Dungeons & Dragons Online Update 5 Released

Turbine has updated the Dungeons & Dragons Online servers with their fifth content update since the launch of Eberron Unlimited, bringing a new adventure pack, UI improvements, combat enhancements, epic item tweaks, and a whole lot more to the MMORPG. The full notes:

Release Notes: Update 5

Welcome to the Release Notes for Dungeons & Dragons Online! These release notes were posted Monday, June 28th 2010.

News & Notes
Of Special Note:
Guild Improvements

Do you want to experience epic power and earn immeasurable treasure beyond your wildest dreams? Are you ready to see what it means to really be above the fray? Now you can! Build up your Guild Renown to earn Guild Levels and grow in power! The more active your guild members are, the more levels, power, and treasure your guild will achieve together. Your guild can even buy an Airship as your HQ and take to the clouds!

• The UI of the guild panel has been updated! It now includes the following features
  • Displays of the level of your guild
  • A Renown tracker has been added so you can see how close you are to your next guild level
  • A tab has been added to see what features your guild has earned access to

Other Guild Changes

• Guild floaty text no longer includes rank, and instead now includes the guild’s level.
• It is no longer possible to create guild recruitment sigils with a text command. Instead, you can now create and send sigils using the in-game mailbox! Click the “Guild Invite” button on the mail box interface, and a mail invitation with a recruitment sigil will automatically be generated. Simply type in the recipient character’s name and send! The recipient can detach the sigil and activate it to join your guild! Your guild must be guild level 5 to utilize this feature, otherwise you should use the standard guild invite commands.
• The cooldown timer for creating guild mail invitations has been reduced.

New Adventure Packs
Phiarlan Carnival
Available now for VIP preview! The freaks are all about when the Phiarlan Carnival hits town! It’s a circus of depravity and danger, and you have front-row seats for the show. Four new expansive dungeon adventures are coming your way when the Phiarlan Carnival arrives. The lights and the glitter hide a terrible darkness, and you’re acting without a net when you confront the Phiarlan Carnival!

• Help a hill giant shaman overcome his stage fright so the show in the Livewood Theatre can go on!
• Crash a party to find the terrible secrets of the Phiarlan Carnival!
• Chase a reluctant informant through the streets of Stormreach and “persuade” him to tell you what he knows!
• Fight through deadly games and wild rides to the heart of the shadows, and find out how freakish the circus freaks really are!

New Hirelings
A brand new class of Hireling is making its debut in the DDO Store! You can now commission Bard hirelings!

Performance Optimizations

• Improvements have been made to server and network that should greatly enhance performance in heavy combat situations. Happy shrouding everyone!

UI Improvements

• Many tooltips and descriptions have had their terminology updated to be more friendly to players unfamiliar with the D&D rules shorthand. The D&D rules shorthand notes, such as “3d8 fire damage,” are still included at the bottom of the main text descriptions.
• 32 point build characters are now officially called “Champion Characters,” but may still be referred to as characters with 32 build points in certain places.
• If there is nothing in a treasure chest for you the chest UI will close when you click the Loot All button.
• It is now possible to bind keys to cycle through your weapon sets.
• Control bars for multiple hirelings will now show up undocked. They can be set to dock by default by unchecking the new option in the UI options panel.
• The in-game quest compendium now has Haverdasher correctly listed as allowing parties to enter the dungeon.
• The menu bar has been rearranged slightly to relocate the “Help” button, and hide the Net Status icon by default. The Net Status icon will appear if the connection status is poor/invalid, and will disappear once connection issues have cleared. There is a new UI option to always show the Network Status Icon. When it is shown, it can be dragged anywhere on the screen.
• Combat log text will now display the proper grammar when a hireling is affected by heals and other effects.
• You will now receive in-game notifications when a Help ticket has been updated.
• Spell animations and effects will no longer trigger if the player fails a UMD or caster level check.
• After purchasing an Adventure Pack, NPC quest bestowal chalices will update to reflect that the adventure is now available.
• Monster action text color will now match the monster name color.
• When you mouse over weapon sets you will now see detailed examination boxes of the items.
• The Advancement Summary panel will now show the increase to skill ranks in the “increase” column.
• Character list on Character Selection Screen will now properly scroll to the selected character.
• If you are running at 800×600 resolution, the MyDDO browser will no longer dominate your client.
• The default MyDDO key is now CTRL-M.
• Fixed an issue where the Vitals UI can pop back up again under certain conditions even after hiding all UI by pressing Alt-Z.
• Auction item tooltips now pay attention to the item comparison UI setting.
• The class icons for players listed under the WHO tab of the Social Menu now have tooltips.
• The Who list will no longer populate names during login, and will instead wait for you to use the search tool to generate a list of names.
• The Combat Dice entry on the Options screen now correctly displays the currently active dice type.

Character Paths

• Champion characters (32 point builds) who select a pre-generated character path instead of “Customize” in the character creation process will be placed on a 32 point version of the path rather than a 28 point version.
• Many of the class paths have been updated with more useful and appropriate stats, skills and feats. These updates will be available to view in the Compendium under the Paths category soon.
• You can now stay on your path if you reincarnate with a +1 or better Heart of Wood and swap classes to your primary class.
• If you were already on a character path prior to Update 5 changes to paths, you will still be on the old version of that path. If you don’t wish to follow the old path, you may abandon the path at your trainer during your next level-up and customize or use the path entries in the Compendium as a reference for your character choices going forward. The Compendium can be referenced while in-game by using Ctrl-M.
• Drow should now be able to take Monk character paths properly.

