Heart of Winter

Heart of Winter (HoW) is a primarily player vs. player server. It is server vault, and requires both expansion packs to play. It was created by a disgruntled ex-developer from the Dungeon Eternal X server and is similar in some placenames (with different layouts ect.) and other minor elements to that server, since it started as one developers' single vision of what Dungeon Eternal X should have been. Some have noted that the small town of Loftenwood, where the player begins his/her adventure, is snow covered in Heart of Winter. The teams on this server are called "factions", with one faction run by the server's owner. The server often hosts tournaments. This helps those not in a faction get a better taste of team PvP, while letting those in a faction see how enemy teams operate.

HoW has garnered much praise over its brief existence, the majority of it focused around the play style and maps. Its critics have focused on rumors of the server administrator being unfairly biased in the distribution of rewards and punishments There is a great deal of unfounded conjecture stemming from the rivalry between Dungeon Eternal X and Heart of Winter, and ironically, this very wiki was origionally created as an attempt to discredit Heart of Winter. The server is owned by 2 developers, and assitance is provided from several trusted long term members who join as Dungeon Masters under their alias (prominent players are generally fully aware of which members volunteer as DMs). It is worth noting that each faction has at least one member who has a DM alias account, this step shows that administration of the server is aimed to be objective and fair. The fact that the server is primarily of the vision and personality of one developer adds a very personal touch to Heart of Winter, but has also been a source of friction for players who make it their business to bend rules or show a lack of courtesy.

Rules
Heart of Winter has recently made some progress in terms of helping new players get accustomed to the pvp environment. It is illegal for the same person to kill an unfactioned levelling player again if he has moved to a different monster area. this was a long requested change by some players who saw potential new community members discouraged as they were hunted relentlessly by higher levels before ever getting accustomed to life on HoW. If screenshotted proof is submitted to server owner in a private message via HoW forums of victims combat log, admin can review server side logs. Server owner is renowned for handing out firm punishment to those who exploit such things. Quote from server owner in an ingame shout: "Just to remind you.. there are rules against griefing factionless lowbies, You can't PK same person elsewhere. If i see this happening you will end with empty vaults".

If and when a player chooses to join a faction, they are no longer protected by the griefing rule, and it sometimes observed that factioned 40s guard their fellow members who need to level. In practice however, the servers size has expanded vastly and the most experienced players can often level to 40 without encountering any enemy lowbie hunters. A script exists that prevents all faction associated players from entering any pvp zone without proper faction tag present in characters name, so a faction man with unmarked toons can only use it in towns. More detailed rules can be read within ingame journal.

Some undocumented rules to keep in mind are that, while in pvp, you must not break character action animations in order to 'quicktaunt', or 'runshoot'. this can end in a toon deletion if it looks deliberate or done repeatedly (especially among players who are known to have a working knowledge of game mechanics), because it is an exploit that ruins pvp for other players. An important exception to this is that animation breaking of mellee attacks is not observed to be punished, and is instead generally regarded as an element of pvp skill.

Subraces
Heart of Winter provides several subrace options for players. These are the following. Note: The subrace modifiers do not include the racial modifiers from character creation.

Aasimar
 * Race: any
 * Appearance: angel wings
 * Ability modifiers: +2 wisdom, +2 charisma, -2 strength, -2 constitution
 * Skill modifiers: +2 listen, +2 spot
 * Other: damage vulnerability to fire (10%) and negative energy (25%)

Arctic Dwarf
 * Race: dwarf
 * Ability modifiers: +2 constitution, +2 wisdom, -2 dexterity, -2 intelligence
 * Other: damage resistance to cold (10/-); damage vulnerability to fire (25%); -2 reflex saves

Avariel
 * Race: elf or half-elf
 * Appearance: bird wings
 * Ability modifiers: +2 dexterity, +2 charisma, -2 strength, -2 constitution
 * Skill modifiers: +2 listen, +2 spot
 * Other: damage vulnerability to acid (10%) and fire (25%)

Azer
 * Race: dwarf
 * Appearance: azer (medium)
 * Ability modifiers: +2 strength, +2 charisma, -2 dexterity, -2 wisdom
 * Skill modifiers: -10 hide
 * Other: +2 saving throw bonus vs. fire; damage resistance to fire (20/-), damage vulnerability to cold (25%)

Bugbear
 * Race: half-orc
 * Ability modifiers: +2 constitution, +2 intelligence, -2 dexterity, -2 charisma
 * Other: toughness

Drider
 * Race: elf, half-elf
 * Appearance: drider (large)
 * Ability modifiers: +2 dexterity, +2 intelligence, -4 constitution
 * Other: damage vulnerability to divine (25%)

