Daxtreme

Small update

change-log:

Added a more refined spell selection for mages (tnx Daxtreme); "make individual spell immunity versions" component blocked since it's redundant and confusing.

Conjurers should now use level 8 demons more often (demons galore!), level 7 djinn should be used for variety, some more tweaks to necro/enchanter.

 

 

I'll work on Energy Drain next to see if I can get AI to use it (they won't bother using it vs NPP if I can do it, it's level 9 = too expensive to waste), and sort out some SR/IR Haste/Petrification bugs I found.

Also, I have a rather lovely idea about buffing AI Conjurers even more. With SCS, Druids get Animal summons as a "prebuff". I can easilly make Conjurers benefit from this - but unlike Druids, they'd get MSVII-MSIX spells as a part of their prebuff routine. Any decent Conjurer should walk around with few conjured monsters anyway, no? This ofc means that you'll be seeing Greater Basilisk creatures in BG2, but c'est la vie...

And Gate?

Btw I checked the current spell selection of most high level mages (I haven't installed your new version yet), and Gate is a very rare spell. Even level 18+ conjurers don't always have it, and non-conjurers never have it. Is it intended?

No wonder I never stumbled upon a single Gate spell so far in my playthrough!

edit: also question, does this new v also fix Vithal and his script, and the crooked crane Lich at the same time? thanks!

Alright kreso I uninstalled everything (in the right order), then re-installed SR with the latest tweaked 13.1B which demi posted a few days ago (with fixed dispelling screen), then SCS with SR hotfix + your small hotfix for Vithal and the crooked crane Lich, and everything works!

Vithal is worth a damn now, Love it! City Gates Lich detected the invis, and no more individual spell immunity annoyance because I re-installed and removed the option.

Only thing I didn't test was the random spawn Lich in Spellhold who didn't do much because I don't have a save point near that. Do you happen to know its codename so I could spawn it to test? I did test the character with code "Lich01" and it didn't do much, definitely no level 9 spells so that might have been it!

As for HLAs, I decided to test them all. I have "Give HLAs to specific mages and priests" installed, and when I counted the names listed on the readme, there are a total of 9 names, 11 if you count Irenicus and all 3 of his forms. However, in the 2da file, there are 15 names so I figured there might have been some differences, and I was right. One of them is hilarious, actually.

First of all, Zallanora (MAGE18Z) does indeed cast HLAs as well. So she isn't listed, but in truth, she gets HLAs when you install "Add HLAs for specific spellcasters in SoA and ToB". Tried with a regular Lich, level 9 spells, no HLAs, so it didn't install the "Give HLAs to ALL casters with sufficient level" by error, it really is only these 15.

Second, when you install Spellcasting Demiliches like I did, both Kangaxx's lich form and his demilich form have HLAs. Ouch!

Third, Deirex the Lich (JARLICH) does have HLAs as well. Interestingly enough, when you summon him via console your party insta-dies because it's technically supposed to launch the Jarlaxle quest by teleporting you away. It doesn't, you die

Fourth, apparently there is a second Elemental Lich in the game, because 2 different Elemental Liches receive HLAs and they're different/cast different spells and have different spawn codes (HLLICH / LICHEL01)

So final list on readme for this part should be "Alchra Diagott; Suneer; Irenicus (all forms); Shangalar; the Shade Lich; the Elemental Lich; Layene; Kangaxx the Lich; Lagole Gon; Zallanora; Deirex the Lich."

On the priest side everything is at it should be.

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I'm actually afraid to go inside Twisted Rune right now.

Thanks for the fix kreso, and demi as well for the SR hotfix. Much appreciated!

Thanks for everything you do

Like I said, feel free to use any of my suggestions, or none at all!

Great for Energy Drain, keep us posted! Also, I guess I was unlucky on Wish usage!

As for melf, I don't mind, more of a ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ from me

Thanks for taking the time to check all this, edit things, much appreciated

Finally, is Limited Wish possible to do? Might be too complicated.

