bob_veng

 

Counterargument is, poison bought/made for putting on weapons is poison for putting on weapons. There's no reason each class should have exclusive access to its own unique brand.

As a matter of in-game logic, that doesn't follow: the amount of poison damage depends on the level of the assassin/blackguard, so it can't just be that there's one standard sort.

 

But I was more making a programming point. The two powers are logically distinct even if one might decide to make them have the same game effect. Locking them to the same IDS entry and .spl file gets the logical structure wrong. If at some subsequent time the designers decided the blackguard power was overpowered, they then would have the ability to change it without either having to change the Assassin ability set, or go back through the AI scripting and reroute it.

 

if "poison weapon" (poison = predicate /verb/, weapon = object) is a mundane practice of coating weapons in poison then it would still make sense for it to scale because higher level characters have learned more potent poison recipes.

however, if we thematically conceive of it like that would make it soooo much at odds with the blackguard's archetype. does a blackguard really spend time researching poison recipes? ehm no. all his powers are supposed to be of unnatural origin. if his 'poison weapon' could grammatically be parsed as poison /noun/ weapon, so that his weapon becomes a "poison weapon", i.e. a weapon that is related to poison in some essential, abstract way (for example, "a weapon supernaturally infused with the essence of poison"), that would make significantly more sense archetype-wise (for me at least...)

so two abilities have always seemed like a more appropriate solution for me, ever since the poison weapon nerf at least.

for example blackguard's poison weapon could be renamed to something like "imbue poison", or assassin's to something like "apply poison"

While of course I am open to feedback on any and all aspects of SCS, I think I can guarantee that you are not going to persuade me to give poison weapons to tutorial-level mooks.

poison weapon has been nerfed in more recent EE. 1 dam / 2 seconds for 12 seconds with save, non-stacking. that means that 2x potions of healing or 1x healing and 1x antidote should ~99% ensure that you stay alive. poison effects are not something inappropriate for lower levels, because, thematically, it's a mundane thing that is to be expected of assassins and people of that sort. you make it sound like they are summoning a planetar (unnerfed poison weapon, however, would be halfway there).

i mean we traditionally see poison effects as something very nasty that's seen later in the game, and poison weapon as some powerful ability, but thematically there's no reason to see it that way

another thing is - it would be nice to meet some low level enemies who have a kit, because ever since BG got it's makeover with kits and BG2 stuff, very little of that has propagated organically within the actual content

yeah, I wanted to add the same about potions, but I didn't want to theory-mod-craft too much, on such an esoteric non-issue. with all that said however, assassin carbos & shank + relevant potions would indeed be very good.

 

Having said that, it's a curious decision on the part of Beamdog to make them assassins,

At a certain level, I kinda become inured to all sorts of random crap being blamed on Beamdog and/or the EEs, and I was fully prepared to dismiss this as same. But damn if this isn't true, and damn if I can find the ticket and/or justification.

 

I do know where the ticket to change them back to bogstandard mooks is, though, since I just filed it.

i wouldn't mind them working as actual assassins with poison weapon, i think it would excuse their sorry existence a bit more... after all they made it in to candlekeep, so they must be at least a tiny bit ninja. it's probably most reasonable to just step outside and let the guarts take care of them anyway

They literally use an item called DAGGSHIT which does 1d2-1 (yes, minus one). They're meant to be tutorial-level threats.

 

I know, but I don't like it, since there are actual tutorials in candlekeep and you don't get anything particular from these encounters tutorial-wise. With this change it actually would be a good tutorial on "choose your battles" and on "enemies follow you through doors"

i wouldn't mind them working as actual assassins with poison weapon, i think it would excuse their sorry existence a bit more... after all they made it in to candlekeep, so they must be at least a tiny bit ninja. it's probably most reasonable to just step outside and let the guarts take care of them anyway

 

have charges been discussed (like the staff of the ram)?

Well, this is not the department of SCS (I'm pretty sure IR takes care of that.....)

 

IR changes the kobold dagger by turning it to a weapon with charges? I don't think so.

Weapons that do bonus damage and other effects and don't have a permanent dweomer or aren't magical at all have charges in PnP.

have charges been discussed (like the staff of the ram)?

also, 10-20 gp seems like a good price

- tweaks anthology has more subtle ease of life and sanity-check economy tweaks (sellable items,reputation...)

