yarpen

I think I have a fairly decent solution for the problem altough I hate these kinds of solutions. Create kit A which can only achieve proficiency in all weapons. Apply increment proficiency opcode to it to increase anything that player selected to 2. Swap kit into a Kit B which, unlike the first one, permits specialization in all weapons. This solution would take away player's ability to see the final state during character creation but other than that it'd be good to go.

Thanks! Sorry for basically making a thread about IS IT REALLY LIKE THAT? With your response being "yeah, it is".

Hi. Long time no see. I'd like to create a kit which starts Proficient (+) in all weapons. It was possible to do before Enhanced Edition (Ashes of Embers had Pit Fighter kit which had that feature). I struggle with replicating it for BG:EE. To be more specific what I care about is character having these proficiencies already during character creation (so player can add extra pip on his own). I tried both Preset Target & Self targeting. I used Instant/Permanent timing (9) It does work after game starts but, again, does not affect character during its creation. Is there a way to make it work somehow? Or is it a change in engine which made class abilities affect you right after game starts instead of during character creation?

Well, as of recent I tried to get back to BG1EE for "last" playtrough. Didn't wanted too much of challenge so I installed AI improvements while ignoring components that make encounters more difficult. Had level 2 party with Fighter, Imoen, Khalid and Jaheira. Tried to do Garrick-Silke questline and got utterly stomped. I know she's alone there but following chain: Stoneskin (from start) Mirror Image Haste Minor Sequencer with Invisibility & something else Confusion Magic Missles + Melf's Acid Arrow Kinda took me by surprise since I was not installing components related to encounters, just general script improvements (I remembered SCS as a mod that increases variety of spells that mages use by A LOT). It's not my point to complain "MAKE SCS EASIER" because it was not designed to be. I finished a playthrough of SoA with Tactics. Did the same for SCS. But having an option to have smarter scripts for creatures without bumping their experience would be really nice. Still, I expected that AI-related components do not mess with spellcaster's levels. Not sure about that but I doubt that Silke was Level 7 Wizard outside of SCS.

Hi. I installed it using BWS and checked weidu.log and yes, they were skipped. I scrapped the installation thought so I don't have weidu.log anymore. Sorry!

BG1/BG1EE-only components are skipped for BG EET installations. In my case: Potions of Extra Healing More realistic dogs and wolves Dividing the NPC duos Ensure Shar-Tell does not die during first encounter Smarter Sirines and Dryads Slightly more difficult Carrion Crawlers Smarter Basillisks All of the components were skipped because they were considered as BG1 only (while I was doing BG EET installation using Big World Installer).

I think the best place to make a difference between Daggers and Short Swords is the damage type and how it affects hitting armored targets. General tendency should be: slashing weapons deal the most damage but are worse against armored targets. Then piercing weapons can ... uhm... pierce through armor. Bludgeoning weapons are great against flexxible armors (leather/chainmail) and still good against non-flexxible armors (plates and stuff). So. Plate Mail could give +1 bonus to AC vs Slashing Weapons, no bonuses versus Piercing/Bludgeoning. And now you can choose the more damaging options that are worse against armored enemies or the ones that deal less, but are fine against those damn knights in their shiny armors.

If you want someone to test it in BG2:EE (Black Pits, it uses 80% of SoA items) then I'm in!

Do you want to tell me anyone considerds Plate Mail now with 2 AC difference?

Or just maybe switch it into Shield of Faith? It's cleric's spell in D&D3.

What about my old suggestions - to make Full Plate Mail loose the +2 AC over Plate Mail, but provide immunity to Critical Hits (and even maybe Backstab)?

What about renaming these fighting styles. Those titles are just... crude. "Sword and Shield", like seriously? We are talking about proficiencies here! Shield Two-Handed Weapon One-Handed Weapon Two Weapons I'd propose limiting them to Specialization. I know it buffs Two Weapons style, but whatever. Shield At proficiency, grants +1 bonus to Armor Class and additional +1 bonus versus Missles. At specialization, grants +2 bonus to Armor Class and additional +2 bonus versus Missles. Note: I'd love to have something like "specialization grants you shieldbash ability" but that's just not possible. Same as "you don't suffer penalties from wielding Tower Shields". Still, you play with shields when you want to be the ultimate defender. Even if bonus is small, when together with heavy armor and tower shield it makes you a juggernaut on the battlefield. Two-Handed Weapon At proficiency, grants +2 bonus to Damage Rolls. At specialization, grants +4 bonus to Damage Rolls and +2 bonus to Attack Speed. Note: You are here to crush skulls and be a brute. Either when you swing Halberd or 2-H Sword, you mean business. You have no finesse to find vital spots for critical strikes, but your hits hurt as hell. And second point fixes your biggest issue which is your lack of speed. One-Handed Weapon At proficiency, grants +5% chance for Critical Strike. At specialization, doubles the chance for Critical Strike. Note: Let's make it a good choice for all kind of Kensais and truly damage-oriented characters. That'd really work well with all kind of Katana/Swords fantasy. Two Weapons At proficiency, decreases penalties to -2/-4. At specialization, decreases penalties to -0/-2. Note: I hate myself for even considering this kind of buff for the cheesiest and most hated fighting style. I still have nightmares about my brother playing Katana/Hammer Barbarian.

