Salt Mephit, Dehydration Aura

[Zor_Prime]

I apologize if this topic has already been discussed. I've done a brief search and didn't find anything.

My lvl15 Wiz takes a beating from a Salt Mephit's Dehydration Aura (when fighting large groups of Mephits). The bad thing is that you can't run away from it. It seems to be working as a ranged attack or the "aura" is significantly larger than what it should be. I can work around it to avoid getting killed but I *do* take some damage.

The two areas where I notice this the most are in the Desert running to the undead area and at the Gnoll/Mephit chest in the Vale. The Mephit is sometimes far enough away to where I can't even see him (with maxxed out draw distance).

I thought the Dehydration "aura" was supposed to be 20 feet. Should I bug report this?



/Also, and it may be my imagination, but I could swear the Dust and Salt Mephits are self-healing right there in that plush swamp.

[HumanRogue]

I hate that dehydration aura because there is nothing, short of killing the mephit, that can stop it. It seems like it can hit you from across the entire map... so if you miss/can find the mephit, you're in for it.

[Wu_Jen]

Whats funny is that it can damage you even when your in water :P

[Emili]

Whats funny is that it can damage you even when your in water :P

Aye, you can be swimming below it on the other side of the lake and they still hit you with it.

[BlueLightBandit]

My question is why is the OP suffering from mephits on a level 15 caster. FoD, Banishment, or Enervate and PK are all available at that level... and all will "fix" the aura bug (by killing the mephits before they ever come in range).

And it doesn't seem to work as an aura at all, rather it's like Ice Storm, that once it's cast in your general area you suffer the aoe portion no matter where you go. Try getting it and dim-dooring out... you'll still have that effect for the remainder of the timer no matter what location your character is in. So it seems not to be the character is affected while being in the area, but the character is affected for the duration of the spell regardless of the location. If that's the case, then the spell might be working as intended but the description is simply wrong. (And DDO has a pretty awful track record regarding descriptions IMHO)

[Zor_Prime]

My question is why is the OP suffering from mephits on a level 15 caster.

I don't know. Why not ask "the OP"? My guess is that he is 1) a horrible player. 2) His main concern is not mephits every time and by it not being his main concern, runs by them and takes several hits from some mephit he long passed. 3) He's soloing relatively large groups of Mephits and can only FOD and PK and Banish so many times before he has to fall back and regroup and/or resort to other tactics.

Two of those are objective, the other is subjective. Which one(s) fit your question?

I'm willing to bet "the OP" has never died at the hands of a Salt Mephit but rather, the damage from one has been a strange irritation that he has wondered about bug reporting.....hence the message.

FoD, Banishment, or Enervate and PK are all available at that level... and all will "fix" the aura bug (by killing the mephits before they ever come in range).

"Dummies Guide to Using Wizards" aside, your contention is that this is a trivial matter. Got it. Thanks for the opinion. I totally agree. It *is* not that big of a deal. In fact, I'm sure that "I can work around it" (where have I heard that?) using the spells you say are available at that level.

I'm curious to know if the spell is working as intended or not. If so - no big deal. If not - still no big deal.

[Ranmaru2]

Bandit,

he's asking about the ridiculously high AoE of an aura from a creature no bigger than 3 feet tall and 3 feet wide....the Aura hits you even when you're about 100 feet away and while the damage is miniscule, at best, it is annoying beyond all get out. taking 13 damage from a monster 50-100 feet away should not happen when it's supposed to be an AURA.

[BlueLightBandit]

Yeah, I dunno about the OP, but having run through the vale a few dozen times I know where the mephits are. My caster takes them out before they're ever within range to affect me with anything, let alone aoe aura effects.

So I'll rephrase my earlier post:
Point 1. A caster should be able to solo the entire vale while taking only minimal damage.
Point 2. The mephits "aura" isn't that. It's a spell-like ability that they can cast at range that affects the target for a certain time period regardless of the location of the target. Thus it's not really an "aura", but rather simply a case of a bad description. Bug report it if you want, but I doubt anything will get fixed/changed.

Oh, and thanks for the snide and sarcastic "the OP" stuff... it really shows a lot about "the OP".

[GlassCannon]

I apologize if this topic has already been discussed. I've done a brief search and didn't find anything.

My lvl15 Wiz takes a beating from a Salt Mephit's Dehydration Aura (when fighting large groups of Mephits). The bad thing is that you can't run away from it. It seems to be working as a ranged attack or the "aura" is significantly larger than what it should be. I can work around it to avoid getting killed but I *do* take some damage.

