I intend to make a ghostwise halfling, probably a barb-thief (I'll see). Can you tell me what the "natural snares" do, and if it is damage, does it increase with levels (like the thief traps in BG II) do?

Natural Snares are a weak form of entangle. Pretty useless imo.

They can be nice at the start; sort of precision entanglement. All gravy, at very least; its just a bonus. I used them a few times for stuff like stopping the shaman from calling worg riders before they became obsolete later on.

Incidentally, if you're still considering a ghostwise halfling build, a barbarian/druid is a nice choice. Of course, this makes the natural snares even less useful with the availability of entangle. Could still be handy due to the potential obstructiveness of entangle's large area, but even then both skills are kind of weak in the first place.

I'm already trying out a barbarian/druid. It's a bit of a problem since I'm planning her to be my main divine spellcaster, so I'll probably add just a few levels of barbarian. Anyway, I have to see if rage works with shapeshifted forms... that has potential :)

I think it does. As such just the one level of barbarian, when combined with shapeshifting, can give an otherwise pure divine caster more than passable melee capabilities. Mighty fine build :D

@shaman
Rage does works with wild shape.

...and incidentally Druids become immune to Fatigue at level 15. :D

Druid(15)/Barbarian(15)? :D

Druid(15)/Barbarian(15)? Is not the best combo unfortunately :sigh:
The Barbarian gets the Greater Rage but his damage resistance is piddling.
The Druid looses out on all the Elemental forms and 9th level spells. I like Elemental Legion :(

I so wish we could get L40 rules.

Nah, maybe we can lower the Barb levels a bit. Stats are maxed at 30, and the better Shapeshifted forms have stats nearer that value. (Rage would be useless when used in Dire Bear form, for example. It has a base Strength of 30 already)

Eh what? 30?
I thought Stats were capped at 40. Heck, JUPP clearly gives you ways to get your Wis to 40. And also hints at Str going that way.

Have you tested it SI?

I had a GW halfling using snares throughout the game. I never noticed anything saving against the snares. Maybe the save DC is against the GWH's Dex bonus instead of WIS. Snares worked great in the narrow ice caves as a block. Had him sneak in and set traps, used Freedom of movement ring to walk through snares and lead enemies back to killing zone where everyone else waited with missles or spells. Worked on ice troll and the clerics equally well.

So are natural snares area-affecting? Hmm...
Anyway, I'd see if I can run my current party through HoF mode to get to the higher levels. I'd really like to see an enraged air elemental... Heh.

@Shrikant
Nope. Looking at the Stat bonuses chart at character creation, the highest value here is 30. Since I've not made it past that number (and never actually tried... too many spells to play around with atm) I assumed it's max.

I loaded up an aged autosave for nostalgic purposes today and raged my Polar Bear shifted druid. Strength went up to 31. They can go above 30, it seems, at least through buffs. I guess its one advantage of the 3e system that the stat bonuses go up by the same increment constantly and as such can be increased indefinitely. Not so sure if you can increase stats beyond 30 at level up or by wearing items, though.

Druids become immune to fatigue at level 15?
Mine is 14! I can't wait for the next level up! :)

HalfOrc Fighter type: Str calculations.
20 - at start
+7 - from level ups (in Normal you could reasonably get to +4)
+6 - HoF belt (+4 in Nomal)
+5 - Bull's Strength.
+6 - Greater Barbarian Rage
---
44 (39 in Normal)
The Battlegaurd of Tempus has the special ability to get +6 to Str, not sure if that stacks with anything. If you use the no-alignment-restrictions mod, a Pally gets +1Str after his quest.
30 is just way to low, seems even 40 is lower than that which can be easily gained.