Long time BG fan, can't find out how to change something - don't think it will involve modding..

Uncumber

Hi there, I've been playing the BG series on and off since it's been released. I've been through it with loads of different characters and builds - and I've been loving this BGEE so much So far I've only ever played BG unmodded, I've used Shadowkeeper very seldom and that's been great modifying any little thing I've wanted so far.. but I can't for the life of me figure out how to do what I'm after now -

I'm simply looking for a way to play as a magey-thief character - wearing a set of leather armor (because I love how you get that hood) and still able to cast spells - aaaaall I care about, really, is my character looking sleek in a hood, and being able to cast a number of thiefy spells (blur, invisibility, mirror image, blindness etc.) - I really can't find a way to do this. As any sort of mage, even a dual/multiclass mage-thief, you are obligated in to not wearing any armor, and that kind of ruins the thief immersion for me.

But after all this time enjoying BG, I just want to enjoy it in 'exactly' my way - which is having a thiefy hooded character (in leather, not robes) casting a couple of spells.

Is there not a relatively simple way to remove the miscast penalty from armor? Or exchanging robes appearances with leather or.. another way? anything, I don't know =(

--- I've tried everything possible in Shadowkeeper, adding spells to thieves.. trying to make it so the armor's are already equipped on the mage.. but I'm not experienced with this sort of thing. However I'm willing to put in any amount of time/effort trying to sort this out - if it involves downloading programs and modding a million things, I'll put in the time.. I'm just hoping it'll be simpler than that! I've tried googling for the past hour and haven't got anywhere

In summary, I'm asking if there is *any* way I can create a mage-thief character, able to wear leather armor (for the hood, for just appearances sake) and still cast spells? Any help would be so so appreciated ^^

I hope I've explained myself ok :S apologies for probably writing more than needed >.<

Schneidend

If you use EEKeeper, you can change your character model to the thief one.

Uncumber

Thank you for the quick response!

But I think (if I've understood you right) that was one of the first things I tried: as a mage with a thief 'model' it obviously wont allow me to equip leather - even as a multiclass magethief, if I do equip the leather, and do get a cool looking hood - I then get miscasts on all my spells, so I can't really wear them

MikeMasters

@Uncumber You could dual class from a thief to a mage and wear elven chainmail?

Uncumber

again thank you for the response! I did actually read about the elven chainmail in the past hour, and I guess that would be a last option but.. I don't really.. like elves.. >.< and it doesn't really fit with the whole immersion thing in my head.. mmm.. would just feel like a bit of lazy resort to me but I guess I'll have to go with that if there's literally no other way.

edit: I realize you don't have to be an elf to wear it, I just don't like elves enough to want to wear stuff that they've made anyway xD Plus if I remember, isn't it bright lime green? that's kinda offputting.. not.. stealthy.

MikeMasters

@Uncumber it sounds to me like a custom made item would suit your needs. Maybe a request in the modders forum?

Uncumber

Ahh thank you, that might be an idea then - I just didn't want to hassle anybody at all. I'll wait a day or so here and see if anyone comes up with anything (I'll try and look in to modding items myself if that's the way forward).. but if not I'll definitely put out a request there, thanks for the advice

doomdoomdoom

Uncumber said:

Plus if I remember, isn't it bright lime green? that's kinda offputting.. not.. stealthy.

You never know when you might need to hide in a cabbage patch.

Uncumber

haha I was imagining I'd be a bit more an epic thief than that

Schneidend

Uncumber said:

Thank you for the quick response!

But I think (if I've understood you right) that was one of the first things I tried: as a mage with a thief 'model' it obviously wont allow me to equip leather - even as a multiclass magethief, if I do equip the leather, and do get a cool looking hood - I then get miscasts on all my spells, so I can't really wear them

Just don't wear armor. The Thief model has the hood without wearing armor. Mages aren't supposed to be able to wear armor, period.

Uncumber

I do understand that, and I get it if anyone thinks I'm ruining the game or anything - it's just, this is probably my favorite game of all time and it just irks me a littlle that I can't find a way to play as what iiiiii would imagine as a really cool character.

I see it's not directly allowed, I just didn't think (probably because I'm ignorant about this stuff >.<) that it would be so difficult to change it to how I'd like.

P.s. I am gonna check out the unarmored thieves model right now - but mm, it's not the *Same* - it's nice finding a cool set of armor in game!

nano

I think it will require modding. But don't let that turn you off - it should be a very simple tweak because you can just remove the "disable spellcasting" effect from leather armor.

Download Near Infinity and set it up to point at your BGEE folder.

Ctrl-F up the relevant item (in this case, "leather armor").

File>Export the item and then open it up with Game>Open File.

Remove the global effect that says "Disable spellcasting" and save.

Move your modified .itm file to the override directory. If you want to revert it back just delete this file.

(I've not actually made a mod so feel free to yell at me if I missed a step)

Uncumber

Aaah nano I can't thank you enough! if that'll work that'll completely make my day I'm not going to try it this second, it's getting rather late here, but first thing tomorrow I'll give it a shot and get back to you!

it sounds ace, I can go through all the cool shadowy armors and remove the penalty, sorted ^^

nano

Glad to help! I tried it just now and it works fine. I had to remove all my other mods because they were interfering but I don't suppose you'll have that problem. Just note that to remove effects you have to change from the View tab to the Edit tab at the top because you can't remove them through View/Edit under the effects list.

Pecca

Btw, in BG2:EE thiefs will get hoods by default, just like in BG:EE.

OlleDenStore

Another option is to use Near Infinity to change the appearance of some of the robes in the game. Say the robe of (correct alignment for you PC) archmagi to have the appearance of a leather armor. That way you won't be cheating since a mage is supposed to be able to use it. It will just look different. You will probably also have to set you character model to the thief model in EEkeeper to get the hooded look.