Isn't putting the ring in Irenicus area a bit generous given the ring addresses one of the limiting items for the SA? It would seem to me that it should be a reward from a good fight. My opinion.
Isn't putting the ring in Irenicus area a bit generous given the ring addresses one of the limiting items for the SA? It would seem to me that it should be a reward from a good fight. My opinion.
What I found was that providing it too late causes far too much opportunity cost in BG2, where there are dozens of good rings you'd rather use. It's supposed to be a crutch that you can substitute out once you get something better. When I had it in its original place my shadow adept was already wearing two rings that I liked better so the thing sat in my inventory not being used until I eventually sold it. I might put it somewhere else but it'll still probably be somewhere you could easily reach as soon as you exit the dungeon.
Previews! Currently working on that quest/encounter for acquiring the shadow orb (as well as some of the new items):
Shadow Screen is a new 5th spell that will be added in the next update - it protects from one cast of Dispel/Remove Magic, Spell Thrust, Secret Word, Breach, Lower Resistance, Pierce Magic, Ruby Ray, Khelben's Warding Whip, Pierce Shield, or Spellstrike. Additionally, made a few consumable items as well:
Three new items that were 'designed' by my friend, @LavaDelVortel, who is a lot more creative when it comes to items than I am
Call me crazy, but I actually think the kits are fine as they are. I believe adding more penalties would cripple the shadow adept because as it gains higher level spells it has to flirt with death due to the potential loss of constitution from using them which a regular mage doesn't need to deal with. The shadow adept also has to deal with a lower variety in spells (more so as I'm reducing the number of spells learned by level in the next update) which is lacking in some mage staples like Project Image and Wish.
The shadow adept does have the advantage of having superior spells but that's not strictly the case. The spells range from being much better than their mage alternatives to being mostly equal to actually being worse in some cases (cold-based spells in particular being ineffective against undead).
The shadow monk is more likely to be rebalanced, but it's not as big of a priority for me and the existing disadvantages already hurt quite a lot.
I wanted to note that I think the Shadow Adept is well balanced.
Pros - Special mage spell memorize (+1 spell slot per spell level) Can select spells to learn from list (no scroll searches) Has 6hp per level. 3 special abilities. Some powerful spells Can get bonus know spells, spell duration, spell caster level and speed bonuses for high abilities
At this point it sound pretty over strong, but...
Cons - No XP from scroll memorization Can't use mage scrolls to cast from Has limited amount of known spells (like sorcerer) Missing several good mage spells Must memorize spells Spell casting can take CON away for 3 rounds lowering HP and killing PC if not careful Negatives to some saves Needs to have high attributes in 4 of 6 categories to leverage some bonuses in pros above. Has very few options against undead
Given that you need a REALLY high stat roll to max out abilities on a SA, you can be made to suffer in the DEX and Strength department pretty hard to get decent values in the other 4 stats. Sure there are ways to counter act this, but you can't have the bracers of DEX and the bracers of AC3 on at the same time. You can't have the belt of strength with the belt of Inertia on at the same time (or the belt of CON if you use a mod to give the belt 18 CON at all times). So I see this class as very good at inflicting pain on living (non-cold resistant) enemies, but requires quite a bit of sacrifice (may only be able to cast 1 or 2 spells per 3 rounds depending on your CON + luck, limited spell selection, need high stats in allot of places to get max effects, etc) to use.
I tip my hat to you Artemius_I for your creativity in putting this kit together!
On the next update: a few spells will be tweaked, Summon Shadow is being massively nerfed, two new Abjuration spells, maybe that quest I mentioned before, and a new component: NPC Reactions.
A few NPCs both in and out of party will comment on a shadow adept PC. There won't be a whole lot of game-affecting consequences though as most won't recognize just what the PC's magic really is. I'll just say right now that among the party members, only Viconia and Edwin actually know the magic the PC is using, while others suspect something but won't know unless the PC is willing to explain to them.
I'm also planning on making a shadow adept exclusive stronghold for BG2 in place of the planar sphere, but, well... that won't be for a while yet.
For Summon Shadow, can this be split into 4 spells? One to summon shadows. One to summon Shadow Fiends, One to Summon Shadow Wraiths, and one to summon Devil Shades. This will allow for higher level slots to be used and it nerfs the original spell while providing options for better summons using higher spell slots.
