Kalindor

Description comments:

Unarmed attack and AC progression need to note the maximum achievable when the cap is reached. It sounds indefinite right now. (7APR at level 30, whaaaaa? )

What is the range of Ki Arrow? What type of damage?

Is the monk no longer immune to slow/haste?

No mention of improved saving throws.

A thought on weapon proficiency: the monk can become proficient in the use of some weapons. What is the point of this? Right now it sounds like it would be horribly outclassed by their first attacks. It would be interesting if the monk could also be viable but play somewhat differently if they choose to use a weapon.

Quivering Palm is gained at 13th level and has no penalty to save. For it to remain useful later in the game, I think some incremental save penalty is necessary. An epic monk's quivering palm should be at least as difficult to save against as a Finger of Death, especially considering he must hit with an attack and has but one use of it per day.

Ki Shout could be upgraded (with a HLA?) to have a wing buffet-like force wave effect.

Leap attack triggers intermittently. It only sometimes triggers when I am running up to a creature on the periphery of my sight radius. Since at some point during the approach I must have been 10' away, it seems like it should have triggered. Also, it can triggered in melee with a single foe. I am not certain that this isn't due to some other enemy running around the periphery, though. I will look into it further later.

Due to work constraints, I am not going to have time to test anything else for a couple days. I will hop back on the wagon when the HLAs or the Ranger/Paladin revisions are ready.

I'm uploading a new beta. It should finally fix that damn non-enraged Frenzy. Speaking of Frenzy, its +1 apr was there but not working, aka the Berserker was not even close to show his true potential.

This is probably a large part of why the Barbarian was outshining it in my games despite your claims to the contrary. I'll give it another go!

Eidolon, if I recall correctly there is not a means of adding new icons, so Demi must either replace existing ones or co-opt existing ones for the new purpose. I think in this case he has done the latter.

I like what you've done with the class descriptions. It is very readable now. Thumbs up!

Barbarian description for Feral Senses reads: "While enraged, barbarian.." should read "While enraged, the barbarian..."

Suggestion: reword last paragraph of Wizard Slayer description to read: "Wizard slayers are excellent fighters, but they sacrifice extensive martial training in favor of anti-magic skills."

It was probably intentionally omitted, but you could add "Cannot be of lawful alignment" to the Berserker's disadvantages section. Similarly, chaotic for the Kensai.

A Berserker's Frenzied state could use some sort of portrait icon for notification.

Looking at the class descriptions, I still don't understand why the fighter kits receive the extra 1/2 attack per round but do not receive the proficiency point in every weapon. It is not at all apparent unless you reach the required level and realize that something is odd.

The proficiency slot screen now has no text describing the levels of specialization. It has the opening few paragraphs and then reads: "Proficiency slot table: *"

I am not sure if this is just bad luck on my part, but the Berserker never seems to Frenzy while playing the Black Pits.

@Kalindor, can you confirm your issue? Was your Berserker fatigued?

*Edit: Nevermind they beat me to it.

Two things I notice on character generation:

1) When assigning proficiencies on the character generation screen, the text still states that specialization grants an extra 1/2 attack per round.

2) The Wizard Slayer is missing some commas in the "At level X," text in their class features. I don't care if you use commas here or not, but it should be consistent.

I am just going to play around with the kits in BG1 (BG:EE) so I will not be giving feedback for the higher-level class features.

And last but not least, how do you feel with the whole "no quick items while enraged"? I left it there for testing, but I might allow it if playtesting tell us that without potions the Berserker actually has to flee from combat when heavily injured.

That's what Frenzy is for. Mahahaaha!

Speaking of which, a very important question for any Beta tester: which game are you playing (BG1 or BG2)? Are you using AI-enhancing mods (I expect SCS)?

I was not planning on installing SCS on BGEE to test the mechanics of the kits, but I can if you would like it tested in that environment.

Confirmed that beta 4 installs on BGEE with no error messages. Thanks, Mike.

I am not sure if BGEE is on your radar at the moment, but the BG:EE install fails due to trying to write a string out of range:

"SET_STRING 45869 out of range 0 -- 32154

Stopping installation because of error.

ERROR Installing [Kit Revisions by Demivrgvs], rolling back to previous state"

"Divine Shield" has almost no flavor to the name. I think "Shield of the Archons" or "Shield of the Tanar'ri" are much better names.

