polytope

Afaik, backstab immune monsters are as rare as talkative Stalkers in this game. You can even backstab those mushrooms that summon myconids (if you can work out which side is their "back"). Minotaurs are on my to-do list anyway. I had time this weekend to finish the improved Yuan-Ti for version 1.7, these snakes get their proper spell like powers (Darkness 15' Radius is like a dark version of glitterdust) have improved morale and a chance to possess magic weapons:

I remembered them, it's the regular, almost identical trolls which will bug out if their script isn't matched exactly to their cre file that are driving me crazy. I looked at the minotaur's stats and it isn't immediately obvious why they're so much weaker than an Umber Hulk, (base THAC0 10 and 18/00 strength). I think part of the problem with minotaurs is their avatar has a slow "pain" animation and their axes also have a slow speed factor, so the minotaur spends most of the round recoiling after being hit and never getting a swing in. Vanilla game Tazok has the same issue. The only tough minotaurs in the game (Rock and Garrock in Watcher's Keep) have magic axes (better SF) and are perma-hasted (which improves attack spped even further). I might replace the ordinary minotayr's axes with halberds (their avatar's "axe" is already the size of a halberd!) and give them 2 handed weapon style specialization, so their attack speed is a bit better.

I didn't use Detectable Spells for the umber hulks' targetting, instead I'm relying on a timer to avoid the hulks attacking characters with Improved Mantle or similar spells. Since umber hulks can't cast breach anyway I guess it'll do the job. The blocks for the timer and preferred target look like this: IF OR(3) SpellCast(Player1,WIZARD_PROTECTION_FROM_MAGIC_WEAPONS) SpellCast(Player1,WIZARD_ABSOLUTE_IMMUNITY) SpellCast(Player1,WIZARD_IMPROVED_MANTLE) THEN RESPONSE #100 SetGlobalTimer("AVP1","LOCALS",24) ClearActions(Myself) END ... IF !GlobalTimerNotExpired("AVP1","LOCALS") !CheckStatGT(Player1,0,STONESKINS) !StateCheck(Player1,STATE_MIRRORIMAGE) !CheckStatGT(Player1,49,RESISTSLASHING) Range(Player1,10) OR(5) Class(Player1,LONG_BOW) Class(Player1,BARD) Class(Player1,DRUID) Class(Player1,CLERIC) HPPercentLT(Player1,50) !StateCheck(Player1,STATE_PANIC) See(Player1) False() THEN RESPONSE #100 Continue() END

Thanks for the reports Kreso. Intentional, the troll is replaced with a new creature on dying the first time, this new troll cannot be worth any XP, because he also is replaced with another troll of the same type when killed (unless by fire or acid). Grrr, it turns out this guy is also bugged even in vanilla, he's a spellcasting troll when you first meet him but becomes a regular melee troll with no spells after being reduced to 1hp. I've removed his spellcasting and made him a spirit troll. The giant troll (whose head can be put on the altar) in the same room will now die without needing fire/acid, it's too fiddly otherwise to work out when he should lose his head... I've also made an effort to prevent this sort of thing in future with generic troll scripts, they'll now lose their MINHP/MONHP/TROLLIMM item if they still have it for some reason. Cannot reproduce, casting Death Spell on a mixed group of trolls (ice, giant, regular - spirit and spectral are now immune, being undead) gave XP, but finishing them off didn't give extra XP. Polytweak 1.6 is now out with a new component, Improved Umber Hulks. I'll see if I can get the Yuan Ti done this weekend...

I left the portrait icon because when hp is drained as a % it doesn't display a line in the combat log, I needed to leave some sort of ingame notification. Glad to get some player feedback on the flayers (I tried them myself, but I'm not the best judge of my own work). I'm not sure if "regenerating" the health drained by mind flayers can be done in a non-buggy way, I'll try. Yeah, there was a typo in the tp2, sorry about that. It was the night before Christmas eve and I had a plane to catch, so was a bit rushed. Fixed.

