Eliminate Class/Race Restrictions and Most Class/Ability Score Restrictions
This component makes all classes available to PCs of any race, allows PC mages of any race to specialize in any school of magic, and allows both humans and non-humans to dual-class and multi-class. It reduces all ability score requirements to 10, and eliminates the high ability score requirements for dual-classing. In-game text descriptions during character creation are altered to allow for these changes.
Kit race restrictions are lifted when they coincide with their parent class's race restrictions, but not otherwise. In an otherwise-unmodded game, the only kit not available to all races in this fashion is the Dwarven Defender.
There are no animations available for non-human monks, so I repurpose the priest animation for them. As a consequence, non-human monks won't have the flashy unarmed-combat animation that human monks do.
If this component is installed, multi-class gnome mages will no longer be illusionists. If you want to create gnome illusionists, use the 'Allow Multi-Class Mages to Specialize' component.
This component automatically installs the contents of the 'Tidy Up Class-Selection Menu' component.
Revised Class Alignment Rules
This component alters the alignment restrictions for several classes, broadly in accord with 3rd edition D&D (and with Icewind Dale II). All changes are included in the in-game documentation. The specific changes are:
- Druids (including multi-class druids) are now only required to have a partially neutral alignment: they can be neutral good, neutral evil, lawful neutral, or chaotic neutral as well as true neutral. Jaheira and Faldorn (if applicable) have their alignment changed (respectively) to neutral good and neutral evil, to reflect their in-game behavior. (You can disable this using the ini if you want.)
- Rangers (and cleric-rangers) are now permitted to be of any alignment. Rangers no longer fall if their reputation gets too low, and (in BG2) a few lines of dialog that refer to the risk of a PC ranger Falling are removed.
- Thieves (except for assassins) may now be of any alignment.
- Assassins may no longer be good-aligned.
Icewind Dale-Style Paladins
Not available for IWDEE
This component gives paladins in Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II the modified (and mostly enhanced) powers they receive in Icewind Dale:
- The paladin can use Detect Evil at will.
- The paladin is immune to all diseases and can cure disease once per day, by touch.
- At third level, the paladin becomes immune to fear.
- Once per day, the paladin can use Smite Evil to call down a beam of holy light onto a single evil target, for 1d6 damage + 1d6 per three levels.
- The paladin may use Protection from Evil once per day only, it affects only the paladin, and has a duration of 4 hours (24 turns).
- The paladin is able to cast cleric spells from 6th level rather than 9th level.
Revised Smite Evil
Requires either Icewind Dale, or the 'Icewind Dale-Style Paladins' component.
This component revises the paladin's Smite Evil power to more closely resemble the 3rd edition D&D power which inspires it. Instead of directly striking a foe, the power affects the paladin's attacks: they receive a Charisma-dependent bonus to melee attacks against evil creatures until their next successful attack, and that attack then does 1d6 magic damage, +1d6 per two levels above first level.
Higher-Level Paladins Get Additional Uses of Lay on Hands and Smite Evil
This component grants paladins additional uses of their Lay on Hands and (if you're using it) Smite Evil powers as they gain level. An additional use of Lay on Hands is gained at 5th level and every 4 levels thereafter; an additional use of Smite Evil is gained at 7th level and every 8 levels thereafter.
(Partly this tracks the way these powers work in 3rd edition D&D; partly it's my subjective assessment that other classes and kits tend to give out extra uses of similarly-powerful abilities.)
Icewind Dale-Style Bard Songs
Not available for IWDEE
This component gives Bards in Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II six different bard songs (gained as they gain levels), to match the Icewind Dale version of the bard. The songs gained are:
- 1st level: The Ballad of Three Heroes (allies within 30ft. get +1 to attack rolls, damage rolls, and saving throws)
- 3rd level: The Tale of Curran Strongheart (allies within 30ft. are immune to fear, and any fear effects on them are removed)
- 5th level: Tymora's Melody (allies within 30ft. get +1 to luck, +3 to saving throws, +10 to lore, and +10% to all thieving skills)
- 7th level: The Song of Kaudies (allies within 30ft. have a 50% chance to shrug off the effects of spells such as Silence, Shout, Great Shout, Command, Greater Command, or any other sound-based attack)
- 9th level: The Siren's Yearning (enemies within 30 ft. must make a Will save or become enthralled, unable to take action until 1 round passes or they take damage)
- 11th level: War Chant of Sith (allies within 30ft. get +2 to Armor Class, +10% resistance to slashing, piercing, crushing, and missile damage, and regenerate 2 hit points per round)
As in Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition, only trueclass (non-kitted) bards get these new bard songs.
