aigleborgne

I will look at it but currently, from memory, I had a lot of ideas concerning stores in BG1. So many cheap or overpowered items that make the game to easy. To name a few: arrows of detonation/dispelling, wand of monster summoning.... I need some time to re-acquire this game I left away for several years now But clearly, Iron crisis is totally ignored by many stores! Especailly, sorcerous sundries (each game my party first reached it, I was thinking: "ok, from now, it will be a lot easier", considering I was playing no reload) And from my point of view, no store should have unlimited supply (except normal amunitions). Most magic things like scrolls, potions, wands, magic arrows.... should be quite limited. Having a level 7-8 mage carrying many scrolls of level 4-5 spells gives him a lot of firepower. In fact, it is possible to beat the game with mostly items use (wands, potions, scrolls) instead of strategic skills use and I strongly think it should be the latter. Cool! Btw, it's not the first version which can be installed on BG1, I simply did more stuff for BG1 than I did for old versions. Unfortunately Store Revisions doesn't affect BG1 yet, but if you have suggestions for it you're welcome.

Hi Demivrgvs, I am very interested in all revisions (items, spells, and kits). Could you possibly send me downloads link please? I want to test them in my ongoing installation based on BGT. I want to test SR with SCS and make sure all spells are used in the best ways possible by AI. As for items, it's the first version that can be installed in BG1.

Most players know rules and spells. Just don't abuse engine flaws. Don't control a charmed person. Don't try to get it killed or attack it. Mimic AI:ignore it. This is what I do...

Very interestng mod, I will test it and most likely add it to my favorite mod list Keep it up !

Here is the link : http://www.shsforums...tackreevaluate/ I will test again these summons. I just have to make sure they roll a dice on each attack, if not, it is that known bug related to attacks.

They are certainly not, and even without ogre-mage. My test was simple: a few unprotected mage (AC between 6 and 10), doing nothing (moving a bit at best). An enemy cast 2 shadows spells and stop casting. There were 4 shadows attacking my casters. Yet, they standed for about 3 minutes, not worrying about these weak shadows that seemed to have very hard time to hit their target. I can assure you that ogres don't have this problem, although I haven't tested it recently. Maybe it has something to do with known AttackOneRound or AttackReevaluate bug, I don't know. Whatever it is, summon shadows is weak. They are surely survive longer but this is not the point.

I was mostly referring to cast spells on summons. So it concerned casters which are generally intelligent. For Skeleton Warrior, it is very resilient but offensively, it is rather weak. And players use it because it is resilient: summon one and send him to absorb all hits & spells, then enter battle. Intelligent casters shoudn't waste spells on summons, and even less on skeleton warriors. Now, level 7 summons are generally quite strong offensively and it is a good thing. As far as I am concerned, I would choose offense over defense. For Wyverns, you should replace it by monster summoning IV. I have always liked monster summoning spells and that one with ogres is very good ! For all other suggestions, I think they are good, I don't have time to detail

You aren't quite right. There are few things as annoying as watching AI to ignore a summon and keep hitting the caster. Why else would one use a summon if not to distract the enemy and give oneself more breathing room? So, you are telling me that your party will get distracted by enemies' summons ? You are attacking a mage, he cast some summons and suddenly, you got distracted and give him some room by targetting his summons? If the answer is yes for you, it will certainly be no for most players. Otherwise, you would suggest to make AI dumb and get distracted by summons while players aren't ? Nobody should be "distracted" by summons. Summon can be a threat, more or less important, they should have damaging or disabling abilities. This way, even they are beeing ignored, they will still be a danger for their enemies. By that time, caster can still do something : fleeing, going invisible, trying to cast more summons or other spells. His summons are his weapons and sometimes, they can do incredible damage. Even if caster is slained, some attackers might die to summons after his death.

I have already said it but to me, this spell is very weak in BG1. Shadows have very bad thac0, very low damage (with about 1 apr). I think pretty much all other summon spells are better : spider spawn, monster summoning 1 or 2. Now I haven't tested it with wraith so I can't tell later on. Tanking is pointless as enemies shoudn't focus summons, or at least, not that much. When an enemy mage summon creatures, I'll focus him with all I have to bring him down. AI scripts should act like this and not waste spells on summons. For attack, it is a bit more tedious as scripting engine is rather limited. But all in all, summons should bring something usefull for party, other than tanking ability.

