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Mod ideas for Icewind Dale in Baldur's Gate II


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Lots of room to take characters just to 40th level...
Well, you first have to make the 40th level rules, or even 50th... as if you had looked at the .2da charts, the game currently ends with 30th level, the Lore table is totally shot on the Sorcerer side as he is not even in the table, and so gets the minimum of 1, as do the Barbarian, and the Monk, Mister Monk. Yes, they might be considered bugs, biih. So now they are. And we need a Tweakpack. :)
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Lots of room to take characters just to 40th level...
Well, you first have to make the 40th level rules, or even 50th... as if you had looked at the .2da charts, the game currently ends with 30th level, the Lore table is totally shot on the Sorcerer side as he is not even in the table, and so gets the minimum of 1, as do the Barbarian, and the Monk, Mister Monk.Yes, they might be considered bugs, biih. So now they are.

 

See my response there.

 

 

And we need a Tweakpack. :)

 

Let's wait till we have a stable untweaked version... (Or at least until someone can report a successful playthrough!)

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I'm not so sure that sorcerers with low lore isn't desired behavior. The big attraction of sorcerers is that they don't have to learn things from books. Their magic is an innate power. So, if they don't have to learn everything by reading about it, how would they learn about items? It would be illogical for them to just "know" this stuff.

 

Real life example: I've been using the English language all my life, and I learned grammar mostly by listening to my English-speaking parents and reading books that weren't grammar books. I did not intuitively know what the dative tense of a verb was, and if you told me that a noun might have multiple declensions, I'd have nodded politely while my eyes slowly glazed. No, it wasn't until I tried to learn a foreign language (Old English, ironically enough, but never mind) that I learned the names of things and what they do.

 

Besides, there has to be *some* advantages to being a mage to offset the ability of casting more spells/level and not having to memorize them in advance.

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But there also should be a great disadvantage of being mage - spellbook. Spellbook is a real item, so it can be destroyed etc. And I think that we can interprate it in BG2 as this: when you're a mage in Irenicus dungeon's, you don't have your spells. Or someone there has your spellbok. When you're sorcerer, your spells are innate, so there's no problem with that. :)

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Well, spell memorization is designed around game mechanics versus realism.

 

BGII manual:

 

First, a Mage can only use spells from his spell book. Beginning Mages start with only a few basic spells; over time, they obtain spell scrolls to add to their magical knowledge... A Mage’s mind can comprehend only a certain number of spells. The number of spells he can have in his book is limited by his Intelligence. Ultimately, it is daily spell memorization that is most important. Every day, the Mage must memorize spells from his spellbook. To draw on magical energy, the Mage must shape specific mental patterns in his mind. He uses his spell book to force his mind through mental exercises, preparing it to hold the final twisted patterns. This process is called memorization. Once a Mage memorizes a spell, it remains in his memory (as potential energy) until he uses the prescribed words, motions, and components to trigger the release of the energy. Upon casting, the energy of the spell is spent, wiped clean from the Mage's mind--lost until the Mage studies and memorizes that spell again. The number of spells a Mage can memorize is given by his level; he can memorize the same spell more than once, but each memorization counts as one spell toward his daily memorization limit. Memorization is not a thing that happens immediately. The Mage must have a clear head gained from a restful night's sleep and then must spend time studying his spell book. Spells remain memorized until they are cast or wiped from the character's mind at the spell memorization screen.

 

On the one hand, the manual states that memorization is required "daily," and that the spellbook would be required for this. But on the other hand, it states that once the memorization has been performed the memorized spell remains as potential energy in the mind virtually forever until discharged.

 

So as I read the manual, if the the mage is without his spellbook he should be able to use only spells that were last memorized. And once those spells are discharged, he would be be unable to cast except via scrolls, upon retrieving his spellbook, or upon starting over with a blank spellbook.

 

(And he could also use wands or other magical items that cast spells.)

 

A mod that introduces the feature that a spellbook can be removed from a mage's possession could be interesting. Spellbooks could be subject to being pickpocketed, for example. This could be a real danger in any big city, for example. And if a mage is incapciated in some way during a battle (unconscious, confused, stunned, etc.) enemy rogues could steal the spellbook from their gear (even during the heat of battle I think this is feasible, given the general confusion of battle).

 

But if the party is subject to that tactic, then the enemy should be also (ideally).

 

Blank spellbooks could be available for sale in magic shops (and made rather costly? Why not--such enormous wealth is accumulated during the course of the game that money sinks improve play balance).

 

In the case of Irenicus dungeon, I would make it so that the spellbook has been destroyed, i.e., it is irretrievable. The mage then has to start over with a brand new, blank spellbook available at Sorcerous Sundries (for a pretty penny).

