164 replies to this topic

[Longinus]

The fire and ice damage effects in Baldur's Gate 2 looked terrible. Is there any way to replace them with something sharper (though that's probably asking too much)?

Also, the animate dead spell should summon a variety of undead minions instead of merely skeletons, and the skeletons the spell currently summons wield feeble clubs and bucklers. They'd look cleaner and more fearsome wielding longswords and tower shields (their bones should be a pale white as well, as opposed to a slimey green). Ideally, the spell should summon from a creature pool of zombies, skeletons and ghouls before the caster reaches a level high enough to summon skeleton warriors.

[T.G.Maestro]

the animate dead spell should summon a variety of undead minions instead of merely skeletons, and the skeletons the spell currently summons wield feeble clubs and bucklers. They'd look cleaner and more fearsome wielding longswords and tower shields (their bones should be a pale white as well, as opposed to a slimey green). Ideally, the spell should summon from a creature pool of zombies, skeletons and ghouls before the caster reaches a level high enough to summon skeleton warriors.

Huh, you seem to read my mind Longinus. Guess what, I have this altered version of Animate Dead (both clerical and arcane) already finished here with me ! It works just as you requested, and will be included in the modified spells component in v2.

The fire and ice damage effects in Baldur's Gate 2 looked terrible. Is there any way to replace them with something sharper (though that's probably asking too much)?

For the present: too much .
For the future: maybe.

[Longinus]

If I knew it could be done, I'd ask for thieves to remain hooded while not wearing armour, as depicted by their paper dolls.

Baldur's Gate 2 lacks a wide range of powerful daggers. Maybe you could improve the existing ones a little.

Stiletto of Demarchess +2
Most who take up the trade of murder for hire do so for reasons other than personal pleasure, but not so the Lady Demarche.  She took special pleasure in the torture of her targets...which is why she made this dagger.  With but one touch of its polished blade an opponent was rendered immobile, incapable of so much as screaming, yet the victim could watch and feel all that happened to them.  While her opponent was thus held, the Lady would slowly bleed them, sometimes taking several hours before allowing her subject to succumb to the final agony of death.  The Lady finally fell victim to her own evil; disarmed by a rival and struck by her own Stiletto her fate was soon sealed.

STATISTICS

Combat Abilities:
Hold Person: a 20% chance each hit that the victim must save vs. death or be held for two rounds
THAC0: +2 bonus
Damage:  1D4 +2
Damage type:  piercing
Weight: 1
Speed Factor: 0
Proficiency Type: Dagger
Type:  1-handed
Requires: 3 Strength
Not Usable By:
Cleric

I love that dagger, but a 20% chance of holding an opponent is too low considering it's a mere dagger.

[Longinus]

Also, I think you'll agree with me when I say powerful thieves are lacking in BG2 (more so in TOB). Avenger's improved Shadow Thieves component in his Rebalanced Rogues mod was great, but I wanted to see a few more actual thieves used (as opposed to fighter/thieves).

They can be deadly opponents if given the right potions and equipment (such as Ketta in the guarded compound in the Temple Destrict).

You could refine a few encounters without making them ridiculously difficult. I'd like to see more and slightly better equiped Shadow Thieves in the first dungeon (wearing armour and wielding longswords, or firing arrows and bolts or throwing daggers in your direction).

[Andyr]

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.

If you plan on replacing .CRE files you'll have to be careful other mods don't touch them too- I'd suggest perhaps using WeiDU's COPY_EXISTING and WRITE_BYTE capabilities to edit the files, in case someone else has.

[Schatten]

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

what about to give simulacrum and pi an ai? i have done it myself. so it shouldnt be a problem for you. and perhaps one or two unique lich spells.

"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."

okay, true. what about *drumrolls* random trap effects. beginning from stun to stun+damage to comet to summoning an horde of monsters. depending of lvl of course.

another thing. cant remember if mooni has implemented it in battles but tougher cowled wizards and tougher guards. the generic summoned guards are a joke.
and bounty hunters. yeah, one or two as powerful as the poison kensai from wes.

as for the anim dead spell. plzzz dont forget summon creatures. 2 different monsters isnt enough for summ mon 3.

well, dont know. the last wiz stronghold quest. iirc, they hate mages and hunt them but arent wiz slayers or have notable resistance.

a special feature. if you are working on the monster cres, perhaps add to some npc more items you can steal. iirc, there are only 2 (??) items you can steal legaly.

well, my muse is gone now.

[T.G.Maestro]

Baldur's Gate 2 lacks a wide range of powerful daggers. Maybe you could improve the existing ones a little.

This is almost done, I've already refined/rebalanced more than 100 items. You'll see them in v2 or v3.

You could refine a few encounters without making them ridiculously difficult

Good, but definetly not before v3. v2 will feature .cre corrections, no scripting modifications.

cant remember if mooni has implemented it in battles but tougher cowled wizards and tougher guards. the generic summoned guards are a joke.

Again, a must. I've already "upgraded" the guards, the Cowled Wizards will use Moonfruits files, hopefully added to Refinements.

as for the anim dead spell. plzzz dont forget summon creatures. 2 different monsters isnt enough for summ mon 3

Already done .

well, dont know. the last wiz stronghold quest. iirc, they hate mages and hunt them but arent wiz slayers or have notable resistance.

Good idea, I'll take a look at them in the future!

[Schatten]

Baldur's Gate 2 lacks a wide range of powerful daggers. Maybe you could improve the existing ones a little.

This is almost done, I've already refined/rebalanced more than 100 items. You'll see them in v2 or v3.

if there isnt a dagger named diggler in there i will never ever ever never never download that mod. a diggler is a must.

[Andyr]

Dirk Diggler?

[Schatten]

The Diggler is the most powerfull and rarest weapon in d2 . this is the joke from blizz, they have named the diggler after this person, i think.
so i will never promote this mod if there isnt a dagger named The Diggler.

[CamDawg]

The Diggler is actually a dirk from D2, do it's definitely based on Boogie Nights.

[Andyr]

Oh, right.

I thought you were referring to Dirk Diggler from Boogie Nights.

[T.G.Maestro]

There's a lot that *could* be improved in Smarter Mages, but whether it would be desirable to do so isn't my call.

And not even ours. That is up to Wes, if he finds it reasonable and finds the time to change anything.

[Schatten]

but at least you have to ask if you can improve his mod.

[Schatten]

btw, what do you want to improve? during my fights i thought it is a good script. the only thing i would change is give them a wieder spell selections to improve the randomness.

[T.G.Maestro]

during my fights i thought it is a good script. the only thing i would change is give them a wieder spell selections to improve the randomness.

Yes, I agree. It is a fairly good script, though I use it only for mages above level 14. Somehow those stacked Fire/Cold resistances aren't to my liking, it just looks stupid at Nalia for example as she casts the same protections over and over, everytime I step into that damn great hall of the castle..

[T.G.Maestro]

I have a request to the community:

If anyone can make a "Poison Trap" for Bounty Hunters, please notify me, because I failed to implement it. Its main lines:

It should be used just as any other HLA trap. When triggered, it should explode with the Breath Weapon animation of the Green Dragon (the large green explosion), and should deal a permanent AND some delayed poison damage. The delayed damage should be set to xyz/round. There could be some CON loss too if the victim(s) fail to save vs poison at xyz.

Any ideas how to do this one?