Question On Item Refunding

[*Alersia]

Technically its possible to tag a weapon within the inventory and "lend" it over to the henchman and thus not loosing it. Rasael from bgtscc did this to an unreleased golem crafter PRC.

[*WhenWizardsWar]

We can equip our henchmen/summons?

[*Mr_Otyugh]

Yes it's possible to equip summons/henchmen, you need the NPC control tool from OOC room store to manage that. A bit fiddly system.

It's not that making "illusionary" items is mechanically impossible, that's a technique utilized in the merchant chest system already. The problem is that in doing so, you're going to increase the power of summons even more... risk free. And I for one already think most of the summons are too powerful as they are. Besides it's an okay money sink if some items do get lost here and there, and yes that is a good thing... maybe not for the casual player, but serverwide economy benefits from money sinks as it creates further demand for items rather than allowing players get all they need gradually which is already very achievable goal.

Kill switch sounds okay.

[*dogo]

Dogo, you should have a feat called "release binding". Keep that on your quickbar, as it's a single-click unsummon for your henchman. Blackguards and shadowdancers get the same feat, while golem masters can rest and re-use their control device to unsummon. Meanwhile, the thugs and slaad stones and mechanids all generate an unsummoning device (looks like a feather) in your inventory.

I use the Release Binding already Ceremorph, the killswitch being mentioned is because of recovering items mostly, because if you Release the Erinyes the pretty bird of vengeance flies away with your items =)

As for the summons, in my NWN1 and 2 experience, in PWs they are usually kind of worthless (mainly the vanilla ones) or considerably powerful (custom summons as here). Currently Yskandar is lvl 26, her final upgrade looks great and is very very useful, but the Brachina Hellknight is miles away in power (and that is not a bad thing! I am just comparing).

As for gradually collecting items, it is much easier with casters or even melee higher ECL races IMHO.

Call me casual eh Mr_Otyugh, 1v1 me brah! (ugh, sorry, bad FPS joke, I'll leave now)

[*Ceremorph]

The whole concept behind the level 9 summons is that you ARE conjuring something potentially more powerful than yourself, which is why you only get three minutes of summon time, half as long as you get with the summon 8. However, due to certain requests I will be removing the disjunction spell from her this update (and the other level 9s as well). The Noble Marid will be losing Extract Water Elemental as well, because we don't want summons having summons (which this qualifies as); he's getting a second use of Mass Drown in its place.

And yes, Otyugh matches what I said before. You take that L9 and give it the ability to have, risk-free, Justice or a Flame Shard, and suddenly it's ready to solo bosses. Definitely do not want that, so offer your summons that 15K weapon at your own risk.

[*dogo]

I didnt know you could give items to Summons as well, I thought it was limited to Henchman! That definitely puts it in better perspective even for a newcomer like myself. And to clarify, I absolutely love the work done with Demonologist and dont think in the slightest the Erinyes needs any kind of buff, my concern was about using a feature in the safest way possible, which I now see can bring more problems to the server than I' thought about.

Also the Brachina has Dominate Monster, which is not useful when the Erinyes keeps shooting arrows at the Dominated creature but if used by herself that can give the Brachina her own "summon". May be a good idea to remove that too?

[*Devil's Elysium]

To be honest, the level 9 summons have better weapons than anything you could give them. As do most of the Gates. That said, they still reliably die the round they enter combat in the Maze. :P

[*dogo]

Limited experience here, but from playing Nyelthruna (Fav Soul) and Yskandar (Demonologist) the difference in AC between the Erinyes and the Brachina is considerable, and with less that 50 AC the Maze is nothing short of brutal.

The Brachina has 34 AC, I usually buff her with Haste, PfE and Greater Invis. The Erinyes lasts longer, so she gets Imp Mage Armor, Cats, PfE, Spiderskin and Persistent Haste for 45 AC then I also cast Greater Invis. The Erinyes cannot compare to the Brachina in damage (those 110 dmg crits...) but the opposite is true for AC.

[*Ceremorph]

Of course the Demonologist's Erinyes (even the top-tier one) is not going to compare to a Summon IX. One is with you all day, the other is with you for 180 seconds. But as you point out, the less temporary nature of the Demonologist's pet gives you a better chance to load it up with as many buffs as you want.

And yes, the Maze is supposed to be brutal, because you're mostly facing epic melee enemies.

[*Devil's Elysium]

Uh. The Maze is easier to solo than the Abyss for most characters I've had. Also, if you properly built around summons (ie, not what my current arcanist is/does) you'd be fine. They die instantly mainly because of low unbuffed AC and stupid AI routines. ie, the Sepid decides to cast Divine Wrath while surrounded by enemies, then often attempts to chain Bombardments.