War Hulk Kit for Fighters v1.1

semiticgoddess

I've finally put together an old kit for fighters, revised to imitate the 3.x War Hulk class that a friend of mine told me about. The basic idea is that this fighter only gets one attack per round, but it hits like a truck, with unnaturally high STR values and bonuses to melee damage. Whenever it takes damage, it gains even more bonuses, but its AC and save vs. spell get penalized, and it has a chance of going berserk, making it easy for the War Hulk to spiral out of control as it gets stronger mid-combat.

I've run it most of the way through BG1 and it's fairly well-balanced. At full rage and close to death, it's done over 100 damage on a critical hit (!), but it has a habit of losing control and can easily get worn down by multiple hits. When I got that critical, my War Hulk had an AC of 14 (guaranteed enemy hits), a save vs. spell of 20 (guaranteed failed saves), and was nearly dead. Despite having far more HP than any other class, he died many times, but it was a lot of fun.

Kit description:

WAR HULK: A War Hulk is an undisciplined, wild, and savage fighter. While most warriors develop their skills in the martial arts, the War Hulk only seeks raw strength. The War Hulk eschews strategy and tactics, preferring to concentrate all of his or her energy into a single massive blow.

CLASS FEATURES:

- May only land a single hit per round, regardless of level, weapon choice, or magical enchantments (attacks per round is set to 0 for 4 seconds on each hit)
- May not use missile weapons
- May place 3 proficiency points (Mastery) in two-handed swords and halberds
- May place 2 proficiency points (Specialization) in bastard swords, longswords, katanas, scimitars, axes, war hammers, spears, flails, maces, quarterstaffs, Two-Handed Weapon Style, and Single Weapon Style
- May place 1 proficiency point (Proficiency) in short swords, daggers, and clubs

SAVAGE BLOW: Although the War Hulk may only land a single strike per round, each attack has incredible force behind it. The War Hulk gains +1 Strength every level from level 1 to 5, and +1 to hit and +5% melee damage every level thereafter, along with additional bonuses every other level:

Level 1, 3, 5, 7: +1 to hit and +5% melee damage
Level 9, 11, 13, 15: +2 to hit and +10% melee damage
Level 17, 19, 21, 23: +3 to hit and +15% melee damage
Level 25, 27, 29, 31: +4 to hit and +20% melee damage
Level 33, 35, 37, 39: +5 to hit and +25% melee damage

CRITICAL STRIKE: Whenever the War Hulk lands a hit, the target has a 20% chance of being stunned for 6 seconds and pushed back on a failed save vs. death at -3.

RAGE: War Hulks channel their rage into their strikes, using pain and fury to add force to each blow. War Hulks strike harder when they are wounded, but the rage weakens their minds and causes them to lower their defenses. Whenever the War Hulk suffers damage, he or she gains a set of combat bonuses and penalties:
+15% melee damage
+1 THAC0
+1 save vs. death
+1 movement rate
Immunity to fear
-1 AC
-1 save vs. spell
All effects are cumulative and last 2 rounds. In addition, the War Hulk has a 25% chance of going berserk on a failed save vs. spell, gaining double the above bonuses and penalties for 1 round.

UNSTOPPABLE: Highly experienced or enraged War Hulks may overcome any obstacle in their path, whether magical or physical. Whenever the War Hulk is knocked unconscious or immobilized, he or she may attempt a save vs. death at -15. If successful, the War Hulk can shrug off the effects of sleep, hold, paralysis, or stun.

- Hit Die: 2d8 (2d6 after level 9)

The current version is v1.1 and should be compatible with all IE games. It is attached below, "WarHulkKit.zip." I have also attached the older, game-specific versions, which granted flat bonuses to damage instead of percentage bonuses.

Old versions:

WarHulkKitBGEE.rar:
This is the version for BG:EE without Item Revisions.

WarHulkKitBGEE4IR.rar:
This is the version for BG:EE with Item Revisions.

WarHulkKitBG2EE.rar:
This is the version for BG2:EE without Item Revisions.

WarHulkKitBG2EE4IR.rar:
This is the version for BG2:EE with Item Revisions.

