164 replies to this topic

[Caedwyr]

Though it doesn't hurt to have excess ideas, once the first version is out. That way, the best suited abilities can be chosen for balance and rp appropriateness. Its always best to have a large collection of rejects that didn't make the cut, than no rejects at all.

[T.G.Maestro]

2 spells kit are the maximum tolerable, I say. And we still must think about something to balance the whole thing.

You are right Littiz, 2 spells for each kit would suffice. About removing spells of opposite schools: we will be able to solve this by altering the base HLA table for mages by adding spells for each school.

[Littiz]

Of course, suggestions are good, I was just contesting the "definitely grow" part

About creating new "base" spells, I think I'm against that too.
Don't forget that mages are maybe the only class that GAINS power, compared to the rest.
Ok, they *were* weaker than sorcerers, but if we keep adding things to them, we'll cross the line.

[T.G.Maestro]

About creating new "base" spells, I think I'm against that too.
Don't forget that mages are maybe the only class that GAINS power, compared to the rest.
Ok, they *were* weaker than sorcerers, but if we keep adding things to them, we'll cross the line.

Actually, I cannot agree here. At least I wasn't clear in my last post. The base HLA table of mages has a few considerable flaws.
- It adds great 10th level spells to mages, but ONLY spells. Very high-level mages will have nothing to choose from, since those HLAs can only be picked once. Some weaker HLAs that can be chosen multiple times would be handy;
- The base table has spells for a few mage kits (specific schools) only. These are all labelled as "Any School", but this is kinda nonsense. And since we are trying to keep up balance by removing the spells of opposite schools from the kit tables, it is more and more required to fill the "holes" in the base table and provide ONE HLA for each corresponding school-type. Some reorganization will be needed of course, but mages won't become overpowered in the end.

[Littiz]

Well, I wanted to reply here, but I think I have already destroyed your argumentations by mail

[T.G.Maestro]

Well, I wanted to reply here, but I think I have already destroyed your argumentations by mail

I'm sure you didn't, as you might have noticed .
BTW, I'd heavily advise to talk about this one a bit later, when our primary duties are done.

[Littiz]

You kidding, you'd introduce a bug and ask the players to avoid it

[T.G.Maestro]

Agh. No, I wouldn't, but again, drop this for now.

[GreyViper]

I have two sugestions!
I know that I might have mentioned this before, but since I play my main char as paladin, it always bothers me that you have get somebody else?s Holy Avenger! Paladins are not grave robbers the only exception I can think is when your sword gets destroyed or is lost.
Why can?t you have your own holy sword and armor?
This should be for basic Paladin core class.
The idea is this you start with masterwork sword(long-, short-, bastard- & two-handed sword) and plain armor(half, plate & full). As you gain level they change for better versions due the spiritual/holy power that is imbuing into them. So lets say they change at 6/10/16/20/24 levels. Basically the normal weapons get swapped with weapons that allredy exists (formula being: If char PC lvl6 Pal change mLsword to uLswordP1 and armor change platearmor to uplatearmorP1). Personally I like the idea that was used in Quest for Glory series when your normal sword became imbued with your power gained blue flaming ability.
Here is a description:

Paladin Sword
The flaming sword is an automatic ability for Paladins. When a Paladin Sword is wielded in battle by Paladin, it is surrounded by a field of magical flame that increases the damage inflicted by the sword. This is the first ability gained by the sword.

Paladin Armor
The Paladins armor is sending forth aura of Awe. Aura of Awe lowers the attacker's morale, causing most opponents to flee or retreat. Only the fiercest of foes can resist this charm.

A spell that can be cast on normal shield or buckler.

Honor Shield
The Honor Shield creates a magical field on normal shield which protects the Paladin from damage by the opponent's weapon. When invoked, it adds more protection to Paladins defense.

Second idea.
It?s weird that nobody never made it so that when you or somebody else chape change that there is high chance of going berserk. The higher level the less chance.
Example: Low level druid attempts to chape change to say panther and succeed but because of low experience his animal half takes over and he goes berserk.
This would make the shape changing risky and adds an element of suprise.

