kreso

I don't think that is very important. There are so few enemies which require a +3 weapon in SoA- high level demons/devils, Greater Mummies and 1 Demilich. Considering you won't be meeting demons soon (at least until you aquire proficiencies in another weapon), that you'll probably blast mummies with magic and Demilich can't be hurt by +3 it really doesn't matter. Morningstars share proficiency with maces, and you can buy a +3/+4 - Mace of Disruption.

Congrats and good job!

Will post in the relevant forum for that. They'd be very vulnerable to backstab, regardless. And yes, they use a ton of abjurations - up to Imprisonment. It's my favorite mage kit, and it is a real shame AI can't handle them. SCS really isn't meant for mages without Abjuration. They're viable as PC's, quite so (even tough lacking abjurations can be a huge pain to handle, and it takes rather high metaknowledge to play them efficently.

Enchanters are, and in BG1 are very deadly. BG2 features much more items/spells for mind protection so their power diminishes fast. Abjurers aren't - lack of Transmutation equals to no Stoneskin - dead mage. Transmuters aren't as well - lack of Abjuration screws them up. Illusionist are not included as well, unfortunately.

I'm not sure, tbh. They're both powerhouses. My current druid is still bit far from summoning them, but I'll let you know how they do. There are 2 battles in ToB where it's either this, Reflection Shield or dead cleric. Even so, I agree that this spell is much more useful for AI then PCs. As I said, if this would protect from AoE it would be great. Or, like a Globe of Invulnerabilty, level 4 and lower are ineffective. It's biggest drawback is the fact that it's easilly removed by almost all antimagic spells. And they look cool as well iirc. And yes, it's a very powerful summon. It's a -6 penalty! Even fighters/monsters drop easilly with it. Definitely worth a 7th level slot. I'm also not keen on save or nothing, but this does damage even on a succesful save. Haste doubles 6 to 12 HP/round, even tough I don't find it neccecary for this spell. It lasts for long time, you can prebuff with it, saves potions, lets your cleric do other stuff than healing you, can keep you alive even if disabled, stacks with itself and any other regen item/ability you have. 10x better than Heal for me, whose long casting time make it very impractical (altough this will be adressed). Of course, it won't keep an AC 6 character alive vs Fire Giants, but it will help -15 AC character live through them. You know, certain summons can't be stunned nor can they be drained of intelligence

Generally, I agree, apart from: Create Undead - I found this spell to be quite useful for some reason, and I don't want to post spoilers here, but these thingies may be of great use vs some enemies. Finger of Death - a mage hit by it has about 75% chance to die instantly. Firestorm - I love this spell, it's very powerful considerig the time you get it. Use with Web/Entangle/Grease for added fun. Shield of Archon - it's cool. Try casting imp.invisibility on your Cleric as well. Regeneration - it's my favourite spell. Long duration, coupled with decent AC it goes a long way. Elementals -since you have aTweaks Elementals, just try and summon few of those. Cast haste and see what happens . Also, Summon Death Knight is bugged even without aTweaks, it's a SCS thing. You could try newest aTweaks (4.10) and see if it changes anything. if not, you could restore the .spl file from backup I guess.

Lol. I guess you played Fallout . It would indeed be cool, but I don't think it can be done.

Afaik it's possible if you use autopause. But I don't understand your problem, tbh. By another action I mean clicking anywhere on the screen apart from abilities (moving, attacking, selecting a different character) - these will all make pool fizzle...but these are same things that exist in vanilla game. Is it any different if you cast Spell Immunity spell?

Weird. Can you confirm this issue kreso? Did vanilla's Spell Immunity shared this problem? Yes, it has the same issue. If you make another action prior to choosing what SI you want, the spell is wasted. But why would you change this anyway? It's the game behaviour. It's not like there is a "casting time" involved. It's the Quivering Palm icon, not Stunning Fist he gets next to Ki Pool. Stunning Fist is correctly under Ki Pool.

Try unpausing then.

Are you giving your monk orders in between using Pool and then selecting an ability? Try setting autopause on "spell cast". Just checked myself, and it's working properly.

New Improved Haste is imo slightly underpowered for it's level. Amongst Chain Lightning, PFMW, Death Spell and similar power spells like Disintegrate and Flesh to Stone it feels very underwhelming for such a high slot. For a suggestion, I'd double it's duration.

