Registered Member #960
Joined: 2:07:50 am GMT 01/22/07
Posts: 644
Hey there Thain peoples,
So here's my question: what is the benefit of deafening an enemy NPC in game? Now I don't mean the Blindess/Deafness spell. I mean just plain old deafening.
As best as I can understand, a deafened character would only lose the ability to apply their Listen skill. (So if a PC HiPS then there's less chance of them hearing them.) But other then this rare occurance, what good is it?
((And to save anyone the trouble of saying it: yes I know that it can be used as an RP element and RP is always better the mechanics and RP, RP, RP. Seriously, I just want to understand if there's something I'm missing with merchanically deafening an NPC.))
Oh yeah, also Silencing an NPC, what exactly does that do?
Silencing stops spellcasting. Deafening NPCs, as you say, only has an effect if the AI makes listen checks, so at the moment, it's mechanically useless.
Registered Member #345
Joined: 2:28:49 am GMT 11/25/04
Posts: 1954
Stormkitten wrote ...
Deafening NPCs, as you say, only has an effect if the AI makes listen checks, so at the moment, it's mechanically useless.
Deafening is also supposed to cause 20% chance of arcane spell failure in its targets. I'm not sure if it actually does that, but that's what it's description says.
Registered Member #960
Joined: 2:07:50 am GMT 01/22/07
Posts: 644
Stormkitten wrote ...
Silencing stops spellcasting.
I had a feeling it was suppose to mess with spellcasting somehow but I believe the time I tried it on the yuan-ti, it didn't seem to stop any of their spells. (I tried it on both regular yuan-ti and yuan-ti sorcerers.) I'll experiment with it again but can't think of too many other spell-casting-NPCs that wouldn't immediately smash me into the ground.
Stormkitten wrote ...
Deafening NPCs, as you say, only has an effect if the AI makes listen checks, so at the moment, it's mechanically useless.
Hmm, then just a thought, is there a way to improve it to do something more then it currently does? Maybe dazing/stunning target or having a deafended creature's attack/damage/ac get decreased or something of the sort? Anything that would at least put it on par with Blindness?
[ Edited 01:13:44 AM 06/08/10 ] Idea! So even thinking a little bit of box what if being Deafened caused a character's Reflex/Dex rolls take a huge hit? I mean spontanously losing your hearing should have some affect on one's balance or anticapating danger and moving away in time. I'd imagine it'd be difficult for a Rogue to dodge that lightening strike when he can't even hear the spellcaster's words right.
Registered Member #1555
Joined: 10:15:51 am GMT 03/15/10
Posts: 63
Its does mess with spell casting as Vaedryan said. But honestly, only time i think deafing is any good if in the hands of a stealthy character. Its like "Oh no, they heard me." [Tosses an object that causes a loud sound to deafen everyone and stealth away with a smoke bomb].
I don't see how a deafen creature be stunned or dazed unless it was hit with a loud explosion and for attack/damage/AC dropping, I don't see how it would effect the skill of hurting a person as they can still see you or how its clothing/armor AC bonus would drop. However I can see its the character's Dex bonus to AC drop as its reflex is now shot do it not hearing things coming. This I can see happening, but the moment they feel the hit and turn, they now see you.
(Edit to Add) I also believe silence is a fort save.
Registered Member #1075
Joined: 10:48:57 pm GMT 06/19/07
Posts: 792
[quote]
Stormkitten wrote ...
Silencing stops spellcasting.
I had a feeling it was suppose to mess with spellcasting somehow but I believe the time I tried it on the yuan-ti, it didn't seem to stop any of their spells. (I tried it on both regular yuan-ti and yuan-ti sorcerers.) I'll experiment with it again but can't think of too many other spell-casting-NPCs that wouldn't immediately smash me into the ground.
Stormkitten wrote ...
Deafening NPCs, as you say, only has an effect if the AI makes listen checks, so at the moment, it's mechanically useless.
Aren't all monsters' spells in the form of feats, rather than castable spells anyway? Would this have something to do with the lack of arcane spell failure?
Registered Member #1274
Joined: 2:03:35 pm GMT 04/01/08
Posts: 770
Being dextrous has nothing to do with how well you hear.. hells, deaf people can still be quite the acrobats. As for reflexes, well.. if you can't hear a trap being sprung, how are you supposed to avoid it?
My point is, deafening impacintg dex AC? NO Deafening impacting reflex saves? Why not?
Registered Member #1555
Joined: 10:15:51 am GMT 03/15/10
Posts: 63
Agree with MsM here.
Think of it like if you just suddenly lost your hearing and someone walks up behind you, guess what, you didn't hear them come and got the first shot on you. Your ability to react just became crappy, hence Dex would be shot. But if someone was wearing full plate armor became deaf and someone walked behind them, guess what, they still got the first hit off but their armor is still gonna be protective even though their ability to react became crappy.
Honestly though, I don't think there is a need to do anything with deafness as it is. It works just fine with the blindness spell.
[ The Island of Thain ]
Deafening: Just what does it do? Also Silence spell
