Actually no, the classes and such are in the game - I would love it if the engine was more amenable to letting us apply house rules, to make more and more significant changes to classes. But alas, the engine is old and stuff and creaky.
That doesn't impose any obligations on me, does it? I'm doing what I can to make playing magic-users (wizards, sorcerers...) more interesting, any way I can. It'll probably take more than a handful of new spells. It'll take a few handfuls. And how I wish I could make those spells do more, or that the engine was more amenable. Well, this is what it CAN do, at least. Preconceptions about good design, well-worn ideas about classes made distinct by their handicaps - those things I have no respect for, any more than if someone advised me to walk like everyone else - on a pair of crutches.
Why not throw away the wizard and the sorcerer and make a new mage class? There are several reasons.
1) Because I don't have the skills for such an overhaul.
2) Because it would turn away players who like the wizard and the sorcerer much more than anything I might do with spells or scrolls, and I would lose 90% of audience - just another crazy self-serving mod.
3) Because it would miss the point. It would fail to change what should be changed and discard what is to some extent valuable. The bookish wizard is not hopeless. And, grumble as I might about Personality magic, I understand that this idea too has a basis in the mythical reality, only it has found expression in D&D in an echoed, confused and weak form, and popular concepts about it go wide of the target. Talents don't preclude learning, not even from books, but there is a broader array of sources one could learn from to develop. I've mentioned a few possibilities already, but there is no way I could unfold them in these games even with a top-notch engine and advanced skills, and all the time in the world. I can only invite you to re-open a Fritz Leiber book or go through Howard's tales of Conan ("The Hour of the Dragon" is the most splendid example) to get a feeling for how rich, exciting and varied wizardry can be. Roger Zelazny's "Changeling" is a not-bad attempt at Personality magic - and, by the way, conveys a sense of how desperately impossible it would be to have something like that in an RPG. A real attempt at either would require entire game worlds, maybe even the whole D&D game to be reconceived before even setting down to code. It's beyond possible.
Therefore, any class replacement I could try here, with these worlds and cogs we are given, would be a sham, a pretended novelty that would only redistribute power without looking at its origins, conditions or meaning. And there are already enough mods that do that (not to mention any names). The solution, then, is to do the opposite - refrain from sweeping but superficial changes (moth, stop beating on the lamp shade) and work more or less within the existing system, where it suits me, but offer options not explored before. All this, of course, is much easier to say than to impress players held fast by nostalgia and jaded after a slew of mods that only attempt to tweak the game this way or that. It has been tweaked so much, it's twitching. As you can see in this thread, it is very difficult to explain even the concept of a change that is not some kind of preference tweak. I've given up the explaining, it sounds like drawing on credit I won't be able to repay. I'm only telling you all this out of respect for yourself and because you've shown me the ropes of Weidu a while ago.
4) The final reason is simply that, other things being equal, a new class isn't necessary for what I wish to do. I don't like the memorization system much, but neither does it bother me greatly; it adds a degree of depth, though not of the right kind. The sorcerer is overpowered only compared to the other classes, but you don't have to compare him to them. Play him as you wish, not as the imperfect mechanics tell you to. If you think that the sorcerer should not get his spells of choice for free, choose a second-rate spell sometimes and pretend to yourself this was all that was available. Don't turn him into a walking cannon and don't ask for "best spells for Sorcerer" on the board. I'm not saying that you do that yourself, but others - yes, they do it, and they cheat themselves as a result. In general, players of these games that I see here are far too out-of-character, too obsessed with winning - even though the 2nd Edition PHB states loud and clear in the very beginning that one doesn't "beat" a role-playing game. With that I agree entirely. And as modders we should instead strive to bring more fantasy, mystery, ideas, situations to the games, just plain fun - as much as we can. We owe nothing to bad mechanics, or to bad pen-and-paper design, or to bad assumptions in people's heads. It's in this sense that I say that classes and balance don't exist. They don't matter in themselves. They aren't bad - they aren't good - they are just like stones on the road. Kick them, admire them, build a house out of them, try not to trip over other people if you move them, anything you want - just don't set them up as idols to be attended, prayed to and polished.
Also, the whole proposal stems from your desire to keep these spells out of the IDS table, which I confess I don't understand. I advised caution when dealing with IDS entries, but not abstinence. If there is a reason to add a new spell to the IDS table - and, wanting sorcerers to be able to cast it is a good reason - then you might as well add it.
I think you must understand why by now. Because I don't want to make any changes that will achieve nothing really important but MAY get me bogged down in compatibility issues, systemic changes, Weidu coding and other profound-sounding matters that could very well be bad for the mod and would waste a lot of my time. I don't need most IDS files, only, perhaps, some IDS-changing code for projectiles and such; or perhaps I'll leave even that as a manual change. Edit a few files at install. Going deep is not always a good idea. Remember how I suggested that simply doing spell lists for the different priest Spheres, and inscribing them via triggers, would be the easiest way to give priest characters their due spell selection? It really would be. Straight into the book. I understand that plunging into the guts of the engine, finding smart solutions can become a pleasure in its own right: idea, error, correction, new idea, breakthrough, setback, discussing progress on the forums, getting praise and feedback that leads to another idea... It's a rush. And I'm very impressed that you can indeed figure out a way to bind the "iron" to your will. I wouldn't be able to do that in a million years - not that I would want to spend them that way. I think, however, that we should keep our discipline up and leave alone as much as we can: the engine, classes, existing spells... Just leave alone everything, even if it's imperfect, but what has to be changed to give players a new and fun experience, in the most direct way possible.
And, as it happens, that means scrolls sorcerers could use.
On-topic, regarding sorcerers who can learn from scrolls some people may like it and other dislike it and imo every opinion is fine. But from the balance point of view there is a thing to tell. The fact that in vanilla they can learn only a certain number of spells is only one of the things that compensate their versatility in using the known spells in battle, the other is that they can not dual or multi class, and this alone helps in balancing them against the wizards.
You all remind me of those people on a bus who complain to the driver when he drives them past the stop, and he says "There is that BUTTON over there! Push it if you want me to stop!" But the idea that whether they end up in the right place or in the wrong place is up to them is not something they can wrap their minds around. They don't see the bus for what it is, the driver for what he is, they have a glittering vision of proper transportation, and they will debate that ideal and protest to Transportation Authority sooner than learn to get up and walk off.
Well, if my explanations go this wide of understanding, you won't see me doing any more.
To @subtledoctor : I may underestimate many things when it comes to this engine, but adding spells directly IS easy. Here is what you do: make a talking item with several identical reply lines, all of which say "Pray for divine favor." Each one has a trigger in front: if priest character level equals 1, 3, 5 and so on - for every character level when a priest is supposed to obtain new spells. 7 priest spell levels, 7 reply lines. The reply lines THEN DO each fire a spell at the PC, and that spell contains Learn Spell effects for all of the newly accessed level's spells you want the priest to have. 7 levels of priest spells - 7 SPL files to make that will put the spells in his spell book.
This is without Spheres. With Spheres, it gets a bit more complicated, because you would have to set a number of Globals, as many as there are Spheres open to the given priest kit, at the start of the game. Set Protection to 1, Healing to 1, Sun to 0 and so on, as fits the kit. The reply lines for the item would then have those Globals as extra triggers in front of them. The SPL would have appropriate spells, maybe no spells for an empty Sphere. You would, for example, put in the SPL triggered by a level 3, Sun-enabled reply line all spells that you feel should be spell level 3 and of the Sun Sphere. Each SPL would be like a pocket. And you could expand the contents, put more in the pockets, later - any time somebody invented new priest spells, or imported some from another IE game and so on. You would just add Learn Spell effects for them. No IDS struggle, no trade-offs, no existential angst.
I'm not saying setting all this up wouldn't be very boring and time-consuming work, but it's completely straightforward. There are some minor issues I can think of, but they ARE minor, and could be countered or tolerated.
Here is another idea for sorcerers. Not what I'm going to do, but it crossed my mind as an alternative to scroll learning. Maybe they could learn magic from being exposed to it? Experience it first-hand. This plays rather well to the tune of discovering your self through adventures, better than "These spells just pop in my mind." All it takes is putting an indirect Learn Spell effect inside a Fireball. You want to know how to throw fire? Get a feel for it! Since some spells only affect enemies, a determined sorcerer would have to practically seek those who can let him taste Confusion etc. Masochistic? Yes, but they are strange types, these natural romantics... Want to experience everything first-hand...
My kind of magician.
If you are curious where I am vis-a-vis scrolls in my mod, I should tell you that learning a spell turns out to come with a repeating XP reward. You don't see in a regular game, but a character can be made to learn a spell over and over again, and every time he gets the XP for it. And since I had to look for roundabout ways to scribe scrolls for sorcerers, through outside Learn Spell effects, this becomes an issue without a mess of fence Globals. So what I might do is forbid sorcerers to use the same scroll more than once - so basically just let them learn from the scrolls, and then they are on their own. Less bookish this way, too.
