Lianos

After I have finished BG1 with a Shapeshifter shaped up () by SCS, I want to give some feedback. BG1EE + SoD Mods: SCS 33.1, Spell Revisions v4b18, Item Revisions v4beta10 (+subtedoctors patches), BG1NPC v24.8, Tweaks v9, ATweaks v4.53 Difficultiy: Insane NPC customization component Montaron the Assassin, Kivan the Archer, Safana the Swashbuckler - this component makes the NPCs so much more viable! Zombie-Neera: If Neera gets hit in the initial combat, she cannot be killed and stays at 1 hp. After the combat ends, she is set to level 0 and 1/10 hp. When leveled up and her max HP is below 10 hp, she will end up having 0/10 hp, thus is dead (greyed portrait). But actually, her Avatar stays alive and can walk around. Improved shapeshifting component The Lesser Werewolf Form: Tried once, ignored afterwards. Wielding a Scimitar is superior. Suggestions: boost movement rate to have some incentive to use this form. The Normal Werewolf Form: A beast, if buffed up with Spell Revisions Regenerate (accelerated due to the permanent Haste), Barkskin, Armor of Faith etc. Can easily match a skilled fighter. Main issue for the werewolf form is the crappy THAC0, which can hardly be boosted (after all, something the fighter classes can do better). The 20% magic resistance is nice to have, but not a gamechanger in BG1. Biggest buff vs. vanilla from my point of view: Shapeshift at will! Weird thing #1: The character can speak normally while shapeshifted. This is immersion-breaking. With the much higher movement rate, there is little reason to switch to human form other than casting. Weird thing #2: The werewolf is immune to ability drain from shadows. Perhaps it's because the paws as a "weapon" set the strength to a specific value? Tactical challenges component Most fun fight: The mages led by Andrys on the ice island (Shandalar quest). Arcane carnage vs. natures wrath! Most chaotic fight: Chessboard in Durlags tower. Especially the 2 knights are mean, perhaps a little bit over the top. All in all I had to tackle 4 queens. An alpha strike to thin out the enemy army seems necessary. Most annoying fight: Ambush when heading back to Ulgoth's Beard. The Enforcers are prepared, the party is not. The players mages need to buff up quickly or go down fast. At the same time, they need to debuff the enforcer. The enforcers are the only enemy that seems (!) to have an unfair advantage in terms of skills even at XP cap (buffed like arch-mages, and hit like a truck). Most underwhelming fight: Aec'Letec. Easier than his guards outside. Perhaps I was just to good prepared after the Enforcers. Most entertaining fight: Ducal palace - who can kill doppelgangers faster, me or the duces? Hardest fight: Sarevok, as it should be. Truly satisfying, if you have made it. After all, fights with few participants, no matter how powerful, tend to be easier than larger groups. Balance stuff Ice storm from Spell Revisions: This spell is Level 4 and available at 35k EXP for druids (Level 7). The problem with this spell, it penetrates the Minor Globe of Invulnerability (Immunity only up to Level 3 spells). The SCS mages think they are safe with the Minor Globe, but they are not. I did not encountered any mage who protected herself from cold. This AoE spell even worked against Semaj! Note: I installed the “Spell Deflection blocks AoE spells” component, but mages tend to prefer the Minor Globe over Minor Spell Deflection. With the distinctive set of spells, the ability to shapeshift at will and the changes to the werewolf forms the Shapeshifter is a really cool class now. This was the first time I tackled SCS on Insane and it was the most fun playthrough I've done so far. Thank you David for this gem of a mod.

I might update the german translation.

Nevermind, it was my fault - I should read the optcode description carefully before posting... As there are no visual indicators on radii, it is pointlessly complicated for the player to have so many different sizes. When casting Defensive Harmony, I often end up guarding all but my tank... and with the short duration it is the last buff before heading into battle... Speaking of, what about giving the Shield of Falling Stars a few casts of this spell instead of an aura? I really would reduce the number of sizes. E.g. 30' and 15'.

Hey Bartimaeus, I just looked at the Nature's Ward +2 shield with Nearfinity. It appears to me the Nature's Blessing property is actually doing nothing, or am I overseeing something? My bad, it's working as intended. And good to see you tackle the Shield of Falling Stars, this item acts so weird right now.

Yes, thanks. The (german) description of the greater werewolf says the paws count as +2, in fact hey have +3 enchantment.

OK. Thanks to your signature (reference to renewed edition of Ascension) I had to reinstall once again - you really should consider an AIO-button Now I imported my Shapeshifter from Dragonspear to Irenicus Dungeon, but the paws are gone, and no innate is available to create them. Is this intended in any way? A new game with an random shapeshifter also gets no innate to generate the paws... BTW The "Improved shapeshifter" component is pure gold (my opinion at the end of BG1). The only downside is the lesser werewolf form, which isn't appealing in any way.

Is there a possibility to install multiple options without being asked for every item? e.g. all "AI enhancments" or all "Tactical challenges" at once.

It's linked to Spell Revisions. I'm using Spell Revisions Revised, but as far as I can see it will also happen with the official Beta 16

Same for me, the Debug-file says: And indeed, the file mentioned is not there (nor the folder exists....) Btw, is there a possiblity to install all components of "Smarter something" and "Improved something" at once?

Didn't know that, thanks for the explanation. Is this documented anywhere? IMHO such things are one big reason for an official release incl. updated readme.

