[Calahan]

I thought the targetting system was well known, but guess it's a case of very little is ever really new, as it's often just knowledge that has been forgotten. thejeff has it right though, which you can see from reading the log file (btw it's impossible to fully understand how some of the mechanics work without being able to read the log file correctly. As trying without that ability often just leads to the spread of mis-information, or classic cases of "well what I saw was", and then basing a load of misconceptions from that faulty observation).

But one thing, Bless can miss if there's only one target (such as a lone thug). It's very rare, and I mean insanely rare. But it can happen, and one of the old-guard Russian guys, can't remember who (someone like ano, WingedDog, Psycho, Dimaz, Kuritza. Or perhaps vfb) posted a save file of it a few years ago (sure I have it bookmarked on another machine). I don't think the spell targetting has been patched since, so it could in theory still happen in v3.27. But then I'm certain some things have been patched (either intentionally or unintentionally) without a corresponding patch note, so maybe it doesn't happen anymore. Either way though (for the benefit of newer players) Bless missing a lone thug is not something you should ever plan to script for. ie. never script Blessx2 with a lone thug on the basis of the first one might miss, as that will just give him a free pass to cast something himself, and likely ruin your day as a result.

Although this Bless missing scenario is why there was a call at one point a few years back for CBM to make a self-bless spell to avoid it happening to lone thugs. Think it wasn't considered worth doing though as it would have taken up a spell slot to do so, and at a time when spare spell slots were at a premium (since it was before Illwinter patched in a load of extra spell slots).