Baldur's Gate 2 Manual (lots of random questions)
OurQuestIsVain
Member Posts: 201
I was reading through my old BG2 manual and I had a few random questions and things I noticed.
For higher wisdom scores there was something called Magic Defense Adjustment. What was that supposed to be? It ranged from 0 to +4. I know it was something they never did but what was the idea for it? Was it a bonus to saving throws? Or just an overall magic resistance? Imagine a Halfling with maxed out shorty saves and a +4 to saving throws on top of that. Maybe that's why they didn't do it, because it would be way too OP.
Why didn't they ever implement the % spell failure? It is only listed under wisdom so I assume it was only going to apply to divine spell casting. It seems like it could have been a fun mechanic against enemies that drain wisdom or spells that drain wisdom.
What is the deal with Ranger stealth scores? In the manual there are separate Hide in Shadows and Move Silently scores while in the game it is just listed under "Stealth". Is stealth a combination of both HiS and MS or is it the average between them or what?
Under the thief tables there is a table for base scores on your starting thief abilities and under that are listed open locks and find traps and all that stuff but there is also Detect Noise, Climb Walls, and Read languages. Were these things that were originally going to be implemented and they just never got around to? Or were these just things taken from the actual D&D players handbook on accident? I think it would have been cool to implement different languages and if your INT wasn't high enough or the language was too esoteric you just couldn't understand somebody. I guess Detect Noise might fall under Find Illusion. How about Climb Walls though? I can't really picture how they could have done that in an isometric game like BG.
There is another table in the thieving section that is called Thief Skill Armor Adjustment. Why didn't they ever do this? No time? Hide armor affects your thief skills I think doesn't it? Elven Chain does as well but I don't think any of the other armors do. I wonder why only some do and some don't. I also don't see how your armor would affect your ability to pick a lock or find a trap. Moving quietly and pick pocketing make sense but Hide in Shadows might be helped by good armor, not hindered by it.
For higher wisdom scores there was something called Magic Defense Adjustment. What was that supposed to be? It ranged from 0 to +4. I know it was something they never did but what was the idea for it? Was it a bonus to saving throws? Or just an overall magic resistance? Imagine a Halfling with maxed out shorty saves and a +4 to saving throws on top of that. Maybe that's why they didn't do it, because it would be way too OP.
Why didn't they ever implement the % spell failure? It is only listed under wisdom so I assume it was only going to apply to divine spell casting. It seems like it could have been a fun mechanic against enemies that drain wisdom or spells that drain wisdom.
What is the deal with Ranger stealth scores? In the manual there are separate Hide in Shadows and Move Silently scores while in the game it is just listed under "Stealth". Is stealth a combination of both HiS and MS or is it the average between them or what?
Under the thief tables there is a table for base scores on your starting thief abilities and under that are listed open locks and find traps and all that stuff but there is also Detect Noise, Climb Walls, and Read languages. Were these things that were originally going to be implemented and they just never got around to? Or were these just things taken from the actual D&D players handbook on accident? I think it would have been cool to implement different languages and if your INT wasn't high enough or the language was too esoteric you just couldn't understand somebody. I guess Detect Noise might fall under Find Illusion. How about Climb Walls though? I can't really picture how they could have done that in an isometric game like BG.
There is another table in the thieving section that is called Thief Skill Armor Adjustment. Why didn't they ever do this? No time? Hide armor affects your thief skills I think doesn't it? Elven Chain does as well but I don't think any of the other armors do. I wonder why only some do and some don't. I also don't see how your armor would affect your ability to pick a lock or find a trap. Moving quietly and pick pocketing make sense but Hide in Shadows might be helped by good armor, not hindered by it.
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Comments
2- % Spell failure : Also, I don't think it was implemented on the game.
3-Stealth : It's a combination of both.
4- I believe they just copied the player's handbook charts. Still, it would have been really cool if they had implemented that!
5- Well, there is a BG2 mod that allows thieves to wear all kinds of armor, following the pnp restrictions! You should try that!
2-Not implemented. Low int mages can not cast high lvl spells in PnP, also clerics need 18 wisdom to be able to cast lvl7 spells. None were implemented in the game. Inteligence determines your chance to learn a spell from scroll, and maximum amount of spells you can have per spell level in your book.
3-A combo of both, yes
4-Yep, copied straight from the player's handbook for flavour or due to laziness. :-)
5-Well, finding/disarming a trap is hard and agile work. You check floors, ceiling, climb walls, use a stick to reach a place, hop-skip from a suspicious tile, etc. Can't do that well in platemail. It's not just fixing a broken watch from where you sit.