Gate Stone & other item questions

[RicoRico]

I read in Edi's unit database that you need to have researched thaumaturgy 9 before being able to use the Gate Stone..
Is that true?
I am on the brink of using it in one of my MP games, I would hate to find out that it fizzled!

Another thing:
Wearing the Pebble Skin Suit could turn you into a troll.. Does that make you lose spellcasting capabilities? Do you lose items you are wearing? Same question for Lycanthropos' Amulet...

Also: water breathing items don't seem to work on Air Queens.. correct?

[llamabeast]

About the Gate Stone - yep, I believe that's true.

[Edi]

Gate Stone, Gift of Kurgi, Soulstone of the Wolves and generally all items that allow you to cast overland rituals: You must have the spell researched as normal before you can use it from the item. This is a known and reported issue.

Units changed by Pebble Skin Suit and Lycanthropos' Amulet retain the magics of their previous form, because the magics are tied to the unique identification number of the unit (which is invisible and distinct from the monster number of the unit). I'm not 100% sure about the Pebble Skin Suit, but the Amulet has been tested. The mage is no use in combat, though, because the Amulet makes him automatically go berserk.

Water breathing items indeed do not affect Air Queens and Cloud Trapezing them into the sea is a very bad idea. See the bug shortlist for details.

[RonD]

The Pebble Skin Suit is actually a pretty nifty thing - it can turn a wimpy human rainbow pretender into a formidable battlefield monster. Of course, the only time I used it the transformation did not kick in until literally the last turn of the game

[RicoRico]

thanks for your answers guys! These 'bugs' could have had major consequences for my current MP game had I not known them just in time! :-)

With the pebble stone suit: once you become a troll, does that remove the item (like it 'becomes' your skin), or will you still have the cursed item in your Body slot? And if you are still wearing the item, will you have double regen (+10 from troll and +10 from suit)?

[atul]

Edi said:
generally all items that allow you to cast overland rituals: You must have the spell researched as normal before you can use it from the item.

??? At least this does not apply to Stone Sphere and Astral Window. Just tried it. My memory's hazy and from dom2 but I think there it was that you could use the item just ok if you used "use item" command, but if you tried to use the "cast spells" -> spells from items it didn't work. But has the situation gone downhill?

[RonD]

You still wear the armor. And it appears you get 20% regeneration.

My F4 A4 W1 E4 S3 D2 N8 B1 Master druid wound up with 34 base hp, 33 str, 17 prot, 16 atk, 13 def. Hardly superman, but plenty beefy enough to enter combat and use all those magic paths to good effect.

[Lingchih]

Don't use the pebble skin armor on a Troll King though. I did, thinking it would make him an Uber Troll. It instead made him into a wimpy little Troll. He was still OK, but much less than the Troll King he was before.