Item Revisions Mod

[Bursk]

Sounds like you've got everything thought out. I forgot to say that I'd much prefer it if the armours didn't affect lock pick and find/disarm trap.

 

I have some questions about your spells mod, which I'll hopefully have a chance to post later (in the correct thread).

[G-Mon]

Armor of Missile Attraction +3

*CURSED*

Equipped Abilities:

Missile Attraction: -10 penalty to armor class vs. missile, creatures within 20' gain +4 bonus to armor class vs. missile

Armor Class: 4

Arcane Spell Failure: 15%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 10%

 

Notes: enchantment level is raised by one to make it more appealing, the new +4 bonus to ac vs. missile granted to everyone near the wearer should be somewhat useful and more characteristic.

Looks nice, but Reflection Shield negates its main downside (esp. w/o missile weapon users in the party).

[Demivrgvs]

I forgot to say that I'd much prefer it if the armours didn't affect lock pick and find/disarm trap.

That's for sure as stated in the thread, I'm still undecided about pick pocket.

I have some questions about your spells mod, which I'll hopefully have a chance to post later (in the correct thread).

thanks to cmorgan Spell Revisions V1 is ready since sunday, we're just waiting for Cam to make public the relative forums.

Looks nice, but Reflection Shield negates its main downside (esp. w/o missile weapon users in the party).

Good catch! I'm not inclined to prohibit it because at the moment Armor of Missile Attraction is only present in Bg1, but mostly because its quite a "good but not overpowered" combination, and I quite like the possibility to make cursed weapons interesting (as you may have noticed ).

[G-Mon]

Looks nice, but Reflection Shield negates its main downside (esp. w/o missile weapon users in the party).

Good catch! I'm not inclined to prohibit it because at the moment Armor of Missile Attraction is only present in Bg1, but mostly because its quite a "good but not overpowered" combination, and I quite like the possibility to make cursed weapons interesting (as you may have noticed ).

I've noticed, but all it takes is one "overpowered" combination to need a rework. Then again, if you want to change armors, this combo could present problems if you're soloing a non-cleric (or don't have a way of getting Vocalize) and get perma-silenced in Watcher's Keep.

[Demivrgvs]

I've noticed, but all it takes is one "overpowered" combination to need a rework. Then again, if you want to change armors, this combo could present problems if you're soloing a non-cleric (or don't have a way of getting Vocalize) and get perma-silenced in Watcher's Keep.

Are you saying that a studded leather +3 which gives +4 bonus to AC vs. missile to allies and opponents alike would be overpowered? And how does silence affects the Armor of Missile Attraction + Reflection Shield?

[Guest Guest]

I noticed that you have yet to do The Answerer and Angurvadal +4/+5. I have some suggestions.

 

The Answerer - One of my favorites. I really don't think its abilities need to be changed. You might consider making it a Bastard Sword or Scimitar.

 

Angurvadal +4 - +2 strength, +1-6 fire damage

 

Angurvadal +4 - +4 strength, + 1-10 fire damage, imune to level drain

[G-Mon]

Are you saying that a studded leather +3 which gives +4 bonus to AC vs. missile to allies and opponents alike would be overpowered? And how does silence affects the Armor of Missile Attraction + Reflection Shield?

No, not necessarily that combo, but I can see some people making the armor's disadvantages relative non-issues (e.g. if you can solo a single-class Wizard Slayer through Ascension, there isn't a whole lot you can't do in this game, revised items or no).

 

Quick EDIT: Missile Attraction's cursed armor, so switching it's going to be a hassle if you can't get a Remove Curse cast. Which can happen if you're soloing a class that doesn't get it (or can't get a Vocalize effect somehow) and get perma-silenced, since you can't even talk to anyone to get that Remove Curse cast.

 

[offtopic] As an aside, I wonder what'd happen if someone wearing/wielding a cursed item duals into a class that can't use it (e.g. wearing Missile Attraction, then dual to mage). [/offtopic]

[Demivrgvs]

The Answerer - One of my favorites. I really don't think its abilities need to be changed. You might consider making it a Bastard Sword or Scimitar.

I think it should remain a long sword, but surely it won't become a scimitar. Its abilities are fine, though a good twist to make it more similar to PnP would be to replace the "lower target AC" effect with an "increase wielder thac0 when struck" one.

Angurvadal +4 - +2 strength, +1-6 fire damage

 

Angurvadal +4 - +4 strength, + 1-10 fire damage, imune to level drain

Yeah, that would be leaving it as it is (just adjusting it to IR's characteristics handling) as I've thought to do at least to speed up a first release. I hope there's something more "special" that can be done, and immunity to level drain doesn't convince me too much.