Combat

• Attacks performed while holding a shield and no weapon will now shield bash instead of punching.
• The following changes have been made to combat for better game performance and balance:
  • Attacks with two handed weapons performed while moving no longer perform Glancing Blows.
  • Two Weapon Fighting attacks (weapons or unarmed) have been optimized for performance and balance. Off hand attacks now have a chance to proc (trigger) off of any main hand attacks based on the number of two weapon fighting feats (and related enhancements) you possess. (Instead of being predetermined on certain attacks in the attack chain.)
    • A character with no two weapon fighting feats has a base 20% chance to proc off-hand attacks.
    • The Two Weapon Fighting, Improved Two Weapon Fighting, and Greater Two Weapon Fighting feats now grant a +20% bonus to proc off-hand attacks.
    • Ranger Tempest I and II now grant a +10%/+20% bonus to the chance to proc off-hand attacks when dual wielding instead of a bonus to attack speed.
    • Monk Air Stance and Ranger Tempest I and II now stack with each other for these purposes.
  • A new mechanic has been introduced called “double strike.” A character with a double strike chance has a chance to make an additional attack roll with their main hand weapon any time they make a main hand attack, on the target of the first attack. Many speed bonuses have been changed to double strike effects.
    • The Fighter Alacrity capstone and the Paladin spell Zeal have been changed to a +10% bonus to double strike.
    • Monk Air stances now grant a +2.5%/+5%/+7.5%/+10% insight bonus to double strike chance instead of an insight bonus to attack speed. (The enhancement bonus to attack speed remains.)
    • Ranger Tempest III now grants a +5% double strike chance while wielding two weapons. (The Shield Bonus and to-hit penalty reductions that Tempest grants when wielding two weapons, or the enhancement bonuses to speed from Wind Stance remain unchanged.)

Hirelings

• Hirelings, especially melee ones, have gotten big bonuses to stats, AC, and weapon power, and are now gifted with very high reflex saves vs. traps.
• Hireling contracts now describe some of the details of hireling summoning more clearly, such as how long a contract will last, how long you must wait before resummoning, and where a hireling can be summoned.
• Gold seal hireling contracts in the DDO Store will now tell you some of the key abilities of the hireling to aid you in choosing one.
• Hirelings will now properly follow you in caves, through portals, and any other in-quest teleportation related places. They will also no longer mistake this process as the throes of death, crying out in anguish at their demise that didn’t actually happen.
• Fixed an error that was preventing hirelings from benefiting from some of their equipment. They are now ready to bring the pain.
• The shortcut action buttons for hirelings now display the same detailed information about skills, spells, and feats as the player’s shortcut action buttons.
• Hireling shortcut buttons will no longer be inactive when you first summon a hireling.
• Combat log text will now display the proper grammar when a hireling is affected by heals and other effects.

Shopping
In-game Vendors

• Scrolls of Merfolk’s Blessing are now available in the marketplace from the level 1 arcane scroll vendor.
• Returning throwing weapons, like the Shadow Star, can now be repaired by any vendor who can repair weapons.
• The vendor shop UI, auction house, and other places where we display coin values in the UI should now all appear with platinum as the primary coin.
• Pale Masters can now interact with a new collector in House Jorasco, Malato. Talk to the vampire Verisgante while in an undead form and ask him about special offers for those like himself. You can give Malato undead-related collectibles to get potions of inflict serious wounds, as well as various wands and scrolls that will be useful to a Pale Master.

Crafting

• Risian Recipes
  • Recipe 6 from the Risia Ice Games can now add Lesser Glaciation I to a randomly generated weapon for 100 motes of winter.
  • Recipes 7 through 14 can replace Superior Glaciation on items with Lesser Glaciation of one level higher for 100 motes of winter. For example, Recipe 7 can replace Superior Glaciation I with Lesser Glaciation II.

