More from Six of Spades

[SixOfSpades]

- Taulmaril isn't in the game, and while it could simply be laziness, BioWare's lack of attention to detail does not a bug make.

Understood, and both sides have valid arguments. I just feel that if correcting the Varscona-duplication, and replacing it with an item that the wielder would have had, is a good thing, then why not do the same thing with Tansheron's Bow? As CamDawg said, there is a change to be made here. You can either change it to a Short Bow+2 (as +3s are ToB items)--and I should point out that if BioWare had meant Catti to have a Shortbow+2, they would simply have given her one--or you can write just 3 or 4 sentences of Item Description.

 

- Unless a description specifically mentions a save vs. wand, these items will never be changed simply because they are wands/rods/staves.

Yeah--although I think you mean they will never be changed in a Fixpack. As worthy as I think the tweak is, it's still a tweak.

 

THE FIXPACK DOES NOT ARBITRARILY ALTER CONTENT TO MAKE IT COOLER/BETTER/HARDER.

Ah, come on, I thought you knew me better than that--I'm not going to try to hijack a fixpack to make changes to the game's difficulty (except in cases where I think it's an obvious bug, like a Dragon having only 1 hitpoint). I just thought it was an error to have the Suldenessellar Elves attacking the Golems with weapons that they knew damn well wouldn't even scratch the things. Elves are more than smart enough to run away from a hopeless situation--hopefully luring the Golems away from attacking anyone else.

 

 

The Optional But Cool: Mixed-use dagger fixes makes changes though--melee abilities are removed, +1 ApR, and damage goes to a base of 1d4. Now that I think about it, I suspect that the double throwing damage may be due to the halved number of attacks when being used as a throwing weapon.

Uhhh-- "halved" number of attacks? What do you mean?

 

I'm not sure what bugs would be caused by breaking the items into 2 separate weapons, each of which can destroy itself and create the other--unless by "bugs" you mean the unavoidable error where the game looks for Firetooth and doesn't see it because you've got it in the version that uses the new ITM file instead of the old one.

 

Varscona is on the import lists, so it's possible the party can get it in CI. As such, every creature gets Varscona swapped for a generic +2 long sword.

If the import lists also included a script so that, if any item takes the place of the Helm of Balduran, then Balduran gets bumped to Ilyich's head, then people might actually consider carrying Varscona into BG2. (Tweak, not a bug, I know.) But even so, you shouldn't assume that anybody is going to find Varscona in Jon's bedroom. All in all, I think the best place to find/obtain Varscona is in the new store added in aVENGER's Rogue Rebalancing mod.

 

I may have made a colossal gaffe in the paragraph above. I've always understood that certain BG1 items could take the place of 2 items in Irenicus's dungeon: The Sword of Chaos could be replaced by a weapon, and the Helm of Balduran could be replaced by a number of items (the Claw of Kazgaroth being one of them). Is this incorrect?

[devSin]

THE FIXPACK DOES NOT ARBITRARILY ALTER CONTENT TO MAKE IT COOLER/BETTER/HARDER.

Ah, come on, I thought you knew me better than that--I'm not going to try to hijack a fixpack to make changes to the game's difficulty (except in cases where I think it's an obvious bug, like a Dragon having only 1 hitpoint).

I posted this because the boards are now public, and a lot of my statements can be misconstrued by members who haven't yet suffered my presence. I tend to say things like "I do this" and "I did that," and I want to make sure that somebody who just came here looking for information about the fixpack and the changes it makes doesn't mistake my own personal work for fixpack content.

 

So in short, it wasn't intended for you. :-)

I may have made a colossal gaffe in the paragraph above. I've always understood that certain BG1 items could take the place of 2 items in Irenicus's dungeon: The Sword of Chaos could be replaced by a weapon, and the Helm of Balduran could be replaced by a number of items (the Claw of Kazgaroth being one of them). Is this incorrect?

The sword is static. The Mail of the Dead (Ilyich) and the Helm of Balduran (Jon's bedroom) use the IMPORT 2DAs. Varscona cannot be imported (I think).

[CamDawg]

Yeah, Varsona's my mistake. I wrote that patch before I realized that import02.2da doesn't actually work, so we need to leave it on somebody. Unfortunately for anyone who might want to use it, it's really only found on chapter 6 types... and Ribald.

 

Uhhh-- "halved" number of attacks?  What do you mean?

My mistake. I thought Firetooth didn't have its extra ApR which would mean, as a throwing dagger, it had only half the normal number of attacks. However, I misremembered and was basically talking out of my ass here.

