[MOD] More Style for Mages (v1.56)
Pecca
Member Posts: 2,218
This mod aims to make mages in the game to appear more stylish. For that end it adds mage-specific staffs with ranged attacks and circlets, plus it also tweaks all robes, so that player can choose their look. The idea of this mod began in the Narbucchad's Demise Wizard's Staff thread, after I discovered the ranged staff animation within the game files.
Since version 1.3, BG:EE and BG2:EE content has been combined into one single mod. It will recognize the game and skip the content of the other. There are a lot of components now, so I will try to describe them here as clearly as possible.
In version 1.5 I added familiar tweaks and a lot of other tweaks and fixes (see the changelog below). Before installing v1.5, you must uninstall and delete previous versions of MSFM from the game directory (most importantly MSFM.tp2 file). I changed a file structure a bit.
Mod components are following:
Group 1: Wizard’s Staffs
WIZARD’S STAFF FOR BG:EE
STAFF OF WIZARDRY FOR BG2:EE
STAFF OF WIZARDRY FOR IWD:EE
CUSTOM INVENTORY ANIMATION FOR SOW
STAFF OF THE MAGI WITH RANGED ATTACK AND TWEAKS
Group 2: Other Items and Tweaks
CIRCLETS
CIRCLET OF REVELATION FOR BG:EE
WIZARD'S HAT
WAND CASE
STONE OF TELEPORTATION
VISUAL TWEAKS FOR ROBES
ROBE COLORSETS FROM COSMETIC CHANGES MOD
Group 3: Familiars
CUSTOMIZABLE FAMILIARS
CUSTOM NAMES FOR FAMILIARS
FAMILIARS FOR NPC MAGES
ANIMATION TWEAKS FOR SOME FAMILIARS
FIND FAMILIAR SPELL IN SHOPS
Navigation:
UPDATE LOGS
INSTALLATION
SCREENSHOTS
▲There are two options here. The first one adds 7 Staffs with unique animation and +1 enchantment, to the High Hedge stock and Xithiss in the Black Pits, after the first upgrade of his stock. Each one has different color, mainly to fit different color styles of NPC mages.
The second one add 6 staffs into those shops, and each one can be customized through the item abilities menu with 14 possible color choices (this option is newer, but I decided to let the old colorsets in too).
▲This component adds 7 Staffs with unique animation into the store of Garlena, the helmite on the top of Watcer's Keep. She can be accessed from both SoA and ToB. These Staffs have both ranged and melee attacks and you can switch between them. Since version 1.3, they are also available in the Black Pits 2, in the stock of the un-named Illithid. These staffs can be customized through the item abilities menu with 14 possible color choices.
In BG2:EE, they are called Staffs of Wizardry and are +3 weapons. But the main difference from BG1 is, that I decided to expand an ambition of this mod a bit and include the problematic area of specialist mages. Each of the staffs can be further empowered, when its wielder reaches 250 000 XP in total, by clicking on a button "activate" in the item description screen. If it's wielded by a specialist mage, staff will be imprinted with his specialization, receiving additional school-based abilities (the list of abilities is below). When a pure mage activates the staff, he will be given a choice to either empower the staff universally, or to choose any specialization (including wild magic), which will turn him into the respective specialist and imbue the weapon with respective specialization. This is mainly to allow dual and multi-class mages to specialize in-game. Sorcerers can only choose to empower the staff universally.
Warning:
Note that if you are dual-classing from a kit, you will loose that kit with all its powers and become a specialist, with original pure class. Also, when you become a specialist this way, all spells from the forbidden school will be erased from your spell book, and all your memorized spells will be drained in the process. So you better do this before resting. This doesn't apply to wild mage. Also, since v1.5, an additional spell per level is gained to a specialist after the next level-up (this is a bug fix).