Items

• Max dex bonus increases from various sources now function correctly for Warforged.
• Eardweller now comes out of various adventures in Inspired Quarter, in addition to Eye of the Titan: I Dream of Jeets, Inspiration Center and Plane of Nightmares now have places where it can be observed in its natural habitat. Eardweller remains an elusive and rarely seen quarry, however: it can be found more often in longer quests and in harder difficulty settings.
• Scrolls and wands for the spell Sonic Blast can now be found in treasure chests.
• There are now wands of Panacea, Snowball Swarm, Electric Loop, Acid Blast and Frost Lance for you to find in dungeons.
• The Dreamspitter quarterstaff is now made of Crystal, and possesses Suppressed Power that can be unlocked in a Dreamforge. It is now, as described, a potentially useful weapon against the Quori.
• Bastard Swords and Dwarven Waraxes are now as if they were two handed weapons for the purposes of Glancing Blows when they are the only weapon wielded by a proficient user. (Weapon and Shield or Single Weapon styles, but not when Dual Wielding.) Feats or enhancements that affect Glancing Blows (such as the Two Handed Fighting chain, or Great Weapon Aptitude) will also modify these weapons. They are still treated as one handed weapons for all other purposes, such as strength bonus to damage.
• Epic fragments are now available in the chests of Epic quests that are not as lengthy as their peers.
• Raid & Dungeon tokens will no longer share to group. Each player must now collect their tokens in person, much like a collectable.
• Epic tokens now fit in ingrediant bags.
• The material components for the Holy Sword spell have had a name change. They are now called “Anointed” instead of “Blessed”.
• Bracelets of friends can no longer be used on reincarnation or veteran boats.
• The Chimera’s Fang now correctly only grants Bastard Sword proficiency while equipped.
• Kargon’s Tasty Ham’s stun effect now displays the time remaining correctly.
• It is imperative to the survival of adventurers in Xen’drik that monsters die at the hands of properly wielded grammar. Therefor the “Weighted” mutation has been renamed “Stunning”, since a +3 Maul of Stunning +4 makes more grammatical sense than a Maul of Weighted.
• Vertigo, Stunning (formerly “of Weighted”), Shatter, and Tendon Slice items now display their percentage or bonus in their name, making it possible to differentiate between a Shatter +2 and Shatter +8 item without having to inspect it closely.
• Stunning Handwraps now affect both Stunning Fist and Stunning Blow.
• Stunning weapons of all pluses now have a 3% chance to trigger, and have DC’s that vary based on the Stunning plus of the weapon. (Fort DC 25/27/29/31/33)
• “Steady Spellcasting” items no longer discriminate against non-spell casters, such as Monks, and are now named “Inner Focus” to be more PC.
• (Element) touch, (Element), and (Element) Burst weapon effects now have distinct visual FX. Korthos is no longer a sea of flame!
• The following Epic items have been modified. New versions have the new effects on them. Existing versions will gain some base item changes retroactively, but to gain all effect additions and changes must be run through the Altar of Epic Rituals with three Epic Dungeon Tokens:
  • Ancient Vulkoorim Dagger: Greater Giant Bane upgraded to Epic Giant Bane.
  • Bejeweled Letter Opener: Add Efficient Metamagic – Empower Healing II. Add Healing Amplification – 20%.
  • Bracers of the Demon’s Consort: Upgrade skill bonuses to +15.
  • Bracers of the Hunter: Upgrade skill bonuses to +15. Upgrade Backstabbing to +5. Add Stealth Strike.
  • Chimera’s Crown: +4 Natural Armor upgraded to +5 Natural Armor. Add Minor Greater Dragonmark Enhancement. Add Colorless Augment Slot.
  • Collapsible Shortbow: Now deals Slashing and Piercing damage. Add Force Burst. Upgrade skill bonuses to +15. Increase threat range to 19-20.
  • Docent of Grace: Add Reinforced Plating +2.
  • Duskheart: Upgrade Death Ward to Mass Death Ward.
  • Dustless Boots: Upgrade skill bonuses to +15.
  • Dynastic Falcata: Add Axiomatic Burst. Charisma +6 upgraded to Charisma +7. Upgrade Colorless to Red Augment Slot.
  • Flint: Add Lightning Strike.
  • Gloves of the Falcon: Upgrade skill bonuses to +15. Add Heightened Awareness +2.
  • Green Blade: Upgrade Lesser Potency IX to Potency IX.
  • Hammer of Life: Upgrade skill bonuses to +20. Add Good alignment to damage. Add Disruption Guard. Add Greater Disruption.
  • Hyena Claw Necklace: Upgrade skill bonuses to +15.
  • Kundarak Delving Goggles: Upgrade Spot to +20. Add Open Lock +15.
  • Jidz-Tet’ka: Wisdom +6 changed to Exceptional Wisdom +1. Add Colorless Augment Slot.
  • Mirage: Critical Threat Range upgraded to 17-20. Add Improved Cursespewing.
  • Mummy Wrappings: Add Negative Energy Absorption 20%.
  • Ring of Baphomet: Add Exceptional Constitution +2. Add Exceptional Strength +2.
  • Sandstorm Glasses: Upgrade skill bonuses to +15.
  • Seal of the Earth: Upgrade Natural Armor +4 to Natural Armor +6. Remove Superior Acid Lore. Upgrade Acid Resistance to Greater. Shard of Vollun: Upgrade Wizardry V to Archmagi. Add Yellow Augment Slot.
  • Sirocco: Add Air Guard and Smoke Screen. Telekinetic upgraded to Epic Telekinetic.
  • Spiked Turban: Upgrade +4 Protection to +5 Protection. Upgrade +4 Resistance to +5 Resistance.
  • Staff of Arcane Power: Upgrade Recharge to 10/day. Add Archmagi. Add Arcane Augmentation IX. Add Colorless Augment Slot.
  • Staff of Inner Sight: Upgrade +1 Spell Focus Mastery to +2 Spell Focus Mastery.
  • Sting: Add Puncturing.
  • Stinkpelt’s Hide: Add Exception Constitution +2. Replace Stinking Cloud with Cloudkill.
  • Stonemeld Plate: Will now have its proper +6 enhancement bonus and Earthgrab Guard effect.
  • Storm: Add Lightning Guard. Thornlord: +6 Enhancement Bonus upgraded to +8 Enhancement Bonus.
  • Unkor’s Cleaver: Add Limbchopper. Add Bleed. Add Eat Jerky 1/day. Under no circumstances should one ask where the jerky comes from.
  • Weathered Targe: Upgrade Spearblock to Greater Spearblock. Add Blue Augment Slot.
  • Whirlwind: Add Air Guard and Smoke Screen. Telekinetic upgraded to Epic Telekinetic.
  • Wolf Whistle: Upgrade skill bonuses to +15. Replace Charm Canine with Summon Epic Thaarak Hound 1x/day.
  • Zephyr: Critical Threat Range upgraded to 18-20. Upgrade Colorless Augment Slot to Red Augment Slot.
• The following Epic items have been modified. Existing versions have been retroactively changed, there is no additional benefit to running them through the Altar of Epic Rituals with dungeon tokens:
  • Sword of Shadows: Increase base damage to 5d6. Decrease Critical Multiplier to x3.
• The following items from the Catacombs adventure pack have been modified. Newly generated items will have the following properties:
  • Blade of Inquisition: Add Lesser Undead Bane.
  • Dagger of Inquisition: Add Lesser Undead Bane.
  • Eternal Rest: Add Lesser Undead Bane.
  • Gerard Dryden’s Mace: Once again Undead Bane instead of Lesser Undead Bane. Now made of bone. Now Bound to Account on Equip. (Existing Gerard Dryden’s Maces will also now be made of bone.)
  • Guidance: Add Holy. Morningstar of the Heretic: Add Bodyfeeder.
  • Pillar of Light: Add Radiance II.
  • The Mantle of the Worldshaper and Voice of the Master items will grant their XP bonuses in landscapes, and will additionally stack with Store experience elixirs.