I understand. There is a mod on SHS,, you might want to check it out if you didn't already. Don't know what your exact implementation plans are (imo, if it features 2much work like scripting etc. I'd vote for a simple 1xday usable ability "summon pet" (or animal, whatever) which stays until dies or 8 hours past). As for Cavalier, that "Challenge" feat could very well be implemented via Berserk opcode on both him and target. Not only would this increase his value drastically, he'd be the only kit which can "force" others into attacking him, making him a defender extraordinaire and a truly unique figure. Sure...just don't bug yourself too much over Beastmaster. Anyhow, looking forward to armors with damage resistance without NI tinkering.

Demi, you still working on this? I hope it's not Beastmaster giving you too much headache.

Sorry, now I see how incomplete my sentence was. I was thinking he'll get no summoning spells, i.e. "slightly better than I tought it would be".

Archer seems to get a slightly better spellbook.

This. IWD2 may have been quite crappy with it's limited gameplay and predictability, but both combat system and especially UI were much better than BG2. And this. However, and unfortunately, stealth is very limited in terms of what you can do while at it. I was even thinking that it might not be a bad idea to give them a x2 backstab later on as a "permanent" feature, just to make stealth appealing. However, this makes it none better for BG1, assuming that if they got it there they'd be as Stalkers.

Feedback on ranger For note, I didn't use Armor of Faith spell. In BG1, due to how important an effective AC is, I used him as a tank. If someone can wear full plate and carry a big shield, that's what he'll do. Stealth is useful from time to time, but in general, ranger is a tanky class and I used him as such. Two-weapon style is nice, again, I generally used a shield. Those 2 * are a boon, however, since if he isn't focused in combat he can swith to dual-wielding style for more offensive power. It's also useful early for clearing batches of low-level monsters which can't punch through full-plate offered protection. The fact that later he can cast Barkskin onto himself pretty much puts him in line with Paladins regarding how defensive they can be, even better sometimes. I didn't particulary like it, but it's very useful. In BG1, his best spells were Sillelagh, slow poison, Entangle and Barkskin. I didn't find Tracking to be of much use in BG1. The penalties involved, slow in particular, make it very clumsy and dangerous if stealth check fails. One thing that makes it somewhat useful is that you can use stealth while in that stance. It is quite cool tbh, I simply didn't find that much use for it. In BG1, even with Leather, he won't be making stealth checks always and you don't want to be slow moving in front of a bad wizard and archers, especially in leather armor. It will be better with SRv4 I guess. Not all is bad about this skill - the feeling when using it is exellent. Crawling around, hidden in shadows, marking the target for the kill. It actually makes him quite fun to play, which surprised me since I'm not a big fan of the class. I'd still improve it somehow (i.e. adding small AC penalties to creatures afffected, giving stealth bonus or something similar. This would make it much more useful in BG1). I don't know is this a bug or not, but it's only usable 1x/day, unlike Wild Empathy. His Entangle imunity makes for an interesting tactic in BG1 - cast Entangle, send him in front with his AC tankyness and demolish the opossition with ranged weapons and Fireballs. This spell is really powerful with it's no-save slow feature. This worked even in late SoA. (I had an Archer in party as well) Wild Empathy - ummm....it's not that this ability is bad, but BG2 just isn't about animals. It's neat, it could be made as a no-save as well, but it wouldn't help much. Come BG2, I used him as a dual-wielder warrior on frontlines. With high-level barkskin, his AC was exellent and he was very durable. Prot fire/cold was very useful there, being able to refresh such things on-the-fly is exellent. One thing that bothered me, is that he lacks some defining feature. Spells are ok, but nothing to write home about in BG2 levels. I don't know just how Quarry will be implemented. Now, I assume that he really shouldn't tank, yet he excells at that. In light of this playthrough, I'd really limit them to Medium Armor (yes, I also used to dress Minsc in full-plate, but he is quite a special kind of ranger. Thing is, even with dex penalties, full plate and especially Ankheg armor are too good to pass out on.), medium shields (very little sense to carry Tower shields in wood) and a suggested Hit Dice of 1d8 feels fine - think Ardanis suggested something similar. To somewhat "balance" this, (and assuming that improving his fighting skills isn't gonna cut it) Quarry should be a really good skill, his spellbook won't do it alone for this kit. If it could be made something like +x to