For Summon Shadow, can this be split into 4 spells? One to summon shadows. One to summon Shadow Fiends, One to Summon Shadow Wraiths, and one to summon Devil Shades. This will allow for higher level slots to be used and it nerfs the original spell while providing options for better summons using higher spell slots.
Could be a good change in the future. There were reasons why the spell was overpowered and needed to be needed though. The duration of the spell will be changed to 1 hour and the stats of the summons are significantly lower so they're not as durable or as fast hitting.
I just hope I have summons that are close to the effect of Animate Dead. So the duration lowering worries me as does any significant weakening of the higher level summons as they were not as good as the 15th level skeletal warrior in some cases as is (their numbers were needed to hang in there).
When the next update arrives I'll let ya know if Tome n Blood works with it for their tweaks. It would also give the SA an innate Find Familiar ability (maybe, unless it is tied to the ability to cast it, but as it takes the spell out of the game it might work.) Also crafting potions and recharging wands. Maybe not, as the Palemaster recognized isn't either. I think you would have to let @Aquadrizzt know to add both for TnB to recognize them. The ability to scribe SW spells would be nice, although I think the CDtweaks or aTweaks will let me do that as well (cant remember which at the moment).
The regular shadows n fiends in the game are not to bad as far as nerfing these. Main difference I thought was the SA's versions have spells and strike more. I do like the lvl up version as opposed to splitting them off, personally.
Hmm, it might at that. As TnB adds bonus spells for Int for mages, and the SA get extra for chr, it might give quite a few extra.
EDIT:I just tested this and TnB did not seem to affect spells any. I just got the 2 extra from an 18chr, did not get 2 more from int as in the TnB tweak . It must not read the class apparently, other wise he would have an addition 2 spells. Might warrant further testing however.
@Artemius_I, I just noticed that since you added items (3rd option to install) to the mod, special items in stores for BGEE restock after being bought (maybe even normal, but I haven't verified). So at Thunderhammer smithy for example, if I buy the +1 sling or shadow armor (one item in inventory at the smithy) and get out of conversation and then go back into conversation (buy/sell screen) they are back in the inventory of the smithy. So you can buy as many of an item as you want. Not game breaking, but not desired.
NOTE: Am using 0.82. And I only install options 1 & 3 (no shadow monk installed).
I cannot reproduce this with my save. The item pack component only touches a couple of specific stores so there should be no reason why that would happen.
Familiars will be added as an optional component in the next update. The shadow adept has three familiars available to them, depending on their lawful/chaotic alignment. The ability to summon them will be gained at 6th level, as they are significantly more powerful than mage familiars.
There are also consequences to summoning these creatures, however. Unlike regular familiars which provide extra hit points, the shadow adept must permanently sacrifice 10% of their maximum hit points to summon their familiar. However, these creatures do not die permanently and reform after 24 hours if killed.
Lawful shadow adepts get the shade wolf, Yin'rou: Gender: Male Alignment: Lawful Neutral Base Class: Ranger Hit Points: 65 STR: 17 DEX: 18 CON: 17 INT: 15 WIS: 10 CHA: 12 Spells: Shadow Veil, Shadow Rope, Ghostly Visage, Night Terrors Other abilities: Stealth, regenerates 1 hp/3 seconds (other familiars regenerate 1 hp/round)
Neutral shadow adepts get the shadow, Ka'Shai: Gender: None Alignment: True Neutral Base Class: Bard Hit Points: 30 STR: 14 DEX: 16 CON: 12 INT: 14 WIS: 14 CHA: 19 Spells: Curse, Mesmerize, Power Word: Sleep, Black Mist Other abilities: Bardsong reduces enemies' luck, cannot Pick Pockets, can attack with either ranged or melee
Chaotic shadow adepts get the mephit, Nyx: Gender: Female Alignment: Chaotic Neutral Base Class: Shadowdancer Hit Points: 38 STR: 10 DEX: 19 CON: 16 INT: 16 WIS: 12 CHA: 16 Spells: Blinding Darkness, Decoy, Dark Mirage, Dark Fortune Other abilities: Shadowstep, Hide in Plain Sight, can use thieving skills
I had a slight glitch with the Night Cutter. not sure if it is just on my end or not. When unidentified it reads as an Invalid Entry 46681in the description or something, can't remember the exact number. When Identified, however, all is as it should be.
