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Avenger Sword Spider

lessthanjakelessthanjake Member Posts: 10
edited January 2015 in Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
So I started a game as an Avenger. I had a lot of fun in the early going, making a lot of use of the Sword Spider. The spider's poison felt powerful, but not overpowered since the damage takes a long time to occur.

I had read in multiple places online that the spider hits as a +5 weapon. This made me happy because it meant the spider would be useful throughout the game. I did the circus quest and hit the shadows with the spider's attack, which I believe requires a +1 weapon. But, much to my disappointment, when I got to Rayic Grethas' house in the Shadow Thieves quest line, the spider could not hit the stone golems, which I believe require a +2 weapon.

So it would appear that the Sword Spider is only a +1 weapon, which means it will rapidly lose its usefulness. Why have I continuously read that the spider hits as a +5 weapon? Was that true at some point? Is it true in BG:EE? Is this a bug? I hope it is, because it would make the Avenger much more fun if it got fixed.

Comments

  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    Its possible it was changed from the original BG2 but I only ever recall it hitting as a +1 weapon.
  • dibdib Member Posts: 384
    Probably you confused it with its ability to attack 5 times per round.
  • lessthanjakelessthanjake Member Posts: 10
    edited January 2015
    dib said:

    Probably you confused it with its ability to attack 5 times per round.

    That sounds like a super plausible explanation, but I went back and looked to see if I just made that mistake and it wasn't that. Here are links to people saying it:

    http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/22621/usefulness-of-certain-classes-and-kits-in-bg-ee/p1

    http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/19087/the-avenger-druid/p1

    http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/11974/avenger-druid-starting-stats

    https://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/17279/avenger-kit/p1

    http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/12943/best-druid-kit-what-are-the-spirit-beasts-what-about-the-werewolf/p1

    http://www.gog.com/forum/baldurs_gate_series/most_powerful_classes_for_bg2_or_baldurs_gate_enhanced_editions


    Quotes include:

    "You forms replace your physical stats anyway (and the sword spider form gets WAAAY more attacks in melee then you ever will...and apparently hits as if it was +5...just beat Kangaxx to death in sword spider form ( always thought it was only +2, so I stopped using it, read a post on another site saying it was +5 and decided to check it out and it's true)...so it remains viable through out the entire series"

    "spider form has great APR of 4, immunity to the Web spell and movement speed, hits as +5"

    "Raw avengers. Extra mage spells, shady combos (doom+chromatic orb), wyvern (+4) shapechange, sword spider (+5 AND poison)"

    "Sword Spider form is interesting, as it hits as +5, and attacks A BUNCH, especially when improved hasted."

    "Sword spider form hits as +5 and has a ton of attacks, even if the damage is a little on the low end (throw a str spell on them, however, and they can tear stuff up)"

    "Sword spider form gives Greater werewolf a run for it's money. 5 attacks per round, poisons, hits as if +5, hasted."


    Granted, now that I look at it, all but one of those quotes comes from the same person, so maybe that person was just wrong (most likely due to the poster not realizing a mod changed something). But it was a little disappointing to find Sword Spider did not hit as a +5 after reading that it did in SIX different threads.

  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    edited January 2015
    I'm downloading the original from gog to check it out. Its possible that it was a change made in BGEE that was ported to BG2EE.
  • dibdib Member Posts: 384
    Yeah, I checked my old BG2, installed from an ancient medium known as CD's, and PLYSPID.itm, which is the weapon used by the Avenger while he is in spider form, has an enchantment level of 1.
  • lessthanjakelessthanjake Member Posts: 10
    edited January 2015
    Thank you all for checking this! It is super helpful!

    I sort of planned an entire run through on the assumption that sword spider was a +5 weapon, so I would like to be able to have that work. Is there any way I can quickly change this? I don't really have any modding experience, but I know sometimes one can just change a number in a script somewhere. I tried to look through the files to find something applicable, but I didn't see anything. I have the Mac version of BG2:EE, if that helps.

    EDIT: I just realized I can edit creatures in EEKeeper, and I suppose it is possible that one of the Sword Spider creature types is linked to the shapeshift (i.e. I imagine the shapeshift script might just say to turn into one of the Sword Spider types). I'll fiddle around with that, but I'm not sure how to change the weapon without losing the poison effect.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    Move the item file in this zip file into your override folder
  • lessthanjakelessthanjake Member Posts: 10
    edited January 2015
    Thank you so much for being so helpful! This will inevitably make me seem stupid, but I cannot find my override folder. My understanding is that, on a Mac, I should go to Game Data -> 00782 and then the override folder will be under Contents -> Resources.

    However, there is a folder called BaldursGateIIEnhancedEdition.app.dSYM as well as an actual Baldur's Gate 2: Enhanced Edition application. If I go to the folder, it has a Contents folder and a Resources folder within that, but there is nothing in the Resources folder but a folder called "DWARF" with one giant text file in it. If I do "Show Package Contents" on the application (which is what I think I am supposed to do), there is ALSO a Contents folder and a Resources folder within that. However, there is no "Override" folder there. There's just folders called data, lang, movies, music, and scripts. Should I just create an override folder? Would that work? Thank you again! I really appreciate the help!

    EDIT: I created a folder called "override" in the Resources folder of the BG2:EE application and put the .itm file in the folder. I had a saved game from right before the golem fight in D'Arnise Keep. I loaded that and the spider form is still not able to hit the Iron Golem. What did I do wrong?

    EDIT 2: I also tried editing the PLYSPID creature using EEKeeper, but that did not seem to affect the sword spider shapeshift.
    Post edited by lessthanjake on
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    Its nothing on your end. Try using this one instead.

  • lessthanjakelessthanjake Member Posts: 10
    That one works! Thank you SO much!
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    No problem :)
  • IseweinIsewein Member Posts: 522
    lessthanjake wrote: »
    However, there is a folder called BaldursGateIIEnhancedEdition.app.dSYM as well as an actual Baldur's Gate 2: Enhanced Edition application. If I go to the folder, it has a Contents folder and a Resources folder within that, but there is nothing in the Resources folder but a folder called "DWARF" with one giant text file in it. If I do "Show Package Contents" on the application (which is what I think I am supposed to do), there is ALSO a Contents folder and a Resources folder within that. However, there is no "Override" folder there. There's just folders called data, lang, movies, music, and scripts. Should I just create an override folder? Would that work? Thank you again! I really appreciate the help!

    I've just come across this mysterious "DWARF" folder. There don't seem to be any other references to it, and it certainly wasn't present in the pre-EE versions. I can't help but wonder: what's the deal with that?

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