164 replies to this topic

[NiGHTMARE]

Yep, as has already been mentioned Lands of Intrigue will let Clerics chose new gods

However, I'm considering letting the player chose what god to worship via an in-game dialogue (ala TOIW and a couple of other mods), that way kits can be used for other things. If I/we do it this way, we'd also let Paladins chose their god, and Druids chose their circle (forest, plain, desert, arctic, etc).

As for Strongholds... Ilmater, Oghma and Lliira/Waukeen would obviously be the easiest to do since they already have temples in SoA. LoI will also be adding an abbey of Milil, a shrine of Auril and (possibly) a temple of Mystra, so those are possibilities too.

BTW, a Cleric of Bane would be pretty useless, considering their god is dead and thus wouldn't be able to grant them any spells Iyachtu Xvim would be a better choice... and we may well do that in LoI, especially as followers of that god are already involved in numerous planned quests and encounters.

Oh yeah, as a couple of people have mentioned multi-/dual-classed characters here, LoI will include a bunch of really cool (but balanced!) new items especially for such characters. For example, there's some really nice leather armour intended for a mage/thief... B)

[T.G.Maestro]

Shapeshifters are supposed to have studied long and hard to control their Lycanthropy, so does this really make sense?

It does. Shapeshifters learn to control their bodies to achieve absolute control over the "beast", but it won't help the fact that they react poorly to some items and such. A lycanthrope will never bear the touch of silver items, be it a Shapeshifter or a simple Werewolf.

However, I'm considering letting the player chose what god to worship via an in-game dialogue (ala TOIW and a couple of other mods), that way kits can be used for other things. If I/we do it this way, we'd also let Paladins chose their god, and Druids chose their circle (forest, plain, desert, arctic, etc).

Interesting point, it will require heavy synching efforts from other mods however. Compatibility is the question here.

As for Strongholds... Ilmater, Oghma and Lliira/Waukeen would obviously be the easiest to do since they already have temples in SoA. LoI will also be adding an abbey of Milil, a shrine of Auril and (possibly) a temple of Mystra, so those are possibilities too.

A Cleric of Bhaal would be my first pick. It has many intriguing aspects, and the fact that Bhaals essence seems to be more active after his death than during his life offers a most interesting point of view. And there is a temple dedicated to Bhaal in ToB (the cleric inside the temple has its spellcasting powers still).

BTW, a Cleric of Bane would be pretty useless, considering their god is dead and thus wouldn't be able to grant them any spells

May be true, but take a look at IWD2. It happens after the BG series, yet it features Dreadlords of Bane as playable characters. How is that?

Iyachtu Xvim would be a better choice

As I've stated before, I would be glad to help with this one, when the time comes.

[Andyr]

I don't think a Cleric of Bhaal is a good idea. Even if Bhaal's essence granted the PC casting abilities, would Gorion have let the PC worship Bhaal? This idea, if done at all, would be IMO best left as a kitless Cleric.

As for Bane/Xvim- IWDII is set I think before BG2, when both Bane and Xvim were still alive.

[T.G.Maestro]

I don't think a Cleric of Bhaal is a good idea. Even if Bhaal's essence granted the PC casting abilities, would Gorion have let the PC worship Bhaal? This idea, if done at all, would be IMO best left as a kitless Cleric

Would he raise him as a bloodthirsty berserker?
Would he raised him as a Mage of an absolutely opposing school (Necrmoancer for example)?
Would he rasied him as a self-centered monk that collects the throphies of his dead opponents?
The answers are: no, no and no. This is a point in the game that somewhat "lacks the logic". According to Gorion's nature and BG1's starting environment, this game tends towards 'good' characters. The 'evil' side was always a bit less-than-logical in the first part of the game.
As a summary, I still think that there COULD be a cleric of Bhaal. An interesting option would be that he wouldn't gain his spellcasting powers dircectly from his god (as he think), instead it would be a Bhaal-power of sorts.

As for Bane/Xvim- IWDII is set I think before BG2, when both Bane and Xvim were still alive

Could someone make this clear for me? I know that IWD takes place before the BG series. Yet in IWD2 there are a few hints that it happens after ToB.
(Weimers "Ribald component" has many items from the saga for example).