Eh, I probably forgot to delete the unidentified description from the item so it's looking for a text string that doesn't exist for your game. I'll have it fixed.
This mod only gets better and better, I'm waiting for a "final" version before installing it.
But I'm curious: would a SA be protected from the Constitution drain if under the effect of a Potion of Fortitude or the Girdle of Fortitude?
Not protected - any existing constitution penalties would carry over, so if the PC lost 4 CON then drank a Potion of Fortitude then they'd end up with 14 CON.
Update on familiars: the cost of summoning a familiar has been changed to permanent -1 to constitution. A harsh cost, but fair considering(changed to temporary loss of -4 constitution which gradually recovers over several weeks, reasoning below) the familiars are rather powerful and actually usable since there's no lasting harm from using them in battle (they respawn after 24 hours have passed).
Reason why constitution loss is temporary: Transition between BG1 to BG2. Because importing carries no end of issues for mod kits, the PC would have to suffer -2 constitution from summoning their familiar once in BG1 and once in BG2. That's a little too harsh. This change will make the loss still affect gameplay but carry no negative effects into BG2.
Each familiar also has their own distinct personality and background. They also do not enter your inventory (can you imagine trying to fit a fully grown wolf into your backpack?) but instead can be dismissed to their home plane, giving a special ability which can be used to recall them at will.
Two new spells: Expunge Magic (3rd level) and Shadow Screen (5th level)
A few new items added to item pack component
Several spell icons altered
Added text for remaining constitution after spell cast
Summon Shadow duration and statistics reduced greatly
NPC Reaction component added - currently only Edwin
Drain Vitality spell mechanics altered slightly - the caster may gain an unlimited amount of constitution from multiple spell casts on different targets, but a single target's constitution may still only be drained once per turn
Familiars added - tentative, dialogue is unfinished, may still be buggy
Comments
Shadow Screen is a new 5th spell that will be added in the next update - it protects from one cast of Dispel/Remove Magic, Spell Thrust, Secret Word, Breach, Lower Resistance, Pierce Magic, Ruby Ray, Khelben's Warding Whip, Pierce Shield, or Spellstrike.
Additionally, made a few consumable items as well:
Three new items that were 'designed' by my friend, @LavaDelVortel, who is a lot more creative when it comes to items than I am
hey...would you consider adding some more serious disadvantages to the kits, especially the shadow adept?
Call me crazy, but I actually think the kits are fine as they are. I believe adding more penalties would cripple the shadow adept because as it gains higher level spells it has to flirt with death due to the potential loss of constitution from using them which a regular mage doesn't need to deal with. The shadow adept also has to deal with a lower variety in spells (more so as I'm reducing the number of spells learned by level in the next update) which is lacking in some mage staples like Project Image and Wish.
The shadow adept does have the advantage of having superior spells but that's not strictly the case. The spells range from being much better than their mage alternatives to being mostly equal to actually being worse in some cases (cold-based spells in particular being ineffective against undead).
The shadow monk is more likely to be rebalanced, but it's not as big of a priority for me and the existing disadvantages already hurt quite a lot.
Pros -
Special mage spell memorize (+1 spell slot per spell level)
Can select spells to learn from list (no scroll searches)
Has 6hp per level.
3 special abilities.
Some powerful spells
Can get bonus know spells, spell duration, spell caster level and speed bonuses for high abilities
At this point it sound pretty over strong, but...
Cons -
No XP from scroll memorization
Can't use mage scrolls to cast from
Has limited amount of known spells (like sorcerer)
Missing several good mage spells
Must memorize spells
Spell casting can take CON away for 3 rounds lowering HP and killing PC if not careful
Negatives to some saves
Needs to have high attributes in 4 of 6 categories to leverage some bonuses in pros above.
