I don't know if that will have any effect on any in-game processes or other mods... but I'm pretty sure it will not. If anyone knows otherwise, please correct me.
For weapons, there are some limitations:
Only the original 15 weapon categories (all < #32) can be dual-wielded, 3 of which are the launcher categories, and 1 which doesn't allow weapon animations(always appear unarmed).
There is no practical limit to the number of weapon categories that can be created for Main-hand-only weapons (Two-handed, Thrown, or just to prevent off-hand use).
There is no practical limit to the number of weapon categories that can be created for ammunition.
Launcher's must use their current categories, as these categories are hardcoded to field 0x10 of item abilities. You cannot equip 2 items of the same launcher category, and any item of this category counts to equip its relevant ammunition(it doesn't need to use the "Launcher" ability type), so there isn't much else you can do with these categories.
If you are going to move item categories, the first thing you want to do is free up dual-wield slots by moving two-handed weapons into new slots. To give you an idea, here is how I sort Weapon Categories:
Arrows (5) -> Arrows (no Change)
Bullets (14) -> Bullets (no Change)
Bows (15) -> Bows (no Change)
Daggers (16) -> Daggers (Melee/Dual)
NEW (##) -> Throwing Daggers (Thrown/Main-hand-only)
Maces (17) -> Maces (Melee/Dual)
Slings (18) -> Slings (no Change)
Small Swords (19) -> Short Swords (Melee/Dual)
Large Swords (20) -> Long Swords (Melee/Dual)
Hammers (21) -> Light Hammers (1d4+1/Melee/Dual)
NEW (##) -> Throwing Hammers (Thrown/Main-hand-only)
NEW (##) -> Heavy Hammers (2d4/Melee/Main-hand-only)
Morning Stars (22) -> Clubs (Melee/Dual)
NEW (##) -> Morningstars (2d4/Melee/Main-hand-only)
Flails (23) -> Flails (Melee/Dual)
Darts (24) -> Claws/Punch Daggers/Knuckles/Fist Irons (Melee/Dual/No Animation) (mostly PST imports, when/if I ever get around to it)
NEW (##) -> Darts (Thrown/Main-hand-only)
Axes (25) -> Battle Axe (Melee/Dual)
NEW (##) -> Throwing Axe (Thrown/Main-hand-only)
NEW (##) -> Two-handed Axe (Melee/Two-handed)
Quarterstaves (26) -> (empty) (Melee/Dual)
NEW (##) -> Quarterstaves (Melee/Two-handed/Main-hand-only(Staff Mace))
Crossbows (27) -> Crossbows (no Change)
Spears (29) -> Scimitars (Melee/Dual)
NEW (##) -> Spears (Melee/Two-handed)
NEW (##) -> Throwing Spears (Thrown/Main-hand-only)
Halberds (30) -> Wakizashi/Ninjato (Melee/Dual)
NEW (##) -> Halberds (Melee/Two-handed)
Great Swords (57) -> Two-handed Swords (Melee/Two-handed)
(I restrict all 2d4 weapons (+katanas) to the main-hand) Those with ## don't already exist in ITEMTYPE.2DA.
Armor/Shields:
There is no practical limit to the number of Armor Categories. Instead of everything being "Armor (2)", you could have:
Leather Armor (60)
Studded Leather (61)
Hide (66) // Light Non-metal (Yeti)
Elven Chain (##)
Chainmail (62)
Scale Mail (68) // Medium Non-metal (White/Black Dragon)
Splint Mail (63)
Plate Mail (64)
Field Plate (##) // Heavy Non-metal (Ankheg, Red/Blue/Silver Dragon, Polar Worm, Umber Hulk, Rhino Beetle)
Full Plate (65)
Robes (67)
There is nothing you can do with Shield Categories. Only category 12 works, any other category will be treated as a weapon in the shield slot, and cause a variety of problems.
Any new Item Categories just need to be added to ITEMTYPE.2da (with sound and slot entries), ITEMCAT.IDS(no actual function, just enables other mods to search for them by name), and to all STO files that need to be able to buy/sell them.
Holy Crow!!!! I wish i could give this a hundred more 'insightfuls'
@subtledoctor Continuing with my oozemaster testing. Experience pts for lvls seem to have changed, I just noticed. 8th lvl(110k) with 9th not showing til 225k. Was this intended?