[24601]

I have two sugestions!
I know that I might have mentioned this before, but since I play my main char as paladin, it always bothers me that you have get somebody else?s Holy Avenger! Paladins are not grave robbers the only exception I can think is when your sword gets destroyed or is lost.
Why can?t you have your own holy sword and armor?
This should be for basic Paladin core class.
The idea is this you start with masterwork sword(long-, short-, bastard- & two-handed sword) and plain armor(half, plate & full). As you gain level they change for better versions due the spiritual/holy power that is imbuing into them. So lets say they change at 6/10/16/20/24 levels. Basically the normal weapons get swapped with weapons that allredy exists (formula being: If char PC lvl6 Pal change mLsword to uLswordP1 and armor change platearmor to uplatearmorP1). Personally I like the idea that was used in Quest for Glory series when your normal sword became imbued with your power gained blue flaming ability.
Here is a description:

Paladin Sword
The flaming sword is an automatic ability for Paladins. When a Paladin Sword is wielded in battle by Paladin, it is surrounded by a field of magical flame that increases the damage inflicted by the sword. This is the first ability gained by the sword.

Paladin Armor
The Paladins armor is sending forth aura of Awe. Aura of Awe lowers the attacker's morale, causing most opponents to flee or retreat. Only the fiercest of foes can resist this charm.

A spell that can be cast on normal shield or buckler.

Honor Shield
The Honor Shield creates a magical field on normal shield which protects the Paladin from damage by the opponent's weapon. When invoked, it adds more protection to Paladins defense.

Second idea.
It?s weird that nobody never made it so that when you or somebody else chape change that there is high chance of going berserk. The higher level the less chance.
Example: Low level druid attempts to chape change to say panther and succeed but because of low experience his animal half takes over and he goes berserk.
This would make the shape changing risky and adds an element of suprise.

I am suddenly reminded of Quest for Glory

[Caedwyr]

Regarding the idea to eventually do something about the familiars. It seems that there have been several ideas tossed around before. This thread has several good ideas to start at. I've posted it here to avoid the trouble in the future of having to search for what has been discussed.


Also from another thread:

As you adventure through many of the forested areas there are many animals to encounter. There are numeroues kinds of canines, wild and domestic, rats, bats, pheasants, birds, even eagles and vultures, etc. I know the familiars that were in BG2 were probably the best ones but I kinda wish it were randomly determined. Like in the pnp game. Say they had the 9 already inplemented then randomly added say 9 more.
And the find familiar spell was actually in tune with what setting you were in. Lets say in the underdark you cast it and you could get a bat or rat, or if you were in some forest a pheasant or groudhog. I know some would hate the possibility of a LG mage getting a quasit, but I think that  would just add to the role-playing

In the game at least when I went through the creatures using NI, and to my surprise there are three or so more animals in the FAMXXX.cre selection. There are two dogs and maybe something else can't really recall.

« Reply #1 on: Tuesday Jun 24, 2003, 15:03:04 »   

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That sounds cool... maybe you could script it so there is a 50% chance of getting something different in a special place according to allignment.

So maybe if cast in a forest a LG character has a 50% change of getting a pheasant as they are noble birds. And an evil character has an extra chance of getting something in the underdark, were as the LG character would get the default creature.

That way helps with allignment accurate farmiliars..

[Scar]

This thread has several good ideas to start at.

There's some pretty nifty ideas in there. I don't know how accurate the progress reports are, but someone should try to contact this guy, Corvidian, and see if there's anything left of it. It'd be a shame to let this mod never get finished...

Along similar lines, have you thought about animal companions for druids and rangers?
(Though that'd almost count as Unfinished Business, given that it was announced in the official FAQ.)
Some big animal, like a wolf or lion would be cool, although you'd have difficulties fitting it in your pack . Something smaller could also be fun, maybe a bird (a spy, wizard eye-like) or some rodent (pickpocket).

Armin

[Longinus]

Btw, Maestro, couldn't you use the fire animation from the Melf's Minute Meteor spell for weapons that do fire damage? The small transparent explosion looks far cooler than a blocky flame running down a character's body.

[Galactygon]

Btw, Maestro, couldn't you use the fire animation from the Melf's Minute Meteor spell for weapons that do fire damage? The small transparent explosion looks far cooler than a blocky flame running down a character's body.

IWD1/2 use a better animation and the character glows red, just like when a character glows blue when suffering cold damage.

[Longinus]

Btw, Maestro, couldn't you use the fire animation from the Melf's Minute Meteor spell for weapons that do fire damage? The small transparent explosion looks far cooler than a blocky flame running down a character's body.

IWD1/2 use a better animation and the character glows red, just like when a character glows blue when suffering cold damage.

Can the Icewind Dale effects be converted to replace their BG2 counterparts?

[T.G.Maestro]

Can the Icewind Dale effects be converted to replace their BG2 counterparts?

Yes. It takes some work though . Galactygon is right, the IWD damage effects look way cooler.

[Longinus]

I wonder why BioWare didn't use them as they did with some other Icewind Dale spell effects (like the ghost armour spell animation).

[Caedwyr]

Editted for clarity