Has very few options against undead
Given that you need a REALLY high stat roll to max out abilities on a SA, you can be made to suffer in the DEX and Strength department pretty hard to get decent values in the other 4 stats. Sure there are ways to counter act this, but you can't have the bracers of DEX and the bracers of AC3 on at the same time. You can't have the belt of strength with the belt of Inertia on at the same time (or the belt of CON if you use a mod to give the belt 18 CON at all times). So I see this class as very good at inflicting pain on living (non-cold resistant) enemies, but requires quite a bit of sacrifice (may only be able to cast 1 or 2 spells per 3 rounds depending on your CON + luck, limited spell selection, need high stats in allot of places to get max effects, etc) to use.
I tip my hat to you Artemius_I for your creativity in putting this kit together!
A few NPCs both in and out of party will comment on a shadow adept PC. There won't be a whole lot of game-affecting consequences though as most won't recognize just what the PC's magic really is. I'll just say right now that among the party members, only Viconia and Edwin actually know the magic the PC is using, while others suspect something but won't know unless the PC is willing to explain to them.
I'm also planning on making a shadow adept exclusive stronghold for BG2 in place of the planar sphere, but, well... that won't be for a while yet.
The regular shadows n fiends in the game are not to bad as far as nerfing these. Main difference I thought was the SA's versions have spells and strike more. I do like the lvl up version as opposed to splitting them off, personally.
EDIT:I just tested this and TnB did not seem to affect spells any. I just got the 2 extra from an 18chr, did not get 2 more from int as in the TnB tweak . It must not read the class apparently, other wise he would have an addition 2 spells.
Might warrant further testing however.
NOTE: Am using 0.82. And I only install options 1 & 3 (no shadow monk installed).
I cannot reproduce this with my save. The item pack component only touches a couple of specific stores so there should be no reason why that would happen.
There are also consequences to summoning these creatures, however. Unlike regular familiars which provide extra hit points, the shadow adept must permanently sacrifice 10% of their maximum hit points to summon their familiar. However, these creatures do not die permanently and reform after 24 hours if killed.
Lawful shadow adepts get the shade wolf, Yin'rou:
Gender: Male
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Base Class: Ranger
Hit Points: 65
STR: 17 DEX: 18 CON: 17 INT: 15 WIS: 10 CHA: 12
Spells: Shadow Veil, Shadow Rope, Ghostly Visage, Night Terrors
Other abilities: Stealth, regenerates 1 hp/3 seconds (other familiars regenerate 1 hp/round)
Neutral shadow adepts get the shadow, Ka'Shai:
Gender: None
Alignment: True Neutral
Base Class: Bard
Hit Points: 30
STR: 14 DEX: 16 CON: 12 INT: 14 WIS: 14 CHA: 19
Spells: Curse, Mesmerize, Power Word: Sleep, Black Mist
Other abilities: Bardsong reduces enemies' luck, cannot Pick Pockets, can attack with either ranged or melee
Chaotic shadow adepts get the mephit, Nyx:
Gender: Female
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Base Class: Shadowdancer
Hit Points: 38
STR: 10 DEX: 19 CON: 16 INT: 16 WIS: 12 CHA: 16
Spells: Blinding Darkness, Decoy, Dark Mirage, Dark Fortune
Other abilities: Shadowstep, Hide in Plain Sight, can use thieving skills
The next update looks to have some great things. Really looking forward to it!
Eh, I probably forgot to delete the unidentified description from the item so it's looking for a text string that doesn't exist for your game. I'll have it fixed.
But I'm curious: would a SA be protected from the Constitution drain if under the effect of a Potion of Fortitude or the Girdle of Fortitude?
Good job!
permanent -1 to constitution. A harsh cost, but fair considering(changed to temporary loss of -4 constitution which gradually recovers over several weeks, reasoning below) the familiars are rather powerful and actually usable since there's no lasting harm from using them in battle (they respawn after 24 hours have passed).Reason why constitution loss is temporary: Transition between BG1 to BG2. Because importing carries no end of issues for mod kits, the PC would have to suffer -2 constitution from summoning their familiar once in BG1 and once in BG2. That's a little too harsh. This change will make the loss still affect gameplay but carry no negative effects into BG2.
Each familiar also has their own distinct personality and background. They also do not enter your inventory (can you imagine trying to fit a fully grown wolf into your backpack?) but instead can be dismissed to their home plane, giving a special ability which can be used to recall them at will.
Previews:
Very excited to get home from work to try this!