kit creation questions

[Guest halcyon_ghost]

Hi, im new to IE modding, and just got WeiDU last night as an alternative to NearInfinity (as I can't get that to run, somehow) and have been following CamDawg's tutorial on kit creation using WeiDU, but after reading about the .2das and how classes have hardcoded buttons, and some stuff about proficiencies, I'm beginning to wonder if the type of kits I'm thinking of creating are even possible.

 

My basic idea for the first kit was incited by a kit I'd heard of on forums as the druidic sorceror. After hunting it down, downloading it, and going through its readme, I found it was basically a overly powerful kit that was in no way designed to fit into normal gameplay or be a viable normal choice for a balanced character (the HLA table for that thing alone was absurd). When I had heard that name 'Druidic Sorceror', I'd inferred that it was either a Druid/Mage combination (which I know now is an impossibility) or a type of druid that could cast spells form the Natural spell list in the fashion of a sorceror.

 

The latter is the kind of kit I'd like to create: A priest who casts from a limited number of spells picks on his/her respective spell list on the priest scroll (I'm thinking of having a cleric and druid version as counterparts; Natural vs. Divine spell lists). My major dilemma is if this is even possible; that is, applying the sorceror style dynamic casting ability to a priest spell list. I believe proficiencies and such could be worked around with scripting, though I'm not positive. Beyond that, I wouldn't know anything about it, such as how to set the XP/Thac0 tables (They are linked to parent class are they not?) and HP; proficiencies are less of a problem as druids, clerics, and sorcerors all can only achieve proficient in any weapon, and I'd be willing to sacrifice the druids ability to wear armor and use different weapons to allow this to happen (but not in the cleric version; that kit will have to wait until I get some answers first).

 

here's a brief rundown:

 

EVOCATOR: Priest with sorceror style casting ability; picks from druid list only; has same armor and weapon restrictions as a druid;

gets druid special immunities(poison, resists)/HLAs; can shapeshift just as normal druid can; basically a generic druid that casts as a sorceror; limited

spell progression and spell picks just the same. True Neutral only.

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So,

 

1) Is it possible to even apply the sorceror's dynamic casting ability to priest spells? I believe the spell picks on level up can be controlled in a .2da or with scripting

 

2)Xp/Thac0 tables and Hit Die are controlled by the kit's parent class, correct? I really don't like the thought of sacrificing levels or HP to pull this kit off, but IF I have to...

 

3)Could the spell picks that are gained on level be applied through scripting if the CLABXXX.2da can't for some reason?

 

I'll be playing more with WeiDU and the tutorial tonight to try and answer some of my own questions, but assitance would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give.

[Iondragon]

I am new at modding BG2 too, so hopefully one of the real experts will provide a more complete answer. But from what I have learned so far...

 

1) Is it possible to even apply the sorceror's dynamic casting ability to priest spells? I believe the spell picks on level up can be controlled in a .2da or with scripting

 

Yes and no. Only sorcerer's can cast spells as you can describe, and they can only cast wizard spells. However, you can create copies of all the druid spells and make these copies into wizard spells (see CamDawg's thread http://forums.gibberlings3.net/index.php?showtopic=435). While spells can easily be added to a spell book at level up via a CLAB file, the sorcerer doesn't use (and I believe can not use) a CLAB file.

 

2)Xp/Thac0 tables and Hit Die are controlled by the kit's parent class, correct? I really don't like the thought of sacrificing levels or HP to pull this kit off, but IF I have to...

 

Yes, all three are controlled by the parent class. But there are still workarounds you can use to make things closer to what you envision for them. You can create .spl files that will help for all three of these. You can adjust your Thac0 or give your kit a bonus to hit (I think the latter may be safer as I am not sure when/how Thac0 is recalculated for a character). You can add additional hit points or even a range of hit points (like 0 to 4 more points each level, though 1d4 + 1d5-1 is not the same as 1d8). Plus you can also give your kit a percentage bonus to earned experience to make the your Evocator kit have a level progression closer to that of a druid.

 

3)Could the spell picks that are gained on level be applied through scripting if the CLABXXX.2da can't for some reason?

 

Sorcerer's don't get a CLAB, so scripting is probably the better approach. This is especially true if you want your Evocator to actually select which druid spells s/he learns at each level (though that will take quite a bit of scripting with dialogs and global variables storing what spells you have learned, etc.). OTOH, it might be possible to dump all of the druid spells into the spell book at first level. Assuming you create this as a Druid kit then you can make a druid CLAB to add all the spells at once. I am not sure if that would mess things up or if all the spells would stick, but this could be the easiest way if it does work (though it would be more powerful than the normal sorcerer progression for learning spells).

 

A couple of other thoughts on your kit is that in addition to the Druidic Sorcerer kit, you might want to check out the Spellweaver and Spellsword kits in the RPG Kitpack as they are both sorcerer "kits" (see more at http://www.rpgdungeon.net/). Also, since you probably won't want to remove/alter all wizard spells in the game, you may need to script some long lists of real wizard spells to remove after each sorcerer level up. Lastly, and I hesitate to mention this one, but I think I know of a huge kluge that would effectively let you use a CLAB. After normal level up, you could script a class change to another class with a special kit that let's you use a CLAB you create for your Evocator plus cast a "spell" that lowers your level by one. Then after you level again in this other class, your script switches you back to sorcerer. But you'd have to be very careful with this because of the experience point requirements of different classes, gaining of unwanted abilities, too many hit points, etc.

 

I hope this helps.