Thans for playtesting Kreso! Strange. I tested flesh to stone and disintegrate on the trolls, but not death spell... I guess finger of death will have the same problem, I'll fix this as soon as I can work out what's going on. It turns out this guy has the same script as a regular ice troll, but a unique creature file, the result is that he uses my new ice troll script but hasn't lost his minimum hp item, fixed. This will hopefully be a very rare bug as troll scripts are usually specifically matched to their creature files. Did the splitting troll work fine? Anyone who wants a quick fix (without reinstalling) for the keep ice troll: Copy the file "trolic01.cre" from your override folder (do not MOVE it from the override - although that probably goes without saying for most readers), rename it "kptrol06.cre" and then add that to the override. I forgot to modify the snow troll in the planar sphere, but he shouldn't have this problem as he doesn't have the same script as a regular snow troll. I've included him in a quick update anyway. Oh, I'm just looking at their creature files and it looks like some of the keep trolls were originally intended by the devs to be troll shamans, with access to 5th level cleric spells. The planar sphere snow troll was supposed to be a caster as well, after Christmas I'll have time to give them new troll shaman scripts. Theoretically, a troll chopped up and not burned/dissolved in acid should recover like this, I agree the gibbing and instant reappearance looks silly, but there's nothing* I can do to prevent it, because the "chunkability" of a creature is hardcoded into its animation (regular trolls cannot be gibbed, spirit and spectral varieties can). I assume you had the Flail of Ages by the time you reached the druid grove, were you hitting them with that? It's intentional that a troll who takes fire/acid damage in the round before dying will not become a "downed troll" who requires finishing off. Another change I just made (I updated the mod on mediafire), spirit trolls glow less brightly and at a lower frequency (I tried to give them a sort of ghostly look). Also, when spirit trolls drain strength they gain 1 point to their own strength score (which lasts for only three rounds, I didn't want them running around with 25 strength after killing a few summons with poor AC). *Actually I could give spirit/spectral trolls high damage resistance to prevent them taking 10 points or more of melee damage (and chunking), but this would defeat the purpose of a component to make troll fights less tedious.

I had some time to mod this weekend, so Polytweak 1.5 is out in time for Christmas. A new component has been added, improved and less buggy trolls (details in the readme on page 1). I would have recoloured the various types of trolls (as I did with the mindflayers) but aVENGER's aTweaks already does that.

Ok thanks, I'll try and work around it by script, I've noticed the "related" weapon proficiencies are not removed by level drain since they aren't applied by CLAB files or otherwise leveling up, a moot point I suppose, as no one just keeps adventuring while level drained. And this could be enough. I find them so terribly annoying that I wait for a caster to hit level 12 so I can use Death Spell to get rid of them immidiately, no way will I bother with that otherwise. If you need some info, I don't think you do but here is a rather nice info page, not only about Trolls. Fission slimes were handled in a better way in BG1, basically this is the script I gave regular trolls: IF Global("TrollDie","LOCALS",0) OR(2) HitBy([ANYONE],FIRE) HitBy([ANYONE],ACID) THEN RESPONSE #100 SetGlobal("TrollDie","LOCALS",1) SetGlobalTimer("TrollDeath","LOCALS",6) END IF Die() !Global("TrollDie","LOCALS",1) OR(2) StateCheck(Myself,STATE_FROZEN_DEATH) StateCheck(Myself,STATE_STONE_DEATH) THEN RESPONSE #100 SetGlobal("TrollDie","LOCALS",2) END IF Die() GlobalLT("TrollDie","LOCALS",1) !StateCheck(Myself,STATE_FLAME_DEATH | STATE_ACID_DEATH) THEN RESPONSE #100 CreateCreatureObject("troll02",Myself,0,0,0) // Troll DestroySelf() END IF Global("TrollDie","LOCALS",1) GlobalTimerExpired("TrollDeath","LOCALS") THEN RESPONSE #100 SetGlobal("TrollDie","LOCALS",0) END Troll02 just needed it's xp value set to zero, and a similar implementation for giant trolls, ice trolls, spectral trolls, desert trolls and spirit trolls - I rescripted those spirit trolls completely because they have the incredibly annoying tendency with SCS melee scripting to go invisible several times per round, on the other hand they should drain more strength per hit, but for a shorter time. Trolls have their minimum hp items removed, and lose their unjustified immunity to disabling effects (they had this there in vanilla so their death scripts wouldn't be screwed up by confusion, feeblemindedness etc.). Edit: I've updated the scripting blocks with the release of v1.5, if it's of interest to any other modders. Good. As for cave-in, you might wanna use a less severe (or normal?) Earthquake. Something less powerful than earthquake certainly, as they come in packs and the stacked damage would be insane. Every pack of umber hulks could have an elder leading it though, and the Yuan Ti who sometimes spawn instead (especially greater) would have a chance to wield magic weapons.