Monsters

• All trolls now take 20% more damage from acid and fire. Burn baby burn!
• Scrag are no longer immune to death effects, and will now die when they react 0 hps much like normal trolls. Scrag do enjoy superior regeneration compared to other trolls.
• Deception, Bluff, and similar other effects will no longer spin raid bosses around.
• Mephits have a 25 percent chance of summoning another mephit when you first encounter them. When successful, higher level mephits will now summon mephits that are closer to their own CR range instead of always summoning CR 6 mephits.
• Undead that have been turned no longer flee, they instead cower in place.
• Monsters have become more aware of their foe when saving vs. harmful spells.
• Non-named Epic monsters now are often classified as “minions,” and have reduced saves and a greater chance of missing their opponents due to their lackluster combat training. Sucks to be them!

Reincarnations

• Past Life: Rogue now properly grants the +1 damage when sneak attacking that it claimed to.
• Past Life: Sneak of Shadows no longer grants the +1 damage when sneak attacking that it didn’t claim to.
• Characters who reincarnate into levels of wizard can now select spells.
• You will no longer be able to reincarnate while you are eligible to level up. Once you have completed the level up process then you can reincarnate away!

Quest & Adventure Area Changes
The Grotto

• Monks will now receive shuriken on the first quest.
• Jeets and Cellimas should be less reluctant to help you.

Catacombs

• Improvements to the flow of the Catacombs quest givers’ dialogue options.

Cloven Jaw Stronghold

• A difficult-to-descend ladder has been fixed.
• A barrel that refused to break has relented. Smash away.

Tear of Dhakaan

• Rest shrines are no longer locked.
• There is an extra rest shrine in the quest.

Heyton’s Rest

• Fixed a rare bug in Heyton’s Rest where swarms of undead could occasionally spawn.

Come Out and Slay

• Fixed some issues with enemies respawning

Splinterskull Fortress

• The troop roster, combat orders, and patrol map items now automatically remove themselves from the inventory upon exiting the dungeon.
• The Elemental Cave optional objective’s XP reward has been increased.

Desert Caravan

• Dungeon Alert will no longer trigger just for being in the quest.

Gray Moon’s Den

• Adventurers were having trouble properly stepping off a ladder. This has been fixed.

The Mystery of Delera’s Tomb

• The note now drops when you leave the dungeon.

Tomb of the Shadow King

• An eternal torch in the shadow king dungeon was recently…repaired.

Tomb of the Burning Heart

• Returning or late-to-arrive party members should no longer have such trouble participating in the quest.

Three Barrel Cove

• Lars Riflee has been moved to the front of the dock so that he’s more easily seen.
• Trouble with the directional map pointer has been fixed.

Taming the Flames

• CR of the quest has been increased from 6 to 7.

The Pit

• If you lose your Pit manual, talk to Vargus d’Deneith while the Pit quest is underway. He will happily give you a new copy.

Sentinels

• Taggart d’Deneith’s Sentinels of Stormreach quests now update properly in the quest journal.
• Significantly increased the drop rates of Sigils. As before, higher difficulty levels have higher chances of Sigil drops.
• Seal drop rates on Epic difficulty have also been increased.

Bargain of Blood

• Fixed issue where the incorrect sigils were dropping on most difficulty levels.
• Made a minor tweak to a shootable lever that fixes a rare issue where the door to the last area would not always open.
• The end chest on epic difficulty now contains epic token fragments.
• The General Manager should no longer treat the quest like Thunderdome by climbing on top of the fences.
• Due to staffing problems, the Bargain Bazaar now employs slightly less fearsome hobgoblins.

Blood Road

• Epic treasure chest at the end of Blood Road now drops epic tokens as a medium length adventure.

Spies in the House

• It is now possible to cast spells at the fire elementals below.

The Black Loche

• Walking the plank just got a lot more planky! Your footsteps should now sound like they are crossing a wooden material when you walk on the ship since it’s made of… well… namely wood.

The Tide Turns

• It is no longer possible for the end boss in The Tide Turns to die before the quest objective to kill him appears.
• You will now receive a special end reward list every third time the quest is completed.

Maraud the Mines

• One of the Impure Black Iron Ores that previously had problems being interacted with can now be picked up properly.

Vault of Night

• A few spell casters were missing the metamagic feats that come standard on Epic difficulty spell casters. They now have the feats Maximize Spell and Heighten Spell like all other Epic spell casters.