critical hit chance modifier against marked target it would be awesome. If not doable, then -x to resistance/AC should do it (in addition, Know Oponnent could be made slightly different -2AC, THAC0, no save, bypass resistance - if you "know your oponnent" you can "forsee" his attack patterns etc). This Quarry would be quite a powerful ability, and ranger should spend time "marking" the target (1 or 2 rounds I guess). To balace it, maybe add penalties similar to low-level Tracking? Or make it "channelling" - ranger can't take action when tracking the target. Anyhow, I think the kit has great potential for being both unique/fun and a useful party member when Quarry gets implemented, especially in BG2. Without it, he lacks a defining feature, even tough this is much more noticable in BG2. He's a very useful party member in BG1. I'd put Paladin slightly higher, due to immunities and LoH ability, along with Smite Evil. Archer Bg1 - as expected I guess, even better once Entangle comes online. His greatest asset was that he can quite consistently hit mages under defensive buffs. His biggest weakness is esentially "protection from missiles" spell, which tends to make him useless, since apart from Inquisitor there are no means of dispelling that. Othervise, for as long as he has room to breathe, he kills stuff very fast. His ranger abilities I never used. Somehow, on an Archer, it's a waste of time. Every round not spent attacking is a round spent in the wrong way - that's his job, dps. Spells are ok, Barkskin/Entangle come to mind as very powerful even later in game. Once equipped with Long Bow of Marksmanship, his power increased drastically. Has troubles in certain fights due to confined spaces, but otherwise, if you're careful with positioning (Entangle + Protector of the Second armor help with that) he does his job as intended. Called shots, with archery gauntlets and Bless, are made at practically no penalty at level 4. In addition, chance for him missing twice in a round are almost non-existent, therefore starting at level 4 (when CS comes available, even tough it slipped at level 1 also) you can freely use it to ensure no big enemy ever gets either away or close to you. BG2 - again, I witnessed a huge leap in power (this is probably for IR forum, but anyways) when I equipped him with HeartSeeker. Prot missiles spell is no longer an issue (Breach available. Otoh, is this spell supposed to be so powerful? I mean, the 2 minutes duration usually means the mage will unload his entire spellbook), and this weapon's power is immense. Otherwise, Disarm CS I used on any hard-hitter such as dragons/Tazok and the like, and Trip is exellent vs mages. Overall, I think Trip is usually a better choice. Ther are certain battles which conviniently destroy your positioning, and that's when the full extent of his weakness become apparent, and his limited use as a dps/disable character. A high-level fighter can do the same, and still fight in melee, tank etc. Archer simply can't. His +ac vs missiles is quite irrelevant, for me at least - if an enemy wields a bow, I immediately target him. It makes him a bit better (Sahaugin+Underdark in particular come to mind) but the bonus is really small. Overall, I'd rate him lower than a True Fighter in BG2 somehow. Simply, he doesn't scale that good. As for suggestions....well, he was always a "glass-cannon". I like the idea of keeping him such. However, late in BG2 fighter is simply better with his full plate, adaptability, versitality and combat stances (Offensive stance is very powerful in conjuction with ranged weapons, due to THAC0 bonuses from DEX, weapon and arrows). Now, hopefully Rangers will get 1d8 dice for HP, making Archer even more fragile. How about giving the archer a stance of his own? Slow movement (or none)/extra damage (+2,+4,+6 level scalable or something like that, Increased Criticals, max damage.... basically anything to distinguish himself). As he is, in BG2 he feels like a nerfed fighter with some spells (Stealth is much better in BG1, due to abduance of invisbility sources). P.S. This I'll need to try out more, but Called Shots saving throw penalty seems really big. I'll try it out some more to see full extent of it's use, but as it is my knowledge now, failing a save is almost certain.

Spellstrike ,This is very true. Hmmm...maybe make Spellstrike destroy 1 spell protection only (of any level), but apply an effect that spellcasting is blocked for x rounds (2 or so?). Your point makes sense, but essentialy destroying all protections apart from Spell Shield is very powerful.

If all else fails, thief's Detect illusion skill bypasses SI:Div, making the wizard targetable. Another option is ADHW (unless he's protected from Magic Energy), and cloud-type spells. Of course, if he Gates in 3 modded Pit Fiends and given you don't want to cheese them out but fight them, I'd say you're dead.

I can only second this. It does make any mage battle so much easier, even without AoE. In addition, it makes any other similar spell redundant.

