IR Revised V1.3.800 (2022 January 11th)

[DrAzTiK]

tweaks are the way to go, it can ofen be a game changer    

I don't remember what Tear of fear refers to ?

About balancing items, if you allow me, I still think that :

-  people overestimate a bit how powerfull is magic resistance  (many spells and HlLA bypass it). Then, I find almost all items providing +10% magic resistance to be still quite unappealing. I would raise the % at least twice... potion of magic blocking is also  quite unapealing (for the price)in comparaison to potion of energy shielding and potion of energy protection.

-ring of energy and amulet of energy :  the % seems quite low (+25%)  in comparaison to others items providing +50% to fire ( and  many spells in the game are fire based)

-ring of limited wish : en equiped ability could be interesting. We really have to discourage the player to equip an item only for cast a spell.  I think that a +2 wisdom bonus could fit the item.

-gauntlet of healing : early item in BG2  so I would  replace the current   insta  magic full  heal with  insta cure critical wounds and maybe add one or two convenient cure spell ( slow poison/cure disease etc..) and I would raise the regeneration rate ( still we want to discourage to equip an item only to cast free spells)

-flame of the north +2 :  1d6 elemental damage would be more sexy but other than that I don't have serious argument. 1D4 for a two handed sword looks a bit pathetic.   The problem about two handed swords is that lilarcorn make all others swords quite unapealing, (+3 and immunity to charm/confusion is ofen a no brain pick up) unless you agree to patch immunity to magical weapons 

 

 

Edited April 5 by DrAzTiK

[Bartimaeus]

The Tear of Fear grants the Bhaalspawn protection to +1 magical weapons. I believe it is the only source of such granular protection.

The Amulet of Energy Shielding in IR grants 10% to the different energy types (50% total); it was increased to a much more powerful 25% (125% total), though I stripped the amulet of its +1 bonus to saving throws as a consequence (which is already well-covered by Amulet of Protection and Amulet of Spell Warding anyways). I really just can't see myself increasing it any further, I already feel it's arguably too strong (albeit not very exciting).

As to the Ring of Energy (which was increased from IR's 20% to 25% for IRR), IR seems to consider magic damage resistance to be a more valuable type of damage resistance compared to the other four elemental types. We've got the Cause Wounds spells, Spiritual Hammer, Holy Smite/Unholy Blight, Slay Living, Harm, Finger of Death, Magic Missile, Chromatic Orb, Larloch's Minor Drain, Ghoul Touch, Skull Trap, Phantom Blade, Disintegrate, Horrid Wilting, and Blade Blade of Disaster as major magical sources of magic damage. In comparison, I would think fire is the next most common, and it has Burning Hands, Agannazar's Scorcher, Flame Arrow, Fireball, Melf's Minute Meteors, Fire Shield, Fireburst, Delayed Blast Fireball, Incendiary Cloud, Meteor Swarm, Sunscorch, Flame Blade, Fire Trap, Flame Strike, Fire Seeds, False Dawn, Sol's Searing Orb, Sunray, and Aura of Flaming Death as major magical sources of fire damage. I think I'd give magic damage the advantage, but fire isn't too terribly behind...but there's also the fact that the original game and SR seem to intrinsically view magic damage as being more valuable, if Protection from Magic Energy being at 6th level is any indication, never mind the general rarity of the effect on items.

There are a few items like Lilarcor that make others of the same type feel a bit like an afterthought. I don't think Flame of the North Flame of the North, with its current location at Tazok (instead of Spellhold as per the original game), is even one of the worst examples, but you're right, it could use some improvement. I think I'm going to take a look at two-handed weapons as a whole and consider some systematic changes to extra damage types and percentile effects, maybe look at some original IR stats and see if some reversions are in order.

Ring of Djinni Summoning: Honestly, I'm more inclined to just make this a quick use item instead of a ring. I like this ring concept, but like Ras the Dancing Sword, forcing the player to put it into their normal equipment slot can be annoying. I think I'll make that a tweak for Bart_Tweaks like I did for Ras.

Magic Resistance: There's an insane amount of magic resistance in IR, I think it's the most painfully overused stat for BG2/ToB items, and though I've reduced (and even eliminated it on a couple of items) in favor of alternatives, I don't feel it's nearly enough. I am pretty loathe to increase its presence in either strength or proliferation to be worse than it already is.