Activated staffs have following abilities:
Staff of Abjuration
- 25% chance of casting Spell Thrust, on successful hit
- can cast Minor Spell Turning once per day
Staff of Conjuration
- 25% chance of casting Summon Insect, on successful hit (like the priest spell)
- can cast Monster Summoning III once per day
Staff of Divination
- 25% chance of casting Know Enemy, on successful hit
Know Enemy: Lowers AC, THACO and saving throws at -3 each for 10 rounds
- can cast Oracle once per day
Staff of Enchantment
- 25% chance of casting Rigid Thinking, on successful hit
- can cast Hold Monster once per day
Staff of Illusions
- 25% chance of casting Sensory Collapse, on successful hit
Sensory Collapse: Target is effected by Blindness and Deafness for 10 rounds (Save vs. Spell negates the effect)
- can cast Shadow Door once per day
Staff of Invocation
- 25% chance of casting Lightning Bolt, on successful hit (only effects the target)
- can cast Cloudkill once per day
Staff of Necromancy
- 25% chance of casting Vampiric Touch, on successful hit
- can cast Animate Dead once per day
Staff of Alteration
- 25% chance of casting Slow, on successful hit
- can cast Phase Shift once per day (similar to Dimension Door, but is cast instantly)
Staff of Wild Magic
- 24% chance of casting one of the "on hit" spells of the other staffs, on successful hit
- can cast Wildstrike once per day
Wildstrike: All spellcasting of the target is effected by wild surges in next 5 rounds
Staff of Dragon Power
- 25% chance of casting Wing Buffet, on successful hit (throws target back, uncouscious for one round, 2d8+4 crushing damage)
- can cast Dragon Fear once per day
Dragon Fear: All enemies within 40 ft. Radius must Save vs. Spell with -4 penalty or flee in terror. Some creatures are immune to the effects of fear, including all undead.
Staff of Wizardry (Empowered)
- Wielder can cast any 5th-level spell, once per day
- 25% chance of casting Spell Thrust, on successful hit
- can cast Minor Spell Turning once per day
Staff of Conjuration
- 25% chance of casting Summon Insect, on successful hit (like the priest spell)
- can cast Monster Summoning III once per day
Staff of Divination
- 25% chance of casting Know Enemy, on successful hit
Know Enemy: Lowers AC, THACO and saving throws at -3 each for 10 rounds
- can cast Oracle once per day
Staff of Enchantment
- 25% chance of casting Rigid Thinking, on successful hit
- can cast Hold Monster once per day
Staff of Illusions
- 25% chance of casting Sensory Collapse, on successful hit
Sensory Collapse: Target is effected by Blindness and Deafness for 10 rounds (Save vs. Spell negates the effect)
- can cast Shadow Door once per day
Staff of Invocation
- 25% chance of casting Lightning Bolt, on successful hit (only effects the target)
- can cast Cloudkill once per day
Staff of Necromancy
- 25% chance of casting Vampiric Touch, on successful hit
- can cast Animate Dead once per day
Staff of Alteration
- 25% chance of casting Slow, on successful hit
- can cast Phase Shift once per day (similar to Dimension Door, but is cast instantly)
Staff of Wild Magic
- 24% chance of casting one of the "on hit" spells of the other staffs, on successful hit
- can cast Wildstrike once per day
Wildstrike: All spellcasting of the target is effected by wild surges in next 5 rounds
Staff of Dragon Power
- 25% chance of casting Wing Buffet, on successful hit (throws target back, uncouscious for one round, 2d8+4 crushing damage)
- can cast Dragon Fear once per day
Dragon Fear: All enemies within 40 ft. Radius must Save vs. Spell with -4 penalty or flee in terror. Some creatures are immune to the effects of fear, including all undead.