WarHulkKitIWDEE.rar:
This is the version for IWD:EE.

Chidojuan

Best with a Two-Handed Sword right? For maximum damage?

Danacm

In bg1 with chesley crusher is seems fun

semiticgoddess

@Chidojuan @Danacm: Since the War Hulk can only put one pip in any weapon proficiency, it can use multiple weapon types equally well. My War Hulk used the longsword Varscona until he got the two-handed sword Spider's Bane, then switched to a halberd that Item Revisions tweaked to give +6 damage at the cost of setting APR to 1 (which happened to fit the kit perfectly).

Shields are very useful for War Hulks, as it reduces the chance of suffering a fatal spiral from rage.

Flashburn

A long time ago I made a voice set out of Krieg from Borderlands 2. This kit will go perfectly with it!

semiticgoddess

@Flashburn: Is the voice set in the soundsets thread in General Modding?

Flashburn

@semiticgod
I haven't uploaded it anywhere actually, though I can put it there if you want. It doesn't have any of the fancy subtitling either because I don't play with subtitles anyway.

semiticgoddess

@Flashburn: Why not post it? Who knows; maybe a lot of people will like it.

I made this kit for my own personal use, but apparently other people wanted to try it out.

semiticgoddess

I just updated the kit. It is now available for Icewind Dale: EE.

Flashburn

I'm about a quarter of the way through Dragonspear with this kit. It's pretty fun having such high HP and smiting anyone that lands a hit or three on me with the Chelsey Crusher halberd. I took on Drizzt after the Cloakwood Mines and could hit him no problem with 23 STR and very low THAC0. I had Kagain tank and sent him retreating after a few rounds, then Drizzt wanted a piece of me. He enraged me really hard and my final hit eviscerated him into chunks. Woo!

One minor problem is that it seems the bonus damage gained from your level is not displayed in the inventory/record screens, which means you're actually hitting for quite a bit more damage than it indicates. I think that's a problem on opcode 285 itself and can't be helped, although the THAC0 bonus from opcode 284 is displayed correctly.

I'm looking forward to playing this in BG2 because the HLAs look pretty fun too.

Pokota

How does this play with two weapon handling?

semiticgoddess

@Pokota: It doesn't, really. Whenever the War Hulk lands a successful hit, his or her attacks per round is set to 0 for 4 seconds. It's the only way to really limit APR to 1, which is the primary point of the class: hitting once, really hard.

If I could rig it so that it would get 1 APR with one weapon and 2 APR when dual-wielding, and no more than that, I would. But the game engine won't allow it.

The only way to do it would be to make a version of the War Hulk that was not a fighter, paladin, or ranger kit, and then impose immunity to haste and the APR opcode. This is because all warriors get an extra half attack per round at level 7 and 13, and there's no way to stop that.

If I did create a non-warrior War Hulk kit, I'd want to pick a class that can use two-handed swords and the like, but those weapons are only usable by bards, and it would seem silly to make a bard into a War Hulk.

kjeron

@semiticgod
You can turn off Warrior APR bonuses for individual kits in "CLSWPBON.2da".

If your up for complexity, with some bit-wise extra-prof checks you could use APR type 3 "Set Final APR" to control APR to always be 1 per weapon, regardless of Weapon, Level, or Proficiency, but you would still be subject to Haste. I would ask @subtledoctor if you want to pursue this option so that you are both using the same bits of proficiency to check for Single- or Dual-Wield. Consistency and Compatibility.

You can setup to have any given Haste effect last only until the next hit or end of the current round, whichever comes first, at which point it could be removed or replaced with a fixed or scaled duration movement speed bonus.

semiticgoddess

@kjeron: I believe CLSWPBON.2da only blocks proficiency-based APR, not a warrior's level 7 and 13 APR, and the War Hulk already is unable to put more than 1 proficiency in anything. But I could change it so War Hulks could get higher proficiencies with non-APR bonuses--I think the WeiDu kit thread explains how to remove those proficiency-based APR bonuses--and I'm sure some players would prefer to be able to concentrate their pips for their War Hulks.

