Spell Supplementation

[AndrewB]

Probably the main reason I am compelled to try out Spellpack despite knowing full well that it can tax the system with heavy graphics displays and raise issues of compatibility is, not for the graphics overhaul (although I'm sure it's nice), but for the spells it adds to the game. In particular, the Divine spell catalogue has always been rather light compared to the Arcane catalogue, and that is something which that mod attempts to diminish. I know that you have added a few spells, and swapped a few spells here and there with Spell Revisions, but have you ever considered supplementing the spell catalogue further, either as a seperate installation option for Spell Revisions or as a sort of companion mod for Spell Revisions?

[Demivrgvs]

Well, the thing is that Revisions mod didn't born to add new spells/items/kits, but to revise and improve the already huge amount of things already available, which imo had a lot of unexpressed potential. I lately sort of bypassed such principle because in some cases I "needed" a new item/spell to replace an irremediably useless/uninspired item/spell or to improve an underused aspect of the game (e.g. druid's spellbook sucked big time), but I wasn't planning to extensively work on that direction.

 

Now, when it comes to Divine spells I do tried to make their spellbooks more interesting (druid's one in particular) but I'm not sure what we should do. One thing that a lot of players seems to "forget" is that AD&D priests didn't have the same huge arsenal of spells of mages for a good reason: they don't focus only on it. Mages can't wear armors, can't use almost all weapons, have half of priest's hit points and the worst thac0 ever, thus I actually think they did it right by having them less spells and lack the uber 8th and 9th lvl ones.

 

That being said, I'm not completely against adding new divine spells, but only if they meet certain conditions:

1) they come from PnP or similar source (e.g. IWD - which also helps to "stole" animations)

2) they cover an aspect which is really missing (e.g. I wanted to add an anti-summon spell like Banishment/Dismissal)

 

I'm open to suggestions (e.g. which spells would you really want to see? why?), and I'll try to take a look into it myself when I find the time for it.

[AndrewB]

Well, the thing is that Revisions mod didn't born to add new spells/items/kits, but to revise and improve the already huge amount of things already available, which imo had a lot of unexpressed potential. I lately sort of bypassed such principle because in some cases I "needed" a new item/spell to replace an irremediably useless/uninspired item/spell or to improve an underused aspect of the game (e.g. druid's spellbook sucked big time), but I wasn't planning to extensively work on that direction.

Yeah, I know. SR feels very *complete* in that regard (from the perspective of an end-user, anyway).

Now, when it comes to Divine spells I do tried to make their spellbooks more interesting (druid's one in particular) but I'm not sure what we should do. One thing that a lot of players seems to "forget" is that AD&D priests didn't have the same huge arsenal of spells of mages for a good reason: they don't focus only on it. Mages can't wear armors, can't use almost all weapons, have half of priest's hit points and the worst thac0 ever, thus I actually think they did it right by having them less spells and lack the uber 8th and 9th lvl ones.

 

That being said, I'm not completely against adding new divine spells, but only if they meet certain conditions:

1) they come from PnP or similar source (e.g. IWD - which also helps to "stole" animations)

2) they cover an aspect which is really missing (e.g. I wanted to add an anti-summon spell like Banishment/Dismissal)

 

I'm open to suggestions (e.g. which spells would you really want to see? why?), and I'll try to take a look into it myself when I find the time for it.

I didn't really have any specific spells in mind when I created the post, I was just wishing my poor clerics and druids had wider spell selections to choose from I only have 3/3.5E source material, but I'd be happy to go through them.

[Demivrgvs]

I've looked into it myself and I think I can confirm that there's very little room for new Cleric spells (whereas Druid's spellbook can be more consistently improved). A huge amount of spells are either not implementable or (more often) completely useless in a game like BG (PnP allows much more things).

 

Just few notes:

- I don't consider things like Prayer and Recitation worth of being introduced because they add absolutely nothing to the game experience (they both are souped up Chant spells), but I may understand if some of you disagree on this matter

- I don't like Cleric to have Druid's spell (e.g. Insect Plague should clearly be druid-only despite what 3rd editiond did)

 

 

1st lvl: there are only two spells we may add here imo, Curse (Bane in 3rd edition) and Cause Light Wounds. The latter actually seems pretty pointless right now, but I hope we can make the whole Cause Wound serie more appealing without changing it too much from its PnP version.

 

2nd lvl: again only two spells, Cause Moderate Wounds and Soundburst. The latter sounds cool , but it may look more like a Bard thing.

 

3rd lvl: clerics already have a huge amount of spells of this level (15 in a SR install), but if we really want to find something to add here the only good add-on imo would be Bestow Curse.

 

4th and 5th lvl: both slots have 14 spells, which is quite much, thought these are less "varied" than the 15 available for the 3rd lvl slot (e.g. there are 4 Protection from X element spells at 5th lvl). I really didn't managed to find good add-ons for these slots anyway.

 

6th lvl: this is the worst spell level imo, though most of its few spells are great (e.g. Blade Barrier, Create Undead, True Sight, ...). Banishment is a must imo (it should actually replace Death Spell for mages too), but then I didn't found other good candidates except perhaps Divine Shell (then almost all Divine Remix spells would be included).

 

7th lvl: I do think there already are quite a lot of spells here, not to mention HLAs are added here too.

 

 

Let me know if I'm missing something, if you don't agree with my analysis, or if you have any good imput/suggestion.

[Jarno Mikkola]

I've looked into it myself and I think I can confirm that there's very little room for new Cleric spells (whereas Druid's spellbook can be more consistently improved). A huge amount of spells are either not implementable or (more often) completely useless in a game like BG (PnP allows much more things).