Copy+Paste into text editor, SaveAs "Whatever.tp2" Grab copy of Weidu, rename "Setup-Whatever.exe" Run in game folder. Caveats: - Scrolls must be unstacked before learning spells(or the whole stack will be lost). - Mage's learn chance is obtained at installation, changes to INTMOD need to be done prior. - Maximum number of spells per spell level is lost, but spell levels will still have minimum INT requirements. - Specialists, and only specialists, get their +/-15% learn chance. Trueclass Mages, other mage kits, and Bards of any kind do not have any bonus/penalty. - Sorcerers have no learn chance, replacement is always successful. - Sorcerers may only replace a spell if a scroll exists to learn that spell - they cannot replace irreplaceable spells. Spells on the Hidespl list are also excluded. - v2.+ only. Code:
BACKUP ~SCROLL_SCRIBEDIALOGUE~
AUTHOR ~none~
VERSION ~1.0~
BEGIN ~Allow Sorcerer's to replace Known Spells through Scrolls~
CLEAR_ARRAYS
OUTER_SET learn = RESOLVE_STR_REF(~Learn~)
COPY_EXISTING ~HIDESPL.2da~ override
COUNT_2DA_COLS col COUNT_2DA_ROWS col num_rows value = 0
FOR (i = 0; i < num_rows; ++i) BEGIN
READ_2DA_ENTRY i 0 col resource
READ_2DA_ENTRY i 1 col value
PATCH_IF (value = 1) BEGIN
INNER_ACTION BEGIN
OUTER_SET $ignore(~%resource%~) = 1
END
END
END
BUT_ONLY
OUTER_SET index = 0
OUTER_SET splidx = 0
COPY_EXISTING_REGEXP ~.*\.itm$~ override
READ_SHORT 0x1c category
PATCH_IF category = 11 BEGIN
READ_LONG 0x64 ab_off
READ_SHORT 0x68 ab_num
READ_SHORT 0x6a fx_off
FOR (i = 0; i < ab_num; ++i) BEGIN
READ_SHORT (ab_off + i * 0x38 + 0x1e) fx_num
READ_SHORT (ab_off + i * 0x38 + 0x20) fx_idx
FOR(j = 0; j < fx_num; ++j) BEGIN
READ_SHORT (fx_off + (j + fx_idx) * 0x30) opcode
PATCH_IF opcode = 147 BEGIN
READ_ASCII (fx_off + (j + fx_idx) * 0x30 + 0x14) resource
TO_UPPER resource
READ_BYTE 0x19 flag
WRITE_BYTE 0x19 (flag BOR 8)
SET j = fx_num SET i = ab_num
INNER_ACTION BEGIN
ACTION_IF !VARIABLE_IS_SET $ignore(~%resource%~) BEGIN
OUTER_SPRINT $itm(~%index%~) ~%SOURCE_RES%~
OUTER_SPRINT $res(~%index%~) ~%resource%~
OUTER_SET index += 1
ACTION_IF !VARIABLE_IS_SET $spl(~%resource%~) BEGIN
OUTER_SPRINT $spl(~%splidx%~) ~%resource%~
OUTER_SET $spl(~%resource%~) = 1
OUTER_SET splidx += 1
END
END
END
END
END
END
END
BUT_ONLY
OUTER_FOR (i = 1; i < 10; ++i) BEGIN
OUTER_SPRINT EVAL ~scrolldlg_%i%~
~~~~~BEGIN ~itemres~
IF ~Class(Myself,SORCERER)~ THEN BEGIN 0
SAY ~Which spell will you replace?~
~~~~~
END
OUTER_FOR (i = 0; i < splidx; ++i) BEGIN
OUTER_SPRINT file EVAL $spl(~%i%~)
COPY_EXISTING_REGEXP ~%file%.spl~ override
READ_LONG NAME1 name
READ_LONG 0x34 level
READ_BYTE 0x25 school PATCH_IF school > 8 BEGIN school = 0 END
TO_UPPER SOURCE_RES
INNER_ACTION BEGIN
OUTER_SET $lvl(~%SOURCE_RES%~) = level
OUTER_SET $sch(~%SOURCE_RES%~) = school
CREATE SPL VERSION ~V1 ~ ~d%SOURCE_RES%~
INSERT_BYTES (0x72) 0x28
WRITE_BYTE (0x72 + 0x0) 1 WRITE_BYTE (0x72 + 0x2) 4 WRITE_BYTE (0x72 + 0xc) 5
WRITE_SHORT (0x72 + 0x10) 1 WRITE_SHORT 0x68 1 WRITE_LONG 0x6a (0x72 + 0x28)
LPF ADD_SPELL_EFFECT INT_VAR opcode = 172 target = 1 STR_VAR resource = EVAL ~%SOURCE_RES%~ END
OUTER_SPRINT EVAL ~scrolldlg_%level%~ EVAL ~~~~~%scrolldlg_%level%%
IF ~HaveKnownSpellRES("%SOURCE_RES%")~ THEN REPLY #%name% DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") ApplySpellRES("d%SOURCE_RES%",Myself) DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT~~~~~
END
BUT_ONLY
END
OUTER_FOR (i = 1; i < 10; ++i) BEGIN
OUTER_SPRINT EVAL ~scrolldlg_%i%~ EVAL ~~~~~%scrolldlg_%i%%
IF ~~ THEN REPLY ~Cancel~ DO ~~ EXIT
END~~~~~
END
COPY_EXISTING ~INTMOD.2DA~ override
COUNT_2DA_COLS cols
COUNT_2DA_ROWS cols rows
FOR (i = 0; i < rows; ++i) BEGIN
READ_2DA_ENTRY i 0 cols value
READ_2DA_ENTRY i 1 cols chance
INNER_ACTION BEGIN
OUTER_SET $int(~%value%~) = chance
END
END
BUT_ONLY
OUTER_FOR (i = 0; i < index; ++i) BEGIN
OUTER_SPRINT itm EVAL $itm(~%i%~)
OUTER_SPRINT res EVAL $res(~%i%~)
OUTER_SET lvl = $lvl(~%res%~)
OUTER_SET school = $sch(~%res%~)
ACTION_IF school = 1 BEGIN OUTER_SET opp_1 = 2**(5 + 2) OUTER_SET opp_2 = 2**(5 + 3) OUTER_SET opp_3 = 2**(5 + 4) OUTER_SET opp_4 = 2**(5 + 5) OUTER_SET opp_5 = 2**(5 + 6) OUTER_SET opp_6 = 2**(5 + 7) OUTER_SET opp_7 = 2**(5 + 8) END // Abjuration -> Transmutation
ACTION_IF school = 2 BEGIN OUTER_SET opp_1 = 2**(5 + 1) OUTER_SET opp_2 = 2**(5 + 4) OUTER_SET opp_3 = 2**(5 + 5) OUTER_SET opp_4 = 2**(5 + 6) OUTER_SET opp_5 = 2**(5 + 7) OUTER_SET opp_6 = 2**(5 + 8) OUTER_SET opp_7 = 2**(5 + 3) END // Conjuration -> Divination
ACTION_IF school = 3 BEGIN OUTER_SET opp_1 = 2**(5 + 1) OUTER_SET opp_2 = 2**(5 + 4) OUTER_SET opp_3 = 2**(5 + 5) OUTER_SET opp_4 = 2**(5 + 6) OUTER_SET opp_5 = 2**(5 + 7) OUTER_SET opp_6 = 2**(5 + 8) OUTER_SET opp_7 = 2**(5 + 2) END // Divination -> Conjuration
ACTION_IF school = 4 BEGIN OUTER_SET opp_1 = 2**(5 + 1) OUTER_SET opp_2 = 2**(5 + 2) OUTER_SET opp_3 = 2**(5 + 3) OUTER_SET opp_4 = 2**(5 + 5) OUTER_SET opp_5 = 2**(5 + 7) OUTER_SET opp_6 = 2**(5 + 8) OUTER_SET opp_7 = 2**(5 + 6) END // Enchantment -> Evocation
ACTION_IF school = 5 BEGIN OUTER_SET opp_1 = 2**(5 + 1) OUTER_SET opp_2 = 2**(5 + 2) OUTER_SET opp_3 = 2**(5 + 3) OUTER_SET opp_4 = 2**(5 + 4) OUTER_SET opp_5 = 2**(5 + 6) OUTER_SET opp_6 = 2**(5 + 8) OUTER_SET opp_7 = 2**(5 + 7) END // Illusion -> Necromancy
ACTION_IF school = 6 BEGIN OUTER_SET opp_1 = 2**(5 + 1) OUTER_SET opp_2 = 2**(5 + 2) OUTER_SET opp_3 = 2**(5 + 3) OUTER_SET opp_4 = 2**(5 + 5) OUTER_SET opp_5 = 2**(5 + 7) OUTER_SET opp_6 = 2**(5 + 8) OUTER_SET opp_7 = 2**(5 + 4) END // Evocation -> Enchantment
ACTION_IF school = 7 BEGIN OUTER_SET opp_1 = 2**(5 + 1) OUTER_SET opp_2 = 2**(5 + 2) OUTER_SET opp_3 = 2**(5 + 3) OUTER_SET opp_4 = 2**(5 + 4) OUTER_SET opp_5 = 2**(5 + 6) OUTER_SET opp_6 = 2**(5 + 8) OUTER_SET opp_7 = 2**(5 + 5) END // Necromancy -> Illusion
ACTION_IF school = 8 BEGIN OUTER_SET opp_1 = 2**(5 + 2) OUTER_SET opp_2 = 2**(5 + 3) OUTER_SET opp_3 = 2**(5 + 4) OUTER_SET opp_4 = 2**(5 + 5) OUTER_SET opp_5 = 2**(5 + 6) OUTER_SET opp_6 = 2**(5 + 7) OUTER_SET opp_7 = 2**(5 + 1) END // Transmutation -> Abjuration
OUTER_SET school = 2**(school + 5)
OUTER_SET min = lvl * 2 ACTION_IF min < 9 BEGIN OUTER_SET min = 9 END
OUTER_SET state = 1
OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~%scrolldlg_%lvl%%~
OUTER_FOR (j = min; j < 26; ++j) BEGIN
OUTER_SET ltchnc = 100 - $int(~%j%~) ACTION_IF ltchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET ltchnc = 0 END
OUTER_SET gtchnc = ltchnc - 1 ACTION_IF gtchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET gtchnc = 0 END
OUTER_SET sltchnc = ltchnc - 15 ACTION_IF sltchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET sltchnc = 0 END
OUTER_SET sgtchnc = gtchnc - 15 ACTION_IF sgtchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET sgtchnc = 0 END
OUTER_SET oltchnc = gtchnc + 15 ACTION_IF oltchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET oltchnc = 0 END
OUTER_SET ogtchnc = ltchnc + 15 ACTION_IF ogtchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET ogtchnc = 0 END
ACTION_IF school > 32 BEGIN
OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg%
IF ~!Class(Myself,SORCERER) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) Kit(Myself,%school%) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state%
SAY ~Scribe Scroll?~
IF ~RandomNumGT(100,%sgtchnc%)~ THEN REPLY ~Yes~ DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT
IF ~RandomNumLT(100,%sltchnc%)~ THEN REPLY ~Yes~ DO ~DisplayString(Myself,10831) DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT
IF ~~ THEN REPLY ~No~ DO ~~ EXIT
END~~~~~
OUTER_SET state += 1
OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg%
IF ~!Class(Myself,SORCERER) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) OR(6) Kit(Myself,%opp_1%) Kit(Myself,%opp_2%)