Thinking forward to BG2, as regards to the mystic class kits, what happens to strongholds? The alienists would definitely seem strange with a druid stronghold.
@subtledoctor Gotcha. I think I was editing as you were posting, hehheh. And as to the strongholds?
Modding strongholds has been on the to-do list for a long time, but there has been a ton of other stuff to get done first.
For now, all clerics get the cleric stronghold that is suitable for your alignment. And all druids and mystics and occultists are seen as druids and get the druid stronghold.
Down the road, we'll do what we can to make it more sensible. I've literally got a thread at Gibberlings3 bookmarked where they talk about modding strongholds, so that we can learn to do it when we're ready to do it. Some kits, like the Alienist, might not get any stronghold at all. (Or maybe we can recruit @LavaDelVortel to come up with a new stronghold! ) We'll see
@LavaDelVortel would have the skill for sure, not sure about the time, although like you guys, a definite workaholic with BG mods. I could image some far out stuff for the alienists.
Okay, I just uploaded beta 0.70 to Github. (There's no 'release' for it, you can grab it here if you're interested, click "clone or download" and then "download zip" on the right side.)
This should finally fix the kit menus for acolyte and zealot. (For some reason they need to be offset by 1 in IWDEE/BG2EE/EET, vs. BGEE/SoD... and I had only been testing in BGEE.)
More excitingly (to me anyway), this adds working variables for armor and weapon usability and proficiency. None of the kits actually have these variables set yet... but you can open up "Faiths_and_Powers/lib/add_cleric_kits.tpa" or one of the other kit-adding .tpa files there, and play around with the variables. Here's a few notes on how they work:
- The "leather_armor" variable does nothing. It's just there in case we want to use it later.
- Setting "plate_armor" to 1 automatically allows the kit to use chain armors as well, even if "chain_armor" is set to 0.
- For the weapon variables, you can set them from 0 to 5; 0 will mean the kit cannot equip those items and cannot gain proficiency in them; integers from 1 to 5 will allow the kit to equip those weapons, and put a number of pips into those proficiencies equal to the number you set the variable to.
- Currently, the weapon groups are as follows: -- "Simple Weapons" = dagger, club, staff, spear, darts, and sling (and bullets). All kits can use these weapons, no matter what, even if the variable is set to 0. The variable is there so that you can set proficiency limits higher. -- "Medium Swords" = long sword, short sword, scimitar, wakizashi, and ninja-to. -- "Curved Swords" is not used. I left it there for now in case we want to change things. -- "Large Blades" = bastard sword, 2-handed sword, katana, and halberd. -- "Bludgeons" = the classic vanilla cleric weapons: mace, morning star, war hammer, and flail. -- "Axes" = axes. -- "Bows" = long bows, short bows, and arrows. -- "Crossbows" = crossbows and bolts.
@Grammarsalad and anyone else who wants to kick the tires,* let me know what you think. We've got the two new spheres there, bringing the total to 23; once we finalize these usability variables, we can go through all the kits and update them to account for this new stuff. Then it's just debug a few spells, and we can issue a proper new release.
* (Keeping in mind that these new variable differ from those in the compatibility packages in other mods like Might & Guile, Eldritch Magic, and Sandrah Saga... there will be compatibility issues until we finalize these variables and give new version of the compatibility package to those mods. If you are playing with them and need them to be totally compatible, stick with 0.64 for now.)
Just nitpicking here, but Halberds are more akin to Axes than to Blades. Adding them to that group is also a bit more "balanced" as there are some pretty decent 2-handed swords & katanas, but (AFAIK) not so many great Axes. Moreover, it also gives Axes a two-handed weapon.
I'd create a "Polearm" category which consists of spears, halberds, staff spears and the staff mace. Maybe grouping the remaining quarterstaffs in as well. This would make the most sense, as the actual 'blade' head of a halberd is about the size of a small hatchet.
It would also be nice to have Icewind Dale's two-handed axes distributed throughout BG:EE and BG2:EE. To flesh out the "Axes" category.
There are exactly 4 deities with greatword as favored weapon: Gwaeron Windstrom, Shaundakul, Torm and Haela Brightaxe. Giving their followers access to said weapon is fair. But I wouldn't give them halberds or other big weapons on top of that. Both for immersion and balance reasons.