Staff of Wizardry (Empowered)
- Wielder can cast any 5th-level spell, once per day
Since version 1.3, Staffs of Wizardry can be upgraded by Cespenar in ToB. There are seven gems called "Shard of Netheril" scattered in ToB maps, which can be combined with Staffs of Wizardry. If you want to know, where exactly, see spoiler below:
Fist floor of Watcher's Keep - container with candle in the back room
Fourth floor of Watcher's Keep - tomb of the demilich
Saradush - underground with vampires - secret room opened by tortured spirit
Yaga-Shura's Lair - guarded container with skull wardstone
Dead body of Draconis
Room of the Lich in the Sendai's Enclave
Stock of Amkethran Tavern
Fourth floor of Watcher's Keep - tomb of the demilich
Saradush - underground with vampires - secret room opened by tortured spirit
Yaga-Shura's Lair - guarded container with skull wardstone
Dead body of Draconis
Room of the Lich in the Sendai's Enclave
Stock of Amkethran Tavern
Upgraded staffs have +5 enchantment and have increased on-hit chance to cast spell to 35%. They also gain one additional 8th-level spell (Note that this spell doesn't have tooltip, since maximum of tooltips for an item has been exceeded, so the tooltip displays only the name of the staff. However, when a spell is cast, it shows proper name in the dialog window. I will try to resolve this in the future.)
Additional spells are:
-Staff of Abjuration +5: Pierce Shield
-Staff of Conjuration +5: Summon Fire Giant
Summon Fire Giant: Summons one Fire Giant, which is under complete control of the party for 15 rounds or until it’s slained.
-Staff of Divination +5: Prediction
Prediction: Caster gets bonus to +6 AC, -6 to THACO, +3 to saves and becomes immune to backstab and normal missiles, for 5 rounds.
-Staff of Enchantment +5: Thrall
Thrall: If failed save vs. spell at -2 penalty, target is permanently under complete control of the caster and acts as a party member. This spell also ignores mind shielding protections.
-Staff of Illusions +5: Simulacrum
-Staff of Invocation +5: Incendiary Cloud
-Staff of Necromancy +5: Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting
-Staff of Alternation +5: Mass Polymorph Other
Mass Polymorph Other: Same as Polymoprh Other spell, but covers 30 ft. area and all enemies must save vs. spell at -2 penalty.
-Staff of Wild Magic +5: Wild Sphere
Wild Sphere: All creatures within 30 ft. area are affected with wild surges for 5 rounds
-Staff of Dragon Power +5: Lesser Dragon Form
Lesser Dragon Form: For 2 turns, caster is transformed into a small dragon and receives substantial melee bonuses. This spell uses Red Abishai animation from PST provided for EEs by viader and his Extended Animations Resource Pack.
-Staff of Wizardry +5: Wielder may cast any 8th-level spell once per day
-Staff of Conjuration +5: Summon Fire Giant
Summon Fire Giant: Summons one Fire Giant, which is under complete control of the party for 15 rounds or until it’s slained.
-Staff of Divination +5: Prediction
Prediction: Caster gets bonus to +6 AC, -6 to THACO, +3 to saves and becomes immune to backstab and normal missiles, for 5 rounds.
-Staff of Enchantment +5: Thrall
Thrall: If failed save vs. spell at -2 penalty, target is permanently under complete control of the caster and acts as a party member. This spell also ignores mind shielding protections.
-Staff of Illusions +5: Simulacrum
-Staff of Invocation +5: Incendiary Cloud
-Staff of Necromancy +5: Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting
-Staff of Alternation +5: Mass Polymorph Other
Mass Polymorph Other: Same as Polymoprh Other spell, but covers 30 ft. area and all enemies must save vs. spell at -2 penalty.
-Staff of Wild Magic +5: Wild Sphere
Wild Sphere: All creatures within 30 ft. area are affected with wild surges for 5 rounds
-Staff of Dragon Power +5: Lesser Dragon Form
Lesser Dragon Form: For 2 turns, caster is transformed into a small dragon and receives substantial melee bonuses. This spell uses Red Abishai animation from PST provided for EEs by viader and his Extended Animations Resource Pack.
-Staff of Wizardry +5: Wielder may cast any 8th-level spell once per day
▲Staffs of Wizardry for IWD:EE are very similar as for BG2:EE. The differences are, that the staffs (which are available in Orrick's shop) are only of +1 enchantment when bought and they will get to +3 only after the "activation" when the wielder is over 250 000 XP. Then, the staff can be upgraded to +5 the same way, when he reaches 1 000 000 XP. All spells and abilities remain same.
