escript suggestions

[Guest Arawn]

Iv'e been playing with the e-series for a while now. It really nice makes everything much less of a chore.

 

BUT there are some serious irritations.

 

1. Why must Jaheira always change into bear when she gets into melee? Going from of the best AC to something a mage would be ashamed off.

Her shapes seems to be joke.

 

2.Polymorph self is a utility spell, to soak up magic attacks with the jelly. but mages uses them in melee.

 

3. Haste; Mages uses them in every combat forcing you to rest after two battles.

 

4. Summons; summoning in combat should be optional. I would think cleric and mages have other things to do then feeding the opponents death spells.

 

So I suggest that buffs only goes up when you push the B button and that summons only goes up when pushing the S button.

[cirerrek]

First, thanks for the feedback Arawn.

 

1. Why must Jaheira always change into bear when she gets into melee? Going from of the best AC to something a mage would be ashamed off.

Her shapes seems to be joke.

 

I've tried about 12 different schemes for this (checking against AC, checking against damange type, yadda, yadda). In the end the characters almost never transformed into their various 'wildshapes'.

 

I settled on giving it a random opportunity for happening and increased the odds in favor of the more powerful shapes.

 

The way BG2 works, you are generally better off not shapeshifting. In PnP, there more opportunites for roleplaying shapeshifting verses simply combat.

 

Still I felt that it was a unique class feature that should not go unutilized.

 

There are some mods out there that enchance shapeshifting somewhat, such as healing the druid before or after they shapeshift. You might try one of those to see if that increases your mileage.

 

Then again, maybe that whole druid shapeshifting system needs a re-vamp to make it worth while...modding opportunity anyone?

 

How often is Jaheira shapeshifting for you?

 

2.Polymorph self is a utility spell, to soak up magic attacks with the jelly. but mages uses them in melee.

 

The only time I have that spell memorized is when I first pick up Nalia and I forget to change it. Whatever behavior that spell has harkens back to Sarkyn. IIRC some of the possible shapes are not even scripted.

 

This type of scripting can get pretty convoluted because you are picking shapes based on their resistances and the enemies that are attacking. The scripts are unlikely to get it right everytime.

 

If you want specific behavior, you are going to have to tell me pretty clearly what you are looking for and then I can take a look and see if it is implementable.

 

3. Haste; Mages uses them in every combat forcing you to rest after two battles.

 

Yeah, this can be annoying. I just run my party until they are ready to drop (out of spells, low on hp) and then rest. If you keep them in fights, they don't complain about being tired.

 

Haste is such an ubergood spell to have going. I know in IWD 9 out of 10 having haste up means the difference between winning and losing a fight. It doesn't seem to be quite as a difference maker in BG2, but good stuff still.

 

I could just increase the threatlevel of when haste is used and see how you like that.

 

4. Summons; summoning in combat should be optional. I would think cleric and mages have other things to do then feeding the opponents death spells.

 

So I suggest that buffs only goes up when you push the B button and that summons only goes up when pushing the S button.

 

That makes sense from a "I've played the game a 100 times, so I know when I need to hit B or S perspective."

 

B and S are convenience features. I like having both options (autocasting during combat and the hotkeys), although I will admit that it is annoying to see that last summon appear just as the battle is ending (the character thought that the threat level was X, but it was really just a mop up action).

 

An alternative would be to set another hotkey to turn all the autosummoning spells off. I can look into that.

 

Thanks,

Cirerrek

[Guest Guest]

First, thanks for the feedback Arawn.

 

Well thank you for the scripts. It's really nice to use up so many features.

 

How often is Jaheira shapeshifting for you?

 

Pretty much every combat, even though it seems to decrease the more spells she’s got. But when she is surrounded it’s one of her first responses. Since she can carry a shield her AC is normaly around -11, but in bear shape she gets AC4. It's pretty much masochism.

 

The only time I have that spell memorized is when I first pick up Nalia and I forget to change it.

 

You should. The jelly is an extremely powerful tool in taking out protected mages. It trades with timestop and triggered multiple horrid wilting etc.

 

This type of scripting can get pretty convoluted because you are picking shapes based on their resistances and the enemies that are attacking.

 

Yes, that why I don’t think the scripts should touch these spells. Fireshield is another example; it becomes very good with Mirror image, Stoneskin, Pro/magic weapons, but it’s worthless in itself. For me it’s one of the first combat spells the script pulls up.

 

I could just increase the threatlevel of when haste is used and see how you like that.

 

Yes, that is an idea but why don’t relegate it to buff status? The priests doesn’t chant unless ordered to buff, couldn’t it be the same with the mages and haste?

 

B and S are convenience features. I like having both options

 

Well summoning isn’t always a bad call, but generally it’s something I do when I need extra meat shields in a extended battle, otherwise think the spellcasters should focus on killing the enemy, but that’s maybe my preference, I also like to hold back the summons to let the enemy exhaust their death spells, then sending in the reserve of swords and skeleton warriors.

 

Another thing why doesn't the mages stoneskin automatically when naked? It's a rather "can't be be wrong" kind of decision.