Have you played the game with the scrollable spellbook? From this mod. Or from the Taimon's hacks... As then you can have as many spells you wish to have...

I of course would make them component-ed, so they can be installed when one wishes, and so you could overwrite other spells if you wish there after. Say one has installed DSotSC, TDD, and other spell modifying mods, you can overwrite the needed spells if you build the system such.

[AndrewB]

I haven't forgotten about this, I'm still going through all the source spells I have available to me. There are several recommendations I'd like to make

 

Totally agree about Dismissal/Banishment.

[yarpen]

I beg for some additional damaging spells for Druids. Improved entangle which constricts enemies and deal some minor damage to them? Spikes rising from ground? Tsunami, whirlwind etc. IWD has a lot of them, importing animation isn't big deal - and I think that would be certainly great refinement for druids.

[Demivrgvs]

Have you played the game with the scrollable spellbook? From this mod. Or from the Taimon's hacks... As then you can have as many spells you wish to have...

I'm pretty sure priests spellbooks will never need it within SR as that would require me to add something like 10 spells for a single spell level slot (e.g. 10 3rd lvl spells).

 

 

I haven't forgotten about this, I'm still going through all the source spells I have available to me. There are several recommendations I'd like to make

Go ahead.

 

 

Druid's New Spells

I beg for some additional damaging spells for Druids. Improved entangle which constricts enemies and deal some minor damage to them? Spikes rising from ground? Tsunami, whirlwind etc. IWD has a lot of them, importing animation isn't big deal - and I think that would be certainly great refinement for druids.

For druids the matter is much more simple because their BG spellbook was really pathetic whereas there's plenty of cool un-implemented spells.

 

1st lvl: here the only decent one seems FR/IWD Frost Fingers (sort of cold-version of Burning Hands). Don't like it so much, but may be better than nothing, I don't know.

 

2nd lvl: Blood Frenzy (lesser Rage), Animalistic Power (druid version of DUHM - I think IWD inveted it, as I cannot find it in any book), Alicorn Lance (moderate piercing damage followed by Faerie Fire effect), Creeping Cold (on-going cold damage on a single target).

 

3rd lvl: Moonblade (BG's Phantom Blade does what this spell actually does in PnP), Spike Growth (slows and damage everyone within a 15/20 feet radius - we should be able to use IWD's animation), Tremor (lesser Earthquake)

 

4th: Thorn Spray (cone AoE with moderate piercing damage - not sure how to handle the pro and animation but somehow it should be doable), Smashing Wave (crushing damage and may stun 1 target, though in theory it should hit multiple targets a la PnP Lightning Bolt - in some books it's a 5th lvl spell)

 

5th lvl: Inferno (on-going fire damage), Spike Stone (a more powerful version of Spike Growth - we should be able to use IWD's animation)

 

6th lvl: Crumble (anti-construc spell - very specific and possibly too useful in BG), Whirlwind (a must have imo)

 

 

There probably are few other spells I'm forgetting right now...

[Jarno Mikkola]

Have you played the game with the scrollable spellbook? From this mod. Or from the Taimon's hacks... As then you can have as many spells you wish to have...

I'm pretty sure priests spellbooks will never need it within SR as that would require me to add something like 10 spells for a single spell level slot (e.g. 10 3rd lvl spells).

Well, this is a spell revisions mod, so should anyone have problems with too many non D&D spells, they should take it to themselves not to use them.

Say:

1st lvl: here the only decent one seems FR/IWD Frost Fingers (sort of cold-version of Burning Hands). Don't like it so much, but may be better than nothing, I don't know.

Hands, Fingers erhm, why not just say what it is and use "x Spray", like, "Fire Spray", "Frost Spray", "Acid Spray", "Lightning Spray" and "Toxic Spray"(poison). There, you have 5 already...

What comes to the balancing, the damage can be more or less, and the easy save throw can be set to save from a short and minor effect, like slow on the Frost Spray, AC penalty on the Acid Spray, Thac0 penalty on the on Lightning Spray... The spells should primarily be used in the BG1 part of the adventure, to hamper the enemies efficiency, and to damage them of course. And when I say minor effect, I mean penalty like +2 to thac0 or AC, -2 to walking speed...

[AndrewB]

I'm going through them all level by level. As you might expect, there are a lot of them that don't really fit the setting, or are cool in PnP but don't really translate well into a cRPG, and some would just require too much time and effort to fully realize. They've been left out for simplicity's sake. These are all the spells that I think could translate well into a game setting, and serve some kind of purpose within the game. Whether or not they are a good addition for Spell Revisions is up to you, I'm more or less just listing them to bring to attention what is available. They are from 3rd/3.5 edition, so some of them would have to be reinterpreted into the Baldur's Gate rule-set, but it isn't too difficult to determine the intent of the spell, and find out the best way to make it affect an outcome that is similar.