On BG2EE with SCS v31, SR v4b16 and IR v4b10: Bracers of Speed When the 5% fatigue effect triggers, the character performs an animation like he is casting a spell. This is annoying, as he stops attacking. Saving Grace +3 No Bug here, but it was hilarious to see Kangaxx bashing his skull against this shield killing himself in the process. The floating skull in Watchers Keep did the same. Felt not right. This shield is the only item that deals damage to the attacker even if the attacker did not hit.

Yes please. Or reduce their numbers. Last time I thought I was smart and sneaked past to get to Firkraag, but on the way back a bunch of orcs was blocking the way out. I had to attack the orcs which was alarming the vampires... 20 attempts until I barely survived. Everthing else in this dungeon is a cakewalk against these friends.

Daystar +4 The weapon causes 2 damage to the wielder each time it is equipped. The EFF for applying "+2 bonus to evil creatures" seems entirely broken (at least it is looking completely different to the EFF of similar effects like the the +6 damage vs evil from Foebane +5).

I can confirm this error in b16. The problem is the CON penalty, which not only lowers the maximum hit points, but also the current hit points. Since there is only 1 hitpoint after raising the target, the target dies again immediately. Deleting the CON penalty via NearInfinity worked for me.

For clarification: EET was not installed. The bug was caused by IR. But the fix from the linked thread worked for me nevertheless.

Notices from my BGEE walkthrough (IR, SR and SCS installed): - The quest where you got poisened by Marek in the city is not solvable with the potion provided by IR (due to changes in EE patch 2.5, problem and solution documented here: http://gibberlings3.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=29585) - The "Shield of Falling Stars" has a mini-bam which looks silly for a towershield. - If you pick up Safana, she has profiency in Scimitar, but wields an Ninja-to (inconsistent due to the weapon changes introduced by IR). - The werewolf in Ulgoth's Beard (Loup garou/Mendas/Selaad Gan) can only be hit with weapons with the "Cold Iron" property. I found no weapon with this property (I tried Varscona, Baldurans Sword, Werebane and Flame Tongue). At least Werebane and Baldurans Sword should be able to hit this beast. Currently only magic works.

Damn engine... for me the monk always looked like a fighter without armor... I'm following the development of your mods for years, I'm used to wait. ;-)

I think they should be allowed to use (and be proficient with) quarterstaffs. It even seems to be more appropriate for a monk to wield a large stick than a longsword. Thus the restriction would affect only missile weapons (or are there other two-handed weapons a thief can use?). Of course this is a very small refinement with minor impact on gameplay.

Revised Armors Sorry, I should have quoted disputable lines (first post in this thread):

Weapon Changes Isn't the difference between short swords and long swords more like +1 damage? Base damage short sword 1d6 -> 3.5 average damage per hit Base damage long sword 1d8 -> 4.5 average damage per hit Or am I missing something? Revised Armors While I like the upgrade of heavy armor, I think the categorizing is a bit confusing. Within your Item Index and Kit Revisions' class descriptions hide armors are light armor and splint armors is called a medium armor. So this should be considered when writing the readme and stuff.

This is bad :-( While this is neat and could have merit in a "real" PnP game, in BG2 you're better off smacking something with a Flame Arrow to check his resistance to fire than "observing him". In addition, Kit Revisions isn't really made to be played with Improved Anvil and similar mods (if there are such) which grant creatures immunites which surpass human-like standards. I mostly play stealth-like characters and scout the area to have a chance for preparing for the next fight. The mentioned skill would come in handy for preparing for tougher enemies...good examples are the Ghost-Warrior at Ulcaster (BG1) or the Ravager (TOB) - up to now I don't know their weaknesses (if there are any) - I simply pimp my best warrior and try to smack them up, not always with a positive outcome. ;-) I don't know the Improved Anvil mod. Normally I play with SWS, and one round with wasted spells/actions mostly results in necessity to reload, esp. vs. spellcasters. Try to rate the skill from the point of view of someone who didn't defeated Sarevok multiple times and knows every enemy in Amn by heart. :-)

Hi, I have another idea for the whole Quarry-Skill: It's all about observing the target and getting information, so why is there just an abtract effect like negative AC? Why not giving the player real information about the target? It always bothered my that I have to find the weakness of the enemy by trying all the different damage-types, disable-skills and -spells. It would be really helpful if the player had a tool to get wisdom about an enemy: Hitpoints, AC, THAC0, saves, damage resistances, immunities (this is not a complete list...). Informations you normally only can get through external tools. This would make such a skill very valuable IMHO, especially vs. bosses. When using the skill on a target, there would be a text-message like: "The enemy is immune to crushing damage." "The enemy is very vulnerable to fire damage." "The enemy's saving throw against spells is 8." or more RP-like: "The beasts skin is to thick to be pierced with arrows." "There is not a single weak spot on this monster, so backstabs will prapably fail." or just plain numbers: "This human has AC 2." "This creature strikes with a THAC0 of 7." Obviously this would also fit the "Know Opponent"-spell or as an innate for thieves. Perhaps every class could gather different informations? It also could getting better with higher levels for balancing purposes: On lower levels, there could be uncertainties or simply be much less information displayed. I'm curious what you think about that idea. :-) Perhaps this was mentioned somewhere else, then I'm sorry, but I didn't found it in the forums.