By the love of Myrkul. Make deathward like elemental defenses!! 40 min AFK in a quest

[SorcererVictor]

I am on early 20s, trying to level up shadowdancer, with poor gear. The final boss companion casted death ward, mass and I managed to kill the first "red" boss with my normal spells, but the second, is CR 54. Even rolling 18 with disjunction, I can't dispel his deathward and he has too much hp to be defeated with non dark magic spells. I had to retreat and now AFKing while wait till this deathward expires.

I am fine with deathward giving immunity with OHK spells, but unlimited immunity to negative energy is too powerful. Resist elements gives up to 30 DR vs that element and protection from elements, temporary immunity till caster level * 12 damage is absorbed.

Make deathward giving deathlock + damage immunity till 30 * caster level damage is absorbed + 500 DR vs negative energy. Would still be the best spell vs negative energy and trivialize encounters vs enemies which deals this type of energy damage, but would't be that RIDICULOUS!!!

[kpak01]

Or trying bringing a friend with a sword instead of insisting that evil negative energy be able to do everything.

[SorcererVictor]

Or trying bringing a friend with a sword instead of insisting that evil negative energy be able to do everything.

Swords are too overrated. And I strongly disagree.

Negative energy damage is not "evil" per say, just like a electron is not the "evil proton". The cosmos needs a balance and the negative energy plane is just the polar opposite of the positive energy plane. Sorcerers can use cold/fire/electric/acid damage VS anything. Why the negative energy wizard should be weaker? And why the negative energy pact for WLK should be the weakest?

Sorcerers can literally burn a fire elemental to death. Pale Masters can't do anything against a mere tier 4 defensive spell. That is insane.

[rabidfox]

Sorcerers can literally burn a fire elemental to death. Pale Masters can't do anything against a mere tier 4 defensive spell. That is insane.

Carry some swap gear with other spell power types/lore on them and slot other damage spells for backup damage when needed against mobs that are immune to any given damage type. Might kill things slower, but slower is better than doing zero damage.

[TheAlicornSage]

Negative energy being negated on occasion like this is fine. You should never ever build yourself so inflexibly that you are unable to handle an enemy that is immune to your prime tactic. If a player can defeat absolutely everything with a single tactic, then something is very wrong.

Also, energy resistance of 30 is hardly the highest to be achievable.

I also am focused on negative energy as a solo player, and I've got no problem what-so-ever with needing alternatives from time to time.

[SorcererVictor]

Negative energy being negated on occasion like this is fine.

Strongly disagree. Imagine if a tier 4 spell like stoneskin gave infinite DR vs physical damage till the duration ends with no limit on how much damage it can absorb. That would be ridiculous.

The point is that DDO promotes specialized characters and negative energy is the WORST element. You can throw literally the entire energy of the plane of negative energy into a guy and a mere tier 4 spell can protect him from it. This while sorcerers can burn fire elementals and fire dragons...

[TheAlicornSage]

Negative energy is more useful more often than fire/etc. Having stronger defenses in a handful of places is a good counterpoint.

They made fire elementals NOT immune to fire?! Um, I would not support that.

[SorcererVictor]

Negative energy is more useful more often than fire/etc. Having stronger defenses in a handful of places is a good counterpoint.

They made fire elementals NOT immune to fire?! Um, I would not support that.

Resistance to negative energy? Sure. Complete immunity, not ok. I am not suggesting to make deathward useless. Nor to remove it. Just to make it no longer infinite better than higher tier elemental defenses. Make it like 10x better than Protection from Elements instead of infinite times better.

The capstone allow sorc to bypass any type of immunity.

Elemental Apotheosis: Fire: Activate this ability to transform into a Fire Elemental.

While in elemental form(...) casting a spell of that tree's element on a creature that is immune to that element, that creature becomes vulnerable to that element for a short time. https://ddowiki.com/page/Fire_Savant_enhancements

[TheAlicornSage]

Considering how much rarer negative energy defenses are, having them stronger when found makes sense. As for how much stronger, this is a strage bit of mixing patterns from the ttrpg with mmo design. Ttrpg patterns are still the foundation for things like resistance, and beyond resist 30 is generally just immunity. It doesn't really feel right to have resist 300 or something.

That said, it doesn't feel right to me that a sorc can just bypass immunity either.

In any case, asking for 300 resist is crazy anyway is nothing more than wanting to stick with a single strategy, and the whole point of the immunity is to force a shift in strategy, to make it so no one can have a single stratrgy, a single optimization, that defeats everything, and that is something I wholeheartedly agree with. I think it should be impossible for you to defeat everything with just neg energy.

[kpak01]

Negative energy damage is not "evil" per say, just like a electron is not the "evil proton".

There's no negative energy in the real world, so whatever real-world moral lessons you might have don't apply.

In the D&D universe, it literally is Evil, "per se".

[kpak01]

Sorcerers can literally burn a fire elemental to death. Pale Masters can't do anything against a mere tier 4 defensive spell. That is insane.

You are correct that immunity bypass is insane. They should nerf Sorc, Druid, Alch, and anybody else who gets it.

You are wrong that PM can't to anything. Wizards are supposed to be Int-based, so use your brain. Don't you have any other spells? As a Wiz, you have so many spells at your disposal, and can easily swap them out to you have the right ones for the job. This requires thought. If you want to play the dumb "hulk-smash" type character, try a Sorc or a Barb or something.

