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Any changes to wisdom?


Qwinn

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I'm just curious if anything has been done regarding wisdom in any of the various fix/tweak/UB mods out there. I know that the original manual said that you got save bonuses for high wisdom, but the errata said that it was never implemented.

 

Mainly wondering because all my research is showing that wisdom is completely useless for almost all characters, even getting up to a godlike 23 wisdom (possible if you play from BG1 on).

 

Here's the only things I know of that wisdom does:

 

1) Bonus spells if you are a cleric or druid. NO effect for paladins or rangers.

2) Helps mages with some extra options for wish and limited wish spells. 13 wisdom is sufficient to get all but two options, 14 and 16 for the last two.

3) Adds a conversation choice to a single conversation with an NPC in the Sahuagin city, and you can have your higher-wisdom NPC's have that conversation for you.

 

That's... it.

 

That's pretty sad. I thought I'd at least get bonus paladin spells for higher wisdom, but not even that. It's much better to have wisdom for a mage or sorcerer than a paladin or ranger, that's just... so wrong...

 

At this point, since I'm having to SK my paladin and shift a point from wisdom to intelligence (to meet a romance mod requirement), I'm seriously considering shifting like 8 points instead... at least that would help with mind flayer fights... sheesh...

 

Has there been any thought given or work done in any mods to make wisdom less useless, especially for paladins and rangers?

 

What I would -like- to see:

 

A) Saving throw bonuses against mind affecting spells as specified in the BG2 manual that weren't implemented.

B) Bonus spells to paladins and rangers, at least if they get them in 2nd ed. PnP, not sure if they do.

C) Bonuses from godlike wisdom scores that I'm sure I read about... something like immunity to charm at natural 22 or 23 wisdom or something like that (which -is- possible if you start with an 18 wisdom in BG1 and get every book and Lum the Mad's machine). Anyways, whatever PnP says to do when you have that godlike wisdom, IMO if you spent that many precious points into a mostly useless stat and get it to godlike levels you deserve something nice for it. And hey, you do get nice stuff for super high constitution (regeneration), etc.

 

Any of these ever get done, or ever planned?

 

Qwinn

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Oops, you're right, I forgot about the lore bonus, hehe.

 

Of course, intelligence gives you a lore bonus too... so if you've got extra points and are deciding whether to give intelligence or wisdom to your fighter/paladin/ranger/barbarian, intelligence still always wins.

 

So......... is no one else annoyed by the uselessness of it? Heh.

 

Qwinn

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B) Bonus spells to paladins and rangers, at least if they get them in 2nd ed. PnP, not sure if they do.

 

Actually, the PnP rules are pretty explicit in this case, and clearly state that Paladins and Rangers should not get any bonus spells on account of a high Wisdom score:

 

A ranger can learn priest spells, but only those of the plant or animal spheres (see "Priest" later in this chapter), when he reaches 8th level (see Table 18). He gains and uses his spells according to the rules given for priests. He does not gain bonus spells for a high Wisdom score, nor is he ever able to use priest scrolls or magical items unless specially noted otherwise.

 

A paladin can cast priest spells once he reaches 9th level. He can cast only spells of the combat, divination, healing, and protective spheres. (Spheres are explained in the Priest section.) The acquisition and casting of these spells abide by the rules given for priests. The spell progression and casting level are listed in Table 17. Unlike a priest, the paladin does not gain extra spells for a high Wisdom score. The paladin cannot cast spells from clerical or druidical scrolls nor can he use priest items unless they are allowed to the warrior group.

 

So, in the end, Bioware got that little detail right. However, not implementing the saving throw adjustment and enchantment spell immunities (for 19+ Wisdom) was pretty lame.

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Interesting, and ok, I retract that one from my wish list then. Still though, gotta wonder, I always thought wisdom was considered an important attribute for both those classes, is there no way (in PnP) that those classes actually -get- any benefit from wisdom that any other class wouldn't? Just seems weird if so, but I guess that goes in the "good thing there was a 3rd edition" column :)

 

Qwinn

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As I recall, the mind-affecting spell save bonus was the main reason to want a higher wisdom vs. intelligence if you were a fighter, a thief or the like (edit: in 2e PnP, that is).

 

I'm wondering how one would implement such a thing though, short of hacking the .exe file.

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