Hi everyone! I hope you're well. Here's another big update for KotC 2! Yay! :-)

The main additions are the new Combat Actions menu with icons, custom hotkeys for spells and abilities in the Quickbar, the automatic Flurry of Blows for Monks (so that you don't have to click as many times as before), and the new Throw Creature combat action - use it to throw enemy creatures into pits and other environmental hazards, or you can throw them at other creatures. A creature that occupies 2x2 squares may be thrown at up to four creatures, potentially.

There is a new feat: Improved Throw Creature. The feat Greater Grapple was improved and some rules regarding grappling were improved. Holding a shield now grants a bonus to Bull Rush, which increases when you have the feats Shield Expertise or Shield Mastery. Finally, the AI was improved and various bugs were fixed.

I'll post a new Kickstarter update soon.

If you find any bugs in KotC 2 version 1.53, please drop me a line at enquiries@heroicfantasygames.com so that I can fix the game quickly. A saved game would be very useful, too. Thank you!!

If something doesn't work, remember that you can also revert to the previous version of KotC 2 using the Steam/GOG interface.

My apologies for not replying on the forums these days. I'm having a nasty toothache and it's been ruining my productivity.

List of changes in Knights of the Chalice 2 Version 1.53

• Added the Iconised Combat Actions Menu, and a new game option allowing you to switch it on and off. It is under 'Display', near the top, in third position. I prefer the new menu to the text-based one.
  
• Added to the Combat-Actions menu the actions Breath Weapon, Gaze Attack, Turn Undead, Rage, Life Drain, Bard Songs, and Cleric/Bishop Domain Powers. Please note: the Rage and Bard Song combat actions will only be displayed when your character doesn't already have the associated Rage or Bard Song condition. That way, it will be much easier to know when is a good time to re-activate those abilities during a long battle.
  
• Added the new 'Auto Flurry' Combat Action for Monks. This new combat action lets the computer perform all of your Flurry attacks automatically on the target you specify.
  
• Added to the Spell Quickbar selection menu a list of choices allowing you to set a Function key or a combination Shift + Function key as the hotkey for the selected spell or ability. Just scroll down the list after right clicking on a Spell Quickbar slot in order to display the keys from F2 to F12 and the combinations from Shift + F2 to Shift + F12. Pressing one of these hotkeys will then let you cast or activate the corresponding spell or ability. Added some text about this in the in-game help entry about shortcuts during combat. Also fixed some display issues when right clicking on a Spell Quickbar slot.
  
• Fixed a bug with Quickbar spells that have a metamagic setting, such as Empower.
  
• Added the brand new 'Throw Creature' Combat Action, available while grappling. Also added the new feat 'Improved Throw Creature'. Note: You can throw a creature at another creature (or at several creatures, if the thrown creature occupies more than one square). Simply select a square that contains a creature as your target position. The end position of the thrown creature will be a square adjacent to the recipient creature, but both will take damage, the thrown creature will be prone, and the recipient creature may also fall down.
  
• Given the feat Improved Throw Creature to a number of creatures in both Augury of Chaos and the Tutorial Adventure. Also updated the creature AI settings for the AI to use the new Throw Creature action from time to time.
  
• The feat Greater Grapple will now improve the grapple actions Break Free from Grapple or Pin, Pin, Swallow Whole and Throw Creature from Standard Action to Move Action. Note: To improve the 'Break Free from Grapple or Pin' action, there is also a feat called 'Improved Escape From Snares'. If you have both feats, you can now Break Free from a Grapple or Pin using a Free Action.
  
• A creature grappling a creature three size categories smaller (or more) will no longer lose its Dexterity bonus to AC. For example, a Gargantuan creature grappling a Medium-size creature.
  
• When targeting a grappling opponent with a ranged attack, the 50% chance to hit the other grappling combatant will not apply if you are adjacent to the target or if the target is pinned. It also doesn't apply if you have the feat Improved Precise Shot. Also added a mention of this in the help entries.
  
• You will now receive a bonus of +2 on Bull Rush checks when holding a shield. This bonus increases to +3 with the feat Shield Expertise and +4 with the feat Shield Mastery. Updated the help entries for Bull Rush, Armour Types, Shield Expertise and Shield Mastery to reflect this.
  
• Fixed a bug with the Character Creation interface not recording the selected animated sprite when you untick 'Auto-Create Character Sprite'.
  