Updated to version 1.4 -It's now more obvious how to install my mod -Ulitharids now have 20 intelligence, accompanied by an appropriate immunity to 1st and 2nd level illusion spells. I'm worried about the fact that a stoneskinned/ironskinned tank is almost invulnerable to the Ulitharids' attacks, even with six attacks per round they take too long to strip stoneskins because of their poor THAC0, but at least now they can remove mirror images.

I'm not so much bothered that Diviner is weak as that conjurer gives up nothing useful for his extra spell slots, unless he's solo. This has been on my to do list for a while. Trolls: only change I think they need is to make them less buggy. I thought about setting all trolls XP value to zero and having them vanish and spawn a "downed" troll on death if not disintegrated, or killed by fire or acid. XP would be granted solely by death script. This would avoid the frustration of a troll forgetting to die (or being unable to do so while stuck in web...). Hmmm, It's guaranteed to cause compatibility problems with mods that add trolls, and trolls with unique scripts like Tor'Gal. Then again I could leave unique trolls alone and just apply this change to the generic trolls which are terribly boring to fight because of their bugginess. Umber Hulks: I'd just change them to have better saving throws and 9HD as they should, maybe elder Umber Hulks could get an AoE gaze or a tougher save penalty on their confusion. They had the interesting ability in PnP to burrow and cause cave-ins, I just know that implementing this would be a buggy mess like the mind flayers' grapple (I'm embarrassed of how much time I wasted trying to get that to work properly, suffice to say if it's applied by script it can be broken by disabling effects, if it's applied as a property of their melee attack it can break when the mind flayer switches targets or if someone other than the "grappled" character kills the mind flayer). Yuan-ti: They are supposed to be able to cast a limited range of spells; cause fear (could only be used defensively, for a creature relying on melee attacks), darkness 15’ radius (it'd work something like Blackmist halberd's blindness), snake charm, sticks to snakes (we'll skip those, pointless and unimplementable), neutralize poison (a "reversible" spell in ADD, could also poison a target), suggestion, and polymorph other (skip that one too). I'm unsure if these should be implemented as spells or spell like abilities. Spell like abilities, I guess, to distinguish the regular Yuan-Ti from Yuan-Ti mages. To compensate I might have to either increase their XP value or weaken their melee abilities a touch (SCS makes them fairly strong fighters with weapon grandmastery, whereas in vanilla they had no proficiency at all in the weapons they used), probably the former, as most players who'd install this would want more difficulty. Githyanki/Mind Flayers: I think of adding a few extra Psionic powers like Psionic Displacement, did you notice some (like ballistic attack and detonate) don't have any associated animation or projectile? Ulitharids Psionic blast should cause feeblemindedness, no more protection with the ring of free action (I'd make the feeblemind ability temporary or it would be too annoying - not that anyone's likely to survive being disabled with mindflayers around). Psionic powers should have a random "activation time" between one segment and one round. Ulitharids have 20 intelligence, so should be immune to 1st and 2nd level illusions like blindness and spook (doubt it will matter, they are 95% magic resistant anyway), they should also have the ability to dispel mirror image and blur on hit. Others: Gauths should have a kind of lesser anti magic ray which drains item charges and disrupts spellcasting in that round. Well, the drain item opcode is buggy in SoA and nonfunctional in ToB (dunno about EE) so it would drain a spell instead, like a Nishruu's touch. Juggernaut golems and sand golems are almost carbon copies of stone and clay golems (though Juggernaut is slashing resistant) inspite of being worth twice as much XP, they need some unique abilities too. DW a scimitar and dagger just looks cool for some reason, and daggers are arguably a better choice of ranged weapon at low levels than slings because of poison throwing daggers, at high levels Jaheira should be in melee anyway, because of Ironskins, but even if you prefer a shield, there's no reason to put proficiencies in sword and shield style. I'd be happy to make it EE compatible if I knew how to do so, I can't test it without buying EE myself though. It might be enough to update to the latest WEIDU version and replace "REQUIRE_PREDICATE ENGINE_IS ~tob~" with "REQUIRE_PREDICATE GAME_IS ~tob bgt bg2ee~" but I have no idea how the weapon proficiency component will work in EE as there are some engine level bugs relating to how the game stores weapon proficiencies from the inactive class on a dual classed human character. Does EE add mind flayers to the game? I'd guess there are some in the Black Pits, but if they use the default mind flayer weapon they'll be covered. OMG, how did I forget to do this? No wonder I didn't get more player feedback, as the mod apparently can't be installed for players who don't know about that. I PM'd CamDawg as he seems to manage the miscellaneous released mods section, this project is not on the scale of Sword Coast Stratagems and I doubt it needs a forum of its own.