Mist of Eldath

Not sure if I would use this if it healed enemies.

Protection from the Elements

Yes, for druids.

Poison Vines

I would use this if the poison damage was decent. It would be a nice combo with Creeping Doom.

Tsunami

Sounds cool but it would need a good animation, as you mentioned.

Bolt of Glory

I'd enjoy it being the ultimate single target anti-undead and anti-demon spell. You could make it only affect demons and undead, perhaps like a Finger of Death that deals more divine damage on save to them and ignores magic resistance.

I do not think PfMW is thematically appropriate for clerics given their ability to wear heavy armor. It would be cool as part of KR for the Lathander followers, though.

Lightning Storm ("Thunderstorm?") is a nice addition, but do you have a good animation?

Rejuvenating Cocoon is cool. I think this would be a good addition for Druids.

Magic Resistance

Spell should be nullified by Lower Resistance?

Also, is this affected by Spellstrike and co.?

In that case, you could make it inflict some sort of ailment that can only be removed by visiting a temple. That way, the result is not permanent yet still necessitates a trip back to down to lick your wounds.

Ardanis, I like those additional penalty suggestions for Raise Dead. I think one permanent level lost would be sufficient. The penalty would have to be permanent or you could just rest it off. However, I think the not-working-on-elves part would only serve to be annoying.

Slay Living

I like your suggestion and think it should be done for all melee weapon spells.

Stoneskin

More skins for Druids would be nice.

Flamestrike

It seems effective enough as it stands.

True Seeing

I think it's fine as-is. Priest need as much help relative to mages as they can get.

Speak With Plants could be a nice first-level spell for Druids to make them immune to plant-based AoE like Entangle or Spike Growth, etc.

Would Shadow Clone create a copy of a character at that character's full hit dice? That would be very powerful. If we are talking 1/2 hit dice, I am not sure I would use it at 9th level.

I guess I could make Icelance's save easier, but is Charm's small AoE so appealing?

Personally, I find Hold Person's AoE to be very useful.

Icelance

This spell from Player's Guide to Faerun isn't mage only in PnP, though druids get it at 4th lvl there. I'm not sure about it only because I fear it would overlap and outshine Hold Person or Animal (the latter has a small AoE, but Icelance's damage output makes it more appealing imo), but adding a cold based damaging spell would be good imo.

If it's single-target, it should be fine.

Animate Dead

First of all, the obvious change. Forget about summoning Skeletal Warriors with this cheap spell, but V3 Greater Skeletons will still keep this spell very great. With a 3rd lvl slot you get 2x 5HD undead warriors, just take a look at other summoning spells and let me know if you find a better deal!

 

Then, the hard part. THIS SPELL IS EVIL. Good aligned priests, not to mention paladins, should not have this spell! Please tell me you agree.

Definitely no Skeleton Warriors. That was ridiculous. I'm fine with making it evil-only as long as good/neutral priests get compensated.

Assuming you agree, I wanted to give good aligned priests and paladins something "to make up for the loss of AD". I thought to make Repulse Undead that good only spell (eventually improving it), but it's not a PnP spell, and Ardanis suggests to use a 3E spell instead, Searing Light. My only real problem with this spell is that it's too much similar to Sunscorch (afaik I would also have to use the same animation). Initially I was also concerned because within AD&D sun related spells were granted only to druids and Morninglords of Lathander, but then I realized that in vanilla BG False Dawn and Sunray were granted to all clerics, and that now they could actually perform well as non-evil (or good only?) "compensation" for good aligned priests not getting Skeletal Warriors and Death Knights. What do you think of the whole matter?

I like spells being unique to casters of different alignments. Gives flavor to the system. However, I am not sure that Repulse Undead and Searing Light are enough to replace the only (IIRC) early-game summon possessed by clerics. Clerics have turn undead, after all, so I think adding more anti-undead spells is rather redundant.

Gust of Wind

Yes to dispelling insects. Don't care if it's level 2 or 3.

Miscast Magic

If I can recall correctly, I think that Silence is currently a better deal than this spell due to its AoE. Maybe buff it?

Storm Shield

Wind Wall sounds fine. Storm Shield is fine, too. Either way.

Summon Insects

I'm considering to lower its casting time to 5, but I'm not sure because all conjurations/summons are supposed to take a full round to cast imo.