Tharashk Arena

• The ready room fight in Thrak Arena should now scale correctly on Epic.
• Access to the rest shrine in that area is now gated by that encounter.
• Strange 10k hp kobolds will no longer spawn on elite in Thrak Arena. Thank you for playing.
• The entrance waypoint no longer becomes unusable after entering.

Prison of the Mind

• Orphne should have fewer issues with gathering her items.
• A blocked ladder has been fixed.

Jungles of Khyber

• A rest shrine in jungle of Khyber was down in a pit. Those with low jump skills would become trapped when using it. This has been fixed.
• The intelligence runes in the Beholder chamber now have lower requirements.

Haywire’s Foundry

• RC2 will no longer chase the butterflies in his brain rather than opening the lever.
• Epic tokens will now drop for the whole party as opposed to the first one who can make the grab.
• Epic level treasure will no longer drop in in the quest on normal or other none epic settings. Sorry.

Mired in Kobolds

• The mosses on the Mired in Kobolds quest have been renamed as “fungus patches” to avoid confusion with the collectables that you obtain from them.
• Tweaked one of the magical barrier encounters to make it more casual for the ill prepared.
• Fixed a bug with the young dragon’s chests being unlocked prior to his death.

Coalescence Chamber

• Tired of getting, well, shafted when you fall down in the quest? Keeper has added an impulse elevator that can be activated when you reach the upper shaft. Bring your featherfall clicky and zoom right back up!

Wrath of the Flame

• The dungeon end chest now drops proper loot and ingredients.

General Quest Changes

• A confirmation or alert will now display when quest items are dropped upon leaving an adventure if the quest was uncompleted.
• Monsters on epic difficulty now have a chance to drop epic fragments as collectibles (each party member gets one fragment per drop). Enjoy!
• Casual difficulty now offers slightly more experience.
• The End chest and tokens in Epic content can now no longer be looted by players who were not present in the dungeon at the time of completion.
• Epic traps have been re-calibrated to damage very close to level 20 elite traps. Enjoy!
• Velah and Arraetrikos shouldn’t turn around quite as often when hit by certain weapon effects.

Skills, Feats, and Abilities
Monk Abilities

• The following finishing moves become available at Monk level 10:
  • Moment of Clarity
    • Void:Light:Void Finisher
    • Activate this finisher to clear away all distractions from your allies, granting a +5 Insight bonus to hit and skill checks for a very short period of time.
  • Curse of the Void
    • Void:Dark:Void Finisher
    • You strike your opponent down with a terrible curse, confusing their mind and rendering them unable to recognize their friends. You can make an attack that charms your opponent for a short period of time. A successful Will save negates this effect. (DC 10 + Monk Level + Wisdom mod) Each time the target takes damage there is a chance that they will break free of this effect.

Skills

• Tumbling is not allowed anymore when you have been hit by most effects that reduce your movement speed, such as Slow spells, troglodyte stench or AOE fog and clouds that slow you down (Acid Fog, Solid Fog, etc.).

Feats
New Feats

• Whirling Steel Strike
  • Prerequisites: Weapon Focus: Slashing; Proficiency in Longswords, Monk Level 1
  • Benefit: You treat longswords as if they were monk weapons, remaining centered when you wield them.
• Zen Archery
  • Prerequisites: +1 Base Attack Bonus
  • Benefit: You can use your Wisdom bonus instead of Dexterity bonus to determine bonus to attack with ranged missile weapons (but not thrown weapons) if it is higher.
  • Special: This feat can be selected by fighters as a fighter bonus feat.
• Brutal Throw
  • Prerequisites: +1 Base Attack Bonus
  • Benefit: You can use your Strength bonus instead of Dexterity bonus to determine bonus to attack with thrown weapons if it is higher.
  • Special: This feat can be selected by fighters as a fighter bonus feat.
• Augment Summoning
  • Benefit: Your summoned creatures, charmed minions, and hirelings have +4 to all ability scores, increased health, and increased fortification.
  • Special: Wizards may select this feat when they receive bonus feats.
• Trapmaking
  • Prerequisites: Trapfinding and any one of the following: Skill Focus: Disable Device, Nimble Fingers, or Least Dragonmark of Making
  • Benefit: You have learned enough about traps to be able to scavenge parts from them, and with the help of the Free Agents, can craft your own.
  • Special: Automatically granted to rogues at level 4.
  • If you successfully disable a control panel, if you possess the Trapmaking feat, you have a chance of receiving scavenged trap components. Higher base CR dungeons have higher chances of dropping scavenged components, and the Mechanic enhancement grants a further increased chance of getting components.
  • Characters gain scavenged parts based on the damage type of the trap, and will get a random amount of components (the maximum number you can receive from a trap is modified by the trap CR and your number of levels in trapfinding classes [that’s Rogue levels currently]).
  • Placed Trap DC’s are based on your Disable Device skill (1/3, 1/2, or 2/3 based on No Mechanic, Mechanic I, or Mechanic II). Thrown grenades currently have static DC’s that increase as the objects are made better.
  • A device workstation exists near the Free Agents vendor, and they have guides available at a small cost in their shop.

General Changes

• The Sap feat is now more effective when used as a sneak attack. Non-sneak attack functionality remains unchanged: “Using this attack, you may render the target briefly senseless, though it will become active if damaged again. Some creatures may be immune to the sap effect, and sap is more effective when performed as a successful sneak attack. (Whether or not your character can normally perform sneak attacks.)”
• Combat Expertise no longer breaks on spellcast. Instead, spell point costs are doubled while in the stance.
• The Barbarian feat Tireless Rage used to show up twice on your character sheet. It will no longer do this.
• Weapon Finesse now requires 13 Dexterity.
• Feats will now display the prerequisite class level if they have one.