Nice idea for MSword, never liked this spell either Feels "bug-ish"

Also, today I went to fight the City Gates Lich to test something. I tried to find loopholes to get the Daystar without beating the Lich, but it's impossible as far as I'm concerned -- I tried looting the sword with Nalia, then she dies, then I resurrect her but she loses her items. I also tried transferring the item but it says "party member is too far" so SCS does a good job on that.

Thing is, sometimes it traps your party members out if they don't enter quickly enough. We were playing multiplayer (my brother and I) and he kept getting locked out of the fight unless he clicked like EXACTLY at the same time as I did to enter the tomb. We had to reload every time, quite annoying. I understand though that this is a "normal SCS" change to the game, so it has nothing to do with you.

ANYWAY, when I fought the Lich with a Nalia buffed with only Shadow Door and Stoneskin (nothing else), the Lich cast Time Stop then didn't do anything. It walked around during time stop, then again when it ended, seemingly endlessly. Only when I attacked the Lich did it start casting again and then I got completely destroyed. But that was weird. Maybe this particular spawn lacked invis detection? I thought liches automatically detected invis but maybe I'm wrong.

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Alright so earlier you asked me for spell pick ideas kreso, here is what I came up with since yesterday

- I've only had mages wishing for time stop through Wish -- can they wish for something else or is it always time stop?

- Maybe a mage with access to level 7 spells could occasionally cast limited wish --> One-time offer --> Time Stop. Or even other one-time wishes! It would make for pretty interesting Time Stops/other stuff coming from non-level 18 spellcasters! Again, this should be rare I think. Can it already happen? If yes, awesome! It might be too complicated to do, however.

- Unless they already can and I missed it, I think Liches should have a chance or something to cast Spell Revisions' modified Energy Drain (level 9). It's better, it's a very evil spell by definition, and fits with Liches I think Not always, but sometimes maybe? Like including it in the random spell chooser, whatever it is and how it works. It might make some fights slightly easier because it's not an insanely good spell, but it really fits their theme, + more variety, and it can totally work sometimes (1 more buff to have to pre-cast against Liches, negative plane prot, and it can be dispelled). Targets can be anyone, there is no save, and it's incredibly annoying for the player. Also, do Liches still cast Gate under revised SCS? Never encountered a single Gate spell so far, from anyone in fact!

- Do enemy spellcasters use... Project Image? I know they use Simulacrum. It could work but, it might be actually too strong! Oh the dread! If it could be included, making it a rare occurrence might be necessary since it's so powerful. To make it fair, they couldn't use any spell triggers/contingencies so interrupting their spells would be an actually viable option (and then absolute immunity comes in )

- I realize now that my problem with melf minute meteor is simply that basically every mage has it. They pre-cast it like a buff (I have pre-cast set to yes). I understand the strategic choice of this spell, but it does feel weird that a spell so rare and niche in the original game suddenly is cast by everyone And a weird spell to boot. Suggestion: Reducing its "spawn rate" by 25-50% maybe? I have nothing to replace it with so it would exclusively make the game easier. But then, if level 14 mages start casting limited wish - time stop sometimes, it might actually become harder!

As usual, feel free to dismiss anything I suggest, it's my personal opinion and I'm still new to SCS/Revised SCS. I am just throwing ideas out there from what I saw. I'm a fairly experienced player though!

 

STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2160 // Add an extra copy of some hard-to-find spell scrolls: v30forSR

 

Maybe this is what you're talking about?

No, SCS had an option to allow individual versions of SI to be used, they all used different icons and had to be memorized seperately - this allowed for their use in triggers for players....but I believe this option doesn't exist on ToBex or EE installs. Odd, to say the least.

 

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2050 // Allow individual versions of Spell Immunity to be placed into Contingencies and Spell Triggers: v30forSR

I have this installed. Maybe this is the culprit?

