Intelligent Weapon Mod

Tome

Hey everyone! I'm new to BG, but I'm fairly familiar with the Forgotten Realms. I hope to learn how to mod the Infinity Engine and create a sentient weapon somewhat similar to Khazid'hea from R.A Salvatore's novels. To this end, I have a few questions to ask you all.

-How would you suggest I get myself into modding?

-How difficult would it be for me to create a talking weapon?

-Do you have any suggestions for a suitable place to introduce the weapon in BG 1? (please keep spoilers to a minimum, I'm hoping to run through BG: EE as blind as possible)

-How difficult would it be for me to import progress with the blade into BG 2?

Basically, my plan is to make a living weapon obsessed with justice (sick of the 'cursed weapon thirsting for murder' stereotype, although I acknowledge that my concept is little better) with three quests attached to it. The first quest centers around obtaining the blade, the second about befriending/subjugating the blade and the final quest will focus on hunting down the weapon's creator.

Final question: Is this a concept that anyone would actually like to see in the game?

Thank you very, very much to anyone who can help me.

Brude

Can't speak to any question but your last: if it's possible, I'd love to see a talking weapon in the game.

One variant: It'd be funny if it was a cursed item that raised your thac0 and then proceeded to tease you for missing your swings.

Tome

Heh, that would be funny indeed. If this turns out to be viable, I may add a few talking weapons without the background story, just a few lines scattered throughout the game/yelled out while fighting. Have you got any suggestions for stats? At the moment I'm probably going to make it start off as a relatively average weapon that becomes powerful after the second quest is completed, and then an endgame weapon after the final quest is completed. (with more potential for upgrading in BG2/ToB)

SFisch

I would recommend downloading DLTCEP as well as Near Infinity. There are plenty of tutorials on how to create items/conversations/install them into the game. Luckily, you have a perfect model to learn from. In Near Infinity, you can look up Lilarcor and learn how the scripts work. If you have any more specific questions, I'd be happy to help if I can!

DLTCEP: http://forums.gibberlings3.net/index.php?app=downloads&showcat=58
Near Infinity: https://github.com/FredrikLindgren/NearInfinity/downloads
Tutorial Index: http://modlist.pocketplane.net/index.php?ax=list&cat_id=106

Tome

@SFisch Thank you very much! I'll be sure to take a look at them.

artificial_sunlight

You have one user for your mod if you make the weapons not to overpowerd, give them a little background and make them hard to get. We need some low power magical weapons in BG1, like Club +1 simitar+1 small shield+1 That are weapons that are hard to get/unavailable most time in bg1

CWheezy

I would enjoy a quest weapon that scales with the adventure.

Things like flail of the ages was awesome, because it starts awesome and stays awesome, while a lot of fun items get outclassed

Tome

Thanks for the comments guys! Still haven't started any work on the game itself (waiting for release in case something with the mod tools changes) but I have a vague concept for stats and the first quest, if you're interested.


Quest 1: In the town of Beregost, you meet an old, well-traveled adventurer, preparing to attack a group of bandits. He offers to let you accompany him, but he seems like he's hiding something. You meet at the camp, preparing for an ambush, when the adventurer goes into a rage and charges into the fray. You can choose to go in after him or watch him die, but to continue the quest after that the bandits must be killed one way or another.

He is resurrected by his blade if he dies, and he reveals that his katana, Alora, is a sentient blade-the reason that he went into such a rage was because the sword has such a thirst for the blood of evildoers, and the adventurer's aging mind is not strong enough to resist the blade. Despite the fact that the sword is capable of healing him from many injuries, he wishes to get rid of it because it will not allow him to settle down and give up the way of the sword. Alora, impressed by your battle prowess, offers itself to you. If you accept the offer, you obtain the following glorious weapon:

Alora (Katana)
Damage: 1-10
Speed: 4
Weight: 6
Thaco: +0
Ability: You can memorize one extra first level spell. The weapon deals 2-11 damage against evildoers.

Alora will cry out in battle, and will have a few lines of banter with each companions. Nothing special, just insulting evil companions and encouraging everyone to kill more villains. (Minsc might agree. :P)

I think that's pretty reasonable statistically, but the second quest will enhance Alora to a +1 Katana!

Alora (Katana +1)
Damage: 2-11
Speed: 3
Weight: 5
Thaco: +1
Ability: You can memorize one extra first level spell and one extra second level spell. The weapon deals 3-12 damage against evildoers. Alora now has a 20% chance to deal 1 more damage on hit.

The final quest will bring Alora up to a Katana +2.

Alora (Katana +2)
Damage: 3-12
Speed: 2
Weight: 4
Thaco: +2
Ability: You can memorize two extra first level spells and one extra second level spell. The weapon deals 4-13 damage against evildoers. Alora now has a 20% chance to deal 5 more damage on hit.

