Raise Dead and Permanent Constitution Loss

Mortianna

I'm curious to see if anyone else mods the permanent CON loss penalty into the Raise Dead/Resurrection/Harper's Call spell to bring it closer to the 2e PnP version. I've found that it significantly changes the way I play the game, since it adds a more believable, finite component to bringing characters back from the dead (as far as playing a fantasy RPG goes). It makes character death mean something other than spending gold and possibly missing out on some XP.

It was pretty easy to mod the CON loss in original BG, since the engine subtracted any bonus HP given by a high CON score from characters' maximum HP total. The BG2 engine unfortunately reversed this process, so if a character goes from a 15 to 14 CON, any bonus HP are subtracted from her single, current HP upon being raised, which results in her death once again. How annoying!

Since the EE versions are based on the BG2 engine, I decided to make Raise Dead identical to Resurrection, which fully heals the character upon being raised, but with the loss of a CON point. It's not PnP, but it's much closer than the way the spell is currently implemented in the game.

I remember "MyNameIsNotLily" had a Let's Play BG series years ago, and he had the CON loss installed. I think Jaheira had something like an 8 CON later in the game from being raised so many times ^.^

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Mortianna

@subtledoctor It was in the Dudleyville mod for original BG, but I don't know of any BGEE-compatible mods that have it. I still haven't taken the time to learn Weidu, so it's always been something I mod for my own game.

gunman

Using two effects (one being slightly delayed) I managed to mod the Raise Dead spell to give -1 penalty to constitution and end up with 1 HP as per PnP. You will notice that initially the dead character gets raised with full HP (as in resurrection) but upon exiting the temple services screen he will drop to 1 HP.
I did not test what happens when the spell is cast by Protagonist or a NPC, but this situation should not happen in BG1 anyway.
To use it, extract the file in override directory.

chimeric

Constitution loss would have been good, had it been in the game from the beginning. I expected it to, as in the PnP rules. But it wasn't there, and I've long since taken to reloading most times when a character is killed. I just try a different tactic. There is just no point to being particularly hardcore with yourself in this game - no obligation and no system of incentives. It's the same as with picking pockets. I never do it, because if the target turns red, that usually means the whole floor turns against you, and the chance is random. Save/reload - no, that's too boring. There is just no system for bypassing these unacceptable games with chance, for giving control to the player.

By the way, what kinds of effects can be used on Dead Actors? Only Raise Dead and Resurrection?

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gatperdut

Resurrecting (heh) an old thread...

I usually raise them and then check the chance of survival with an online d100.

http://www.brockjones.com/dieroller/dice.htm

The chart with the values for each constitution score is here:

http://static.wixstatic.com/media/a4c541b77c5f30a6ec7ffb730cb086ed.wix_mp_512

If they don't pass the check the rest of the party kill them again, and I remove them so as to make them irrecoverable.

If they do, I spawn via console a vial of mysterious liquid and an antidote, then heal the character *before* they swallow both in that order (otherwise the poison will kill them, and that's not the effect I'm looking for here. The mysterious liquid lowers con by 1 when ingested). The item codes are POTN48 and POTN22 iirc.

Note that I do resurrect them at the temple before any of this, though, so the gold gets spent whether the process is succesful or not.

It fits my playstyle, and you sort of develop a bond with the NPCs that do linger. It often forces you to take along characters that otherwise wouldn't see much use, to fill the role of a recently deceased companion.