I set BGEE to give 100xp per level of spell scribed; this seemed right given the level of the game. This became even more effective once I allowed Candlekeep to be explored in the Prologue--there are plenty of decent scrolls to be found in there.
well at least that bogus 10% xp gain from everything will be gone for bg2 which will be nice ( since they got rid of it for bgee because bgee uses the bg2 engine and apparently the bg2 engine gave a 10% bonus to xp on everything)
I set BGEE to give 100xp per level of spell scribed; this seemed right given the level of the game. This became even more effective once I allowed Candlekeep to be explored in the Prologue--there are plenty of decent scrolls to be found in there.
I'd be interested to know how i could replicate the xp tweak and the "free Candlekeep" thing. Is that an option of a mod or a tweak in the game's options ?
Defeating SCS Sarevok on insane (no max HP either) with your Jester and a gang of Garrick, Jaheira, Kahlid, Branwen and Imoen (thief) without metaknowledge and planning just won't happen. The fight is no walkover even with a fully buffed optimized PC group if you don't cheese (ie, if you actually fight them all at the same time).
SCS isn't designed to be played on Insane. (& buffing before confronting Sarevok doesn't require metaknowledge - it's kind of obvious that he's going to be inside the big scary Bhaal temple, even without Tamoko actually telling you so.)
Defeating SCS Sarevok on insane (no max HP either) with your Jester and a gang of Garrick, Jaheira, Kahlid, Branwen and Imoen (thief) without metaknowledge and planning just won't happen. The fight is no walkover even with a fully buffed optimized PC group if you don't cheese (ie, if you actually fight them all at the same time).
SCS isn't designed to be played on Insane. (& buffing before confronting Sarevok doesn't require metaknowledge - it's kind of obvious that he's going to be inside the big scary Bhaal temple, even without Tamoko actually telling you so.)
True, but knowing exactly what you will face and tailoring your buffs for that does.
I'd rather they didn't award XP for those things. That's like awarding a cleric for praying successfully or a fighter for swinging a sword around. These things are a part of their respective classes every day functions, sometimes you succeed and sometimes you fail, not XP worthy.
Awarding the fighter XP for killing something is EXACTLY giving him XP for swinging his sword. His everyday function is killing things, the thief's everyday function ISN'T killing things. Yet they are relegated to only getting XP from killing things. Likewise wizards can study for years and they learn nothing, but the moment they go out and murder something they gain knowledge
The problem with a number of the difficulty based mods is that they not only assume game mechanic knowledge, but they also require meta-game knowledge. It's great for when you know the game inside out and are a bit bored with it, but they're not really appropriate for new players, role-players, and a whole lot of other people that make up the majority of players.
Defeating SCS Sarevok on insane (no max HP either) with your Jester and a gang of Garrick, Jaheira, Kahlid, Branwen and Imoen (thief) without metaknowledge and planning just won't happen. The fight is no walkover even with a fully buffed optimized PC group if you don't cheese (ie, if you actually fight them all at the same time).
Sure, everything is easy if you abuse your knowledge of the engine, but if you play the game in good faith the hardest modded options necessitate much metagaming.
Potions will make even the hardest encounters in SCS (BG1) easier to the point of making some fights trivial. And even a person without much meta knowledge, should be able to save some of his best potions. I know the first games i ever played of BG1 and BG2 (When they got released) i always saved up my potions for if there would be a really hard fight. And when i got stuck on the Iron throne fight, and Sarevok i just drugged all my characters on potions and sent them in. Voila it was a victory.
I'd be interested to know how i could replicate the xp tweak and the "free Candlekeep" thing. Is that an option of a mod or a tweak in the game's options ?
Edit the values in xpbonus.2da, which is trivial to do if you have Near Infinity.
Opening Candlekeep was a little more challenging, especially since I had never edited an area, a door, or a transition before. I began by copying the open door from area 2626, which is Candlekeep in chapter 6, and replicated that on area 2600, Candlekeep in the Prologue. This worked well enough--the door opens and you can walk through it--but I wound up using scripts to handle moving through the floors after that. If you click on the stairs to go up (or down), then the script will move you to the destination area. I had to remove a handful of actors and two or three items which would break the plot but after that there wasn't anything else to change. Some of the locked cabinets are too difficult for a 1st-level thief to open, even if you put all your points in open locks but the bookcases are completely open.