Spells
New Spells

• Sonic Blast
  • Cooldown: 2 seconds
  • Spell Point Cost: 10
  • Target: Foe, Directional, Breakable
  • Save: Will-based
  • Duration: 2 seconds
  • Level: 1
  • Components: Somatic, Verbal
  • School: Evocation
  • Metamagic: Maximize, Quicken, Empower, Enlarge, Heighten
  • Spell Resistance: No
  • Blasts an enemy with loud, high-pitched sounds, doing 1 to 4 sonic damage per two caster levels (up to a max of 20 damage at caster level 10). The target must make a successful Will save or be dazed for a short period of time or until they take damage.
• Negative Energy Burst
  • Cooldown: 4 seconds
  • Spell Point Cost: 25
  • Target: Foe, Directional, Undead Friend
  • Save: Fortitude-based
  • Level: 4
  • Components: Material, Somatic, Verbal
  • School: Necromancy
  • Metamagic: Maximize, Quicken, Empower, Eschew Materials, Heighten
  • Spell Resistance: Yes
  • Negative energy expands from the caster, doing 1 to 8 damage per two caster levels (max 5 to 40) to all living enemies caught in the blast. Undead are instead healed by the attack. A successful Fortitude save reduces the damage by half.
• Lesser Death Aura
  • Cooldown: 5 seconds
  • Spell Point Cost: 15
  • Target: Self
  • Save: Fortitude-based
  • Duration: 24 seconds + 3/caster level
  • Level: 2
  • Components: Somatic, Verbal
  • School: Necromancy
  • Metamagic: Quicken, Extend, Heighten
  • Spell Resistance: Yes
  • Envelops the caster in a sickly aura of negative energy. Living enemies stepping inside the aura take 1 to 4 damage as long as they remain within it. Undead are instead healed by the aura.
• Death Aura
  • Cooldown: 5 seconds
  • Spell Point Cost: 25
  • Target: Self
  • Save: Fortitude-based
  • Duration: 24 seconds + 3/caster level
  • Level: 4
  • Components: Somatic, Verbal
  • School: Necromancy
  • Metamagic: Quicken, Extend, Heighten
  • Spell Resistance: Yes
  • Envelops the caster in a sickly aura of negative energy. Living enemies stepping inside the aura take 1 to 4 damage +1 per caster level as long as they remain within it. Undead are instead healed by the aura.
• Necrotic Ray
  • Cooldown: 4 seconds
  • Spell Point Cost: 35
  • Target: Foe, Directional, Breakable
  • Save: Fortitude-based
  • Level: 6
  • Components: Somatic, Verbal
  • School: Necromancy
  • Metamagic: Maximize, Quicken, Empower, Heighten
  • Spell Resistance: Yes
  • Blasts a target with a negative energy ray that does 1 to 8 damage per caster level (max 80) to a living enemy. A successful Fortitude save reduces the damage by half. The ray also suppresses the life force of any living creature it strikes, granting it a negative level.

General Spell Changes

• The Grease spell has been updated:
  • Covers the ground with a layer of slippery grease, forcing targets to make a Reflex save or fall. Grease slicks will sometimes be set ablaze by area of effect fire effects, dealing 2 to 12 damage per two caster levels fire damage to all enemies of the caster in the slick every few seconds, as well as the caster of the grease spell. A successful Reflex save will reduce this damage by half. Slicks that have been set ablaze will quickly burn away.”
• The spell feedback “You begin casting (spell) at (lvl)” will now be less spammy, displaying only when the players caster level is being modified by effects.
• Holy Aura will now affect multiple targets as intended, and will now blind nearby enemies when cast.
• Implosion will no longer turn players invisible until logout when they are hit by it in PvP.
• Undead (including Pale Masters in undead form) are no longer immune to teleportation effects.
• Pale Masters can now affect themselves with Mass Inflict spells.
• Incorporeal miss chances are now correctly rolled separately from Concealment miss chances. This affects effects such as the Pale Master’s Shroud of the Wraith as well as incorporeal monsters.
• Necrotic Touch can once again be used to heal undead minions. Players are immune to its effects.
• Lingering spells now fade if the caster gets too far away or dies.
• The Master’s Touch spell is now “Enchants the items currently equipped in your left and right hands to grants their wielder proficiency if the items are simple or martial weapons or shields. This enchantment lasts one minute per caster level.”
• Master’s Touch and Tenser’s Transformation should no longer cause a localized time stop effect centered on the caster when they end. All Tenser’s Transformation style effects (such as Bladesworn Transformation or Madstone Rage) now also grant proficiency in Simple and Martial weapons.
• Players will no longer be teleported out of a PvP arena when they are hit by Prismatic Spray’s violet beam. They will instead take 1d6 per caster level force damage, will negates.