Lynx, you know a lot about the infinity engine; can you please tell me how weapon proficiencies are stored on a dual classed character who hasn't yet regained their original class abilities? This is the source of a bug in the "related weapon proficiencies" component. Also updated polytweak to version 1.3... meh, I know only 10 people downloaded it, but it's there. Ideas for future polytweak: I have a lot of changes to the spell system coded up but not packaged in a mod yet. If any one is interested I can add them for a new version. Spell school changes The conjurer is an OP kit with no disadvantages, the only useful divination spells are True Sight and Far Sight and clerics get them - all the Power Word spells would be changed to divination magic to make up for the imbalance of a conjurer (best mage specialization) vs a diviner (one of the worst). Transmuters are pretty bad too, they'd get Spell Turning (minor and regular versions) which is similar enough to Physical Mirror (also alteration) as well as dispel/remove magic (made universal). Spell changes: Dispel magic uses a 10% chance of success/failure per level of difference (rather than vanilla 10% per level below the target and 5% per level above), the chance of automatic success and failure is increased to 5% each. Will now destroy Nishruus and magical swords if the dispel check is successful, potions will now be counted for dispel purposes as the same level as the user. No more "dispel effects" feedback string or animation playing on a creature who wasn't actually affected. Remove magic is now a single target spell - previously too powerful, not a chance that you'd prefer dispel magic over this. I know SCS/Rogue Rebalancing mages may cast remove magic on themselves to catch nearby PCs, I can work around this by making it affect the nearest enemy if cast on self. Inquisitors get both remove and dispel (alternating every 4 levels) and both are cast 4 levels above their actual level (i.e. +40% chance) rather than twice their level. Priestly remove fear spell is single target: area-of-effect protection from fear is too powerful for a 1st level spell, and there was no use for the 2nd level mage spell resist fear. Improved haste; now an AoE like regular haste, but lasts only 30 seconds, this change is designed to make it more useful for the AI, specifically in mixed groups of fighters and mages. Protection from magic weapons; only protects from actual enchanted weapons, not from the attacks of creatures who strike magically like dragons, demons and mind flayers, finally gives a use for those mantle type spells. Prismatic spray (and one effect of Sphere of Chaos); just replaced the annoying disintegrate effect with phasing into another plane (short duration maze, with either level drain or elemental damage). Polymorph other (and another effect of sphere of Chaos); in vanilla game polymorphed enemies would continue to use scripted attack actions like dragon breath/wing buffet and beholder eye beams, whilst hilarious, this made the spell rather useless. The target (if outside the party) will now drop its inventory and be considered dead (granting XP) upon transforming to squirrel, it's still the easiest of the save-or-die spells to resist. True Sight; would now allow direct targeting of improved invisible enemies rather than waiting for the once per round "tick" to reveal them (as would Detect Invisibility, but only for 3 rounds) - but it would no longer dispel improved invisibility from enemies, so only the caster of TS could target them (the way it was handled in vanilla made absolutely no sense). Spell Immunity:Divination would not be useless because PW spells are divination now. Anyone want to see this made into a mod?

Thanks Wisp, I figured it would be something like this. I remember Mekrath's bookcase having 3 6th level scrolls on one occasion but only one on my current game. The trademeet raks had one 4th and one 5th level scroll which looks right.

Hmmm... No bug reports (which is good) but no player feedback either (not so good ). I've yet to meet the tweaked mindflayers in a legit playthrough with normal levels (as opposed to spawning them via console in ToB for testing), I guess I'll be my own play tester for balance. Anyway, I'm bumping this topic because polytweak has been updated to v1.2 with a new component (Related Weapon Proficiencies), you can install this over the previous components, which don't need re-installation. I couldn't upload it to topic this time so linked to Mediafire (of course, it would be nice if G3 would host my mod...).

Okay thanks, I'll update the download link.

I ended up redoing the mind flayers due to bugginess, it took me quite some time and I can see now why Bioware went with a much simpler implementation. The main change in gameplay terms from my first release is that mindflayers have a chance to grab with every hit rather than requiring two consecutive hits (they have poor THAC0 so they practically required two crits) and PC's can break free of their hold by killing the mindflayer. The new version can be installed after SCSII (I know that takes a while to reinstall).

