Stronghold provisions

[gatperdut]

A tiny suggestion for BG2 which may help dummies like myself not shoot themselves in the foot: restore provisions when resting in owned strongholds.

I was getting ready to sail to Spellhold after a full day of binge resting outside of the de'Arnise Keep so that some NPC plots would advance before we left for several weeks. Eventually we got to Bodhi's gauntlet, reunited with Imoen, we showered her with items mysterious and magical, treated her spellbook to new scrolls for her collection, and it was a joyous occasion all around... until she asked if we'd brought some oats or something.

I can imagine the Planar Sphere would be an exception.

[jmerry]

Well, obviously, you should have been resting inside the keep, where there are actual bedrooms.

Going through the strongholds to evaluate the idea...

Cleric strongholds: No. You don't own the temple, and there's nowhere appropriate to rest there anyway.

Druid stronghold (AR1901): Resting is allowed, but it's the same area as before you own the stronghold. This might not be feasible.

Fighter stronghold (AR1304 through AR1307): Yes, resting inside the keep should restore provisions. Well, at least in AR1306 and AR1307 where the bedrooms are.

Mage stronghold: No. There may not be any monsters, but it's still far too wild in there.

Paladin stronghold (AR0903): Resting is not allowed in the vanilla game, but there are beds there. Since this is the same area as the non-stronghold version, you'd need to change a flag during gameplay. Fortunately, that's feasible with the AddAreaType script action.

Ranger stronghold (AR1107): Resting inside the cabin should restore provisions.

Thief stronghold (AR0321 through AR0324). Resting is not allowed in the vanilla game, and Rattell (SHTHSTOR) doesn't sell rooms. Adding free basic inn service to Rattell's shop (similar to SIlence from BG1) feels like the best option here.

 

[DavidW]

This is a good idea. TBH your provisions should probably reset to full when you get to Spellhold anyway - one assumes that Saemon Havarion sets a good table (even if he tends to slip spell components into the steak sauce). Probably also when you get to the elf camp in chapter 6.

If you want to fudge it for yourself, your total number of provisions lives in the variable 'dw_supplies_count'. So if you use the console to do

C:SetGlobal("dw_supplies_count","GLOBAL",5)

you'll be back to 5 provisions. (You may need to save and reload to get the UI to register it.)

[gatperdut]

That's awesome. In the end I used EEKeeper, the variable was somewhere there in the list.

[gatperdut]

Reflecting on it a bit more, and as you point out, it might be enough to just automatically restock them during these long journeys, instead of the more complex per-stronghold approach. Other than Spellhold, Balduran's isle comes to mind, and in every other case you are never far from an inn (aside from the possibly 20 hours long walk). I am unsure if the pocket plane from ToB prevents you from reaching one during certain events, challenges and the like. 

This was the very first time I actually thought about the provisions, tbh, since even insane difficulty's 4 is ample unless one spams rest. 

[DavidW]

I like the stronghold approach. It's not complicated to implement, and it makes sense in-game.

[Guest some dude]

I disagree excellency! The provision system right now makes you pay for just living. It's almost as good as having to eat actual food in the game. If you give me a place to rest and restock for free then that is the place that I always use and that nullifies the whole system. Also I like the tactical side of it; you have to gather up your provisions before going to a long trip in the wilderness.

I myself also changed the inn rooms to cost more; the cheapest room costs 20 gold per night in my game.

And one more argument: Even if you own the De'Arnise Castle, it does not mean they make you meals for free in there. There are no free meals in the world! Someone always pays for them and in this case it should be the player.

[DavidW]

By the time you acquire strongholds, 20gp for rest is negligible. And I think the idea of a stronghold is very much something you can use as a home base.

[subtledoctor]

19 hours ago, Guest some dude said:

The provision system right now makes you pay for just living. It's almost as good as having to eat actual food in the game. If you give me a place to rest and restock for free then that is the place that I always use and that nullifies the whole system.

I don’t know what exactly this provisions thing is, but if you have a stronghold you are supposed to want to use it as a base of operations… that’s what strongholds are in (A)D&D. Any mod that leans into this idea sounds good to me. 

[Guest some dude]

Well you may be right about the strongholds. But for a cheapskate like me 20gp is never negligible! I'm one of those who collect junk worth 1gp if possible and sleep in the sewers if I still have even one provision left.

[JediMindTrix]

On 1/23/2024 at 9:29 PM, jmerry said:

Cleric strongholds: No. You don't own the temple, and there's nowhere appropriate to rest there anyway.

IIRC the dialog for the Cleric strongholds references you having your own quarters, even if it isn't represented on the map itself.

[jmerry]

It does?

Quote

You will have sanctuary here, with a room of your own to serve as a home.

Quote

You are given quarters here, a personal space to house your belongings.

Quote

You have safe haven within this temple, with a space of your own in which to worship.

So ... it varies a bit. The Talos dialog really doesn't imply a place to rest. But on the whole, it's probably OK. Implementing it would be similar to the paladin stronghold; you flip the area flags with a script action.

[CrevsDaak]

Pretty sure aTweaks uses AddAreaType() to add a custom flag to Strongholds (and I think Inns as well, unsure, but that's just patched in at install time) for it's own Scribe Scrolls component, which ToF has outdated via sheer mechanical advantages, but it'd be cool if it could be limited to those zones as well. As for rations, strongholds should definitely restore them, and it would be nice if one could obtain access to something like the Create Food and Water or the P&P version of Goodberries (though that one requires recently picked berries I think, not something you'd find out and about anywhere...) as well, in order to let the player solve the issue that way if they so prefer (which would revert the rest situation back to vanilla rest spamming but if you get interrupted enough times it'd have much bigger consequences. And you still have to cast the spell and use up a spell slot every fifth rest or so).

[Guest some dude]

One last suggestion to this. If you are going to make the strongholds a place to restock provisions for free in future versions, then at least make it a separate and optional component not installed automatically with the main "Revised resting: resting in the wild uses up provisions".

That way people like me can enjoy the pleasures of paying for food and supplies without any workarounds.

[DavidW]

Will you settle for an ini option?