 

I'm not sure what bugs would be caused by breaking the items into 2 separate weapons, each of which can destroy itself and create the other--unless by "bugs" you mean the unavoidable error where the game looks for Firetooth and doesn't see it because you've got it in the version that uses the new ITM file instead of the old one.

As much as I like the 2H Katanas in Tweaks, I can't stand the fact that is such an ugly hack and obvious mod content. This suggestion is still a good idea for OBC but it's still not a core fix.

[CamDawg]

Left Varscona on Ribald; discovered that another unique item, Suryris's Blade, is on four creatures.

 

edit: Suryris's Blade is also sold by Ribald, so all four creatures get it swapped.

 

// Suryris's Blade is unique; repacing all references except planar sphere lizardman
COPY_EXISTING ~bazliz04.cre~ ~override~ // lizard man captain
             ~gorsta02.cre~ ~override~ // wk statue
             ~gorsta09.cre~ ~override~ // wk statue
             ~jarevia.cre~  ~override~ // reviane
 READ_LONG  0x2bc "itm_off" ELSE 0
 READ_LONG  0x2c0 "itm_num" ELSE 0
 FOR (index = 0; index < itm_num; index = index + 1) BEGIN // searches through items
   READ_ASCII ("%itm_off%" + (0x14 * "%index%")) "item"
   PATCH_IF ("%item%" STRING_COMPARE_CASE "halb03" = 0) BEGIN // find Suryris's Blade
     WRITE_ASCII ("%itm_off%" + (0x14 * "%index%")) "halb07" #8 // replace with generic halberd +2
     SET "index" = "%itm_num%" // kills loop
   END
 END
 BUT_ONLY_IF_IT_CHANGES

[Drew]

Now that I think about it, I suspect that the double throwing damage may be due to the halved number of attacks when being used as a throwing weapon.

Nope. It's actually pnp. A dagger of throwing does double damage when thrown. You can find it in the DM's guide.

[Guest Guest]

Now that I think about it, I suspect that the double throwing damage may be due to the halved number of attacks when being used as a throwing weapon.

Nope. It's actually pnp. A dagger of throwing does double damage when thrown. You can find it in the DM's guide.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

what is the best weapon on baldurs gate 1

[CamDawg]

The sole reason why this thread remains pending is that Catti-Brie has a duplicate unique item--Tansheron's Bow. Swapping her bow with something else is a big balance issue (hence it's not being done), but two copies of a unique item is a bug. The best solution is to simply give Catti's bow a different description. Hence, I'm asking for help from one of you aspiring writer types to create a new name and description for Catti's copy of Tansheron, keeping in mind that its actual abilities will not change at all (and that Malchor Harpell will take the bow from the party almost immediately). The original description:

 

Tansheron's Short Bow +3

The thin, frayed string of this bow appears unusable, but when it is drawn a solid but invisible arrow becomes tangible. The lich Tansheron gave this bow to his Watcher, the guardian of his keep who stood atop a tower with neither entrance nor exit. When anyone approached, down would fall a never-ending rain of phantom arrows until they died or fled. How this bow was wrested from the Watcher's hand is not known, but would probably make a great tavern story.

 

Note: avoid equipping normal arrows on your character, else the bow will fire these instead of the phantom arrows.

 

STATISTICS:

 

Equipped Ability: This powerful bow requires no ammunition

THAC0: +3 bonus

Weight: 2

Speed Factor: 3

Proficiency Type: Short Bow

Type: 2-handed

Requires: 6 Strength

Not Usable By:

Druid

Cleric

Mage

Monk

Kensai

Cavalier

[berelinde]

The bow already has a name, from the novels, doesn't it?

[Diana]

The bow already has a name, from the novels, doesn't it?

"The Lone Drow: Companions of the Hall"

 

Taulmaril (a.k.a. Heartseeker; +3 force keen elven longbow)

 

It was a gift to the Mithral Hall dwarves by Lady Anariel, Sister of Faerûn. The bow is made of wood enspelled not to break or scratch, and the quiver held 20 silver arrows; when one was used the quiver magically replaced it. The bow was used by Catti-brie. Part of the weapon's enchantment (it's passed to the arrows when they're fired by it) is that the arrows are imbued with crackling energy in flight that causes them to deal far more damage than would be typical for a normal arrow. The energy is probably electrical in nature, as it scorches targets, can set flammables alight, but does not seem to have any particularly enhanced effect upon cold-based creatures.

 

Another property of Taulmaril The Heartseeker is that the arrow when fired from the bow the arrow is travelig at super high speeds that a normal bow cannot reach hence why it can can blast through enemies even when they have armor