This is as strong as Alora will get in BG: EE, but there'll be a couple more quests involving it in BG 2 and ToB! Any balance suggestions will be much appreciated.

Tome

Also, a couple of questless items that I thought you guys might like:

Whisper (Dagger +1)
Damage: 1-4
Speed: 1
Weight: 1
Thaco: +1
Ability: 5 Poison Damage per round and miscast magic on target.

Whisper is a dagger with a long and often tragic history-however, due to the insidious whispers of the small blade, which endlessly seeks a more powerful wielder, this history will likely never come to light. Whisper can be found on a corpse hidden somewhere in the wilds. It is silent outside of combat, but will often give you less-than-helpful advice while you're fighting for your life. (Whisper: Perhaps you should surrender? I'm sure these charming creatures will be gracious enough to show you mercy)

Smasher (Battle Axe +1)
Damage: 2-9
Speed: 6
Weight: 7
Thaco: +1
Ability: Smasher has a 30% chance to cause 6 poison damage per round for 2 rounds.

This rusty old axe was once something special, you can tell. As the enchantments fade, the axe's mind too has faded and as a result, Smasher desires only to destroy that which it's master commands it to.

Tharos (shield +1)
AC: 2
Weight: 3
Ability: plus 20% fire resistance, plus 20% cold resistance

Once the shield of a powerful adventurer, this magical shield was enchanted to protect the mighty Tharos from both extremes. Unfortunately, it provided no resistance to a knife in the back. The shield, now bearing the name of it's deceased master, does not speak often, but it may occasionally offer some advice about an area.

Drugar

Looks interesting. A few comments;

Alora is already the name of one of the NPC's in Baldur's Gate 1, the halfling thief you find in the Hall of Wonders. Having a weapon with the same name is confusing and superfluous.
In order for a weapon to have any magical capabilities (such as sentience or giving bonus spells) it always needs to have a +1 bonus, otherwise it counts as non-magical.
You may want to stick to the dice system when determining damage, or your weapon is using a different system than every other weapon in the game. So not 4-13 extra damage but 3d4 (changing it to 3-12 damage but at least it's consistent).
You say the sword is capable of healing him of many injuries, but the sword does not actually have any healing powers. It gives bonus spells but since clerics or even fighter/clerics can not use katana's, it would have to be used by a Fighter/Wizard, who doesn't have healing spells. This is also the only class capable of using the blade to its potential, limiting its use.
Then again, 1d10+2 damage, plus 3d4 bonus damage vs evil opponents (97% of enemies in the game) automaticly makes it the most powerful weapon in the game even without the bonus spells. Even the lvl1 version is already better than any weapon you find in Baldur's Gate 1.

Suggestion:
Change the lvl1 version to
+1 Katana, 1d10+1 damage, offers occasional advice.
lvl2:
+1 Katana, 1d10+1 damage, +1d4 vs evil enemies, offers occasional advice
lvl3:
+2 Katana, 1d10+2 damage, +1d4 vs evil enemies, casts Cure Moderate Wounds 2/day, offers occasional advice.

It's still in the top-tier of weapons of BG1, but it's not longer the vastly overpowered damage monster of the original, which did 7-25 damage against practicly every enemy even without any other bonuses, like gauntlets of weapon specialisation, Strength bonuses or weapon proficiency bonuses (which could easily top it to 16-34 damage per hit).
With the healing instead of the bonus spells per day, it's also a bit more useful all around.

Miloch

There are a number of talking weapon mods, mostly in the older and larger megamods. They aren't as popular these days due to the necessity of bloating the global (constantly running) script baldur.bcs which can tend to lag the game or prevent other blocks from executing. There is also a talking weapon in BG2 (forget its name offhand) so you can look there for examples. I think a katana +2 that lets you memorise extra spells and deals 3d4 extra damage is overpowered for BG1, perhaps Drugar's suggestion is a bit more reasonable but should only be available late in the game, e.g. in TotSC or so.

mlnevese

@Miloch You're thinking about the Two Handed Sword Lilarcor. It had quite a few interesting dialogues with Minsc as well.

Tome

Thank you to all three of you for the comments/constructive criticism.

Miloch: I remember Trent saying that load times were almost non-existent in the new version, so perhaps lag won't be an issue any more?

Drugar: My apologies for expressing myself so vaguely, I took the numbers from a site listing damage ranges for BG weapons (as I said before, I'm new to BG). However, I did mean 1-10 damage overall, not additional. (1d10+1 is the same thing as 2-12, I think, so my numbers there were actually correct) Basically, the increase against evildoers was only +1, not 3d4.

I'll take your advice for rebalancing stats, how is this (pretty much the same as yours):

Paxia (Katana +1)
Damage: 1d10+1
Speed: 3
Weight: 5
Thaco: +1
Ability: The weapon deals +1 (so total damage is 1d10 +1) damage against evildoers.

