Custom Sword - Balance and Ideas
Heindrich
Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
I have been creating custom swords (or rather 3 versions of the same sword) for my personal "canon playthrough". The idea being that Charname's (Kensai) weapon gets stronger as he does, so there is one for BG1, one for SoA and one for ToB.
In BG1 it was basically a Long Sword +2 that also provided +1 AC and dealt Slashing or Piercing damage, as opposed to just Slashing for normal Long Swords. I was pretty happy with the balance I achieved in the playthrough I just finished. It felt powerful, but not out of place, and Charname barely killed more enemies than Khalid. (I think because he had to retreat quite often whereas Khalid could just stand and fight most of the time).
For SoA it is a Long Sword +3 (Piercing or Slashing) with all of Celestial Fury's abilities (chance to stun, chance to deal extra lightning damage, one cast of lightning strike and blindness per day) plus the +1 AC from the BG1 version. I haven't tested it yet but I think it should be basically on par with Celestial Fury, which it replaces in my game. (So I won't be using both) The flexible damage type might be occasionally useful but long swords deal d8 base dmg instead of a katana's d10.
For ToB I am not sure... I have very little experience with ToB weapons to know where the balance lies... will making the weapon a Long Sword +5 and have a daily cast of Dragon's Breath, plus all the above from the SoA version, make it overpowered in comparison to others? What about if it was +4?
In BG1 it was basically a Long Sword +2 that also provided +1 AC and dealt Slashing or Piercing damage, as opposed to just Slashing for normal Long Swords. I was pretty happy with the balance I achieved in the playthrough I just finished. It felt powerful, but not out of place, and Charname barely killed more enemies than Khalid. (I think because he had to retreat quite often whereas Khalid could just stand and fight most of the time).
For SoA it is a Long Sword +3 (Piercing or Slashing) with all of Celestial Fury's abilities (chance to stun, chance to deal extra lightning damage, one cast of lightning strike and blindness per day) plus the +1 AC from the BG1 version. I haven't tested it yet but I think it should be basically on par with Celestial Fury, which it replaces in my game. (So I won't be using both) The flexible damage type might be occasionally useful but long swords deal d8 base dmg instead of a katana's d10.
For ToB I am not sure... I have very little experience with ToB weapons to know where the balance lies... will making the weapon a Long Sword +5 and have a daily cast of Dragon's Breath, plus all the above from the SoA version, make it overpowered in comparison to others? What about if it was +4?
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Comments
I would add some minor spells (reflected image, blindness, fear - something minor that reflect the bhaalspawn powers) to add a more unique feel for the weapon.
Something you have to work with, to make it work.
In my experience Celestial Fury is all about the chance to stun. The 5% chance of extra damage is too inconsistent to be useful for the tough battles where it matters, and the daily lightning strike and blind are somewhat unnecessary as you can easily chop up anything that those spells can hurt, and anything you can't slice and dice will also laugh off those spells.
In my first playthrough I ended up dropping Celestial Fury near the ToB endgame because +3 wasn't good enough to hit some enemies, that's why I want at least a +4 version in ToB, since almost everything else significant gets an upgrade in ToB.
I guess I could have reworded my OP a bit better. When I say "balanced", I meant balanced in relation to other powerful weapons in BG2. Hence I am using Celestial Fury and Flail of Ages +3 as the benchmark for SoA. As I said, I don't have much experience of ToB weapons, hence I'm not sure what to benchmark it with.
@Heindrich - for ToB, yes, it's consistent with the improvement of other weapons to make it +5. However, no, it doesn't need a cast like Dragon's Breath - that's a Quest-level spell, so it's pretty OP for a warrior to be able to do that. Simply being like Celestial Fury (but with +5 instead of +3) would be a powerful weapon for ToB. The one significant new power which several weapons add for ToB is Negative Plane Protection (i.e. immunity to level-drain when wielded), so you might consider that ... but since a Kensai is presumably dual-wielding, you can probably rely on your off-hand weapon to provide that bonus without needing to add it also to his main-hand weapon.