Testing found that "Set Final APR" did not work as a permanent kit effect. It worked perfectly fine for my Alchemist kit when I wanted grenades to be limited to 1 APR, as an equipped effect, but for some reason it failed to work as a permanent-after-death effect. And I think it limits dual-wielding APR as well.

Tagging @subtledoctor because he usually has answers to these questions.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

kjeron

semiticgod said:

@kjeron: I believe CLSWPBON.2da only blocks proficiency-based APR, not a warrior's level 7 and 13 APR,

It's all the same. Proficiency and Warrior APR are controlled by the same 2 files.
A level 16 Dorn with ** in 2-Handed Sword only gets 1 APR when wielding such if the first column for Blackguards in CLSWPBON is 0.

semiticgod said:

Testing found that "Set Final APR" did not work as a permanent kit effect. It worked perfectly fine for my Alchemist kit when I wanted grenades to be limited to 1 APR, as an equipped effect, but for some reason it failed to work as a permanent-after-death effect. And I think it limits dual-wielding APR as well.

This doesn't need permanent, it just needs until the next time you switch weapons, then it can detect your weapon setup again every time you switch weapons, altering your APR to match.

Add to SPLPROT:
ROW# 134 -1 9
For all weapons, excluding MONKFISTs(for reasons, partially because they work differently):
Modify Proficiency(233): Parameter1 = 1, Parameter2 = 65670, Timing = 2

BaseSpell
(For each weapon Category):
Apply Effect on Equip Type(183): Parameter2 = Category, Timing = 9, Duration = 1, Resource = SubSpellA

SubspellA:
Apply Effects by SPLPROT(326): Parameter1= 2, Parameter2 = ROW#, Resource = SubspellB
Apply Effects by SPLPROT(326): Parameter1= 1, Parameter2 = ROW#, Resource = SubspellC
Cast Spell(146): Parameter2 = 1(instant), Resource = BaseSpell

SubspellB:
Remove Effects by Resource(321): Parameter1 = Equipped, Resource = SubspellB
Remove Effects by Resource(321): Parameter1 = Equipped, Resource = SubspellC
Modify APR(1): Parameter1 = 1, Parameter2 = 3, Timing = 2, Duration = 1
(Single Weapon)

SubspellC:
Remove Effects by Resource(321): Parameter1 = Equipped, Resource = SubspellB
Remove Effects by Resource(321): Parameter1 = Equipped, Resource = SubspellC
Modify APR(1): Parameter1 = 2, Parameter2 = 3, Timing = 2, Duration = 1
(Dual-Wielding)

To avoid Haste:

Add to SPLPROT:
ROW# 0x111 0x8000 9
(If Replacing Haste with Movement Speed Bonus)

Melee Hit Effect and Ranged Hit Effect applied permanently through CLAB:
Cast Spell(146): Parameter2 = 1(instant), Resource = SubspellD
(Remove/Replace Haste on hit)

Cast Spell On Condition Effect applied permanently through CLAB:
Parameter1 = 0, Parameter2 = 15, Timing = 9, duration = 1, Resource = SubspellD, Special = 0x8000
(Remove/Replace Haste at end of every round)

SubSpellD:
Protection From Spell by SPLPROT(319): Parameter2 = ROW#, Resource = SubSpellD, Duration = 1
Remove Effects By Opcode(337): Paramter1 = -1, Parameter2 = 16
Remove Effects By Opcode(337): Paramter1 = -1, Parameter2 = 317
Movement Rate Bonus(126): Parameter1 = 200, Parameter2 = 2(set %), duration = [?], dispel = 3

kjeron

subtledoctor said:

Set Final APR has some limits which I don't remember. I'm trying to wrap my head around what is desired here, and how an extra stat might be helpful.

Certainly, one thing you could do is simply patch every weapon in the game, adding a 177 effect targeting this kit with a "while equipped" Set Final APR effect. Quick and simple, no need for bit-wise checks.

The idea was for dual-wielding to grant 2 attacks, which Set Final APR '1' would override.

Skatan

Coupled with the +3 twohanded sword of berzerking would make for a very interesting charname

CrevsDaak

Skatan said:

Coupled with the +3 twohanded sword of berzerking would make for a very interesting charname

Add the halfling factor and multiply the fun by 14 STR.