Again, please only stick with the annoyingly long casting time if there will be a way to improve druids' concentration checks...

A global change that I'd really like to implement to all insect spells is to make them bypass magic resistance. They are summoned creatures attacking a target, aren't they? We are offering tons of new ways for every type of spellcaster to counter them, and since V3 a creature under a swarm can still make a check each round to be almost unaffected by it for that round, I don't think this buff would make it OP.

It only makes sense, but definitely not necessary to make the insect line of spells appealing (they are appealing already).

Unholy Blight

On a side note, I wouldn't feel bad at all for evil PC priests (such as Viconia) not getting a spell as good as Holy Smite if we decide to limit Animate Dead to them.

Animate Dead and such spells are more than enough compensation.

Monster Summoning VIII

I'll try to open a dedicated topic because there's too much to discuss on summons. As a general rule, I tend to use xHD creatures for MSx spells, with a single x+1HD creature later on as a sort of "leader".

Agreed. I expect to conjure multiple creatures with Monster Summoning X as opposed to other summons (elementals, genies, nishru etc.) that summon one creature.

Create Greater Undead

Although Mummy Dust is indeed an HLA, I don't see BGII mummies being worthy of an HLA. The boneguard creature is more visually awe-inspiring and is more believable as an HLA in my opinion.

Mass Polymorph

Anyway, if we go for PolyMass I'd try to be a little creative at least. I'm tempted to suggest using different polymorph effects (turned into an object, petrified, disintegrated, uber slowed, or whatever) perhaps depending on target's HD (e.g. low level targets are insta killed or petrified, mid lvl ones can be turned into objects/animals, very high ones only slowed).

 

Else I guess most of you simply like the idea of turning multiple mid lvl opponents into a horde of harmelss rabbits.

Alternately, you could have victims polymorphed into progressively weaker creatures as their level decreases for amusement. Level 40-30: Githyanki, Level 30-20: Minotaur, Level 15-20: Moose, Level 10-15: Serpent, Level 5-10: Squirrel, Level 1-5: Barrel.

Or, it could polymorph them into random pitiful things: Squirrel, Moose, Barrel, Rat, Rabbit, Goblin, etc.

Solipsism

You do have a point. That being said I think we have some room for it. The various mass disabling spells can be differentiated by: school, target type, effect type and effectiveness, AoE, etc.

 

Belonging to a different school means certain spells fit a character more (a roleplayed Enchanter would probably never use PolyMass instead of SoC and to a lesser extent Solipsism) or not be usable at all (e.g. an Abjurer cannot use PolyMass), and it also reflects into which creatures can be affected by it or not, and which protections/counters can be used. The effect type is crucial too, as one thing is (*) causing fear/unconsciousness/etc. for 1 round (perhaps multiple times in different rounds) and another thing is permanently screw the target with feeblemindness. Even tweaking the AoE may help to distinguish the various spells, as having a medium 15-20' AoE or a large 30-40' AoE is a huge difference imo.

 

Have I partially convinced you?

I can see that they are numerically different, I have no problem with this. You could make them different enough to include, for sure. As I said, I think like a Sorcerer, so I would ideally like every spell to present a different application. In the best situation, I would be able to choose for my spellbook any spell of a given level regardless of the other spells of that level I had already selected previously. (If you follow me.)

(*) On this regard, SR's Sphere of Chaos is a really good choice because it differs the most from the other "save once or be screwed" spells.

I like Sphere of Chaos. I vote to leave it be.

Executioner's Eyes

The way I see it the concept is that the spell grants to all allies the ability to easily spot target's weaknesses and most vulnerable spots, perhaps even telling them if under the armor there's an old wound or things like that.

That's fine, but it is not consistent with an "executioner," who hacks the neck of prostrate victims and is in no way a skilled combatant. Maybe the spell means "even striking enemy combatants will be as easy as an execution" or something. Oh well, perhaps I am over-thinking it.

I previously planned it to be a 7th lvl spell, but it originally was a 9th lvl spell, and I already moved it one lvl lower without nerfing it. The thing is, this spell can be very appealing as an 8th lvl spell, while making Prying Eye worth an 8th lvl spell slot would be really hard.

I vote for 8th level. 7th level has Improved Haste already. I would also use this spell at 8th level but not at 9th level.