kreso

Any chance you could be convinced to change the De'Arnise axe to +3 or add a +3 axe somewhere later in the game?

 

Axes and morningstars are the only weapon classes where when you have completed all SoA content you likely won't have a weapon above an enchantment of +2. Even katanas are easier to find, at least you can get Celestial Fury before moving on to ToB content. Azureedge requires either being a paladin or 20 reputation, which isn't very probable if you decide to include Korgan in the party.

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!

SCS specialist mages

Good to know they are there (I haven't managed to play since ages), I love the Enchanter. Btw, if you think something should be done to reduce immunities within IR just let me know.

Will post in the relevant forum for that.

I find ironic that an Abjurer, which should be the most "defensive" mage, is not there because he lacks a defensive spell. Leaving aside that I do think he could do very well using Mirror Image or other defensive spells, I actually think DavidW did not included Abjurers because they lack a distinctive array of spells which would make them stand out. Especially because pretty much all SCS mages, regardless of their specialization, use TONS of Abjuration spells (both protections and removals).

They'd be very vulnerable to backstab, regardless. And yes, they use a ton of abjurations - up to Imprisonment.

scripting a Transmuter and making him as tough as the other mages must be a real pain, if not impossible in a vanilla game. Too bad, I think that it would be extremely fun to fight at least a couple of times a mage which exploits SR's Shapechange a little bit or turns your own mages into little rabbits just for fun.

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.

I'm not sure I can provide to SCS a truly "self sufficient" Transmuter with v4, but using Swift Etherealness in place of PfMW, and taking into account that within SR not all removals belong to Abjuration (e.g. Secret Word for BG1 and RRoR for BG2), Transmuters might start to be viable.

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.

Shades

I love that SCS makes specialist mages focus on spells of their specializations, and I like to dream that one day Transmuters and Illusionists will join the ranks (right now SCS only has Evokers, Conjurers and Necromancers - I'm not sure about Enchanters and Abjurers but they should be there).

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.

Btw, @kreso aTweaks Elementals aren't more powerful imo

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.

Physical Mirror is the most useless spell ever, but within v4 it will become one of the best buffs ever when turned ino PnP Entropy Shield.

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.

Shield of the Archons is meh yes. I've suggested a a way to heavily improve it while remaing as close as possible to PnP, I'm not sure if I convinced everyone about it.

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.

I really don't know why Summon Death Knight stopped working on certain installs. This spell has worked fine on SR+SCS installs for years, and I can assure you that Death Knights kick asses.

And they look cool as well iirc. And yes, it's a very powerful summon.

Finger of Death: @kreso, the only time you would cast this at a mage is after his Spell Turning/Spell Trap is gone, but before his PfMW is gone. In other words, a thin slice of time before you Breach him.

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.

Regen: As a level 6 spell, it might make more sense. Even so, 6HP regen per round is just not something I would value all that highly. Why would you pick this over Heal? Regen only makes sense if it heals more damage total, but Heal heals you fully, so you don't need any more HP. Therefore the only use would be to counteract damage in combat. And in combat, if anyone starts taking damage, I'm immediately stepping back to Stoneskin. If that gets interrupted or I'm out of stoneskins or it's a character without stoneskins, 6HP a round is not going to save him in the vast majority of cases.

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.

somehow someway, for the party to protect itself against Int drain!

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?

Ok, I just went back an had a quick look and realised it's not about combat, it's when the game is paused I can't access the sub menu

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.

there is also a stunning blow icon next to ki pool iconas well

Do you mean you have the option of selecting Stunning Blow outside the Ki Pool? I cannot check right now but I'm 100% sure KR's clab file doesn't even mention vanilla's Stunning Fist. Are you using a character generated before installing KR?

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.

This could be me being very dumb, but I am playing a monk with the latest kit revisions installed, when I click on the ki pool outside of combat it gives me the options appropriate for my level, when I'm in combat however it just gives me the ki pool icon and then no secondary options.

 

What am I doing wrong?

 

I am playing BGEE with no other mods, but this also happened on a heavily modded BG2 game.

 

P.S Even without the special abilities monk is very much holding his own in my game!

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.

Yes, and no. That kit indeed requires much more time than the others

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.

Don't you think we have enough to do there?

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.

If only you didn't have to go to the inventory to unequip your off-hand weapon before switching to a ranged weapon...

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.

Choosing heavy armor over stealth is a no-brainer early on. I would .... make stealth more useful. When I say "make stealth more useful," I am not referring to increasing the chance of entering stealth mode, but rather making stealth mode open up more options for the Ranger than what it currently does.

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

Leaving aside the biggest problem with anti-magic spells within BG is that we have really too many of them

This is very true.

I'm not afraid of this spell making lower level similar spells redundant, quite the opposite. Considering SCS can now use Spell shield to block a spell removal (including Spellstrike), how many times Spellstrike is going to be much more useful than a cheaper Ruby Ray of Reversal? In both cases you need another spell removal to break SS, after that how many layers of spell protections are there? Usually tearing down one layer is more than enough to allow a mid-high level mage to wipe the target out unless the opponent quickly raises his defences again. What am I missing?

