Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Suggestions and Feedback Skills That Shouldn't Be Disabled by Silence

This is not a new thing. It's just that I've decided to make a post about it now.

Some Rogue and Warfare skills are disabled by Silence, and it makes no sense in their case: Chloroform, Adrenaline, Cloak and Dagger, Phoenix Dive, Thick of the Fight, Silencing Stare (Red Prince-specific), and, even more questionably, Blood Sacrifice, Break the Shackle (Sebille-specific), and Dragon's Blaze.

No seriously, how does Silence prevent Chloroform??? Or Dragon's Blaze? You might argue the character still needs to chant some sort of spell before breathing fire, but seriously that's not convincing at all. Last time I checked, they are LIZARDS - and in this game it means they are actually descendants of dragons. And the fact that the skill is called Silencing STARE and it is disabled by SILENCE is kinda dumb, tbh. The same goes for Cloak and Dagger or Phoenix Dive.

Most of the skills above are more extraordinary feats, than actual spellcasting. They shouldn't require any verbal component, and thus cannot be disabled by Silence.

I agree and I'll also add:

Break the Shackles should most definitely not be cut off by Silence. (I'd argue that NO status effects except Source-Muted and Charm - including hard disables - should prevent Sebille from being able to cast Break the Shackles.

I didn't have any ranged char, so I forgot about the Huntsman skills. Tactical Retreat and Glitter Dust shouldn't be disabled by Silence, either.

And there's something else that is even more outrageous: Flight. The skill you acquire after using Spread Your Wings. Being silenced makes you unable to fly using your *wings*? Please...

I'd wager that at a closer look there are still some other skills that are unduly affected by Silence as well. There's probably a "flag" that flags skills as either involving beating someone with your weapon, or not. And Silence would affect all of the latter. More attention should've been paid here, really.

It's mostly just a mechanical thing - everything that is not a weapon skill (disabled by atrophy) is a spell (disabled by silence). I guess some of the skills you listed could be moved to be affected by atrophy instead, but imo it's not the most critical issue.

Also, a lot of these skills like cloak and dagger or phoenix dive don't look like something you can do without magic really. Some fantasy settings try to portray these as exceptional feats but jumping 15m without magic doesn't look convincing at all to me.

The only skill that shouldn't be subject to being disabled by CC is Break the Shackles imo (which I would prefer to be usable vs hard CC as well, that would make it competitive vs dome of protection and time warp)

Yes, I suppose you could say it's a mechanical thing and as long as we know how it works, it doesn't have to "make sense". But for someone who has played the Baldur's Gate games and respected them as much as I have, I consider the "wording" of things an important issue. In other words, how things work should be more precise than what you generally find in games nowadays. Personally, I find these delicate and subtle details make the combat aspect much more satisfying.

Like I pointed out, skills are probably put into either "involving using weapon" or not, and Silence affects all of the latter. It's easy to see that, and for most people, the problem stops there. For me, I see that as rather lazy work. It reminds me of games like Dragon Age: Inquisition, whose combat is a hopeless mess that shows no dedication and innovation whatsoever.

Next, you might say "stuff like Cloak and Dagger can't be performed without using magic". I'd like to point out that, I never said "BECAUSE THEY INVOLVE NO MAGIC WHATSOEVER". If you're willing to get technical a little bit, then what I'm trying to say here, is that it makes sense if there's a distinction between physical feats like Cloak and Dagger, and proper spellcasting like when you cast elemental magic. One of the distinctions here is the *verbal component*, which I did mention in my original post. Also, you're saying you can't jump 15m without using magic, then what about Backlash? It is also a teleport, and it even involves stabbing someone in the back at the same time. So "jumping 15m" should be disabled by Silence, but "jumping 6m and stabbing someone in the back at the same time" shouldn't?

In conclusion, I believe players who are detail-oriented and care about technical depth will probably find it easier to agree with me. I'm well aware that many don't care about "little details" like this.

How do you know these do not involve a verbal component? A character doesn't really say anything using any abilities so that's left to imagination.

And yes, backlash is also magic in my book, but since it's a weapon skill it ends up being not affected by silence. You can say that it doesn't involve a verbal component while the skills above do (we don't know anyway) if it makes it easier for your suspension of disbelief.

I never claimed I *know* what is what. I never said I know for a fact that these do and those don't. In my first post I used the word "shouldn't". So the point is not about whether we know what is true and what is not. The point is: what makes more *sense* than what. Which seems more logical to you, A or B.

Clearly we have different opinions, as far as "which one makes more sense" or "which is more logical" is concerned. I created the original post, because details like these could add more depth to combat and make it feel more consistent and logical to me. If you don't care, or don't agree, that's fine. Carry on.