Also, I tested today the fight vs Sorcerous Amon and his party in The Den of the Seven Vales (waukeen's promenade 2nd floor) and he didn't do much.

Same bug maybe?

edit: Nevermind, he did exactly this: protected by Stoneskin, Globe of Invul, then dispel magic on me. Then he died, so he didn't exactly do nothing. My bad.

Do I have to re-install the whole SCS to install this fix?

Also, I have tweaks anthology (only mod installed after SCS), do I need to re-install it too?

Wow, a lvl 9 Lich? Color me surprised, I didn't know that. Come to think of it, it didn't do much. It had a few spell protections but frankly, dealing with the 2 greater mummies was the greater threat here, if that's any indication...

Thanks for looking into it, I'll try to replicate those fights if I can (Lich and Vithal), see if maybe I just got a random bug.

> They usually try to hit spellcasters with it to disrupt castings, which is what they probably should be doing, no?

Yeah, I mean, it's logical, but it kinda feels wrong. I don't know... The only problem I have with that is that, you encounter a low-level mage in Athkatla, and he's walking around throwing melf minute meteors at you between spells.

You then encounter a Lich, an undead archmage who has access to the most powerful spells imaginable... and he walks around, throws melf minute meteor at you. Kinda makes the fights stale i.e. feel all the same, and doesn't make you truly appreciate the power difference between the 2.

Just saying.

Maybe the problem is melf minute meteor in itself, maybe it shouldn't work that way if a low-level mage and a high-level mage can interrupt spellcasting with it with total indifference to their level. Maybe a low level mage should be using that spell to give himself an advantage, but what I really mean is that a Lich shouldn't need to rely on such a spell. Maybe I just dislike melf minute meteor (I think it's a cheesy spell that doesn't belong in the game)

> Odd...try posting your Weidu file. Yeah, DS+SI:Abj isn't meant to be used. Do you have some "make individual copies of SI scrolls" tweak installed? SI scroll shouldn't even exist in the game, SR replaces it.

STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2160 // Add an extra copy of some hard-to-find spell scrolls: v30forSR

Maybe this is what you're talking about? If so, i'll simply refrain myself from using them.

> CONJURER - Efreet, Hakaeshar (they get a bunch of lower level summons as well). What could be added is Djinni and Demons/Devils

I think that would be a great idea actually!

So I will try to replicate the buggy fights, thanks for checking those things out, and again, good job on this, so far it's a blast!

edit (poster above): "they'll attack if target is within range or if they're out of spells, otherwise they stay rooted."

I think that would work really great as well. We could try to find something else to give to Lich to compensate, the main goal here is to increase the variability of spells you encounter between fights/types of enemies! Just throwing ideas out there by the way

2nd edit: I replicated the fight with Vithal. Sadly he really didn't do anything.

Here is a link to the video I frapsed: https://www.dropbox.com/s/brbw3pk7p3h13ux/VithalBug.mp4?dl=0

He just walked up to me and attacked. It doesn't change anything whether I complete his quest or not, he doesn't cast anything nor does he have any spell protections up.

I've played with this SCS special SR mod on, here are my thoughts!

First of all, huge thanks to kreso and DavidW for making these mods, they're great!

Let's get to it

- The Mage released by Freedom in the Underdark, Vithal... when I fought him he didn't do anything. He just walked up to me and hit me with his staff until he died. 20,000 XP! Is that how it's supposed to happen? I can't remember if he actually put up a fight in vanilla.

- I stumbled upon a random Undead Spawn Lich in Spellhold and it... didn't do much. Especially for a Lich. I mean, I fought some liches and they were a real challenge, like Alchra Diagott for example, who opened with Wish --> Double length Time Stop + Improved Alacrity --> Bunch of spells. Killed me twice. Loved it! But yeah, this Lich in spellhold just walked around, threw melf's minute meteors at me, and eventually died without much resistance. Bummer!