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.

[though, it's a SCS scripted lvl 30 ^^ mage in SoA, which on the other hand is completely impossible to beat without SR!]

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.

Correct me if am wrong, but once I can cast this very spell even SCS mages ain't a real threat...

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.

.

Teleport Field

.

This spell is a nightmare to handle. Some players (like you and myself) consider vanilla's TF almost OP, others (I think the majority) think that after SR's nerf (allow a save) the spell is too weak.

The only alternative I could imagine was to keep the save but with a higher save penalty (-4), and make it ignore magic resistance (within 3E all conjurations ignore it).

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 don't have much more ideas...single target but can be cast on others? I don't like it though.

I dislike the idea of casting such spells on others as well.

Spellstrike

I thought the re-introduction of Spell Shield could keep this powerful spell on check, doesn't it? Furthermore I'm going to remove the current AoE from it.

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 don't know, I was only increasing duration because it seemed very short, but I can live with the current version. I don't think it needs any real buff, but compared to other defensive spells such as Shield or ProEvil it has a very short duration.

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

Does it mean you find the current version useful/appealing?

Yes, it's a very useful spell. I like it because of the original concept as well.

Archer gets Called Shot at 1st level, it seems to be usable at melee as well (not that anyone would use it that way).

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

I have issues with Hold Person or Animal simply because holding persons is kinda borderline (I guess druids get it because of their close relation to fairy creatures such as nymph), but I'm not completely against rangers getting it if necessary.

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 -

"remove Free Action"? I did not expected this. Rangers get it in PnP and I actually think it really fits them, why do you think it doesn't?

I'd remove this from Druids as well, and keep it for Clerics. Anyways, if it's per PnP, leave it then.

(*) I could try something odd, like removing cleric-only spells from the True Ranger, and then re-assign it to cleric/rangers a second later, but it would not be flawless, and I don't know how it would work with dual classed cleric-rangers. That being said, as soon as SRv4 is out all of this would be useless, because all those spells won't be avaliable to druids and rangers anyway, except for Dispel Magic.

There's no need for that. Needles to say, I don't play C/R.

Some toughts of mine about this:

This is where I'll gather all the planned changes, though Im also going to create a bunch of dedicated topics to discuss few things (e.g. New Spells).

Innate Contingencies & Sequencers

These spells will be turned into innates at will abilities gained by mages at lvl up. Such change should make SCS fights more fair (as SCS mages always have all triggers/contingecies ready), and it will eliminate the odd "rest - prepare triggers - rest again" routine I hear from too many players.

 

Cure/Cause Wounds & Regenerate Wounds

As discussed here.

These both sound great.

Detect Invisibility

This spell won't dispell Improved Invisibility effects anymore (making Improved Invisibility's +4 AC much more reliable and effective), but it will reveal invisibile creatures (those under II too) and it will allow to target them normally (aka we don't need spell removals to have that ugly AoE to bypass II anymore, neither SCS more recent solution!). It will also reveal creatures using the new Etherealness spell.

Invisible creatures will be targetable by what? All spells or as now, spell removals?

Invisibility Sphere

I'm unable to make it work as per PnP, but I think a small tweak can at least make it serve a purpose. I suggest to reduce its casting time to 1, but heavily nerf the duration down to 10 rounds. This way the spell won't be a cheap Mass Invisibility, but either a very fast "escape" option or a powerful choice for multiple mage-thief backstab combos.

I'm all for nerfing any type of invisibility simply because it makes Stealth redundant.

Non-Detection

As discussed here, I'll make it work much more similarly to PnP. When targeted by Detect Illusion, Oracle, or True Seeing the protected creature will be allowed to make a save, a successfull save means the divination fails, a failed save means DI/Oracle/True Seeing are able to detect the protected creature.

Save vs spells, yes?

Confusion

Duration has been reduced from 10 rounds to 5 rounds.

Great.

Teleport Field

It won't allow a save anymore as per vanilla.

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

We reached a consensus about making this spell at least slightly less "game-ending" for mages, and at the same time somewhat more similar to its PnP version (which would simply remove target's immunity magical weapons - not only spells such as PfMW, but innate immunities too). SCS also uses it as a counter to spell protections granting immunities to elemental/magic damage, but I don't remember anymore if it uses it against spells such as Free Action, Chaotic Commands, and Death Ward. If yes, I guess we can keep Breach working against them too (they still grant immunities, thus it would still somewhat fit the spell's concept).

I like this....but I wouldn't like it to remove innate immunity to normal weapons.

Spell Immunity

Recent "investigations" seem to prove that SCS is currently using only two sub spells of SI, SI:Abj and SI:Div. Let us know if our assumption is wrong. If it's not, we just need to make SCS use Spell Shield instead of the former, Non-detection instead of the latter, and we would have no compatibility issue at all.