The two areas where I notice this the most are in the Desert running to the undead area and at the Gnoll/Mephit chest in the Vale. The Mephit is sometimes far enough away to where I can't even see him (with maxxed out draw distance).

I thought the Dehydration "aura" was supposed to be 20 feet. Should I bug report this?



/Also, and it may be my imagination, but I could swear the Dust and Salt Mephits are self-healing right there in that plush swamp.

Bug reported 2x already. Apparently the range is that of a Ranger's Arrow. This is clearly a bug. It's only a matter of time before this gets fixed.

[GlassCannon]

Yeah, I dunno about the OP, but having run through the vale a few dozen times I know where the mephits are. My caster takes them out before they're ever within range to affect me with anything, let alone aoe aura effects.

So I'll rephrase my earlier post:
Point 1. A caster should be able to solo the entire vale while taking only minimal damage.
Point 2. The mephits "aura" isn't that. It's a spell-like ability that they can cast at range that affects the target for a certain time period regardless of the location of the target. Thus it's not really an "aura", but rather simply a case of a bad description. Bug report it if you want, but I doubt anything will get fixed/changed.

Oh, and thanks for the snide and sarcastic "the OP" stuff... it really shows a lot about "the OP".

By that logic a Paladin Aura should be quite similar, and affect everyone in the quest regardless of location or proximity.

[Zor_Prime]

Oh, and thanks for the snide and sarcastic "the OP" stuff... it really shows a lot about "the OP".

I wholeheartedly admit to to the well deserved snark in my post. I think it's on the level with the undeserved snark in yours. What it "shows," I have no idea. I do know, that I wouldn't jump into a thread and immediately ask a rhetorical question that does nothing other than degrade someone based on an assumption of how that person plays their character...*especially* when that person was asking a simple question about a monster effect working as intended. But that's just me...I'm crazy like that.

In any case, your perceptive ability based on one's post was exercised in your first response and it was a tad off (a tad being a few parsecs). Whatever my last post "shows", in your opinion, holds about as much water......well....as much water as you could hold around a Salt Mephit.





And speaking of Salt Mephits (while trying desperately to get back on topic), with respect to your latest response, let me steer us in the direction of actually helping here. I mean, if I just take your statement that a caster can solo the entire vale with taking only minimal damage, I'm going to cry myself to sleep tonight. Let's get some specifics on this! You need to help out us lame casters who can't get from The Twelve to the Vale without taking damage (stupid ramp is too narrow and that lava is too hot!).

Point 1. A caster should be able to solo the entire vale while taking only minimal damage.

Awesome! I can do a lot of it but not all. I would love some tips! Or is this a statement of uberness? Well, if so, you're more uber than me. I concede - you play a caster better than I. And I'm willing to bet that I am not the only one. Now that we've cleared things up, I look forward to your posts offering pointers for Casters doing Vale runs. I sincerely love hearing how other Casters make runs in certain quests (seriously). Maybe you can post a guide or something?

Point 2. The mephits "aura" isn't that. It's a spell-like ability that they can cast at range that affects the target for a certain time period regardless of the location of the target. Thus it's not really an "aura", but rather simply a case of a bad description.

I'm getting confused. They say "aura". You say it's more of a "spell-like" ability, which suggests SRD (in name). I know DDO doesn't follow the SRD perfectly by any means but the SRD lists this very effect as a "spell like ability" that has a range of 20 feet around the mephit. No matter, I can accept it if it something like you describe. Such an effect is the same as something like Mummy Rot. I can see that. Then why no icon? Or is it there and I'm missing it?

Here's what I see - A Salt Mephit 100+ feet away. When I have direct line of site, I get a constant (every few seconds) roll against Dehydration Aura and then take some damage from it. Without changing my distance, I side-step behind something (pillar, tree, wall, whatever) and the rolls against Dehydration Aura go away. I step back out, I'm once again rolling against it and taking damage. If I step through a dimension door (as you suggest in your first post) I will certainly *not* take damage from this.

Bug report it if you want, but I doubt anything will get fixed/changed.

Why do you think that is?.....Oh! Is it because of its trivial nature and the fact that any Caster worth a darn should be able to deal with this as if it were a CR .2 Kobold? If so, well, then I guess it's "no big deal" (no big deal.....hummm <strokes chin>....didn't someone say that it wasn't a big deal in this thread?). Oh well, you're probably correct and they won't fix it. That's another reason to cry myself to sleep tonight....

[Zor_Prime]

Bug reported 2x already. Apparently the range is that of a Ranger's Arrow. This is clearly a bug. It's only a matter of time before this gets fixed.

Ah. Thanks GlassCannon. Now that you say "Ranger's Arrow", I could swear I saw that in another post a while back on this same topic.