Thanks kreso, I'd be interested to hear back from anyone who has tried the mind flayers; intelligence no longer matters when fighting them, so fighter NPCs like Minsc are now more viable frontliners... I'm curious how much this affects the difficulty of battles (it might be considerably harder with the SCS component to give flayers damage resistance since you've only got 1 round to kill them if they latch onto a target). @Miloch; I know of lvl 1 NPCs but it does things in a different manner; you can't create a dual-classed character, hp are re-rolled for new recruits, spellcasters start with only 1 spell memorized (and arcane spellbooks are completely changed)... Not to bash that mod, it's just rather different in implementation.

Nvm, updated the readme.

I've had hardly any time for BG2 this year, but I've finally got around to making my first mod. I'll probably update it soon depending on feedback. I've tested it and it seems bug free but please report any bugs in this thread. Like most weidu mods, simply unzip into your BGII - SoA folder and run setup-polytweak. Readme follows. Polytweak version 2.0 (download from Mediafire) has ten main components. More are in development. Improved Creatures 1) PNP MIND FLAYER ATTACKS: Several mods (Tactics, Questpack and SCSII) already improve mind flayer scripting and psionic powers, so I don't touch their AI; instead this component changes the behaviour of the mind flayer's "Devour Brain" attack. The vanilla game implementation as as a short duration penalty to the target's intelligence score with each hit was a bit ridiculous, since your character's half-eaten brain grows back in 30 seconds, and highly intelligent characters (presumably having brains toughened by exercise) survive their attacks for longer. Each hit from a flayer strips 25% of the target's hp to simulate this monster's PnP ability to kill with four successful tentacle hits. Note that this damage cannot "gib" a character, doesn't bypass stoneskin on grounds of "realism" (some would say this makes fighter/mages overpowered vs mind flayers, I'd say F/Ms are already broken beyond repair) and doesn't affect elementals, slimes, skeletons, wraiths or very large creatures. Fighter NPCs with low-average intelligence such as Minsc are now more viable against illithids. XP is now gained for kills made while shapechanged into a mind flayer, which also properly sets magic resistance to 90%. Additionally the THAC0 of most mindflayers is corrected. Ulitharids gain six attacks per round (as they should have) and "Supra-genius" intelligence that allows them to ignore low level illusions. Vampiric illithids are a bit more dangerous since they can devour brains as well as drain levels. The latter critters are recoloured slightly to stand out from regular mind flayers. Compatibility: This will work best if installed after the g3 fixpack and before SCSII (though SCSII is not required). Installing my mod after SCSII shouldn't break anything, but Alhoon(s) won't be affected in that case. 2) IMPROVED (LESS BUGGY) TROLLS: ***Important - this component only works on the original ToB engine, do not try to use it with Enhanced Edition*** The behaviour of trolls in the vanilla game (i.e. often "forgetting" to die while in combat and being unable to die while webbed) makes battles with trolls unnecessarily long and full of micromanagement and is a source of frustration to many players including myself. This component allows trolls to be killed directly, providing fire or acid is used, it is somewhat similar to the "Streamlined Trolls" component of Tactics, however unlike Tactics the trolls gain no damage resistance and still require fire or acid damage to be finished off, trolls are also now susceptible to mind affecting spells (they were immune to script-breaking effects like confusion in vanilla BG2, mainly so that their "lie down when near death and become immune to everything except fire/acid" script would function). Spectral and spirit trolls, being undead creatures get appropriate immunities and may now be turned by paladins or priests. They will not be encountered during the daytime (outside De'Arnise keep or in the druid grove). Vanilla game spirit trolls had claws which work like the Staff of the Magi, i.e. granting invisibility on equip, this interacts badly with SCS melee scripting because the troll "equips" their claws before attacking (and thus becomes invisible) several times per round. Their invisibility is now applied by script and less frequently, they also drain more strength per hit, but only by their claws (not their bite) and for a shorter time. Add this as late as possible in the installation order. 3) IMPROVED UMBER HULKS: These beasts receive a number of stat fixes, they had fewer HD than they should in vanilla (6 rather than 8+8) and their saving throws were too high. Their AI scripting is improved (an Umber Hulk is supposed to have 8-10 intelligence, equivalent to an average human), although their gaze attack is intentionally random (it's supposed to affect anyone who happens to make eye contact, nearby characters are the most likely). Umber Hulk claw/bite attacks are now coded correctly as slashing weapons. Elder umber hulks now have a tougher save penalty against their confusing gaze, and their claws cause bleeding wounds. The random monster spawns of umber hulks now have one elder umber hulk leading them rather than a minotaur. Install order shouldn't matter too much here, as few mods touch umber hulks, but ideally last and certainly after Quest Pack. 4) IMPROVED YUAN-TI: The snake men had a variety of spell like abilities in 2nd edition (cause fear, poison, darkness and suggestion), which weren't implemented in game, these are restored. Being a highly intelligent race Yuan-Ti also have a chance to wield magical swords or axes and lesser Yuan-Ti now have proficiency in their weapons. The XP awards for defeating Yuan-Ti are increased a little. This component does not affect Yuan-Ti mages whose AI is already improved by various mods, it should be installed after SCS otherwise my changes to Yuan-Ti scripts may interact badly with SCS scripting. 