[T.G.Maestro]

I remember an item (some weapon?) that was referring to something from BG1 or 2. It wasn't from Ribalds store, thats for sure.

[NiGHTMARE]

I believe IWD2 is set 30 years after IWD1. So as IWD1 is set roughly 90 years before BG1, that'd logically suggest IWD2 is 60 years earlier.

I know for a fact that IWD2 takes place a good few years before Drizzt first set foot in Icewind Dale.

As for any items linking the two series, perhaps it was in the Dale before turning up somewhere along the Sword Coast? Or more likely it was an in-joke, or someone made a mistake.

[Grey Acumen]

I don't think a Cleric of Bhaal is a good idea. Even if Bhaal's essence granted the PC casting abilities, would Gorion have let the PC worship Bhaal? This idea, if done at all, would be IMO best left as a kitless Cleric

Would he raise him as a bloodthirsty berserker?
Would he raised him as a Mage of an absolutely opposing school (Necrmoancer for example)?
Would he rasied him as a self-centered monk that collects the throphies of his dead opponents?
The answers are: no, no and no. This is a point in the game that somewhat "lacks the logic". According to Gorion's nature and BG1's starting environment, this game tends towards 'good' characters. The 'evil' side was always a bit less-than-logical in the first part of the game.

Eh, you may be overrating just how much influence Gorion had on the PC, its quite possible that for evil NPCs and conflicting kits found their own way around candlekeep. There are a lot of books in candlekeep, and you probably had access to them all(provided of course that you were a little sneaky about the ones you weren't supposed to have) and the bloodthirsty monk who collects heads thing could be considered a repressed trait, if you haven't had the opportunity to be evil, that doesn't mean you wouldn't given the chance.

I think you're severely underrating the ability hat a person has in deciding their own lives. I myself have turned out incredibly different from my parents in many ways.

I do think that the cleric of bhaal would be stretching it. Though Gorion may not have complete control over you, he would probably be absolute about keeping you away from that information. Not saying its completely impossible, just stretching it a bit too much for my own tastes.

[Daggerless]

I do think that the cleric of bhaal would be stretching it. Though Gorion may not have complete control over you, he would probably be absolute about keeping you away from that information. Not saying its completely impossible, just stretching it a bit too much for my own tastes.

I agree. But maybe one would become a cleric of Bhaal after Candlekeep? This is BG2, so this *is* after Candlekeep. I say its a good idea (for BG2).

[Schatten]

i want that enemy mages use simulacrum and pi. thats a must.
i want more traps.
i want that normal monsters are a bit of a thread compared to the endbosses who gets upgraded but not the other enemies along the way to them.
i want thieves who actually steal from you. even if this are scripted random events in the city. for example you walk in the docks and a person there (who was there in the orig game too, like ruffians in docks or beggars in slums) walks to you and steals gold or something and runs away yadda yadda. you are more creative than i.
well, the last one doesnt fit in the mod i fear.

another one that i have suggested in battles mod also. improve the summoned demons. and give them the summon demon abilities they have in pnp.

[Daggerless]

I'd be most interested to see a mod that improved the AI of BG2's opponents without aiming to turn them into hardcore tactical nightmares (so making them "smarter", not "stronger"). This seems like something of a refinement to me.

Do you mean legit enemies, no cheating? If then, I agree.

i want thieves who actually steal from you. even if this are scripted random events in the city. for example you walk in the docks and a person there (who was there in the orig game too, like ruffians in docks or beggars in slums) walks to you and steals gold or something and runs away yadda yadda.

How about giving a saving throw of sorts against this? Maybe your dexterity score would come in play. And if you save it would generate dialogue about you catching the thiefs arm and then deciding on what you want to do about it.

This might be for the Oversight mod, but how about being caugh cheating. Why did they get rid of that?

[Grim Squeaker]

I'd be most interested to see a mod that improved the AI of BG2's opponents without aiming to turn them into hardcore tactical nightmares (so making them "smarter", not "stronger"). This seems like something of a refinement to me.

Agreed. Lich's need to be smart! It's crazy when you are hit with a Time Stop and then surprise, surprise you get Gate, Meteor Swarm and a few Power Words/Symbols...

