A Talon What!

lockethrowsknives · Post by **lockethrowsknives** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:39 pm

Wyvern wrote:The Claw should never have been used as regular encounters under AI control. People always want to play with the shiniest toys though. Early on, they were only used while being directly controlled by a DM. Then one would tear apart any number of people. I saw a single one take down level 20 after level 20 with ease through smart play. It's not that they were invincible, they were just played smart, in small numbers. Then they started being tossed out like candy, leaving the dumb as bricks AI to take care of it, and all of a sudden you had mages taking them down solo with acid sheath etc. They managed to lose a lot of their edge after that.

Well, they've had 50 years open for improvements. That probably can't be good for anyone who would oppose them.

Post by **Peregrinus** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:40 pm

For the record, I never once, ever, had acid sheath on my spell list. If I beat them with Falson, it was via smart play and/or IGMS spam

. You should know this, you introduced me to them Wyvren... you bastard ;p.

Also note, that my second Claw warlord I killed I did not use IGMS on at all... just a lucky Bigby's Grasping Hand and lots and lots of Flame Arrows.

Xira · Post by **Xira** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:46 pm

I know of a metamorphic AI script that could be adapted to make claw MUCH less predictable...It 'tries' different stratagems and selects an reinforces the most successful.

broncoblitz · Post by **broncoblitz** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:50 pm

Xira wrote:I know of a metamorphic AI script that could be adapted to make claw MUCH less predictable...It 'tries' different stratagems and selects an reinforces the most successful.

Yeah its called a DM

Judas · Post by **Judas** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 9:49 pm

Pregnantpuss wrote:
Falson killed his share of Claw, though I had to use the big guns and pray they didn't notice me first, except for Claw Mages... I think most good level 20s could solo a Claw mage as their AI was flawed.

If anyone else killed a Dm controled Claw (The big nasty guys with a Scythe , bad attitude and dirty underwear) then speak up now and join my elite club !

...

Edit : Yeah , ya all full o' it .. I'm the only person that ever killed one , an before ya all start , go home an cry in ya Nanas lap for lieing ! ..

Loswaith · Post by **Loswaith** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 10:04 pm

If i recall rightly alot of people plaing Wizards and Sorcerers managed to take down the claw warlords (at least the ones I had been posessing or were around) with maxamised IGMS, before the DMs figured a way around it... the pain of HotU I guess or was it SoU, I realy cant recall.

Judas · Post by **Judas** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 10:09 pm

Judas the Mighty wrote: Edit : Yeah , ya all full o' it .. I'm the only person that ever killed one , an before ya all start , go home an cry in ya Nanas lap for lieing ! ..

Post by **Peregrinus** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 11:06 pm

Judas wrote:
Peregrinus wrote:
Falson killed his share of Claw, though I had to use the big guns and pray they didn't notice me first, except for Claw Mages... I think most good level 20s could solo a Claw mage as their AI was flawed.
If anyone else killed a Dm controled Claw (The big nasty guys with a Scythe , bad attitude and dirty underwear) then speak up now and join my elite club ! ...

Edit : Yeah , ya all full o' it .. I'm the only person that ever killed one , an before ya all start , go home an cry in ya Nanas lap for lieing ! ..

The guy with a scythe is a Claw Warlord, hands down the most powerful and nasty Claw of them all. Have I killed a DM controlled Claw? No idea, you'd have to ask the DMs who have been around when I fought them. The only way to even be able to take a Claw Warlord 1 on 1 for me was to start a long way away and pray that the Warlord would fail on his opposed grapple check against a Bigby's Grasping Hand. It took something like 3-4 maximized IGMS to bring those suckers down, and if I wasn't dead by the time I finishes casting the second one, I sure as hell would be dead before I got off the third, without some way of immobilization.

Post by **Vahene** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 11:17 pm

I distinctly remember a nasty Claw Warlord ambush in the Hills & Peaks zone.. there were, I want to say, about 5-8 of us, many were level 20, though at that time, I don't think my character was. We all died. I think there were.. 3? Claw Walords, is that right? We were all resurrected by the very kind DM's and we tried again with just one Warlord. Most of us still died.

-K

Post by **Peregrinus** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 11:25 pm

That was the quest to escort a geomancer from Dasar to Dragonwatch, as led by Falson.

I think it was 2-3 Claw Warlords, which ambushed us and proceeded to slaughter the hell out of us (I think the DM didn't know their own strength. ;p). The reason he gave us a second go with just one was because he miscalculated the party strength as opposed to the strength of a Claw Warlord.

And yes, we managed to beat one once we were all rezed, but it was a bloody fight.

Depheant · Post by **Depheant** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 11:43 pm

I always used to spawn a single Claw whenever I DMed. It was usually the Claw Infiltrator, whom I'd spawn but keep away somewhere. I'd first send in a few Talon troops and regulars to make people lose their spells and abilities, and as soon as they rested, the Infiltrator came in.

I'd always go after the mages first, then he'd run and hide, usually coming up from behind and sneak attack melee classes. I made people loose so much XP...

Starkwold · Post by **Starkwold** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:21 am

Depheant wrote:I always used to spawn a single Claw whenever I DMed. It was usually the Claw Infiltrator, whom I'd spawn but keep away somewhere. I'd first send in a few Talon troops and regulars to make people lose their spells and abilities, and as soon as they rested, the Infiltrator came in.

I'd always go after the mages first, then he'd run and hide, usually coming up from behind and sneak attack melee classes. I made people loose so much XP...

Man, I remember that. Raeflyn was fighting one of those damn infiltrators for upwards of 15-20 minutes across town. I think there's an Incident Report about it.

Grayle · Post by **Grayle** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:36 am

There were Claw at the Battle of Oraan's Crossing and many Talon. Man, what a fight. I've not seen that many simultaneous fireballs since.

Judas · Post by **Judas** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:17 am

Dencec**t wrote:I always used to spawn a single Claw whenever I DMed. It was usually the Claw Infiltrator

Yeah , yeah what ever hasbeen .. Whenever I killed a Infiltrator I knew you were behind it , it was too easy ...

lockethrowsknives · Post by **lockethrowsknives** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 3:21 am

I wish I was ub3r.