5) IMPROVED MINOTAURS: Most were weak creatures in the vanilla game (they're still not very tough), their movement rate, HD and morale are fixed to match their MM descriptions and they gain the ability to charge targets who aren't yet in close combat; a minotaur's charge deals crushing damage with a chance of knocking the target down if a save vs death is failed, charging minotaurs also take double damage if struck by a piercing weapon (excepting missiles). 6) CORRECTED VAMPIRE STATS: As with the mind flayers (and for the same reason) I haven't touched vampire AI, this component just matches vampire XP values, physical stats and saving throws to their level. All vampires except fledglings gain a little magic resistance. Vampires without names are now labelled according to their level of power, which seems to have been intended but unimplemented in game. More powerful varieties of vampire impose a greater saving throw penalty against their charming gaze. Vampire fear also now applies a -2 penalty to all of a victim's dice rolls (rather than just THAC0) if the save is failed, and doesn't stack with itself (as it used to). Durst and Gellal, the special vampires the party may meet in Bodhi's lair in Chapter 2 get a level boost to match their vanilla XP values, as does Lassal. NPC and rule Changes 1) RELATED WEAPON PROFICIENCIES: I always thought it strange that a grandmaster of the longsword would fumble with a bastard sword, or that a crack shot with a longbow would be unable to hit the side of a barn with a short bow. Polytweak RWPs groups similar weapons together: Long swords and bastard swords; scimitars and katanas; clubs and maces (...depending on install choice); shortbows and longbows. Specialization in a weapon type automatically grants proficienct use of similar weapons (however class restrictions are respected i.e. fighter druids can't get proficiency in katana or mace nor can swashbucklers get proficiency in bastard sword), likewise high mastery of a weapon imparts specialization in all "relatives". You will need to turn party AI on for a couple of seconds after joining a new NPC or allocating their proficiencies in order for this component to work, as the changes are applied by script. This component should be compatible with "Rebalanced Weapon Proficiencies" from BG2 Tweak Pack. 2) BETTER NPC PROFICIENCIES FOR SOA: I find it frustrating on the nth replay recruiting NPCs who have useless spells memorized and - worse - mispent proficiencies. Admittedly it only takes one rest to refresh their spell slots but NPC's have time-limited quests and if you play with tactical mods (like me) you can easily find yourself running out of time. You'll be asked about each NPC: Anomen: More useful spells memorized and specialized in warhammer and flail, if you recruit him at level 12+ he will have mastered flails. Cernd: Kit changed to avenger, stats reallocated - though stat point total is left the same - to 12, 16, 9, 10, 18, 15 (previously 13, 9, 13, 12, 18, 15 - he was the only NPC without a single good physical stat!). Jaheira: Better spell choice and either i) Specialized in quaterstaff and sling, with one star in two handed style and spears ii) Specialized in scimitar, dagger and two weapon style Keldorn: Gains halberd and two handed proficiency or specialization (depending on level) Minsc: i) Keep Minsc as a ranger but give him specialization in bastard sword rather than two handed sword and an extra star in two weapon fighting ii) Change Minsc to a barbarian but keep vanilla game proficiencies (except two weapon style) iii) Change Minsc to a barbarian specialized in two weapon, axes and bastard swords Minsc receives an appropriate hp boost with either "barbarian" option. Nalia: Most players think of her as a less useful Imoen clone, I’ve tried to make her more distinctive; now swashbuckler 5 -> mage (slightly less XP on joining). Valygar: Racial enemy changed to demon (a THAC0 bonus vs golems is almost useless as they have poor AC), gains an extra star in two weapon fighting, specialization in long sword rather than spear and in short bow rather than long bow (he doesn't have sufficent strength to use the "best" longbows... which are a pretty useless weapon category anyway). Viconia: Largely empty spellbook filled Items and Icons 1) DISTINCTIVE ICONS FOR BLACKRAZOR & fLAMETONGUE: Blackrazor looked a lot like Haer'Dalis's Chaos sword (it's blade is supposed to resemble the night sky) and Flametongue shared an icon with the sword of flame (it now has a wavy, flamberege design). 2) PNP DISTUPTION WEAPONS: Disruption weapons in unmodded BG2 were rather overpowered versus undead, because the chance of disruption was implemented as a saving throw with a -4 penalty, meaning even the highest level vampires and liches were almost guaranteed to be disrupted in a round if assaulted by someone with multiple attacks. Disruption weapons now use the following table: HD of undead__________________Chance of Disruption____ 6 (such as wraiths) or less_________95%_________________ 7 (such as mummies)_____________80%_________________ 8 (such as spectres )_____________65%_________________ 9 (such as fledgling vampires)______50%_________________ 10 (such as ghosts)______________35%_________________ 11 (such as basic liches)__________20%_________________ 12 or more_____________________5%__________________ On the other hand, evil extraplanar creatures like demons and rakshasas are also now affected by disruption weapons, suffering extra magic damage with each hit and a chance of destruction as if they were 12+ HD undead. This component affects Azuredge and of course the Mace of Disruption (both versions), which gets a new icon. The price of Azuredge is also increased to 10,000 gp. ************************************************ Acknowledgements Westley Weimer and Valerio Biggiani for Weidu aVENGER for his similar PnP creatures components in aTweaks (a partial inspiration for this mod) Avenger_teambg for DLTCEP Kreso for playtesting and bug reports And of course Bioware and Black Isle for making the games in the first place

