precision on effect #42 Spell: Wizard Spell Slots Modifier

[deratiseur]

This effect works very well when applied to a mage, but is buggy when applied to a sorcerer: with the sorcerer, the parameter must be X+1 for the effect to be correct. For example, if I apply -3 spells to a sorcerer, he'll only lose 2.
It also works the other way round: if I apply +2 spells to a sorcerer, in-game he gains 3 spells.
Tested on several mage / sorcerer kits with parameter 511 (one spell per level) and + or - spells.

Edited May 12 by deratiseur

[polytope]

So, this makes sorcerers basically immune to Nishruu attacks? Honestly never noticed it, although not many enemies summon Nishruus (Nishrii?) and they don't have particularly good THAC0.

[argent77]

I can't reproduce this issue in BG2EE. op244 effect drained the exact number of spell from a sorcerer in my tests.

[deratiseur]

Have you tested this on a kit with spell level 511 (1 spell of each level) and -X spell in permanent after death duration?

This bug was noticed by a French user on 2 DAWAP sorcerer kits, and I tested all my kits, he was right... for the sorcerer.

Either it's "permanent after death" that creates the bug, or my kits are crap. In any case, no problem for the mage kits.

[argent77]

No, I tested it on an item I was just working on that uses this opcode. It could be that it works differently when applied via kit CLAB.

[Bubb]

I'm not understanding the situation. What do you mean by "parameter / spell level 511"? Also:

• op244 can only drain spell memorization, not add them back. Do you mean to say you're also testing op261?
• The opcode immediately terminates itself, so a permanent timing mode is no different than timing mode 0.

What's the exact setup / test case?

[deratiseur]

OOOOPS ! Sorry, too tired. From the start, I should have said effect 42 instead of effect 244. Really sorry.

[argent77]

On 5/11/2024 at 4:22 AM, deratiseur said:

This effect works very well when applied to a mage, but is buggy when applied to a sorcerer: with the sorcerer, the parameter must be X+1 for the effect to be correct. For example, if I apply -3 spells to a sorcerer, he'll only lose 2.

Opcode 42 also worked as intended in my tests, as long as negative amounts are limited to -1. Otherwise, strange things can happen. This is also noted in the IESDP description of the effect. You can add multiple effect instances if you want to reduce the slot amount by more than one slot.

[deratiseur]

Always buggy. With two simplified #42 effects set to lose 1 spell from each level, my sorcerer's kit loses.... 1 spell per level.

[jmerry]

All kitted mages and sorcerers get +1 spell slots per level inherently, from the specialist hardcoding. You'd be seeing +1 slots per level on your kit if you weren't applying any opcode 42 effects at all.

So, in other words, this has nothing to do with opcode 42. That opcode works as expected. It's the baseline that's wonky.