Unearthed Arcana presents Scales of Balance: a post-hac tweak pack

[Chosen]

On a recent build with XPO:revised tables, my test character with single thief class didn't get HLA's until lvl 24 with even though that required more than 4 million xp. Should it not require only 3 million? I would appreciate it if you could check. Setup includes this comonents:

~SCALES_OF_BALANCE/SCALES_OF_BALANCE.TP2~ #0 #200 // SBO - Stat Bonus Overhaul: v5.34
~SCALES_OF_BALANCE/SCALES_OF_BALANCE.TP2~ #0 #201 // SBO - Stat-based Bonus Spells: v5.34
~SCALES_OF_BALANCE/SCALES_OF_BALANCE.TP2~ #0 #206 // SBO - Hit Dice Overhaul -> Generous (above-average) hit points: v5.34
~SCALES_OF_BALANCE/SCALES_OF_BALANCE.TP2~ #0 #210 // XPO - Slower, standardized XP Tables: v5.34

[subtledoctor]

Doesn’t touch HLA tables. Check lunumab.2da

[Chosen]

Oh, I thought you changed them too. Sorry for the confusion. I will check the hla gain file, it seems an easy edit.

[Chitown Willie]

Subtledoctor,

Double-checking that SoB (specifically Stat Bonus Overhaul) should be installed *before* SCS.

Reason I ask is because I was poking around NI and noticed that the regular Kobold Chieftain was assigned to your "D5_STATS.EFF":

But SCS Kobold Chieftains were not:

And so I'm thinking that "Stat Bonus Overhaul" needs to be installed after "Improved Kobolds" to update the SCS kind.

[subtledoctor]

5 hours ago, Chitown Willie said:

And so I'm thinking that "Stat Bonus Overhaul" needs to be installed after "Improved Kobolds" to update the SCS kind.

Possibly. I've played games where I installed this after SCS  and I never noticed any problems. In this case, if SCS gives kobolds a high DEX score, installing this after would give them a 1-point bonus to melee thac0. Another component where this could be important is the Magic Resistance Overhaul, which is supposed to strip MR off every creature; but some very late mods like SCS and aTweaks can add creatures with MR.

[Jarno Mikkola]

17 minutes ago, subtledoctor said:

ssibly. I've played games where I installed this after SCS  and I never noticed any problems. In this case, if SCS gives kobolds a high DEX score, installing this after would give them a 1-point bonus to melee thac0.

Thing with this is, the SCS also sets the creatures thac0 to where it should be if it's too high(as lower is better) from reading the ingame data. So now you would then just mess that up.

[subtledoctor]

5 minutes ago, Jarno Mikkola said:

Thing with this is, the SCS also sets the creatures thac0 to where it should be if it's too high(as lower is better) from reading the ingame data. So now you would then just mess that up.

No. As usual you put forth fully-formed opinions based on half-informed facts. This mod changes some bonuses for attribute scores; so SCS sets the attributes and sets the thac0/AC/etc. correctly, and then this mod would apply a repeating .eff that adds any bonuses not already applied by the engine. So this would fix things, not mess them up. 

[ahungry]

I've been toying with many combos of item_rev armor/weapon system (phys damage resistance) with SOB armor system - I know the SOB readme mentions choose and stick to one or the other, but I think I'm finding the combo of both to be the most enjoyable (in BG1 stages - haven't got to BG2 in my new mod adjustments) - IR 20% resist on full plate still causes melee battles to end too soon, while stacking the two lets a full plate user break 50% phys resist (but totally tanks dexterity) - basically, a big sponge to absorb damage that'll get hit a lot.

The only downside is some things which intend to give instant (or fast) cast, like Drow Adamantite Spellchain, end up conflicting, as IR gives -1 cast time (compared to the usual nerf to cast time) and SOB gives +2 cast time - maybe the solution is to choose the spell failure vs cast time increase option.