No, not necessarily that combo, but I can see some people making the armor's disadvantages relative non-issues (e.g. if you can solo a single-class Wizard Slayer through Ascension, there isn't a whole lot you can't do in this game, revised items or no).

If "making the armor's disadvantages relative non-issues" requires to have another particular item equipped (and a spellcaster able to cast Remove Curse in case of cursed items) I don't see it as too effective (especially considering there probably are much better combinations).

Regarding the solo-challange, surely it's more difficult if you don't use Item Upgrade (or the like) items, if you play with the wonderful SCS II, and if you install Refinements (e.g. vanilla's Use Any Item is the mother of some of the most cheesiest combo). Another problem with soloing is that by the time you reach the second half of SoA your character will be of ridiculous high level, an XP staged cap like Zyraen's one is probably the best thing to avoid it.

Missile Attraction's cursed armor, so switching it's going to be a hassle if you can't get a Remove Curse cast.

That's how cursed item are supposed to work, if your party can't handle them you should avoid equipping them! Actually without IR you should just avoid them cause they were completely useless.

[Demivrgvs]

Medium armors bring in some some other discussions and "dexterity penalties while wearing medium-heavy armors" is one of them. At the moment these penalties are 5% for chain mails, 10% for splint and plate mails, and 15% for full plate mails. To balance the resulting lower AC players are now allowed to wear one (but only one) amulet/ring of protection along with magical armors, and some armors will have their base enchantment level raised (most vanilla's full plate armors had very low enchantment levels compared to light armors, but I think it was a good choice because without dexterity limitations characters would reach extremely good AC too easily).

 

Chain Mails...

 

Mail of the Dead +2

Equipped Abilities:

Saving Throws: +3 bonus vs. death

Armor Class: 3

Arcane Spell Failure: 30%

Dexterity Penalty: 5%

Movement Rate Penalty: 10%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 40%

 

Notes: I've added the saving throws bonus to make it unique and better reflect its description.

 

Darkmail +3

Equipped Abilities:

Immunity to fear & disease effects

Armor Class: 2

Arcane Spell Failure: 30%

Dexterity Penalty: 5%

Movement Rate Penalty: 10%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 40%

 

Notes: I think vanilla's 20 fire resistance was banal, the slightly changed description allow some freedom to chose the armor's benefits. Any other suggestion is also welcome.

 

Mithril Chain Mail +4

Armor Class: 1

Arcane Spell Failure: 20%

Dexterity Penalty: none

Movement Rate Penalty: none

Thieving Skills Penalty: 10%

 

Notes: mostly unchanged.

 

Jester's Chain +4

Special Abilities (once per day):

Prismatic Explosion: multicolored rays of light flash from the armor, all opponents within 20 feet are affected by one or more rays which have the following effects

Red: 20 fire damage (save vs. breath half)

Orange: 40 acid damage (breath half)

Yellow: 80 electrical damage (breath half)

Green: Death (save vs. poison neg.)

Blue: Polymorph (save vs. polymorph neg.)

Indigo: Feeblemind (save vs. wands neg.)

Violet: Maze (save vs. spell neg.)

Equipped Abilities:

Fire Resistance: +15% bonus

Acid Resistance: +15% bonus

Electrical Resistance: +15% bonus

Armor Class: 1

Arcane Spell Failure: 30%

Dexterity Penalty: 5%

Movement Rate Penalty: 10%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 40%

 

Notes: I've added a custom Prismatic Spray effect (taking the liberty to better select its effects), and energy resistance effects (the same elements used by Prismatic Spray itself).

 

Crimson Chain +5

Equipped Abilities:

Blood Rage: 5% chance when struck the wearer enrages, gaining +2 bonus to attack rolls, damage rolls, and saving throws, but losing control of himself for 5 rounds

Tireless Rage: wearer doesn't become winded at the end of any rage state

Armor Class: 0

Arcane Spell Failure: 30%

Dexterity Penalty: 5%

Movement Rate Penalty: 10%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 40%

 

Notes: Tireless Rage makes this suit especially tailored for berserker characters (though I've always thought barbarian's rage too should apply a fatigue effect afterward). Blood rage just add some fun, and makes it useful for non-berserker characters.

 

Splint Mails...

 

Ashen Scales +3

Equipped Abilities:

Immunity to poison effects

Armor Class: 1

Arcane Spell Failure: 40%

Dexterity Penalty: 10%

Movement Rate Penalty: 20%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 50%

 

Notes: I've raised its base enchantment level raised by one (it's found after defeating Bodhi after all), and added the poison immunity to make it unique. Being made of wyvern's scales its lighter than normal splint mails and it's now usable by druids and beast masters.

