Item Revisions Mod

[Demivrgvs]

Well it seems that you prefer the old charge system...what bothered me was that wands in game have much less charges than their PnP counterpart (1-6 charges against the nominal 50). But it's also true that BG offer some cheesy way to recharge them or to use them countless times (Simulacrum or PI comes to mind) and that's why i tought to settle things once and for all giving one charge per day only. I'm not sure what's the best solution. What about usability extended to thieves and the intelligence requirement? I hope they're welcome.

About the Wand of Ice i think it was supposed to do something like a Flame Strike spell (with cold damage obviously) instead of a Cone of Cold, at least it's what the description says. What do you prefer?

[Starcrunch]

In BG1 Frost wands struck single targets instead of doing cone of cold, IIRC. It's possible the description was simply carried over and the effect was changed.

 

Intelligence requirements I like (too bad spell casting isn't limited by intelligence if ToB is installed). I can't really comment on the wands usable by thieves; I'm ambivalent about that change, since there are no mod thieves I like, never play thieves as the PC, and all other thieves are multi/dual mages anyway. But as a rule it seems like the sort of thing thieves would know being opportunists at heart.

 

Shield of Balduran should probably be made less expensive. In truth it's new ability is pretty weak (10 spell levels won't even last one round against beholders given their numbers and attack rate). Granted the power is usable against all spells which is nice.

 

Robe of Vecna looks good to me.

 

Staff of the Magi looks mostly good. I think the dispel chance should be higher though, given the weapon can only be wielded by mages which already have enough trouble hitting in melee (could you make it single class mages). I like the idea of it casting dispel magic or remove magic instead of the fire/lightening combination (which while unique in interesting was hard to use with out causing a lot of havoc in your own party because you had to target a creature and it had a really long casting delay between selection and actually firing); it fits a lot better with the weapons other capabilities. It's still the best mage staff in the game and telekinesis looks really fun. Glad to see the cheesy invisibility gone.

 

-Starcrunch

[Demivrgvs]

Shield of Balduran should probably be made less expensive. In truth it's new ability is pretty weak (10 spell levels won't even last one round against beholders given their numbers and attack rate). Granted the power is usable against all spells which is nice.

It could be less expensive yes. I didn't want this item to be a Beholder killer one...it can be useful against them (really useful if you engage only one beholder) but it will now be much more useful in many situations (vs. mages for example) and don't have drawbacks like the old -1 to strength anymore.

Staff of the Magi looks mostly good. I think the dispel chance should be higher though, given the weapon can only be wielded by mages which already have enough trouble hitting in melee (could you make it single class mages).

Are you suggesting to make it usable only by single class mages as i've proposed for the Robe of Vecna? I dont' know...the reason behind the restriction for the Robe of Vecna is that -2 to spell casting time (not to mention the old -4!!) allow things like instant Sunfires and only focused spellcasters should be able to do things like that in my opinion. Anyway a single class mage too can be extremely effective with the Staff if used in conjunction with Tenser Transformation. Either that way (or by being a multiclass mage) a 100% dispel chance is too high in my opinion and 50% simulate the dispel check a normal dispell spell ( ) would have to win to take effect.

 

Thanx for the feedback, saying what you like or don't like as you've done can really help me understand if i'm on the right direction or not sometimes!

[Starcrunch]

Casting a 7th level spell that removes your ability to cast more spells just so you can walk around tapping things with your staff to dispel their magic seems like a singularly bad way to use a mage that can cast 7th level spells; and that describes my thoughts on the use of Tensor's Transformation with 100% chance to Dispel (there are a handful of enemies in the game, where this is a decent idea if you don't have another strategy, though the fact the SotM is a +5 weapon is most important). The SotM is not Carsomyr, it is wielded necessarily by a character with much higher THAC0 and fewer attacks/round unless they've paid for it with spell casting (not accounting for multi/dual class of course). Tensor's has it's time and place, but it's not so you can walk around and Dispel magic with a low damage staff.

 

NOTE: I tend to use Arie as a tank mage if I only have one tank; but this is mostly because there are some really bastardly things that can be done with the combination of mage and priest magic.

 

-Starcrunch

[Demivrgvs]

The Staff now have +5 instead of +1 to THACO and that is a huge difference...multiclass mages could find the staff even more powerful as before in melee and single class mages (who aren't suppose to be tanks) could use it with Tenser, which is a six level spell, or during Time Stop.

I tend to use Arie as a tank mage if I only have one tank; but this is mostly because there are some really bastardly things that can be done with the combination of mage and priest magic.

Time Stop+Harm comes to mind.

[Demivrgvs]

Elven Court Bow +3 ---> moved at page 7

Combat Abilities (once per day) :

Arrow of Dispelling

Arrow of Detonation (6D6, save vs. breath half)

 

Flame of the North +2 ---> moved at page 7

Special Abilities (once per day) :

Fireshield Blue (1 turn)

Equipped Abilities:

Fire Resistance: +25% bonus

Combat Abilities:

THACO: +2

Damage: 2D6 + 2, +1D6 cold damage

Damage type: slashing

Speed Factor: 8

Proficiency Type: Two-Handed Sword

 

Flame Tongue +3 ---> ---> moved at page 113

Combat Abilities:

Magical Fire: +6 damage vs. regenerating creatures, cold creatures & undeads

Burst of Flame: 10% chance of dealing extra 1d10 fire damage ---> chance of setting the target on fire?

THACO: +1 bonus

Damage: 1D8 + 1, +1D6 fire damage

Damage type: slashing

Speed Factor: 4

Proficiency Type: Long Sword

[BigRob]

The Elven Court Bow has improved considerably in power, especially with the addition of the Arrow of Detonation ability. I do like the Arrow of Dispelling though, it fits much more with the elven culture. Perhaps the Detonation arrow could be replaced by something like Entangle on hit 3x per day?