Drow
 * Race: elf, half-elf
 * Ability modifiers: +2 strength, +2 charisma, -2 constitution, -2 wisdom
 * Skill modifiers: +4 spot
 * Other: hardiness vs. spells; damage vulnerability to positive energy (25%)

Dryad
 * Race: human, elf
 * Gender: female
 * Ability modifiers: +4 charisma, -2 strength, -2 constitution
 * Other: spell focus (enchantment), venom immunity; damage vulnerability to fire (10%)

Duergar
 * Race: dwarf
 * Ability modifiers: +2 strength, +2 constitution, -2 dexterity, -2 intelligence
 * Other: damage vulnerability to electrical damage (25%); -2 reflex saves

Gnoll
 * Race: elf, half-elf
 * Appearance: gnoll (medium)
 * Ability modifiers: +2 strength, +2 constitution, -2 intelligence, -2 charisma
 * Other: damage vulnerability to positive energy (10%); -2 reflex saves

Goblin
 * Race: halfling, gnome
 * Appearance: goblin (small)
 * Ability modifiers: +4 strength, -2 intelligence, -2 charisma
 * Skill modifiers: +2 discipline
 * Other: damage vulnerability to acid (10%); -2 will saves

Kobold
 * Race: halfling, half-elf
 * Appearance: kobold (small)
 * Ability modifiers: +4 dexterity, -2 constitution, -2 intelligence
 * Skill modifiers: -4 discipline
 * Other: strong soul

Orc
 * Race: half-orc
 * Appearance: orc (medium)
 * Ability modifiers: +2 strength, +2 constitution, -2 intelligence, -2 wisdom
 * Other: damage vulnerability to electrical (25%); -2 will saves

Rock Gnome
 * Race: gnome
 * Ability modifiers: +2 constitution, +2 intelligence, -2 strength, -2 dexterity
 * Other: damage vulnerability to positive energy (25%); -2 reflex saves

Sahuagin
 * Race: human, half-elf
 * Ability modifiers: +2 constitution, +2 wisdom, -2 intelligence, -2 charisma
 * Other: alertness; damage resistance to cold (5/-); damage vulnerability to fire (25%)

Svirfneblin
 * Race: gnome
 * Ability modifiers: +2 dexterity, +2 charisma, -2 constitution, -2 wisdom
 * Skill modifiers: +2 hide, +2 move silently
 * Other: damage vulnerability to positive energy (10%)

Tiefling
 * Race: any
 * Appearance: devil tail
 * Ability modifiers: +2 dexterity, +2 intelligence, -2 strength, -2 constitution
 * Skill modifiers: +2 hide, +2 move silently
 * Other: damage vulnerability to cold (10%) and positive energy (25%)

Troglodyte
 * Race: human, half-elf
 * Ability modifiers: +2 strength, +2 dexterity, -2 intelligence, -2 charisma
 * Other: damage resistance to acid (5/-); damage vulnerability to fire (25%)

Wild Dwarf
 * Race: dwarf
 * Ability modifiers: +2 dexterity, +2 constitution, -2 intelligence, -2 wisdom
 * Skill modifiers: -2 discipline
 * Other: nature sense; trackless step; -2 will saves; damage vulnerability to cold (10%)

Class modifications
Heart of Winter has modified several class abilities, with some additional benefits for what they call "pure" classes &mdash; epic characters with only one class. One of these benefits is an increased DC for spells cast by a "pure" primary caster &mdash; the bonus is +4 for clerics, sorcerers, and wizards (not casting their specialty school); +8 for druids and specialist wizards casting a spell from their chosen spell school.

Turn undead


 * The duration of turn undead is only 1d6 rounds.
 * A will saving throw is allowed to resist being turned with a DC of 10 + (cleric + paladin + blackguard levels) / 2 + charisma modifier.
 * The sun domain raises the DC of the save by 5.
 * The good domain doubles the range and duration.
 * Targets with 10 or more levels of pale master receive a -2 penalty to armor class, saving throws, and skills as well as 25% spell failure.