Gauntlets of Healing: I've never really known what to do with these, and I've waffled between a few different implementations. Heal is probably too powerful, I would agree with that...I think the reason I went with it is that I felt it would both be useful in comparison to other possible options while also not inundating the player with a bunch of abilities - splitting what can just be one Heal spell into multiple spells like a Slow Poison, Cure Disease, and/or Cure Wounds spell gets to be a bit obnoxious. So I never really found an ideal with what I might want to do with these.

Thanks for the feedback!

[DrAzTiK]

btw I still play with baldur 2.5 and item revision Revised V1.3.201..  really enjoy it  as always , hehe

Just for clarifications :

The Tear of Fear grants the Bhaalspawn protection to +1 magical weapons. I believe it is the only source of such granular protection:

====> that is why we end up with most mobs in ToB wielding + 3 weapons !

Amulet of energy shielding :  I didn't pay attention it improves all stats by 25%. I was thinking it would increase only magic damages. Yes, so it is quite a decent item !

ring of energy : overall playging with SCS, I find  immunity to fire more usefull than immunity to magic damage.  

For what is worth, I play with the mod "item randomizer"  (and a tweaked  item revision store component witch not move original items coz I want item randomizer to move them) so the whole balance of item revision may be not suited or it. Nothing terrible imo . As I said, I just find +1 and +2 weapons rapidly unapealing because of the quite often occuring of monsters immunity to magical weapons.(+1 and +2)

Magic resistance : I have already tried in the past to make a build (fighter build) based on magic resistance and end up finding it far less powerfull in comparaison to a build based on elemental resistance/saving trows resistance/immunity resistances(sleep,fear,charm, confusion etc..)  . I remember playing the wizard slayer and his pathetic +1% magic resistance per level and end up to find him very bad, even against arcane and divine spells casters.

just flavor and colors, it is surely  not good to try to reach perfection ^^

have a good day !

 

Edited April 6 by DrAzTiK

[Bartimaeus]

On 4/6/2024 at 2:37 AM, DrAzTiK said:

====> that is why we end up with most mobs in ToB wielding + 3 weapons !

Feel free to try out component #6, Disable Protection Against +x Magical Weapons.

Quote

Prevents creatures from being protected against magical weapons of a certain enchantment level. Creatures which were previously immune to e.g. magical weapons of +2 or less can now be damaged by magical weapons of all enchantment levels, including +1 and +2 weapons (but typically not non-magical weapons). If a creature was protected by weapons of +5 or greater, then they will still be immune to all magical weapons. This effect will also apply to all spells and abilities cast by both the player and enemies, so Absolute Immunity and Protection from Magical Weapons will still give immunity to all magical weapons, but the Tear of Fear which normally grants immunity to both non-magical weapons and +1 weapons will now only grant protection against non-magical weapons.

I didn't test this at all. Well, O.K., I did make sure that the standard monster-only immunity items (i.e. IMMUNE1.itm, IMMUNE2.itm et al.) and Absolute Immunity/Protection from Magical Weapons all looked correct with the global item/spell patch I did, but nothing beyond that. Fortunately, there has never even once been any issues with previous global patches I've made. Nope.

On 4/6/2024 at 2:37 AM, DrAzTiK said:

Magic resistance : I have already tried in the past to make a build (fighter build) based on magic resistance and end up finding it far less powerfull in comparaison to a build based on elemental resistance/saving trows resistance/immunity resistances(sleep,fear,charm, confusion etc..)  . I remember playing the wizard slayer and his pathetic +1% magic resistance per level and end up to find him very bad, even against arcane and divine spells casters.

Without rings/amulets, Wizard Slayers are pretty gimped compared to other options until they hit epic levels, which does seem backwards. I don't know what the numbers add up to oBG2, but I think it's about 75-85% for IRR with most non-Wizard Slayer classes.

Kaligun's Amulet of Magic Resistance/Amulet of the Seldarine: +10%
Robe of the Weave/Human Flesh/Big Metal Unit: +20%
Plate of Balduran: +10%
Helm of Balduran/Bronze Ioun Stone/Circlet of the Netheril: +10%
Ring of Spell Turning: +10%
Holy Symbol: +5%
Staff of the Magi/Carsomyr: +20%
Purifier/Hindo's Doom: +15%
Runehammer/Sword of Balduran: +10%
Shield of Balduran: +10%

...and +40% from Cleric's Magic Resistance (or +20% from Kaligun's Magic Resistance ability for non-Wizard Slayers), though that can be dispelled. Potion of Magic Resistance (+20%), on the other hand, cannot be...but also not usable by a Wizard Slayer. So Wizard Slayer can get about 50%, give or take 5% depending on alignment (also not counting Big Metal Unit), from equipment, and I guess a Wizard Slayer/Cleric could use two Holy Symbols for an additional 10% (yes, Wizard Slayers can use Holy Symbols, as it would otherwise be ridiculous to be granted holy symbols from their god that they cannot use), but eh, then you'd lose 10% from not being able to use either Purifier or Hindo's Doom, so it's a wash.