Kit(Myself,%opp_3%) Kit(Myself,%opp_4%) Kit(Myself,%opp_5%) Kit(Myself,%opp_6%) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state%
SAY ~Scribe Scroll?~
IF ~RandomNumGT(100,%ogtchnc%)~ THEN REPLY ~Yes~ DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT
IF ~RandomNumLT(100,%oltchnc%)~ THEN REPLY ~Yes~ DO ~DisplayString(Myself,10831) DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT
IF ~~ THEN REPLY ~No~ DO ~~ EXIT
END~~~~~
OUTER_SET state += 1
OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg%
IF ~!Class(Myself,SORCERER) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) !Kit(Myself,%school%) !Kit(Myself,%opp_1%) !Kit(Myself,%opp_2%)
!Kit(Myself,%opp_3%) !Kit(Myself,%opp_4%) !Kit(Myself,%opp_5%) !Kit(Myself,%opp_6%) !Kit(Myself,%opp_7%) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state%
SAY ~Scribe Scroll?~
IF ~RandomNumGT(100,%gtchnc%)~ THEN REPLY ~Yes~ DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT
IF ~RandomNumLT(100,%ltchnc%)~ THEN REPLY ~Yes~ DO ~DisplayString(Myself,10831) DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT
IF ~~ THEN REPLY ~No~ DO ~~ EXIT
END~~~~~
OUTER_SET state += 1
END ELSE BEGIN
OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg%
IF ~!Class(Myself,SORCERER) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state%
SAY ~Scribe Scroll?~
IF ~RandomNumGT(100,%gtchnc%)~ THEN REPLY ~Yes~ DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT
IF ~RandomNumLT(100,%ltchnc%)~ THEN REPLY ~Yes~ DO ~DisplayString(Myself,10831) DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT
IF ~~ THEN REPLY ~No~ DO ~~ EXIT
END~~~~~
OUTER_SET state += 1
END
OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg%
IF ~Class(Myself,BARD_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state%
SAY ~Scribe Scroll?~
IF ~RandomNumGT(100,%gtchnc%)~ THEN REPLY ~Yes~ DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT
IF ~RandomNumLT(100,%ltchnc%)~ THEN REPLY ~Yes~ DO ~DisplayString(Myself,10831) DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT
IF ~~ THEN REPLY ~No~ DO ~~ EXIT
END~~~~~
OUTER_SET state += 1
END
OUTER_PATCH_SAVE tempdlg ~%patchdlg%~ BEGIN
REPLACE_TEXTUALLY ~resref~ ~%res%~
REPLACE_TEXTUALLY ~itemres~ ~%itm%~
END
<<<<<<<< ...%itm%.d
%tempdlg%
>>>>>>>>
COMPILE EVAL ~...%itm%.d~
APPEND ~ITEMDIAL.2DA~ ~%itm% %learn% %itm%~
END
CLEAR_ARRAYS
2) Yes, adding spells is trivially easy (and in fact your idea of using an item and a script is needlessly complex). Taking spells away from priests is quite another matter. Because adding them doesn't mean anything unless you first take them away. But then, you need to get through character generation. So you can't take them all away. And of course there is the Shaman kit, which will be broken by all of those manipulations. And then there are mod kits - anyone using my mod is (almost by definition) likely to use other mods as well, so we don't want my mod to break other is kits. And then there are mod spells. And differences between spells, and between versions of the same spell, across different games....
Etc. etc. etc.
Leave the All sphere enabled for the picks in the character generation. All priests have access to the All sphere. The Shaman (which is crap) may be compromised, and should probably not be a sub-type of cleric at all, compatibility with all other mods you can't guarantee, and there is no reason to, or even with the largest possible number of mods. I say above that I want my mod to be as broadly compatible as possible, the IDS thing is to get around one obvious limitation, but not at the expense of fun. The complex changes in mechanics you are laboring so hard at will involve you in even more changes, provisos and conditions; because it's an overhaul, but a simple add-on like what I suggest, or like my spell mod. You want to go deep, well, you'll end up pulling some roots. Why not let people pick and choose mods, admit that many kits won't be compatible, and uninstall them when they want something else?
So suppose that the Shaman gets hopelessly disrupted if you take all spells away. Well, so what? The player who installed the mod that did this obviously wasn't interested in the Shaman for this playthrough, if he read the warning. So let him enjoy the clerics with their sphere selection or a druid. Many other character classes will be left untouched for him to take up, if he wants to play a couple of characters at once. Not everybody, but - tough nuggies. Nobody can expect people to invest thousands of man-hours into covering every base. When he is done with the priest, let him uninstall the spheres mod and play the Shaman then, or something else. But you want Utopia - a glory land where everyone will get along at the price of some serious implied handicaps on what may and may not be done in a mod and how. Remember the prefixes argument? A perfect snapshot. Compatibility, your way, means deciding on a system everyone will use, and then playing by those rules, whether people like them or not. Stray at your own risk; no scrolls for sorcerers without making a whole new class! You don't want to take risks, and you won't allow others. Because if people knew when they could walk off the bus, your complicated bells and whistles would be obsolete.
1)You are at the beginning of a path 10 miles long, and only the first 10 yards are clearly visible. You see some "minor issues" in those first 10 yards and say "only a few minor issues! Clearly the rest of the path will be smooth sailing, because I don't perceive any issues except for these ones!"
On that 10-mile road, there is a hill in the beginning, an outlook point not everyone can climb to, but sometimes even newbies can. And from that hill they see that all of the really interesting stuff on that road is somewhere around mile 3, or off the road on little paths. The next 7 miles are for runaway steam-rollers and people who drive them or run in front of them.
Well, it's a possibility. I don't see a reason to bother limiting sorcerers to their number of spells through mechanics - I'm not afraid of myself - but why not. Only it adds text where text makes no meaningful impact, this copying should be done directly if possible... I guess it's not.
@kjeron , can you change that code so that the button automatically attempts a scribing for wizards and bards but shows this replacement dialogue for sorcerers? If it's so important to people that sorcerers don't get a broader variety of spells, if they actually enjoy being different by a handicap, why not let them. I can use this code for my scrolls... just a bit less text would be nice. Naturally, I'll mention your solution in the thanks.
@kjeron , can you change that code so that the button automatically attempts a scribing for wizards and bards but shows this replacement dialogue for sorcerers? If it's so important to people that sorcerers don't get a broader variety of spells, if they actually enjoy being different by a handicap, why not let them. I can use this code for my scrolls... just a bit less text would be nice. Naturally, I'll mention your solution in the thanks.
Dialogue cannot automatically execute actions, it requires player interaction, I think I could change it to not permit a Yes/No choice, but you would still have to press the "End Dialogue" button. I would have prefered to no even altered it for wizard/bards, except the 2 buttons use the same slot(dialogue/scribe) in the item description, and dialogue overrides scribe.
Its interesting to see your way of approaching this @kjeron, the Arcanist kit I'm releasing in the next update of Tome and Blood actually does something very similar, but doesn't touch the scrolls themselves; it handles everything through a special ability.