It just struck me as ridiculous that you were the adopted child of a respected scholar yet you couldn't go into the keep itself.
I'd rather they didn't award XP for those things. That's like awarding a cleric for praying successfully or a fighter for swinging a sword around. These things are a part of their respective classes every day functions, sometimes you succeed and sometimes you fail, not XP worthy.
Try looking at it this way. When a monster gets killed or a sword gets wielded, that is something obvious that everyone can see. If you are watching a football game and you observe a particularly effective play, you can learn from observation what works and what doesn't. Even the casting of spells by a mage other than yourself can give you information on what works (or what doesn't work) against a given enemy. All of these things an adventurer, regardless of class or profession, can learn from. Same with completing a quest.
However, when a thief picks a lock, who observes that action? No one. More to the point though, they are performing something that they aren't sure will work. Every time you pick a lock or remove a trap, you learn more about what you are doing. But no one else really does. Scribing a scroll is the same thing. No one else in the party is going to observe (or learn from) how you scribe the letters and symbols. Your preparing the parchment and ink is also not really going to interest anyone but another wizard. And the deeper intricacies of magic that are revealed to you as you write a spell that you never new before means that you (and you alone) are actually learning your trade.
you say that scribing a scroll or picking a lock is as common for a wizard or thief as swinging a sword is for a fighter. And if the fighter doesn't earn XP for that, then why should a wizard or a thief? Well the Fighter IS getting experience for swinging that sword and killing that monster. It is just more observable than picking that lock.
@Amberion play a bg2 game, have one character on your team, write a level 1 spell, you will gain 1100 xp, write a level 2 spell, you will gain 2200 xp, so on and so forth, this also happens with baddies and quest xp, but not quest xp per character, and back in the days of these forums before bgee was out, there was a discussion about that, and we made sure it wasn't going to appear in bgee and based on that, it shouldn't appear in bg2 ee
Potions will make even the hardest encounters in SCS (BG1) easier to the point of making some fights trivial. And even a person without much meta knowledge, should be able to save some of his best potions. I know the first games i ever played of BG1 and BG2 (When they got released) i always saved up my potions for if there would be a really hard fight. And when i got stuck on the Iron throne fight, and Sarevok i just drugged all my characters on potions and sent them in. Voila it was a victory.
I think one of the most devastating uses of scrolls of magic immunity was targeting them on a hostile mage. As it removes all magics on the target they lose all combat protections. It also prevents casting of spells or spell-like effects.
If you cast it on a Demi-Lich they sit there doing nothing until it wears off. I actually felt bad.
hahahahhahahahahaha, an even bigger insult to spell casting baddies, ah I love it, although that was only doable in SoA because in vanilla bg1, whoever was holding the scroll was the one that was going to be affecting by its magic
hahahahhahahahahaha, an even bigger insult to spell casting baddies, ah I love it, although that was only doable in SoA because in vanilla bg1, whoever was holding the scroll was the one that was going to be affecting by its magic
huh? I haven't found a single scroll of protection from magic in BG2. and I looked too
Huh, it appears he does indeed sell 2 of them. I don't know how I missed those. He also sells a girdle of Hill Giant strength (set to 19) which I have missed.. facepalm! I am just gonna use the console to "buy" both of those items in my current ToB run, pretending I use my hellgate teleport ability to make a quick shopping trip to amn.
I can't be the only one who really doesn't give a monkey's about the XP I do or do not get and is just focused on having fun with the game, can I? You know what I really love about these games (& yes, their console counterparts) over every other game I've ever attempted to play, ever, is that they scale nicely with your progress and your skill level, they're not so hard as to be frustratingly impossible, yet not so easy that you don't get any enjoyment from a victory.
It's not so much that I care about the XP, I just want to make sure that the XP is still balanced and that inclusion or removal of XP sources don't cause other problems in the course of the game. If you get to the final battle and you find(with your average party and non-expert player skill) that it is just impossible because you have too few levels, that's a problem.
Keep in mind that the encounters don't naturally scale unless they're specifically scripted to do so - generally high end battles like bosses in ToB aren't scaled.
I'd rather they didn't award XP for those things. That's like awarding a cleric for praying successfully or a fighter for swinging a sword around. These things are a part of their respective classes every day functions, sometimes you succeed and sometimes you fail, not XP worthy.