I don't think either the base game or IR are really balanced around the rather notorious Wizard Slayer kit, and I'm not really sure what, if anything, I'd really like to do about it. It's honestly probably a better idea to revise the benefits/drawbacks of the Wizard Slayer itself. Like, why is it only 1% magic resistance per level until level 20 anyways? I think it could be pretty easily upped to 2% per level instead, and now your base MR % is starting to look decently chunky by the end of SoA.

On 4/6/2024 at 2:37 AM, DrAzTiK said:

For what is worth, I play with the mod "item randomizer"  (and a tweaked  item revision store component witch not move original items coz I want item randomizer to move them)

Hmm, it probably wouldn't be too hard to expand the settings.ini "item_reallocation" switch to account for this...

[DrAzTiK]

I find Magic resistance les attractive in comparaison to saving trows resistance and immunities because magic resistance doesn't work against many monsters abilities ( like fiends/momies/vampires melee abilities or gaze attacks etc...) Magic resistance also doesn't protect you from various spells or HLA. 

But ok, it is surely flavour and colors

As for  items realocation  ( mostly  part of store component if I am not wrong) I find it quite intrusive.. It could be interesting to offers differents options ( realocation, no realocation,  extra potions or ammunitions etc..)

Again, for what is worth, I tweak just a few stores   giving unlimited potions to ribald ( I have never seen big C super center running out of stock) and  unlimited ammunitions of all kind to Peter the Fletcher. I make all other stores to get limited amounts of supplies but cheaper than ribald ( and fanced goods  even more cheaper). This way, all stores are more or less appealing.

I also make Ribald to have in store each generic +2 and +3  weapons . This way , you don't feel to much frustrated when you don't find a  magical weapon  , especially the one you have spend five stars in it.

I also make unlimited potions/amunitions to some drow merchant and sniverlings in underdark.

I would make the same tweak for the BG1 portion of the game but I only play BG2 for a long time.

Price allow to balance all that.

very good job for your tweaks

[MikeX]

On 3/13/2024 at 10:52 PM, Bartimaeus said:

The first one makes sense, since it's an EE-only item and I just over-looked it when transferring it over to IRR; the second one is the Equalizer. The last commit that I made to SW1H54.itm says "The Equalizer was usable by alignments it specifically mentioned as being denied to". The official IR description says "not usable by Lawful Good, Lawful Evil, Chaotic Good, Chaotic Evil"; the IRR description instead says it requires any kind of "neutral" alignment, which although different wording, should mean the same thing. Official IR's The Equalizer allows all alignments (including the supposedly barred Lawful/Chaotic Good/Evil) to use it, which I corrected for with the IRR version, but then I also added these 319s on top of that? I'm not certain why, especially because they're type 10 319s (restrict by character name?) and don't seem to actually reference anything. I'm a bit at a loss for what I was trying to accomplish here with these 319s...perhaps it was just left-over and unnoticed cruft from when I was trying to figure out how best to enforce the alignment restrictions? Regardless, thank you, I've fixed both swords!

@Bartimaeus
I've installed the latest IRR on a BGT game and it looks like the 319s on the Equalizer are still there.. Did I miss anything?

[Bartimaeus]

38 minutes ago, MikeX said:

@Bartimaeus
I've installed the latest IRR on a BGT game and it looks like the 319s on the Equalizer are still there.. Did I miss anything?

According to GitHub, I replaced SW1H54.itm (The Equalizer) with a new version that was...exactly the same size, which it should not have been if I had uploaded the correct version with those opcodes removed.

...

So I previously mentioned that my normal program for managing and updating my repositories wasn't working anymore due to licensing changes with that program, but I'm happy to report that I found a workaround a while back that will hopefully prevent something silly like this from happening again, though obviously I didn't notice this specific issue with The Equalizer here. Thanks for staying vigilant, and presumably you know how to remove those 319s yourself.

[MikeX]

Once more, thank you for your continuous support.