 

1st Level Cleric

 

Bane: All enemies within 30 ft radius Burst suffer a -1 morale penalty to attack and damage rolls. This spell counters and dispells the Bless spell. [CLR][Player's Handbook]

Cause Light Wounds: Touch deals 1d8 damage +1 per level (max +5). [CLR][Player's Handbook]

Cause Fear: One creature flees for 1d4 rounds. [CLR][Player's Handbook]

Divine Favor: You gain a +1 luck bonus per three levels on attack and damage rolls (max +6). Does not apply to spell damage. Self-only.[CLR,PAL][Player's Handbook]

Entropic Shield: ranged attacks against you suffer 20% miss chance. Effects all ranged attacks directed at you for which the attack must make an attack roll, but does not effect attacks that simply work at a distance (such as dragon's breath). [CLR][Player's Handbook]

Grave Strike: Swift. You can sneak attack Undead for 1 round. [CLR,PAL][spell Compendium, Complete Adventurer]

Invisibility to Undead: One touched subject per level cannot be perceived by Undead. Intelligent Undead are allowed a Will save to see through the effect, but unintelligent Undead do not. If the warded creature attempts to turn, touch, attack, or otherwise make it's presence known to the Undead, the spell ends for all recipients. [CLR][Player's Handbook]

Impede: Locks the subject in place and causes a -1 penalty on melee attack rolls, but does not inhibit the ability to cast or act (other than moving). If the subject is already under an effect that curtails it's ability to move (such as Slow, or Hold Person), it also takes a -4 penalty to Dexterity for the duration of the spell, even if the other effect ends before this one does. [CLR][Complete Chamion]

Light of Lunia: You radiate silvery light, which you can expend as 2 bolts that deal 1d6 damage (2d6 against Undead and evil outsiders). [CLR,SOR/WIZ][spell Compendium]

Magic Weapon: Weapon gains +1 enhancement bonus. The effect is not limited to the caster's Weapon, and will effect the first weapon the caster chooses to touch. [bRD,CLR,PAL,SOR/WIZ][Player's Handbook]

Nightshield:formerly called "Vaerun's Nightshield". A personal shield that provides a +1 resistance bonus on Saving Throws (increases to +2 at caster level 6, +3 at caster level 9) and negates Magic Missile attacks directed at you. [CLR][spell Compendium]

Ray of Hope: A living Subject receives a +2 morale bonus to attack, damage, and saving throw rolls. [CLR][book of Exalted Deeds]

Ray of Resurgence: Glowing beam rejuvenates target, restoring and negating ability damage (1 point/level, max of 5), and reducing fatigue. [CLR][Lost Empires Of Faerun]

Resurgence: You grant a subject a second chance at a saving throw vs. an on-going effect. [CLR,PAL][spell Compendium]

Spell Flower: Hold the charge on one touch spell per forelimb. You are able to hold the charge of one touch spell per arm of your body as long as you don't use a charged limb to cast another spell or touch anything with it. Each touch spell you cast resides in a different forelimb. [CLR,SOR/WIZ][spell Compendium,Savage Species]

Spider Hand: Caster detaches his hand, which transforms into a small spider that he controls. The caster can see through it's eyes as it travels, but if the spider is killed, the caster takes 1d6 points of damage. [CLR,DRD][book of Vile Darkness]

Vigor, Lesser: Creature heals 1hp per round (max 15 rounds). [CLR,PAL,DRD][spell Compendium]

Vision of Heaven: Evil creature is dazed for 1 round. The spell has no effect on creatures that are not Evil. [CLR][book of Exalted Deeds]

 

Comments: If I had to choose only those that I think would make the most significant contributions to gameplay, I would choose: Bane, Cause Fear, Cause Light Wounds, Divine Favor, Gravestrike, Lesser Vigor, Ray of Hope, and Ray of Resurgence. Light of Lunia would be a nice addition, but you already have Sunscorch (although the SR documentation says that is Druid only).

Why?:

Bane:

should be obvious. Staple spell of the cleric class.

Cause Fear:

so clerics can

Cloak of Fear

many people, but they can't

Cause Fear

in just one person? That doesn't make sense. Also, while clerics do have

Command

, having two different methods of single-target crowd control gives a person adaptability. So a person can choose whichever they think is best for the situation at hand.

Cause Light Wounds:

should be obvious. Staple spell of the cleric class. Sometimes you can't rely on your Weapon to do your damage for you.

Divine Favor:

provides a stacking effect with Bless (bonuses of different types generally stack. Bless is a

morale

bonus, Divine Favor is a

luck

bonus). This is a

self-only

spell, intended only as a short-lived method of further augmenting their combat prowess.

Gravestrike:

a pretty cool spell that adds a lot of flavor to the class, emphasizes the cleric's unique talents against the Undead (something that's really only half-heartedly realized in the vanilla spell selection) and provides a moderate damage boost against them.

Lesser Vigor:

sort of a mini-regeneration. Useful for recouperating between battles. The Vigor line of spells are intended to outperform equivalent Cure spells in total healing done, but are considerably less useful in combat because of the long-duration and slow-healing nature of their effects.

Magic Weapon:

unlike

Shillelagh

, this is not limited to yourself only, and can be used on the weapons of party members. Pretty much everyone gets the spell in 3.5E, but that might be a little too much of a balance shift, so it might be best if it were Cleric/Arcane or just Cleric only. It could serve a useful purpose in reinforcing the Cleric's role as the primary benefactor and caretaker of the group. Technically, you could make this work in the same way the

Enchanted Weapon

spell works.

Ray of Hope:

this could serve as a counter for the

Doom

spell. In PnP, it is actually slightly more powerful, and is meant to counter

Sorrow

(from the Book of Vile Darkness), but

Doom

is the closest thing in the game to that, and the game could really use a proper counter for it. It is

not

intended to stack with Bless/Chant or other morale effects, but instead provides a more focused, single-target effect that also affects Saving Throws.

Bless

is not a good counter for

Doom

because Bless only adds to attack and damage rolls, whereas Doom robs you of attack, damage,

and

saving throw rolls. Not only that, characters will often auto-attack and end up running out of the burst-radius.

Ray of Resurgence:

sort of a lesser,

lesser

restoration. It certainly doesn't reverse level drain, but it does provide a cheap and reliable method of curing characters of Strength drain caused by

Ray of Enfeeblement

, and the ability drain caused by various types of Undead. Another example of emphasis on a variety of tools to use to combat the Undead.