▲This component has been rendered somewhat obsolete, because unlike BG:EE, there are now original inventory animations for these staffs, as the game uses the animation for the Staff of the Magi and Staff of Ram. Still, you can choose between the original, and the custom, that I made for BG:EE (See screenshot). If you install this component, custom will override the original, if you don't install, you will have the original.
▲Firstly, this component adds ranged attack to the Staff of the Magi. You can choose melee or ranged the same way as it works for Staffs of Wizardry. The projectile has yellow color.
Secondly, I decided to add an optional tweaks to it, that change the equipped invisibility to something else, so that doesn’t tempt to exploit re-equipping all the time. Ranged attack is added to each choice.
Choices are following:
-keep original
-remove invisibility
-replace invisibility with 50% magic resistance
-replace invisibility with immunity to time stop
-replace invisibility with increased casting speed by -3
-replace invisibility with restoring one spell up to level 5 each hour (higher spell level is restored first)
▲In BG1, circlets already exist in the game files, with proper names and descriptions, so I merely put them in Thalantyr's stock (and to Xithiss in BP as well). They have (tiny) paperdoll animations, but they were missing inventory animations, which again I drew for them.
In BG2, these circlets are not within the game files anymore, so I took them unchanged from BG1 and put them into the stock of Garlena, the helmite, on the top of Watcher's Keep. Only Circlet of the Archmagi and Eilistraee's Boon +1 were added. Unlike BG:EE, circlets have original inventory animations.
In IWD, Circlet of the Archmagi and Eilistraee's Boon +1 are added to Orrick's shop.
▲This item allows mages to become specialists the same way as Staffs of Wizardry in BG2 work. But because Wizard's Staffs in BG1 don't offer such option, I made this one to make it possible in BG1. The circlet is available in Thalantyr's stock and can be used multiple times. But it only works for non-specialist mages (including dual and multis), so once mage becomes a specialist, he cannot use it to change his specialization. The effect is permanent. Note that the additional spell is gained after the next level-up.
▲This component adds a Wizard's hat. An item with some magical properties and completely new custom animation made by @Smiley for human male mages and sorcerers (the limit is there because the animation only exists for them).
▲This component adds a Wand Case with the storage capacity of 50 pieces to High Hedge, Garlena’s and Orrick’s shops.
▲[BETA] This component adds unique artifacts into SOA and TOB campaigns, which allow the whole party to be instantly teleported to previously visited surface areas. The effect does not work at plot critical places, such as Spellhold, Underdark etc. The component is currently in a beta state, because I didn't test it through the whole game. Use it with caution, it is theoretically possible to skip plot critical triggers.
In the below spoiler is the location of the artifact in both campaigns:
Inside chest in Umar Hills cave and inside chest in Amkethran smuggler cave
▲Robe tweaks section doesn't add new items, but only tweaks existing robes. It gives them the ability to switch between all three possible visual types (no hood and no cape, no hood with cape, hooded with cape) via item abilities. Every robe then looks as original by default, but has two item abilities, which can change their looks to the other 2 visual types. This allows to set the favourite look for your wizard (and overcome some graphical glitches - elven female horribly colored leg comes to mind...).
Robe tweaks come in two versions. One version keeps all original set colors of robes and the other removes them, which makes them use character's colors instead.
Note, that as a side effect, I had to make all robes automatically identified.
This component patches the mage robes, so it is compatible with mods that alter them. You must install this mod after such mods, however.
▲This component allows you to enjoy the custom colorsets for Robes of Archimagi made by @Dee in his Mr. Pennyway's Cosmetic Changes mod.
▲When a protagonist casts Find Familiar, a dialog window will trigger, where he will be able to choose its race, class and a name.
