Preventing the Cancellation of Spells?

FranticFey

Okay, I'm not sure if this is possible within engine limits, or even if this is just something that I happen to do all by myself, but this is one thing that has annoyed me forever. When you have a character in the middle of casting a spell and you are paused, and you tell that character to do something else (like move two feet over,) they cancel the spell automatically, and it's lost. There have been plenty of times where I start a battle, have one mage start casting, and then pause again. I assign some other actions, and forgetting the mage is casting, accidentally have him move to avoid a rampant Rune Assassin, and he loses his spell. Would it be possible to have some option that, while paused, you can tell a character to resume an action?

Ward

I don't think it'd be entirely fair if spells were kept aftering interupting unpaused, but if you issue another command while paused it shouldn't cancel the spell until you unpaused. That way it can be saved.

But once you cast a spell and pause, the spell is already gone from the spellbook. If you move, how you do recast? The spells would have to stay until after they were cast I guess.

FranticFey

Oh, I completely agree - once you start casting a spell, you better finish it to completion. I'm only speaking about if you make a mistake and accidentally assign a different command to a casting mage while paused, or even if you considered a different tactical option, assigned it, but instead wanted to resume the spell, all the while paused.

Theudipald

Haha, been there. But the thing is I actually like that little "flaw", always thought of it as one of those things that kept you on your toes during battles.

FranticFey

Haha, been there. But the thing is I actually like that little "flaw", always thought of it as one of those things that kept you on your toes during battles.

I just cry on the inside a little whenever my cleric cancels her heal spell on my held PC as he's beaten to death by a ghast...

But then I reload and avenge him.

Ward

@Theudipald

You mean like when you have the wizard cast Haste after you've buffed the whole party, fuck it up (excuse my French) and have to start all over again?

!RAGEQUIT FFFFUUUUUU---

lansounet

Wasting your last [insert protection removal spell] againt a powerful mage fully buffed because you misclicked the selection of another character... priceless.

Theudipald

@Theudipald

You mean like when you have the wizard cast Haste after you've buffed the whole party, fuck it up (excuse my French) and have to start all over again?

!RAGEQUIT FFFFUUUUUU---

Exactly. O the vortex of powerful emotions in this game.

Igneous

There have been plenty of times where I start a battle, have one mage start casting, and then pause again. I assign some other actions, and forgetting the mage is casting, accidentally have him move to avoid a rampant Rune Assassin, and he loses his spell.

I agree this can be hugely irritating. It happens to me with alarming frequency, mostly in my woeful attempts to try to select another party member.

That said, I don't really know how the devs could go about solving the problem, given the inflexibility of the interface. One solution, I guess, would be to throw up a confirmation prompt when interrupting a spellcaster in this way — e.g., "The character selected is currently casting a spell. Are you sure wish to cancel?" Hmm... that could work.

Kore

Yep I agree that this "feature" is more annoying than it is compelling gameplay.

caruga

Maybe there will be some visual of (possibly enqueued) action(s) represented as a row of icons; a click with one mouse button stacks a new action, a click with another replaces the current one. When paused, right-clicking (let's say) on the newly replaced action reverts it to the old one. Or maybe there's an even easier way of doing it without having to roam your mouse-button over to the top of the screen or wherever the row of icons are (one of the other free mouse buttons, perhaps).

Another method might be to simply hold down a key on the keyboard when doing your clicking, and anything you command them to do will be enqueued as the following action if they are already doing something. If you don't hold it down, the current action will be aborted and the new one replaces it, carrying it out on the next free action.

Lunever

Simply have active buttons - like the casting button - glow while characters are about to perform the according action.

trinit

i think once the casting process starts, beyond some point there should be no return if you issue another order.

BUT, i think "concentration"/intelligence check would be awesome to see if mage/cleric keeps the spell or not, extending to mage being hit.
that way high int would matter.

Lunever

@trinit: In 3rd edition SKILLS (concetration[Int]) did this. However, in AD&D 2nd inflicting just 1 point of damage during casting was enough to break concentration. While I like both, I guess for BG that would be to much of a change.

elminster

It sucks, and I think we have all done this before. However, honestly (and I hate to sound like a purist) I kind of like this feature.It does keep you on your toes during battle. So maybe have it so that if you are playing like easy difficulty the game will warn you, but otherwise you are on your own.