Spell Flower:

Spell Flower is worth a mention, as it

would

be a pretty useful spell. But there are two problems with it: it looks like it would be technically difficult to implement, and immediately I can see balance implications with it (think two consecutive Slay Livings, or two Harm spells). But you could always cap the effect to only work up to a certain spell-level.

 

 

1st Level Paladin

 

Bless Weapon: Places a holy blessing upon the Weapon touched. A Blessed weapon is considered to be +1 against evil creatures when determining what it can hit, and all critical hit rolls against evil opponents are automatically successful, causing every threat to be a critical hit. [PAL][Player's Handbook]

Clear Mind: +4 on saves against mind-affecting spells and abilities. [PAL][spell Compendium]

Deafing Clang: Causes a weapon to ring loudly with sound on impact. You empower the touched weapon with magic that causes it to emit a loud clang when it is struck against a hard surface, such as a floor, wall, or creature. The weapon deals an additional 1d6 points of sonic damage with each successful hit, and any creature struck by the weapon must succeed on a saving throw or be deafened for 1 minute. [PAL][spell Compendium,Magic Of Faerun]

Divine Favor: You gain a +1 luck bonus per three levels on attack and damage rolls (max +6). Does not apply to spell damage. Self-only. [CLR,PAL][Player's Handbook]

Divine Sacrifice: Sacrifice hit points for a damage bonus on next attack. Your first attack each round for the duration of the spell deals an extra 5d6 points of damage if it hits, and you take 10 points of damage each time you make such an attack, whether or not the attack is successful. [PAL][spell Compendium]

Grave Strike: Swift. You can sneak attack Undead for 1 round. [CLR,PAL][spell Compendium, Complete Adventurer]

Restoration, Lesser: Dispels magic ability penalty or repairs 1d4 ability damage. [CLR,DRD,PAL][Player's Handbook]

Resurgence: You grant a subject a second chance at a saving throw vs. an on-going effect. The subject of a resurgence spell can make a second attempt to save against an ongoing spell, spell-like ability, or supernatural ability, such as dominate person. If the subject succeeds on the saving throw, the effect ends immediately. Resurgence cannot restore hit points or ability score damage. [CLR,PAL][spell Compendium]

Rhino's Rush: This spell allows you to propel yourself into a deadly charge. The first attack you make before the end of the round deals double damage on a successful hit. [PAL,RGR][Player's Handbook]

Silverbeard: You grow a hard silver beard that gives +2 sacred bonus to your armor class. Your beard grows and turns to pure and magically hardened silver. If you do not have a beard, you grow one for the duration of this spell (even if you are a creature that cannot normally grow a beard, such as an elf or a female human). [PAL][Magic Of Faerun]

Silvered Weapon: Transforms one weapon into a silvered weapon. This spell transforms a single weapon or projectile you are holding into a silvered weapon, thereby gaining the special material properties of silver. [PAL,RGR][spell Compendium,Book of Exalted Deeds]

 

Comments: If I had to choose only those that I think would make the most significant contributions to gameplay, I would choose: all except maybe Clear Mind, and Restoration, Lesser; the first because I don't know if it's technically possible to alter the saves against just mind-affecting spells, and the second because of it's conflict with the BG2 interpretation with the spell of the same name. Giving them access to Ray of Resurgence would accomplish the same goal, however, without having to mess with the current version of Lesser Restoration. In practice, Paladins play very similarly to Fighters, with only spells and special abilities to set them apart. The problem is, their spells are nothing to write home about. Most people wouldn't think twice about trading the limited spellcasting for the ability to Grandmaster a weapon. Giving them more tools in their toolbox might actually make someone think twice about giving up their spells.

Why?:

Bless Weapon:

Paladins are supposed to get

Magic Weapon

in addition to the list above, but it's probably a bit overused, especially considering that Paladins have

Bless Weapon

and Druids and Rangers get

Shillelagh

.

Bless Weapon

further highlights the central theme of the Paladin; that of a Holy Fighter dedicated to right and justice. The critical hit property is probably way too much though.

Deafening Clang

: I

really

like this spell. It gives Paladins access to a couple of things they really lack, fits very well with the class conceptually, and feels like a very natural direction their abilities would go in. As a marriage of divine rite and mundane might themselves, it seems only fitting that a Paladin's spells would trend along the same lines. Paladins are not very interactive in combat (buff -> autoattack until dead), and it turns a lot of people off of playing them. This spell is an excellent example of a spell that attempts to give them something to do in combat, to make it more interesting for them.

Divine Favor:

provides a stacking effect with Bless (bonuses of different types generally stack. Bless is a

morale

bonus, Divine Favor is a

luck

bonus). This is a

self-only

spell, intended only as a short-lived method of further augmenting their combat prowess.

Divine Sacrifice:

another spell that underscores two mainstay Paladin traits: the emphasis on martial combat, and the utter abhorrence of all things evil. It is a strong spell, but not without drawbacks. I was a little worried about the damage you'd get on a 5d6, but after rolling it out a couple times (and coming up mostly in the range of 12-25), it didn't seem too bad, especially considering

how

exceptionally risky it is for low level characters.

Grave Strike:

same reasons listed above for Clerics.

Resurgence:

useful for getting rid of unwanted status effects (charm, domination, etc.), but is about as powerful as a level one spell should be. It doesn't specifically counter or dispel anything and has a fair chance of failing, but it gives a person a fighting chance of shaking off the effect.

Rhino's Rush:

hooray damage!