IR appears to be incompatible with the most recent version(s) of SCS which assign BG2 type weapon proficiencies to npc fighters; some part of the SCS general ai improvements strips BG1 style proficiencies ("large sword" etc.) from all fighters (they usually had several...) but IR doesn't appear to account for this and enemies can end up wielding weapons they aren't proficient in. Edit: Yeah I just checked, the "replacement" column in itemlist.2da is based on the assumption of creatures still having BG1 proficiency, i.e. a 2h sword can replace a long sword Edit2: I suppose if mode 2 is used you can work around this problem by installing randomizer before SCS, then the SCS macro will give creatures proficiency in their new weapon, but SCS takes a long time to reinstall if you want things randomized for a new game...

I think that immobilizing a character for one round with no save + 3 rounds slow with no save + "save or else" is too powerful for a sixth level spell. It's more powerful than the 7th level PW:Stun (which will stun most enemies for 1-4 rounds if they have 90hp or less). Slow + palette colour change for one round even on a successful save would seem okay; a one round delay gives the possibility of dispelling, but only if very quick.

Are you sure about giving animal summons non magical weapons? The damage reduction system of 3rd ed would make it at least possible for a powerful animal to harm a creature with DR, also in 2nd ed where the "plus" of a creature's attack was tied to HD, whereas in BG2 terms a strong animal with a non magical attack could never damage even a weak shadow. It might also make the summoned animals rather ineffective when used by enemy casters, who won't know that they need to cast Magic Fang on them - although I'm not against the idea of Magic Fang spell. It might even be possible to avoid scripting the effect it if you use .eff files to specifically target bears, wolves, cats etc. with the "create magic item" opcode, since the stronger creatures (bears) are higher level the .eff could have a min level cutoff to create the +1 "bear paw" item or whatever. I think a save for Banishment is fine, so long as the penalty is greater than the minimum saving throw the summons could have (if buffed with Luck, Spirit Armor, Aid, Chant etc.), thus a mage would never waste time casting it on a creature who is sure to make their save.

