Is there a way to remove the hardcap at 25 for the main character?

Arthas

I'm referring to the stats department.

The maximum seems to be 25 for every attribute. But I want way more (Especially to justify taking a barbarian over a berserker). I don't want part of my rage to become useless after BG2

GreenWarlock

It is not clear what a stat over 25 would mean. In D&D second edition, 25 stats were used to represent the most ultimate stat value of pantheon's most potent deity in that stat - these are from mortal PC values. As the most potent deities in the whole multiverse would barely achieve a 25 stat, there was never a need to provide values and bonuses for a 26...

Arthas

but ingame I seem to remember that via shadowkeeper yagashura had stats superior to 25. Was I wrong?

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Troodon80

The engine is hardcapped at 25 for all primary stats; strength, charisma, wisdom, etc. It wouldn't be impossible for someone to use a hex editor to increase that limit, though, assuming they knew where to look. :-)

(Though, one should not tinker with the executable)

Aquadrizzt

If you're worried about the STR bonus being useless, maybe you could change the Barbarian rage to give THAC0/damage bonuses rather than a bonus to Str.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Ammar

subtledoctor said:

Even better: remove all of the cheese-tactic sources of ridiculous stat boosts that Bioware shoveled into the game like sugar into their morning coffee.

You find a Tome that increases your manual dexterity, making you more graceful and hard to hit; or that makes you healthier and tougher; etc. Of course Charname immediately gobbled them down, becoming godlike without ever really earning it. But let me ask you something: why haven't anyone else already used these Tomes??? Why are they waiting around for Charname to come murder them and take the stat boost? Wouldn't a stat boost maybe make it more likely they could survive Charnsne's assault? From a story perspective, the whole thing is stupid.

As a technical matter, I might suggest two alternatives:

1) Increase the stat boost to +2, but only for a duration of 2 turns, usable once per day. Now you're more likely to spread them around and have different party members use them.

2) Change the stat boosts to some other kind of bonus. Have the STR Tome give permanent +1 damage; the DEX Tome permanent -1 AC; the CON Tome permanent +5 hp; the INT Tome +1 1st and 2nd level arcane spell slot; the WIS Tome ditto for divine spells; and the CHA Tome... hmm, maybe +1 Luck?

Maybe even do the same thing for the Watcher's Keep machine. Why not be more creative than simply giving boring stat boosts? This way you could amass lots of cool bonuses for your PC, but stuff like Barbarian Rage or DUHM would still be meaningful.

"What?" you say, "Subtledoctor, why don't you make that mod?"

Fine.

With the exception of STR, the effect of +1 to a stat is pretty small. Your CON Tome is more powerful for a non-fighter class PC than the original. The DEX Tome is also competive. +1 to Luck is pretty hefty bonus and would do more to make you godlike than +1 Cha.

Anyway, Stat Tomes are a classic D&D treasure as are Girdles of Giant Strength. I prefer my game close to P&P, so I am fine with that - even though the stat tomes are too plentiful. If the same amount was distributed about the entire trilogy it would make more sense.

But in exchange there are other classic stat increase methods not implemented in the game, such as Wishes.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

BillyYank

Instead of +1 to luck, how about +1 to saves against Enchantment spells, reflecting an increase in the power of your personality. Or maybe a -1 to saves against the character's enchantments.

GreenWarlock

The stat boosts are really only broken because:
i) infinite rerolls mean the PC is often overpowered to begin with
ii) moving stat points freely means that PCs often have a silly number of 18 stats that immediately boost to godly
iii) BG1 incentivizes putting all boosts on PC, if playing into the next game and beyond

Over the length of a PnP campaign of the scope of the BG series, I would certainly expect several stat boosts in the key stats of party members - and they would be very memorable events. Providing all 6 tomes gives the player great flexibility in which stats are boosted, not favoring any one class - but the incentive to place them all on the PC makes it much less interesting. The extra wisdom tomes might be excessive, but I don't hear many rants of how broken the bonus spells of 20+ wisdom clerics/druids are, so I guess that works out fine.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Djinn

subtledoctor said:

A more radical idea: make all the books the same. They will open a dialogue saying that you can choose to boost any one of your stats. BUT once any player uses a Tome, that character cannot use any more Tomes. It's a one-time change, offered by multiple items. This way you can boost the stat that's most important to you, and you will have a reason to give other tomes to other characters.

That is an excellent idea! Less cheese, more fun!