(Note: yes, okay, before someone points it out, I know that Negative Plane Protection is not entirely a "new" power for ToB, since the Improved Mace of Disruption does the same from mid-SoA onwards. However, in ToB it's very helpful that several alternative weapons offer the same protection, because there are lots of level-draining enemies.)
I'd consider changing the weapon type. There are already a lot of very good long swords, perhaps it might add some more variety if you went with Bastard Sword or Katana, both of which have only a handful of good weapons (CF is basically the only good Katana in the game, and fairly weak in ToB).
I also agree with @Gallowglass that Dragon's Breath may be a tad bit too powerful. Perhaps you could make a "dragon sword" in some other way? Celestial Fury is lightning-based, you could make yours fire-based. Add some base fire damage, some bigger fire damage with a lower chance, and then something LIKE Dragon's Breath, without being quite as powerful. Maybe using the same animation, but with a different effect, say, some damage and save or get knocked back (no KB against big enemies) on a once-a-day use.
- Start BG1 with a Long Sword +1 that does both piercing and slashing damage
- +1 cold damage at start of Chapter 1, when you meet Sarevok for the first time
- +1 enchantment at start of Chapter 2, when you acquire your first Bhaalspawn powers
- +1 AC at start of Chapter 6, when you've returned to Candlekeep
- +1 enchantment for killing Sarevok
- Get the (now +3) sword back from the Djinni in Chateau Irenicus
- When you lose your Bhaalspawn powers, it loses the cold damage and reverts to +2
- But when you acquire the Slayer transformation ability, the sword is restored to +3 and gets new (Celestial Fury) powers. This represents your changing relationship with your Bhaal essence.
- Bring back the cold damage and add +1 enchantment for killing Irenicus
From there, I'd add powers to it after each challenge in the Pocket Plane. (It's always been a bummer how little effect these have.) For the five challenges, I think I'd do something like
- Negative Plane Protection for reconquering your dead enemies
- +1 enchantment for defeating your alternate self (up to +5 now)
- Chance of level drain for defeating Innocence, or some mental immunity power (or Mind Shield 1/day) for defeating Doubt
- Maybe immunity to backstab or Mislead 1/day for defeating Cyric's favored?
- For the Ravager, I'd be tempted to do something really powerful. Possibilities that come to mind are summoning Bone Blades, an extra attack, some physical resistance, or another +1 enchantment (which would help a lot, since Amelyssan casts Absolute Immunity)
Anyway, feel free to ignore all of this. Your idea is really cool, and I had fun thinking about it!
You and @Gallowglass are both right, Dragon's Breath would be OP, I just thought of it because of the name, but in retrospect, it would make many SoA encounters trivial. Now that I know better how to edit weapons with Near Infinity, I could just remove the Celestial Fury Blindness and Lighting Strikes and replace them with something more fire-base. Perhaps Sunfire, which would look cool, but I won't actually use much cos I run in a full party and running Charname solo into a horde of enemies is probably a bad idea for min-reload games.
@joluv Ideally I'd like a sword that automatically changed gradually like you suggested, unfortunately as @Yamcha pointed out, that would be very complicated and certainly beyond my capabilities as a noobie modder, hence I am just creating 3 versions of it to be Console'd or Keeper'd into my inventory at the appropriate stages of the game. You might think that having a Celestial Fury level item inside Chateau Irenicus (getting it back from Djinni was my idea too!) would be OP. However, because I am starting the dual-class process at the very start of the game, it won't actually be used until significantly later anyway. (I would make the item Charname only, but I haven't figured out how to do it yet, but that's an easy restriction to self-impose on myself anyway.)
Or if that is too OP perhaps you could give it a spell ability to cast an immunity to Time Stop that only lasts 5 rounds or something so you would have to time it right. I really like the idea of making immunity to Time Stop accessible by the player somehow. It would be really cool!
Edit: I should really test stuff before I say stuff...
You can RP it as allowing the wielder to move as fast as lightning.
Opens up some nifty tactical options instead of just more damage.
@deltago that would be very easy to do... Or you could make it cast Time Stop as well... Or anything really.