Thieves Gain the Evasion Ability (on a successful save for half damage against abilities that require you to dodge, take no damage)
Not available for IWDEE
With this component installed, thieves (single and multi-classed) gain the Evasion ability at 7th level. This allows the thief, on making a successful saving throw for half damage from a spell or effect, to entirely avoid the effect.
Evasion applies to spells or effects which require the character to dodge or jump clear, like Fireball and Lightning Bolt. It does not apply to spells like Holy Smite (which require willpower to resist) or Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting (which requires fortitude and resilience to resist). A full list of affected spells can be found here.
Several other components of Talents of Faerûn install the content of this component automatically.
Modified Thief Evasion
Only available for IWDEE
This component slightly revises the thief's Evasion talent. Instead of making a separate saving throw to see if they can evade the attack, the thief now uses the same saving throw they made against the attack itself; also, the list of affected spells and items is slightly modified, so that Evasion applies only to spells and effects that require the character to dodge or jump clear, like Fireball and Lightning Bolt. It does not apply to spells like Holy Smite (which require willpower to resist) or Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting (which requires fortitude and resilience to resist). A full list of affected spells can be found here.
This component is actually identical to the previous component; they are listed under different names for different versions of the game to avoid confusion and cumbersome names.
Rebalanced Thief and Bounty Hunter Traps at Low Levels
The snares that thieves (and bounty hunters) can set are balanced for Baldur's Gate II and are a bit overpowered at low levels, as well as remaining unchanged until level 11. This component introduces slightly weaker 1st-level snares, with the original versions granted at level 6.
Specifically:
- a 1st-level rogue's snare does 1d8+5 damage (previously 2d8+5)
- a 6th-level rogue's snare does 2d8+5 damage (previously 3d8+5) and slows the target for 5 rounds if they fail an unmodified save vs. spell (previously it was a save vs. spell at -4)
Revised Druid Shapeshifting
This component significantly revises the druid's (and the Avenger's) shapeshift ability, somewhat inspired by Icewind Dale. Druids now gain one use of a general Shapeshift ability at third level, and then another use every three levels after that. The available forms vary by level, and are selected at the time the spell is cast:
- At 3rd level, the only form available is Wolf.
- At 5th level, Black Bear is added.
- At 7th level, the Wolf form is upgraded to a Dire Wolf, and Boring Beetle is added.
- At 9th level, the Black Bear form is upgraded to a Cave Bear (or to a Polar Bear in IWD:EE).
- At 12th level, Lesser Elementals (of all four elements) are added.
- At 15th level, the Lesser Elemental forms are upgraded to Elementals.
(In Icewind Dale, druids got access to Winter Wolves; I removed this as it seemed to go against the idea that druid forms should be natural, nonintelligent animals.) Full documentation for druids' shapeshift forms is here.
Avengers gain forms every 2nd level rather than every 3rd, and have access to new forms:
- At 4th level, Hunting Spider is added.
- At 6th level, Baby Wyvern is added.
- At 7th level, the Wolf form is upgraded to a Winter Wolf instead of a Dire Wolf.
- At 8th level, the Hunting Spider form is upgraded to a Sword Spider.
- At 10th level, the Baby Wyvern form is upgraded to a Wyvern.
(The underlying idea is that Avengers have access to monstrous 'animals' as well as natural ones. From that perspective the Fire Salamander, an intelligent extraplanar creature, is out of place.) Avengers' additional forms are fully documented here.
Druids Use Cleric XP and Spell Tables
The XP tables for druids in IWD, BG and BG2 are based (to varying degree) on 2nd edition Dungeons and Dragons, and hence inherit some oddities that don't really make sense in a CRPG (and frankly were kind of questionable in D&D too). Even though druids and clerics have the same spell-advancement rate and are otherwise fairly comparable in power, their XP requirements are quite out of sync: druids initially require more XP than clerics, then require much less, and then (in BG2) need a staggering 750,000 XP to get from level 13 to level 14 and an astonishing 1,500,000 XP to get from level 14 to level 15. The spell table in BG2 in turn compensates by giving druids massively more spells as soon as they hit level 15. (Icewind Dale smooths out the XP table to something saner after level 14 and doesn't include the big increase in spells.)
This component cuts through all this and just gives druids the same XP and spell progression as clerics. (This is determined dynamically, so any changes other mods have made to cleric tables will be mirrored.)
Revised Speciality Priests of Lathander/Helm/Talos/Tempus/Tyr
This component revises the five speciality priests (i.e., cleric kits) in the unmodded game. The revisions are partly to make the kits more balanced at low levels (they are balanced for Baldur's Gate II and some of their powers are excessive for the early stages of Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale). Partly, they just (I hope!) make the kits a bit more interesting and varied.
The new kits gain a somewhat modified and expanded list of unique powers, and gain them at various levels rather than having them automatically. They also have slightly customized spell lists—e.g., priests of Talos have access to air spells as well as a few other spells associated with lightning or destruction.