 

Some players would probably consider something like this a nuisance factor, but in that case the mod (or mod component) just wouldn't be for them.

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How could you do that? Reset the spellbook every time the mage doesn't have it on them? Possible. How would they then regain all their spells? You could set a variable to say that they know the spell, and then add it all via scripting.

 

Anyway, stealing an enemy's spellbook really isn't optimal, because they don't cast anything from it. Unless you wanted to try and salvage a spell that you don't know from it, which is perfectly possible.

 

I can't see how to assimilate a spellbook, however.

 

Icen

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The mage then has to start over with a brand new, blank spellbook available at Sorcerous Sundries (for a pretty penny).

 

Some players would probably consider something like this a nuisance factor, but in that case the mod (or mod component) just wouldn't be for them.

The most notable nuisance is that one can't travel to Sorcerous Sundries from the Icewind Dale or even from the BG2's areas, not even with BGT... as the area is in:
FW0703 | AR7703 | E Baldur's Gate: Sorcerous Sundries L1
So take a little clearness of mind with you, sometimes. :)
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...
We already noticed that... and yes, I called you crazy.

Hmm... now that he already hates us, let's make him love us. :)

 

That idea should be somewhat easy to -lement with an Imp, but on the other hand, no thief will ever try to take your book cause none of them actually tried to use the pickpocket you, and if they do, they end up dead soon after at least with my character(the one in the Nashkel Carnival area). And what happens then? ...so we would have to lement that with an Imp too, which is not easy... so perhaps SCS would have to do that. :)

 

I say that it's easy to make the book 'carry' the spells, cause on one hand we can make the book unique object for every character and every book have it's spells memorized using plentiful of local globals and assign a script to the creature that runs them and on the other, we can make remove the spells with the unlearn spell opcode...

 

But the reality is that it is huge work to write the script still... to take account all the spells.

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But the reality is that it is huge work to write the script still... to take account all the spells.

 

Yeah, when I get an idea like this I tend to think of 'what could be', and just allow myself to run with it--yet lacking the knowledge base for what is practically doable. FWIW for most ideas I come up with, I do realize that the actual work involved probably makes it prohibitive. It's not going to happen, I'm aware of that. It's the creative process itself that I enjoy, I guess. :)

 

Just figured I'd put it out there. :)

 

Anyway, please direct any further discussion of the idea to this thread.

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I think this mod is a great idea. :)

 

I am about 2/3 done with my first IWD run and while I think the game is very good, it could be improved in two ways:

 

1. NPCs. The main story is certainly interesting, adding NPCs with interesting personalities/romances would have added more depth (and increased replay value). Hopefully, IWDtutu will encourage people to make some cool NPC mods. (Fortunately for me, I installed Kulyok's NPC mod before I started my IWD game. Plowing through neverending hordes of orogs, snow trolls and drowned dead would have gotten pretty darn dull without Teri piping up every now and then...)

 

2. Tactical improvements. From what I can tell, IWD tries to make the game harder simply by making the opponents beefier. More HP. More dmg. More numbers. It'd be nice if the game could be made harder by improving the AI--better calls for help, better use of spells, smarter opponent combos. SCS for IWD would be great.

 

Anyway, thanks for taking this on and I look forward to a full release!

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1. NPCs. The main story is certainly interesting, adding NPCs with interesting personalities/romances would have added more depth (and increased replay value). Hopefully, IWDtutu will encourage people to make some cool NPC mods. (Fortunately for me, I installed Kulyok's NPC mod before I started my IWD game. Plowing through neverending hordes of orogs, snow trolls and drowned dead would have gotten pretty darn dull without Teri piping up every now and then...)

Ah, NPCs. The one weakness of IWD. Kulyok has said she'd make a version for this mod ... once we get more bugs worked out. I'm sure others will join her. This is still an early BETA, after all.

 

2. Tactical improvements. From what I can tell, IWD tries to make the game harder simply by making the opponents beefier. More HP. More dmg. More numbers. It'd be nice if the game could be made harder by improving the AI--better calls for help, better use of spells, smarter opponent combos. SCS for IWD would be great.

Heart of Fury mode makes enemies much, much harder. Heart of Winter simply improves the AI. In many places enemies can call for help. And I'm sure DavidW will create an SCS for this mod, again once we get more of the kinks worked out.

 

I'd suggest helping with the testing, but you're better off playing through the original game a few times, at least until you know the game better. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

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I'd suggest helping with the testing, but you're better off playing through the original game a few times, at least until you know the game better. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

 

Thanks. IWD is definitely a great game. After I finish my run, I just might dl the mod and try to help out.

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