Do familiar's improve with levels? In particular, I was wondering if the Mephit thieving abilities improve or if they are fixed?
They improve after every 5 shadow adept levels. The mephit gains a small boost to thieving (+20 to stealth, +10 to other thieving skills except Detect Illusions and Set Traps) as well as extra dexterity which increases thieving skills as well. It starts with ~50-60 points in most skills.
Only x2 I think because it doesn't actually level up and I didn't manually change its backstab multiplier, and it wouldn't do much damage anyway since its attack is only 1d3.
Hmmm. In theory, doesn't that make the Mephit underwhelming compared to the other two? Thieve skills lower then needed for stage in the game you get them. Not much attack ability. Only decent at hiding. The other two familiars can attack at least and contribute.
Just a rough visualization in my mind, but wanted your thoughts.
EDIT: Can the Mephit be used as a scout? Does it see areas like a possessed Mage familiar?
Hmmm. In theory, doesn't that make the Mephit underwhelming compared to the other two? Thieve skills lower then needed for stage in the game you get them. Not much attack ability. Only decent at hiding. The other two familiars can attack at least and contribute.
Just a rough visualization in my mind, but wanted your thoughts.
EDIT: Can the Mephit be used as a scout? Does it see areas like a possessed Mage familiar?
The mephit attacks three times per round which somewhat compensates for its low weapon damage. The wolf still deals more damage per round on average as it has a 1d8 weapon and attacks twice but the mephit still usually deals more damage than the shadow who has a fairly weak attack and only hits once per round and has terrible THAC0. It may not look it but it's also a fairly useful aggro magnet as well because it is the only one that has physical damage and magic resistance for its non-upgraded version.
EDIT: Actually its damage is better than it sounds as it levels up. All three familiars gain a flat +1 bonus to damage with each upgrade (maximum +4). This means the mephit gets the largest damage boost due to its 3 APR giving it a potential +3 dpr per upgrade as opposed to the wolf's +2 and the shadow's +1, which is further boosted by backstabbing.
I also made a mistake in my description above. The mephit doesn't have 50 in all skills, it has 50 points in all skills, and this doesn't account for Dexterity bonuses. In reality, it has ~60-70 points in Open Locks and Find Traps in its first stage, which is enough to go through a good bit of BG1 at least. You're still probably right in that it's the least useful of the three combat-wise, but I think it makes up for it in utility.
I might improve its backstab multiplier with upgrades though. It probably is still too weak offensively.
I did my best to make them imitate vanilla familiar behavior perfectly, so yes, they have the ability to provide vision among other things, making the mephit the best scout.
Do you think you might could adjust this a little in the mod to make this stand out a bit more, possibly even for non SWeave users? Kind of boring as is and it's the only base game reference to the SW.
Intelligence and wisdom bonuses had a bit of an issue which caused them to randomly not apply for a reason I'm not sure of yet. I've fixed it so that it always applies. Now the bad news is this does not fix the issue for existing saves by itself. A new character is required... or some skills in save modifying.
To fix this issue without restarting, use EEKeeper, open the save and go to the Effects tab for the shadow adept character. Find the two effects called 'Spell: Apply Repeating EFF [272]' and open them. Set 'Frequency' to 1 and 'Type' to 3 for both, and the stat bonuses will reapply themselves on load.
Oh, and the casting level modifier for high intelligence was bugged. It only gave a maximum of +1 regardless of intelligence instead of +1-4 as intended. That was fixed as well.
Running 0.9.1 through BGEE. So far so good. Found the first shadow item (for me) after clearing the Nashkel mines in Nashkel. It is interesting, but hard to always equip a melee weapon on a mage to get bonus spells (nice for a fighter/mage). Almost 4th level. Looking forward to trying the familiar at 6th level and to see what else I find in new items.
Running 0.9.1 through BGEE. So far so good. Found the first shadow item (for me) after clearing the Nashkel mines in Nashkel. It is interesting, but hard to always equip a melee weapon on a mage to get bonus spells (nice for a fighter/mage). Almost 4th level. Looking forward to trying the familiar at 6th level and to see what else I find in new items.
Yeah, you know, I just got that dagger myself and i actually hate it, dunno what I was thinking Will think of changing it to an effect that's less annoying in a future update.