[Dendrix]

I am on early 20s, trying to level up shadowdancer, with poor gear. The final boss companion casted death ward, mass and I managed to kill the first "red" boss with my normal spells, but the second, is CR 54. Even rolling 18 with disjunction, I can't dispel his deathward and he has too much hp to be defeated with non dark magic spells. I had to retreat and now AFKing while wait till this deathward expires.

The real fail is the inability to dispel spells on the monster no matter what you do.

[Seph1roth5]

Hate to burst your bubble but even if you wait out the DW the enemy will probably immediately recast it as soon as you go back to fight.

[Merrillman]

You are correct that immunity bypass is insane. They should nerf Sorc, Druid, Alch, and anybody else who gets it.

You are wrong that PM can't to anything. Wizards are supposed to be Int-based, so use your brain. Don't you have any other spells? As a Wiz, you have so many spells at your disposal, and can easily swap them out to you have the right ones for the job. This requires thought. If you want to play the dumb "hulk-smash" type character, try a Sorc or a Barb or something.

Nonsense. In regular D&D warlocks, etc..., can burn the unburnable. No different than D&D, so not at all an issue. In a game where not everyone can group and many need to solo a lot of the time, to not be able to do content — and there is a LOT with fire — is just unfair. There are plenty of advantages others have. Why should anyone heal via negative? Why should undead be able to be dominated? You get the point. Pick your character, pick your flavor. It’s no more insane than bosses or certain monsters not being ever able to fail a save or be affected by spells that could instakill, and get one shotted. If they can have that, we can have this. Bosses should absolutely be able to be subject to ALL debuffs and insta spell effects. Players in reg D&D occasionally get lucky rolls.

[TheAlicornSage]

Nonsense. In regular D&D warlocks, etc..., can burn the unburnable. No different than D&D, so not at all an issue. In a game where not everyone can group and many need to solo a lot of the time, to not be able to do content — and there is a LOT with fire — is just unfair. There are plenty of advantages others have. Why should anyone heal via negative? Why should undead be able to be dominated? You get the point. Pick your character, pick your flavor. It’s no more insane than bosses or certain monsters not being ever able to fail a save or be affected by spells that could instakill, and get one shotted. If they can have that, we can have this. Bosses should absolutely be able to be subject to ALL debuffs and insta spell effects. Players in reg D&D occasionally get lucky rolls.

Don't be ridiculous. You can solo with a pale master easily, even against enemies immune to negative energy. I know because I'm a solo wizard and have been longer than PM has been in the game, and have been a PM since it was added. There are even days where I don't even use neg energy at all.

So if you can't handle a single boss because of this one spell, it is your failure as a player to figure out the puzzle. It is contrary to the core concepts of dnd to have everything in the game bend to your whim. You are not a mary sue, and mary sues are one type of player that really has no place in dnd.

[Mindos]

Wasn't the trick to cast lessor globe of invulnerability and lure the mob into it?

[Seph1roth5]

That's a nice trick, don't think I've ever used the globes before lol (though you'd need normal globe for DW). But also don't think my PM has ever ONLY had negative energy spells, I mean....plenty of room for scorch or even the lv 1 bolts.

[SorcererVictor]

Considering how much rarer negative energy defenses are,

Dude. A single tier 4 spell which anyone with a bit of UMD can cast can make you complete immune. And depending on your CR, not even disjunction can remove that protection. How it is a "rare energy defense"?

IF there was a metamagic which transform negative energy into cold energy, even losing the spell power, would be a must have metamagic for every pale master.

Don't you have any other spells? As a Wiz, you have so many spells at your disposal, and can easily swap them out to you have the right ones for the job. This requires thought.

As I've said, in late epic levels, enemies start to have too much hp. Maximized empowered intensified meteor swarm eats a lot of sp.

DDO is not like other D&D games. DDO forces you to be specialized. Sorcerers are specialized in a element and wizards in a spell school.

And guess what. In other games like D&D, I can easily solo BG2:EE on Legacy of Bhaal difficulty as a necromancer. Here is I playing it > https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg_gamers/...of_bhaal_as_a/

Differently than P&P, DDO has mechanics which forces casters to be far more specialized. That wouldn't be a problem, if you could actually use the thing that you are specialized into.

[TheAlicornSage]

DDO does not force specialization. I'm a solo wizard in epic levels and I hate optimization, and yet I can still succeed at this game at higher levels than my own. It is not hard and is very viable. It is a strange psych effect that many players fall into a trap of focusing on a few numbees and trying to maximize those numbers which is most easily accomplished by specialization, but there isn't actually a need for it, but it seems like it because those highly optimized numbers allow a player to get places they aren't otherwise ready for, then when the run into a situation where their specialization is countered they are unable to keep up. This is not a case of specialization being encouraged much less required. Sure, you can select a specialization, such a specific school or element, but nothing requires you to exclude all else. Heck, my PM has the abjuration school specialization for the SLAs and I basically don't use any other abjuration spells in general, certainly not enough to gain any benefit asise from the SLAs themselves.

As for casting the spell, well, players are not the primary opponents in this game, so what players can cast does not count. It is rare because the enemies you face have defenses against negative energy more rarely than elemental dmg. The ability to buy scrolls/wands doesn't change that.

[SorcererVictor]

DDO obviously force specialization. For eg, in P&P, with spell focus, great spell focus and epic spell focus, a specialized school gets +3 on save DC. On DDO, the difference between specialized school to non specialized school is much bigger. Like +30 DC with gear + ED + Trees.