I use it on some necromancers, it is efficient on fighter. Despair is overall better, but Contagion also slows its target, which is a good point. -2 penalty is still good to have and keep in mind that SR also add many penalties to other spells. It would be too much with -4 to this one. It is a good one. Some of my conjurers use it but they need to cast immunity to evocation because minor globe won't work here. In bg1 (where I'm working on), minor globe covers most needs of spell protection, and it is a pain to have to cast immunity to evocation just for a few spells. But Davaeorn uses it along side with fireball and lightning bolt, and all of them are very efficient My enchanters use them a lot. First, it is almost impossible to script Otiluke's Resilient Sphere in a defensive goal. So I'm only using it as a disabler, like Polymorph other. In that regard, Polymorph other is clearly better, so I only use Otiluke on some occasion for more variety. Polymorph Other is a deadly spell. With proper detection spell on this one, an enchanter can totally disable several players, and combine with other enchantment spells, he can pretty cause havoc on party Polymorph Self is a very important spell to me, as it allows mage to enter combat at low levels. But I haven't played with this spell since I haven't made any level 7+ transmuters yet. This is a good idea, since for example, all these spells are a pain for sorcerer with their small limitation of spells. And memorize, sleep, and then replaced by another spell, sleep again... painfull !!

I like these changes a lot. This would make a use for casters that like to summon weapon (was thinking of black blade of disaster for example)

You got a point here. Improved haste is very efficient a on group with many fighters that dual wield. I don't know current duration of Improved haste but maybe 1 round / 3 level would be do it. It would be : 4 round at level 12 up to 6 round at level 18 I think about it this way; level 13+ fighters probably have 3.5 apr (with 2 weapon fighting), assuming you have 3 such fighters in your party (or equivalent) that's 10.5 apr in total (okay, your cleric and thief can contribute in melee, but maybe you only have 2 fighters, or not all of them are using 2 weapon style, so let's assume it balances out). Casting Haste raises each fighters apr to 4 (as it's always a whole number with vanilla haste) or 12 in total, a net increase of 1.5 apr. Casting Improved Haste on one fighter raises apr to 7, a net increase of 3.5 apr... That alone is more than twice as useful as hasting all your fighters in terms of damage (discounting movement rate and attack speed factor for the moment, though they are relevant in many fights). However, regular Haste is not stackable, whereas you can IH each of your fighters to get 21 apr in total, a net increase of 10.5 apr. I suspect Improved Haste and Whirlwind are the main reason so many ToB creatures have way more hp than they should, per 2nd ed.

Is it really? Improved haste is only efficient on a fighter, and it is a single target spell. That effect can be dispelled, or its target disable... It's also a level 6 spell... One level 3 haste is, to me, more efficient than a single improved haste (unless playing a solo F/M)

I don't use it directly but I'm modding for BG1, so a few druids use it, as a fireball then. Amarande (level 13 druid) use it and it is devastating. Well, my party didn't fight back so it is highly probable that I could interrupt a few cast

Well, in my game, it is clearly written : "Spellcasting time is doubled" for slow. And I have tested it, it works well Hopefully, there are not too many druids. Druids have high AC, and thus, even with Iron skin, they drop quite easily. This is why improved invisibility is so good. But it is a sad conclusion : most spellcasters rely on on this effect to stay alive. Players just have to be ready to cancel invisibility. I will, but it is difficult to test it properly ! Oh and I was wondering if Fire trap is not a bit overpowered ? A level 2 area of effect spell that doesn't harm friends... In my tests, I have moved it high on priority list, it's better than most level 3 spells. It was very welcome for druid to have good level 2 spells but I guess it's a little too good ?

I meant AI, not IA (in french, AI become IA) I have tested slow a lot while modding and I assure you it is worst for caster than fighters. Slow movement speed + double casting time make a spellcaster very fragile. I have also abused haste spell on a conjurer : Cythandria. She cast about 4-5 summons spells and then she cast haste, deadly !! About Insect Plague feedback, I like it a lot. I gave it to Amarande (archdruid in cloakwood) and this spell, alone, gives him an edge over the battle. Now, a big problem of divine spellcasters is their lack of magic protection. Druid have almost nothing to protect them from spells, so they can easily be interrupted by spells. See a druid cast insect plague? you have a full round to interrupt him! It's less easy when you fight a full group, but when it is a lone caster, it's rather easy. To prevent this, I made it an avenger and improved invisibility is a life saver (as for many spellcasters too) I should see what TobEx can do about this. I've installed new spellcasting interrupt system (and no interrupt on 0 damage) but didn't test it yet.

