BGII Longsword Enhancements

[Western Paladin]

Since a typically inane comment I made a while ago, I've been thinking about the question of the humble longsword in Baldur's Gate II and indeed staring at their files in DLTCEP. Indeed, most of the existing unique (named) longswords are not especially interesting, considering their uniqueness and, in some cases, their elaborate backstories.

 

In part because of the uniqueness and elaborate backstories of the weapons, it occurred to me to make a mini-mod (originally I was thinking of making it just for my own use, but if it turned out good and it seemed like someone might want to use it I would submit it for public consumption) that changes the more boring swords to something more fitting said uniqueness and said elaborate backstories.

 

I realize this may be a controversial (is that the word I'm thinking of?) approach, as you could easily argue that the boring Flame Tongue or the less boring Equalizer are part of the original vision and the game's canon. I haven't really done any work so far, just brainstorming ideas.

 

A couple of things I've thought of so far:

 

Flame Tongue - Scratch the "ramping" damage against fire/cold creatures, regenerators, undead. Instead, give +2 fire damage, and user is under the effects of the spell Resist Fire/Cold when equipped.

 

Blade of Roses - First I thought I would increase the Charisma boost to +3 or possibly have it set your Charisma to 19, but I thought of the Hell Trials, the Machine of Lum the Mad, and Unfinished Business' Boots of the West and asked myself, "Should I really be encouraging people to shoot for 25 Charisma without doing that Rod of Terror thing?" It might not be completely out of flavor for the Blade of Roses to cast Charm Person or Dire Charm (its backstory involves anonymous past owners winning friends and influencing people).

 

Namarra +2 - Vocalize while equipped might appeal to a bard or fighter/mage. I noticed while browsing DLTCEP that there's an entry or two under spells called Power Word: Silence and I thought I could make Namarra able to cast it, but I don't recall if I've ever seen it in-game.

 

Angurvadal - This one would be sure to cause some controversy. I thought the un-upgraded weapon (the +4 version) would give +1 fire damage, +15% fire resistance, and +1 to Strength. Is that worse than its current abilities? I feel it wouldn't necessarily be so; in my last "evil" campaign, my PC had 21 Strength by the time he reached Watcher's Keep. Then the upgraded version would of course give +3 fire damage, +25% fire resistance, and +2 Strength. I feel this isn't that much cheesier than Crom Faeyr, but I'll keep my flame war extinguisher at hand just in case.

[Seifer]

You give little credit to the modders and community at large if you feel you're going to get flamed for submitting a clearly defined idea.

[Andyr]

It might be worth checking out the pnp versions of some of the items--IIRC some have extra abilities in pnp but not in BG2. NiGHTMARE or someone would know.

[NiGHTMARE]

Yep; Albruin, Celestial Fury, Namarra, Shazellim and a few others are taken from pnp - most were created by Ed Greenwood, in fact. I've heard that Albruin re-appears in the brand new sourcebook Champions of Valor.

 

Re-adding their abilities is one of the earliest things planned for the Lands of Intrigue mod, though I still haven't quite gotten around to it . As mentioned in the "Writer wanted!" thread, some of them are supposed to be able to talk, too .

[Bookwyrme]

  As mentioned in the "Writer wanted!" thread, some of them are supposed to be able to talk, too .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

More intelligently than Larry, one hopes.

 

Mind, I like L (can't spell his full name), but one source of completely inane comments is quite enough!

[Western Paladin]

You give little credit to the modders and community at large if you feel you're going to get flamed for submitting a clearly defined idea.

 

No offense intended, I assure you. I sometimes get uncomfortable submitting ideas, this comes from my days on co-operative story writing at a different forum where you could get flamed for such things.

 

Yep; Albruin, Celestial Fury, Namarra, Shazellim and a few others are taken from pnp - most were created by Ed Greenwood, in fact.  I've heard that Albruin re-appears in the brand new sourcebook Champions of Valor.

 

Re-adding their abilities is one of the earliest things planned for the Lands of Intrigue mod, though I still haven't quite gotten around to it .  As mentioned in the "Writer wanted!" thread, some of them are supposed to be able to talk, too .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Neat, neat! Do you remember offhand what some of their abilities were? I only remember that if you're holding Celestial Fury outside, it starts to rain.

[NiGHTMARE]

Adjatha: Can drain the energy of magical items for 1d4 turns, at will (each time it does this, it gains 2 bonus hitpoints which are used to protect its wielder); immunity to charm, domination, and similar mind-controlling spells.

 

Albruin: Detect invisible at will; neutralize poison once every three days; heal once every 12 days.

 

Arbane's Sword of Agility: Immunity to hold and slow; destroys the effects of hypnotic pattern or fire charm within a 20' radius; negates magical darkness; +1 to saves vs. chromatic orb; jump twice per day; haste for two rounds per day.

 

Celestial Fury: 100% electricity resistance, thunder and lightning each time it's drawn (everyone except the wielder within 10 yards must save vs. wands twice - once to prevent blindness for 1d4 rounds, the second time deafness lasting 2d6 rounds); permanent storm gathering; booming thunder (stuns opponent for one round unless he saves vs. spells) upon a successful hit; shocking blow (additional 20 electrical damage. If the blow misses and the opponent wears metallic armor, a second attack roll against AC 10 is made; if succesful the targer takes 10 damage from arcing electricity) three times per day; lightning bolt (240 yards range, 10d6 damage) once per day; flight for four hours per day.

 

 

I'll do the others (Ilbratha, Namarra, Shazzellim and Taragarth) this evening, if no-one else does .

[Andyr]

Hey, maybe Western Paladin would like to write/code them for LoI for us.

[Western Paladin]

In general, I certainly would! However, I don't know if I currently have the requisite levels of skill to code. I would have to learn myself some more skills to make some of the abilities you mentioned - I currently have basic self-taught DLTCEP ability.