Barbarian


 * Mighty rage replaces barbarian rage when acquired, instead of being separately activated.
 * The duration of rages is constitution times 3 rounds.
 * Barbarian rage gives +2 strength, +2 constitution, -2 AC, +1 AB, +1 fortitude and will saves, +1 discipline, and +1 hit point/level. Greater rage doubles these bonuses and has no AC penalty, while greater rage for a "pure" barbarian gives an additional +2AB (after doubling the normal rage bonuses).
 * Mighty rage gives +4 strength, +4 constitution, +1 AB, +2 fortitude and will saves, +2 discipline, and +2 hit points/level (that is, almost the same as greater rage, but with only +1AB), with "pure" barbarians getting twice that &mdash; except the ability bonuses, which remain +4 &mdash; as well as +1 elemental damage resistance for every 5 levels. (Thus, for a "pure" barbarian, greater rage gives a larger attack bonus, while mighty rage gives larger save, skill, and hit point bonuses &mdash; with each of these cases being +2 versus +4.)
 * Thundering rage gives +1 AB and +1d10 sonic damage, doubled for a "pure" barbarian.
 * Terrifying rage fires a pulse every 30 seconds. The DC is barbarian level + intimidate ranks / 4, with the bonus from skill focus added to the ranks. A player with hit dice lower than or equal to the barbarian level will be affected by fear. A player with more hit dice than the barbarian level receives a -2 penalty to AB and saving throws.

Bard


 * Bard song has been modified to give only half the benefits/penalties to targets other than the singer. In addition, the "team song" affects only the singer's party, rather than all allies.
 * The base bard song (singer only) gives a skill bonus of 4 + (original value &minus; 3) / 2.
 * The duration has been increased to 20 rounds.
 * The lingering song feat has been improved (increasing the duration by 10 rounds), while lasting inspiration has been reduced (only doubling song duration, but applied after lingering song).

Cleric:


 * The duration of war domain's battle mastery has been raised to 10 rounds.

Monk:

Monkspeed has long been observed to be used as a pest or irritator factor to ruin enjoyable pvp/levelling for other players and to acquire cheap kills through 'hit and run' tactics (referred to colloqially as 'Assmonks'). This has greatly angered many new and experienced players alike, and so modifications are now in place to ensure that a well prepared warteam can deal with monkspeed;


 * Bigby's Forceful, Grasping, and Crushing Hands: Character with 3 or more monk levels gets their discipline lowered by 1 per monk level versus these bigby checks


 * Iron Horn: Only affect monks with 3 or more levels


 * Earthquake: Target with 3 or more monk levels must make a Strength check versus level of the caster (caster level cap removed) + D20, and a failed check leaves the monk knocked down for 1 round

Paladin:
 * This class is open to any alignment, but upon taking it, the character's alignment will be set to good (for smiting purposes).
 * If a character has both paladin and blackguard levels, the alignment is set to that of the class most recently taken.

Assassin


 * Assassin spell abilities may not be dispelled.
 * An assassin's invisibility and improved invisibility abilities are unaffected by invisibility purge.

Blackguard


 * This class is open to any alignment, but upon taking it, the character's alignment will be set to evil (for smiting purposes).
 * If a character has both paladin and blackguard levels, the alignment is set to that of the class most recently taken.
 * Bull's strength gives +6 strength and +1 AB for every 10 epic levels, and the strength bonus cannot be dispelled. An additional +2 AB and 1d6 negative energy damage with the epic fiendish servant feat.

Dwarven defender


 * An additional +1 AB and damage is granted for every 5 epic levels.
 * A level 6 dwarven defender gains 10% physical damage immunity, unless the character also has at least 10 pale master levels. This immunity rises by 5% for every additional 4 levels (i.e. at levels 10, 14, 18, 22, 26 and 30).

Harper scout:


 * Harper potions give an additional +1AC/AB and +3 universal saving throws, as well as granting the effects of see invisibility and ultravision.

Pale master:


 * Pale master critical hit immuntiy is removed. It still recieves immunity to sneak attacks at level 10. It is planned to reintroduce the critical hit immunity at some stage but not in the short term, as removal greatly improved gameplay and building of caster classes, and reintroduction of the immunity is said to be difficult to script and not immediate priority on the server.

Purple dragon knight


 * Heroic shield gives (PDK level x 2 + charisma modifier) elemental damage resistance. This shield collapses after absorbing that amount of damage.
 * Rallying cry gives +3 positive energy damage for a duration of (PDK level + charisma modifier) turns.
 * Inspire courage gives fear immunity for a duration of (PDK level + charisma modifier) turns.
 * Fear has a DC of (10 + PDK level + charisma modifier).
 * Oath of wrath gives a bonus equal to class level to attack rolls, saving throws, and skills, as well as a bonus equal to the charisma modifier to damage rolls. The duration is (class level + charisma modifier) turns.
 * Final stand gives a (charisma modifier x 10) temporary hit point bonus.

Red dragon disciple: Red dragon disciples receive 25% cold vulnerability at level 10.