The race options are:
Drake
Imp (for evil) or Mephit (good and neutral)
Cat
Rabbit
Groundhog
Small spider
Lim-Lim
Floating Skull
For now, all races have the same statistics, so this is mostly just about choosing the appearance.
There are two classes to choose from – mage and a thief. A mage will get to choose up to five spells during the course of the game, each when its summoner reaches a certain amount experience. It starts with a level 1 spell, then he will gain a 3, 5, 7 and 9 level spells. A thief can similarly choose a +50% bonus to one of four basic thieving abilities. Numbers can change in the future for balance reasons. The tresholds for upgrades are:
0 XP
89 000 XP (100 000 XP for IWD:EE)
500 000 XP
2 500 000 XP
6 000 000 XP (5 000 000 XP for IWD:EE)
Upon each upgrade, the familiar also improves its hit points, AC, THACO and saving throws. Its detailed statistics are shown in the item description, when it‘s in your backpack.
There are three name slots you can choose from. It’s “Isane”, “Kailey” and default “Familiar”. In the next component you can change these names with your own.
▲As written above, there are three names you can choose for your familiar. It’s “Isane”, “Kailey” and default “Familiar”. This component allows you to type your own names during the installation process. You can choose to type one, two or three names and your names will override the preset ones, so in the dialog window, you will be able to choose from your own names. There is a warning though, if you change any other mod component that you installed before, that updates game texts, the installation process will prompt you to write the names again.
▲NPC mages can finally summon their own familiars, when they cast a Find Familiar spell. Only vanilla arcane spellcasters can summon familiars (plus Khalid, Safana and Yoshimo – if they get spellcasting ability). NPCs cannot customize their familiars even if the above component is installed, they have preset ones. They have different races, unique names and most of them are mages, except of Yoshimo’s, which is a thief. Also, when a summoner talks to his familiar, a dialog, unique for each NPC, will trigger, at which end, the NPC will take it to his backpack. There are no more banters yet, but they may come in the future. If anyone wants to cooperate on this, they are welcomed to. Familiars get upgrades the same way as the ones from “Customizable familiars“ component.
When these familiars die, NPCs don’t loose CON point, but neither do they get a hit point bonus, when they summon it. Also, any number of familiars can be summoned at the same time, however, when you control more than seven creatures, you get messed up formation target points for the rest of them, when you move.
▲UPDATE: The Lim-Lim tweak below is fixed, the animation works differently now.
There are two animation tweaks I had to add, both of which I hope to resolve in the future. The first is a walking sound for Lim-Lim, which is currently hardcoded with heavy footsteps of large creatures (such as dragons). The tweak will replace these sounds with light footsteps, but it will effect all large creature’s walking sounds in the game, so only install it, if you want to play with a Lim-Lim familiar (also Haer’Dalis and Quayle have a Lim-Lim familiars).
The second tweak resizes the Demilich animation, because the floating skull familiar uses it. So, it will make Kangaxx and the Demilich from Watcher’s Keep smaller. In BG:EE no creature uses this animation, I’m not sure about IWD:EE.
▲This adds more scrolls to the High Hedge, Sorcerous Sundries, Garlena and the spell merchant in the Adventurer’s Market in BG:EE and BG2:EE and to the Black Pits, so that more NPCs can cast it.