- Speaking of Melf Minute Meteor, I think a Lich specifically should be above using such a spell and trying to hit you in-between spells. I think Liches should plant themselves there and attempt to pile up maximum casualties ASAP with high level spells/Gate, but maybe that's just me

- Everything goes so fast, it's awesome.

- Not sure why but I could buy all the Spell Immunity scrolls, which I think have been replaced? Hopefully it's a by-product of the Anthology Tweaks, because if not, most of them had screwed icons and stuff. SR might be to blame, not sure. Dispelling Screen stacked over SI: Abj seems a bit too much to me.

- Maybe have more variety in what enemy spellcasters summon for lvl 7? I've been fighting mages all day that summon mordenkainen swords... but there are a lot more possibilities! Summon Djinni, Efreeti, Nishruu... can they even summon these? I'm only seeing MSwords stacked next to MSwords everywhere. Maybe I'm just being quite unlucky. I've definitely gotten Ogres/spiders and stuff summoned next to me, just nothing else from lvl 7.

- I'm just loving how fights don't always go the same. Sometimes enemy spellcasters open with something, other times it's different. Keeps things fresh. I know it's also featured in original SCS but it's great.

Might have more coming up later but for now that's it.

Thanks for this mod!

Dax

 

Since I have SR installed but I play solo, should I install this version or the default SCS? I want to play solo though, and I just hope I can actually complete the game with a solo mage! Is it still possible?

With latest SR you won't solo a mage through ToB, sorry.

 

 

With or without SCS? I'm guessing with SCS because without it it's a walk in the park, the default AI is really subject to cheese strategies, even with SR on.

SCS for SR (or viceversa)

What might one expect from this dowload?

Few years ago when I noticed that on SR+SCS installs some spells were misused by AI. Since SCS's main concept is "don't do anything stupid" this bugged me a lot. So I decided to change it. This mod is a compilation of my own tweaks I used in numerous No-Reload games.

Most of the changes are found in Demi's first post. I'll go into how this affects gameplay, since with newest SR it will differ from ur usual SCS experience. BG1 part may not be so affected, but BG2 is a much different experience than before.

 

The biggest two changes are

 

1) Dispelling Screen. This tweak probably changes gamplay the most. It's a substitute for the uber-cheese SI:Abj (fwiw, Spell Immunity in PnP worked by absorbing a single spell, and then dissapearing). The difference between Dispel Screen and SI:Abj is that SR makes Dispel Screen work much more like it's PnP counterpart. It will now absorb a dispel attempt (by "dispel attempt" I mean anything that dispels - Carsomyr, Dispel Arrow, Anti-magic ray and similar) or Breach, then dissapear. As a balancing factor, the spell now has AoE similar to Protection from Evil, so even your fighters can enjoy beeing buffed bit longer.

AI will use Dispel Magic and Breach against it to bring it down. As in-game effect, this will make early BG2 a bit easier, it will make late BG2 a bit harder, and it will make ToB a living hell for your mages.

If you're enjoying vanilla mage omnipotence, this change you will not enjoy. With ToB Demons using Dispel at will you'll see that mages are no longer as overpowering as they used to be. Dispelling Screen *always* gets removed, regardless of dispel level check.

You'll want a balanced party to play SR/SCS game now. Fwiw, my longest no-reload run using this ended in ToB, Sendai enclave Lich Odamaron.

Anybody finishing this battle on this install w/o cheese deserves a medal.

Hey kreso -

I was thinking about installing Sword Coast Strategems with your SR fixes, however the bolded part worries me a bit. I am exclusively a solo player and if your modifications force people to play in a party, I must say I am afraid to install it!

By the way, good job on working on this and providing us with these modifications, and the same extend to those who worked on SCS and SR.

Since I have SR installed but I play solo, should I install this version or the default SCS? I want to play solo though, and I just hope I can actually complete the game with a solo mage! Is it still possible?

Thanks for your time!

Dax