- scs has "tactical" economy tweaks

- aurora also has general balancing economy tweaks

although these are three conceptually distinct "families" of tweaks, they all have to do with economy, so I think they would work okay together, as a part of tweaks anthology.

maybe some kind thread archiving / renaming is in order

i've thought about Dragon's Breath being unavailable to good characters being a problem and determined that it's not because:

- they can still fall back on the Flail of Ages, which has the same specific utility value

- Duskblade is also similar with it's bonus elemental damage

- when it comes to non-specific utility value i.e. just being a good halberd: there are many other good halberds: wave +4 is soon obtainable (it also does bonus elemental damage, but unreliably), and there are other decent halberds for a while...and then there is ravager

...

That's part of why sometimes doing something thematically (really evil quest that requires you to be evil -> item that only evil characters can use) is practical, as you'd otherwise make good and neutral players want to do something completely reprehensible just for the sake of a reward.

...

​I'm not really in the habit of sticking random properties into items with an already set design and lore where they don't fit just for the sake making them a little stronger, though. Sometimes, a +4 weapon is just a +4 weapon without a lot of bells or whistles, and I think that's okay. Most of the good to great +4 weapons in SoA are ones you have to craft - the ones you just happen to find or buy (Mana Bow, Rod of Smiting, Crossbow of Affliction, Blackmist, and Soul Reaver + Staff of the Woodlands to lesser extents) aren't that great...with the exception of Carsomyr, of course, which is a special exception for obvious reasons.

​

​The shame with Blackmist is that its property is basically impossible to use by the time you get it in SoA (most everything has magic resistance at that point), it does not really fit its location (I'll talk about this in a moment), and it's difficult to move it further back in the game due to its enchantment level. If you wanted to put it somewhere pre-Spellhold, you'd basically have to nerf it to +3. As for its current location, it doesn't even really make sense where it is, because it's a reward given as a result of doing something extremely evil, something so evil that literally only evil-aligned characters are given the option in a non-modded game (only the second of quests that I know that do this in BG2), and it's not even an evil item, unlike fellow halberds Duskblade and the Ravager - in fact, its history mentions that it was a Paladin's weapon, which is pretty much the opposite of what this kind of quest should give! Something like Soul Reaver or maybe even Unholy Reaver (the opposite Carsomyr that's currently non-droppable, I believe) would make much more sense for this location.

a slain evil creature doesn't have to drop an "evil item" - if it drops a "good item" it might mean that the previous, good, owner was killed by that creature or some other evil force. i also don't think that all items have to be tied to their location thematically, just some. "theme overload" where everything has to fit a predictable pattern is actually not very immersive i think (i'm not "accusing" you of that, just stating generally)

regardless, thematically, blackmist might best belong in the temple ruins / shadow dragon's lair:

"This was the weapon of Dominique Harl, a sightless paladin who frequently traveled Faerûn. When attacked, Dominique would unleash the black mist that is this halberd's namesake, potentially blinding all within 10 feet. This often gave him the advantage, for he lived in darkness all his life, seeing only with the inner light of faith. Dominique eventually fell, his body found in a dark forest, slain by a creature of the night even more at home in the shadows than he."

so maybe Shadow Patrick, (instead of Duskblade) could drop Blackmist, changed to +3 or +2 (maybe +1 AC?)

then Lesser Demon Lord (instead of Blackmist) could drop Dragon's Breath halberd, unchanged (it's very good)

finally, Boz the drow from the Underdark group (instead of Dragon's Breath) could drop Duskblade, improved*

. . .

* Duskblade has a pretty impressive descripton, so on these grounds and since it would be found much later, it could stand some improvement:

"Though once a simple halberd, this weapon spent many hundreds of years in a tomb next to the soul phylactery of a powerful lich. The creature was eventually erased from existence, purportedly by another of its kind, but such close proximity to that concentrated evil has imbued this blade with the very essence of night and the chill of darkness, energy that becomes deadly in combat. It is a foul weapon, and a warrior should use it with caution."

since drow dislike surface metals, maybe it could be noted that it's made of adamantite (i think drow use adamantite equipment instead of their usual adamantine gear when they raid in the surface); so a description revision could be made: "Though once an ordinary weapon of Underdark origin, this adamantite halberd..."

