New Restrictions to BG1 and BG2 Items

[Miloch]

Or even you have felt that it should never be seen worn by a female or a male.

If you've found a way to do this without resorting to baldur.bcs hackery, I'd like to hear about it.

[Salk]

Or even you have felt that it should never be seen worn by a female or a male.

If you've found a way to do this without resorting to baldur.bcs hackery, I'd like to hear about it.

 

Sorry Miloch, I was just trying to depict possible scenarios.

 

I don't have the know-how to coding anything at all.

[Salk]

Perhaps Ravager should be restricted to non-good characters. Honestly, a paladin wielding something named "Ravager"?!

 

Hello!

 

I would think that restrictions based only on the name of the item cannot be vouched.

 

There must be logical reasons like specific hints in the description and/or historical backgrounds making an item unfit to some race or alignment.

[Guest Guest]

One problem with this direction is that it looks like you'll effectively nerf the short races, and they're pretty bad already. It would be another thing entirely if you added in small-sized weapons with perks of their own that can't be used by taller races. Or we could just say it won't matter because nobody ever plays a halfling anyway...

 

Elven chain is supposed to be about as bulky as thick cloth. There's no reason why shorter races couldn't use it. Rolling up the sleeves and possibly shortening it if necessary could easily be done and secured with some wire or even string. It's the last type of armour that should be restricted by size, since literally everything else is more difficult to adjust.

 

Cloak of Bravery: I'd rather change the description - crafting it might be evil, but using it now that it already exists shouldn't be. The effect isn't evil either. If "revised hell trials" is installed (it's a must-have for me), obtaining it doesn't necessarily mean the PC is evil (but probably non-good). If you do restrict usage, it should be to N and E, not just E.

 

On that subject, Blackrazor would probably be quite happy to be wielded by a good character but try to corrupt them, not sure how that could be represented in BG. Most good characters wouldn't want to use it though.

 

Azuredge doesn't have to be restricted to good characters, plenty of neutrals hate undead as well and nothing in the description justifies the restriction. (Or really any alignment restriction, really.)

 

Spectral brand, going by description, should probably not be used by good characters ("...the souls of those who fall beneath this dark blade are forever enslaved...").

 

Daystar does extra damage to evil creatures, so may not be appropriate for use by them.

 

 

One could argue that since poison is considered "non-good" in D&D, any weapon that causes poison or "poison damage" should be barred for good characters. Gram and the FoA+5 are two powerful examples, as well as some arrows/bolts and throwing knives. Of course, that would not be a popular thing to do.

[Salk]

Hello, Guest!

(may I kindly suggest you to register at G3 or use a less generic name?)

 

You make many valid points (and I agree practically with all of them with the exception of the Cloak of Bravery: wearing such an item knowing its origin should be acceptable only for evil-aligned characters) .

 

Truly your concerns have always been mine as well.

 

The race restrictions might hit hard on shorter creatures but I will make sure that it won't be the case simply because I share your own vision on this.

 

That's why I would welcome suggestion for equipment that should only fit shorter races.

 

Myself have not played the game for a long time (and BG2 only one time in my life) so I fear my own input is very limited but if you have any more ideas please feel free to expand your already interesting list above with more advices.

 

Demivrgvs will surely keep an eye open on this thread so keep them coming!

 

Thanks!

[Demivrgvs]

Ravager

Perhaps Ravager should be restricted to non-good characters. Honestly, a paladin wielding something named "Ravager"?!

I would think that restrictions based only on the name of the item cannot be vouched.

Yeah, the Paladin is really a difficult class to implement in a PC game. He shouldn't be able to wield pratically any item which is even slightly evil, and he should avoid any weapon that use poison effects too.

Vanilla's Ravager had a very poor background, but IR's one makes Ravager a likely canditate for not being usable by good-characters. Anyway I think restricting it only to paladins would be better or players may complain about losing the most powerful halberd in the game.

 

"The guards upon the walls of the evil fortress, Darkhold carry halberds of ancient, demonic creation. The halberds were purchased from the forges of hell in trade for the souls of captured heroes, so each halberd is a valued possession. Those who wield these weapons outside the walls of Darkhold do so at their own peril, for the master of the hold is said to be linked to each one. Only taking the blood-soaked shaft of this weapon in hand brings a sudden chill along the spine and the very sight of this cursed halberd has been known to strike terror into the heart of an opponent."

 

Blackrazor

On that subject, Blackrazor would probably be quite happy to be wielded by a good character but try to corrupt them, not sure how that could be represented in BG. Most good characters wouldn't want to use it though.

I agree. Some goes for Soul Reaver. I was thinking of doing something about it in the future. For example when used to strike a foe there can be a X% change the wielder must save vs. spell or become evil.

