In a bout of nostalgia, I started rummaging through some of my old BG2 stuff and found this tiny mod that I had made for personal use a while back. It was largely inspired by several other Wizard Slayer mods which came before it, most notably Gray Acumen's Kit Improvements, Konalan's Tweaks, Ashes of Embers and Kitanya's fixes (by SixOfSpades). I originally made this because I liked certain elements from the aforementioned mods and wanted to use them together, without having to endure the features which I felt took the kit too far away from Bioware's original design. After streamlining and polishing things up a bit, I thought other people might enjoy it too, hence my decision to release the mod to the public.
While the other mods granted the Wizard Slayer some pretty cool abilities, I felt that things like Detect Illusions and Dispel Magic made him too similar to the Inquisitor, despite being very useful and effective. This version is a bit more conservative, as I deliberately chose not to stray too far from Bioware's original concept and decided to simply enhance the Wizard Slayer's strong points while adding several features from the aforementioned mods which I thought worked really well. Lastly, I've thrown a few of my own design elements into the mix, like the re-imaged kit and ability descriptions and the temporary loss of magic resistance when certain abilities are used. Hope you all like the end result. Enjoy!
Component 1: Wizard Slayer kit revision:
WIZARD SLAYER: This warrior specializes in hunting down wielders of arcane magic. To that end, he conditions his body to resist magic and learns attack techniques that can disrupt arcane spellcasting. This rigorous training regimen requires the Wizard Slayer to forgo the use of any magic items besides weapons, armor and healing potions. In addition, he must remain fully devoted to his cause and cannot pursue additional professions.
Advantages:
- Starts with 10% base magic resistance
- Gains an additional +2% bonus to magic resistance for every level of experience
- Gains the Disrupt Magic passive ability at first level
- Gains the Shatter Magic ability at first level and every 8 levels thereafter
Disadvantages:
- Cannot use any magic items except for weapons, armor and healing potions
- Cannot dual-class
Disrupt Magic:
Whenever a Wizard Slayer lands a successful hit on an arcane spellcaster the target is afflicted with a cumulative spell failure penalty. During the next 3 rounds, the victim has a 10% base chance to miscast any arcane spell plus 1% for every experience level the Wizard Slayer attains. This passive ability is always in effect.
Shatter Magic:
A Wizard Slayer can channel his innate magic resistance into his weapons in order to break through the magical defenses of arcane spellcasters. During the round when this ability is activated, each successful hit removes one combat and one specific protection from his target. However, this temporarily nullifies the Wizard Slayer's innate magic resistance making him vulnerable to magic during the next 2 rounds. Until his magic resistance recovers, the Wizard Slayer cannot use any special abilities that rely on it.
Component 2: Wizard Slayer High Level Ability revision
Reflect Magic (replaces Resist Magic)
An experienced Wizard Slayer eventually learns to channel his innate magic resistance in a manner which allows him to reflect magic back to its source. For 3 rounds after this ability is activated, all spells targeted directly against the Wizard Slayer are redirected back to the original caster. However, this temporarily nullifies the Wizard Slayer's innate magic resistance making him vulnerable to any spells that are not directly targeted at him. This vulnerability takes effect when the ability is activated and persists for 3 rounds after it expires. Until his magic resistance recovers, the Wizard Slayer cannot use any special abilities that rely on it.
Arcane Bane (replaces War Cry)
An experienced Wizard Slayer can apply a special technique to his attacks making them extremely effective against wielders of arcane magic. For 2 rounds after this ability is activated he gains a +5 bonus to damage against all arcane spellcasters. Furthermore, the Wizard Slayer's attacks become so forceful that his opponents must save vs. death with a -4 penalty or lose one of their memorized spells on each hit.
Component 3: Revised Wizard Slayer item restrictions
This component slightly loosens the item restrictions that are normally imposed on the Wizard Slayer. It can be installed in two ways.
The "Minimal changes" option will allow the Wizard Slayer to use items which increase magic resistance, such as the Amulet of 5% Magic Resistance, Kaligun's Amulet of Magic Resistance, the Cloak of Balduran and the Potion of Magic Protection. On IWD:EE the following items are also included: Potion of Magical Resistance, Potion of Arcane Absorption, Potion of Aura Enhancement and Potion of Dissipation.
In addition to everything mentioned above, the "Moderate changes" option allows the Wizard Slayer to also use items which provide protection from magic in some form, such as the Cloak of Mirroring, Belt of Inertial Barrier, Amulet of Spell Warding, Ring of Spell Turning, Potion of Magic Shielding and Potion of Magic Blocking. On IWD:EE the following items are also included: Ring of the Protector +2.
Compatibility notes
- The mod is fully compatible with BG:EE, BGII:EE and IWD:EE. It also works on normal Baldur's Gate II games as well as either of the two Baldur's Gate conversion projects: (Easy)Tutu and Baldur's Gate Trilogy (BGT).
- If you intend to use this mod alongside Refinements, a specific install order must be followed. The kit revision component of this mod should be installed before Refinements while its High Level Ability revision component should go after Refinements.
- In case you are using TobEX, make sure that the Magic Resistance Mod Fix option in TobExCore.ini is set to 0. Otherwise, you may experience some problems when using Shatter Magic and Reflect Magic. Specifically, the magic resistance of the Wizard Slayer will not be nullified while these abilities are in effect.
- Since this mod is largely inspired by similar components of Gray Acumen's Kit Improvements, Konalan's Tweak Pack, Kitanya's Wizard Slayer Fixes and Ashes of Ambers it is not intended to be used together with them.
Edited by aVENGER, 13 August 2016 - 11:30 AM.