Enhancements
New Enhancements

• Void Strike II
  • Prereqs: Level 7 Monk, Void Strike I, Any one of Adept of Wind, Adept of Rock, Adept of Flame, or Adept of Rain.
  • Cost: 2 AP
  • Attack Cost: 6 Ki
  • Benefit: Your studies do not consist only of the elemental paths. You have learned to make attacks backed by pure ki energy. Activate this ability to make an attack with 2 to 8 additional force damage. Your enemy is dazed on what would be a vorpal attack (natural 20 followed by critical confirmation).
• Void Strike III
  • Prereqs: Level 13 Monk, Void Strike II, Adept of Wind, Adept of Rock, Adept of Flame, Adept of Rain, and any one of Master of Thunder, Master of Stone, Master of Bonfires, or Master of the Sea.
  • Cost: 3 AP
  • Attack Cost: 7 Ki
  • Benefit: Your studies do not consist only of the elemental paths. You have learned to make attacks backed by pure ki energy. Activate this ability to make an attack with 4 to 16 additional force damage. Your enemy is paralyzed on what would be a vorpal attack (natural 20 followed by critical confirmation).
• Void Strike IV
  • Prereqs: Level 19 Monk, Void Strike III, Master of Thunder, Master of Stone, Master of Bonfires, Master of the Sea, and any one of Grandmaster of Storms, Grandmaster of Mountains, Grandmaster of the Sun, or Grandmaster of Oceans.
  • Cost: 4 AP
  • Attack Cost: 8 Ki
  • Benefit: Your studies do not consist only of the elemental paths. You have learned to make attacks backed by pure ki energy. Activate this ability to make an attack with 8 to 32 additional force damage. Your enemy is erased from existance on what would be a vorpal attack (natural 20 followed by critical confirmation).
• Cleric Radiant Servant I
  • Prereqs: Level 6 Cleric, Cleric Improved Turning I, Cleric Life Magic II, Cleric Heal II, Empower Healing, and any one of: Cleric Divine Cleansing I, Cleric Divine Light I, Cleric Divine Healing I, Cleric Divine Vitality I, or Cleric Divine Might I.
  • Cost: 4 AP
  • Benefit: You are a beacon of light against the darkness. You count as 1 level higher when casting Positive Energy or Light based spells and gain the ability to expend a Turn Undead attempt to create an aura of positive energy that heals you and nearby allies over time and damages nearby undead. Any undead that you successfully turn with your Turn Undead ability are destroyed instead of frightened, and your Turns regenerate over time (1 every 2 minutes).
  • Radiant Servant: Positive Energy Aura
    • Benefit: You may expend a use of Turn Undead to produce a Positive Energy Aura effect on yourself, which envelops the caster in an aura of healing, positive energy. Allies within the aura are healed 1 hit point per 3 caster levels as long as they remain within it. Undead enemies are damaged for the same amount.
• Cleric Radiant Servant II
  • Prereqs: Level 12 Cleric, Cleric Radiant Servant I, Cleric Prayer of Life I, Cleric Prayer of Incredible Life I, and any one of: Silver Flame Exorcism, Unyielding Sovereignty, Undying Call, Bladesword Transformation, Vulkoor’s Avatar, or Cleric Charisma II.
  • Cost: 2 AP
  • Benefit: You are a beacon of light against the darkness. The Empower Healing metamagic now grants you a 75% bonus to healing spells instead of 50%. You count as an additional 1 level higher when casting Positive Energy or Light based spells, and gain the ability to expend a Turn Undead attempt to create a burst of positive energy that heals you and nearby allies, removes some negative levels and ability damage, and damages nearby undead.
  • Radiant Servant: Positive Energy Burst
    • Benefit: Positive energy expands from the caster, healing 1 to 8 plus 1 per caster level to all nearby allies, as well as removing 1 to 4 negative levels and 1 to 6 points of ability damage. Undead are instead damaged by the energy, taking 1 to 8 points of damage per caster level. A successful Will save reduces the damage by half.
• Monk Ninja Spy I
  • Prereqs: Level 6 Monk, Path of Inevitable Dominion, Dodge, Monk Jump II, Monk Tumble II, and any one of Static Charge, Porous Soul, All-Consuming Flame, or Winter’s Touch.
  • Cost: 4 APfckLR** Benefit: You are trained as a stealthy killer. You are considered proficient in short swords and treat them as ki weapons. You gain +2 Balance, Hide, Move Silently and gain +1d6 Sneak Attack as if you were a rogue. While sneaking, you move 10% faster and your passive ki generation when centered is increased by 1. You can expend ki to enter shadow form, becoming invisible and partially insubstantial.
  • Ninja Spy: Shadow Fade
    • Cost: 15 Ki
    • Benefit: You focus your ki and draw shadows around you like a cloak, becoming invisible and insubstantial. This ability counts as a Dark move.
• Monk Ninja Spy II
  • Prereqs: Level 12 Monk, Monk Ninja Spy I, any one of Way of the Tenacious Badger II, Way of the Elegant Crane II, Way of the Faithful Hound II, Way of the Patient Tortoise II, or Way of the Clever Monkey II.
  • Cost: 2 AP
  • Benefit: Your skill with the blade improves. You gain Improved Critical: Shortsword, an additional +2 Balance, Hide, and Move Silently, and an additional +2d6 Sneak Attack (for a total of +3d6). You move an additional 10% faster while sneaking. You can expend ki to enter the Dance of the Water Strider, running on liquids so long as you continue to move and maintain your concentration.
  • Ninja Spy: Dance of the Water Strider
    • Cost: 20 Ki
    • Benefit: You focus your ki and can run across liquids as if they were solid – so long as you maintain your concentration and perform no other actions, and do not stop running forward. Hazardous liquids (such as lava) will inflict their effects on you as if you were wading in them. This ability counts as a Dark move.
• Shintao Monk I
  • Prereqs: Level 6 Monk, Path of Harmonious Balance, Stunning Fist, Monk Concentration II, Monk Improved Recovery I, and any one of Cleave, Combat Expertise, Diehard, Discipline, Luck of Heroes, Precision, Resilience, or Self Sufficient.
  • Cost: 4 AP
  • Benefit: You guide others on the path of enlightenment, leading by example. You gain the ability to expend ki to smite evil creatures, and can create a Protection from Evil effect, warding allies from domination and improving defenses against evil opponents. Your unarmed attacks now bypass Byeshk damage reduction.
  • Shintao Monk: Protection from Evil
    • Cost: 5 Ki
    • Benefit: At your touch, a magical barrier is created that wards a target from attacks by evil creatures, granting a +2 deflection bonus to AC and a +2 resistance bonus to saves against attacks from evil creatures. The target is also warded from magical mental control and compulsions. This ability counts as a Light move.
  • Shintao Monk: Smite Evil
    • Cost: 15 Ki
    • Benefit: You have the ability to expend ki to deal devastating blows in melee against evil creatures. You gain twice your Wisdom modifier to your attack roll and a damage bonus based on your monk level. This ability counts as a Light move.
• Shintao Monk II
  • Prereqs: Level 12 Monk, Shintao Monk I, and any of Rise of the Phoenix or Monk Improved Recovery III.
  • Cost: 2 AP
  • Benefit: Invaders from other realities have learned to fear your prowess. You gain the ability to expend ki to dismiss outsiders, and your unarmed attacks now bypass Cold Iron damage reduction.
  • Shintao Monk: Dismissing Strike
    • Cost: 25 Ki
    • Benefit: You perform a melee attack that attempts to force an extra planar enemy back to its proper plane. A successful Will save negates this effect. (DC = 10 + Wisdom Modifier + your monk level). This ability counts as a Light move.
• Rogue Deadly Shadow (Alternate Capstone)
  • Prereqs: Level 20 Rogue
  • Cost: 2 Action Points
  • A master rogue can strike from the shadows like no other. You have +2 Intelligence and 4 additional sneak attack dice.