Honestly, I'd like that kind of behavior in case of Single Weapon Fighting Style while I don't find it fitting for 2-Handed ones. Personally: You can get up to Specialization in weapon fighting style. Shields At proficiency, you gain +1 bonus to Armor Class. At specialization, you gain +2 bonus to Armor Class and additional +2 bonus versus Missles. Two Weapons At proficiency, you are fighting with -2/-4 penalties. At specialization, you are fighting with -0/-2 penalties. 2-Handed Weapons At proficiency, you gain +2 bonus to Damage Rolls. At specialization, you gain +4 bonus to Damage Rolls and +2 bonus to Attack Speed Factor. 1-Handed Weapon At proficiency, you gain +5% chance for Critical Strike. At specialization, your chance for Critical Strike is doubled.

I wouldn't say it shouldn't have a saving throw. At least not everywhere. For example, if Demi would like to improve Delayed Fireball and turn it into some kind of "enhanced Fireball", I'd consider having Stun or Knockback there if opponent doesn't suceed in saving throw against breath. Or it could be a possible effect for Sound Burst (deafness with no saving throw, stun/damage if save is failed).

Stun should mostly come from head injury. Either powerfull noise, bash in the head or explosion. It should be short-lasting secondary effect of some spells, and there shouldn't be many ways to become immune to it (I'd even risk to say: none). It shouldn't last longer than 4-5 rounds (1s Stun on some kind of effect would be cool). Hold is just being ... well, held by something. For example Hold Person spell creates an image in the mind of affected creature that it's tied with powerfull, metal bars. It's specific effect, so certain items/spells/creatures can either grant immunity to it or be already immune. If it's possible to implement, affected character should get a chance to make a saving throw every round while being held (with progressively worsened modifier). Paralysis is disabling your brain's capability to send informations to your muscle. Mostly applied by poison and in some freakish situations, fear. I still don't understand: why you don't let me to use charm magic on dragons. Or nearly anything in the game as nearly everyone has protection from this stuff. I mean, if he fails a save and I'm spending Level 5 slot to cast Level 2 spell, what's wrong with that? I know, he's supersmart and stuff but he's not smart enough to avoid fighting me - so that's his problem.

In terms of brokeness, I mean fact that it gives you large defensive boost against 90% of creatures in the game.

Also a cool change coming from D&D Next. Protection from Evil is broken in BG, right? In D&D Next it grants +2 bonus to AC/Saves vs Undeads and Demons (and immunity to some of effects applied by them). Seems really neat and fitting.

Windwalk For level 6-7 of Druid. Doubles movement speed (and maybe attacks per round) of your allies for short duration (2 rounds?). Can't remember where I found it, but it was in some 3ed handbook. Seems cool, even if buffs aren't Druid's domain at all. Creeping Cold 2nd level spell for both Druid and Mage. Nice spell for disruption that deals a bit of damage. Basically it deals n+1 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ...) damage per round starting with n=1 and finishing at 10. Lasts for 1 Turn. Enflame/Enfrost Weapon Way to make Flaming Blade not that boring. Blessings castable either at yourself or your allies that make target's weapon deal additional 1d2/1d4/1d6/1d8 damage from chosen element. Delay Death Makes character unable to drop below 1 Hit Point for short duration (1-4 rounds). 4th level spell. Wrath of Faithful +3 bonus to Attack Rolls and Damage Rolls, additional attack per round for all allies. 5th level spell. Vulnerability Reduces resistance to physical damage. Level 5. Scent Druid's edition of Purge Invisibility. Stonehold My variation about the spell. It's Petrificiation with either slow or hold as secondary effect (if save is succesfull) that imitates being only partially turned into stone.

