Overpowered weapons?

[Guest Shard (Moongaze)]

Hey there. I've been pondering on making an item pack for some time now, and before I release it I want to ask player's thoughts of what kind of equipment they find acceptable, and what kind they find overpowered, also including at which stage of the game an enchantment such as +3 or +4 is acceptable, and at which stage it's a no-no.

[jester]

After Mellissan's final speech.

[CamDawg]

Any +3 weapon available before returning from Bynnlaw (Chapter 6) always makes me a little sad.

[INS-Hyacinth]

Any +3 weapon available before returning from Bynnlaw (Chapter 6) always makes me a little sad.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You could go to Spellhold with any of the following items.

 

Flail of Ages, Blade of Roses, Pixie Prick, Blackblood club, Dragon's Doom (?) halberd, Lilarcor, and for that matter the Slave Lords aren't too tough to beat to get Celestial Fury. Also, the first and second levels of Watcher's Keep aren't impossible at those levels, and iirc there's at least one +4 weapon there. Oh, and Carsomyr. Probably others too.

 

The thing is, you have to do something, complete a quest or fight a powerful opponent to get them. As just store items I wouldn't approve of them.

[CamDawg]

Flail of Ages, Blade of Roses, Pixie Prick, Blackblood club, Dragon's Doom (?) halberd, Lilarcor, and for that matter the Slave Lords aren't too tough to beat to get Celestial Fury. Also, the first and second levels of Watcher's Keep aren't impossible at those levels, and iirc there's at least one +4 weapon there. Oh, and Carsomyr. Probably others too.

... and that's exactly the problem. Adding more to the list (which is already way too long) makes SoA similar to ToB, which is A Bad Thing. The majority of those items are earned through long quests or major battles, and unless the mod is introducing either, I'd say no.

 

I'd rather a cloak that offers permanent Vocalize over Yet Another +4 Sword. Mixing in useful and unique abilities for items will result in more interesting equipment selections and tradeoffs. I don't want something equal in power or more powerful than Celestial Fury--I want something different.

 

The thing is, you have to do something, complete a quest or fight a powerful opponent to get them. As just store items I wouldn't approve of them.

Yes.

[jester]

That is what I meant. The game isn't exactly missing powerful items. Give us some tricky stuff instead of more of what's already in there.

 

Note: I am also using Weimer's two item additions, so you may see things differently in plain BG2.

[Andyr]

I think Cam and Jester make good points - interesting abilities are more fun than another high-enchantment, damage bonus weapon.

 

You might also want to consider other item types - rings, cloaks, helmets, amulets and so on...

[Guest Shard (Moongaze)]

I think Cam and Jester make good points - interesting abilities are more fun than another high-enchantment, damage bonus weapon.

 

You might also want to consider other item types - rings, cloaks, helmets, amulets and so on...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yeah, I agree with all of you on these points. I too, would much rather have a useful cloak or a pair of boots, than yet another +whatever blade or staff. Some things to spice things up, like a helmet that gives +1 Wisdom for clerics, or something like that. I suppose those things wouldn't be too hard to patch to CREs and stores.

[jester]

What I really loved about Echon's Field of the Dead is that he abandoned the one-size-fits-all stance. If you slay an Ettin, good for you, but you should not be able to immediately wear his underpants (+5 against nice smelling water dwellers). Either you treat them like the scales you 'harvet' off a dragon and have them reworked for a fee by Dwarfinthedockssmithy (It has ben a long time ) or Ruad and/or they are sellable, but all traders will tell you that this is merely a curiosity item than anything of real value.

 

As a more serious example Yaga-Shura's stuff should be unwearable. A nice hint is Joril's dagger which is a double handed sword for humans IIRC.

[Guest Guest_Rastor]

I agree with the others. I don't have any problem at all with powerful items in the game but I'd like to have to earn them (Gibberlings should not drop +5 items!) Personally I prefer fights to quests as the method of earning them. Or the best part, win a very difficult fight on a quest.

 

I too would rather see a +2 sword with interesting specials on it than a clone of Carsomyr.

[Domi]

Well, it also depends on the the type of a weapon (ie two-handed always have higher enchantments) and on how long you run around before going to Brynnlaw; I'd make the availability a subject to party's level rather than a chapter.

 

My argument in favour of more powerful weapons is that it allows diverse specialization. Ie you don't always have to be a long sword wielder to get the Blade of Roses... My mages were always getting the sling prof before. Now they are getting darts instead, because of the Crimson ones. The Cewl Short Bow Craze in Bg2 makes me often select the Short over Long.

[Kulyok]

I read Domi's words about the Blade of Roses and remembered - long swords! SoA AND ToB do not have a single good long sword! Not a single one. Yes, yes, my opinion only, but look at SP - which weapons receive the warmest welcome? Flail of Ages, Celestial Fury, Axe of Unyielding, Ravager, two or three others - but no long swords.

 

Equalizer, Blade of Roses, Daystar(yes, a special ability, but have you tried to fight non-undead monsters with it?), Namarra, Adjatha The Drinker - well, since it is the original game, not mods, I hope I won't slight anyone by calling them crap.

 

In ToB, it was worse - a single long sword that could claim some use *set* your Str to 22. Set! And my PC had 23, 24 if played BG. Grrr...

 

Okay, there is one good sword in SoA. Blackrazor. But in ToB it doesn't have that much use, and in SoA you get it just a *tiny* bit too late.

[Domi]

I like the Blade of Roses... It's pink and it reminds me of Sansa and Loras

[Western Paladin]

What about The Answerer? Cumulative reductions to the enemy's armor class and magic resistance can be useful. Or Flame Tongue in SoA? There's not too many regenerating enemies in this game, but it also works against undead and elmental damage is always good against mages (that's why the Flail of Cheese is so good).

 

But you should pick the Blade of Roses just for flavor. Come on, roses! Hey, maybe for my first mod I should make a long sword enhancement pack that gives the longswords better abilities.

[Kulyok]

Yes, the Answerer was satisfactory. Unfortunately, for me it comes at the stage when full Foebane is available, and Foebane beats this one hands down.

 

Blade of Roses is nice-looking, but damage is not good at all. Flavor... heh, I wonder if there is a single item in the unmodded game that I have not tried.

 

And Flame Tongue - I am not sure if you are using the correct description. To me, it's one of the worst swords available, its abilities being "Damage: 1D8 +1, +2 vs. regenerating creatures, +3 vs. cold/fire creatures, +4 vs. undead"

 

And good luck with your first mod. I'd play it - between the crappy Blade of Roses and overpowered Sola's moonblade there's plenty of ground for new and interesting long swords.