Ermm fighters get XP for swinging swords and clerics for casting spells. Its called combat! Thieves should get their due, otherwise everyone would roll a halforc barbarian and smash every lock!
Could you imagine playing in a PnP setting where you rolled a rogue and never got ANY participation because your too weak in combat?
Warrior (includes fighter/rangers/paladin) - Combat = 10 personal xp per kill.
(24+ paladin/ranger) Crafting Magical items = 1/25th of the items total market value
Thieves -
200 xp per lock/trap disarmed (must improve the party in some way by acquiring valuable items or helping the group progress by removing a trap/door impeding their progress)
Mages -
Researching new spells = 500 xp, +50 per spell level Crafting magical items and potions = 1/25th of the items total market value
Bards -
Combat = 10 personal xp per kill
Researching new spells = 500 xp, +50 per spell level
(27+ Bards) Crafting magical items = 1/25th of the items total market value
Priests -
Casting spells required to further a specific quest from their deity = 100/spell level (must be of significant importance to the completion of the quest) Crafting magic items and potions = 1/25th of the items total market value
They talk about how easy the game is to solo or whatnot. Sounds great in theory, but falls apart when Level One Me meets Tarnesh. I have other places to die; that is often the first. Just saying...
Comments
Is that an option of a mod or a tweak in the game's options ?
Likewise wizards can study for years and they learn nothing, but the moment they go out and murder something they gain knowledge
Opening Candlekeep was a little more challenging, especially since I had never edited an area, a door, or a transition before. I began by copying the open door from area 2626, which is Candlekeep in chapter 6, and replicated that on area 2600, Candlekeep in the Prologue. This worked well enough--the door opens and you can walk through it--but I wound up using scripts to handle moving through the floors after that. If you click on the stairs to go up (or down), then the script will move you to the destination area. I had to remove a handful of actors and two or three items which would break the plot but after that there wasn't anything else to change. Some of the locked cabinets are too difficult for a 1st-level thief to open, even if you put all your points in open locks but the bookcases are completely open.
It just struck me as ridiculous that you were the adopted child of a respected scholar yet you couldn't go into the keep itself.
However, when a thief picks a lock, who observes that action? No one. More to the point though, they are performing something that they aren't sure will work. Every time you pick a lock or remove a trap, you learn more about what you are doing. But no one else really does. Scribing a scroll is the same thing. No one else in the party is going to observe (or learn from) how you scribe the letters and symbols. Your preparing the parchment and ink is also not really going to interest anyone but another wizard. And the deeper intricacies of magic that are revealed to you as you write a spell that you never new before means that you (and you alone) are actually learning your trade.
you say that scribing a scroll or picking a lock is as common for a wizard or thief as swinging a sword is for a fighter. And if the fighter doesn't earn XP for that, then why should a wizard or a thief? Well the Fighter IS getting experience for swinging that sword and killing that monster. It is just more observable than picking that lock.
If you cast it on a Demi-Lich they sit there doing nothing until it wears off. I actually felt bad.
This has been "fixed" for BG:EE.
He also sells a girdle of Hill Giant strength (set to 19) which I have missed.. facepalm!
I am just gonna use the console to "buy" both of those items in my current ToB run, pretending I use my hellgate teleport ability to make a quick shopping trip to amn.
Keep in mind that the encounters don't naturally scale unless they're specifically scripted to do so - generally high end battles like bosses in ToB aren't scaled.
Thieves should get their due, otherwise everyone would roll a halforc barbarian and smash every lock!
Could you imagine playing in a PnP setting where you rolled a rogue and never got ANY participation because your too weak in combat?
Combat = 10 personal xp per kill.
(24+ paladin/ranger) Crafting Magical items = 1/25th of the items total market value
Thieves -
200 xp per lock/trap disarmed (must improve the party in some way by acquiring valuable items or helping the group progress by removing a trap/door impeding their progress)
Mages -
Researching new spells = 500 xp, +50 per spell level
Crafting magical items and potions = 1/25th of the items total market value
Bards -
Combat = 10 personal xp per kill
Researching new spells = 500 xp, +50 per spell level
(27+ Bards) Crafting magical items = 1/25th of the items total market value
Priests -
Casting spells required to further a specific quest from their deity = 100/spell level (must be of significant importance to the completion of the quest)
Crafting magic items and potions = 1/25th of the items total market value