Spell behavior in SCS *without* SR

[urdjur]

Hi! I've been using Spell Revisions so much so I'm no longer sure if SCS by itself does any rebalancing of problematic vanilla spells. I was considering a non-SR play through with a sorceror and it would be nice to get an idea on just how broken that could be. I couldn't find comments on these spells in the readme/spoilers:

 

(Chain) Contingency: Can you cast spells while the game is paused as per vanilla if SCS (and no SR) is installed?

Sunfire: Does it ignore MR under SCS only?

Spell Shield: I've heard it's supposed to be broken somehow (and randomly über against beholders IIRC from my vanilla games back in the day). Does SCS modify it in any way?

Clones: I noticed the item fixes, what about multiple clones, ignoring summoning limits and the recharging trick with Spell Trap? Can a polymorphed PI attack under SCS as per vanilla? Also which of dispel/remove magic, death spell and true sight handles clones in SCS?

Blindness, Feeblemind etc: Is it possible to cast these on non-hostiles without turning them hostile as per vanilla?

Strength: Can this be used as a no-save no-sr nerf on say, the chromatic demon, under SCS?

MMM: I noticed the shift from +6 to +2, but is the issue of off-hand melee weapons hitting across the screen fixed as well?

Vampiric Touch: Is it fixed or does it still randomly give you tons of hp?

 

Are any other spells modified or removed in any way, beyond what's documented in the readme? If any of the above issues are fixed in the fixpack or some other common non-SR mod, please let me know as well. Thanks!

[polytope]

One glaringly overpowered spell that isn't fixed by SCS is the druid spell Nature's Beauty; the blindness should really allow a saving throw... Although spellcasters can cure the blindness with True Sight in SCS, and Dragons are immune. Regarding the others:

 

(Chain) Contingency: Can you cast spells while the game is paused as per vanilla if SCS (and no SR) is installed?

 

Yep, you don't even need to have CC memorized if you cast it from hotkey. It's broken.

 

Sunfire: Does it ignore MR under SCS only?

 

Yeah but that's not such a bad thing, it gives wizards a way to deal with Drow, Skeleton Warriors etc... Indestructible Mordy swords are another option but even cheesier imo.

 

Spell Shield: I've heard it's supposed to be broken somehow (and randomly über against beholders IIRC from my vanilla games back in the day). Does SCS modify it in any way?

 

Recent versions of SCS includes Ardanis' fix for SS to absorb only the first protection remover or Anti-Magic ray - I just fought Sion in my game, his spell shield seemed to vanish with one secret word (as it should).

 

Clones: I noticed the item fixes, what about multiple clones, ignoring summoning limits and the recharging trick with Spell Trap? Can a polymorphed PI attack under SCS as per vanilla? Also which of dispel/remove magic, death spell and true sight handles clones in SCS?

Blindness, Feeblemind etc: Is it possible to cast these on non-hostiles without turning them hostile as per vanilla?

Strength: Can this be used as a no-save no-sr nerf on say, the chromatic demon, under SCS?

 

I believe SCS fixes creatures to turn hostile if SpellCastOnMe(). The others are all obvious abuses, using the spells in unintended ways. David has said he's not going to police the player about that.

 

(It would be possible through eff targetting of races to prevent the strength spell from affecting Dragons, Golems Giants etc., but then again, just don't do it. Stick to ray of enfeeblement as a debuff.)

 

MMM: I noticed the shift from +6 to +2, but is the issue of off-hand melee weapons hitting across the screen fixed as well?

 

Hardcoded and needs ToBEx to fix it. Then again, why would you have a fighter/mage or blade cast MMM? They'd be better of sticking with their melee weapons anyway.

 

Vampiric Touch: Is it fixed or does it still randomly give you tons of hp?

 

VT is buggy but not exploitably so, unless you want to reload dozens of times until it glitches and gives you an extra 71 hp.

[DavidW]

In general the only things in SCS that get done without documentation (in the "initialise" component) are things that look to me like uncontroversial fixes. IIRC the only ones are mirror image not blocking AoE spells and Spell Shield working as correctly. Other than that, you should be able to trust the readme.

 

As regards rebalancing in general: (i) SCS still aims to rebalance things but only where they seem to be seriously throwing out game balance - so the scope is way narrower than in SR. (And I write SCS AI on the assumption that all the SCS spell modifications are installed.) (ii) I have a deliberate don't-block-exploits policy (so I don't care about Contingency or image abuse).

 

On the specifics, I think Polytope covered it. The only correction is that I'm actually a bit less good than he suggests at catching non-hostile spellcastings - I used to use SpellCastOnMe but it returns too many false positives, esp. with Detect Evil.

[urdjur]

Thanks for the quick reply guys. I agree that exploits are up to the player - I also like no-MR on Sunfire for the reasons polytype suggest. FYI, I intend to limit myself on one clone/type (mislead, PI, simmy) and max 5 summons regardless of what casts them (not counting the illusory clones themselves, but including planetar), as well as to using contingencies as... contingencies (as in: stuff you plan for in advance), not mid combat cheese.

 

As I side note, I really like SCS's true sight counters blindness variant. I'd also like to verify that Protection from Magic Energy still protects from magic damage 100% under SCS (it does in vanilla, but not according to the spell description).