That way you can leave the scribe functionality intact.
This is probably as much as I can reduce it. A mage clicking the Learn button will be presented with one of the following Dialogues: Success, Fail, or Already Known, as appropriate. with no reply options, just the END DIALOGUE button. Also did some code cleanup, installs a lot faster now, and reads specialist school oppositions instead of assuming vanilla ones. [spoiler]
BACKUP ~SCROLL_SCRIBEDIALOGUE~
AUTHOR ~none~
VERSION ~1.0~
BEGIN ~Allow Sorcerer's to replace Known Spells through Scrolls~
OUTER_SET learn = RESOLVE_STR_REF(~Learn~)
OUTER_SET replace = RESOLVE_STR_REF(~Which spell will you replace?~)
OUTER_SET cancel = RESOLVE_STR_REF(~Cancel~)
OUTER_SET scribe = RESOLVE_STR_REF(~You copy the spell to you spellbook.~)
OUTER_SET fail = RESOLVE_STR_REF(~You failed to copy the spell to your spellbook.~)
OUTER_SET known = RESOLVE_STR_REF(~You already have this spell in your spellbook.~)
COPY_EXISTING ~HIDESPL.2da~ override
COUNT_2DA_COLS col COUNT_2DA_ROWS col num_rows value = 0
FOR (i = 0; i < num_rows; ++i) BEGIN
READ_2DA_ENTRY i 0 col resource
READ_2DA_ENTRY i 1 col value
PATCH_IF (value = 1) BEGIN
INNER_ACTION BEGIN
OUTER_SET $ignore(~%resource%~) = 1
END
END
END
BUT_ONLY
OUTER_SET index = 0
OUTER_SET splidx = 0
COPY_EXISTING_REGEXP ~.*\.itm$~ override
READ_SHORT 0x1c category
PATCH_IF category = 11 BEGIN
READ_LONG 0x64 ab_off
READ_SHORT 0x68 ab_num
READ_SHORT 0x6a fx_off
FOR (i = 0; i < ab_num; ++i) BEGIN
READ_SHORT (ab_off + i * 0x38 + 0x1e) fx_num
READ_SHORT (ab_off + i * 0x38 + 0x20) fx_idx
FOR(j = 0; j < fx_num; ++j) BEGIN
READ_SHORT (fx_off + (j + fx_idx) * 0x30) opcode
PATCH_IF opcode = 147 BEGIN
READ_ASCII (fx_off + (j + fx_idx) * 0x30 + 0x14) resource
TO_UPPER resource
READ_BYTE 0x19 flag
WRITE_BYTE 0x19 (flag BOR 8)
SET j = fx_num SET i = ab_num
INNER_ACTION BEGIN
ACTION_IF !VARIABLE_IS_SET $ignore(~%resource%~) BEGIN
OUTER_SPRINT $itm(~%index%~) ~%SOURCE_RES%~
OUTER_SPRINT $res(~%index%~) ~%resource%~
OUTER_SET index += 1
ACTION_IF !VARIABLE_IS_SET $spl(~%resource%~) BEGIN
OUTER_SPRINT $spl(~%splidx%~) ~%resource%~
OUTER_SET $spl(~%resource%~) = 1
OUTER_SET splidx += 1
END
END
END
END
END
END
END
BUT_ONLY
OUTER_FOR (i = 1; i < 10; ++i) BEGIN
OUTER_SPRINT EVAL ~startdlg_%i%~
~~~~~BEGIN ~itemres~
IF ~Class(Myself,SORCERER) ~~~~~
OUTER_SPRINT EVAL ~knowndlg_%i%~ ~~
END
COPY_EXISTING_REGEXP ~.*\.spl~ override
TO_UPPER SOURCE_RES
PATCH_IF VARIABLE_IS_SET $spl(~%SOURCE_RES%~) BEGIN
READ_LONG NAME1 name
READ_LONG 0x34 level
READ_BYTE 0x25 school PATCH_IF school > 8 BEGIN school = 0 END
READ_SHORT 0x1e exclude
TO_UPPER SOURCE_RES
INNER_ACTION BEGIN
OUTER_SET exidx = 0
OUTER_SET opidx = 0
OUTER_FOR (j = 6; j < 14; ++j) BEGIN
ACTION_IF (exclude BAND (2**j)) BEGIN
OUTER_SET sch = (2**j)
OUTER_SET $exc(~%SOURCE_RES%~ ~%sch%~) = 1
END
END
OUTER_SET $lvl(~%SOURCE_RES%~) = level
OUTER_SET $sch(~%SOURCE_RES%~) = school
CREATE SPL VERSION ~V1 ~ ~d%SOURCE_RES%~
INSERT_BYTES (0x72) 0x28
WRITE_BYTE (0x72 + 0x0) 1 WRITE_BYTE (0x72 + 0x2) 4 WRITE_BYTE (0x72 + 0xc) 5
WRITE_SHORT (0x72 + 0x10) 1 WRITE_SHORT 0x68 1 WRITE_LONG 0x6a (0x72 + 0x28)
LPF ADD_SPELL_EFFECT INT_VAR opcode = 172 target = 1 STR_VAR resource = EVAL ~%SOURCE_RES%~ END
OUTER_SPRINT EVAL ~knowndlg_%level%~ EVAL ~~~~~%knowndlg_%level%%
IF ~HaveKnownSpellRES("%SOURCE_RES%")~ THEN REPLY #%name% DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") ApplySpellRES("d%SOURCE_RES%",Myself) DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT~~~~~
END
END
BUT_ONLY
OUTER_FOR (i = 1; i < 10; ++i) BEGIN
OUTER_SPRINT EVAL ~knowndlg_%i%~ EVAL ~~~~~%knowndlg_%i%%
IF ~~ THEN REPLY #%cancel% EXIT
END~~~~~
END
COPY_EXISTING ~INTMOD.2DA~ override
COUNT_2DA_COLS cols
COUNT_2DA_ROWS cols rows
FOR (i = 0; i < rows; ++i) BEGIN
READ_2DA_ENTRY i 0 cols value
READ_2DA_ENTRY i 1 cols chance
INNER_ACTION BEGIN
OUTER_SET $int(~%value%~) = chance
END
END
BUT_ONLY
OUTER_FOR (i = 0; i < index; ++i) BEGIN
OUTER_SET kits = 0 OUTER_SPRINT kitlist ~~ OUTER_SET state = 1
OUTER_SPRINT itm EVAL $itm(~%i%~)
OUTER_SPRINT res EVAL $res(~%i%~)
OUTER_SET lvl = $lvl(~%res%~)
OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%startdlg_%lvl%% !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN 0
SAY #%replace% %knowndlg_%lvl%%~~~~~
OUTER_SET min = lvl * 2 ACTION_IF min < 9 BEGIN OUTER_SET min = 9 END
OUTER_SET school = (2**($sch(~%res%~) + 5))
OUTER_FOR (k = 6; k < 14; ++k) BEGIN
OUTER_SET kit = (2**k)
ACTION_IF ((school != kit) AND (!VARIABLE_IS_SET $exc(~%res%~ ~%kit%~))) BEGIN
OUTER_SPRINT kitlist EVAL ~~~~~%kitlist% Kit(Myself,%kit%)~~~~~
OUTER_SET kits += 1
END
END
OUTER_FOR (j = min; j < 26; ++j) BEGIN
OUTER_SET ltchnc = 101 - $int(~%j%~) ACTION_IF ltchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET ltchnc = 0 END
OUTER_SET gtchnc = ltchnc - 1 ACTION_IF gtchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET gtchnc = 0 END
OUTER_SET sltchnc = ltchnc - 15 ACTION_IF sltchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET sltchnc = 0 END
OUTER_SET sgtchnc = gtchnc - 15 ACTION_IF sgtchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET sgtchnc = 0 END
OUTER_SET oltchnc = ltchnc + 15 ACTION_IF oltchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET oltchnc = 0 END
OUTER_SET ogtchnc = gtchnc + 15 ACTION_IF ogtchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET ogtchnc = 0 END
ACTION_IF school > 32 BEGIN
OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg%
IF ~RandomNumGT(100,%sgtchnc%) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) Kit(Myself,%school%) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~
THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%scribe% IF ~~ DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT END~~~~~
OUTER_SET state += 1
OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg%
IF ~RandomNumLT(100,%sltchnc%) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) Kit(Myself,%school%) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~
THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%fail% IF ~~ DO ~DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT END~~~~~
OUTER_SET state += 1
ACTION_IF kits BEGIN
OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg%
IF ~RandomNumGT(100,%ogtchnc%) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) OR(%kits%)%kitlist% !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~
THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%scribe% IF ~~ DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT END~~~~~
OUTER_SET state += 1
OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg%
IF ~RandomNumLT(100,%oltchnc%) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) OR(%kits%)%kitlist% !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~
THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%fail% IF ~~ DO ~DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT END~~~~~
OUTER_SET state += 1
END
OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg%
IF ~RandomNumGT(100,%gtchnc%) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) !Kit(Myself,64) !Kit(Myself,128) !Kit(Myself,256)
!Kit(Myself,512) !Kit(Myself,1024) !Kit(Myself,2048) !Kit(Myself,4096) !Kit(Myself,8192) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~
THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%scribe% IF ~~ DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT END~~~~~
OUTER_SET state += 1
OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg%
IF ~RandomNumLT(100,%ltchnc%) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) !Kit(Myself,64) !Kit(Myself,128) !Kit(Myself,256)
!Kit(Myself,512) !Kit(Myself,1024) !Kit(Myself,2048) !Kit(Myself,4096) !Kit(Myself,8192) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~
THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%fail% IF ~~ DO ~DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT END~~~~~
OUTER_SET state += 1
END ELSE BEGIN
OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg%
IF ~RandomNumGT(100,%gtchnc%) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~
THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%scribe% IF ~~ DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT END~~~~~
OUTER_SET state += 1
OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg%
IF ~RandomNumLT(100,%ltchnc%) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~
THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%fail% IF ~~ DO ~DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT END~~~~~
OUTER_SET state += 1
END
OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg%
IF ~RandomNumGT(100,%gtchnc%) Class(Myself,BARD_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~
THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%scribe% IF ~~ DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT END~~~~~
OUTER_SET state += 1
OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg%
IF ~RandomNumLT(100,%ltchnc%) Class(Myself,BARD_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~
THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%fail% IF ~~ DO ~DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT END~~~~~
OUTER_SET state += 1
END
OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg%
IF ~HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%known% IF ~~ EXIT END~~~~~
OUTER_SET state += 1
OUTER_PATCH_SAVE tempdlg ~%patchdlg%~ BEGIN
REPLACE_TEXTUALLY ~resref~ ~%res%~
REPLACE_TEXTUALLY ~itemres~ ~%itm%~
END
<<<<<<<< ...%itm%.d
%tempdlg%
>>>>>>>>
COMPILE EVAL ~...%itm%.d~
APPEND ~ITEMDIAL.2DA~ ~%itm% %learn% %itm%~
END
[/spoiler] If you replace the one instance of: Class(Myself,SORCERER) with Class(Myself,255) and remove all instances of: !Class(Myself,SORCERER) Sorcerer's will use the same learn chance as an unkitted mage. It will leave redundant code, but for a quick edit its easier to turn a false trigger than remove the code entirely without breaking something else.