Shadowdancer


 * The hide in plain sight feat is not available on Heart of Winter.
 * Shadow evade gives a 1 + (shadowdancer level/5) bonus to armor class, 10 + (shadowdancer level) * 2 concealment, and a 2 + (shadowdancer level/3) bonus to move silently for a number of turns equal to shadowdancer level.
 * The epic shadowlord feat provides an additional 1d10 piercing damage.

Shifter: The shifter class is not supported. Item properties do not merge into shapes.

Skill modifications
Pick pocket: The pick pocket check is skill ranks + (sum of rogue, assassin, and shadowdancer levels) + d20 vs. a DC of character level * 3.

Use magic device: The DC of use magic device checks to use scrolls has been increased to 11 times the innate level of the spell, but characters get to add their bard, rogue, and assassin levels, as well as their skill ranks, to the die roll (d20).

Spell modifications
Hellball, greater ruin
 * Saving throw removed.

Epic warding
 * Provides 40/+6 damage reduction.
 * Damage reduction is halved (20/+6) when cast by a character with 10+ levels of pale master.

Divine favor
 * Attack and damage bonus +1 every 6 levels of caster (max +3).
 * An epic paladin receives an additional +2 to attack and damage bonus.

Sanctuary / greater sanctuary
 * Will save added.

Barkskin
 * A pure druid receives an additional +5 AC.

Shield of faith
 * A pure caster receives an additional +5 AC.
 * Does not stack with divine shield.

Endure elements, resist elements, protection from elements, energy buffer
 * Druids absorb double amount of damage.

Camouflage and mass camouflage
 * Does not stack.

Divine power
 * Concentration bonus: caster level / 4
 * A character with 21 or higher strength receives an additional +1 AB and damage (bludgeoning) for every 10 caster levels.

Silence
 * Target receives a -20 penalty to the hide skill.

Holy sword
 * Dispel on-hit removed.
 * Damage bonus: 1d6 (divine).

Heal, mass heal, greater restoration
 * Healed amount is 50 + 2d4 x caster level

Harm
 * Damage is 2d4 x caster level

True seeing
 * True seeing provides ultravision, see invisibility and +20 spot.

Word of faith
 * Will save added.

Earthquake (druid)
 * Monks (level 3+) and pale masters (level 10+) make a strength check vs. knockdown.

Balagarn's iron horn
 * Only affects monks (level 3+).

Knock
 * Adds caster level to open lock skill.

Tasha's hideous laughter
 * Knockdown duration reduced to 1 round. Daze effect added.

Death armor
 * Does not stack with elemental shield and Mestil's acid sheath.

Fear
 * Duration reduced to 1 turn.

Ice storm
 * Added reflex saving throw.
 * Can not be evaded.

Elemental shield
 * Does not stack with death armor and Mestil's acid sheath.
 * Damage: 1d6 + caster level / 4
 * Damage type: cold

Bigby's interposing hand
 * Attack decrease changed to 1d10.

Mestil's acid sheath
 * Does not stack with death armor and elemental shield.
 * Damage: 1d6 + caster level / 2

Bigby's forceful, grasping and crushing hands
 * Discipline check: discipline + d20 vs. caster level / 2 + caster ability modifier + spell level + evocation spell focuses + d20.
 * Pure caster DC bonus counts towards the d20 roll.

Isaac's greater missile storm
 * One missile for every 4 caster levels.
 * 2d6 damage per missile (sonic).

Horrid wilting
 * Damage changed to acid.

Weird
 * Fear effect if will save failed, death if fortitude save failed.
 * Fear duration: 1 turn.

Timestop
 * Will save added.

Crafting
The server uses a custom crafting system that does not use the craft armor and craft weapon skills. This system imposes the following limitations on item properties that can be crafted. In addition, the only miscellaneous property that can be crafted is haste.
 * Armor class: +5
 * Ability: +8
 * Saving throw: +5
 * Skill bonus: +4
 * Enhancement bonus: +5
 * Damage bonus: +2d6 (with a maximum of two such properties, aside from gloves which can have three)
 * Massive critical damage: +2d6

The maximum item level that can be crafted is dependent on the town where the crafting takes place, as follows.
 * Loftenwood: 5
 * Ridgetown: 10
 * Tanglebrook: 15
 * Duvanbawer: 20
 * Mythara: 30

