Sword Coast Stratagems v34 (edit: 34.3) now available

[david76321]

Hi

Am noticing that when you pick a class for Jaheira and Aerie that they get an extra spell slot per level.

Thank you

[CamDawg]

Bug report from Tempest on Discord:

Quote

 

G'day- not sure if this is the place to put this but I've encountered an issue with the Faster Bears part of SCS conflicting with the Boots of Speed.

My Mage/Thief cast Polymorph Self and transformed into a Brown Bear near the start of the game. Scroll forward to ages later and I found the Paws of the Cheetah. Put them on, but not speed change (not wearing the Ring of Free Action or anything).

Checked EEKeeper and under the Effects tab...well you can see the screenshot I've taken.

[screenshot shows op126 setting speed to 8 from spwi497]

 

 

[polytope]

8 hours ago, CamDawg said:

Bug report from Tempest on Discord:

My Mage/Thief cast Polymorph Self and transformed into a Brown Bear near the start of the game. Scroll forward to ages later and I found the Paws of the Cheetah. Put them on, but not speed change (not wearing the Ring of Free Action or anything).

Tenuously bugged, it doesn't make sense for a bear to wear boots anyway, and durational effects have always overridden those from equipped items (unless ofc both effects increment rather than set a stat).

Edited December 15, 2022 by polytope

[jmerry]

Ages later, when the character is no longer a bear. After all, if they were, there would be an opcode 111 "Create Weapon" effect from spwi497 active. Definitely a bug.

Any speed changes associated with the shapeshift should be equip effects of the polymorph weapon (PLYBEAR1 and PLYBEAR2 for bear shapeshifts in BG2EE).

[polytope]

Oh right, that's terrible, I hadn't actually looked at the screenshot, and thought he was referring to movement rate while polymorphed into a bear but it looks like it's tied to the duration of the polymorph form and not removed by reversion to natural form. A clear bug, along with the shapeshift token proficiencies, but like I said, equipping an item generally won't replace active durational effects.

Doesn't seem to exist on original engine + SCS with faster bears component, I've also literally never polymorphed my mage(s) into bear form, why would you?

[jmerry]

You polymorph into a bear because it has the most powerful non-backstab physical attacks. Not a terribly wide niche, but it's there.

Bears: 3 APR, 1d6+7 damage, +3 to hit.

Wolf: 2 APR, 1d8+1 damage, +0 to hit.

Mustard Jelly: 1 APR, 5d4 damage plus poison and slow, +0 to hit, ranged.

Spider: 2 APR, 1d4+1 damage plus poison, +0 to hit.

Ogre: 1 APR, 4d6+7 damage, +3 to hit.

Flind: 2 APR, 1d10+2 damage plus 1 fire, +2 to hit, two-handed.

All figures include the form's stat bonuses. Ogre attacks may be twice as powerful as bear attacks, but the bear attacks three times as often.

Edited December 16, 2022 by jmerry

[polytope]

Ah yes, the spider form got substantially nerfed with EE (it used to have 4 apr), its poison was also weakened to allow a save at around the same time the assassin and blackguard kits poison weapon abilities were.

Still, a mage could do more damage per round throwing Melf's Minute Meteors, without having to get close to an enemy (bear's AC is poor) and still able to cast spells without wasting an action to switch back, maybe not if the target was immune to fire but I really don't think anyone would melee a red dragon with a mage in bear form... The mustard jelly still looks like the most interesting (abusable) polymorph option.

[Graion Dilach]

Tougher chapter-four end battle: If Davaeorn already has rings equipped in his equipment slots, both rings are moved to the inventory in favor of the sole ring this component installs.

[DrAzTiK]

Hi everyone,

Is the current version of SCS stable ? the last uptade is quite ancient and  I notice many bugs have been reported since.

[Roberciiik]

Hi,

It seems that 'append description' for WIZARD_SPELL_STRIKE (spellstrike_vs_pm_scroll.tpa file) incorrectly adds text with leading space. In fact, space is omitted (for all languages). It is related to @211 and @40014 translation stringrefs.

Example from desc:

The target's Magic Resistance, if any, does not affect this spell.This spell will also destroy the anti-magic sphere created by a Protection from Magic scroll.