General Enhancement Changes

• The Stalwart Defender enhancement line now explicitly mentions that the DR benefit is only gained when using a melee weapon with a shield. fckLR* Human Versatility sub-enhancements no longer appear to be “already trained” when you select “show unavailable enhancements”.
• Zen Archery is now available as an “and any one of the following” list of prerequisites for Bow Strength.
• Non-Ranger Elven Arcane Archers can now train the Force Burst Arrows enhancement properly.
• Rogue Mechanic I now grants proficiency with Repeating Light Crossbows.
• Rogue Mechanic II now grants proficiency with Repeating Heavy Crossbows.
• Rogue Assassin I through III now grant +1d6 sneak attack die per tier instead of a bonus to damage on critical hits. Successful non-Assassinate sneak attacks once again break stealth. The Assassinate ability will not break stealth. Assassinate now gives clearer feedback on failed assassination attempts.
• The level drain effect of the Rogue Assassin III item set bonus will no longer affect red-named or purple-named bosses.
• Rogue Thief Acrobats can now add their Dexterity Modifier to quarterstaff sneak attack damage.
• The effectiveness of Pale Master skeletons have been improved. Skeletal Knights have received the bulk of the improvements. All Skeletal Knights (not just the summons) no longer hop in place before attacking.
• Pale Master undead forms now dispel and ward against Death Ward spells and effects.
• Corrected the description of Barbarian Frenzied Berserker II and III.
• Rogue Mechanics can now add their Intelligence bonus to damage with crossbows of all types.
• The monk enhancement Void Strike has been renamed “Void Strike I”.
• Void attacks are now keyed for finishing move purposes.

Other changes

• The intro cinematic has been recompressed to 50% of the original file size, and the Stormreach logo is removed.
• House Phiarlan
  • The Golden Wing Inn is having a grand reopening! What used to be the most shoddy tavern in Stormreach is now the most tasteful and trendy. Come have a drink at the Golden Wing!
  • Demodris the Herb Collector has moved from the One-Eared Bugbear Tavern to the House Phiarlan Enclave.
  • House Phiarlan has drained the swamp in its enclave enough so that it no longer slows down movement.
  • The Bogwater Tavern is getting into the theator business! A new theater has been built in the tavern for the use of players who wish to host their own events.
  • The Friends of Xen’drik’s Wetlands and the Phiarlan Garden Club have joined forces with House Phiarlan to improve and promote House Phiarlan’s wetlands.
• The fisherman in the Inspired Quarter has finally added bait to his fishing line. Here’s hoping the fish like wine!
• After the terrified patrons of one tavern ended up in a closet while trying to escape drunken beholders, exits from taverns are now clearly marked. In the event of a shop fire, follow the glowing swirl decal to the exit.
• The client will no longer fail to start in fullscreen mode while running DirectX 10.
• Fixed a bug where items being detached from a mail could be lost.
• Standing in Deneith’s creek no longer causes strange camera vibrations.
• One of the ice cubes in the seasonal Risia Ice Festival had a faulty spell on it, causing it to appear and disappear out of sync with the other ice in a companionable manner. We euthanized the faithful Companion Ice Cube more quickly than any other test subject on record. Congratulations.
• Players will no longer trip on a step near the Market Tent.
• The sanitation of Stormreach continues to improve.
• Fixed a text error in the dialog of NPC Marek Malcanus.
• Fixed stuck spots in the following places
  • The Harbor
  • Waterworks
  • The Subterrane
  • Devil’s Spine
  • House Deneith Auctioneer
  • Orchard of the Macabre
  • Marketplace