Armor of Faith +3

Equipped Abilities:

Armor of Faith: +10% resistance to elemental and physical damage

Armor Class: 1

Arcane Spell Failure: 40%

Dexterity Penalty: 10%

Movement Rate Penalty: 20%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 50%

 

Notes: its name remainded me too much the 1st level priest spell, it's quite powerful but only cleric protagonists can obtain it. I think its effects shouldn't stack with the homonym spell, to balance it I may raise the resistance by 5% if you think its better.

 

White Dragon Scale Armor +5

Special Abilities (3 times/day):

Cone of Freezing Cold: inflicts 10d4 + 10 points of cold damage and slows targets for 5 rounds, a successful save vs. breath at -4 halves the damage and negates slowness

Equipped Abilities:

Cold Resistance: +50% bonus

Armor Class: -1

Arcane Spell Failure: 40%

Dexterity Penalty: 10%

Movement Rate Penalty: 20%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 50%

 

Notes: I've customized its cone of cold effect and lowered its enchantment level by one (it's usable by druids and beast masters). Generally (PnP, NWN, ...) dragon hide instead of metal doesn't improve anything but the armor's lightness, but vanilla's White Dragon Armor was an exception and was treated much like a Mithril Chain Mail...should I take it into consideration and lower dexterity penalty by 5%, movement rate by 10%, and so on?

 

Last but not least...Elven Chain Armors.

 

Sylvan Chain +2

Equipped Abilities:

Dexterity: +1 bonus

Protection From Spell: Entangle

Armor Class: 3

Arcane Spell Failure: none

Dexterity Penalty: none

Movement Rate Penalty: none

Thieving Skills Penalty: 10%

 

Notes: I've added the equipped abilities to make it unique but considered you get it in ToB it should be more powerful. I had Free Action in mind or magic resistance...any suggestion?

 

Melodic Chain +3

Equipped Abilities:

Immunity to silence

Armor Class: 2

Arcane Spell Failure: none

Dexterity Penalty: none

Movement Rate Penalty: none

Thieving Skills Penalty: 10%

Usable By:

Bard

 

Notes: adding immunity to silence seems appropriate for bards.

 

Bladesinger Chain +4

Equipped Abilities:

Casting Speed: +1 bonus

Armor Class: 1

Arcane Spell Failure: none

Dexterity Penalty: none

Movement Rate Penalty: none

Thieving Skills Penalty: 10%

 

Notes: I've added the casting speed factor only to make it (I think you should know it by now...) unique!

 

Aslyferund Elven Chain +5

Equipped Abilities:

Casting Speed: +1 bonus

Immunity to normal weapons

Armor Class: 0

Arcane Spell Failure: none

Dexterity Penalty: none

Movement Rate Penalty: none

Thieving Skills Penalty: 10%

 

Notes: slightly more powerful, but I've never found it overpowered, considering it's quite hard to obtain I think it deserves to be outstanding.

[Demivrgvs]

It seems I'm unable to completely "finish" heavy armors but most of them should be fine and the ones I can't decide about can be updated later especially because two of them aren't present in the unmodded game and one is found later in ToB. I've spent a lot of time setting each armor's colors to match their in-game avatar (I've also set glowing colors to some of them with "brilliant" results imo ) and integrated them with 1PP's paperdolls.

 

Plate Mails...

 

Ankheg Plate Mail +2

Equipped Abilities:

Acid Resistance: +25% bonus

Armor Class: 1

Arcane Spell Failure: 30%

Dexterity Penalty: 5%

Movement Rate Penalty: 10%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 40%

 

Notes: I've only added the acid resistance.

 

Radiant Plate +3

Equipped Abilities:

Protection from Evil: +2 bonus to AC and saving throws vs. evil creatures

Armor Class: 0

Arcane Spell Failure: 40%

Dexterity Penalty: 10%

Movement Rate Penalty: 20%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 60%

 

Notes: it's the golden plate +3 found in Durlag's tower, and unused in BG2. Its glowing gold light suggests something against creatures of the dark (undead, drow, ...) or something that relates to valor and virtue.

 

Delver's Plate +3

Equipped Abilities:

Saving Throws: +3 bonus

Armor Class: 0

Arcane Spell Failure: 40%

Dexterity Penalty: 10%

Movement Rate Penalty: 20%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 60%

 

Notes: nothing major, I've raised both enchantment level and saving throws bonus by one.