^ (jarno)

hey man I know that lol, but if you read subtlesoctor's post carefully you will see that in the relevant part it suggests "focus" AND "specialization" being independent of each other, like two trees of specialization where one boosts thac0, and the other boosts damage. that's how I got it, at least

Weapon Focus gives a bonus to thac0, and Specialization gives a bonus to damage.

so "focus" somehow means thac0 and "specialization" somehow means damage. imho this is not good. not worth it.

this would be good.

maybe every class could have a preselection of specialized weapons, while all classes could freely pick the group. (edit: so "focus" is freely selected, an "specialization" is preselected)

so if a paladin picks "small blades", he would instantly (or after some level) have focus and "specialization" in short sword, but only focus in dagger (paladin's "class weapons" could be: short sword, long sword, mace, halberd, crossbow...).

this looks like less choice than the existing system, but if you only ever get to pick 1 to 3 groups, than it's actually more choice, because the choice is more consequential

for example, druid's "specializations" would clearly be the weapons he can use in 2e: daggers, staves, slings, spears, clubs, scimitars and darts

so the druid class would incorporate bonuses to these weapons.

and then, "mastery" could be a feat, available only to appropriate classes

looks like a legit hybrid to me

about skill checks, i have a simple idea:

the missing skills stats:

Alchemy - can be represented by intelligence

Uh, wait, what? What item does the demon give you? Can't say that I recall him giving you anything.

halberd +4 'blackmist'; cast blindness 3x day (10ft radius). not a bad item.

IWD2 items need IWD1-ification. someone should manually go over the list of all IWD2 items and see which IWD2 items could be replaced with mechanically/thematically equivalent non-unique IWD1 (and possibly BG1/2 items). the prefix and suffix system is similar so it shouldn't be a huge task. most of the rest can be scrapped in the first pass and if needed gradually reintroduced in a more appropriate form

alternatively, a combined set of prefixes suffixes can be created that takes from both iwd1 and iwd2 and a set of generic enchanted weapons with procs can be created that can populate IWD1 and IWD2 content with a density that's in line with EET without IWDs. (there's a better and more sophisticated solution though which we've talked about before)

...this way, random IWD tables can also be scrapped, maybe, and all loot can be determinate like in BG1/2

if random loot will be in EET it should not be confined to IWD areas, i don't find that reasonable at all. so random tables are problematic on two levels, technical (as k4thos says) and conceptual (my opinion) and that's even more of a reason to scrap them for the time being and maybe put them back later.

reviving this topic, it's time to implement this idea into separate mod (BP-in-EET, or whatever).

 

...

hey, i had an almost identical vision for how to do it mechanically http://gibberlings3.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=29038&do=findComment&comment=257102

except: i think BP1 should take place at the start of SoD because:

1. it can replace the way you lose your gold in SoD which is crap. in any other case, there will be an increased number of times when you lose all your gold in the saga and that's undesirably repetitive.

2. in terms of balance, the difficulty of the fights in context of the surrounding content is right there, and nothing has to be changed, so the super lazy approach will suffice

BP2 should take place during this quest with it's content intelligently interpolated with the already-recycled elements (vanilla BG2EE already recycles BP2)

+1 hope never dies

 

If you have a modded game and you want to continue playing it to the end, you'd better skip the update for now. It will overwrite most of your files and you must start a new game.

Hopefully you followed the instructions to have your modded game version separated from the GoG/Steam/Beamdog version.

 

You find many useful hints in this discussion:

https://www.reddit.com/r/baldursgate/comments/8unf15/baldurs_gate_ii_enhanced_edition_25_patch/

 

As a main rule: do not patch an ongoing game.

 

And how was I supposed to do that? Steam automatically updates games with no way to stop it.

copy game install folder

agreed, but it's not an EETLauncher logo

edit: just so there's no confusion, this is how i intended it to look like

the ideal for me would be the already "normal" -50% enemy/quest xp, but during BG1+SoD only -50% enemy (and not quest) xp

i gave it a (quick) shot

as far as i can see, a single component has been made redundant:

2330: remove delay for magical traps = Trap spells should go off instantly when they are approached (33598)

i'm not able to say more but i'd wager it's fully compatible

It's best to just move on in a constructive and respectful manner without déplacé bewilderment (this phenomenon is as old as the internet). We all have a sensibility for roleplaying after all.

original = the first, non-EE, edition

vanilla = unmodded (whether EE or original is meant is context dependent), including BGEE-SoD

classic = to me personally dubious; can mean:

• original (same as above)
• bg1 in the sense of how it's rules/systems differ from bg2 (proficiencies etc.)
• "old" as in a previous, older version (before a later patch that changes something noticeable, for example)
• original non-totsc bg1 (an ancient way of seeing as nobody distinguishes totsc from the main game anymore)