[MikeX]

@Bartimaeus

More of a question or clarification...

Regarding hamm04.itm:
TOSC added this unique item to a dwarf (Hurgan Stoneblade) in Ulgoth's Beard and you can get from him via dialog.
In TOB you can get it from somwhere around d'Arnise (just looked it up in NI).
So in a BGT game you could end up with two of them, of what should be unique.

IR(R) changed it to another unique item and I wonder, if the original could stay with Hurgan and the changed one to d'Arnise?

I know, you mentioned it before, that Demi did not care much about BG1, but maybe this could somehow be solved...

[Salk]

I didn't realize there was a straight replacement of the original BG Kneecapper before MikeX mentioned this in the post above.

If that is indeed the case, I can but support his suggestion.

Edited 13 hours ago by Salk

[Bartimaeus]

@MikeX @Salk

1. I don't think its original stats make a compelling case for a restoration given its weakness and location. At the point where you obtain it, it is effectively just a War Hammer +1 as you have already fought almost all the giant humanoids that you'd face in the game, with maybe just a couple of exceptions (e.g. Gorf in the Undercity).

2. It would require writing a new description for The Hammer of Corrosion, which has stolen and mangled The Knee-Capper's.

I'm not against the idea (I've done similar such things for other items which had straight replacements by IR), but given the two issues here, I think it would need to be properly workshopped to make it worthwhile.

Edited 6 hours ago by Bartimaeus

[Salk]

Of course!

It would require some thinking, but something that we would anyway want to avoid is for the player to have two copies of a unique item. I sympathize with the properties of the Kneecapper being far from ideal when the player gets it, but it still is an impressive weapon against the right enemies.

The Baldur's Gate Wiki here mentions a few interesting things:

1) The enchantment level of the weapon is different in oBG, BG2 and BG:EE.

2) In the original game, it's the second best war hammer after Ashideena

Within IRR I think we'd need to make it a little more appealing so that players may think it's good enough to use as main weapon. My suggestion is to go for Massive as property. That could be giving a wider critical range or a critical hit bonus which would apply all the time.

About the new description for the Hammer of Corrosion, I think we could brainstorm something. Most of its current description can be left untouched. Only the final bit needs to be removed while we can rearrange the introduction of the moniker. 

Cheers!

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Salk

[Bartimaeus]

2 hours ago, Salk said:

It would require some thinking, but something that we would anyway want to avoid is for the player to have two copies of a unique item.

The player can find but cannot have two copies of the item: as mentioned in MikeX's post above, one HAMM04.itm is in BG1 (Ulgoth's Beard), and one HAMM04.itm is in BG2 (de'Arnise Keep...in the golem room, I think).

2 hours ago, Salk said:

I sympathize with the properties of the Kneecapper being far from ideal when the player gets it, but it still is an impressive weapon against the right enemies.

With the very few amount of enemies set as "Giant Humanoid" in BG1, I'm afraid that's not really the case. The complete list: HACK, OOPAH, PLYOGRE, OGRECO, ARGHAI, OOPAH2, OGRE, GOLEMF, GOLEMF2, OGRE02, GORF. And it's only obtainable in Ulgoth's Beard...after you've cleared Durlag's Tower. I've checked all of these, and it pretty much leaves just Gorf as a potentially valid target to use its unique ability upon - contrast that with BG2, which has over 200 different creatures set to "Giant Humanoid".

There's another factor I'm not super fond of: Dwarven Thrower already pretty much has this item's property, with its +5 damage to ogres and giants, which means two hammers with close to the same unique property... I suppose one will never intersect the other, since Dwarven Thrower is in BG2 and the Knee-Capper will be in BG1, but it's still less than ideal. Hammer of Corrosion, on the other hand, still potentially has value even that late into the game, as its properties are decently attractive in BG1 even only at +1 enchantment.

But additional critical hit chance, I think that'd be just about alright to add given the item's description, and the vs. giant humanoids property can just be flavor more or less. Additional critical hit chance is a little overused for BG2, but I think it's just Backbiter, Long Bow of Marksmanship, and Heavy Crossbow of Accuracy that have it in BG1, so... Though in IR's property system, I don't think it'd be called "Massive". Actually, the Martial Staff is the only crushing weapon that has additional critical hit chance in IR/R, and that property is called "Impactful", which I always thought lacked a certain...well, it's not "Keen". Never could think of anything I liked better though, so it's tough to criticize.

Edited 1 hour ago by Bartimaeus