and expanded their lair to include
    room for their breeding grounds. Rumor has it that an especially rank
    Troglodyte, Matriarch Sishliss, has taken up residence there, fiercely
    guarding her eggs and treasure.
  • Doggart now requires
    adventurers to meet him at the exit before he will declare the job
    done, and he won't let you leave without clearing both the vents and
    the source of the troglodyte infestation.
    
• Twilight Forge
  
  • The dogs in the boss fight will now stop respawning after the
    mind flayer boss is killed.
  • Made the locked chest in Twilight Forge easier to open.
    
• NEWVault of Night
  
  • Plane of Night
    
    • It should no longer be possible to fall through the
      intact bridges in the Plane of Night dragon encounter.
      
  • Prison of the Mind
    
    • Monsters should no longer fall off Prison of the Mind.
      
    • A rest shrine has been added to Prison of the Mind.
  • Vault of Night
    • Rest shrines have been added to this dungeon to help
      weary travelers.
      
• NEW - The Waterworks
  
  • Guard
    Branson's dialog now correctly indicates that there is a level
    requirement not a favor requirement to get the "Invasion" storyquest.
    
• Wavecrest Tavern
  
  • Kobolds will no longer attack you through doors in the
    Basement.
    

Under Development

These items are currently in development and are scheduled for some
time after Module 3.



Quests

• NEW - Black Anvil Mines
  
  • When you take this quest, the mapnote will update to indicate
    you need to use the cart to go to the Black Anvil Forest.
    

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