Silverbeard:

I'd add the spell just cause I think it's funny to have female paladins sporting big silver beards. Comedic value aside, the armor bonus from this spell is specified to be a

Sacred

bonus and therefore stacks with

Protection from Evil

, as that is a

Deflection

bonus. For that reason, it has a short duration (you'll get one battle out of it, at most). Unlike

Protection from Evil

, it increases armor only- it does not increase saving throws at all, but you get that armor bonus

no matter what opponent you are fighting

.

Silvered Weapons:

useful in those situations where you're fighting a Wolfwere or Greater Wolfwere and just can't break through it's regeneration. Striking a Lycanthrope with a Silver Weapon prevents it from regenerating on the next round. You don't

need

silver to kill a Lycanthrope, of course, it just makes it a feat easier to manage. It is intended to allow you some kind of last resort in the event you can't break through it's regeneration though, not to make all Lycanthropes pushovers. So maybe allowing them some kind of save against the effect would be good. Even so, the spell is only available to Rangers and Paladins to prevent everyone from having a built-in counter to Lycanthropes.

 

 

1st Level Druid

 

Aura Against Flame: Absorbs 10 fire damage. [CLR,DRD][spell Compendium]

Babau Slime: Secrete a body-covering acid that damages attacking foes. The subject secretes a slimy red layer of jelly that coats it's skin, armor, and equipment. A creature that strikes a slime-protected subject takes 1d8 points of acid damage. [DRD,SOR/WIZ][spell Compendium]

Breath of the Jungle: Conjures a foul-smelling mist that makes poison and diseases harder to resist. Creatures standing in the mist suffer a -2 penalty to saves against poison and disease. [DRD][spell Compendium]

Cloudburst: Hampers vision and ranged attacks. You cause clouds to gather and heavy rain to fall, reducing visibility and causing a -4 penalty on ranged attacks. [DRD][spell Compendium]

Dawn: Sleeping/unconscious creatures in area awaken. Those who are unconscious because of subdual (nonlethal damage), wake up and become staggered. [DRD,RGR][spell Compendium]

Deep Breath: Your lungs are filled with air, and for the duration, continue to refill with air. [DRD,RGR,SOR/WIZ][spell Compendium]

Longstrider: A mild movement speed increase, single person, self only. [PH]

Power Sight: You determine the number of Hit Dice (including those from class levels) a creature currently has. [DRD][Masters of the Wild]

Produce Flame: Flames as bright as a torch appear in your open hand. The flames can be hurled, or used to touch enemies for 1d6 +1 per level (max +5) damage. You can continue to attack with the flames until the spell's duration runs out. The spell lasts 1 minute per level of the caster, and each attack you make reduces the duration by 1 minute (so a level 3 caster would be able to make 3 attacks). [Player's Handbook]

Sandblast: You fire hot sand that deals 1d6 nonlethal damage, and stuns enemies. Whipping your hand in a wide arc, you spray sand from your fingers in a powerful blast. Any creatures that fail to save against the spell are stunned. [DRD][Complete Divine]

Silvered Claws: One creature's natural attacks (fists, claws, etc) are treated as silvered weapons. [DRD][book of Exalted Deeds]

Spider Hand: Caster detaches his hand, which transforms into a small spider that he controls. The caster can see through it's eyes as it travels, but if the spider is killed, the caster takes 1d6 points of damage. [CLR,DRD][book of Vile Darkness]

Thunderhead: Small lightning bolts deal 1d6 damage/round. A small cloud forms above the creature you designate as your target and miniature peals of thunder erupt from the cloud. The cloud moves with the subject, following it unerringly even if he becomes invisible or leaves the region. Every round for the spell's duration, a miniature bolt of lightning leaps from the thundercloud to strike the subject. Each bolt deals 1 point of electicity damage that is negated by a successful save. [DRD,SOR/WIZ][spell Compendium]

Vigor, Lesser: Creature heals 1hp per round (max 15 rounds). [CLR,PAL,DRD][spell Compendium]

Wall of Smoke: Wall of black smoke obscures vision and nauseats those who pass through. The wall is stationary once created and blocks sight to a limited degree. Creatures on opposite sides of the wall that cannot see over it gain concealment from each other. A creature can pass through a wall of smoke, but must make a save to avoid being nauseated for 1 round. A Gust of Wind spell destroys the wall. [DRD,SOR/WIZ][spell Compendium]

Winter Chill: Creature takes 1d6 cold damage and is fatigued. You make a sound like whistling wind and inscribe a snowflake shape in the air, willing a chill to overcome your foe. The target creature must succeed on a saving throw or take 1d6 points of cold and become fatigued. A creature with immunity to cold is not affected by this spell. [DRD][spell Compendium]

 

Comments: If I had to choose only those that I think would make the most significant contributions to gameplay, I would choose: Babau Slime, Produce Flame, Sandblast, Longstrider, Lesser Vigor, and Winter Chill. Beget Bogun is an interesting spell, and worth a mention (though it isn't listed here). It allows a druid to construct and animate a familiar-like servant called a Bogun, but I haven't listed it here because, according to the rulebooks, the process of creating one is much more complex than casting a simple spell (one must meet an XP requirement and complete a long, difficult ritual).

Why?:

Babau Slime:

One of the recurring themes you can find repeated over and over in the Druid spell set (and notably absent in

BG2

) are reflective damage shields that you can use to aid your party. This is just one of many spells of that type.

Produce Flame:

The Druid spellset needs, more than anything else, more variety and options aimed at affecting damage. That is exactly what this spell does.

Sandblast:

for the same reasons as

Produce Flame

, and it gives them access to an effect they didn't have before.

Longstrider:

This would have to be subtle, in order to be balanced. More like a castable version of the Barbarian's passive move-speed increase than a true Haste.

