better casting in school of specialization - how would you do it?

[kreso]

your tank would be the ultimate vampire-killer, for instance, immune to level drain. On the other hand, dropping its duration to 4-5 rounds (as SR does, I think) and moving it to 7th level (as I plan to do) will help balance that.

Well, usually Chain Lightning casting is usually more effective than a level 13 fighter with 4 rounds invunerability to weapons. PfMW always lasts 4 rounds, regardless of SR.

 

Are they really touch spells in PnP? That makes me feel better about doing this for Abjurers.

Yes, but they aren't nearly as imba as BG2 implementation (BG2 doesn't distinguish between a Xvart or a Dragon when hitting stoneskin -they both peel one skin per hit). Stoneskin works a la IWD2 version (with damage reduction), Ironskin gives AC.

[subtledoctor]

Hmmm... here's another idea:

 

Right now all wizards in my mod have Spell Thrust and Minor Spell Deflection as at-will innate abilities. I could take those away and make most wizards use the spells, like in vanilla, and give the at-will innates to Abjurers only! That would make a ton of sense... but on the other hand I like giving those abilities to wizards.

 

Here's another idea: make Abjurers better at spell protections, the same way Illusionists are better at invisibility. Add an effect via .EFF to the various Deflection/Turning/Trap spells, which will simultaneously cast Spell Shield when used by Abjurers. So they will always have an extra layer of protection compared to other wizards. Effectively freeing up some 5th level slots. That could be pretty great, Abjurers would be better at spell battles than other specialists!

 

It would maybe be problematic in the absence of SCS/SR's fix... but in that case I could add an Absorption effect that blocks 1 spell level (and for Trap, a Deflection effect). It wouldn't be the same but it would probably be good enough - still an extra layer of protection.

 

I'm liking this. I think this is the move.

[AL|EN]

I like "make Abjurers better at spell protections, the same way Illusionists are better at invisibility". Clean and simple.

[subtledoctor]

You know that Tobex allows you to increase various damage types by percentage? Iirc, the only mod that took advantage of that so far is Daulmakan's Item pack.

So, you'd simply need to edit Invoker's clab and type AP_blah where blah is a spell which uses ToBex magic. I'm not sure how this would work on EE's, but plenty of stuff doesn't so...

 

So TobEx allows this, and IWDEE allows it. BGEE and BG2EE don't... but we can pretty safely assume that IWDEE's nice new opcode #332 will soon make its way to the other two games. (If not, then holy crap Beamdog must be amazingly lazy.)

 

Easy enough to enable this for the EEs - just an ACTION_IF GAME_IS ~iwdee~ THEN BEGIN...

 

But, how do I detect TobEx? What ACTION_IF parameters can I use to make sure the TobEx ability only gets appended to the Invoker CLAB if TobEx is in fact installed?

[Jarno Mikkola]

But, how do I detect TobEx?

ACTION_IF MOD_IS_INSTALLED "TOBEX.TP2" "100" BEGIN
//insert code 
END

That is the core component.

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #100 // TobEx - Core: Beta 0026

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #101 // Apply Concentration Check On Damage [WIP]: Beta 0026

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #102 // Awaken On Damage: Beta 0026

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #104 // Disable Stoneskin Grey Colour [C]: Beta 0026

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #105 // No Spell Interruption On Zero Damage: Beta 0026

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #107 // Allow All Races to Dual Class: Beta 0026

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #108 // Allow Equipping Armor in Combat: Beta 0026

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #109 // Disable Experience Boost: Beta 0026

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #110 // Disable Force Inventory Pause: Beta 0026

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #111 // Disable Silence On Charm: Beta 0026

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #112 // Level One Proficiency Restrictions: Beta 0026

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #113 // Remain Hidden On Pickpocket Success [C]: Beta 0026

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #114 // Rest Spawns Advance Time: Beta 0026

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #115 // Dialogue Greeting Subtitles: Beta 0026

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #116 // Enable Animation Attack Sounds: Beta 0026

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #117 // Universal Four Inventory Weapon Slots: Beta 0026

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #118 // Subtitles For Standard Soundsets: Beta 0026

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #120 // Drop Inventory on Disintegrate: Beta 0026

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #121 // Drop Inventory on Frozen Death: Beta 0026

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #122 // Drop Inventory on Stone Death: Beta 0026

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #123 // Enable Auto-Pause On All Screens: Beta 0026

~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #124 // Make All Attack Animations Genuine Attacks: Beta 0026

 

[subtledoctor]

Ah! Duh. Thank you.