I imagine a halfling running as fast as he's able to, with the sword over his head like an antenna, screaming his lungs out while he charges onto... His own party? Seems fitting enough.

Raduziel

Two things discussed here would make this kit even better:

1) Make it susceptible to Haste/Improved Haste/Oil of Speed

2) Allow more pips, but restraining the APR gain.

I'll eventually try it on an IWD run - that game gives me the better ideas for Charname in BG.

Raduziel

Making a barbarian themed party in IWDEE

War Hulk
Burial Defender (Fighter Kit from I Hate Undead)
Shapeshifter (with its revision)
Dreadful Witch (Shaman kit from I Hate Undead)
Talon of Malar (Cleric kit from Deities of Faerûn)
Imprisoned Soul (Sorcerer kit from I Hate Undead).

Let's see what comes from this.

TheArtisan

I'd like to note something regarding this:

UNSTOPPABLE: Highly experienced or enraged War Hulks may overcome any obstacle in their path, whether magical or physical. Whenever the War Hulk is knocked unconscious or immobilized, he or she may attempt a save vs. death at -15. If successful, the War Hulk can shrug off the effects of sleep, hold, paralysis, or stun.

I took a peek at the spell and it seems like you actually get the effects by failing the saving throw, which is very likely due to the massive modifier and makes this passive way stronger than it's meant to be.

This requires testing, but I think you can implement it correctly by removing the save modifiers on the current effects adding an opcode 206 (Protection from Spell) as the first effect that protects from the Unstoppable effect with a -15 saving throw modifier. Fail the save, and you don't get the curing effect of the ability since the opcode protects against it.

semiticgoddess

@Artemius_I: I thought I rigged it the other way around. I'll double-check to make sure it's working correctly.

WarChiefZeke

It's hard for me to RP a CHARNAME with this kit but it looks interesting, so I made a simple mod NPC, gave him an ogre appearance/sounds/portrait, a simple scenario in which to meet and recruit or kill for the exp. Now i'm doing an evil Necromancer play-through with the War Hulk as my only companion and it's massively enjoyable. The thing is a beast, and will probably only be left behind in the damage department come TOB. But by then its ungodly HP gains will make it a natural supertank. The idea of any creature Medium size or below (like all PC races) with this kit is unbelievable, but for a monstrous humanoid of some kind it fits perfectly. Thanks for the contribution! Enjoying it so far.

Grond0

I thought I'd give this kit a spin. As @Flashburn found it does actually seem to be pretty easy to solo - though I've added it to an otherwise unmodded installation rather than a more difficult version. I've just completed BGEE, with the only nasty moment being when I forgot to take a potion of invulnerability before tackling Sarevok. That put me into a rage spiral for the first time and it looked like being a race to see who would get the final attack in (with both of us at near death). However, I regained control at that point and could use a potion of regeneration to make sure of the victory.

One thing I noticed after killing Prat was that I could use his throwing axe. Testing then showed throwing daggers were allowed as well. I chose to rule any use of throwing items out anyway as they didn't seem consistent with the idea of the kit and I assumed it was just an engine issue that was allowing them - is that the case?

Raduziel

Grond0 said:

I chose to rule any use of throwing items out anyway as they didn't seem consistent with the idea of the kit and I assumed it was just an engine issue that was allowing them - is that the case?

Yes. It is the same reason why Cavaliers can use those weapons and Berserkers benefit from Grandmastery while throwing them.

Grond0

I just got dire charmed while finishing off the last of Thrix's crew. That seemed odd to me as my basic save at that point was -4, so based on the class description I thought I would have needed to have been hit 6 times in the previous 2 rounds to have a chance of failure - and I think I would have actually been hit either twice or, at most, three times in that period. It's possible the demon has a save adjustment to explain that, but the other thing I wondered about was the way the cumulative effect works for rage. Lets take the following example of hits made:

round / times hit / save adjustment / cumulative save adjustment
-3 / 1 / -1/ -1
-2 / 1 / -1 / -2
-1/ 1 / -1 / -2 (-3)
0 / 1 / -1 / -2 (-4)

My assumption was that the cumulative save adjustment represented only the adjustments for the previous 2 rounds at any point. However, an alternative way of doing it (and I have seen something analogous to this alternative method used in the game) would be to just apply each new save adjustment to the current cumulative adjustment and reset the expiration timer for the adjustment to 2 rounds at the point of each new hit. If the calculation worked like that I could certainly believe I was vulnerable to being charmed as I hadn't been trying to let rage expire completely in between coming in for each melee strike. Can you shed any light on that @semiticgod?

