subtledoctor

"Parry Magic" = Minor Spell Deflection, turned into an innate, but with the same filename and same entry in SPELL.IDS. Ditto for innate Spell Thrust. So, whenever scripts call for the AI to cast MSD or ST, they should use these innates. For Bolt of Glory, if you don't want to install the rest of my mod/component, you could just pull sppr612.spl from the mod folder (it's in /sob/wizard/) and drop it into your override folder. I forget what game I copied it from though - you might need to manually fix the Name and Description fields to the right strrefs. Just check the strrefs for the vanilla spell in NI and set them to the same after doing the copy.

Well, divine casters just channel their deity's energies to work some miraculous effect or other; wizards study magic, make a science out of it. Makes sense to me that the intricate pattern of magic defenses and attacks should be something wizards specialize in. You can always use your divine magic on other enemies, or for party buffs etc. On the other hand, I think divine magic that is powerful enough should be able to blast away wizards' protections. That's why the Wizard Class Tweaks component of my mod gives the 6th-level "Bolt of Glory" spell the ability to take down spell protections. It's working right now, feel free to give it a try. (Druids, on the other hand... they do nature magic, they have no business knowing how to take down wizardly spell protections IMHO.) TobEx has a component that gives you a d20 roll to avoid casting interruption, that takes into account a few things like how much damage you take, what level the spell is, luck, etc. It does not work with the EEs. The EE devs need to enable it and so far (how long has BGEE been out now? 3 years?) they have decided not to enable it. So you have two options: use TobEX on the old TOB engine, or go pester the EE devs to enable the feature in the EEs. I have a feature request thread for this over at forums.baldursgate.com. Go ahead and add your voice to it, hopefully they will realize that it's a good idea... My mod turns sequencers/triggers into renewable innate abilities, you might want to check it out. Also in the Wizard Class Tweaks, same component that changes Bolt of Glory that I mentioned above. It also makes Contingency an innate given at level 10 to trueclass mages only... eventually I'm going to change that around, make it an innate that you learn from a scroll. Chain Contingency, on the other hand... you shouldn't get that for free. If it's turned into an innate, I think it you should have to choose it as an HLA.

Overhauling MR is definitely planned because I hate how the mechanic works. But, a lot more goes into that then just reducing MR. As always with this game, changing one thing causes ripple effects in all sorts of other areas. So, I will reduce or just eliminate every AI creature's MR. I haven't decided which. But, drow are *supposed* to be resistant to magic, right? So, I'll give them resistance to fire damage and magic damage and electricity damage, etc. Your fireball won't be *wasted* (I hate that)... but it won't be as useful against drow as it is against other foes. I'll also probably give them a bonus to save vs. spells, to make them better at resisting non-damage magical effects. The flip side of that is, players shouldn't get high/any MR either. No more combining the Cloak of Balduran with the Holy Avenger with the Amulet of the Seldarine etc. to get 60-90% MR and walk unmolested through enemy spells. I'll have to compile a list of all those items and change them. There are enough interesting effects that I think it should be doable... some might make you outright immune to spells of x level, like a lich or rakshasa or a permanent Globe of Invulnerability... some might give you elemental resistance... some might give you a bonus to saving throws... it'll be some work but I'll figure out some good stuff eventually. In my eyes Item Revisions and Spells revisions are probably the best mods out there, bar none. So, everything I make will always be compatible with them.

I would use NI for that instead of 'Keeper

Is Blood Rage from SR or from IWD? That spell is... crazy... If it's SR, it needs a reduced casting time. If it's IWD, please ignore this.

Ah. Well, 50% casting failure and zero ways to cure it is a problem imho...

Well, it's for Silence, I just didn't know if it covered Deafness as well. Â If it does, then it's a cheap, easy fix and I don't think Deafness/Holy Word is OP. Doesn't IR introduce potions of Vocalize?

Does Vocalize cure Deafness? Or Break Enchantment? Even Cure Light Wounds? Â Seems like there should be some kind of magic that can cure Deafness...

Again, the Bone Fiend thing is caused by another mod. So it's not up to SR for a fix (and probably not possible to fix with SR, since that other mod is overriding SR's effects). Trading Cacofiend for Death Knight is intended behavior, so there too, there's no "fix" coming. Hopefully we can convince Demi to restore Cacofiend... or maybe I'll be able to restore it via a mod installed post-SR. But it wouldn't be a "fix" and I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. (RL is killing me atm, I won't be able to make such a mod until summertime at least.)