Arcane Spells . Teleport Field . Well, is there any spell which protects from it in BG1 standards (level 3, 4)? Afaik there are 1 set of boots in Sahaugin City... This spell stacks with itself, how can it be UP? In BG1 Teleport Field+Protection from Missiles+Minor Globe is pretty much invulnerability mode for casters (enemies at least). Improved Mantle I dislike the idea of casting such spells on others as well. Spellstrike I don't know. Imo, it will still be extremely powerful, since you can use almost any anti-magic spell to remove Spell Shield, and then use Spellstrike, stripping down everything. Armor of Faith I see this as a "use in combat" buff, with it's short duration and casting time. I like it this way (it's also a 1st level slot, and those are plentiful). 2 turns are ok as well, ofc. Miscast Magic Yes, it's a very useful spell. I like it because of the original concept as well.

Ops, fixed the first issue. I cannot reproduce the latter, as my files show Archer's CS to include only "ranged hit EFF". Are you sure about it? Will check again. EDIT: It works with range only.

Ranger's spellbook It's not necessary, but if they get backstab why not?.....I'm not against backstab because it's OP (it's surely not, considering when they get level 2 spells) but for conceptual reasons - it's imo at least, like you're giving Paladins "Poison weapon". Doesn't fit somehow....rangers are inherently good, noble characters and I cannot see them skulking in shadows and slicing throats with daggers. Level 4 - I'd remove this from Druids as well, and keep it for Clerics. Anyways, if it's per PnP, leave it then. There's no need for that. Needles to say, I don't play C/R.

Some toughts of mine about this: Global Changes Innate Contingencies & Sequencers These both sound great. Arcane Spells Detect Invisibility Invisible creatures will be targetable by what? All spells or as now, spell removals? Invisibility Sphere I'm all for nerfing any type of invisibility simply because it makes Stealth redundant. Non-Detection Save vs spells, yes? Confusion Great. Teleport Field Tbh, I hate this spell. I hate when mages use it against me, I hate using it on them too. It's so powerful with Protection from Missiles in BG1 that it hurts. Breach I like this....but I wouldn't like it to remove innate immunity to normal weapons. Spell Immunity I think SCS uses a bit more (Evocation) Sunfire --> Fireburst Given that even BG1 SCS mages use it (and in conjuction with that damn Teleport Field), and that it usually kills on a failed save, I'd say it's very powerful. Pierce Magic Don't like it. It will make the game quite easier. Sure, a trigger with 3xLower Resistance does the same but Trigger is 8th level spell.... Protection from Magical Weapons All for that. Mantle Imo, it doesn't compete with PFMW.....it competes with Finger of Death and the like...useless for me I guess. AI does make good use of it however. Improved Mantle Sounds reasonable. Is it, in any way, possible to make them protect from certain number of hits (like stoneskin) as well? Say, 20 or so? Making it work like this and giving the caster a big AC bonus should make it useful even against high level warriors with +5 weapons, which can kill a mantled wizard in a single round with WW. Yup, that's crazy. Absolute Immunity AI can last longer that 1 round I guess....3 is fine - it's 9th level. Even if so powerful, I'd think twice before picking it since I like my mages in back row, not as tanks. Spellstrike It's a very powerful spell within SCS....usually my first level 9 pick with sorcerer. I'd nerf it, and nerf it badly. Only spell protections (it is a Spellstrike, no?) should be removed, and still it would be great. Wish Creme the la cheese spell....I'd remove it or nerf it alot, but SCS uses it as well. Divine Spells Armor of Faith This is a very powerful spell with exellent scaling. Sure this needs a buff? . Invisibility Purge Very powerful for it's level. But then again, a thief with detect illusions does the same and bypasses all protections from divination. Miscast Magic It's hilarious. I was hesitant to try it, but when I did, the results were exellent. Moreover, it does not apply spell failure so SCS mages still cast spells. Cloak of Fear Like this. Defensive Harmony It's a good spell. Maybe slightly higher duration? Flame Strike SCS uses it in BG1, where fire protection isn't as common...it's good. Stoneskin This spell is pretty broken as it is imo, and buffing it further is pointless. Harm Mage killer, if you decide to go this route. Heal I'm all for buffing this spell, in vanilla it's pretty useless in combat with it's huge casting time. Physical Mirror Drop 3), since it doesn't exactly go with 1). Even 1) is enough.