Thor Thunderfist

Unfortunately, there isn't really any other way to accomplish this for 2 big reasons at least.

1. The HLA tables would always have to be modified to grant the HLAs as passive abilities rather than activated, daily special abilities.  Just changing the original HLA spells wouldn't be enough.
2. The original HLA spells are used by various creatures in the game.  Changing them to have different permanent effects would negatively impact those encounters.  I've considered going through and adjusting all those cases to use the new passives, but it's a complicated bit of heavy lifting I haven't felt is necessary yet.

So, yes, this mod probably needs to be included rather late in an install order.  I'm happy to be shown another way, of course.

1 hour ago, subtledoctor said:

It just seems like this will not be used on its own, but with some notorious items for permanent 100% MR cheese. 

I am sure it will be used for cheese.  I don't have an interest in trying to balance my tiny corner of a system so decidedly imbalanced in the first place.  Mages can become godlike without much effort, I think warriors deserve to have some power fantasy fun of their own.  I revel in the chaos of AD&D.

1 hour ago, subtledoctor said:

I made a function to basically do this - with a pool of innate abilities, not just one, but it works perfectly will with just one. You can feel free to use that function, implementing it is fairly simple.

Thanks, that's a really intense function.  I have achieved some level of WeiDU fluency at this point, but it may take some time to wrap my head around it to be sure it's useful to me.

4 hours ago, jastey said:

Congratulations on the release! And welcome to G3.

Thank you!

32 minutes ago, TotalMilk90 said:

I like it a lot and think it’s a great idea. I always get more enjoyment out of passive skill upgrading vs getting new abilities. I think it adds a better sense of level progression.

Any plans to do other classes too?

I started digging into the Thief HLAs.  As I was attempting to rebalance the traps, I hit a stumbling block (it's difficult/impossible to remove innate abilities 1 "charge" at a time) and haven't gotten back to it for a little while.

31 minutes ago, subtledoctor said:

I don’t like the idea of stacking multiple MR feats. I’d set it at 10% or 15% and only allow it to be chosen once. 

By the time Warriors are picking up HLAs, spellcasters are summoning planetars, stopping time, and breaking the game wide open.  I think Warriors get the short end of the stick for endgame power and don't feel bad giving them a significant bump to try and match.

14 minutes ago, DavidW said:

Congratulations on the release!

...

Thanks for the feedback!  I started working on a LUABBR parser before just settling for the quick and dumb approach.  I may get back around to properly doing that, but for now I can update the regex per your recommendation.

I am excited to be dipping my toes into the G3 waters by finally releasing my first mod.

You can find the full repo here and download the latest release here.

I am very interested in feedback on this.  I have not really tested it, so some abilities may be glaringly under-/over-powered.  Notably, Hardiness and Resist Magic I considered scaling at 10% per increment (still capping at 50%).  Also of note: this does not impact AI usage of HLAs; warrior enemies still use the original, unchanged HLAs.

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Passive Warrior HLAs

The warrior's role in AD&D combat was much more passive than it is in modern RPGs.  For the most part, you would choose a target and attack; unique abilities were left to the spellcasters.

The High Level Abilities (HLAs) introduced by Throne of Bhaal add complexity and micromanagement antithetical to the role of warriors, characters who have remained relatively passive participants in combat for the majority of 2 games.

This mod aims to reduce this added complexity by reworking the majority of activated warrior HLAs into passive bonuses.

Whirlwind Attack
Provides a permanent +1 attack per round.

Greater Whirlwind Attack
Provides an additional permanent +1 attack per round.

Requires: Whirlwind Attack

Deathblow
Critical Hits automatically slay enemies level 12 or below.

Greater Deathblow
Critical Hits have a 5% chance of automatically slaying any foe.

Requires: Deathblow

Hardiness
Permanently increases all Physical Resistances by 5%.

May be taken up to 10 times in total.

Resist Magic
Permanently increases Magic Resistance by 5%.

May be taken up to 10 times in total.

Power Attack
Permanently increases all attack damage +5.

Critical Strike
Increases Critical Range by 1 (if you would crit on 20, now crit on 19-20). Also eliminates possibility of Critical Misses on attack rolls of 1.

Requires: Power Attack

Smite
Critical Hits stun foes for 1 round.

Requires: Power Attack, Critical Strike

War Cry
For 1 round per 2 levels of the warrior, all allies in a 15-ft. radius gain increased movement speed and +2 bonuses to hit rolls, damage rolls, and AC.

NB: Obviously this is not a passive bonus. This is intended to be used alongside other pre-buffs so the warrior does not have to worry about activating it in the midst of battle.