For the other spell, translation stringref @14400 the leading space is already included in the string.

Thanks

[jmerry]

From a report over at the Beamdog forums, I've spotted a conflict between a component and EE material.

Namely, Neera's ToB quest and "Make Watchers' Keep accessible between SoA and ToB". (stratagems/gameplay/wk_early.tpa)

If you bring Neera with you through the SoA/ToB transition with this component active, the conversation that starts her quest will happen immediately when you start ToB at Watcher's Keep. Neera's clearing will appear on the ToB map ... in the exact same location that the grove of stone heads uses. Both are at (397, 56). The base game gets away with this by never having both visible on the map at the same time, but this component needs the grove to be on the map when you start ToB. Rather hard to go there if the area is hiding under another icon.

I'm thinking the best solution for the flow of the game is to delay Neera's quest triggering until after you deal with Gromnir and can move freely in Tethyr, as the base game has it. Here's the block in neer25.BCS that starts it up:

Spoiler

IF
	Global("OHN_TOB_PLOT","GLOBAL",0)
	Global("OHN_BIRD_TALK","LOCALS",0)
	OR(4)
		AreaCheck("AR5200")  // Fire Giant Entrance Area
		AreaCheck("AR5202")  // Nyalee's Hideout; Gorion Wraith
		AreaCheck("AR6400")  // River Area
		AreaCheck("AR3000")  // Watcher's Keep
	See(Player1)
	!Range([EVILCUTOFF],30)
	CombatCounter(0)
THEN
	RESPONSE #100
		SetInterrupt(FALSE)
		SetGlobal("OHN_BIRD_TALK","LOCALS",1)
		StartDialogueNoSet(Player1)
		SetInterrupt(TRUE)
END

 

 

[YGW]

Hello.

I've encountered some strange behaviour in late SoA and ToB on Insane - creatures don't use offensive spells/abilities. Spellcasters stick to summons/protection/invisibility/attacks. Mind flayers, beholders, demons simply attack.

This behaviour changed at some point throughout the game and affects not all, but majority of enemies. For example, mind flayers in Underdark  used crushing and magical damage abilities, but in Alkathla (in chapter 6) and WK(between SoA and ToB) they try to stay invisible most of the time and attack, if detected.

Or demons: Pit Fiends in WK shoot fireballs or casted Swarms, but they don't use any abilities besides melee attacks further down the road.

Another example is Odamaron: starting contingency with Mordekainens'/Hakeshaars, then Planetar, then Gates/Cacofiends, intertwined with PfMW.

 

BG2EE 2.6.6.0 on Linux (using ciopfs).

Installation order: Portraits Portraits Everywhere > ASCENSION > UB > ALTERNATIVES > LANTHORN > WHEELS > SCS (v. 34.3).

 

[jmerry]

Sounds like this bug: https://www.gibberlings3.net/forums/topic/33992-maze-leaving-permanent-effects-on-characters/#comments . Psionic Maze, in the current version of SCS, permanently sets the spell state DO_NOT_TARGET_SPELLS. It should only last a few seconds, but the v34 update broke it.

SCS enemies, as the name suggests, will not target anyone with this state active. Because they think it wouldn't do any good.

The Psionic Maze spell is most often used by illithids, mazing its target on a failed spell save (at -4).

 

[polytope]

7 hours ago, jmerry said:

Sounds like this bug: https://www.gibberlings3.net/forums/topic/33992-maze-leaving-permanent-effects-on-characters/#comments . Psionic Maze, in the current version of SCS, permanently sets the spell state DO_NOT_TARGET_SPELLS. It should only last a few seconds, but the v34 update broke it.

Can I request one of the moderators like @jastey to sticky this thread in the SCS forum (or split + sticky the fix that was posted on the second page) because this one in particular is really gamebreaking and several players have run into it with the result that their party members subsequently confuse SCS AI spellcasters (or anything with targeted spell like abilities) for the rest of the game.

Edit. It's been a problem for more than a year as DavidW has been busy offline.

Edited January 7, 2023 by polytope

[morpheus562]

I don't want to intrude with my scripts, but since they come after SCS I can have them do a cleanup and correct this bug as part of my existing updates to spellstates.