Mod nerfing heroes to be realistic?

[Guest Rik]

Namely shandalar and drizzt. I don't think it is normal that Shandalar has these exagerate resistances (see here: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/34724/whats-with-the-armor-class-of-drizzt-and-shandalar)

I wonder if anyone knows of a mod that fixes this issue.

[ABlake]

It's not an "issue". *Realistically* your party shouldn't be able to kill these guys at all. That's the point. The devs' original idea was likely something along the lines of "we want to make it painful for any player who wants to kill these guys", rather than to make it "sensible". Shandalar is a mage, right? And supposedly a powerful one. How can you tell what kind of magics he has on him? Maybe realistically he is able to wipe out your party in 3 seconds flat. He has special magic that makes him almost impossible to be hit by low level grunts, maybe?

I wonder if anyone has ever cared enough to make a whole mod just for this. On the other hand, it's very easy to modify creature stats using Near Infinity. You should try it; it's really fun.

[Greenhorn]

For the Shandalar you can use this: https://github.com/BGforgeNet/bg2-tweaks-and-tricks/blob/dev/docs/gameplay.md#fair-fights.

There are several Drizzt's options on the internet, I'm sure with little surfing you will find what you need. 

[Jarno Mikkola]

There's a difference between heroes and NPCs. Find it, and you'll never look back again(about these cheaters).

Edited February 14, 2021 by Jarno Mikkola

[Guest Rik]

@Greenhorn. Thank you. Wondering one thing - do I download the master or dev one?

[Jarno Mikkola]

24 minutes ago, Guest Rik said:

@Greenhorn. Thank you. Wondering one thing - do I download the master or dev one?

No, you download the RELEASE one, v8.6 or older. From here.

[Greenhorn]

As my favorite Imp says. 

[temnix]

The question has been answered, but I will add this: it may be a pretty good mod idea to nerf the party. -2 to every stat above 8 for all of the NPC would be a good start. Possibly -1 to the main class stat, though the values would still be excessive. Take the wizards in the first Baldur's Gate: Xan has Intelligence 16, Xzar 17, Edwin 18. 18 is the physical maximum for the human species. Edwin is Einstein with an energy bar. Those two other characters are Bohr and Plank, and hey hoy, they all happened to meet on the same fifty miles of coast. Imoen's Intelligence is 17 also... "Heya!" Slash stats, and the painful labors to balance out the BG series with ingenious hacks will recede from necessity. The power of personages like Shandalar will also seem less outrageous.

[Greenhorn]

18 hours ago, temnix said:

The question has been answered, but I will add this: it may be a pretty good mod idea to nerf the party. -2 to every stat above 8 for all of the NPC would be a good start. Possibly -1 to the main class stat, though the values would still be excessive. Take the wizards in the first Baldur's Gate: Xan has Intelligence 16, Xzar 17, Edwin 18. 18 is the physical maximum for the human species. Edwin is Einstein with an energy bar. Those two other characters are Bohr and Plank, and hey hoy, they all happened to meet on the same fifty miles of coast. Imoen's Intelligence is 17 also... "Heya!" Slash stats, and the painful labors to balance out the BG series with ingenious hacks will recede from necessity. The power of personages like Shandalar will also seem less outrageous.

Not bad idea for someone who care about this. I know some mods which do opposite but I have yet to see mod which nerf NPCs. I'm personally power gamer who uses every advantage I can think of on tough mod setting ( currently playing old BG:TotSC with Vault, DSotSC, Drizzt saga, Stone of Askavar and Mysteries of the Sword Coast, among others ) so I'm afraid I will not be so keen on this idea. From reality point of view bards in BG1 have believable stats ( Eldoth and Garrick with their crappy intelligence which is pain to learn arcane spells reliably without potions). On the other hand it is not such stretch of imagination to believe that Xan actually would have 17 intelligence ( not 16) as elves will not send some dumbass to investigate iron crisis ( he seems like smart guy because you know " we are all doomed " really ). Xzar can pass as mad genius ( Bumi from Avatar ). Imoen is jewel waiting to be polished street smart girl and Edwin... Well, you got me there as I can't think of one reason why this arrogant jackass would have 18 intelligence ( although I'm finding him funny and sometimes outright hilarious with addition of some mods). 

Edited February 15, 2021 by Greenhorn

[Endarire]

@Rik
Considering that typical humans never become uber enough on their own to take down gods and godlings with swords and bows, desiring things to be "realistic" in this case is asking for the impossible.

A major reason I've liked the Baldur's Gate series was that it properly handled epic levels by giving us epic abilities and epic threats in an epic setting!  If you'd prefer to mod the game to be something else, go ahead.

Edited February 16, 2021 by Endarire

[Guest Rik]

On 2/14/2021 at 7:11 PM, Jarno Mikkola said:

No, you download the RELEASE one, v8.6 or older. From here.

Sorry, but how did you find that link?

[Bartimaeus]

On 2/16/2021 at 12:38 PM, Guest Rik said:

Sorry, but how did you find that link?

github's UI redesign in the recent past has made it a little more difficult to find things, but if you go to main github page of a project, you can check the right side under the "About" for the "Releases".

[Jarno Mikkola]

3 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

github's UI redesign in the recent past has made it a little more difficult to find things, but if you go to main github page of a project, you can check the right side under the "About" for the "Releases".

No.

Always, go to the given repository page, you'll see the releases pages latest version, click it, then click your url address and remove the extras, "tags" etc cheese, and there you go. Aka:

[Bartimaeus]

Oh, you mean like on the main page of a project, which I explicitly mentioned in my post, on the right side, which I explicitly mentioned in my post, under the "About" section, which I explicitly mentioned in my post, where you would then find "Releases", which I explicitly mentioned in my post? Right there? In your screenshot? Yeah, I thought so.

Edited February 19, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Jarno Mikkola]

11 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Oh, you mean like on the main page of a project, which I explicitly mentioned in my post, on the right side, which I explicitly mentioned in my post, under the "About" section, which I explicitly mentioned in my post, where you would then find "Releases", which I explicitly mentioned in my post? Right there? In your screenshot? Yeah, I thought so.

That does not go into the page that was mentioned, just the latest versions page... dah.