On the other hand, Helm's weapon of chocie is a bastard sword, Gruumsh uses a spear, Tempus only uses battleaxes and The Red Knight has her trusted longsword. So I see no reason for their clerics to get access to greatswords either.
As for druids: given their druidic oath of never using metallic arms and armor, the Simple Weapon group doesn't really fit them. I feel that clubs, bows, quarterstaffs, spears, slings, as well as non-metallic maces and flails are nice choices for them. Scimitars, daggers and darts are weapon categories I wouldn't give them personally.
As for druids: given their druidic oath of never using metallic arms and armor, the Simple Weapon group doesn't really fit them. I feel that clubs, bows, quarterstaffs, spears, slings, as well as non-metallic maces and flails are nice choices for them. Scimitars, daggers and darts are weapon categories I wouldn't give them personally.
You just described everything in the 'simple weapons' category Well I guess except daggers and darts. Does the druid class text actually mention such an oath? I agree that druids using scimitars was a silly idea, but the vanilla game lets them use daggers right? I'm wary of taking a class with very severe restrictions and restricting them even more...
The Druids "natural/non-metallic" restriction only applies to armor.
Neither the 2E or 3E weapon restriction for Druids is about "natural" or "non-metal" weapons, just that they are limited to: "club, sickle, dart, spear, dagger, scimitar, sling, and staff".
Tweaks Anthology has a component that lets you wield axes (battle axes, not hand/throwing axes) two-handedly. Which is nice. Really diversifies the axe proficiency. So that's something.
Tried install the 0.70b (option 2) with BWS (manually pause the installation before MnG) and error occured, I attached herewith the DEBUG file for your reference.
I also got a 0.69h and 0.70 copy and both can be installed successfully.
Finch NPC, priestess of Deneir, scholar - he mod contents is deeply related to Deneir but the choice options for a deity for her are obscure for a neutral good gnome (Kelemvor or Leira?). It should be Deneir or at least Oghma, her domain is wisdom, books, lore, knowledge etc. In her quest she collects books for a library. Problem is if you don't assign her some really unmatching deity, she doe not function as cleric.
Actually, can you tell me the nane(s) of the Finch .CRE files copied in by the mod?
Sufinch1.cre Sufinch2.cre Sufinch4.cre, neutral good. Additional remark - I have an EET install, Finch installs in BGEE prior EET, while F&P installs on BG2EE side.
Comments
Was this intended?
Thinking forward to BG2, as regards to the mystic class kits, what happens to strongholds? The alienists would definitely seem strange with a druid stronghold.
And as to the strongholds?
I could image some far out stuff for the alienists.
It would also be nice to have Icewind Dale's two-handed axes distributed throughout BG:EE and BG2:EE. To flesh out the "Axes" category.
On the other hand, Helm's weapon of chocie is a bastard sword, Gruumsh uses a spear, Tempus only uses battleaxes and The Red Knight has her trusted longsword. So I see no reason for their clerics to get access to greatswords either.
As for druids: given their druidic oath of never using metallic arms and armor, the Simple Weapon group doesn't really fit them. I feel that clubs, bows, quarterstaffs, spears, slings, as well as non-metallic maces and flails are nice choices for them. Scimitars, daggers and darts are weapon categories I wouldn't give them personally. Not that I'm aware of... no.
Neither the 2E or 3E weapon restriction for Druids is about "natural" or "non-metal" weapons, just that they are limited to: "club, sickle, dart, spear, dagger, scimitar, sling, and staff".
BTW, I always felt that 2E's hard-weapon limitations were silly to begin with.
Tweaks Anthology has a component that lets you wield axes (battle axes, not hand/throwing axes) two-handedly. Which is nice. Really diversifies the axe proficiency. So that's something.
I also got a 0.69h and 0.70 copy and both can be installed successfully.
Finch NPC, priestess of Deneir, scholar - he mod contents is deeply related to Deneir but the choice options for a deity for her are obscure for a neutral good gnome (Kelemvor or Leira?). It should be Deneir or at least Oghma, her domain is wisdom, books, lore, knowledge etc. In her quest she collects books for a library.
Problem is if you don't assign her some really unmatching deity, she doe not function as cleric.
Additional remark - I have an EET install, Finch installs in BGEE prior EET, while F&P installs on BG2EE side.