Spell Revisions Mod

[Fyorl]

I would imagine it's lost forever. Never liked it anyway. The summons had pathetic AC, were long and got in the way and their only benefit was the ability to hold the opponent. Summon Shadow seems like a much better alternative.

[Rabain]

I always thought that spell had great RP value. You lay waste your enemies in a field in Amn somewhere...then just before you walk away *Casts Carrion Summons*...doing your bit for the Faerunian environment...you know it's right.

[Fyorl]

I'm not sure which is preferable, rotting corpses or freakish carrion crawlers. >_<

[Demivrgvs]

If the spell itself is replaced what happens to Summon Carrion...lost forever?

Wow, i didn't expected that someone in the universe ever used this spell...seriously it pales in comparison to any other level 6 summon! But if you really prefer a Carrion instead of one or two Shadows than you can just skip the installation of said spell (customization will be easy to do).

 

One of the few important things i've yet to implement is a complete revamp of the Monster/Animal Summoning spells and i'll be glad to hear suggestions about which creature(s) should be summoned with each spell. Furthmore...do you prefer one type of creature per spell (so that you'll always know what you're summoning) or more random creatures?

[Fyorl]

I'd like to make them similar to the Find Familiar spell in that you summon the same monster each time but which monster it is is determined by the summoner's alignment. I have no idea if that would be possible but that would be the best option for me.

[Icendoan]

Could you use a set amount of summons for each spell but, as you gained levels, the summons would improve. This would aim to make the Monster Summoning III as powerful as the also level 5 spell Animate Dead. As this idea is unfinished, all spells will summon the same at the same level.

 

What I mean (if I hadn't made myself entirely clear) is:

 

Monster Summoning I - Summons 4 Creatures

Monster Summoning II - Summons 5 Creatures

Monster Summoning III - Summons 6 Creatures

 

Lvl 1 - 8 ~ summon like wolves (fodder ftw! Perfect for low BGI levels)

 

lvl 9 - 15 ~ summon like the said carrion crawler (something good but inhibited)

 

Lvl 16 - 25 ~ summon those lovely swarming Gnolls. (although this is a good section of ToB, Gnolls beat Ascension as a solo mage for me, as they summon always 6 at a time and hit with +2 iirc halberds, they create a damaging wall of fodder, allowing me to get my timestop off. Allowing me to beat up mel. )

 

lvl 16+ ~ summon like a troll or a golem (something fairly powerful)

 

Feel free to alter the summons for individual spells.

[Demivrgvs]

Today i've done the Animal Summoning spells finally...actually AS III makes Conjure Animals pointless so i've disabled the latter for now.

- Animal Summoning I summons 1 - 5 Dire Wolves (1 at lvl 7th plus one every 2 levels above the 7th)

- Animal Summoning II summons 1 - 3 Dire Leopards (1 at lvl 9th plus one every 3 levels above the 9th)

- Animal Summoning III summons 1 - 2 Dire Bears (1 at lvl 11th plus another one at lvl 15th)

 

Dire Wolf (4 Hit Dice):

STR 17, DEX 15, CON 17, INT 6, WIS 12, CHA 10; AL Neutral

HP 46, AC +6, THACO +15, Saving Throws 13/15/14/16/16

1 Attack per Round, 1d6+2 Piercing Damage (Bite +1)

 

Dire Leopard (8 Hit Dice):

STR 19, DEX 15, CON 17, INT 6, WIS 12, CHA 10; AL Neutral

HP 88, AC +5, THACO +10, Saving Throws 10/12/11/12/13

1 Attack per Round, 1d8+8 Piercing Damage (Claws & Bite +1)

 

Dire Bear (12 Hit Dice):

STR 21, DEX 13, CON 19, INT 6, WIS 12, CHA 10; AL Neutral

HP 146, AC +3, THACO +5, Saving Throws 7/9/8/8/10

2 Attacks per Round, 2d4+11 Crushing Damage (Claws & Bite +1)

 

I'd like to make them similar to the Find Familiar spell in that you summon the same monster each time but which monster it is is determined by the summoner's alignment.