Thanks, @kjeron . I decided against limiting sorcerers after all, but this may be useful code for someone else. I'll just put an extra effect in my scrolls, for sorcerers only, that summons an invisible creature who'll give them the learning XP and set a global for this never to happen again. So they'll have to cast the spell from the scroll to learn it. I might put a level check there too - no learning Time Stop in advance.
Those of you who know about the Forgotten Realms a lot: in what congealed forms does magic exist there? Have you read about anything like that? Dust of magic, or possibly some kind of essence or mineral? Something from Mystra?
Comments
Why not throw away the wizard and the sorcerer and make a new mage class? There are several reasons.
1) Because I don't have the skills for such an overhaul.
2) Because it would turn away players who like the wizard and the sorcerer much more than anything I might do with spells or scrolls, and I would lose 90% of audience - just another crazy self-serving mod.
3) Because it would miss the point. It would fail to change what should be changed and discard what is to some extent valuable. The bookish wizard is not hopeless. And, grumble as I might about Personality magic, I understand that this idea too has a basis in the mythical reality, only it has found expression in D&D in an echoed, confused and weak form, and popular concepts about it go wide of the target. Talents don't preclude learning, not even from books, but there is a broader array of sources one could learn from to develop. I've mentioned a few possibilities already, but there is no way I could unfold them in these games even with a top-notch engine and advanced skills, and all the time in the world. I can only invite you to re-open a Fritz Leiber book or go through Howard's tales of Conan ("The Hour of the Dragon" is the most splendid example) to get a feeling for how rich, exciting and varied wizardry can be. Roger Zelazny's "Changeling" is a not-bad attempt at Personality magic - and, by the way, conveys a sense of how desperately impossible it would be to have something like that in an RPG. A real attempt at either would require entire game worlds, maybe even the whole D&D game to be reconceived before even setting down to code. It's beyond possible.
Therefore, any class replacement I could try here, with these worlds and cogs we are given, would be a sham, a pretended novelty that would only redistribute power without looking at its origins, conditions or meaning. And there are already enough mods that do that (not to mention any names). The solution, then, is to do the opposite - refrain from sweeping but superficial changes (moth, stop beating on the lamp shade) and work more or less within the existing system, where it suits me, but offer options not explored before. All this, of course, is much easier to say than to impress players held fast by nostalgia and jaded after a slew of mods that only attempt to tweak the game this way or that. It has been tweaked so much, it's twitching. As you can see in this thread, it is very difficult to explain even the concept of a change that is not some kind of preference tweak. I've given up the explaining, it sounds like drawing on credit I won't be able to repay. I'm only telling you all this out of respect for yourself and because you've shown me the ropes of Weidu a while ago.
4) The final reason is simply that, other things being equal, a new class isn't necessary for what I wish to do. I don't like the memorization system much, but neither does it bother me greatly; it adds a degree of depth, though not of the right kind. The sorcerer is overpowered only compared to the other classes, but you don't have to compare him to them. Play him as you wish, not as the imperfect mechanics tell you to. If you think that the sorcerer should not get his spells of choice for free, choose a second-rate spell sometimes and pretend to yourself this was all that was available. Don't turn him into a walking cannon and don't ask for "best spells for Sorcerer" on the board. I'm not saying that you do that yourself, but others - yes, they do it, and they cheat themselves as a result. In general, players of these games that I see here are far too out-of-character, too obsessed with winning - even though the 2nd Edition PHB states loud and clear in the very beginning that one doesn't "beat" a role-playing game. With that I agree entirely. And as modders we should instead strive to bring more fantasy, mystery, ideas, situations to the games, just plain fun - as much as we can. We owe nothing to bad mechanics, or to bad pen-and-paper design, or to bad assumptions in people's heads. It's in this sense that I say that classes and balance don't exist. They don't matter in themselves. They aren't bad - they aren't good - they are just like stones on the road. Kick them, admire them, build a house out of them, try not to trip over other people if you move them, anything you want - just don't set them up as idols to be attended, prayed to and polished. I think you must understand why by now. Because I don't want to make any changes that will achieve nothing really important but MAY get me bogged down in compatibility issues, systemic changes, Weidu coding and other profound-sounding matters that could very well be bad for the mod and would waste a lot of my time. I don't need most IDS files, only, perhaps, some IDS-changing code for projectiles and such; or perhaps I'll leave even that as a manual change. Edit a few files at install. Going deep is not always a good idea. Remember how I suggested that simply doing spell lists for the different priest Spheres, and inscribing them via triggers, would be the easiest way to give priest characters their due spell selection? It really would be. Straight into the book. I understand that plunging into the guts of the engine, finding smart solutions can become a pleasure in its own right: idea, error, correction, new idea, breakthrough, setback, discussing progress on the forums, getting praise and feedback that leads to another idea... It's a rush. And I'm very impressed that you can indeed figure out a way to bind the "iron" to your will. I wouldn't be able to do that in a million years - not that I would want to spend them that way. I think, however, that we should keep our discipline up and leave alone as much as we can: the engine, classes, existing spells... Just leave alone everything, even if it's imperfect, but what has to be changed to give players a new and fun experience, in the most direct way possible.
And, as it happens, that means scrolls sorcerers could use.
The fact that in vanilla they can learn only a certain number of spells is only one of the things that compensate their versatility in using the known spells in battle, the other is that they can not dual or multi class, and this alone helps in balancing them against the wizards.
Well, if my explanations go this wide of understanding, you won't see me doing any more.
To @subtledoctor : I may underestimate many things when it comes to this engine, but adding spells directly IS easy. Here is what you do: make a talking item with several identical reply lines, all of which say "Pray for divine favor." Each one has a trigger in front: if priest character level equals 1, 3, 5 and so on - for every character level when a priest is supposed to obtain new spells. 7 priest spell levels, 7 reply lines. The reply lines THEN DO each fire a spell at the PC, and that spell contains Learn Spell effects for all of the newly accessed level's spells you want the priest to have. 7 levels of priest spells - 7 SPL files to make that will put the spells in his spell book.
This is without Spheres. With Spheres, it gets a bit more complicated, because you would have to set a number of Globals, as many as there are Spheres open to the given priest kit, at the start of the game. Set Protection to 1, Healing to 1, Sun to 0 and so on, as fits the kit. The reply lines for the item would then have those Globals as extra triggers in front of them. The SPL would have appropriate spells, maybe no spells for an empty Sphere. You would, for example, put in the SPL triggered by a level 3, Sun-enabled reply line all spells that you feel should be spell level 3 and of the Sun Sphere. Each SPL would be like a pocket. And you could expand the contents, put more in the pockets, later - any time somebody invented new priest spells, or imported some from another IE game and so on. You would just add Learn Spell effects for them. No IDS struggle, no trade-offs, no existential angst.
I'm not saying setting all this up wouldn't be very boring and time-consuming work, but it's completely straightforward. There are some minor issues I can think of, but they ARE minor, and could be countered or tolerated.
My kind of magician.
