disparity in reporting spell success chance

Rock

If a Human character with 0 Magery looks at a Mage Book, he gets accurate information:

He is able to cast the 2nd level spell with a fair success chance due to his shadow Magery skill of 20 via a human's Jack of All Trades (JoAT) racial ability.

But if a Gargoyle character with 0 Mysticism looks at a spell in his book, the information is incorrect.

Gargoyle's do not have JoAT, but they do have the Mystic Insight racial ability.  This grants them a shadow skill level in Mysticism of 30.  So he is incorrectly told he has no chance of casting Enchant, when in fact he has almost a 60% chance of doing so.  Similarly, he is told he has 0% chance of casting Healing Stone, when his success rate will be about 80%.

I never noticed this disparity before today when I was preparing to make a post on a related topic  But I believe it is a bug that should be fixed at some point in time.  Not high priority, but obvious once you see it.

dvvid

Good point! 

Nikard

This reminds me, gargoyle racial abilities suck and they deserve something useful for all of the disadvantages that come with playing one.

Rock

@Nikard I do not understand why you think so.  The devs want the races to be actually different, yet maintain a dynamic equivalence between them.  Gargoyles can fly at mount speed; the flying does not count as a follower, leaving 5 pet slots open.  They also have 2 mana regen which stacks with the MR from Meditation, Focus, and wearables.  They have a better success chance when imbuing, and they have 30 shadow skill in Mysticism.  The only ability which seems useless is their shadow skill in Throwing; 30 skill for an attack means you very seldom hit, and most foes will out-heal any damage you manage to do.  I guess Gargoyles would have 30 shadow defense while holding a throwing weapon, but again that is quite low.

For an explanation of why 30 shadow skill in Mysticism might be useful, see my recent post in Skills and Stats, a thrower's template.

The only downside I have noticed in playing a Gargoyle is that nearby stuff is awkward to target while flying.  Their wings tend to get in the way.  Oh, and many of the accelerated skill quest rewards in New Haven are unusable for Gargoyles.  That could (and should) be fixed directly by giving Gargoyles a race-appropriate version of the reward.

dvvid

Rock said:

The only downside I have noticed in playing a Gargoyle is that nearby stuff is awkward to target while flying.  Their wings tend to get in the way. 

I found the wings get in the way a LOT and so I turned that animation off in the options menu.  I think I like how they look running around more anyway lol.

Rock

@dvvid Thanks!  I did not even know the flying animation could be shut off.  You are right about appearance, too.  My guy looks like the Flash running around in "invisible flight" mode.

Nikard

The point is that gargoyles are exclusively good at nothing while the other races have clear advantages.

Rock

@Nikard hmmm, how about a tamer or mystic of the Gargoyle race who can move around the battlefield at mount speed and still control a 5-slot pet?  Or an imbuer who consistently gets better results than those of other races? Or a mage who generates mana noticeably quicker than elves and slightly quicker than humans?  None of these are huge advantages, but there are reasons to choose a Gargoyle.