Corrected dispel magic behaviour

[polytope]

I'm working on an expansion mod and I've found a way to fix dispel magic to work, more or less, as per AD&D.

 

I know other modders - Taimon and Ascension64 - have fixed the spell via exe. patches, but I didn't want to use these as I don't know how they work, and can't offer any support on bugs that may arise.

 

The new spell basically uses an always successful dispelling opcode (type 0, as per arrows of dispelling) with the same max level restrictions as were present already in spells like color spray, but with a % chance of triggering based on respective levels of caster and target - currently I've made it scale to lvl 30 which is the max level for mortals in 2ed.

 

It's a little bit different to AD&D dispel magic, as the chance of success or failure scales by 10% per level difference rather than 5% - the latter seems a bit imbalanced as there is too little difference in the dispelling power of low level and high level mages.

 

Full description below:

 

Dispel Magic (Abjuration)

Level:3

Range: Visual range of the caster

Duration: Instantaneous

Casting Time: 3

Area of Effect: 30-ft. cube

Saving Throw: None

 

When a wizard casts this spell, it has a chance to neutralize or negate magic it comes in contact with: It removes spells and spell-like effects (including the effects of magic devices such as wands, potions and supernatural abilities - though not psionic abilities) from creatures or objects.

 

Each effect or potion in the spell's area is checked to determine if it is dispelled. The chance to dispel depends on the difference in level between the magical effect and the caster. The base chance is 50%. If the caster is of higher level than the creator of the effect to be dispelled, the chance increases by 10% for every level; if the caster is of lower level, the chance decreases by 10% for every level. There is always a 5% chance of either success or failure, regardless of level.

 

A dispel magic spell does not affect permanently enchanted magical items, nor are artifacts or relics subject to this spell; however, some of their secondary spell-like effects may be.

 

Note that this spell can be very effective when used upon charmed and similarly beguiled creatures. Certain spells or effects cannot be dispelled, check the spell's description.

Would anyone be interested in this modification to dispel magic? I can release it before any of the actual expansion, which I've barely started on.

 

Also I've fixed Vampiric Touch so that it requires a living target - can't be used on an undead (or a door, or a crate, as was the case in vanilla game) made Chromatic Orb, Web and Stinking cloud work a bit more like their 2ed versions and have other spells like stoneskin on my "to do" list for the near future.

[Galactygon]

Would anyone be interested in this modification to dispel magic? I can release it before any of the actual expansion, which I've barely started on.

I'm guessing you are staggering multiple effects with different hit die values - it's got a major setback, in that you won't be able to account for multi-/dual- classed characters. IIRC it adds all the levels from all the classes, so you will not get the true casting level you are looking for. There is just no way you could solve this without .exe patching.

 

Also I've fixed Vampiric Touch so that it requires a living target - can't be used on an undead (or a door, or a crate, as was the case in vanilla game) made Chromatic Orb, Web and Stinking cloud work a bit more like their 2ed versions and have other spells like stoneskin on my "to do" list for the near future.

 

Much of this has already been done (here, here). I can't think of a way to change stoneskin so that each attempted attack also removes a skin.

 

-Galactygon

[polytope]

I'm guessing you are staggering multiple effects with different hit die values - it's got a major setback, in that you won't be able to account for multi-/dual- classed characters. IIRC it adds all the levels from all the classes, so you will not get the true casting level you are looking for. There is just no way you could solve this without .exe patching.

Ah yes, I didn't think to test it with multi-class characters, a shame as I thought I'd finally fixed it.

 

Much of this has already been done (here, here). I can't think of a way to change stoneskin so that each attempted attack also removes a skin.

 

-Galactygon

I liked Spell Revisions although the changes to the spells were closer to 3rd ed. I haven't tried your Spellpack - it looks like you've fixed many of these, still, I wanted to change some aspects of the magic system anyway for my mod.

 

I thought "Cast spell on condition" might work for removing stoneskins in combat, but I've yet to try it.

[polytope]

it's got a major setback, in that you won't be able to account for multi-/dual- classed characters. IIRC it adds all the levels from all the classes, so you will not get the true casting level you are looking for.

 

I did some more testing, it seems my modification of dispel magic does work equally against single classed, dual and multi-class mages. Tested it with a newly created sorc in ToB (lvl 16) vs some Maharajah rakshasa (16/16 f/m with SCS) and some lvl 9/16 dual class human f/m - in both cases it worked half the time, which is what you'd expect, unless there is a deeper bug I'm unaware of.

[Galactygon]

it's got a major setback, in that you won't be able to account for multi-/dual- classed characters. IIRC it adds all the levels from all the classes, so you will not get the true casting level you are looking for.

 

I did some more testing, it seems my modification of dispel magic does work equally against single classed, dual and multi-class mages. Tested it with a newly created sorc in ToB (lvl 16) vs some Maharajah rakshasa (16/16 f/m with SCS) and some lvl 9/16 dual class human f/m - in both cases it worked half the time, which is what you'd expect, unless there is a deeper bug I'm unaware of.

 

You'd have to do a more thorough testing to see how the hit die fields and actual .cre levels interact rather than a "it works half the time". It's just impossible that one field (LONG_AT 0x1c/0x20) can store the same information that's otherwise stored in three fields (BYTE_AT 0x0234, 0x0235, 0x0236) of the .cre file. This topic isn't covered by the IESDP, so here's your chance to contribute.

 

-Galactygon

[polytope]

I've tweaked the animations of Planetars, Devas and Solars to be less "fuzzy", and coloured according to MM descriptions - and to better distinguish the various types - part of my project to revise creatures for this expansion, screenshot here.

 

From left to right; Fallen Deva, Deva, Dark Planetar, Planetar, Fallen Solar, Solar - plus original Solar and Antisolar animations for contrast.

 

You'd have to do a more thorough testing to see how the hit die fields and actual .cre levels interact rather than a "it works half the time". It's just impossible that one field (LONG_AT 0x1c/0x20) can store the same information that's otherwise stored in three fields (BYTE_AT 0x0234, 0x0235, 0x0236) of the .cre file. This topic isn't covered by the IESDP, so here's your chance to contribute.

 

I'm actually unsure how the opcode works, but here are the results of some more tests - same as before, lvl16 sorcerer casting dispel magic against groups of enemies:

 

Vs Lvl 13 cleric (sample size 30) - works 25/30 times, i.e. 83% (expected 80%)

 

Vs Lvl 9/15 cleric/mage (sample size 60) - works 41/60 times, ie 68% (expected 60%)

 

Vs Lvl 17 mage (ss 30) - works 8/30 times, i.e. 26% (expected 40%)

 

Vs Lvl 22 cleric (ss 30) - works 1/30 times i.e. 3.3% (expected 5%)

 

A fairly good fit.

[polytope]

I've fixed protection from undead scrolls to match their original description, to protect only from the melee attacks of undead - rather than preventing undead from noticing the player at all; they still prevent vampires from draining PCs (though not from charming them) but are no longer a win button against liches.

 

What is the usual process to apply for hosting at G3? Should I submit an alpha version for the admin?

[coaster]

I like the new Planetar/Deva/Solar looks, I was never a fan of how they were in the original.

[Guest!]

I like the new Planetar/Deva/Solar looks, I was never a fan of how they were in the original.

Ditto. I'm looking forward to the release.

[Miloch]

I've tweaked the animations of Planetars, Devas and Solars to be less "fuzzy"

Nice, but I thought some other mod (PnP Celestials?) did something like this already?