I like the idea of Monster Summoning creatures being determined by the caster's alignment (good, neutral & evil without taking into account lawful & chaotic should be enough i suppose) and i think i'll do it in the future. The real problem is finding 3 creatures per spell of the same power (making the three elementals different but at the same time equally strong hasn't been easy).

[Fyorl]

Yeah, the way you've got it working now seems fine. It'll just add a little more RP value if you could spawn different creatures dependent on alignment.

 

If it's too difficult to find different creatures you can always balance them by taking an existing creature and modifying its stats. Kind of takes it past a spell revision mod since you're adding custom creatures too but since it's all WeiDU, you could make it an optional component (Alignment-tailored spells).

[Demivrgvs]

Kind of takes it past a spell revision mod since you're adding custom creatures

Actually to tweak a spell which summon a creature i have to add a custom creature or modify an existing one. I usually prefer the latter but when adding a new one seems a better solution i just do it. Furthmore i'll be more than willingly to have someone help me coding some scripts to enhance creatures i'll surely tweak in the future: nymph (she will be a lvl 7 druid with a matching spell selection, djinni /efreeti (better spell selection) and demons.

 

For example i've changed all the elemental summons as follow taking the liberty to add them some special qualities, reduce the weapon immunity (which could previously be exploited) and differentiate their melee abilities. Conjure Lesser Elemental will still summon an 8HD elemental while Conjure Elemental will summon a 12HD elemental till level 14. At level 15th the 6th level spell will summon 16HD elementals. I've removed the previously 60% 12HD, 40% 16HD in favor of this solution: this way you exactly know which one you're summoning and the summon is appropriate to the caster level. Druids can now summon air and earth elementals too.

 

Air Elemental (12 Hit Dice) :

STR 16, DEX 21, CON 17, INT 6, WIS 11, CHA 11; AL Neutral

HP 126, AC -1, THACO +5, Saving Throws 7/9/8/8/10

2 Attacks per Round, 2d8+4 Piercing Damage (Fist +3)

Slashing, Crushing & Piercing Resistance 25% ; Missile Resistance 75%

 

Earth Elemental (12 Hit Dice) :

STR 21, DEX 8, CON 19, INT 6, WIS 11, CHA 11; AL Neutral

HP 146, AC 3, THACO +5, Saving Throws 7/9/8/8/10

2 Attacks per Round, 2d8+12 Crushing Damage (Fist +3)

Slashing, Piercing & Missile Resistance 50%

 

Fire Elemental (12 Hit Dice) :

STR 16, DEX 17, CON 17, INT 6, WIS 11, CHA 11; AL Neutral

HP 126, AC 1, THACO +7, Saving Throws 7/9/8/8/10

2 Attacks per Round, 2d8+4 Slashing +2d8 Fire Damage (Fist +3)

Fire Resistance 100%

Slashing, Crushing, Piercing & Missile Resistance 25%

 

Special Qualities (all elementals):

Immune to Normal Weapons

Immune to poison, sleep, hold & stun effects

[Fyorl]

Well I've already got custom Cleric/Druid and Sorcerer scripts that incorporate spell casting logic for all of the 'good' spells around (although with this mod I need to change a lot of stuff now) so I don't mind helping out with making the Nymph, Djinni and Demon castings more intelligent.

[Demivrgvs]

Progress Report:

 

1)I've removed unfriendly effects from Prismatic Spray (Flesh to Stone & Disintegrate), pratically all effects are revised and they now have different saving throws:

Red - 20 points of fire damage (save vs. breath half) ---> previoulsy magic damage

Orange - 40 points of acid damage (save vs. breath half) ---> previoulsy magic damage

Yellow - 80 points of electrical damage (save vs. breath half) ---> previoulsy magic damage

Green - Death (save vs. poison reduces to 20 poison damage)

Blue - Permanently stunned (save vs. polymorph neg.) ---> previously Flesh to Stone

Indigo - Feeblemind (save vs. wands neg.)