Lesser Vigor:

Useful for recouperating between battles. The Vigor line of spells are intended to outperform equivalent Cure spells in total healing done, but are considerably less useful in combat because of the long-duration and slow-healing nature of their effects.

Winter Chill:

for the same reasons as

Produce Flame

.

 

 

1st Level Ranger

 

Blades of Fire: Your melee weapons deal +1d8 fire damage for 1 round. This damage stacks with any energy damage your weapons already deal. [RGR,SOR/WIZ][spell Compendium]

Camouflague: Subject gains +10 on Hide checks. Your coloration changes instantly to match the background of any new environment you enter, with no effort on your part. [RGR][Complete Divine]

Dawn: Sleeping/unconscious creatures in area awaken. Those who are unconscious because of subdual (nonlethal damage), wake up and become staggered. [DRD,RGR][spell Compendium]

Deep Breath: Your lungs are filled with air, and for the duration, continue to refill with air. [DRD,RGR,SOR/WIZ][spell Compendium]

Exacting Shot: Your ranged weapon automatically confirms critical hits against Favored Enemies. This transmutation makes a ranged weapon strike true against favored enemies. All rolls made to confirm critical hits by the weapon against favored enemies automatically succeed, so every threat is a critical hit. The affected weapon also ignores any miss chance due to concealment whenever you fire at a favored enemy (unless the target has total concealment, in which case the normal miss chance applies). [RGR][Complete Adventurer]

Guided Shot: You ignore distance, cover, & concealment penalties with your ranged attacks for 1 round. You focused your mind and body on making a perfect shot. [RGR,SOR/WIZ][Complete Adventurer]

Hunter's Mercy: Your next hit with a bow is automatically a critical hit. Your first hit with a bow in the next round is automatically a critical hit. If you don't hit in the round following the casting of the spell, the effect is wasted. [RGR][Magic of Faerun]

Lay of the Land: You can an overview of the geography around you. [DRD,RGR][spell Compendium]

Longstrider: A mild movement speed increase, single person, self only. [Player's Handbook]

Resist Energy: The touched subject is protected from one Energy type of their choosing, absorbing 10 damage for a 1-6th level caster, 20 damage for a 7th-10th level caster, and 30 for an 11th and greater level caster. [CLR2,DRD2,PAL2,RGR1,SOR/WIZ2][Player's Handbook]

Rhino's Rush: This spell allows you to propel yourself into a deadly charge. The first attack you make before the end of the round deals double damage on a successful hit. [PAL,RGR][Player's Handbook]

Silvered Weapon: Transforms one weapon into a silvered weapon. This spell transforms a single weapon or projectile you are holding into a silvered weapon, thereby gaining the special material properties of silver. [PAL,RGR][spell Compendium,Book of Exalted Deeds]

Sniper's Shot: Next ranged attack is treated as a sneak attack. [RGR,SOR/WIZ][Complete Adventurer]

Surefoot: Your steps are sure and true, even on the narrowest ledges. You are more difficult to trip and knock down. [RGR][MagicOfFaerun]

 

Comments: If I had to choose only those that I think would make the most significant contributions to gameplay, I would choose: Blades of Fire, Camouflague, Dawn, Exacting Shot, Hunter's Mercy, Lay of the Land, Longstrider, Silvered Weapon, and Sniper's Shot. Deep Breath, Guided Shot, and Surefoot have an interesting concepts behind them, but would need to be reinterpreted to have relevant usages in the game. Surefoot, for example, could be interpreted to prevent Wing Buffet. Guided Shot is very close in intent to a spell you've already added, True Strike, so one could just as well give them access to that.

Why?:

Blades of Fire:

In

BG2

, Rangers, even moreso than Paladins, can be seen as stripped down versions of a fighter with a few gimmicky perks (like Stealth, Charm Animals and a Favored Enemy) that are

supposed

to make up for the trade-offs they suffer compared to a Fighter (they don't). Limited access to divine spells helps this of course, but not as much as you'd think, and almost no effort was put in to distinguishing a Ranger's selection of spells from that of a Paladin's. The two classes get pretty much the same set of spells, with few differences. This particular spell, as with most of the other spells listed here, represent a desire to bring them closer in line to a Fighter and diversify their toolset as such that they occupy a niche that sets them apart from Fighters and Paladins.

Camouflague:

Stealth is a big part of the Ranger, but more often than not, it is eschewed in favor of the more tangible benefits of heavier armor. If one uses any number of "Allow Stealth to be usable in Heavy Armor" tweaks, this could help a Ranger overcome a Stealth penalty applied by Heavy Armor, in a way that would mimic the effect of the 3.5E "Iron Silence" spell that Assassins, Bards, and Clerics receive (it allows stealth to be used without Armor penalties for the duration). I also imagine it would be useful early game, when a Ranger's stealth ability hasn't expanded much.

Dawn:

Counters and dispels Sleep effects. A nice, if situational, utility spell. This would fall under the "diversifying their toolset" goal.

Exacting Shot:

I really like this spell, because it make your Favored Enemy trait actually mean something, and it makes choosing a Favored Enemy a more meaningful decision.

Hunter's Mercy:

a great damage spell, even if the lines between it and

Sniper's Shot

are somewhat blurred.

Lay of the Land:

Easy to implement, as it acts just like the vanilla spell

Clairvoyance

. Many of the spells and abilities that distinguish the Ranger as a woodsman and allow him to live and be at home in the wilderness simply do not translate well into the game. This is one of the few that does. Why wouldn't a Ranger be able to climb a tree and get an overview of the surrounding terrain?

Longstrider:

same comments as above for Druids.