Full documentation for the modified kits can be found here.
In addition, the component makes some small script and dialog changes in Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II to recognize the protagonist's faith in appropriate situations (e.g., in the temple of your god).
This component makes use of the ToF revised sphere system, which is documented here.
Modified Cleric Stronghold Quest for Priests of any God except Lathander/Helm/Talos
Only available for BG2EE, EET
The cleric stronghold quests in Baldur's Gate II very strongly presume that your character worships one of Lathander, Helm and Talos. This shows up in small ways (various dialog cues assume it) and larger ways (you have a series of quests that require you to advise worshipers, and you are judged according to how well your advice fits the way of 'your' god). It fits badly to priests of other gods, like Tyr and Tempus in the unmodded (Enhanced Edition) game, and any added by third-party mods.
This component modifies the cleric stronghold quest for priests outside the 'core three' priesthoods. The new quest is a bit shorter, has somewhat more appropriate dialog, and omits the conversations with the worshipers. The final event of the stronghold quest (the battle between the temples) triggers automatically after sufficient time has passed (4 in-game weeks by default, though it is accelerated later in the game). The component also adds some god-specific lines for priests of Tyr, Tempus, and the faiths introduced by the 'New Choices of God/Goddess for Speciality Priests' component from Talents of Faerûn. Because the quest is shorter, it does not count as a stronghold for the purposes of determining whether you can get another stronghold.
Allow Monks to Use Staffs
The Infinity Engine games don't allow monks to use staffs, despite the staff being an iconic monk weapon; this is for technical reasons, not as a design choice. This component works around those technical reasons and allows staff-wielding monks.
As an unavoidable side-effect, human monks will slightly change the color of their clothing when they equip a staff. If you are using non-human monks from the 'Allow All Class/Race Combinations' component, they will not be affected in this way.
(What's actually going on is that the 'wielding two-handed weapons' animation of the human monk is repurposed by the core game for unarmed combat, so that if you let a monk use a staff, it isn't synchronized with the character's actual movements and seems to float in the air. But the human monk animation is otherwise just a slight recoloring of the human fighter. I program all the two-handed weapons in the game to change a monk's animation to the fighter animation when equipped. Non-human monks are using the priest animation anyway so the issue doesn't arise.)
Adjust Opposition Schools for Speciality Mages
Icewind Dale and the Baldur's Gate games use different sets of opposition schools (schools that specialist wizards can't learn) from one another, and neither is exactly what is used in the AD&D game on which both are based. This component lets you choose which system to use: the Baldur's Gate system (least restrictive), the Icewind Dale system, AD&D, or a custom version very closely based on AD&D that's slightly less harsh for illusionists. In-game documentation will be updated to reflect your choice.
| Opposed Schools | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speciality | Baldur's Gate | Icewind Dale | AD&D | ToF Custom |
| Abjurer | Alteration | Alteration, Illusion | Alteration, Illusion | Alteration, Illusion |
| Conjurer | Divination | Invocation | Divination, Invocation | Divination, Invocation |
| Diviner | Conjuration | Conjuration | Conjuration | Conjuration |
| Enchanter | Invocation | Invocation | Invocation, Necromancy | Invocation, Necromancy |
| Illusionist | Necromancy | Abjuration, Necromancy | Abjuration, Invocation, Necromancy | Invocation, Necromancy |
| Invoker | Enchantment | Conjuration, Divination | Conjuration, Enchantment | Conjuration, Enchantment |
| Necromancer | Illusion | Enchantment, Illusion | Enchantment, Illusion | Enchantment, Illusion |
| Transmuter | Abjuration | Abjuration, Necromancy | Abjuration, Necromancy | Abjuration, Necromancy |
Require Speciality Mages to Memorize at Least One Spell per Level from their Speciality School
In the unmodded game, the main benefit for being a specialist is that you get one extra spell per level, but that spell can be anything you like—so specialists are defined more by the schools they can't use than by their supposed speciality. This component (which follows pen-and-paper Dungeons and Dragons) requires the additional spell to be from the speciality school. If you are selecting your last spell at a given level and have not yet memorized a spell from your speciality school, all spells not from that school will be grayed out and unselectable. (The only exception is if there are no spells from that school at that level.) In-game documentation is updated and your speciality kit description includes a complete list of spells from your chosen school.
This component also makes a few minor changes to existing schools, to standardize differences that apply between IWD and BG/BG2:
- Lower Resistance is Abjuration/Alteration. (It's Alteration in IWD, Abjuration in BG/BG2.)
- Fire Shield: Red, Fire Shield: Blue, Death Fog and Melf's Minute Meteors are all Alteration/Invocation, matching IWD. (In BG/BG2, they're all plain Alteration.)