Violet - Maze (save vs. spell neg.) ---> previously Disintegrate

 

2)Flame Blade and Phantom Blade now act slightly different from before:

- being evocation spells they are made of pure flame/magic energy therefore they don't inflict physical damage at all, instead they deal 1d8 +1/level fire damage and 1d12+4 macic damage respectively

- being both immaterial attacks with them are considered melee touch (+4 bonus to THAC0)

- instead of not having a proficiency they are now treated as scimitar and long sword respectively, the caster will became proficient (+) if he isn't yet but can benefit from any proficiency points he may have

 

3)Symbols of Death/Fear were commonly considered weaker than Symbol of Stun. Symbol of Death only afflicts creatures with less than 60 hit points and most of the nastier foes are immune to fear, furthmore Symbol of Death unlike the other two didn't benefit from a -4 penalty to its save. Trying to rectify this they all now share the same -6 penalty to save and i've replaced Symbol of Fear with Symbol of Weakness which inflict a permanent -4 to Str, Dex & Con (effects are removable with a cure disease )

 

4)Grease has been slightly improved too:

- it now reduces movements to 1 without save

- area of effect is reduced to 10' radius

- those who fail the save falls to the ground for 1 round (unfortunately unconsciousness and sleep are the same effect in this game)

 

5)No-detection was previously broken imo (Detect Illusion and True Seeing dispelled it even if it wasnt' an illusion spell):

- last for 8 hours, recipient is completely immune to spells that detect invisible creatures without destroying illusonary protections too (like Detect Invisibility and Invisibility Purge)

- recipient now have some sort of protection from True Seeing. Invisibility by magical means is still dispelled by True Seeing but non-detection itself won't, thus character using hide in shadow skill can still benefit from the spell

 

so I don't mind helping out with making the Nymph, Djinni and Demon castings more intelligent.

It's something i would do myself but i don't have much time...i can send you the .CREs if you wish, but i've not touched them till now...maybe one of these days.

[Fyorl]

So glyph of warding is party-friendly now, does that mean symbol stun/death/weakness are too? Or were they always party-friendly? What about skull-trap and ice storm? I don't think I included any of those in my AI scripts as I was afraid my mages would nuke all my party members (and possibly themselves) without thinking about it. Now I think about it, I could just do range checks on the target to check for no nearby innocents/good-guys. Making them party-friendly would mean they get used more often though. A good balance on the fact that skull trap's damage has now been reduced.

 

It's something i would do myself but i don't have much time...i can send you the .CREs if you wish, but i've not touched them till now...maybe one of these days.

CREs won't be necessary, just a list of spells really.

[Demivrgvs]

So glyph of warding is party-friendly now, does that mean symbol stun/death/weakness are too? Or were they always party-friendly? What about skull-trap and ice storm?

Symbols always used to be party-friendly. Skull Trap and Ice Storm are still un-friendly.

Making them party-friendly would mean they get used more often though. A good balance on the fact that skull trap's damage has now been reduced.

I'm afraid i can't make a spell party-friendly only to be used more often. Skull Trap damage (20d4) has been reduced but it's still very high for a level 3 spell. Just compare it with other 3rd lvl spells: Fireball (10d6 un-friendly), Glyph of Warding (10d4 friendly, but it deals half as much damage). The vanilla one was really outstanding with its 20d6, considering that Flame Arrow, the most damaging level 3 spell, inflicts the same damage but at a single target!

CREs won't be necessary, just a list of spells really.

Well...you asked for it!

 

Djinni (9 Hit Dice) : ---> fighter 8 / mage 9

STR 17, DEX 19, CON 15, INT 14, WIS 14, CHA 15; AL Chaotic-Good

HP 70, AC 1, THACO +5, Saving Throws 11/8/11/8/11

2 Attacks per Round, 1d8+7 Slashing (Scimitar +2)

Electricity Resistance 100%

Spell Selection:

1° Magic Missiles (x3), Shield

2° Invisibility (x2), Mirror Image

3° Ghost Armor, Haste, Lightning Bolt

4° Minor Globe of Invulnerability, Teleport Field or Emotion

5° Shadow Door

 

Efreeti (9 Hit Dice) : ---> fighter 8 / mage 9

STR 19, DEX 17, CON 16, INT 13, WIS 14, CHA 15; AL Lawful-Evil

HP 80, AC 2, THACO +5, Saving Throws 8/11/8/11/11

2 Attacks per Round, 1d8+13 Slashing (Scimitar +2)

Fire Resistance 100%

Spell Selection:

