noah.linden1

I thought I would try exporting a high-level character just for fun and start a new game, but the epic spells simply vanished when she was exported. I tried this with several other characters to confirm this bug, and they too were missing their epic spells upon being exported. Just thought I'd let you guys know.

Ok

Sorry, I'm bad with technology and would only screw something like that up. I suspect my Mac somehow saved all the conflicting data, superimposed it onto my fresh copy of BG2, and fucked up this copy as well. (It has backup data for everything, and I'm not skilled enough to remove it without creating further problems.) It's the only way to explain why I'm having even more problems with this new copy of the game. I guess there's nothing I can do but get a brand new computer, or use EE Keeper, which doesn't seem to work (I can't get it to actually modify any of my save files because it says I haven't chosen the correct destination, or something like that).

In case I missed something I was supposed to do, I spoke to Tolgerias, got Valygar's tax notice and read it...and neither he nor his goons are showing up.

I did everything I was supposed to do for his quest. I will note, however, that I did uninstall a previous copy of the game where I had mods that conflicted. I wonder if my Mac somehow saved those mods, even though the new copy of the game didn't have any of the characters I had created? That doesn't make sense, so I don't think that's the case.

I can't get Valygar or his goons to show up at his cabin. I didn't install Unfinished Business...I only installed SRR and a few components from the Tweaks Anthology that I don't think have anything to do with his quest. What gives?

Success! Thanks guys. I would like to report a minor bug with the Revised Version though. I have to click twice on a lot of things to get them to happen, and it's not the result of a conflict with other mods, because this is the only mod I have installed. Still, definitely worth it. Thanks again :).

I also didn't even put the .exe file in the folder, which is what I assumed you meant by step 5.

I extracted the contents of both SR and SRR into the game folder, reinstalled SR, and tried to install SRR. However, I only got a reinstallation of SR, from what I can tell, because it didn't inform me that anything new was being installed. Maybe I don't understand steps 4 and 5? Sorry. I'm not good with technology.

But it's an .exe file, which Macs don't support...should I get a file converter or something? Would that work in a complex mod like Spell Revisions?

Does your revised version come in a Mac-compatible format? I have a Mac.

Bart, where can I get this revised version? Please give me the link.

Icelance has a maximum damage of 5d6, and only deals damage to one target. Fireball, also a 3rd level spell, deals a maximum of 10d6 damage to (potentially) many targets. I'd seriously suggest making Icelance deal as much damage as Fireball to compensate. Then there would actually be a reason to use Icelance. As for Mestil's Acid Sheath, because it's a 5th level spell, and because it requires your character to be hit in melee combat (something you don't want to have happen to your characters to begin with) to do anything at all, I'd literally suggest doubling the damage, at the very least. Vitriolic Sphere isn't as underpowered as Mestil's Acid Sheath, but boosting the damage by maybe 75% would put it on par with Cone of Cold, given its tiny area of effect. And then we have Waves of Fatigue, which is the opposite of a Bless spell, but is 5th level, doesn't last nearly as long, and stacks. Definitely the most underpowered spell I've seen to date, but one that can be abused via stacking if you're determined enough. How about making it impose a -2 Luck penalty but making it non-stackable? That way, it's not incredibly underpowered and can't be abused through stacking. That said, I love a lot of the revisions to the spell system. Making Improved Haste an improved version of Haste (rather than a Greater Whirlwind Attack for 20 rounds for dual-wielders) and affect the whole party gives it a ton of utility while allowing multiclassed fighter/mages a chance to shine with Greater Whirlwind Attack (and thereby deal more damage than dual-classed Fighter--->Mages in short bursts). Making 10th level spells into innate abilities was genius, and helped achieve more class balance. So don't take my criticisms the wrong way.

In the version I downloaded, Haste is a single-target spell. Did I download the wrong version? Because I just downloaded the most recent version... Also, in the version I downloaded, Improved Haste only gives +1 attack to 1 creature, not your whole party.