If you are curious where I am vis-a-vis scrolls in my mod, I should tell you that learning a spell turns out to come with a repeating XP reward. You don't see in a regular game, but a character can be made to learn a spell over and over again, and every time he gets the XP for it. And since I had to look for roundabout ways to scribe scrolls for sorcerers, through outside Learn Spell effects, this becomes an issue without a mess of fence Globals. So what I might do is forbid sorcerers to use the same scroll more than once - so basically just let them learn from the scrolls, and then they are on their own. Less bookish this way, too.
Grab copy of Weidu, rename "Setup-Whatever.exe"
Run in game folder.
Caveats:
- Scrolls must be unstacked before learning spells(or the whole stack will be lost).
- Mage's learn chance is obtained at installation, changes to INTMOD need to be done prior.
- Maximum number of spells per spell level is lost, but spell levels will still have minimum INT requirements.
- Specialists, and only specialists, get their +/-15% learn chance. Trueclass Mages, other mage kits, and Bards of any kind do not have any bonus/penalty.
- Sorcerers have no learn chance, replacement is always successful.
- Sorcerers may only replace a spell if a scroll exists to learn that spell - they cannot replace irreplaceable spells. Spells on the Hidespl list are also excluded.
- v2.+ only.
Code:
BACKUP ~SCROLL_SCRIBEDIALOGUE~ AUTHOR ~none~ VERSION ~1.0~ BEGIN ~Allow Sorcerer's to replace Known Spells through Scrolls~ CLEAR_ARRAYS OUTER_SET learn = RESOLVE_STR_REF(~Learn~) COPY_EXISTING ~HIDESPL.2da~ override COUNT_2DA_COLS col COUNT_2DA_ROWS col num_rows value = 0 FOR (i = 0; i < num_rows; ++i) BEGIN READ_2DA_ENTRY i 0 col resource READ_2DA_ENTRY i 1 col value PATCH_IF (value = 1) BEGIN INNER_ACTION BEGIN OUTER_SET $ignore(~%resource%~) = 1 END END END BUT_ONLY OUTER_SET index = 0 OUTER_SET splidx = 0 COPY_EXISTING_REGEXP ~.*\.itm$~ override READ_SHORT 0x1c category PATCH_IF category = 11 BEGIN READ_LONG 0x64 ab_off READ_SHORT 0x68 ab_num READ_SHORT 0x6a fx_off FOR (i = 0; i < ab_num; ++i) BEGIN READ_SHORT (ab_off + i * 0x38 + 0x1e) fx_num READ_SHORT (ab_off + i * 0x38 + 0x20) fx_idx FOR(j = 0; j < fx_num; ++j) BEGIN READ_SHORT (fx_off + (j + fx_idx) * 0x30) opcode PATCH_IF opcode = 147 BEGIN READ_ASCII (fx_off + (j + fx_idx) * 0x30 + 0x14) resource TO_UPPER resource READ_BYTE 0x19 flag WRITE_BYTE 0x19 (flag BOR 8) SET j = fx_num SET i = ab_num INNER_ACTION BEGIN ACTION_IF !VARIABLE_IS_SET $ignore(~%resource%~) BEGIN OUTER_SPRINT $itm(~%index%~) ~%SOURCE_RES%~ OUTER_SPRINT $res(~%index%~) ~%resource%~ OUTER_SET index += 1 ACTION_IF !VARIABLE_IS_SET $spl(~%resource%~) BEGIN OUTER_SPRINT $spl(~%splidx%~) ~%resource%~ OUTER_SET $spl(~%resource%~) = 1 OUTER_SET splidx += 1 END END END END END END END BUT_ONLY OUTER_FOR (i = 1; i < 10; ++i) BEGIN OUTER_SPRINT EVAL ~scrolldlg_%i%~ ~~~~~BEGIN ~itemres~ IF ~Class(Myself,SORCERER)~ THEN BEGIN 0 SAY ~Which spell will you replace?~ ~~~~~ END OUTER_FOR (i = 0; i < splidx; ++i) BEGIN OUTER_SPRINT file EVAL $spl(~%i%~) COPY_EXISTING_REGEXP ~%file%.spl~ override READ_LONG NAME1 name READ_LONG 0x34 level READ_BYTE 0x25 school PATCH_IF school > 8 BEGIN school = 0 END TO_UPPER SOURCE_RES INNER_ACTION BEGIN OUTER_SET $lvl(~%SOURCE_RES%~) = level OUTER_SET $sch(~%SOURCE_RES%~) = school CREATE SPL VERSION ~V1 ~ ~d%SOURCE_RES%~ INSERT_BYTES (0x72) 0x28 WRITE_BYTE (0x72 + 0x0) 1 WRITE_BYTE (0x72 + 0x2) 4 WRITE_BYTE (0x72 + 0xc) 5 WRITE_SHORT (0x72 + 0x10) 1 WRITE_SHORT 0x68 1 WRITE_LONG 0x6a (0x72 + 0x28) LPF ADD_SPELL_EFFECT INT_VAR opcode = 172 target = 1 STR_VAR resource = EVAL ~%SOURCE_RES%~ END OUTER_SPRINT EVAL ~scrolldlg_%level%~ EVAL ~~~~~%scrolldlg_%level%% IF ~HaveKnownSpellRES("%SOURCE_RES%")~ THEN REPLY #%name% DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") ApplySpellRES("d%SOURCE_RES%",Myself) DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT~~~~~ END BUT_ONLY END OUTER_FOR (i = 1; i < 10; ++i) BEGIN OUTER_SPRINT EVAL ~scrolldlg_%i%~ EVAL ~~~~~%scrolldlg_%i%% IF ~~ THEN REPLY ~Cancel~ DO ~~ EXIT END~~~~~ END COPY_EXISTING ~INTMOD.2DA~ override COUNT_2DA_COLS cols COUNT_2DA_ROWS cols rows FOR (i = 0; i < rows; ++i) BEGIN READ_2DA_ENTRY i 0 cols value READ_2DA_ENTRY i 1 cols chance INNER_ACTION BEGIN OUTER_SET $int(~%value%~) = chance END END BUT_ONLY OUTER_FOR (i = 0; i < index; ++i) BEGIN OUTER_SPRINT itm EVAL $itm(~%i%~) OUTER_SPRINT res EVAL $res(~%i%~) OUTER_SET lvl = $lvl(~%res%~) OUTER_SET school = $sch(~%res%~) ACTION_IF school = 1 BEGIN OUTER_SET opp_1 = 2**(5 + 2) OUTER_SET opp_2 = 2**(5 + 3) OUTER_SET opp_3 = 2**(5 + 4) OUTER_SET opp_4 = 2**(5 + 5) OUTER_SET opp_5 = 2**(5 + 6) OUTER_SET opp_6 = 2**(5 + 7) OUTER_SET opp_7 = 2**(5 + 8) END // Abjuration -> Transmutation ACTION_IF school = 2 BEGIN OUTER_SET opp_1 = 2**(5 + 1) OUTER_SET opp_2 = 2**(5 + 4) OUTER_SET opp_3 = 2**(5 + 5) OUTER_SET opp_4 = 2**(5 + 6) OUTER_SET opp_5 = 2**(5 + 7) OUTER_SET opp_6 = 2**(5 + 8) OUTER_SET opp_7 = 2**(5 + 3) END // Conjuration -> Divination ACTION_IF school = 3 BEGIN OUTER_SET opp_1 = 2**(5 + 1) OUTER_SET opp_2 = 2**(5 + 4) OUTER_SET opp_3 = 2**(5 + 5) OUTER_SET opp_4 = 2**(5 + 6) OUTER_SET opp_5 = 2**(5 + 7) OUTER_SET opp_6 = 2**(5 + 8) OUTER_SET opp_7 = 2**(5 + 2) END // Divination -> Conjuration ACTION_IF school = 4 BEGIN OUTER_SET opp_1 = 2**(5 + 1) OUTER_SET opp_2 = 2**(5 + 2) OUTER_SET opp_3 = 2**(5 + 3) OUTER_SET opp_4 = 2**(5 + 5) OUTER_SET opp_5 = 2**(5 + 7) OUTER_SET opp_6 = 2**(5 + 8) OUTER_SET opp_7 = 2**(5 + 6) END // Enchantment -> Evocation ACTION_IF school = 5 BEGIN OUTER_SET opp_1 = 2**(5 + 1) OUTER_SET opp_2 = 2**(5 + 2) OUTER_SET opp_3 = 2**(5 + 3) OUTER_SET opp_4 = 2**(5 + 4) OUTER_SET opp_5 = 2**(5 + 6) OUTER_SET opp_6 = 2**(5 + 8) OUTER_SET opp_7 = 2**(5 + 7) END // Illusion -> Necromancy ACTION_IF school = 6 BEGIN OUTER_SET opp_1 = 2**(5 + 1) OUTER_SET opp_2 = 2**(5 + 2) OUTER_SET opp_3 = 2**(5 + 3) OUTER_SET opp_4 = 2**(5 + 5) OUTER_SET opp_5 = 2**(5 + 7) OUTER_SET opp_6 = 2**(5 + 8) OUTER_SET opp_7 = 2**(5 + 4) END // Evocation -> Enchantment ACTION_IF school = 7 BEGIN OUTER_SET opp_1 = 2**(5 + 1) OUTER_SET opp_2 = 2**(5 + 2) OUTER_SET opp_3 = 2**(5 + 3) OUTER_SET opp_4 = 2**(5 + 4) OUTER_SET opp_5 = 2**(5 + 6) OUTER_SET opp_6 = 2**(5 + 8) OUTER_SET opp_7 = 2**(5 + 5) END // Necromancy -> Illusion ACTION_IF school = 8 BEGIN OUTER_SET opp_1 = 2**(5 + 2) OUTER_SET opp_2 = 