• Added shortcut keys for those combat actions that didn't have any: Pull (Shift+P), Slide (Q), Stand Up (U), Sunder (Shift+U), Trip (Shift+J), Disarm (Shift+G), Feint (Shift+N), Rearm (Shift+K), Throw Creature (Shift+O), Swallow Whole (Shift+W), Charge Attack (Shift+Z), Wake Someone Up (Shift+X). Also updated the in-game help entry about Keyboard Shortcuts During Combat with a mention of all the new shortcut keys.
  
• Tweaked the melee attack AI when a target have been affected by a Feint combat manoeuvre. Also tweaked the AI for Feint attempts when the acting creature has the feat Greater Feint.
  
• When a Feint attempt fails due to a Mirror Image, the game will indicate the number of mirror images remaining.
  
• Fixed some bugs due to confusion between the character conditions Feint and Improved Feint.
  
• The Curing domain power used in conjonction with the Flux domain will no longer require a ranged touch attack.
  
• Fixed the Difficulty Class of the Cleric/Bishop domain powers Life Drain, Weakness, Wilting, Confusion Touch, Paralysing Touch, Sickness Touch, Pandemonium, Blindness, Time, Fire, Storm, Sun. It was based on Charisma. Now it's based on Wisdom (as mentioned in the help).
  
• Pressing 'O' in the Game Options screen will now close the screen.
  
• Improved the AI so that it will avoid using spells or spell-like abilities like Life Drain on targets with extremely high Spell Resistance.
  
• The feat Rapid Strike will no longer apply to the Monk's unarmed attacks.
  
• Fixed a bug that could occur when pushing a number key to open the character sheet of a party member.
  
• Fixed a source of crashes in combat when a creature has disarmed someone who has an ongoing condition such as Bleeding. Upon applying the effect of bleeding to the character, there could be a crash because of the Disarmed condition giving one more condition to the character (the condition No Shield Bonus to AC), thereby invalidating the pointer to the data of the Bleeding effect. It's a memory-related bug so it would not happen every time. The bug could also happen when a Death Knight moves close to another creature, applying the effect of the Death Knight's aura.
  
• Fixed a number of bugs and issues concerning the Bleeding condition, in particular when several characters have the Bleeding condition, and when monsters have natural attacks that cause bleeding. Also improved the Combat-Log reporting for Bleeding and Bleeding increases. Also improved the help entries for the Monster Ability Bleeding, the Death Knight feat Vicious Strike, and the weapon enchantment Vicious.
  
• Fixed a bug with summon spells that could be targeted very far from the caster.
  
• The game will play a sound effect when Pin attempts are unsuccessful.
  
• Fixed a bunch of Combat-Log errors when the player uses a potion, scroll, wand or other item.
  
• You'll be able to Counterspell a spell cast from a scroll or wand.
  
• Corrected the item descriptions of all the magic acorns and the Lesser Fireball Necklace to specify that their activation is a supernatural ability (not a spell-like ability).
  
• Fixed a bug in the module editor that could cause crashes.
  
• Fixed position problems with the Prone sprites of various Trolls.
  
• When targeting a spell with a metamagic effect, the game will display it at the top, e.g. Empowered Fireball.
  
• Fixed issues with the Formation Screen when setting as leader (or removing as leader) a creature that occupies more than one square.
  
• Fixed issues in the Token / Sprite selection screen when the character occupies more than one square.
  
• Improved the help entry about Attacks of Opportunity with links to the Combat Actions entry and the entries for feats that remove AOOs.
  
• Added some text and links in the help entries for Improved Grapple, Greater Grapple, and Break Free.
  
• Fixed an error in the help entry for Grapple (there is no penalty for Grapple Attacks even if you don't have the feat Improved Grapple).
  
• Improved the combat interface so that all of the shortcut keys are displayed when mousing over an option. Also fixed some Combat Action display issues during combat, and a display issue in the Party Creation screen.
  
• Fixed some issues with the menus when you want to use the keyboard to select an option rather than the mouse.
  
• Fixed a broken link at the bottom of the help entry for Critical Hits. Also fixed the help link when right clicking on the Combat Actions Rearm and Activate Special.
  
• In the Creature Editor, normally, when you change the unique name of a creature, the game will update the name of the creature in all of the scripts of the module. This will no longer happen if you have loaded a creature file (such as the creature file from a saved game) since the loaded file is not the module's creature file. Also fixed some interface issues in the Creature Editor in the Feats and Abilities screen.
  
• Added some code to accelerate gameplay in combat.
  

Happy Christmas time everyone!! Enjoy, dear Knights of the Realm! ^_^