It seems to me that Spell Revisions is now mostly about nerfing offensive spells to death rather than actually balancing the spell system. Most of the offensive spells, and especially the new offensive spells, are quite underpowered. For example, Icelance is utterly pathetic compared to Fireball, Flame Arrow is useless unless you're only battling one enemy, and Haste barely does anything except impose significant penalties when it wears off (yes, granting a total of maybe eight extra attacks to one character, a few of which will likely miss, over the course of two minutes, coupled with significant penalties when the spell wears off is a waste of a 3rd level spell slot). And there's no way I'd ever cast Mestil's Acid Sheath, because it's about as damaging as Fireball but requires you to be hit in melee combat to do anything at all. I also get the feeling that most offensive spells will be continually nerfed in each new iteration of this mod until there's almost no reason to ever use them, because the creators of this mod have begun to believe that spellcasters should be pigeonholed into the role of buffer/debuffer. Pigeonholing spellcasters like this isn't necessarily a bad thing, and there are a number of RPGs that do exactly that. However, because Spell Revisions is no longer about balancing the spell system, the readme should be changed to reflect this fact.

The most recent V4 beta has a readme identical to the V3 mod. Where can I find a readme that lists how spells work in the most recent V4 beta? Thanks.

Hi, I'm pretty computer illiterate when it comes to installation, but I love playing BG2. I'm located in NYC and would be willing to pay someone to install Boot Camp on my Mac and then install mods for BG2 (including spell revisions). I've purchased this game from Steam. I'm offering $175 dollars for anyone in my area who can help. Thanks.

I guess my issue is that energy blades isn't very viable against many of the tougher creatures which you'd actually want to use it on, because they are generally immune to, or highly resistant to, electricity, and have a great Armor Class to boot. I don't want to waste a 10th level spell on something that can only be used effectively against trash mobs. The same is true with dragon's breath - most creatures later in the game seem to be immune to it, although at least this spell doesn't require rolls to hit like energy blades does. Comet is better, I'll grant you that, but still does less damage than, say, delayed blast fireball, which is a 7th level spell. I guess the ability to knock creatures unconscious might make up for it though, but creatures I'd want to use a 10th level spell to destroy are immune to unconsciousness and usually highly resistant to crushing damage. 10d10 = 55 damage on average, with 50% crushing resistance you're spending a 10th level spell to deal about 23 damage to your average run-of-the-mill demon - something that can be accomplished with a single casting of magic missile if the demon fails his magic resistance check and isn't immune to first-level spells (and most of them aren't). Even though the spell might knock the demon unconscious if you get lucky, that's still weak in my book for 10th level spell. Basically, against most of the really powerful enemies (except liches and demiliches), it's far more effective to use something like spell sequencer (skull trap x 3) than to rely on something like comet or dragon's breath. For me, that defeats the purpose of 10th level spells, which are supposed to represent the pinnacle of a wizard's power. A good solution is to get rid of the knockback/unconsciousness and just have dragon's breath and comet deal more damage. That way, they'd actually be useful against many of the bosses. Re: haste...what I proposed is actually not any more powerful than what SR already has. My version of haste has slight bonus to defense and saves vs. breath compared to what V4 offers, but offers no attack bonus...otherwise it's the same spell but moved up to 4th level and with reduced duration. What's so wildly overpowered about that? It's actually, overall, a nerf of the spell. However you're right about my idea for improved haste being overpowered, now that I think about it. However, I still find no reason to use V4's improved haste at all...overall, it's a far weaker spell than haste because it only affects a single target. If the goal was to gimp (not nerf, but gimp and make worthless) improved haste because it was overpowered, V4 did a great job, but I'd like for the spell to actually be useful. As it stands now, there are much better uses for 6th level slots, IMO. If improved haste were made into an 8th level spell but affected a 30' AoE like haste does, I'd use it though. It would certainly save the inconvenience of having to cast six spells separately before combat.

I know nothing about programming. I was only trying to make suggestions that seem balanced to me. Please forgive my lack of knowledge. What do you think of the other suggestions, like making energy drain a more powerful version of vampiric touch?

