Solutions for the level 11 cliff?

[ducci]

There's always been a difficulty spike at level 11, but it must have gotten worse with the changes to the combat code that made hitroll and armor class more effective. There's a loss of 85 armor class and 27 hitroll, and I wonder if that now results in a "game-breaking" drop in combat ability.

I was talking to Grakk, who recently made some new characters, and he was shocked that his hitroll had dropped to just 2 at level 11. He had picked up a variety of equipment, but it must not have had any hitroll bonuses. Of course, he played a long time ago and only has vague memories of what and where the good equipment is. He said combat had become almost impossible because he couldn't hit mobs anymore, and I suspect that mobs who had been missing the majority of their attacks started hitting him at the normal probability.

Is there a good solution to this? The easiest thing might be just to increase the maximum level for Clericus to give spells, although that could just create a new cliff at a different level. It also wouldn't solve the problem of players becoming dependent on the buffs and not even realizing that they need different equipment.

We could also create a BR Academy "Graduate" equipment set and make it available to level 11 characters. It could have some relatively big hitroll and AC bonuses that would smooth the transition away from Clericus buffs, while not totally superseding the good equipment options that are available in the wild for levels 11-20.

Any other ideas?

[Everybody]

I'd prefer the second - easily available equipment for level 7-9ish with moderate stat boosts. First, it's easier to get into the game, as it doesn't require coding. Second, pushing out Clericus's targeting only delays the issue rather than fixes it (as you noted). An in-between possibility is having Clericus cast lower level spells for 11-15 so you get weaned off of relying on them, but that's a more significant code change to get it working.

Adding some easy access to enchant scrolls might be a useful benefit, as well - the hitroll bonuses off of that are a lot of the early game addition for that stat.

[ducci]

Just as a starting point, here are some thoughts I had:

A mobile vendor in the expert area of the academy could sell “used Calathar guard gear.” It would be unrepairable and already dented, so before a player hits level 20, they will probably be looking for upgrades.

He’d sell you 4 armor items: 2 bracers (wrists), 1 helm, and 1 girth (waist)

Each would have these stats:
1 str
4 hit
-20 ac (bonus)

He’d also sell a lvl 15 enchant scroll. That would keep the ones in Thalos and Perelandra still worth exploring for.

Also what would you think of adding a few more foods to the newbie grocer and 1 cure light pill disguised as a food?