Silvered Weapon:

same comments as above for Paladins.

Sniper's Shot:

This was designed to work with 3rd Edition's Sneak Attack, rather than 2nd Edition's Backstab. You could choose to interpret it as being treated as a Backstab (in which case it would probably do more damage), or you could simply simulate the effect of a 3E Sneak Attack (an extra 1d6 damage, with another d6 for every third level of the player). This spell, probably more than any of the others, does the most to bring the Ranger closer in power to that of a Fighter. It is a formidable attack, there is no doubt about it, but you must keep in perspective that it only works on a

single

attack. It fits so naturally and so seamlessly with the thematic aspects of the class, that it really

feels

like it belonged there all along.

 

 

This is just the first set- I've only gone through the Level 1 Divine's (obviously) so far.

[AndrewB]

Also, I do realize that it was never your intent to expand the spell catalogue so far in SR. That is why I asked if you had ever considered doing it as an includable option or as a side-project companion for SR.

[Demivrgvs]

Also, I do realize that it was never your intent to expand the spell catalogue so far in SR. That is why I asked if you had ever considered doing it as an includable option or as a side-project companion for SR.

If I haven't been clear, I'd like to add bunch of spells, but don't expect more than a few new spells for several reasons for a lot of reasons, amongst which I may mention:

- I'd need help with the bam work (hope yarpen is interested)

- AI would be disadvantaged (I really don't want players going around with tons of good spells the AI can't use)

 

 

Regarding Paladins and Rangers it would be cool to have them use semi-custom spellbooks, but unless we decide to implement a system similar to Divine Remix it won't happen.

 

 

Cleric's suggested 1st lvl spells:

- Bane and Cause Light Wound are indeed something I'd add

- Cause Fear would be a sort of "cleric's equivalent" of Spook, I've mixed feelings about it mainly because Command has an almost identical purpose, but I'm not against it

- Divine Favor is the 3rd edition equivalent of Draw Upon Holy Might imo, clerics doesn

't seem to lack this kind of spells, and I fear it may be too convenient for players (unbalanced if it can stack with similar spells)

- Vigor serie would be a unique way to make druids different from clerics, but over than that I don't see much reasons to add these spells (especially to clerics) and they would outshine Cure Wound serie too much imo

- Grave Strike (paladins backstabbing?!) and Spell Flower are not implementable, and I'm almost sure Ray of Resurgence too (I'd have to use 'restoration' opcode makinf it as per the higher lvl version)

- Magic Weapon is not implementable as per PnP, while if we make it as per Enchanted Weapon (limited to +1 weapons) we would have a spell highly effective in BG1 and completely useless in BG2)

 

 

Druid's suggested 1st lvl spells:

- Babau Slime seems really OP for a 1st lvl spell, and for some reason it seems a homemade spell

- Produce Flame would be almost identical to SR's Magic Stone

- Sandblast is one of the few spells that really got my attention, but the main issue here is that I don't think I can find a decent animation for it

- Longstrider seems underpowered (though a backstabbing Stalker may actually make good use of it)

- Winter Chill sounds ok (low damage + sort of Doom) and would be an appropriate replacement of Doom itself for druids

 

 

Note: I cannot promise you anything, thus even spells and suggestions I do like/approve may not end up in future versions of SR.

[yarpen]

So, putting spells on which I'm working for Faiths and Avatars:

 

Battlefate

Sphere: Chaos

School: Alteration

Duration: 1 round/level

Casting time: 4

 

This spell alters probability to favor one character or creature locked in battle. His opponent may stumble at an awkard time, a clumsy parry might catch the enemy's weapon at just the right angle, or he happens to notice the foe moving in for a flank attack. The more powerful the priest, the more potent the aid; combat modifiers provided by battlefate equal +1 per three levels, so a 1st-level caster provides a +1 bonus, a 4th-level caster a +2 bonus, a 7th-level caster a +3, and so on to a maximum of +5 for a 13th-level priest. The exact form of the aid or assistance varies from round to round. There is a various chance occuring of any mentioned effect:

 

Chance Effect

20% Nothing happens

10% Armor Class bonus

10% Saving Throws bonus

10% Attack Rolls bonus

10% Damage Rolls bonus

10% Speed Factor bonus

10% Additional attack per round and Attack Rolls bonus

10% Additional attack per round and Damage Rolls bonus

10% Additional attack per round and speed Factor bonus

 

 

Calculate

School: Divination

Sphere: Numbers

Casting Time: 4

 

By means of this spell, the priest can get some important and accurate informations about certain creatures and estimate possibilities of fighting against it. After casting Calculate, priest knows such parameters as Current/Maximum Hit Points, AC, ThaC0 and Magic Resistance.

 

Impregnable mind

School: Charm/Enchantment

Sphere: Protection, Thought

Duration: 1 Turn + 1 round/level

Casting Time: 1

 

This spell guards the spell recipient against magical or psionic attacks that affect the mind. This includes beguiling, charm, domination, feeblemind, hold, and similiar effects, as well as most telepathic psionic powers and attacks.

 

Also, full list of ideas with small descriptions. Maybe those would be helpfull:

 

1st level

Battlefate (chaos) - random bonuses

Calculate (numbers) - show statistics

Dispel Fatigue (necromantic) - removes fatigue

Invisibility to Animals (animal) - protection from animals

Courage (war) - long-term bless

 

2nd level

Chaos ward (chaos) - random protections?

Watery fist (water) - pseudo-pod attack of water elementals

Create Holy Symbol (creation)

Rally (war) - long-term chant

 

3rd level

Etherealness (numbers)

Summon Animal Spirit (summoning) - totemic druid ability

Unfailing Premonition (time) - as your Clairvorance

Feign Death (necromantic) - cool spell!