1° Armor, Magic Missiles (x2), Shield

2° Agannazar Scorcher, Invisibility (x2)

3° Fireball (x2), Flame Arrow

4° Fire Shield (red) (x2)

5° Sunfire

 

The idea is that Djinn are more party-friendly, slightly less tough but more evasive while Efreet don't care about the party and exploiting their fire immunity throw even point-blank fireballs (he can heal himself if a Fire Shield is on), go proudly in melee and before dying unleash a Sunfire. At least that's a first draft. If you want to enjoy yourself making some scripts be sure to have them make good use of their gas form ability!

[Demivrgvs]

Progress Report:

 

1)I've redone the monster summoning spells (for now they only cast evil creatures as vanilla). The creatures spawned are directly taken from the old existing ones and are only slightly improved (they have more hit points and their THAC0 is between 1-3 points better). I've chosen the archers for the lowest level spell because i thought it was the only way to make them at least useful in some situations (i may add them some fire arrows). If you play without the summoning cap (personally i don't for balance purposes) you can actually raise quite an army with these spells now!

 

- Monster Summoning I summons 1 - 5 Hobgoblin (1 at lvl 5th plus one every 2 levels above the 5th)

- Monster Summoning II summons 1 - 4 Gnoll Elite (1 at lvl 7th plus one every 3 levels above the 7th)

- Monster Summoning III summons 1 - 3 Ogre Berserker (1 at lvl 9th one every 4 levels above the 9th)

 

Hobgoblin Archer (3 Hit Dice):

STR 11, DEX 14, CON 13, INT 8, WIS 10, CHA 8; AL Lawful Evil

HP 24, AC +5, THACO +17, Saving Throws 14/16/15/17/17

2 Attacks per Round, 1d6+2 Piercing Damage (Arrows)

 

Gnoll Elite (4 Hit Dice):

STR 16, DEX 14, CON 15, INT 8, WIS 10, CHA 8; AL Chaotic Evil

HP 40, AC +4, THACO +15, Saving Throws 13/15/14/16/16

1 Attack per Round, 1d10+4 Piercing Damage (Halberd +1)

 

Ogre Berserker (5 Hit Dice):

STR 18/00, DEX 9, CON 18, INT 8, WIS 10, CHA 7; AL Chaotic Evil

HP 62, AC +3, THACO +10, Saving Throws 11/13/12/13/14

1 Attack per Round, 1d10+9 Crushing Damage (Morning Star +1)

 

 

2)I've thought about some possible changes and i wish to know what do you think about them:

- Doom: allowing a save vs. spell to avoid penalties?

- Zone of Sweet Air: changed in Gust of Wind which does the same thing and slightly knock opponents away (as per wing buffet but less distant)

- Insect Plague: it's level 3 counterpart applies -2 to thac0 and AC, what about removing the spellcasting failure or the fear effect in favor of this? Spellcasting in the swarm usually fails anyway because of the repeated damage which is unavoidable

- Holy/Unholy Words: what about making them as per 3.5 edition? They always affect creature with less HD than the caster but these will improve as the caster gain levels

[Fyorl]

I don't think adding a save vs. spell for Doom is a good idea as Doom's purpose is to lower saving throws. That's like allowing magic resistance for Lower Resistance.

 

Zone of Sweet Air change seems fine. I only ever memorise one to remove annoying trap effects so I can quick save.

 

Removing the fear effect in favour of the -2 THAC0 and AC seems fine. I personally hate having to run after panicked opponents. If anything, the change will make the spell weaker as fear effectively disables your opponent while -2 THAC0 and AC just debilitates them. I wouldn't remove the spell failure for a number of reasons. Firstly, it's one of the ways of detecting whether an opponent is affected by the spell (for AI scripting purposes) and secondly the spell failure is the prime reason I use this spell. Granted, a lot of the time spells will fail due to constant damage but you'd be surprised how many spellcasters in the game seem to be able to ignore that.

 

Holy and Unholy word changes seem fine.