Edit: a bit of testing suggests that rage is working as I expected, so I guess whatever demon it was must have had a penalty on its save.

semiticgoddess

The save penalty is cumulative and operates using the same effect in the same spell every time. Every -1 penalty has its own separate timer and expires at a separate time, regardless of whether there are other -1 penalties active or not. The save penalties should never override each other or refresh each other.

Round 1:
Hit twice, -2 save penalty for 2 rounds
Total penalty: -2
Round 2:
Hit once, -1 save penalty for 2 rounds
Total penalty: -3
Round 3:
Hit zero times, no save penalty, Round 1 penalties expire
Total penalty: -1
Round 4:
Hit zero times, no save penalty, Round 2 penalty expires
Total penalty: 0

elmek007

I have a problem with this mod on BGEE.
Whenever I try to create a new War Hulk character, game crashes after selecting proficiences. Anyone had similar problem?
I tried both BGEE and BGEEir files.

semiticgoddess

@elmek007 Could you post your WEIDU log? I'm not sure what could be causing the problem.

elmek007

semiticgod said:

@elmek007 Could you post your WEIDU log? I'm not sure what could be causing the problem.

Sure:
// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #0 // Ice Island Level Two Restoration: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #1 // The Mysterious Vial: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #4 // Finishable Kagain Caravan Quest: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #5 // Coran and the Wyverns: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #6 // Kivan and Tazok: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #7 // Branwen and Tranzig: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #10 // Place Entar Silvershield in His Home: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #11 // Scar and the Sashenstar's Daughter: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #12 // Quoningar, the Cleric: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #13 // Shilo Chen and the Ogre-Magi: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #14 // Edie, the Merchant League Applicant: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #16 // Creature Corrections: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #17 // Creature Restorations: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #18 // Creature Name Restorations: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #19 // Minor Dialogue Restorations: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #21 // Store, Tavern and Inn Fixes and Restorations: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #22 // Item Corrections and Restorations: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #28 // Prism and the Emeralds Tweak: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #29 // Duke Eltan in the Harbor Master's Building: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #30 // Nim Furlwing Encounter: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #32 // Svlast, the Fallen Paladin Encounter: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #33 // Mal-Kalen, the Ulcaster Ghost: v15.1
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #0 #34 // Chapter 6 Dialogue Restorations: v15.1
~EE_CONTENT_TWEAKS/EE_CONTENT_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #0 // Add EE Items to Shops -> Move EE Items to Shops: v1.0
~SILVER_STAFF_OF_AULE/SILVER_STAFF_OF_AULE.TP2~ #0 #0 // Silver Staff of Aule: v9.1
~SILVER_STAFF_OF_AULE/SILVER_STAFF_OF_AULE.TP2~ #0 #1 // Alternate Icons -> Icon N.1 by CrevsDaak (default): v9.1
~C0ASSASSIN/C0ASSASSIN.TP2~ #0 #0 // Way of the Assassin: Assassin Kit Rework
~SARADAS_REVISIONED_SHAPESHIFTER/SARADAS_REVISIONED_SHAPESHIFTER.TP2~ #0 #0 // Saradas_Revisioned_Shapeshifter
~SETUP-SMMOD.TP2~ #0 #200 // Revised Sword and Shield Proficiencies (Adds High Mastery to Shields for Shieldbearer Kit): v1.0
~SETUP-SMMOD.TP2~ #0 #100 // Add Shieldbearer kit for BGEE: v1.0
~SETUP-BGEESPAWN.TP2~ #0 #101 // BGEE Leveling Spawns Mod: v0.3
~WARHULKKITBGEE/WARHULKKITBGEE.TP2~ #0 #0 // War Hulk Kit for Fighters: v1.00