I really do like an idea behind D&D Next spells system. To explain it shortly - certain spells can be empowered by casting them using higher level. So, they don't really have Cure Light/Medium/Serious/Critical Wounds. Instead they have spell called Cure Wounds that has a version for levels 1-7 and bases it's power on it. It's close to what we have now, but not perfect. I'd propose standarization and changes. CURE WOUNDS Restores Xd8 + 1/level (up to 5X) Hit Points to target Ally. I: 1d8 + 5 II: 2d8 + 10 III: 3d8 + 15 IV: 4d8 + 20 V: 5d8 + 20 VI: 6d8 + 20 VII: 7d8 + 20 With cycle like that, there is no need for Heal spell, which is kind of all-catch boring and totally broken for some monsters (like Dragons). Curve is smooth, high-level heals are still powerfull. MAGIC MISSLE Yes, they totally did the same thing with Magic Missle. Instead of adding more missles with levels of caster, they opted for more missles with higher spell level. That gives us up to 9 missles. I'd buff their damage significantly (1d8 per Missle). MONSTER/ANIMAL SUMMONING The same thing I guess. DEATH WARD/NEGATIVE PLANE PROTECTION D&D Next simply merged them into single spell (Death Ward). Doesn't seem broken at all. RESTORATION Imo, it'd be a good idea to merge few effects into this spell. Nobody really needs Cure Disease, Cure Blindness/Deafness spells as those effects are so rare it's not really worth to keep them saved. On the one hand it's cool, as difficult access to remedy is something valuable - on the other hand it's simply inconvenient. Which is why, I'd make Restoration cure: - Disease - Blindness and Deafness - Drained Levels (and stats if possible) That would give us nice set of priest magic with Break Enchantment and Restoration being remedy for most of ailments that can happen. Well, we still do have Neutralize Poison but emerging it with Restoration would be far too convenient (and it even does sound bad). Because hey, "Restoring your Sight" does sound good, right? I'd also remove the "fatigue" effect. There's like literally no reason for it to exist. And last but not least, "Greater Restoration" could be just an AoE version of Restoration (but without Heal effect). REINCARNATION We all know that lack of Raise Dead is one of Druid's features but it makes them really tough choice to have in your party. Maybe that's a bit too convenient, but I've found a spell that seems balanced and while giving Druids ability to revive their teammates - keeps them at bay and makes it sure nobody forgets that it's Cleric's domain. Reincarnation would be a nice fit for Level 6. Casting lasts full round. It revives target dead ally either with some minor heal (2d6 Hit Points?) BUT, this ally needs to make a saving throw or he becomes shifted into an animal. Pernamently. Which means "until you'll use Break Enchantment on him". This makes Reincarnation both useless in combat and also, forces you to use two spells instead of one. HOLD PERSON This spell is a true offender, coming from Priest's spellbook. It's available on level 2, and is AoE Hard Crowd Control with good saves. And it's much rarer to have immunity to it than to Charm. We all know it should be a single-target spell, right? Okay. Also, it's supposed to create a mental image of metal bars that can't be broken which gave me a good idea. If we'd revamp Saving Throws system - then we could talk about making ST against Hold dualistic. When casted, you are rolling Will Saving Throw to avoid the effect. When you are inflicted with it, you are rolling Fortitude Saving Throw with severe penalty every round, to try to break these bars. HOLD/DOMINATE MONSTER How do these effects work? From what I believe, 90% of creatures has immunity to mind-affecting spells built in.I DO want to Hold Firkraag with my 5-level Hold spell. Even if it lasts for short time. Even if I need to lower his saving throws and pray to all the gods. If there are spells that are supposed to do that - then at least make them work. Stripping most of monsters from their immunities would be a good idea. Hold Person (level 2) and Hold Monster (level 5) Dominate Person (level 4) and Dominate Monster (level 7) MORE MASS SPELLS We all want Crowd Control. I'd love to have Mass Charm, Mass Hold, Mass Domination in here! SAVING THROWS I did mentioned it before. You did a great job with Saves vs. Spells. We could use even more standarization. Because who the hell needs saves vs. Wands. D&D3 had nice set of saves: Reflex (old Breath), Fortitude (Death and Polymorphy), Will (Spells). We could use that in Spell Revisions. I know it'd take a lot of time - but I believe it's worth. Even AD&D lovers can tell, BG2's saves system is silly.

Maybe just turn Armor of Faith into AC-boosting spell? Clerics are the one supposed to rule with these and there's no AC-boosting spell until Level 4 (Defensive Harmony).

It's great from mechanical standpoint - that is what Druids needed. But from the role-playing side, Druids slinging fireballs even concealed as Searing Orbs feels weird. I'd at least reduce the radius to not make it "Druid's Stronger Fireball". But we still need brutal druid spells. Brutal enough to make it worth having him over Priest or even Mage. I'm all for nerfing Wizard's damaging spells while making all of them party-friendly while having Druids more powerfull spells that also hurt our allies. It kind of captivates the primal savagery of druidic ethos and energy control only mages can do.

So you can just switch between Defensive and Offensive only?

After using Offensive Stance, there was no 'Normal Stance' available. Not sure if Offensive Stance worked as overall as I didn't seen huge ThaC0 loss. I've started a ToB game.

Yea, but he can just get the backstab modifier and let it be. If someone decides to suddenly backstab someone else, welp.

But then it has weird pathing. I'd rather turn it into a serie of Farsights sent into chosen by player direction. Also, to explain better what I mean in terms of Quarry for Ranger/Stalker/Beastmaster's Companion.