▲v1.0 of BG:EE, v1.0 of BG2:EE
-Staffs, circlets and visual tweaks for robes added
v1.1
-BG:EE and BG2:EE mods combined into single mod
v1.2
-Dialog bug of SoW for multi-classes fixed
-Various typos fixed
-Melee characteristic of SoW fixed
-Speed factor of SoW fixed
-Added own projectiles for WS and SoW
-Robes remain in armor slots after changing
-Blue SoW colorset slightly tweaked
v1.3
-SoW can be upgraded by Cespenar
-On-hit chance of SoW increased from 15% to 25%
-Circlet of Revelation added to BG:EE
-Added ranged attack to the Staff of the Magi
-SoW available in the Black Pits 2
v1.35
-Enchantment level of staffs fixed
-Thrall spell fixed
v1.36
-Polish translation added (credits to @Cahir )
v1.4
-Compatible with IWD:EE
v1.41
-Fixed invalid strings for some of SoW's on-hit effects in IWD:EE
v1.42
-Russian translation added (credits to @Saigon1983 )
v1.43
-Using SoW or CoR to transform into wild mage grants the wielder wild magic spells (Dweomer and shaos shields)
v1.5
New content:
-Customizable Familiars component added
-Familiars for NPC mages component added
-Wand Case component added
-Tweaks for the Staff of the Magi component added
Fixes and tweaks:
-New color options for WS and SoW (14 total)
-Staff of Conjuration: Summon Fire Giant instead of Conjure Swamp
-Staff of Divination: Know Enemy tweaked (-3 save, 10 rounds duration)
-Staff of Enchantment: Rigid Thinking instead of Hold Person , Hold Monster instead of Domination, thralled creature can now travel with the party
-Staff of Illusions: Blackout renamed to Sensory Collapse and tweaked (-1 save, 10 rounds duration)
-Staff of Alteration: Teleport renamed to Phase Shift, changed visual effect
-New icons for added spells
-Red and Purple missiles animation slightly tweaked
-Added missing DD restriction to the Staff of Dragon Power
-SoW spells are cast at caster level instead of level 10
-Bug fix: when using SoW to add specialist kit, the extra spell slot is given after the next level up (in the previous version, the mage ended up with one more spell slot, than he should have had)
-Robe Tweaks now use WeiDU Patch function, they are compatible with mods that alter them
Technical:
-Prefixes of mod files changed to RG
-WeiDU updated to 239
-Tp2 structure and folder structure significantly altered
v1.51
-Lim-Lim animation fix
-Dragon form animation fix
-Dual-classed character not receiving a specialist bonus spell fix
-Alternation string fixed to Alteration
v1.53
-Stone of Teleportation component
-Some other grammar string corrections
v1.54
-Added Wizard's hat component
-Some more string corrections
-Dual-classed character receiving a specialist bonus spell now uses OriginalClass trigger
-Complete polish translation added
v1.55
-Added polish readme
-Some typos in the polish tra file fixed
v1.56
-Russian translation added (credits to @Saigon1983 )
▲
Download the latest release
Extract the "msfm v1.5.zip" file in the game's core folder (the one with a file "chitin.key" in it) and run "setup-msfm.exe". All parts can be installed individually. Before installing the version 1.5, I strongly recommend to uninstall the previous version and remove it completely from the game directory.You can also use non-WeiDU install (but only for BG:EE!). If you extract "BG1 override install.rar", there will be three folders with staffs, circlets animations and robe tweaks. Just put the content of a folder you want to use in the override folder. Note that the non-WeiDU install will miss correct descriptions of Wizard's Staffs.
Important: If you purchased your BG:EE game from Steam or GoG and you have a SoD expansion installed as well, you need to first install DLC Merger before installing any mod.
I hope you enjoy it.
▲Wizard's Staffs and circlets in BG:EE:
Staffs of Wizardry in BG2:EE:
Circlets in BG2:EE:
Robe Tweaks:
Last but not least, this mod would not be what it is without help of @KidCarnival and his ideas. Special thanks also goes to @Anduin and his prowess in english grammar, which allows you to enjoy this mod without grammatical errors. Of course I must not forget to thank @Dee for allowing me to incorporate his awesome colorsets to my mod and @viader, whose work on extended animations I used for this mod.
Post edited by Pecca on
97
Comments
Thank you for this mod! I wanted to do something like this. Glad you got this going.
So, as per request, the rar file contains elven chain mail for the Black Pits, with Gorch the Armorer, after the first upgrade of his stock.
Do the new circlets use existing strings for their descriptions?
Where do I extract these files ?!
P.S. I am a noob in modding but veteran in playing !!!
Nice work !!
Thanks for fast reply and of course for this awesome mod !