Revisiting the Gold Box games

IIRC they dont add to the AC bonus from armour. Equip both and only the best item makes a difference.

I vaguely recall that AC 6 means that they lower AC by 4 (6 is the new AC of someone with the baseline AC of 10). Later you'll run into bracers of AC 4 and AC 3 which are better than leather for thieves. Mages should stick to the rear anyway and I usually wont bother with their AC in the late game (they wont reach any useful AC and should stick to the rear anyway).

They should add to dex bonus to AC, so an unarmoured character with dex 18 (who starts out with AC 6 while naked) will have an AC of 2 with those aptly named bracers.

They are comparable to some of the leather armours (that lower AC by 3-4 points?) but not to chainmail or ringmail that the fighters usually start out with. The bracers are also lighter and could thus be an alternative for thieves. They can be combined with rings of protection AFAIK.

Knights can use solamnic plate that is better than ordinary armours, except for in terms of movement points. Enchanted ordinary platemail gives the character 9 movement points while solamnic plate only gives them 6. Solamnic plate can be used in combination with rings of protection though, which means that knights will end up with comparably lower AC than any other class.

I usually change my party composition between Champions and Death Knights.

In Champions I use a brute party of 4 fighter types (2-3 knights, one ranger, and possibly 1 dwarven fighter since they are cool), one cleric (the one with a bonus to turning undead) and one mage.

In Death Knights I ditch one of the fighter types for an extra mage (one mage should be neutral and one good in order to access both white and red magic).
 
Joined
Nov 4, 2006
Messages
2,013
Time to clean out my basement. I have all the codewheels laying around somewhere...
 
Joined
May 3, 2008
Messages
615
Bracers work just like non-magical armour, although you can wear both, and all classes can use Bracers. But it won't give additional AC if already wearing armour.

Like non-magical armour, Bracers will work with Rings and Cloaks of Protection. If wearing magical armour Rings and Cloaks of Protections are useless, but other rings and Cloaks of Displacement wil work.
For Fighter types Bracers AC 3 or better is actually better than regular Plate due to the better movement rate and lesser encumbrance.
Bracers are also very nice for thieves, since it allows backstabbing, and gives better AC than Leather Armour. Unless I find some Elfin Chain or magical Leather first I give the first Bracers I find to my Thief character, since unlike the mages (s)he needs to get into melee sometimes.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Dec 28, 2011
Messages
90
Location
Bjørgvin
I'll point out that changing the CGF file's default save path does work. I hadn't even thought about how DFend mounts the files; with the game's directory being mounted as C:/. Changing it to c:/save/ fixed the save issue.

Now after a couple hours hunting through my file cabinets for the adventurer's journal, I can begin again.
 
Joined
Jun 28, 2007
Messages
2,743
Location
In the Middle of Nowhere
Bracers of AC 6 would be Bracers of Armor, the AC bonus which does not stack with regular armor. You'd get your Dex bonus (and shield bonus, I believe) on top of that, but that's it. They're for wizards as wizards can't wear armor.
 
Joined
Sep 28, 2009
Messages
837
azraelck said:
Now after a couple hours hunting through my file cabinets for the adventurer's journal, I can begin again.
FYI, you need the manual too, for the copy protection questions, that is. Most of the questions are from the journal, but occasionally they are from the manual too.

CrazyIrish said:
Time to clean out my basement. I have all the codewheels laying around somewhere…
In case of the Dragonlance games, none of them had the codewheels. Those wheels were only, AFAIK, in PoR and CotAB (and Hillsfar if you count that). What a crazy idea they were, but still better than most modern DRM/copy protection schemes, which can compromise your computer, do some other harm to it, or make you unable to play the game at all.

BTW, the Fellowship of Doom, AKA the Furious Six, AKA the Sextet of Awesome, are currently cleaning out Gargath after a brief foray into Jelek (and finding it was the wrong town to be in). There seems to be traitors and evil-doers everywhere. Oh well, the work of a hero is never done!

And another question to you, knowledgeable people. Is there any way to identify cleric scrolls? I've tried casting Read Magic on them, but it's the wrong "school of magic" (or somesuch). I've tried showing them to shopkeepers, who gladly take 100 coins for it, but then cannot say anything about the scoll (thank you very much!). The temple has no option to ID anything. I'm at a loss. How do you ID them, short of cheating/save-scumming.
 
Joined
Jan 4, 2008
Messages
564
Location
I come from the land of ice and snow
They don't need to be identified. I think you just need a cleric to use the scroll.

I am going to set up Champions of Krynn tomorrow, I think. That's the ticket. :)
 
Joined
Sep 28, 2009
Messages
837
Actually you don't need the codewheels for PoR and CoaB, since a not so secret anymore "backdoor" was programmed.
For PoR, in the DosBox CNF file use the command "ST STING" to start the game.
For CoAB, use the command "start.exe STING Wooden".