 

Cloak of Bravery

Cloak of Bravery: I'd rather change the description - crafting it might be evil, but using it now that it already exists shouldn't be. The effect isn't evil either. If "revised hell trials" is installed (it's a must-have for me), obtaining it doesn't necessarily mean the PC is evil (but probably non-good). If you do restrict usage, it should be to N and E, not just E.

Restricting it to only Evil is mandatory when using Revised Hell Trials exactly because Neutral characters can still obtain it. Furthmore I agree with Salk, the effect isn't evil "per se" but a good character won't wear it anyway knowing its origin imo.

 

Azuredge

Azuredge doesn't have to be restricted to good characters, plenty of neutrals hate undead as well and nothing in the description justifies the restriction. (Or really any alignment restriction, really.)

IR's Azuredge doesn't have any alignment restriction.

 

Spectral Brand

Spectral brand, going by description, should probably not be used by good characters ("...the souls of those who fall beneath this dark blade are forever enslaved...").

Again, restricting the only truly powerful scimitar in the game probably won't be welcomed by players. Paladins probably wouldn't use it anyway, but restricting them from using it seems logical.

 

Daystar

Daystar does extra damage to evil creatures, so may not be appropriate for use by them.

You're right, it shouldn't be usable by them.

 

The race restrictions might hit hard on shorter creatures but I will make sure that it won't be the case simply because I share your own vision on this.

That's why I would welcome suggestion for equipment that should only fit shorter races.

I second it too.

One could argue that since poison is considered "non-good" in D&D, any weapon that causes poison or "poison damage" should be barred for good characters.

I disagree, though paladins surely shouldn't be able to use poisons.

Demivrgvs will surely keep an eye open on this thread so keep them coming!

Indeed I do.

[Amgot]

For game balance reasons, I suggest that instead of equipment only fitting one race (elves, halflings, ...) or one group of races (short races, elves and half-elves, ...), some equipment be slightly more powerful when used by a certain race or group of races.

 

For example:

 

All slings (magical and non-magical ones) should give halflings wielders a + 1 THACO bonus.

All axes should give dwarves wielders a + 1 THACO bonus.

All Elven armors should give a - 1 AC bonus to elves and half-elves (or possibly a - 2 bonus to elves and only a - 1 bonus to half-elves).

 

Of course, there are exceptions as a few pieces of equipment should be strictly restricted to one race.

 

And I'm all for stricter race/class/alignment/gender restrictions.

[Salk]

Your approach is very interesting.

 

I am not sure though that a more radical approach (read: restrictions) would automatically shift the game balance in an impredictable manner.

 

It's more a matter of how to keep races and alignments on a safe scale.

[Amgot]

I agree. But maybe what I suggested is out of the scope of this mod after all.

 

On one hand, a distinct "Implement additional equipment racial bonuses" mod should do this. For now, the only equipment racial bonus I can think of in the vanilla game if for elves when using bows and longswords.

 

OTOH, if it is used as a component of the mod you suggest, it would actually make the game slightly easier, while more race/class/alignment restrictions on items would make it slightly harder.

 

The bottom line would be more restrictive equipment requirements and greater incentives to use weapons traditionally used by your race.

[Demivrgvs]

The bottom line would be more restrictive equipment requirements and greater incentives to use weapons traditionally used by your race.

That's exactly my line of thinking.

[Salk]

The bottom line would be more restrictive equipment requirements and greater incentives to use weapons traditionally used by your race.

That's exactly my line of thinking.

 

And guess what?

 

Mine as well!

[Icendoan]

About the size issue. Halflings can use 6' longbows?

 

Icen

[Miloch]

About the size issue. Halflings can use 6' longbows?

Yeah, that's a bit silly isn't it. Same goes for two-handed swords which average 6' or so. Spears I can see, since they're just thrusting weapons. Maybe halberds, though that's pushing it a bit.

 

To balance this, someone should implement a full set of halfling-only equipment (as discussed here).

[Demivrgvs]

About the size issue. Halflings can use 6' longbows?

Yeah, that's a bit silly isn't it. Same goes for two-handed swords which average 6' or so. Spears I can see, since they're just thrusting weapons. Maybe halberds, though that's pushing it a bit.

Yeah, I should implement those restrictions, though they have to be optionals because they are truly restrictive!

 

To balance this, someone should implement a full set of halfling-only equipment (as discussed here).

I thinkit's beyond Item Revisions scope, but indeed I'd like to see more NPCs, items, and maybe even a kit dedicated to the short races!

[Icendoan]

That would be fairly easy to implement, with copy_existing_regexp and patch_if with a nice patching thing to make completely new sets of everything and then some (all 32 bits) LONG binary modding.

 

Sure, it's possible.

 

Icen