 

Doomplate +3

Equipped Abilities:

Aura of Despair: opponents within 15 feet must save vs. spell each round or be affected by the wizard's spell Doom for 1 round

Luck: -1 penalty

Armor Class: 0

Arcane Spell Failure: 40%

Dexterity Penalty: 10%

Movement Rate Penalty: 20%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 60%

 

Notes: previously a plain +3 plate mail. Both abilities are suggested by its background. Luck bonus at the moment only affects attack and damage rolls.

 

Deep Guardian's Plate +4

Equipped Abilities:

Spell Level Immunity: 1st and 2nd level spells are unable to affect the wearer

Armor Class: -1

Arcane Spell Failure: 40%

Dexterity Penalty: 10%

Movement Rate Penalty: 20%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 60%

 

Notes: replaces Gorgon's Plate found on Ardulace's corpse. I've borrowed its long description from NWN but I've changed spell resistance to try something different. Playtesting will surely help to see if it's reliable or not, overpowered or useless, ...

 

Red Dragonplate Armor +5

Equipped Abilities:

Fire Resistance: +50% bonus

Armor Class: -2

Arcane Spell Failure: 40%

Dexterity Penalty: 10%

Movement Rate Penalty: 20%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 60%

 

Notes: I've raised its enchantment bonus to match all the other Dragon Armors, which all have the maximum enchantment level. Still something "special" won't hurt.

 

Shuruppak's Plate +5

Equipped Abilities:

Armor Class: -2

Arcane Spell Failure: 0%

Dexterity Penalty: 5%

Movement Rate Penalty: 10%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 40%

 

Notes: at the moment I've only made it as a mithral highly enchanted plate. It's probably better to replace it with something entirely different, especially considering I'm almost sure it's not canon that Shuruppak has ever wore something heavier than his black robe, and probably this armor never existed in PnP Forgotten Realms. Any suggestion?

 

 

And Full Plate Mails...

 

Mithral Field Plate +2

Armor Class: -1

Arcane Spell Failure: 30%

Dexterity Penalty: 5%

Movement Rate Penalty: 10%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 40%

 

Notes: there are two of them, one is Bruenor's Armor (which should be left unchanged) and the other one is actually unused both in BG1 and BG2. The latter can be completely changed if needed.

 

Pride of the Order +2

Equipped Abilities:

Immunity to berserk & confusion effects

Protection from Chaos: +2 bonus to AC and saving throws vs. chaotic creatures

Armor Class: -1

Arcane Spell Failure: 50%

Dexterity Penalty: 15%

Movement Rate Penalty: 30%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 70%

 

Notes: previously a plain full plate armor +2.

 

Plate of Balduran +2

Equipped Abilities:

Charisma: +1 bonus

Regeneration: 3 hp/round

Armor Class: -1

Arcane Spell Failure: 50%

Dexterity Penalty: 15%

Movement Rate Penalty: 30%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 80%

 

Notes: I've replaced +5 HP with a small regeneration rate.

 

Death Knight Armor +3

Equipped Abilities:

Death Armor: any living creature who strikes the wearer in melee suffers 1d4+2 points of cold damage

Immunity to level drain effects

Spell Immunity: Necromancy

Armor Class: -2

Arcane Spell Failure: 50%

Dexterity Penalty: 15%

Movement Rate Penalty: 30%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 80%

Not Usable By:

Good-aligned characters

 

Notes: "replace" Armor of the Hart on Demon Knight's corpse in the Underdark Demogorgon's temple, which previously was a plain full plate +3. Armor of the Hart should be a paladin like armor, it's unfair having it equipped by a Death Knight, and to obtain it your party has to sacrifice a creatures to Demogorgon! Spell Immunity isn't so great as it seems because though it protects from some of the nasties spells (Horrid Wilting, Finger of Death and Wail of the Banshee), it also makes the wearer "immune" to friendly healing and curative spells (cure wounds, poison, disease, ...). Immunity to level drain is there only because the armor also make the user immune to lesser/greater restoration, but I don't think it's a problem if this armor is so powerful considering how and when you get it. Should I make it unusable by non-evil characters?

 

Armor of the Hart +4

Equipped Abilities:

Heroic Inspiration: when the wearer drops below 50% hit points, he gains +1 bonus to hit, damage, and saving throws

Armor Class: -3

Arcane Spell Failure: 50%

Dexterity Penalty: 15%

Movement Rate Penalty: 30%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 80%

 

Notes: replace the cursed plate +5 sold by Ribald when you return from the Underdark. Who the hell would buy a cursed weakening plate?!! I may add something more to it (e.g. immunity to fear), but nothing major because I think it already quite powerful. In terms of power it should probably be the good-aligned equivalent of Death Knight Armor.