I'm not impatient - I'm currently working two parties through IWDEE, in which none of this spell battle stuff should be very important. Just wondering if a player who is playing BG2 with last week's SR beta, and who is impatient, could fashion a hotfix for themselves that would at least make the game more playable than it is with vanilla SS.

Would an effective workaround in the meantime be to copy an instance of Minor Spell Turning, renamed with Spell Shield's filename? Since SR turns all protections into Deflection, then Turning would be just another stacked protection, thus filling the role of Shield (until it's fixed) ?

1) The way opposition schools work makes them more annoying than flavor-enhancing. This would eliminate annoyance and add flavor. 2) I don't think it would increase Wizards' power that much. It wouldn't be much more powerful than playing a pure mage now. And probably still way less powerful than playing any other class dualled to mage. If specialists are made a bit closer to dual-class mages in power, and more interesting and unique, I'd consider that a win. 3) I don't want to bog down this SR thread with my crackpot ideas - except insofar as they relate to SR. So for the moment the main question is, how would a character with permanent Non-detection play with SRv4? Would it be game-breaking? Or okay?

By the way, I'm working on a mod to enhance the wizard kits. I want to give them enhanced abilities with spells on their school. For Illusionists I figured on adding Non-detection to all of their invisibility effects - they should be "better" at being invisible. But patching all invisibility spells across all variants of the game (and all mods) is too difficult, so I figure I'll just apply permanent, undispellable Non-detection at level one. Question is, would that be a Bad Idea with SRv4? Would they be OP? Or would it be okay because they would be targetable if they do something like attacking or casting a spell? I'm trying to parse those for the answer:

True Seeing caster can target with spells Anyone can hit with AoE effcts (but Spell Deflection will block them) Anyone can target with physical attacks. It would be nice if there was a powerful "dispel all illusions so anyone can target" spell. Does Oracle do this?

Future plans: - An overhaul of the Magic Resistance system. I dislike how chancy it is, so creatures will have their MR reduced or eliminated (depending on the creature) and in return they will get elemental resistances and saving throw bonuses. Items available to the player will get similar treatment, so players will not be able to amass high MR. I haven't yet figured out what to do about Wizard Slayers and Monks, feel free to suggest things in this thread. - A major overhaul of the 8 wizard kits. Basically, there will be no opposition schools, and wizard can learn and cast any spell. But specialists will be able to cast some spells within their own school with greater effects. Conjurers can summon more creatures; Shadowmancers (née Illusionists) will have Non-detection built in to their invisibility spells; Enchanters will cause targets to take saving throw penalties; Pyromancers (née Invokers) will do more damage with energy-based spells. That sort of thing. I haven't worked it all out yet (what to do with Necromancers?) so if you have any thoughts or suggestions, again, please share. - Revamping the tempo of casting magic spells. Instead of everyone being locked on a 6-second clock, I will add some variability. Some spells you might be able to cast every 4 seconds, others, every 8 seconds. The average will still be 6. Now items and abilities the reduce casting time will be more effective, actually allowing you to cast *more* by casting them faster. I haven't yet figured out what to do with Imptoved Alacrity yet, and more importantly, I haven't yet figured out of this is possible. We'll see.

I highly highly doubt Demi has any plans for such a mod, especially in SR. But, I am considering adding a component for this to my own mod. It would reduce or eliminate MR in enemy creatures, but give them elemental and damage resistances instead. So your fireball would hit driw, but it might only do 10 hp damage. Also, it would change every MR item available to the player in a similar way, so you can't use MR against enemies except in temporary circumstances (like using the spell). I haven't figured out what to do with Wizard Slayers and monks. I have a RL time crunch so this probably won't go live until the summer. But if you want to discuss it, feel free to do so over in my mod's thread: http://gibberlings3.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=26838&do=findComment&comment=232361

Sorry if unclear. I meant, *why* was the decision made.

