Familiar Revision

[Demivrgvs]

For example I'm still pondering if ...

The ability to cast spells at will with Aid is like giving permanent healing ability, "who needs a cleric anymore I have a Lantern Archon", and can you even make auras effects that actually work?

Both Aid at will and permanent Protection from Evil 10' feet are too powerful imo, while having them as 'x' times per day spells would be imo much more balanced.

 

Regarding the auras, as long as a creature doesn't have another ongoing "repeating effect" I can implement a single aura effect. I can't implement more than one aura on the same creature, and an aura-like effect prevents regeneration opcode from working (or the latter prevents the aura in case the regeneration frequency is higher). Lantern Archon already have a repeating effect, its visual effect which allows it to effectively emanate light. My solution would probably be to have Aura of Menace work as vanilla's Demon Fear ability (via script), and Protection from Evil aura work as a normal spell as aforementioned.

 

I like the character class-ed familiar approach. But the problem her is also that the hit points etc will probably make each familiar level up thing really hard to code.

Actually if it was only a matter of thac0, hit points, and saves the lvl ups would be easy to code. I'm still not sure how easy to code is having them gain memorized spells instead of innates, but I'll probably have to find it out soon.

 

The issue I'm currently facing is that in the following code:

IF
LevelGT(Player1,5)
Global("DVFAMLVL6","GLOBAL",0)
THEN
RESPONSE #100
	DestroyItem("dvfamlg0") // non-magical attack
	[color="#ff0000"]CreateItem("dvfamlg1",0,0,0)[/color] // +1 enchanted attack
	FillSlot(SLOT_WEAPON)
	SetGlobal("DVFAMLVL6","GLOBAL",1)
	DisplayString(Myself,17119) // Level Up
END

CreateItem doesn't seem to work.

[DavidW]

CreateItem doesn't seem to work.

 

I get more reliable results with GiveItemCreate("item",Myself,0,0,0)

[Salk]

Demi,

 

any success working around the problem with DavidW's suggestion?

[Demivrgvs]

Demi,

 

any success working around the problem with DavidW's suggestion?

I'm finally going to work on it tomorrow, but I've already tested DavidW's suggestion and it gives some issues as well.

 

It does create the new weapon, while the previous command already failed at that...but something strange happens anyway. The weapon is created on the second weapon slot, while the first slot remains filled with an unused and unselectable weapon, either the old one which isn't correctly destroyed (not likely imo as the DestroyItem command seemed to work flawlessly) or the newly created one.

[Demivrgvs]

Few more tests and no good news:

 

- DestroyItem apparently doesn't work well on its own, as I've found out the destroyed weapon remains there and fill the slot without being selectable

- GiveItemCreate even if followed by FillSlot isn't able to "override" the old weapon

 

What the hell...

 

Another possible solution would be to do it via spell instead of "quickly" via scripts, but this would mean having 3 more .spl files for each familiar.

[Salk]

Another possible solution would be to do it via spell instead of "quickly" via scripts, but this would mean having 3 more .spl files for each familiar.

 

Would that be so bad?

[Demivrgvs]

Another possible solution would be to do it via spell instead of "quickly" via scripts, but this would mean having 3 more .spl files for each familiar.

Would that be so bad?

Well, in theory I think filling the override with tons of files isn't good, though I'm not sure if the reduced performances depends only on the size of the folder and not on the number of files it contains. If I don't manage to make it work via scripts today I'll try the .spl route, as I don't want to be stuck on this stage anymore.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Well, in theory I think filling the override with tons of files isn't good, though I'm not sure if the reduced performances depends only on the size of the folder and not on the number of files it contains. If I don't manage to make it work via scripts today I'll try the .spl route, as I don't want to be stuck on this stage anymore.

Arrhh, you should see the BG2fixpack... but it's easy to get rid of the lag caused by the 10000+ files when you .bif the override folder. At least with enough RAM(32MB ).

And by the way, I remember it not being depending on how many files there were, but more on the format... especially on the sound department... so one really needs to biff the sound files.

[Demivrgvs]

Damn...even via .spl file Remove Item (112) works but Create Item in Slot (143) don't!

 

I can't believe it, there must be something wrong...

[Salk]

 

I guess it wouldn't help to check how Rabain coded his own revision of this spell?

 

aVenger, Taimon, Galactygon?

 

If you are there, I am sure Demi would appreciate your suggestions!

[Demivrgvs]

I guess it wouldn't help to check how Rabain coded his own revision of this spell?

He didn't do anything on this matter, as it seems Rabain's familiars use the same "weapon" at any level (flagged as non-magical).

[Salk]

I guess it wouldn't help to check how Rabain coded his own revision of this spell?

He didn't do anything on this matter, as it seems Rabain's familiars use the same "weapon" at any level (flagged as non-magical).

 

This is a serious problem because I think that the Familiar's "weapon" improving at some levels is a rather important feature for the new spell.

 

If it will be impossible to do it, I guess we can use the PnP values.

 

The Lantern Archons use a ranged attack ("They are capable of shooting Out rays of light that inflict 1-6 points of damage on a successful hit. They may fire two such rays per round out to 30 feet and ignore any range modifiers. This is their only attack form and they will use it against evil intruders and to defend themselves.") which doesn't improve with the level and shouldn't be hard to implement.

[Demivrgvs]

I guess it wouldn't help to check how Rabain coded his own revision of this spell?

He didn't do anything on this matter, as it seems Rabain's familiars use the same "weapon" at any level (flagged as non-magical).

This is a serious problem because I think that the Familiar's "weapon" improving at some levels is a rather important feature for the new spell.

It's indeed something that should be done imo.

 

If it will be impossible to do it, I guess we can use the PnP values.

 

The Lantern Archons use a ranged attack ("They are capable of shooting Out rays of light that inflict 1-6 points of damage on a successful hit. They may fire two such rays per round out to 30 feet and ignore any range modifiers. This is their only attack form and they will use it against evil intruders and to defend themselves.") which doesn't improve with the level and shouldn't be hard to implement.

The base Lantern Archon creature and its "ray of light" attack is already working, after testing a few animations I've decided to use beholder's "ray" animation for the attack.

 

If we really can't implement an upgradeable "attack" I'd say we have at least to make it +1 enchanted instead of non-enchanted, am I wrong?

[Guest Guest]

Don't you lose 1 CON if your familiar dies? If so, why would you want it to attack and risk dying?*

 

* Please note: Newbie who hasn't read the whole thread, so doesn't know if this has already been discussed.

[Salk]

Don't you lose 1 CON if your familiar dies? If so, why would you want it to attack and risk dying?*

 

* Please note: Newbie who hasn't read the whole thread, so doesn't know if this has already been discussed.

 

Yes, as for P&P you permanently lose 1 point of Constitution if your familiar dies.

 

One user here (jarno) said that "Lesser Restoration" restores the lost point though.

 

But this is a bug because it should not have that effect.

 

On the other hand, I do believe that the loss of 1 point of Constitution should be somehow restored. My suggested idea was to make the loss of Constitution last untill a new Familiar is called upon. Ideally a certain number of days should pass before you are allowed to cast "Find Familiar" again.

 

This solution would make the loss of the familiar less dramatical but still a rather unpleasant matter.

 

I hope that Demi can accept and implement this suggestion.