I agree with you about haste. For a very long time, it has been an overpowered spell and still is. Now, hit & run with haste and boots is a strategy I wouldn't use now because IA can't do anything about this. Beside this problem, haste might powerful but enemies can use it too. Currently, very few mages use haste, at least in BG1. It's clearly a bad spellbook conception, or maybe a choice to make the game easier for beginners? Anyways, slow has been improved. I already liked it before and I use it even more now. A big problem with those 2 spells is that together, they are too good. See enemies? Cast haste then slow, and eat them easily ! If you know they will use those spells, time them carefully and you will cancel their haste and cancel your own slow... Well, you win on both plans. The thing is you can do so little about this poor IA. Insect plague : between one round and casting time 5, there is only one? Doesn't make a big difference to me! Chaos : I like new saving throws but I agree that duration is a bit long. It just mean a level 9 mage can disable a whole group for 1 turn (at low levels, it is hard to save at -4). If that mage has allies, it is enough time to kill the whole party. 5 rounds was already long enough, you were in bad shape if chaos touched too many characters.

I'm also interested by kit revision, it would be very interesing as current kits are seriously imbalanced. I feel targeted by your description lol.

Yes, so do I. And I'll need to check again all my spellbooks to see what should be changed with SR 4.0 ! Hopefully, this will be the final version eheh

My bad, didn't see there was hotfixes patch Well, I am concerned by 2 spells : Spell shield (level 5) and spell shield (level 8) 2 differents spells with the same name. Since the level 8 spell is an improved globe of invulnerability, I would have called it "Major Globe of Invulnerability"

Happy new year Well, back to business. I have tested Spell thrust and Secret Word Very small radius makes it difficult to use them efficiently 5" radius, it's melee range. So, beeing area of effect is almost useless since there is almost no chance that many casters are that closed. And melee range is tough, and if target move a bit during cast, it will just be wasted. I would have prefer a single range target spell compared to these ones. Or a bigger radius like 10" Don't forget that for each revised spell, there are 2 uses : enemies and party I'm sure a player can use these spells, but it is very tough if not impossible for a script (likely an enemy).

The main problem of shadows is their low thac0 and very low damage. If they get a better chilling touch, maybe it would make a difference. I didn't check if multiple larloch life drain stack and I agree it shouldn't. Problem with VT is that it is good at high levels, but quite average/bad at low levels. Healing part of VT or LMD at low levels is minor, if mage can be hit, he will die very quickly no matter what. I see VT are an alternative level 3 spell for a necromancer. If we do agree that life drain can only occur once, damage occur every time. And I think VT should do more damage to a single target than skull trap does. So, if a necromancer want to damage a whole party, he choose ST, but if there is only one target, then VT should be the way to go. Maybe, double damage at low levels, but only half damage heal ? Can't wait to see V4 then I was testing Arkion (level 9 necromancer), first he cast 2 summon shadow and then 3 skull traps, all summons died. I was forced to inverse both spells : 3 skull traps then summon shadows.

Tanks are good vs AI. Players will just ignore them. All my tests are done within my mod, so it is enemy that use spells on me. I prefer dangerous summon that I must disable quickly than harmless tanks that I can avoid freely. Currently, a level 9 necromancer casting 2 summon shadow (so 6 shadows) is something player can almost ignore. Ogres don't have better thac0 but they hit like a truck with their 19 strength. Larloch doesn't allow any save either and is still faster and range spell. Again, for a necromancer, what's the point to choose vampric touch over skull trap ? Skull trap does more damage and is area of effect

I'll only add small feedbacks from time to time Summon shadow. I tested it at level 9 and I was disapointed. 3 shadows on a level 5 party doing nothing at all but waiting to be killed. On a fighter with 3 AC, those 3 shadows took about 5mn to kill him, maybe I got unlucky ? Compared to monster summoning 3 or spider spawn, summon shadow seems very weak to me. Too bad, it is the only level 5 necromancer spell. I think I would prefer only one summon but stronger. In that regard, I really like summon death knight at level 7 As others, I agree that gnolls are useless. On this level, spider spawns are a lot better, it is not even comparable. Dimension door, can't see why I would memorize it, basically useless and at this level, there are a lot of very interesting spells. To be honest, even as a level 1 spell, wouldn't change my mind Color spray : one of my new favorite level 1 spell, very powerful, but need to be in close range and often miss target True strike : I'm trying to make a good use of this one, scripting mages to cast it and attack after, but it is very difficult to use since it expires very quickly. Good combo with melf meteor through. Larloch : previously useless, now it's good. 10 life drain is nice and my necromancers abuse it now. But now, Vampiric touch seems bad at low levels. On a level 9 necromancer, it's about 8 for larcoch, and 12 for vampiric. Considering larloch is level 1 and cast very quickly and at range, I don't see the point to use vampiric touch below its maximal potential. More tomorrow