Well met adventurers!
As summer is on its last leg, we’re finally seeing cooler days ahead. Huzzah! And that also means we’re creeping ever closer to the release of the Early Access, doesn’t it? Soon my friends, soon! Let the cooks in the kitchen the time to finish preparing your meal, as we want to give you something meaty - even if it’s “just” an Early Access and not the final release! We know you want to see more, hear more, learn more about Solasta II and we can say - we want to share more about the game too. We’ll have to wait a little more for that - but know that once the floodgates open, they won’t be closing back!
A new adventurer has joined the party! Say hello to little Sanpo, level 1 kitten now part of the Marketing Team.
Community Stream #12 Friday September 5th - Temple of Elemental Evil Part 2
After wandering around the hamlet for about an hour and a half, our party is now ready to face the wilderness! This Community Stream will mark our second (and likely last) stream of The Temple of Elemental Evil, one of the original inspirations for the Solasta franchise. Come and witness yours truly Myzzrym fumble around the 3.5 ruleset that he has forgotten most of and watch him lament his subpar decision-making skills as his party dies in horrible ways.
- Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/tacticaladventures
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TacticalAdventures/streams
After this stream, we’ll go back to Community Streams that are 100% focused on Solasta II as we’ll be getting closer and closer to the release of the Early Access!
NOT THE BEES!
What started as a fun little homebrew spell that we made in Crown of the Magister to shore up our lack of variety and number of cantrips slowly turned into one of the more beloved spells in the entire franchise (we have JoCat to blame for that). Annoying Bees is a cantrip that deals a guaranteed 1d4 piercing damage and gives the target disadvantage on Concentration Saving Throws until the start of your next turn, making it the bane of spellcasters.
Who would win? One venerable wizened wizard, or a bunch of jacked-up magical bees? (Art by JoCat)
Now forever part of the Solasta franchise, we couldn’t simply forget this silly little cantrip on the sideline. We proudly present you, Annoying Bees, Solasta II edition.
Oh my lord they even properly follow you around for the entire round now, what a nightmare! Also, we should probably call it Annoying Bees now, seeing how many bees there are. If you’re wondering about why Joralas is charmed, he isn’t (although he wishes he were) - it was just a placeholder condition while we worked on the Concentration Saving Throw disadvantage part.
Now, wizards aren’t the only ones eating good today. Divine spellcasters behold, a new homebrew cantrip for you as well! Holy Conduit is a melee spell that deals 1d6 radiant damage on hit… and then explodes, dealing an additional 1d4 radiant damage to all enemies within 5 feet if they fail a Constitution saving throw.
Boom goes the baddy! While this cantrip may seem powerful with its AoE effect, remember that on a single target it deals at most 1d10 damage, requires you to be in melee range, and that’s if you both succeed a spell attack roll AND they miss a Constitution Saving Throw.
If you’re wondering why we’re making homebrew spells (especially as the Solasta franchise tries to remain faithful to the tabletop ruleset as much as possible), the reason is fairly simple - there are just not that many cantrips / spells available in the SRD in some cases, and we still want players to have the ability to choose between different options.
Solasta… Evo.. Malmis!
We’ve often had players asking if we would keep Verbal Components for spellcasting in Solasta II; and while we have already answered that we would, a video will probably speak (hahah, get it?) better than ever could.
As a reminder, the way spell incantations are broken down:
- The source of the spellcaster’s magic: Divine, Arcane, etc
- The school of the spell: Evocation, Divination, etc
- The effect of the spell: Healing, Damage, Utility, etc
What do you mean, game over?
Ahhhh, we can’t forget about good ol’ Game Over when working on a video game! So far, we didn’t have anything yet on that end - so even after losing a character you could keep running around, breaking all the quests and dialogs in the process and ruining your save file in the process. This era of the wild wild west is now over! When one of your characters dies, you will be prompted to resurrect them or reload a save file.
Make sure you stock up on scrolls of Revivify if your party members have a tendency of not being too careful!
Making a pit stop in the countryside…
As you walk the peaceful coast of Neokos, your sixth sense starts to tingle. When was the last time you saw any animal? Should the seaside be this quiet? You look around you, your companion taking note of your sudden realization. Everything seems as peaceful as could be, yet you feel like you should be on guard… What’s your passive perception again?
Here is a first glance at one of the many random encounter maps that will be in Solasta II - for they will be sorely needed, considering the amount of travel you will be doing on the world map! Whether it is fighting monsters or encountering traveling NPCs, you will soon get to see more of them on your own.
And in bonus, steal a glance at another upcoming level that will be included in the Early Access! All the grass!
Let’s wrap it up with some more fashion
“More armour!” the people clamored. Then more armour we shall deliver! Take a gander at this magical half plate armor, a 3D version of the studded leather armor we showed last month and some priestly garbs worn by religious figures.
Oh and, lest we forget - we’ve also got a 2D draft of the shields we are going to start producing!
And that’s it for today! Come back next time for more news about the game, and see you on Friday at 9 am PDT / 12 pm EDT / 6 pm CEST for those joining us on our September Community Stream.
Article by Tactical Myzzrym
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2975950/Solasta_II/
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