For example, here is a typical correct final gear setup for a strength based tank with Divine Shield;
 * Weapon: +5 Enchantment Bonus, 2D6 Elemental Damage, 2D6 of a second element, Keen, Massive Criticals (2D6), +4 Discipline
 * Shield: +5 Armour, +8 Strength
 * Chest: +5 Armour, +8 Constitution
 * Helmet: +5 Armour, +4 Strength, +4 Constitution
 * Boots: +5 Armour, +8 Charisma, Haste
 * Amulet: +5 Armour, +4 Charisma, +4 Dexterity
 * Belt: +5 Fortitude Saving Throw
 * Cloak: +5 Fortitude Saving Throw
 * Bracers: +5 Fortitude Saving Throw
 * Ring: +4 Discipline
 * Second Ring: +4 Discipline

Leveling and gameplay
There are some nice features that brighten up leveling. There is a small chance (about 5%) that any given monster will spawn as a champion of its kind (hasted, with ghostly visage and stat increases). These monsters give double experience points and gold, and they drop a few little gems when defeated. There are also a good number of bosses designed to take on a party. Unique items acquired from bosses tend to be extremely rare, but not overpowered.

Long term members of HoW have found secret quests by exploring areas and talking to NPCs. Some of these quests are extremely difficult and expensive to find and complete, involving epic boss battles etc., while others are quite friendly quests. Quests rewards include bonus feats and siege equipment.

There are four factions of players on Heart of Winter, each officially at war with all other three. There used to be a system where a group of players could gather a member roster and some gold in exchange for a castle of their own to be built, but this led to small and inactive factions, and so mergers were encouraged to improve pvp. Some faction men allow their rivals to level in peace, as a mutual kindness, while some will engage an enemy whenever and wherever. And a few players yet, will go to great lengths to hunt their rivals' levellers, particularly if the levelling enemy is notorious in battle. This system often provokes factions to assemble their warteams and fight. Unfactioned players are sometimes the victims of 'lowbie hunting', and this encourages them to align themselves (officially or just as a friend) with factioned men for protection and payback.

Every two weeks, a winner is declared for two scores. There is a caste score and a keep score. Castles are the fortresses of factions, different in location, appearance, and layout. A winner gathers a score by holding enemy castle artifacts inside the home castle for the longest time during the two weeks. Raiding a castle invilves skill and build selection, because each faction must ultimately be defeated within its lair where it has a powerful boss NPC (level 60 druid, enormous hp, high resistances, powerful melle once it exhausts its spells).. raiding now has a script enforced fair numbers policy, whereby raiders can bring +2 verses defenders (eg. 4 v 2), this is because the faction bosses are formiddable, and defenders can teleport directly into their base. This makes build selection and playstyle very important for castle fights. A script allows only Guilded players to enter faction castles.

Keeps are strongholds that exist throughout the server. Once captured, a factions men can teleport to it, providing usefull access to diffrent areas. Keeps can even be captured by an unfactioned player. There are 6 keeps to be captured, and a score accummulates gradually ovr time for each one that is held. An important distinction is that keep battles are not governed by any fair numbers policy. These battles are often fast and frantic, attracting all four factions into the fight. These skirmishes also attract stealth attackers, so Spot and Listen become important. At the end of each two week cycle, the reward for both the castle artifact wars, and the keep wars, is the same; 780,000 experience points (enough for a full level 40). The victorious faction general may do with this as he/she pleases, as this is usable from their faction tome on themselves or their subordinates.

Most Popular Warbuilds
Building, gameplay, and teamwork are required to win battles on Heart of Winter. These are some builds that have gained widespread use among guildmen and are proven to be efficient. They will be shared here only in outline form, detailed plans are often discussed on the Heart of Winter forums. An important concept to keep in mind is that most characters you build will require adequate Fortitude and Discipline for playable survivability. The maximum possible DC of an enemy player's Devastating Critical is 54 on Heart of Winter, therefore it is logical to aim for 52 fortitude (as a D20 autofails on a roll of 1), although 50 is usually adequate. Discipline will also benefit your survival, protecting you from Improved Knockdown, Improved Disarm, and Bigby's Forceful, Grasping, and Crushing Hands. The higher the better in terms of discipline, and 80 is an acceptable norm.


 * 23 Paladin, 2 Bard, 15 Red Dragon Disciple: Strength based with Divine Shield and Devastating Critical.


 * 10 Fighter, 25 Weapon Master, 5 Harper Scout: Dexterity based Improved Knockdown spammer.


 * 8 Bard, 22 Blackguard, 10 Red Dragon Disciple: Strength based with Divine Shield and Devastating Critical.


 * 8 Fighter, 19 Weapon Master, 13 Shadowdancer: Dexterity based with Epic Dodge.


 * 12 Fighter, 23 Blackguard, 5 Harper Scout: Dexterity based flanker with Improved Knockdown