[kreso]

BGEE and BG2EE don't

Whaaaat?!

LOL.

[Mike1072]

 

But, how do I detect TobEx?

ACTION_IF MOD_IS_INSTALLED "TOBEX.TP2" "100" BEGIN
//insert code 
END

That is the core component.

 

You'll want to use a different check, since ToBEx features can be installed by that mod or any other mod that includes ToBEx.

 

The way ToBEx itself checks for its existence is with this:

FILE_EXISTS "TobEx_ini/TobExVer.txt"

Another option to consider is including ToBEx in your mod.

[kreso]

Well, I used this:

 

/* INVOKER */
ACTION_IF FILE_EXISTS ~tobex_ini/tobexcore.ini~ BEGIN
LAF ~GET_KIT_STRREF~ STR_VAR kit_name = ~invoker~ RET kit_strref END
STRING_SET_EVALUATE kit_strref @6 // Invoker description

COPY ~kmage/data/invoker/clabma07.2da~ ~override~
COPY ~kmage/data/invoker/k1cl400.spl~ ~override~ // blast em.

END ELSE BEGIN
LAF ~GET_KIT_STRREF~ STR_VAR kit_name = ~invoker~ RET kit_strref END
STRING_SET_EVALUATE kit_strref @10 // Invoker "alternate" description for EE users. No, I won't be bothered with IWD. Sorry.
END

 

[subtledoctor]

@Mike that's on the to-do list but I have zero free time and getting this mod out the door working well is my first priority; figuring out how to include TobEx for players who don't bother to do so themselves is less important. (You have to be crazy to play the pre-EE game without TobEx anyway - that's the whole reason to play the pre-EE game!)

 

@kreso the effort to support IWDEE is literally smaller than the effort you used to explain why you're not supporting it. (Simple spell, opcode 332, target = self, param1 = 25, timing = instant/permanent.) And doing so now helps you in the future, because when Beamdog supports the effect in the other games you only need to add 4 or 5 characters to your ACTION_IF parameters...

[kreso]

when Beamdog supports the effect

 

STRING_SET_EVALUATE kit_strref @10 // Invoker "alternate" description for EE users. No, I won't be bothered with IWD. Sorry.

END

@10 = ~Go complain to Beamdog for Stone Age engine. Sorry.~

[subtledoctor]

 

Sonetimes I don't know why I support BGEE with my mod, since I myself only play BGT... it's basically charity. It's for the children! (Literally.)

[kreso]

 

Sonetimes I don't know why I support BGEE with my mod, since I myself only play BGT... it's basically charity. It's for the children! (Literally.)

Well, I don't have such problems. I have EEs and don't play them, I'm addicted to ToBex. IWDEE is nice - much better than BGEEs, but...it's IWD. The game is quite a bit worse (story and all, virtually zero replay value, stupid AI blah blah) than BG and I don't really care about it.

[InKal]

IWD is different game not worse. simpler and more elegant. no romances, no whining, no psychiatric skills needed, no stupid broken spells, no retarded "HLAs", no "epic" crap, no laughable "cheese", vanilla Ai actually probably better than BG vanilla AI, replay value quite high, nothing like BG especially BG2 but imo high enough and pretty decent story. heart of winter is fantastic - surprisingly mature, dark, nostalgic and poetic. lost love, loneliness, longing, suffering and despair. horribly and unjustly underestimated.

[Avenger]

You know that Tobex allows you to increase various damage types by percentage? Iirc, the only mod that took advantage of that so far is Daulmakan's Item pack.

So, you'd simply need to edit Invoker's clab and type AP_blah where blah is a spell which uses ToBex magic. I'm not sure how this would work on EE's, but plenty of stuff doesn't so...

 

This opcode is in HoW, so it is also in IWDEE and the 1.4 BG engines (opcode 332). But it wouldn't really help because damage types are not school specific.

 

[edit]

Ahh, well, you got some weird schools like Pyromancer. Well, then just use opcode 332.