I disagree. I would rather have 2 APR and 19 thac0 than 1.5 APR and 17 thac0. 33% more chances to hit, vs. a ~10-20% lower chance to land a blow. And even if it's a close call math-wise and any advantage dimnishes over time... IMHO it shouldn't be a close call, and there should *never* be an advantage. Skill with weapons is fighters' special ability. No other class should be better at it. Beyond the math, I just don't see the rationale for this. What is it about monks, story-wise, that suggests they can wield weapons faster and with more chances to strike foes than any other character with the same level of proficiency. I'm not saying I can't be convinced; I'm just saying I don't get it. So feel free to explain it. From here, it just seems like a freebie. It's trivially simply to give them extra APR with fists, and that would give players an interesting choice to make as far as using wespons or using fists. And it reflects how they can use both fists fairly well, akin to dual-wielding. Whereas extra APR with a single weapon represents... what? (Not trying to be contentious, I'm just curious how this decision was made.)

To give a different perspective: I just don't see this as necessary. The number of times it comes up is very small. Yes mages can cast mantle but if someone's *hands* are innately able to hit as +4/5, permanently, then you've just rendered those high-level spells completely useless. It would ruin the AI even worse than it already is if SR and SCS are not present. It's not the end of the world... but all of these things need to be balanced. My monks have higher enchantment and extra APR, but the fist damage is drastically reduced in exchange. Total output remains about the same, and I give them more utility (they can hit creatures with PfMW). It would work as an HLA, definitely, with a relatively short duration. Here's another idea: add an effect to SR's Breach that temporarily lowers creatures' innate resistance to weapon + levels. It's in the spirit of the spell and I don't think it would unbalance things... (hmm, maybe I'll do this myself and playtest it.) By the way: How do I put this elegantly and succinctly... that sounds crazeballs. Monks, the guys who are so devoted to training to fight with their hands, are strictly better with weapons than anyone else? (At least, until level 7 or so.) Because, it sounds like that's the result here.

Spike Growth the 3rd level druid spell? If so it's in IWDEE... does IWDification bring it over?

That doesn't sound possible.

Eh, then whale on the enemy with a fighter, a ranger, and a thief. For most BG1 enemies 6 seconds of uninterrupted dogpiling = quick death. 60 seconds of stun is a totally unnecessary luxury.

Re wands: I usually tweak the Wand of MM to cast a 2-missile MM, since my mages have a 1-missile MM as an at-will cantrip... yes the thing calls the Cowled Wizards down on me... but It's *using* magic. It *should* bring the Cowled Wizards down on you. That Wand of Paralyzation is indeed super OP. I try to keep the "Stun" effect to 2-6 seconds, and use "Hold" for longer paralysis. Making either change would balance that wand. (Yes a wand that stuns for only 6 seconds would still be perfectly useful - it has a save penalty, and almost nothing resists the Stun effect, and that's 6 seconds you can either reposition a party or cast an important spell, or just whale on the enemy with GWW or something. Maybe 6-12 seconds on a failed save, 2 seconds on a *successful* save, so you're not totally wasting charges, and make it less expensive to recharge.) If it stays long-duration, I would do a 30-second Hold with a save penalty, or a 60-second Hold and get rid of the penalty.

This, I suspect. Don't use old savegames with new mod installs.

I guess what I'm saying is, why does it have to be Death Knight vs. Cacofiend? Conjurers have a huge glut at 6th and 7th levels... - air elemental, - earth elemental, - fire elemental, - invisible stalker, - wyvern, - nishruu, - djinni, - efreet, - hakeashar, - greater air elemental, - greater earth elemental, - greater fire elemental, - cacofiend ... did I miss any? Tactically speaking, what's the difference between nishruu and hakeashar? Between djinni and efreet? Between the elementals? Cacofiend is interesting and different from all the others, AND it conforms to the traditional trope of a wizard summoning a demon for dark knowledge or dark deeds. For me, it would not be the first on the chopping block. Yes there are two other fiend-summoning spells, but a nabassu is reasonably different from a glabrezu or a pit fiend - more different than a djinn from an efreet, or than a nishruu from a hakeashar, or than the elementals from each other. And the difference is even bigger when you add the excellent, excellent aTweaks PnP Fiends component. I'm finding myself having to do some weird Weidu trickery where I copy Death Knight to another spell, pull Cacofiend out of the SR backup folder and restore it, as an intermediate step before installing aTweaks. It's convenient that my mod comes in between SR and aTweaks... but it's still a PITA and I still never ever find myself summoning djinni or hakeashars.