Feedback for spells

[Guest LD]

Hi all,

 

It is the second or third time I replay the game with this mod + SR, and I cannot praise both authors enough: this is an amazing work, the mods very greatly enhance the game.

 

I had some trouble (maybe some bug ?) with Tanova, the vampire mage at Bodhi's headquarters. She was very hard, and when I finally managed to beat her it felt random and unsatisfying. As was expected, she tried to domimate my non-protected party members, she hit quite hard with her claws, and she cast many higher level spells (she almost always begun the fight with II, SI:Abjuration and SI:Illusion). However, most of the time she did not bother to cast protection spells against physical attack except stoneskin. Yet, I could not manage to land a hit on her, even with the flail of ages, as though she had the whole time a Protection from Magical Weapons on her. I've reloaded maybe 5 times, and the sixth time, my fighters suddenly could hit her after the third round of combat and shortly sent her to her coffin.

 

So if she DOES cast protection from magical weapons, there might be some feedback message missing.

 

On the other hand, I had my sorceress cast the whole time Secret Words at Tanova. Aside the fact that half of the time it did not do anything (seriously! this is very very annoying, especially with the spellcaster script of SCSII! has this been fixed on newer versions of SR???), when it dit manage to dispell something I felt quite frustrated because I simply did not know what had been dispelled. For insance, Tanova cast several times SI:Ab and SI:Div. When I managed to launch an effective Secret word on her, it removed one of her SI, but which one? not knowing the answer, I was a bit clueless as to what spells I should cast afterwards. I guess such a feedback is impossible to have in-game, but perhaps you could provide a description in the readme of how the spells are removed?

[Demivrgvs]

It is the second or third time I replay the game with this mod + SR, and I cannot praise both authors enough: this is an amazing work, the mods very greatly enhance the game.

 

So if she DOES cast protection from magical weapons, there might be some feedback message missing.

When the spell is cast you automatically get a feedback message as with any other spell, which in some cases is unfortunate imo (e.g. you shouldn't be notified if opponents cast Mislead). You should also see a short animation, though that is shared by all PfMW-like spells.

 

On the other hand, I had my sorceress cast the whole time Secret Words at Tanova. Aside the fact that half of the time it did not do anything (seriously! this is very very annoying, especially with the spellcaster script of SCSII! has this been fixed on newer versions of SR???), when it dit manage to dispell something I felt quite frustrated because I simply did not know what had been dispelled.

Are you using the latests hotfixes? Your issue may be the one we discussed here, and it should be fixed by now (especially for SW, as I've removed its AoE projectile).

 

For insance, Tanova cast several times SI:Ab and SI:Div. When I managed to launch an effective Secret word on her, it removed one of her SI, but which one? not knowing the answer, I was a bit clueless as to what spells I should cast afterwards. I guess such a feedback is impossible to have in-game, but perhaps you could provide a description in the readme of how the spells are removed?

If there are multiple spell protections of the same lvl I suppose there's no way you can know which one is removed. The only thing I can suggest is to use a bunch of relatively cheap Spell Thrust instead of guessing which SI is still up.

[Ardanis]

On the other hand, I had my sorceress cast the whole time Secret Words at Tanova. Aside the fact that half of the time it did not do anything (seriously! this is very very annoying, especially with the spellcaster script of SCSII! has this been fixed on newer versions of SR???),

Yep, it's a known issue. Area-targeted spells sometimes do not hit the exact point, instead they explode 2-4 feet before it. Should have been fixed in SR, but in any case you can try casting a bit past the enemy (1-2 feet, which is roughly one underfeet selection circle for human-sized creature), so if the projectile doesn't reach the destination, it still may explode right upon the target.

 

For insance, Tanova cast several times SI:Ab and SI:Div. When I managed to launch an effective Secret word on her, it removed one of her SI, but which one? not knowing the answer, I was a bit clueless as to what spells I should cast afterwards. I guess such a feedback is impossible to have in-game, but perhaps you could provide a description in the readme of how the spells are removed?

Antimagic removal spells, as should be mentioned in their description, start with the highest level protection possible. If there're two of the same level.. mm, I think I better test it to be sure...

 

PS Demi has posted before me.

[Guest LD]

Thank you for your replies! I've replayed the fight again, just to be sure. Of course, I'm an idiot, Tanova did not actually cast any hidden PfMW, she was just stoneskinned. I thought I was hitting her with the Flail of Ages, but instead my Berserker was using the whole time the +2 hammer that does electricity damage. Hence the messages I received about the enemy being immuned to my damage: I guess vampires are immune to electricity?

 

On the other hand, in this last replay, my fighter/mage also sometimes managed to damage her with the new SR phantom blade, but not as much as the spell description says. It is supposed to be 1d12+14 magical damage against undead, but I only did around 6-13 damage. Maybe only some part of the damage is magical, and the rest is physical and was being blocked by stoneskin? Also, it seems she only had to pass her saving throw against miscast at the very end of the fight, after I successfully cast a Breach at her. So maybe stoneskin was also blocking the miscast effect of the phantom blade.

 

Yep, it's a known issue. Area-targeted spells sometimes do not hit the exact point, instead they explode 2-4 feet before it. Should have been fixed in SR, but in any case you can try casting a bit past the enemy (1-2 feet, which is roughly one underfeet selection circle for human-sized creature), so if the projectile doesn't reach the destination, it still may explode right upon the target.

I reinstalled with the latest SR hotfix (last time I played the game was in August, and indeed the newest hotfix has been posted in September). Here was the configuration of my 3-man party: Tanova is surrounded by my F/M and my Berserker, while my sorceress is further away:

 

So____________F/M Ta Be

 

The first time my sorceress cast Secret Word at Tanova, she did dispell the spell protection of... my F/M !!! so clearly Ardanis has a point here. I'll try to target my spells a bit further away from the enemy spellcaster.

 

If there are multiple spell protections of the same lvl I suppose there's no way you can know which one is removed. undecided.gif The only thing I can suggest is to use a bunch of relatively cheap Spell Thrust instead of guessing which SI is still up.

Ok, I thought there might be some hidden rule, for instance: if the game messages show one SI first, then this is the one that is removed last, or something like that. Nevermind, and thanks for the clever suggestion of Spell Thrust in this situation!

[Guest LD]

On the other hand, in this last replay, my fighter/mage also sometimes managed to damage her with the new SR phantom blade, but not as much as the spell description says. It is supposed to be 1d12+14 magical damage against undead, but I only did around 6-13 damage. Maybe only some part of the damage is magical, and the rest is physical and was being blocked by stoneskin?

Exploring the rest of Bodhi's lair, I'm doing low damage with the Phantom Blade even against Fledgling Vampires (though they seem to be affected by the miscast effect). Against Grimwarders however, I'm doing high damage of around 18-20 which is in agreement with the spell description.