2**(5 + 3) OUTER_SET opp_3 = 2**(5 + 4) OUTER_SET opp_4 = 2**(5 + 5) OUTER_SET opp_5 = 2**(5 + 6) OUTER_SET opp_6 = 2**(5 + 7) OUTER_SET opp_7 = 2**(5 + 1) END // Transmutation -> Abjuration OUTER_SET school = 2**(school + 5) OUTER_SET min = lvl * 2 ACTION_IF min < 9 BEGIN OUTER_SET min = 9 END OUTER_SET state = 1 OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~%scrolldlg_%lvl%%~ OUTER_FOR (j = min; j < 26; ++j) BEGIN OUTER_SET ltchnc = 100 - $int(~%j%~) ACTION_IF ltchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET ltchnc = 0 END OUTER_SET gtchnc = ltchnc - 1 ACTION_IF gtchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET gtchnc = 0 END OUTER_SET sltchnc = ltchnc - 15 ACTION_IF sltchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET sltchnc = 0 END OUTER_SET sgtchnc = gtchnc - 15 ACTION_IF sgtchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET sgtchnc = 0 END OUTER_SET oltchnc = gtchnc + 15 ACTION_IF oltchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET oltchnc = 0 END OUTER_SET ogtchnc = ltchnc + 15 ACTION_IF ogtchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET ogtchnc = 0 END ACTION_IF school > 32 BEGIN OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg% IF ~!Class(Myself,SORCERER) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) Kit(Myself,%school%) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state% SAY ~Scribe Scroll?~ IF ~RandomNumGT(100,%sgtchnc%)~ THEN REPLY ~Yes~ DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT IF ~RandomNumLT(100,%sltchnc%)~ THEN REPLY ~Yes~ DO ~DisplayString(Myself,10831) DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT IF ~~ THEN REPLY ~No~ DO ~~ EXIT END~~~~~ OUTER_SET state += 1 OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg% IF ~!Class(Myself,SORCERER) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) OR(6) Kit(Myself,%opp_1%) Kit(Myself,%opp_2%) Kit(Myself,%opp_3%) Kit(Myself,%opp_4%) Kit(Myself,%opp_5%) Kit(Myself,%opp_6%) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state% SAY ~Scribe Scroll?~ IF ~RandomNumGT(100,%ogtchnc%)~ THEN REPLY ~Yes~ DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT IF ~RandomNumLT(100,%oltchnc%)~ THEN REPLY ~Yes~ DO ~DisplayString(Myself,10831) DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT IF ~~ THEN REPLY ~No~ DO ~~ EXIT END~~~~~ OUTER_SET state += 1 OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg% IF ~!Class(Myself,SORCERER) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) !Kit(Myself,%school%) !Kit(Myself,%opp_1%) !Kit(Myself,%opp_2%) !Kit(Myself,%opp_3%) !Kit(Myself,%opp_4%) !Kit(Myself,%opp_5%) !Kit(Myself,%opp_6%) !Kit(Myself,%opp_7%) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state% SAY ~Scribe Scroll?~ IF ~RandomNumGT(100,%gtchnc%)~ THEN REPLY ~Yes~ DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT IF ~RandomNumLT(100,%ltchnc%)~ THEN REPLY ~Yes~ DO ~DisplayString(Myself,10831) DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT IF ~~ THEN REPLY ~No~ DO ~~ EXIT END~~~~~ OUTER_SET state += 1 END ELSE BEGIN OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg% IF ~!Class(Myself,SORCERER) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state% SAY ~Scribe Scroll?~ IF ~RandomNumGT(100,%gtchnc%)~ THEN REPLY ~Yes~ DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT IF ~RandomNumLT(100,%ltchnc%)~ THEN REPLY ~Yes~ DO ~DisplayString(Myself,10831) DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT IF ~~ THEN REPLY ~No~ DO ~~ EXIT END~~~~~ OUTER_SET state += 1 END OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg% IF ~Class(Myself,BARD_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state% SAY ~Scribe Scroll?~ IF ~RandomNumGT(100,%gtchnc%)~ THEN REPLY ~Yes~ DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT IF ~RandomNumLT(100,%ltchnc%)~ THEN REPLY ~Yes~ DO ~DisplayString(Myself,10831) DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT IF ~~ THEN REPLY ~No~ DO ~~ EXIT END~~~~~ OUTER_SET state += 1 END OUTER_PATCH_SAVE tempdlg ~%patchdlg%~ BEGIN REPLACE_TEXTUALLY ~resref~ ~%res%~ REPLACE_TEXTUALLY ~itemres~ ~%itm%~ END <<<<<<<< ...%itm%.d %tempdlg% >>>>>>>> COMPILE EVAL ~...%itm%.d~ APPEND ~ITEMDIAL.2DA~ ~%itm% %learn% %itm%~ END CLEAR_ARRAYSSample:
Mage/Bard
Sorcerer
So suppose that the Shaman gets hopelessly disrupted if you take all spells away. Well, so what? The player who installed the mod that did this obviously wasn't interested in the Shaman for this playthrough, if he read the warning. So let him enjoy the clerics with their sphere selection or a druid. Many other character classes will be left untouched for him to take up, if he wants to play a couple of characters at once. Not everybody, but - tough nuggies. Nobody can expect people to invest thousands of man-hours into covering every base. When he is done with the priest, let him uninstall the spheres mod and play the Shaman then, or something else. But you want Utopia - a glory land where everyone will get along at the price of some serious implied handicaps on what may and may not be done in a mod and how. Remember the prefixes argument? A perfect snapshot. Compatibility, your way, means deciding on a system everyone will use, and then playing by those rules, whether people like them or not. Stray at your own risk; no scrolls for sorcerers without making a whole new class! You don't want to take risks, and you won't allow others. Because if people knew when they could walk off the bus, your complicated bells and whistles would be obsolete. On that 10-mile road, there is a hill in the beginning, an outlook point not everyone can climb to, but sometimes even newbies can. And from that hill they see that all of the really interesting stuff on that road is somewhere around mile 3, or off the road on little paths. The next 7 miles are for runaway steam-rollers and people who drive them or run in front of them.
I would have prefered to no even altered it for wizard/bards, except the 2 buttons use the same slot(dialogue/scribe) in the item description, and dialogue overrides scribe.
That way you can leave the scribe functionality intact.
A mage clicking the Learn button will be presented with one of the following Dialogues:
Success, Fail, or Already Known, as appropriate.
with no reply options, just the END DIALOGUE button.
Also did some code cleanup, installs a lot faster now, and reads specialist school oppositions instead of assuming vanilla ones.