I think SCS uses a bit more (Evocation)

Sunfire --> Fireburst

I'm renaming it Fireburst as per PnP (perhaps it's just me but the "sun" part was really out of place). PnP version uses d8 dices for damage, but I'm not sure this spell needs more dmg output, does it?

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

To make it more similar to its PnP version, more true to how an abjuration spell is supposed to work, and different from Lower Resistance alteration, I'd make it completely nullify magic resistance on target (setting it to 0%) but for a very limited amount of time (only a bunch of rounds).

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

It may get its 4 rounds duration back because DavidW almost convinced me.

All for that.

Mantle

What do you guys think of its V3 version? Did it become somewhat appealing compared to the mighty PfMW?

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

Leaving aside that I always considered both Mantles redundant (why they added these two non-PnP spells is beyond my comprehension), this spell may simply get slightly increased duration (+1 round).

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.

We also have the problem of making two almost identical spells different and both appealing despite having only 1 lvl difference, and I really don't know how it could be doable outside of really daring solutions, such as making Improved Mantle work as Mantle affecting allies within 10 feet (crazy eh?).

Yup, that's crazy.

Absolute Immunity

Time Stop will still be superior in every possible way except casting time, as Absolute Immunity would have the noticeable advantage of having almost instant casting time instead of a full round, and 1 round duration. What do you think?

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

This should be the ultimate spell removal. Back then DavidW convinced me to not make it really devastating because casters had almost no protection against it, but now that we have Spell Shield into the equation again I think we don't have to restrain ourselves anymore. Even if we make it remove all spell and specific protections, as long as Spell Shield can now counter one Spellstrike I think everything will be fine, wouldn't it?

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

See Limited Wish. Infinite potential, but very complicate to implement.

Creme the la cheese spell....I'd remove it or nerf it alot, but SCS uses it as well.

Armor of Faith

I'd increase its duration to 5 turns (1 hour). With ToBEx concentration tweak it may actually become a real must have even with short duration because the concentration check is easier the less dmg the caster suffer, and thus we may look AoF as having a -20% spell failure effect. Regardless, raising the duration wouldn't hurt imo.

This is a very powerful spell with exellent scaling. Sure this needs a buff?

.

Invisibility Purge

This is a little tricky. Unlike mage's Detect Invisibility this is an abjuration spell, and should work differently imo. This spell should not grant the caster the ability to target an II creature with spells, neither to attack him without suffering -4 penalty to hit rolls, but it should instead work as a sort of "dispel invisibility", effectively removing any form of invisibility unless protected by Non-detection. Am I right?

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

I don't know, is it fine/appealing?

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

I thought this spell didn't need any change, except perhaps changing its save penalty, but now I'm going to suggest adding its reverse spell, Cloak of Bravery. Within AD&D CoB grants only immunity to fear, making it kinda pointless imo considering a 1st lvl spell can counter fear effects for the whole party. I suggest to make Bravery works as a sort of hope/heroism spell, granting immunity to fear and +2 to hit/dmg rolls to nearby creatures, and make Cloak of Fear cause instead -2 penalty (no save?) and fear (on a failed save).

Like this.

Defensive Harmony

I could make it work as per PnP, but it a very complicate thing, and in the end the result would be pretty much identical. What do you think of this spell? Do you use it now? Should I make it last longer?

It's a good spell. Maybe slightly higher duration?

Flame Strike

It should be fine, isn't it? Should the damaged be increased from d6 to d8? Mmm...

SCS uses it in BG1, where fire protection isn't as common...it's good.

Stoneskin

Do you have anything in mind which could "balance" the spell lvl difference between mages and priests? For example within PnP this spell can be cast on others, but if you don't like that we could simply grant druids more skins.

This spell is pretty broken as it is imo, and buffing it further is pointless.

Harm

As the other cause wound spells, I'd like to make it not require a hit roll. Pratically it would end up working as a Disintegrate spell with no range, less possible targets (e.g. undead are not affected, Mordy is not destroyed, etc.) but much higher damage on successful save (is the current 75 too much?). My only doubt is that in theory this spell deserves its incredibly long casting time (1 round), which was not a problem when "pre-cast" but it will become a problem with the suggested solution because it needs to be cast in the middle of a fight...would casting time 6 make it too powerful?

Mage killer, if you decide to go this route.

Heal

Same as Harm, would casting time 6 make it too effective?

I'm all for buffing this spell, in vanilla it's pretty useless in combat with it's huge casting time.

Physical Mirror

IWD made it work in a more generic way (AC and resistances), but we can make it work more like AD&D if we wish so. That means the spell would more or less grant:

1. 50% miss chance to direct attacks (as SR V3 Reflected Image or IR's Cloak of Mirroring)

2. 100% immunity to missiles (covering vanilla's PM's role)

3. 50% resistance to all forms of damage (to simulate PnP 50% chance to ignore AoE damaging spells)

 

Even without implementing 3. this spell would still be incredibly powerful imo, going from a modest buff in vanilla to a must have 6th lvl buff. What do you think?

Drop 3), since it doesn't exactly go with 1). Even 1) is enough.