[Tom]

I don't think a Cleric of Bhaal is a good idea. Even if Bhaal's essence granted the PC casting abilities, would Gorion have let the PC worship Bhaal? This idea, if done at all, would be IMO best left as a kitless Cleric.

Well, there's also the point that he couldnt have raised any sort of kit or a monk or barbarian, seeing as he was restricted to BG1

Also, I agree with the point about SMARTER but not HARDER enemies. Everytime someone does this it is just a 'remake-of-x-monster-to-make-them-very-difficult'
Perhaps some general editing of all the AI scripts to make them more intelligent and immune to several of the cheese tactics would be nice. Im sure that even a hobgoblin would figure that if inside this cloud of gas hurts, then outside of the cloud would be better (referring of course to cloudkill)

[Caedwyr]

I think the example that should be aimed at for more intelligent enemies is aVENGER's chosen of cyric encounter in his rogue rebalancing mod. They play fair and don't cheat very much, but still manage to be a difficult encounter.

[Schatten]

@Daggerless: Yeah, something like that. you walk the docks, land of shadow thiefes, so at least some of them dont know who you are and try to steal from you. i mean, you run around in shiny armor with tons of gold.

@Grim Squeaker: iirc, the improved mage script gives quite a bit of randomness. i wouldnt change that too much. i would like to see that those liches who dont guard something or arent random liches should get new spells. not entirely new just a variant of an existing spell. for example: power word kill kills with less than 70 or 80. mordenkaines sword summons a tougher variant. remember a necro wants to become a lich because he can study magic for eternity.
to make it short: the script i wouldnt touch. i would give mages a wider repertoir of spells, this results in more randomness. give liches some unique spells.

@Tom: your hobgoblin idea is great but a script genius has said that it is too much work or nigh impossible to do. it is also too much work to improve every single script. most melee chars just dont need anything other than whack anything. perhaps attack those with no armor and those who arent immune to my attack ect.

@Caedwyr: yep, but you know how much work avenger has put in? and you want this for more than one encounter? its too much. then i would rather fight an enemy who cheats/cheese a bit and has some decent ai.

[Jinnai]

Is it possible to redo surge tables? ifso, is is possible for wm to switch ta other tables later on cuz i was thinking that would be interesting.

[Jinnai]

@Tom: your hobgoblin idea is great but a script genius has said that it is too much work or nigh impossible to do. it is also too much work to improve every single script. most melee chars just dont need anything other than whack anything. perhaps attack those with no armor and those who arent immune to my attack ect.

maybe attack the weakest xhar (generally in raids that;s how things go, you try and go after the weaker indivisuals hoping to do as much damage as possible incase you die/reatreat)

I would say it would really depend on if the creature was capable of intelligent strategy...a golem certainly wouldn't be, a hobgoblin would have some level of tactical knowledge similar to human level, a group of trained warriors would have even more.

[T.G.Maestro]

i want more traps.

This one can be implemented, though it wouldn't offer a great deal of new experience - once you find them, they won't be hard to memorize their locations.

i want that normal monsters are a bit of a thread compared to the endbosses who gets upgraded but not the other enemies along the way to them.

Agreed. This one will be done in future versions, and these components will contain both modified scripts and .cres. There are a few points in the game where I think a .cre needs heavy balancing. I know the "written" rules of this game, but please, I just won't5 accept it that an Ogre (the one in the Illythid lair in the Underdark) has 2x-3x more hit points than Firkraag, an ancient adult Dragon. I intend to do something about this (actually, most of these modified/balanced .cre files are finished). The scripts will follow of course, for a later release.

improve the summoned demons. and give them the summon demon abilities they have in pnp.

See my answer above. Demons will be refined as well (more fitting stats and proper innates, like the missing Aura of Fear - this will be available to Dragons as well of course.)

Agreed. Lich's need to be smart! It's crazy when you are hit with a Time Stop and then surprise, surprise you get Gate, Meteor Swarm and a few Power Words/Symbols...

Just as Schatten pointed this out, the Tactics mod has a perfect soultion for this problem with its "Smarter Mages" component.

The surge tables MAY follow later, but not before v3 or 4.
So much for the latest ideas, thanks for the input! Keep 'em coming guys, your suggestions and thoughts are highly appreciated!