Some feedback: It would be better to give mages 10th level spell slots and clerics 8th level spell slots, as per PnP rules, because they only ever got 3 or 4 slots of these levels even when they were level 31 or above IIRC. That way, spellcasters wouldn't be able to use high-level abilities early as often as they could in vanilla, 9th level spells for mages and 7th level spells for clerics would be freed up for actual 9th and 7th level spells respectively, and you could still use any given 10th level spell or quest spell (8th level spell) multiple times per day if you wished. Chill touch is still useless. It can barely hit anything and still does almost no damage if it hits. Why not make it just like shocking grasp, but with cold damage? At least it would be balanced that way. All touch spells should be able to hit anything in the game, because they put the caster in danger by requiring him to engage enemies in melee. Improved haste is utterly horrible now, because it gives a total of +2 attacks, whereas haste gives +1 attack to each party member for a total of +6 attacks. Also, logically speaking, haste should definitely grant bonuses other than an additional attack. A good solution would be to have haste grant +1 attack, -2 AC, +2 to saves vs. breath and +5 speed, but make it last only 1 turn, after which it would produce its usual fatigue. Improved haste could be an area-effect spell like haste, offer +2 attacks, -4 AC, +4 to saves vs. breath and +10 speed, but last only 1 turn and impose *double* the fatigue penalties that haste imposes. If you're afraid this would be imbalanced, you could make haste a 4th level spell and improved haste an 8th level spell to compensate for the increased power. This would make haste and improved haste unique and powerful buffing spells that could seriously backfire if you don't finish a fight quickly...and most buffing spells, even in SR, don't have major drawbacks like this. In addition, this wouldn't gimp fighters (as the changes to improved haste definitely do) but wouldn't make greater whirlwind obsolete either. Disintegrate has become both useless and overpowered, depending on your luck. With a very weak save penalty, it probably won't do much to any creature you'd want to deal massive damage to, but if the enemy actually fails its save, it will deal too much damage for its level. Why not make it impose a -4 save penalty but cap the damage at 40d4 rather than 40d6? That way it would be both consistent and balanced. Energy drain is still utterly horrible for a ninth level spell. The cleric's harm spell is far more powerful, and it's only a 6th level clerical spell. Why not make energy drain an improved version of vampiric touch? Because energy drain doesn't require a touch attack to work, we would have to take that into consideration when determining exactly what energy drain can do. Maybe have energy drain deal 60 points of magic damage with no save possible and heal the caster 60 hit points with excess hit points becoming temporary hit points that last 5 turns? This seems balanced, considering that meteor swarm deals 90 points of fire damage in a huge area of effect and ignores magic resistance. Finger of death and wail of the banshee should have a save penalty of -4; as it stands now, they are almost certainly guaranteed to fail, and because there are so many creatures that are immune to them, they have become pretty worthless in V4. Spellstrike should be more powerful than it is; it just doesn't compare to spells like meteor swarm, gate and black blade of disaster. because it's useless except vs. mages Why not give it a 20' radius? Energy blades, comet and dragon's breath should be more powerful than they are (especially energy blades, which is far less useful than most 5th and 6th level spells!). High-level spells should have a save penalty of -4 (the cap that has been imposed in V4); anything less and they just won't work on most enemies you'd actually want to use a spell slot to destroy. Also, why not bring back the summoning cap? It would make sense to do so, considering the fact that summons are buffed up in SR. The ability to send 20 pit fiends at your enemies does seem overpowered. Other than these issues, I love the changes, both implemented and proposed, in V4. The nerfs to skull trap and project image were badly needed. The imposition of the -4 save penalty cap was also badly needed. Getting rid of spell immunity was a great idea, because it truly was horribly overpowered for its level and never worked as intended. Although this isn't a balance issue, sunfire really is a better name than fireburst, which I find personally to be cheesy. But that's just a minor nitpick. Demivrgvs suggested that it might be too weak; you could make it deal double damage to undead and move it up one level to a 6th or 7th level spell if you wanted to improve it. That way, it would be devastating against undead like other "sun" spells like sunray and sunscorch but otherwise far from ideal when destroying non-undead enemies. What do you think of these suggestions?

So mage high-level abilities are usable only once per day? That's a huge nerf for mages in general, unless you can select them more than once like warrior high-level abilities.

Thanks

Ok, I'm specifically thinking about installing the Cleric Remix and the additional Cleric kits. I have no interest in the additional spells offered by Divine Remix because I'm already using G3 Spell Revisions.

Sorry for this one last question, but is this mod compatible with Divine Remix yet? I only ask because although the Read Me says it isn't, the Read Me isn't up to date.