 

Enkidu's Armor +4

Equipped Abilities:

Immunity to backstab

Magic Resistance: +5% bonus

Armor Class: -3

Arcane Spell Failure: 50%

Dexterity Penalty: 15%

Movement Rate Penalty: 30%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 80%

 

Notes: I've only raise its enchantment level by one, I may further increase magic resistance by 5%.

 

Blu Dragonplate Armor +5

Equipped Abilities:

Electrical Resistance: +50%

Armor Class: -4

Arcane Spell Failure: 50%

Dexterity Penalty: 15%

Movement Rate Penalty: 30%

Thieving Skills Penalty: 80%

 

Notes: I've made it a plate mail instead of vanilla's full plate just to slightly differentiate it from the blue dragon's one.

[J Beau]

It seems its now a waste to put heavy armor on a character with a high dex. Armor class 0 with no dex penalty on a character with a 15 dex is the same as a character with 18 dex and -3 armor plus you get pounded with a 30% movement penalty. My prediction is that heavy armor will be used much less with your mod even with the cool bells and wistles they have.

 

Just my 2 cents and I am a fan of most everything you have been doing with both mods.

[Demivrgvs]

It seems its now a waste to put heavy armor on a character with a high dex. ... My prediction is that heavy armor will be used much less with your mod even with the cool bells and wistles they have.

That's exactly my goal, to make each type of armor a good choice (which means heavy armor should be used a little less and medium ones a little more hopefully). Vanilla's chain and plate mails (and PnP's ones too to a small extent) are just too weak compared to full plates that offer +4 or +2 further armor class respectively without a single drawback! Anyway full plates are still slightly better than chain and plate mails imo, let's analyze it:

 

Character's Base Dexterity and Resulting Armor Class with Chain, Plate and Full Plate Mails.

DEX -- Chain Mail -- Plate Mail -- Full Plate
15	   AC  5		  AC  3		  AC  1	 
16	   AC  4		  AC  3		  AC  1 
17	   AC  3		  AC  2		  AC  1 
18	   AC  2		  AC  1		  AC  0 
19	   AC  1		  AC  0		  AC -1

As you can see heavier armors still offer better armor class even when dexterity is taken into account, and the only real drawback for non-stealthy characters is the movement rate penalty. My aim is to incite characters with high dexterity to use less encumberant armors (though they can still choose to sacrifice their quickness to gain better protection). At the same time I want characters to be less penalized for not having ridiculous high dexterity in heavy armor (e.g. Keldorn, Anomen, ...), and somewhat reduce the proliferation of 'charname' warriors with 18 in each physical attribute and always using full plate armors. Choosing low dexterity + heavy armor it's now a feasible option (e.g. paladins) as well as choosing high dexterity + medium armor with better movemen rate (e.g. rangers).

[J Beau]

I just downloaded your SpellRevision Mod but I would like to use it with this one as well. Any idea about its release? Would you measure the time in days, weeks or months?

[Ilyich]

Sounds great. However, I noticed that the Red Dragon scale armour is counted as regular Plate Mail in my last playthrough, in regards to the AC modifiers vs missile, slashing etc.

 

This of course means that the unmodded Red Dragon armour is technically a +4 armour as opposed to +2, but there you are. Of course, changing it to count as a Full Plate armour would correct this admittedly extremely minor nitpick.

[Demivrgvs]

I just downloaded your SpellRevision Mod but I would like to use it with this one as well. Any idea about its release? Would you measure the time in days, weeks or months?

Well, if it wasn't for few items here and there I've quite finished. I'll probably post amulets very soon, maybe even today, rings and helmets are quite finished too. Then I'll have to re-organize the files (.itm, .tra, readme, ...) and hope that Mike has some spare time to help me checking the codes for optional components. A pre-release version will probably be available within one or two weeks.

But for an official one I can't really say, I fear it will surely take more than a month (Cam has to set up the forums and download links, cmorgan has to package eveything, and so on).

Sounds great. However, I noticed that the Red Dragon scale armour is counted as regular Plate Mail in my last playthrough, in regards to the AC modifiers vs missile, slashing etc.

You're right, I haven't noticed it, thanks for pointing it out. I don't think it's so different making it a full plate or a more heavily enchanted plate mail, am I wrong?

Furthmore I was thinking about an optional component to reduce or completely remove those "hidden" bonuses/penalties from armors. They make armors comparisons more difficult for players and some type of armor are too penalized by it (leather armor and chain mail) while others are too favourite (full plates have an incredible +4 bonus to AC vs. slashing attacks and +3 vs. piercing ones on top of their already outstanding base armor class). Anyway I don't know if such a tweak will make it for the first release.