[spoiler]
BACKUP ~SCROLL_SCRIBEDIALOGUE~ AUTHOR ~none~ VERSION ~1.0~ BEGIN ~Allow Sorcerer's to replace Known Spells through Scrolls~ OUTER_SET learn = RESOLVE_STR_REF(~Learn~) OUTER_SET replace = RESOLVE_STR_REF(~Which spell will you replace?~) OUTER_SET cancel = RESOLVE_STR_REF(~Cancel~) OUTER_SET scribe = RESOLVE_STR_REF(~You copy the spell to you spellbook.~) OUTER_SET fail = RESOLVE_STR_REF(~You failed to copy the spell to your spellbook.~) OUTER_SET known = RESOLVE_STR_REF(~You already have this spell in your spellbook.~) COPY_EXISTING ~HIDESPL.2da~ override COUNT_2DA_COLS col COUNT_2DA_ROWS col num_rows value = 0 FOR (i = 0; i < num_rows; ++i) BEGIN READ_2DA_ENTRY i 0 col resource READ_2DA_ENTRY i 1 col value PATCH_IF (value = 1) BEGIN INNER_ACTION BEGIN OUTER_SET $ignore(~%resource%~) = 1 END END END BUT_ONLY OUTER_SET index = 0 OUTER_SET splidx = 0 COPY_EXISTING_REGEXP ~.*\.itm$~ override READ_SHORT 0x1c category PATCH_IF category = 11 BEGIN READ_LONG 0x64 ab_off READ_SHORT 0x68 ab_num READ_SHORT 0x6a fx_off FOR (i = 0; i < ab_num; ++i) BEGIN READ_SHORT (ab_off + i * 0x38 + 0x1e) fx_num READ_SHORT (ab_off + i * 0x38 + 0x20) fx_idx FOR(j = 0; j < fx_num; ++j) BEGIN READ_SHORT (fx_off + (j + fx_idx) * 0x30) opcode PATCH_IF opcode = 147 BEGIN READ_ASCII (fx_off + (j + fx_idx) * 0x30 + 0x14) resource TO_UPPER resource READ_BYTE 0x19 flag WRITE_BYTE 0x19 (flag BOR 8) SET j = fx_num SET i = ab_num INNER_ACTION BEGIN ACTION_IF !VARIABLE_IS_SET $ignore(~%resource%~) BEGIN OUTER_SPRINT $itm(~%index%~) ~%SOURCE_RES%~ OUTER_SPRINT $res(~%index%~) ~%resource%~ OUTER_SET index += 1 ACTION_IF !VARIABLE_IS_SET $spl(~%resource%~) BEGIN OUTER_SPRINT $spl(~%splidx%~) ~%resource%~ OUTER_SET $spl(~%resource%~) = 1 OUTER_SET splidx += 1 END END END END END END END BUT_ONLY OUTER_FOR (i = 1; i < 10; ++i) BEGIN OUTER_SPRINT EVAL ~startdlg_%i%~ ~~~~~BEGIN ~itemres~ IF ~Class(Myself,SORCERER) ~~~~~ OUTER_SPRINT EVAL ~knowndlg_%i%~ ~~ END COPY_EXISTING_REGEXP ~.*\.spl~ override TO_UPPER SOURCE_RES PATCH_IF VARIABLE_IS_SET $spl(~%SOURCE_RES%~) BEGIN READ_LONG NAME1 name READ_LONG 0x34 level READ_BYTE 0x25 school PATCH_IF school > 8 BEGIN school = 0 END READ_SHORT 0x1e exclude TO_UPPER SOURCE_RES INNER_ACTION BEGIN OUTER_SET exidx = 0 OUTER_SET opidx = 0 OUTER_FOR (j = 6; j < 14; ++j) BEGIN ACTION_IF (exclude BAND (2**j)) BEGIN OUTER_SET sch = (2**j) OUTER_SET $exc(~%SOURCE_RES%~ ~%sch%~) = 1 END END OUTER_SET $lvl(~%SOURCE_RES%~) = level OUTER_SET $sch(~%SOURCE_RES%~) = school CREATE SPL VERSION ~V1 ~ ~d%SOURCE_RES%~ INSERT_BYTES (0x72) 0x28 WRITE_BYTE (0x72 + 0x0) 1 WRITE_BYTE (0x72 + 0x2) 4 WRITE_BYTE (0x72 + 0xc) 5 WRITE_SHORT (0x72 + 0x10) 1 WRITE_SHORT 0x68 1 WRITE_LONG 0x6a (0x72 + 0x28) LPF ADD_SPELL_EFFECT INT_VAR opcode = 172 target = 1 STR_VAR resource = EVAL ~%SOURCE_RES%~ END OUTER_SPRINT EVAL ~knowndlg_%level%~ EVAL ~~~~~%knowndlg_%level%% IF ~HaveKnownSpellRES("%SOURCE_RES%")~ THEN REPLY #%name% DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") ApplySpellRES("d%SOURCE_RES%",Myself) DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT~~~~~ END END BUT_ONLY OUTER_FOR (i = 1; i < 10; ++i) BEGIN OUTER_SPRINT EVAL ~knowndlg_%i%~ EVAL ~~~~~%knowndlg_%i%% IF ~~ THEN REPLY #%cancel% EXIT END~~~~~ END COPY_EXISTING ~INTMOD.2DA~ override COUNT_2DA_COLS cols COUNT_2DA_ROWS cols rows FOR (i = 0; i < rows; ++i) BEGIN READ_2DA_ENTRY i 0 cols value READ_2DA_ENTRY i 1 cols chance INNER_ACTION BEGIN OUTER_SET $int(~%value%~) = chance END END BUT_ONLY OUTER_FOR (i = 0; i < index; ++i) BEGIN OUTER_SET kits = 0 OUTER_SPRINT kitlist ~~ OUTER_SET state = 1 OUTER_SPRINT itm EVAL $itm(~%i%~) OUTER_SPRINT res EVAL $res(~%i%~) OUTER_SET lvl = $lvl(~%res%~) OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%startdlg_%lvl%% !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN 0 SAY #%replace% %knowndlg_%lvl%%~~~~~ OUTER_SET min = lvl * 2 ACTION_IF min < 9 BEGIN OUTER_SET min = 9 END OUTER_SET school = (2**($sch(~%res%~) + 5)) OUTER_FOR (k = 6; k < 14; ++k) BEGIN OUTER_SET kit = (2**k) ACTION_IF ((school != kit) AND (!VARIABLE_IS_SET $exc(~%res%~ ~%kit%~))) BEGIN OUTER_SPRINT kitlist EVAL ~~~~~%kitlist% Kit(Myself,%kit%)~~~~~ OUTER_SET kits += 1 END END OUTER_FOR (j = min; j < 26; ++j) BEGIN OUTER_SET ltchnc = 101 - $int(~%j%~) ACTION_IF ltchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET ltchnc = 0 END OUTER_SET gtchnc = ltchnc - 1 ACTION_IF gtchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET gtchnc = 0 END OUTER_SET sltchnc = ltchnc - 15 ACTION_IF sltchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET sltchnc = 0 END OUTER_SET sgtchnc = gtchnc - 15 ACTION_IF sgtchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET sgtchnc = 0 END OUTER_SET oltchnc = ltchnc + 15 ACTION_IF oltchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET oltchnc = 0 END OUTER_SET ogtchnc = gtchnc + 15 ACTION_IF ogtchnc < 0 BEGIN OUTER_SET ogtchnc = 0 END ACTION_IF school > 32 BEGIN OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg% IF ~RandomNumGT(100,%sgtchnc%) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) Kit(Myself,%school%) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%scribe% IF ~~ DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT END~~~~~ OUTER_SET state += 1 OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg% IF ~RandomNumLT(100,%sltchnc%) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) Kit(Myself,%school%) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%fail% IF ~~ DO ~DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT END~~~~~ OUTER_SET state += 1 ACTION_IF kits BEGIN OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg% IF ~RandomNumGT(100,%ogtchnc%) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) OR(%kits%)%kitlist% !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%scribe% IF ~~ DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT END~~~~~ OUTER_SET state += 1 OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg% IF ~RandomNumLT(100,%oltchnc%) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) OR(%kits%)%kitlist% !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%fail% IF ~~ DO ~DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT END~~~~~ OUTER_SET state += 1 END OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg% IF ~RandomNumGT(100,%gtchnc%) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) !Kit(Myself,64) !Kit(Myself,128) !Kit(Myself,256) !Kit(Myself,512) !Kit(Myself,1024) !Kit(Myself,2048) !Kit(Myself,4096) !Kit(Myself,8192) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%scribe% IF ~~ DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT END~~~~~ OUTER_SET state += 1 OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg% IF ~RandomNumLT(100,%ltchnc%) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) !Kit(Myself,64) !Kit(Myself,128) !Kit(Myself,256) !Kit(Myself,512) !Kit(Myself,1024) !Kit(Myself,2048) !Kit(Myself,4096) !Kit(Myself,8192) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%fail% IF ~~ DO ~DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT END~~~~~ OUTER_SET state += 1 END ELSE BEGIN OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg% IF ~RandomNumGT(100,%gtchnc%) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%scribe% IF ~~ DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT END~~~~~ OUTER_SET state += 1 OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg% IF ~RandomNumLT(100,%ltchnc%) Class(Myself,MAGE_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%fail% IF ~~ DO ~DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT END~~~~~ OUTER_SET state += 1 END OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg% IF ~RandomNumGT(100,%gtchnc%) Class(Myself,BARD_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%scribe% IF ~~ DO ~AddSpecialAbility("resref") DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT END~~~~~ OUTER_SET state += 1 OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg% IF ~RandomNumLT(100,%ltchnc%) Class(Myself,BARD_ALL) CheckStat(Myself,%j%,38) !HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%fail% IF ~~ DO ~DestroyItem("itemres")~ EXIT END~~~~~ OUTER_SET state += 1 END OUTER_SPRINT patchdlg EVAL ~~~~~%patchdlg% IF ~HaveKnownSpellRES("resref")~ THEN BEGIN %state% SAY #%known% IF ~~ EXIT END~~~~~ OUTER_SET state += 1 OUTER_PATCH_SAVE tempdlg ~%patchdlg%~ BEGIN REPLACE_TEXTUALLY ~resref~ ~%res%~ REPLACE_TEXTUALLY ~itemres~ ~%itm%~ END <<<<<<<< ...%itm%.d %tempdlg% >>>>>>>> COMPILE EVAL ~...%itm%.d~ APPEND ~ITEMDIAL.2DA~ ~%itm% %learn% %itm%~ END[/spoiler]If you replace the one instance of:
Class(Myself,SORCERER)
with
Class(Myself,255)
and remove all instances of:
!Class(Myself,SORCERER)
Sorcerer's will use the same learn chance as an unkitted mage.
It will leave redundant code, but for a quick edit its easier to turn a false trigger than remove the code entirely without breaking something else.
edit:- code typo
It works, but looks ugly.
Those of you who know about the Forgotten Realms a lot: in what congealed forms does magic exist there? Have you read about anything like that? Dust of magic, or possibly some kind of essence or mineral? Something from Mystra?