[Demivrgvs]

I've made the Elven bow with the Arcane Archer class in mind...and i tought arrows imbued with fireballs was a classic for them but as you say Arrow of Dispelling could fit even more. Anyway the bow has only one Arrow of Detonation per day so it shouldn't be unbalanced but i'll think about your suggestion. NOTE: I've made the arrows selectable only by right-clicking on the weapon slot as they're in a fourth ammunition slot. This way you can't create them in the inventory and use another bow for firing them. Should i make it so that when created they're fired on next attack (as melf minute meteors or touch spells do)?

 

I had more doubts about the Flame Tongue...the original ability +2 vs. regen & +3 vs. cold creatures don't convince me (and/or it has to be fixed cause it doesn't count trolls, ice troll and salamander). Furthmore because of how this special ability is implemented the sword is considered of +4 enchantment (due to the +4 vs. undead)! I think that the fire damage i've added is a must, it was odd that the original sword didn't deal fire damage at all but what about making the 10% extra damage work as delayed damage caused by the target being on fire? NOTE: I've been allowed to use Erephine's new Flaming Sword animation and it's truly wonderful.

[rich0203]

I was looking through the items in the BGII list last night and discovered that the claw of Karzogh(sp?) and the horn(necklace) of Karzogh are both listed, but not in the game. I've always liked them alot. Mostly because they make me think of an evil artifact, but they also seemed quite cool. Maybe you could tweak them a bit, and assign them a shop/monster.

[Demivrgvs]

Having in mind the Tempest prestige class i've tought of changing Belm and Rashad's Talon so that they became a pair of scimitar wielded by the same powerful Tempest adventurer. This way Belm's apr bonus shouldn't be exploited too much and is given to an underepresented class while the previously anonymous Rashad's Talon become something more than a mere scimitar +2. The most important thing i've to ask is if anyone is against the possibility of changing item's names to something more appropriate when needed.

 

Valiant +2 ---> moved to page 11

Equipped Ability:

Extra Attack per Round

THACO: +2

Damage: 1D8 + 2

Usable by:

Ranger ---> what do you think? (maybe by monk too?)

 

Rashad's Talon +2 ---> moved to page 11

Combat Abilities:

Bleeding Damage: 1hp/round for 1 turn

THACO: +2

Damage: 1D8 + 2

 

Everwatching +5 ---> it replaces the Night's Gift +5

Equipped Abilities:

Dexterity Bonus: 1

Save vs. Breath Bonus: 2

Armor Class: 3

Usable by:

Anyone

 

Cloak of Displacement ---> Do you think Blur (3 times per day) would be better?

Equipped Abilities:

Armor Class Bonus: 2 (+4 vs. missiles) ---> it's more powerful now but i've made it much more expensive

Save vs. Breath & Wands Bonus: 2 ---> Save vs. death & spell bonus didn't make sense in my opinion

 

I was looking through the items in the BGII list last night and discovered that the claw of Karzogh(sp?) and the horn(necklace) of Karzogh are both listed, but not in the game. I've always liked them alot. Mostly because they make me think of an evil artifact, but they also seemed quite cool. Maybe you could tweak them a bit, and assign them a shop/monster.

It's not a priority but i'll do something about it eventually...assigning items to more appropriate shops/monsters is something i would do too but only when all the other editing will be finished.

[rich0203]

Changing names for me wouldn't be a problem. It's the abilities I like. Giving the items new-ish abilities will make the game different to play through. Some enemies may be harder or play different than before and that is always nice. On changing the cloak of displacement, I'd have to say no. The reason I like it is because I don't have to waste a round of combat casting blur(a weak, almost useless spell). Changing it to a cast/day item would make it worse than all the cloak/rings/amulets of +1/+2 which it shouldn't.

[Demivrgvs]

I've been very busy with real life problems...anyway i'm still doing some modding and testing the wonderful SCS II mod.

 

Helm of Resilience ---> it replaces Helm of Balduran

Equipped Abilities:

Regeneration: 2hp/turn

Tireless: wearer doesn't need to rest

Immunity to sleep & unconsciousness

Armor Class Bonus: 1

Protects Against Critical Hits

 

Nature's Vengeance ---> it replaces Cloak of the Stars

Equipped Abilities:

Inflicts 5 points of electrical damage to whoever succesfully hit the wearer

[yarpen]

Have you got any .itm files done?

[Demivrgvs]

All items that are listed in this thread and many more, their descriptions and some new extended background stories are already finished and implemented with an .exe in my game.

For now they're implemented overwriting old ones...not really a problem since i don't think any incompatibility issues can be found if installed at the right time.

[Demivrgvs]

Having found that casting failure effect ignore stoneskin protection i've decided that miscast magic on hit is more appropriate to Valygar character (spell failure doesn't affect divine casters) than a poisoned weapon (bleeding damage don't apply to stoneskinned mages while spell disruption does!). And a keen weapon can really improves his ability to deal tremendous backstabbing damage as well as helping him in any battle. The save vs. spell bonus fits the prestige class that Valygar reminds me the most, the Occult Slayer. What do you think?

Corthala Family Blade +2

Equipped Abilities:

Saving throws: +2 bonus vs. spell

Combat Abilities:

Spell Disruption: each hit causes +20% cumulative chance of spell failure (1 turn)

THACO: +2 bonus

Damage: 1D10 + 2

Damage Type: slashing

Speed Factor: 5

Proficiency Type: Katana/Wakizashi

Usable by:

Valygar