 

4th level

Adamantite Mace (earth)

Dimensional Anchor (guardian) - protection from teleport field and maze

Recitation (combat)

Imbue with Spell Ability (charm) - grants 1st or 2nd level spell to any character

Cloak of Bravery (charm) - immunity to fear and bonuses

Leadership (war) - long-term fighting bonuses

 

5th level

Dimensional Translocation (numbers, summoning) - sort of strange damage/kill spell

Impregnable Mind (protection, thought) - Chaotic Commands for those who don't like Chaos

Othertime (time) - don't remember

 

6th level

Entropy Shield (chaos) - powerfull protection

Whirlwind (air) - damn yeah

Heroe's Feast (creation) - creating special food which heals and grant some bonuses

 

7th level

Impervious Sanctity of Mind (protection, thought) - absolute immunity to mind-affecting spells and psionic

Tsunami (water) - I hope there's going to be animation for this one

Reincarnate (animal) - my invention. Sort of Ressurection for druids, but character have to make saving throw or will be locked in animal form for 8 hours.

Divine Inspiration (divination)

Spacewarp (numbers) - pulls all of the characters in one place

Timelesness (numbers) - grants 3 rounds of Time Stop but disables spellcasting

Changestaff (plants) - that's how Summon Shambling Mound should be called in PnP

 

Spheres:

Btw. Demi, I've got question/bug when it's about Spheres in your mod. Finger of Death as 'war'?

[Demivrgvs]

Also, full list of ideas with small descriptions. Maybe those would be helpfull

Indeed, let's see...

 

1st level

Battlefate (chaos) - random bonuses

Calculate (numbers) - show statistics

Dispel Fatigue (necromantic) - removes fatigue

Invisibility to Animals (animal) - protection from animals

Courage (war) - long-term bless

- do we really need another buffing spell here? (AoF and Bless seem enough)

- cool, but good luck implementing it

- very very limited...unless we make it dispel fatigue-like things like berserker's after-rage fatigue, or we add fatigue-causing spells (e.g. Ray of Enfeeblement may fit such role)

- NO! This kind of spell is broken in BG (see vanilla's Protection from Undead outstanding exploitness)

- I don't understand, you want to have two Bless spells at the same lvl?

 

2nd level

Chaos ward (chaos) - random protections?

Watery fist (water) - pseudo-pod attack of water elementals

Create Holy Symbol (creation)

Rally (war) - long-term chant

- ?

- for druid?

- eh? is it planned for your kits or what?

- sorry, but what's going to do Chant then?

 

3rd level

Etherealness (numbers)

Summon Animal Spirit (summoning) - totemic druid ability

Unfailing Premonition (time) - as your Clairvorance

Feign Death (necromantic) - cool spell!

- may be interesting, though clerics already have tons of 3rd lvl spells

- ehm...perhaps it is just me, but sounds really OP (just checked and it really was an AD&D druid spell!). It's a cool concept, but it would strip the Totemic Druid of his "trademark" feature.

- may be interesting, though clerics already have tons of 3rd lvl spells

- I'm not sure it would work in this game...

 

4th level

Adamantite Mace (earth)

Dimensional Anchor (guardian) - protection from teleport field and maze

Recitation (combat)

Imbue with Spell Ability (charm) - grants 1st or 2nd level spell to any character

Cloak of Bravery (charm) - immunity to fear and bonuses

Leadership (war) - long-term fighting bonuses

- upgraded version of Shillelagh/Spiritual Weapon?

- I like this, yes

- as I said, I'm against it (it's only a 2x Chant)

- interesting, but I'm not too much into it

- may be interesting

- ...

 

5th level

Dimensional Translocation (numbers, summoning) - sort of strange damage/kill spell

Impregnable Mind (protection, thought) - Chaotic Commands for those who don't like Chaos

Othertime (time) - don't remember

- ?

- actually I already renamed Chaotic Commands this way in my install (as Chaotic Commands really doesn't sound as a defensive spell to me, seems like "cause chaotic commands")

- ?

 

6th level

Entropy Shield (chaos) - powerfull protection

Whirlwind (air) - damn yeah

Heroe's Feast (creation) - creating special food which heals and grant some bonuses

- call it Divine Shield or Entropic Shield, as long as it's cool and really adds something fine with me (P.S Shield of the Archons should be something cool too instead of a mere copy of Spell Turning)

- indeed

- boh...

 

7th level

Impervious Sanctity of Mind (protection, thought) - absolute immunity to mind-affecting spells and psionic

Tsunami (water) - I hope there's going to be animation for this one

Reincarnate (animal) - my invention. Sort of Ressurection for druids, but character have to make saving throw or will be locked in animal form for 8 hours.

Divine Inspiration (divination)

Spacewarp (numbers) - pulls all of the characters in one place

Timelesness (numbers) - grants 3 rounds of Time Stop but disables spellcasting

Changestaff (plants) - that's how Summon Shambling Mound should be called in PnP

- what's the plus over Impregnable Mind?

- good luck finding the animation!

- hi hi hi (re-load material)

- I cannot comment

- and?

- this scares me a lot

- you want to rename SSS into Changestaff?

 

 

Spheres:

Btw. Demi, I've got question/bug when it's about Spheres in your mod. Finger of Death as 'war'?

I'm not even sure I spent more than one second thinking about it...haven't I kept vanilla's assignment? Does DR changes it? AD&D Priest Spell Compendium says it belongs to the Animal sphere (thus available to druids) ...

 

I'm going to check the sphere system a little more from now on, making an eventual DR-like system more easily implementable.