Lurking Grue, you don't need to identify those Clerical Scrolls. Just have your Cleric equipt them, and the Use them. That will show which spells it holds.
 
Joined
Dec 28, 2011
Messages
90
Location
Bjørgvin
FYI, you need the manual too, for the copy protection questions, that is. Most of the questions are from the journal, but occasionally they are from the manual too.

Screw this. Replacementdocs.com, here I go! Time to make that big honkin' binder I've been meaning to make ever since these games were new.
 
Joined
Jun 28, 2007
Messages
2,743
Location
In the Middle of Nowhere
PetrusOctavianus said:
Lurking Grue, you don't need to identify those Clerical Scrolls. Just have your Cleric equipt them, and the Use them. That will show which spells it holds.
Huh, now I feel dumb. I thought that the USE command would, you know, use the scroll (as in cast the spell in it). But after checking this out, I find that it does just what you and darkling said. Many thanks for the info!

darkling said:
I am going to set up Champions of Krynn tomorrow, I think. That's the ticket.
:thumbsup:

azraelck said:
Replacementdocs.com, here I go!
That site is excellent! The quality of the manuals there is spectacular. It's better than most el cheapo re-releases have, which often have atrocious documentation with the best case scenario being fuzzy, low-res scans of manuals or something.

Here's a snap shot from one my the Battles in the Gargath Keep. This battle started with quite a lot of room between my guys and the enemies. Before they could advance, my mage got her turn. Now if that isn't a perfect time for a nice fireball, I don't know what is.

ve1wte.png


P.S. Two of the Baaz Draconians in the pic are facing the other way, because I also managed to Charm one of the human fighters in the middle of the group (for extra fun and mayhem) and the Baaz have been attacking him.
 
Joined
Jan 4, 2008
Messages
564
Location
I come from the land of ice and snow
Great to read of your adventures so far, Lurking Grue. The fuzzy nostalgia buzz is almost as powerful as the rays of Solinari itself. :)

Whilst not strictly Goldbox games related, I have just recently started to delve into the full version of Knights of the Chalice which definitely channels the turn-based combat from those great games. It's also proving to be quite challenging, which I like very much.

For my first group, I've gone for a knight, two clerics and a wizard. It'll more than suffice until I have more time to dedicate to other gaming missives (including setting up my ol' Champions of Krynn game!). Bring on the holidays, I say. ;)
 
Joined
Jul 12, 2009
Messages
1,974
Location
Australia
I have just recently started to delve into the full version of Knights of the Chalice which definitely channels the turn-based combat from those great games.
KotC is an excellent game! One of the best indie CRPGs of past 10 years, easily. Too bad KotC 2 got put on hold and, I fear, may never see the light of day.

Note that you can craft your own magic wands in KotC. That was a lifesaver for me. As resting is limited to pre-placed camp sites, you'll easily run out of spells on some/most of the "dungeons". Wands with lots of charges help out a lot.

Also note that unlike in many modern CRPGs, talking to enemies may actually NOT be beneficial to you (an enemy might get to call for help, get the initiative, etc.). Just something to keep in mind.
 
Joined
Jan 4, 2008
Messages
564
Location
I come from the land of ice and snow
I envy anyone that's playing KotC for their first time, because you are in for a real treat!! If you liked the gold box games of the past, Chalice should be right up your alley.



-Carn
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,799
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
Need to do this. Been waiting for a decent sale, but it never materialized.... They need to get on Steam. Just look to Vogel for how it has affected SW game's success.
 
Joined
Aug 18, 2008
Messages
15,679
Location
Studio City, CA
Nice to see you here Octavious, guess this place is a more geared towards intelligent conversations that the Codex, athough the fanboisms are way more gratting that any of Volorun´s trollings.
BTT
I have always loved Lord Soth so Death Knights holds a very special place for me, but quality wise Azure Bonds might be the best goldbox overall. I had not seen that system that uses and updated version of the goldbox system but would love to see the old games somehow converted to work on it; they look gorgeous.
I always get so nostalgic reading these threads, I think as much as I love Darklands and Wiz 7, as a whole the goldbox games are unmatched in my memories as THE PC rpgs
 
Joined
Nov 27, 2012
Messages
27
Replacementdocs won't let me access the site?

I had no troubles getting there, but I did have it cut in and out on me.

I'll need more than one big honkin' binder. Champions and Death Knights filled my first one up pretty well. Going to try and force-feed Dark Queen's docs in there as well, but the rest are finding other binders to call home. Gotta buy a new printer first, mine ran out of ink (cheaper to buy a new printer than an ink cart!)
 
Joined
Jun 28, 2007
Messages
2,743
Location
In the Middle of Nowhere
Back
Top Bottom