"Pause character" opcode

[subtledoctor]

Hey... I'm curious about this opcode that you guys are using for crossbows. Is there a good in-depth discussion of it anywhere? Is anyone (kreso?) an expert in its effects? Are there any effects that are not immediately obvious? E.g. is it like being Held, where all melee attacks automatically hit you? Etc.

[lynx]

it's used by the mage elemental summoning effects during the negotiation phase, so it's easy to test. AFAIK it has all the same consequences as all other immobilisation effects.

[kreso]

Hey... I'm curious about this opcode that you guys are using for crossbows. Is there a good in-depth discussion of it anywhere? Is anyone (kreso?) an expert in its effects? Are there any effects that are not immediately obvious? E.g. is it like being Held, where all melee attacks automatically hit you? Etc.

There are no ill effects, bar restriction on any actions for it's duration. Paused state doesn't make one automatically hit or anything unlike Stun or Hold, any AC he has is kept intact etc. Mind you, I have a code ready that makes all weapons (a la Celestial Fury/stun darts etc.) that cause "stun" effect use this opcode instead, remove any DEX bonus and set character's vision range to 0, simulating a proper PnP "stunned" condition. Unfortunately, one cannot use this for spells since it very likely messes up AI beyond recognition (it needs STATE:Stunned and only a real "Stun" effect gives that, so PW:Stun must stay as it is...). Never tested, thou.

[Fiann of the Silver Hand]

...remove any DEX bonus...

Could you elucidate? I'm translating this as DEX is unchanged, but you're removing the AC modifier that might be had from it.

[kreso]

 

...remove any DEX bonus...

Could you elucidate? I'm translating this as DEX is unchanged, but you're removing the AC modifier that might be had from it.

 

Dexterity is set to 50%, removing any AC bonus gained from it. Using %-based modifier one can avoid stat-drain kills

[Fiann of the Silver Hand]

Hmm. That means that a CRE with a DEX of 6 to 10 would receive an AC (and missile thac0) penalty where there was none before. (For practical reasons, no need to address DEX 5 and below getting a worse penalty.)

So really, you just want a % to take a reasonable/expected/typical high DEX down to as close to no AC bonus (14) as possible. Only a handful of CRE have a DEX higher than 20, and DEX boosting items aren't common enough to worry about the rare chance when a -6 bonus can only be taken down to -2. So let's go with 20. Getting that to 14 would be only a 70% reduction, and would allow DEX of 8, 9, and 10 to be reduced but without a brand new AC and missile thac0 penalty. Six and below would still be hosed, but we laugh at clumsy people anyway.

[kreso]

Is there a creature with such low DEX (other than "innocents" with 9/9/9/9/9)? It's easy enough to use "set" rather then "increment" tho...

[Fiann of the Silver Hand]

As far as creatures (not merely CRE) go, there should be, but Bioware was pretty lazy with monster stats that weren't high enough to matter, or in stats that weren't relevant to the CRE (like tons of trolls having ridiculously high INT). In BGT there are 9 CREs with a 3 DEX, 6 of which are prey animals, and 1 immobile (Centeol). Nine have an 8 DEX. So as far as generic installs go, it might not matter whether it's 50% or 70%, barring the players that don't powergame and find an 8 DEX acceptable.

 

SET would be more reliable, but does have the weirdness of removing someone's low DEX penalty. In absolute terms, probably undesirable. But for what actually happens, not so much.

 

Anyway, my intent in asking was seeing if you had figured out some method (besides an invisible creature script) to suss out the AC from DEX.

[kreso]

Anyway, my intent in asking was seeing if you had figured out some method (besides an invisible creature script) to suss out the AC from DEX.

No.

[Magus]

There are no ill effects, bar restriction on any actions for it's duration. Paused state doesn't make one automatically hit or anything unlike Stun or Hold, any AC he has is kept intact etc. Mind you, I have a code ready that makes all weapons (a la Celestial Fury/stun darts etc.) that cause "stun" effect use this opcode instead, remove any DEX bonus and set character's vision range to 0, simulating a proper PnP "stunned" condition. Unfortunately, one cannot use this for spells since it very likely messes up AI beyond recognition (it needs STATE:Stunned and only a real "Stun" effect gives that, so PW:Stun must stay as it is...).

Could you please elaborate, what's the difference between "proper" stun and existing stun? You mean to say that PnP stun doesn't allow autohit?

[kreso]

 

There are no ill effects, bar restriction on any actions for it's duration. Paused state doesn't make one automatically hit or anything unlike Stun or Hold, any AC he has is kept intact etc. Mind you, I have a code ready that makes all weapons (a la Celestial Fury/stun darts etc.) that cause "stun" effect use this opcode instead, remove any DEX bonus and set character's vision range to 0, simulating a proper PnP "stunned" condition. Unfortunately, one cannot use this for spells since it very likely messes up AI beyond recognition (it needs STATE:Stunned and only a real "Stun" effect gives that, so PW:Stun must stay as it is...).

Could you please elaborate, what's the difference between "proper" stun and existing stun? You mean to say that PnP stun doesn't allow autohit?

 

 

A stunned creature drops everything held, can’t take actions, takes a -2 penalty to AC, and loses his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any).