Ideas:
When you hit level 12, the sword lets you regenerate 1hp per round (ie: cure light wounds)
When you hit level 15, the sword lets you regenerate 2hp per round (ie: cure light wounds) and becomes a +3 weapon.
When you hit level 18, the sword makes you immune to poison (ie: slow poison)
When you hit level 21, the sword gives you 'death ward' (ie: slow poisonx2) and becomes a +4 weapon.
When you hit level 24, the sword gives you +2 Strength, Dexterity and Constitution (ie: draw upon holy might)
When you hit level 27, the sword gives you +4 Strength, Dexterity and Constitution (ie: draw upon holy might x2)
When you hit level 30, the sword becomes a +5 weapon.
So lets say that your character, due to tomes (+1 per each stat) and the machine of lum the mad (+1 per each stat) sits at 20 Strength/Dexterity/Constitution. With your sword, it gives him a straight 24 in each stat. Which is about on par with having draw upon holy might on. It also gives you some regeneration and immunities. Throw a ring of Gax and regeneration onto the character for some really nice regeneration abilities.
It also will hit damned hard as a +5 weapon (very late ToB). It might not have abilities like 'stun' and whatnot. But it's a real contender for a must-have weapons, and it fits the Bhaalspawn powers quite well.
In any case I have just completed both my SoA version and ToB version. I have gone for flashy abilities over necessarily the strongest, though I must admit, learning how to use Near Infinity is like learning the black arts... so many temptations... You could have an item that grants permanent Absolute Immunity! Muwahahahaha! You could also create completely troll items like "death when equipped" or "cast meteor storm centered on user on equip".
Anyway think my choices are fairly reasonable, and they make sense in my "head canon".
Heaven Reliant +3
STATISTICS:
Combat abilities:
– Eighteen Dragons: Hit target must save vs. Spell or be stunned for 1 round
– Nine Yin Strike: 5% chance of an extra 20 electrical damage to hit target
Charge abilities:
– Sunray once per day
Damage: 3d6 (Save vs. Spell or be blinded for 1 turn)
Undead: An additional 1d6 points of damage per level of caster (Save vs. Spell or be destroyed)
Range: 20 ft.
Area: 30-ft. radius
– Fireshield (Red) once per day
Fire Resistance: +50%
Special: Any who strike the user within a 5-ft.radius suffers 1d8+2 fire damage
Duration: 18 rounds
Area of Effect: The user
Equipped abilities:
– Armor Class: +1
THAC0: +3
Damage: 1d8+3 (slashing or piercing)
Speed Factor: 1
Proficiency type: Long Sword
Type: One-handed
Requires:
6 Strength
Weight: 3
Heaven Reliant +5
STATISTICS:
Combat abilities:
– Eighteen Dragons: Hit target must save vs. Spell or be stunned for 1 round
– Nine Yin Strike: 5% chance of an extra 20 electrical damage to hit target
Charge abilities:
– Sunray once per day
Damage: 3d6 (Save vs. Spell or be blinded for 1 turn)
Undead: An additional 1d6 points of damage per level of caster (Save vs. Spell or be destroyed)
Range: 20 ft.
Area: 30-ft. radius
– Death Ward once per day
Area of Effect: User
Duration: 10 turns
This spell protects the target from all forms of death magic for the duration of the spell. This includes, but is not limited to, Disintegrate; Power Word, Kill; Death Spell; and Finger of Death.
Equipped abilities:
– Armor Class: +2
– Fireshield (Red)
Fire Resistance: +50%
Special: Any who strike the user within a 5-ft. radius suffers 1d8+2 fire damage
Area of Effect: The user
THAC0: +5
Damage: 1d8+5 (slashing or piercing)
Speed Factor: 0
Proficiency type: Long Sword
Type: One-handed
Requires:
6 Strength
Weight: 3
ps: Oh I didn't change the combat abilities from Celestial Fury, I just renamed them. If anyone happens to be a Wuxia fan, you'll get the easter egg and its relevance to the name of the sword.