Rank 2:

Paxia (Katana +1)
Damage: 1d10+1
Speed: 3
Weight: 5
Thaco: +1
Ability: You may cast Cure Light Wounds once per day and Cure Medium Wounds once per day. The weapon deals +1 (so total damage is 1d10 +1) damage against evildoers.

Rank 3:

Paxia (Katana +2)
Damage: 1d10+2
Speed: 3
Weight: 5
Thaco: +2
Ability: You may cast Cure Medium wounds twice per day. The weapon deals +1d4 (so total damage is 1d10 +2+(1 to 4) (essentially 4-16 damage)) against evildoers.

OR

Unitas (Katana +2)
Damage: 1d10+2
Speed: 3
Weight: 5
Thaco: +2
Ability: You may memorize two additional 1st levels spells every day. The weapon deals +1d4 (so total damage is 1d10 +2+(1 to 4) (essentially 4-16 damage)) against Chaotic characters.

OR

Bellum (Katana +2)
Damage: 1d10+2
Speed: 3
Weight: 5
Thaco: +2
Ability: You may cast Lightning Bolt twice per day. The weapon deals +1d4 (so total damage is 1d10 +2+(1 to 4) (essentially 4-16 damage)) against Good characters.

OR

Seditus (Katana +2)
Damage: 1d10+2
Speed: 3
Weight: 5
Thaco: +2
Ability: You deal an additional +1d4 damage. The weapon deals +1d4 (so total damage is 1d10 +2+(1 to 4) (essentially 4-16 damage)) against beings of order.

Basically, Seditus is for melee fighters, Bellum and Paxia are for everyone and Unitas is for mages.

This will probably be quite a bit more work, but I had always planned to make the final form alter depending on your choices in the quest. Any further balancing advice would be much appreciated.

Miloch

Tome said:

Miloch: I remember Trent saying that load times were almost non-existent in the new version, so perhaps lag won't be an issue any more?

Load time is different from script run times. The latter will always be an issue, though some people think it isn't because everyone has the latest greatest machine (everyone doesn't though). There are ways to get around it. Possibly the new engine or ToBEx could implement an effect that simulates dialogue/script for a weapon.

Unitas (Katana +2)
Damage: 1d10+2
Speed: 3
Weight: 5
Thaco: +2
Ability: You may memorize two additional 1st levels spells every day. The weapon deals +1d4 (so total damage is 1d10 +2+(1 to 4) (essentially 4-16 damage)) against Chaotic characters.

This is overpowered in my opinion, particularly for BG1, most especially for a mage weapon. Why a katana? A dagger would be more appropriate. Basically, as it is, it combines one of the most damaging swords in the game with a ring of wizardry and an extra bonus vs. at least 1/3 of enemies *and* lets a mage use it. Why have a fighter when you can have a mage with this weapon?

Tome

Thank you for your feedback, Miloch. We'll have to wait and see for the first issue, naturally. There's not really much I can do about it, so I'm afraid that's going to have to wait until BG:EE comes out. (that's why I'm waiting for the release to start looking at actually creating the mod, to see how things have changed)

As for the second issue, I don't think two more 1st level spells is quite the same as doubling them (except at low levels and rest assured, low levels will struggle to obtain any of the final forms of this weapon)! :P I may nerf the additional damage to a flat 1 bonus and/or reduce the additional spell bonus to 1, but other than that I don't think I'll be changing it any further, especially as you'll need to pretty much complete Durlag's Tower to finish the final quest.

Thanks for your time!

Tome

Just a quick update on this: I'm still learning how to mod, so the Intelligent Weapon itself is still on hold. However, I'm still planning on creating a mini-item pack (for release before/during February, if all goes well) that fills some of the item gaps in BG:EE as a sort of tutorial for myself. Any suggestions would be welcome!

CoM_Solaufein

http://www.teambg.org/tutorials/index6ef86ef8.html?page=opentut&tutID=31

Talking items tutorial. A little outdated with the tools it mentions, just make sure you use a newer tool like DLTCEP, Near Infinity, Weidu.

Tome

Thank you very much, that could be really helpful! After looking at the items available in BG:EE, I've come up with a rebalanced version of the Intelligent Weapon. I will probably have an alternate version with bonus spells.

Chaos (Longsword+1)
Damage: 1d8+1
Speed: 4
Weight: 4
Thaco: +1
Ability: You may cast Shocking Grasp twice per day. While equipped, you are immune to Hold.

Order (Longsword +1)
Damage: 1d8+1
Speed: 4
Weight: 4
Thaco: +1
Ability: You may cast Chill Touch twice per day. While equipped, you are immune to Fear.

In hindsight, making them katanas was pretty much just for Rule of Cool. I'll sting to longswords for now, although I may make a sentient neutral Katana later.

Chaos is (unsurprisingly) a Chaotic Evil weapon, but the twist is that it's actually pretty polite.
Order is the opposite, a Lawful Good weapon that's extremely violent.