- Tenser's Transformation and Otiluke's Resilient Sphere are both Alteration/Invocation, again matching IWD. (In BG/BG2, they're both plain Invocation.)
If you use this component together with 'Include Arcane Spells from Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition', 'Add Nine New Arcane Spells ', 'Move Power Words to the School of Enchantment', and 'Move Symbols to the School of Enchantment', you should find that there are sufficiently many more-or-less useful spells at every level for each speciality to have reasonable options, with the exception of Diviners.
Allow Multi-Classed and Dual-Classed Mages to Become Specialists and Wild Mages
This component permits cleric/mage, fighter/mage, mage/thief, fighter/mage/cleric and fighter/mage/thief characters to be wild mages or specialist mages, instead of generalists. In-game documentation is adjusted to recognize this change.
Existing racial restrictions on specialities are enforced: unless you have installed 'Eliminate Class/Race Restrictions and Most Class/Ability Score Restrictions' then elves can only be diviners, enchanters, and wild mages; half-elves can be conjurers, diviners, enchanters, transmuters, and wild mages; and gnomes are automatically illusionists.
The component also permits unkitted characters who dual-class into mages to become specialists or wild mages. Again, existing racial restrictions are enforced; so are ability-score requirements (again, unless you have deactivated them via 'Eliminate Class/Race Restrictions and Most Class/Ability Score Restrictions').
This component automatically installs the contents of the 'Tidy Up Class-Selection Menu' component.
Speciality Mages Automatically Get One Speciality Spell at Each Level (where possible)
This component does not need 'Require Speciality Mages to Memorize at Least One Spell per Level from their Speciality School' to be installed, but it is designed with it in mind: by making sure that specialists always know at least one spell of each level, it prevents the serious weakness (and annoyance) that occurs when a mage has just failed to find any spells of their speciality at the appropriate level.
Dragon Disciples can be Disciples of Any Chromatic Dragon (Red/Blue/Green/Black/White)
In the unmodded game, all Dragon Disciples are specifically disciples of red dragons. This component allows sorcerers to be disciples of any chromatic dragon type: red, blue, green, black, white. The character's elemental resistance and breath weapon damage will be tied to their dragon type: red=fire, blue=electricity, green=poison, black=acid, white=cold.
Rebalanced and Revised Kits
Nearly all the kits in the unmodded game come from the original Baldur's Gate II, and many of them are not really well balanced for the other games—many kits gain powerful abilities too early, since the BG2 kits were only designed to be used from 7th level onward; some kits provide static benefits for long periods in the early game (e.g. the Jester's song, which is fixed from 1st level to 14th level); some abilities are specifically based around Shadows of Amn content (such as the cavalier's resistance to fire and acid, the two elemental damage types used by dragons in Shadows of Amn). In addition, a few kits (in my judgement) are a little too weak or strong.
This component modifies the following kits (main changes are listed):
- Assassin: sneak attack increases at 1/3 levels; on IWD, Poison Weapon is changed to function as the (better-balanced) BGEE/BG2EE version
- Barbarian: Rage power scales with level (immunities are gained gradually until level 14, not all at once)
- Berserker: Rage power scales with level (extra hit points are level-dependent; immunities are gained gradually until level 14, not all at once)
- Blade: Defensive Spin gained at level 3; Offensive Spin gained at level 5.
- Cavalier: resistances changed to all elemental types; begins at 10% and increases by 5% every 5 levels; immunity to poison/charm gained gradually; may evade dragon breath weapons entirely on a successful save at level 12
- Dragon Disciple: gains immunity to paralysis at level 7 and immunity to charm at level 13.
- Inquisitor: True Sight replaced by Detect Invisibility until level 9; immunity to paralysis/charm gained gradually; dispel magic not gained until 3rd level.
- Jester: bard song gradually improves with level
- Shapeshifter: weaker werewolf form until 7th level; stronger form at 19th level; old werewolf forms are replaced by new ones once gained
- Skald: bard song gradually improves with level
- Totemic Druid: spirit animals continue to increase in power with level up to 16th level.
- Undead Hunter: bonuses to hit and immunities gained gradually until 9th level, not all at once
- Wizard Slayer: magic resistance changed to 20% + 1%/level
Cleric kits are unmodified by this component because the 'Revised Speciality Priests of Lathander/Helm/Talos/Tempus/Tyr' handles them. The Bounty Hunter kit is affected by the 'Rebalanced Thief and Bounty Hunter Traps at Low Levels' component. The Avenger kit is affected by the 'Revised Druid Shapeshifting' component. The Kensai, Dwarven Defender, Swashbuckler, Shadowdancer, and Totemic Druid kits, and all Ranger kits, are not affected.
Full documentation for any kits altered by Talents of Faerûn (except cleric speciality priests) may be found here.