Edited January 13, 2022 by ahungry

[Guest Szaumoor]

I was wondering about the Saving Throw overhaul and the Spell Evasion thing (does that conflict with the Feat system in Might and Guile btw?). Do we need to install first Icewind Dale spells from SCS (for example) for the mod to make the necessary modifications to ensure consistency? I'm hesitant to use it because I want those spells, but I don't want things to be messed up because they use different saving throw checks. Thanks

[subtledoctor]

8 hours ago, Guest Szaumoor said:

Do we need to install first Icewind Dale spells from SCS (for example) for the mod to make the necessary modifications to ensure consistency? I'm hesitant to use it because I want those spells

Install IWDification or SCS IWD spells, then Scales of Balance. 

8 hours ago, Guest Szaumoor said:

I'm hesitant to use it because I want those spells, but I don't want things to be messed up because they use different saving throw checks.

You don’t have to install revised saving throws. Just install Evasion if you like, and keep spells using their original saves. (Evasion will always use a save vs. Breath though, IIRC.)

[Guest Morgoth]

Hello, any plans to merge the component of Tome and Blood giving you more spells according to your int, with the Scales of Balance "stat bonus overhaul"?

[subtledoctor]

2 hours ago, Guest Morgoth said:

any plans to merge the component of Tome and Blood giving you more spells according to your int, with the Scales of Balance "stat bonus overhaul"?

That component is already deprecated in TnB, and now only exists here in SoB. (Basically just to make install ordering easier.)

[subtledoctor]

I have updated the mod to version 5.36. This improves the 'Ability Score-Based Bonus Spells' component #201, adding some better compatibility with other mods such asa Faiths & Powers spontaneous casting options. 

This also adds a new component, with two options for installing. With component 201 installed, 5E-style casters will get bonuses to their memorization slots, but not their casting slots. Now there are options to either 1) apply such bonuses to both memorization and casting slots; or 2) apply such bonuses only to casting slots and not to memorization slots. (The proliferation of memorization slot bonuses with 5E casting actually get a bit annoying...if you want more spellcasting in your game, i suggest focusing on bonuses to casting slots, not to memorization slots.)

Finally, I just noticed that heretofore, the Readme did not mention component 201 at all! I have remedied that, including a chart that shows what spell slot bonuses you get from the mod.

[Gwaihir]

@subtledoctor

I get this report while installing component 2013: SBO only for casting slots:

Spoiler

//ERROR Installing [SBO - Stat-based Bonus Spells for 5E Casters -> SBO - bonuses only for casting slots], rolling back to previous state
//Will uninstall  19 files for [scales_of_balance\scales_of_balance.tp2] component 2013.
//Uninstalled     19 files for [scales_of_balance\scales_of_balance.tp2] component 2013.
//ERROR: Failure("Unknown function: 5e_no_priest_mem_bonus")
//Please make a backup of the file: Setup-scales_of_balance.debug and look for support at: SubtleD
//Automatically Skipping [SBO - Stat-based Bonus Spells for 5E Casters -> SBO - bonuses only for casting slots] because of error.
//Using Language [English]
//weidu_external/lang/english/ubsetup.tra file not found. Skipping...
//NOT INSTALLED DUE TO ERRORS SBO - Stat-based Bonus Spells for 5E Casters -> SBO - bonuses only for casting slots

 

I'm using the latest version on my big EET install, with 5e casting v. 1.5.2

[subtledoctor]

That's weird. I just installed the two together and  it worked fine. Glancing at the code, I don't know why it can't find the function because the function is right there.

It's possible you just grabbed copies of the mods at an inopportune time - you really want to use 5E v1.5.3. Also SoB v5.36.2, and TnB v0.9.25.2, and FnP v0.81.9. These four updates deal with the interaction between my spontaneous casting and '7th member' mods.

EDIT - actually I see a problem, and now I don't understand why it worked for me... I should have gotten the same error as you. Weird!

Anyway go ahead and grab v5.36.3, it should let that component install.

Also, I see you installed 5E v1.5.2, which has a flaw that will only show up in some edge-case circumstances, but will be super annoying if it does show up. You'll want to install this hotfix if you have 5E v1.5.2, MnG v4.17.1, and/or TnB v0.9.25.1.