My experience is that visual range can be reduced to 7 - or half normal - without screwing up AI scripts too badly, as creatures can still detect actors at range 12 (nearly at the edge of the normal fog of war, albeit they cannot target them until they get closer). Ice Dagger as described in Oriental Adventures deals 2d4 damage to the target, 1d4 (save vs death for none) to creatures within 5 feet and they all must save or be slowed for 1d3 rounds (make that 2 rounds, to avoid annoying staggered probability issues) with a -2 to THAC0 and -1 to AC. However, AD&D Ice Dagger had a casting time of 1 round, which is bad for an AoE spell. If implemented it should certainly be a 1st level spell rather than 2nd, because it would be inferior to glitterdust, web, horror etc. Would you consider replacing Blindness at lvl 1 with Ray of Fatigue, and moving Blindness to lvl 2 (where it should be) to replace Deafness? Lvl 2 Sound burst could then become Shout (there's an abundance of AoE spells at lvl 2). Perhaps you would need to wait until the next SCS release to implement it, as it would need new AI trigger checks.

I'm not sure how the AI would handle this (e.g. I guess SCS AI gives for granted a target doesn't need multiple Breach spells to become really vulnerable). Btw, afaik targets rarely have tons of protections up (e.g. 1-2 specific protections, 1 PfMW-like spell and depending on situations 1-2 combat protections) so if we want a similar change to matter we would have to limit the amount of dispelled protections even more imo. The AI would cast repeated Breach spells in that case... Much as if you re-protected yourself after being breached. It's not a huge issue since Breach would still always remove the highest level combat protection (a protection from weapon spell) as well as the highest level specific protection (probably Protection from Energy), which is what both AI and players are usually trying to dispel, to allow use of weapons and direct damage spells. I turned an invented spell into a PnP spell while keeping the pre-existing concept almost identical. I'm actually quite proud of it. This spell actually existed in al-Qadim setting, but it was 4th level and capped at 10d6 (otherwise identical to the BG2 version). Although the effect should be increased (since it's moved up by one level), 15d8 is really too much (comparable to wilting, three levels higher) - I think bypassing MR is suitable, as enemy mages need some way to deal with skeleton warriors, and conceptually speaking, heat from a natural source like the sun should disregard MR. Ehm...see my reply there then. Jokes aside, this case is even worse imo because there's really not a single case where I'd pick Feeblemind over Hold Monster right now. I use it for dragons, since they're immune to hold, and deal enough melee damage that Chaos isn't such a great spell to incapacitate them with. It's also supposed to have a tougher save penalty when used on arcane casters (if Breach were made less powerful, as Aranthy's suggests, feeblemind might even be a good alternative) Regarding Skull Trap, making undead immune to the AoE would indeed be good for necromancers, but bad for enchanters: Their mind-affecting spells are all useless against undead and they are denied evocation. ST and Wilting are the only AoE damage spells an enchanter can use, so if neither affect undead the kit seems quite disadvantaged.

Are you using any improved AI scripts? In the vanilla game mages will waste spells like confusion/domination on summoned undead anyway. Really, mages shouldn't be using any resistable spell on a 95% magic resistant skeleton warrior (which is why I think Sunfire should be left as bypassing MR).

I think that whilst moving at half your normal speed will definitely make you easier to hit, and less likely to be able to hit others, moving at twice your normal speed will not necessarily do the opposite: Avoiding an attack requires that you see it coming, and there's no reason to believe Haste increases your "processing speed". A flat THAC0 bonus also implies an improved ability to either aim or penetrate armor, which Haste shouldn't really provide - even though it might be harder to parry or avoid a hasted attack, such rules as parrying and the distinction between "dodge" AC and actual armor were not implemented. Slow definitely doubles spell casting speed, but Haste doesn't improve it (except by negating Slow). I think this feature is reasonable, as it makes Slow useful against casters, and is justifiable if you believe that the minimum casting time of a spell is dependent on external factors (the Weave or somesuch...). I find Improved Haste to be useful for non-warriors as is, 10 apr with Melf's meteors (or 6 with darts of stunning) is pretty impressive, also, adding to - rather than doubling - a character's apr favours 2-hand weapon users disproportionately over those using 2-weapon styles (IR's 2-handed weapons are already much more damaging) and wouldn't set stat #155 (IMPROVEDHASTE), which I believe is checked by aVENGER's AI in a few places, probably SCSII as well. I believe it's already implemented by the opcode, if two character's wielding weapons with the same positive speed facor, one hasted and one not, attack each other the hasted one gets first strike - I'm not sure that it's a -2 bonus however, I have the feeling Haste actually halves SF.