Feedback on the changes to gnolls and spiders



  • Wandered into the spider woods with my level 7 ranger and found it quite difficult to hit tree spiders.

    Wandered into the deep and managed to kill a couple one at a time.

    Then more came, and got con-drained, paralysed and webbed at the same time. Lucky to get out of there and no plans to go there alone again.

    Got the help of a high ac level 6 paladin and tried again. We managed ok when there was one spider at a time. Any more than one and things got pretty hairy. Summoned animal companion and the spiders ripped right through it. Had to unsummon it after 2 rounds of combat.

    We found it very difficult to hit the barking spiders. Must be even worse for classes with a lower BAB.

    Used to travel back from there with one other pc, both encumbered with wood. Would not do that in future without also having 2 unencumbered characters to deal with the spiders.

    However, it is great to have something back in that provides a thrill and some xp without also providing certain death to us low ac types.

    As for the actual xp rewards - At ranger 6 could solo the southernmost bandit screen without too much danger. No idea what the xp would have been for that, but the spiders now are way harder at level 7 than the bandits were at level 6.



  • Welcome to the life of "Monks of all levels"!

    General ineffectiveness and supreme cleanliness galore!



  • Don't get me wrong, I love em. But don't think for a moment that I am going out there by myself.



  • Playing as mostly a mage, I got pretty scared against the harder spiders. I must admit the newness is rather invigorating.



  • I checked it, that was a fluke.



  • Don't know if this was a fluke or not.

    Went out with Cotton, Kaona and Tala…

    Spiders did not show and there was only one Ettercap.



  • I took on the low level spiders with a solo druid, 4th level, and his panther follower.

    Fair amount of risk. I nearly died twice in about 45 minutes of play. Keep in mind that I rarely make combat builds so my druid isn't quite what a druid powerbuild could be.

    I disagree that the area has gotten too tough for the lower levels. Any character with a sling or bow could MANGLE all the low level spiders before the change. I don't think the fact that the spiders challenge a party of level 1s is necessarily a bad thing; I'm not a big fan of characters wading through hordes of monsters - I would much prefer it if each spider was a risk on it's own, but gave relatively high xp as a reward. Assuming the xp for a lvl 1 defeating a spider is 40-50, I like the changes to the Forest, Tree, and Silk spiders (haven't moved deeper yet).



  • @60017d73cd=Katebush:

    Ouch 😉

    hugs Kerby and grins

    Well, aside from losing one half of a 7 level team, the Barking Spiders (I think that's their name) give XP if you kill them soloing at level 7. Which seems fair, considering the risk. Albeit, there was a bug probably with their aura spells, they used up all usages of their auras before starting the fight for real. Very odd and confusing behavior.

    After they've used all that up, they're manageable.

    That was a level 7 cleric. At first underestimating the spiders.



  • I agree with Gildor, perhaps on my last post i was being a lil selfish because i was getting xp once again. Now that i have thought it over (and tested it on my own) the closer areas of spider forest would proove too hard for lowbies in parties with less than 5 members…even i dont think it's worth it now for yeveath to head there (lvl3ranger/lvl2warrior) even though i mainly focus on my bow rather than HtH combat.



  • My level 1 character went out there with two other level 1 and a familiar. I had expected to at least get through the gate about two feet inside the map, but the spiders got to us first. We all made it out barly alive and near death after just being out there for 1 min.

    A party of 3 level 1 and a familiar should in most cases be able to spend a good 10 min in a low level area, and we were not badly orgenised. Now it is more a level 3 - level 5 spot in my humble experience.

    I like to fight at level 1 and reach level 2 - 3 when I got enough HP to stroll around, than sit and hope for RP xp, all the time.

    Looks like between being social in the camp I'll have to travel off to Jiyyd, Norwick and Peltarch to give my character some training.

    😉



  • I went to the stronger spiders alone with Mingal (lvl 11 cleric) and the spiders are not much stronger IMO i didnt get paralyzed though. I noticed that they had a little more hp and little higher AB. (a kobold adept has higher attack bonus then the greater silk spider)

    Now to the gnolls…The first thing i noticed was that the witch doctor had a new spells which made them a lot stronger. And the gnoll warrior IMO is just the same as before...



  • I went out earlier into the area just beyond the gate earlier to take on a handful of spiders ealier with Cotton nearby for luck. Level 2 monks don't really have the AC to handle a prolonged fight against the spiders, and don't have the BAB to shorten the fights. The easist apiders have a stong chance to wound me severly, and perhaps kill ones who arn't keen on retreat. If there were sufficient people in the camp to form a ballanced party this wouldn't be a worry, but that frequently is not the case. Overall I don't see me going in there very much. Much more likly I would head down to Norwick to try to find someone to tank for me against goblins.



  • A nice surprise. However i find the silkies almost as strong as the tree spiders, yet they offer no xp. Perhaps if they would offer half the xp than the tree ones do it would be more logical.
    But thumbs up in any case!! 😉



  • This is semi off-topic, but for those of you worried about the paralyzation, Freedom of Movement and Remove Paralysis are the spells you should keep your eye on. Negative Energy Protection will block those ability drains. I know almost no one actually uses these spells, so I'm just reminding people that some of you out there actually have them, and when you do use them, you might find the spawns less…lethal. Though that may be the intended effect, I don't know. Bring a Cleric!



  • i [stupidly] went solo into the first screen south of the camp and was poisoned by a [tree?] spider. ( i was surrounded, hard to tell which one got me.)

    -3 STR from the poison…it made my hasty withdrawal...not so hasty.

    (5 FTR/3 ROG)



  • Took a mixed party to the Gnolls, they seemed a lilttle tougher but not to bad really. No XP was gained to let you know. But the Warriors put up a nice fight for us.

    Party:
    Kaona
    Tala
    Rary
    Anakore
    Cotton
    Kalina
    And a few lower levels

    Cheers



  • to scared to try the gnolls yet, though if others go in a party, i'll tag along to try. I like that the Barking spiders don't seem to daze for as long, and almost freaked when i got paralyzed with two of the silkies running at me. This was with Sy'wyn, lvl 8 cleric. XP reward was really welcome however when did finally shake the paralysis and tried to cut my way to safety.



  • Ouch 😉

    hugs Kerby and grins



  • I love it! They are a very good challenge now and will keep the deeper tree spawns much safer, well as making people party to set out there if they wish to craft.

    I do not get XP soloing the deep but I could care less about it, just the fact Cotton now has to stay on her toes makes it more enjoyable. But when I was partied with Elrin, Tala and Klaz, I was getting XP for the greater silkies.

    Will try to gather a party for the gnolls tonight and let you know after.

    Great changes IMHO.



  • I'm a lvl 8 ranger/lvl 1 fighter… with another lvl 9 ranger, a lvl 10 mage, and a lvl 11 ranger in our party. The deep spiders were still giving us a decent run for our money, but nothing we couldn't handle.

    The paralysis is scary, but makes sense as far as poisonous spiders go. A wonder they hadn't thought of that sooner... As for the risk versus reward... I was happy with the reward. Just need to make sure you have some people there to help you out in case you get paralyzed. So solo adventuring is definitely a no go anymore, which is both good and bad I guess. because there are times when the camp is totally empty and the only thing you could do was wander the spider woods, but there are also times when the camp is booming.... I guess time will tell how that goes

    Personally... I'm loving the changes to the spiders, haven't checked out the Gnolls yet though. The 4 xp per greater silk was somehow more satisfying then rp xp lol I was like "OMG! XP!". Combat xp is rare these days. So yeah, jut wanted to say I'm pretty happy about the spider change.

    gives two thumbs up