Running 0.9.1 through BGEE. So far so good. Found the first shadow item (for me) after clearing the Nashkel mines in Nashkel. It is interesting, but hard to always equip a melee weapon on a mage to get bonus spells (nice for a fighter/mage). Almost 4th level. Looking forward to trying the familiar at 6th level and to see what else I find in new items.
Yeah, you know, I just got that dagger myself and i actually hate it, dunno what I was thinking Will think of changing it to an effect that's less annoying in a future update.
Running 0.9.1 through BGEE. So far so good. Found the first shadow item (for me) after clearing the Nashkel mines in Nashkel. It is interesting, but hard to always equip a melee weapon on a mage to get bonus spells (nice for a fighter/mage). Almost 4th level. Looking forward to trying the familiar at 6th level and to see what else I find in new items.
Yeah, you know, I just got that dagger myself and i actually hate it, dunno what I was thinking Will think of changing it to an effect that's less annoying in a future update.
A returning throwing dagger maybe?
That would be interesting. A smoking trail behind it as it is thrown, like the BG2 Firetooth dagger, except a darker smoke, as it is thrown.
Just noticed that I cannot dual class from the Shadow Adept. I have 18 for INT, WIS, CHA, so I should be able to go from SA to Cleric.
EDIT: Just got to 6th level and tried summoning the familiars. They all came without issue (used EEKeeper to create a save of each alignment). They seem fine, though I wish there was a way to see what the thief skills are on the Mephit. Could you add them as a line of notes in the talk options when you speak to the Mephit so I can see the values?
EDIT 2: I am trying the lawful route with the Wolf. His regen seems to be pretty OP at 6th level. He held off two Ghasts alone and regened enough to not be in danger of dying. His attack is pretty good as well. Would think the regen should improve with the 4 ability improvement levels (11, 16, 21, 26). So the 6th level should be way less then what it is in my opinion.
EDIT 3: Just noticed that when the wolf familiar was attacked by Xvarts and they crit hit him (any hit seems to give the message) that a message appeared in the log saying invalid: 205597 on one line and the next line had the damage inflicted on the wolf.
Dual-classing: Cannot reproduce. I made a level 2 shadow adept and I can dual-class just fine. You're not trying to dual-class at level 1, right?
Checking stats in dialogue: That's a good idea. I'll implement this in the full release.
Wolf regeneration: It's possible the regeneration might be a little high, but I'm not entirely sold on it yet. True, it's very convenient to have a self-healing meat shield, but as far as I've noticed in gameplay, Yin'rou has terrible AC and low hit points making the regen a bit of a necessity and while he can make short work of trash mobs, any reasonable damage-dealing enemy will easily hurt him for more than he can heal (2 hp/round). In the case you mentioned, ghasts generally deal fairly low damage and the familiar is immune to their hold effect which means he should by reason wipe them out without trouble. Try putting him through a few tougher fights and see if he still makes things too easy. If so then I'll tune it down.
Invalid string: Cannot reproduce this either at the moment, but I'll keep an eye out for it in case.
I'm not sure if anyone's run into this issue yet, but this update should fix any instances of the familiar becoming uncontrollable (green circle but can only be spoken to). The Night Cutter's also been reworked:
Night Cutter +2
This wicked knife seems to suck in light around it rather than reflecting it. Only a wielder familiar with Shadow Magic may draw upon its powers.
STATISTICS:
Combat abilities: - Returns to the wielder's hand when thrown - When thrown, there is a 10% chance that the wielder will be teleported into melee range of the target and turn invisible for five rounds. - On a successful backstab, casts Blinding Darkness on target and restores one 1st level spell to the wielder's memory.
Actually, a bit of trivia: this mod began as a sorcerer kit. However, I didn't like the forced spell selection that came up in every level. If there's enough interest I could try to rebuild it as a sorcerer kit if people don't mind that aspect. It wouldn't be hard.
Actually, a bit of trivia: this mod began as a sorcerer kit. However, I didn't like the forced spell selection that came up in every level. If there's enough interest I could try to rebuild it as a sorcerer kit if people don't mind that aspect. It wouldn't be hard.
Fun fact: Yesterday I was thinking about this. The concept of a Shadow Adept fits better for a Sorcerer IMHO (as the Palemaster fits better for a Wizard - but that is literally another thread).
What was exactly the problem with the forced spell selection?
The way I see there is only one problem of running a Sorcerer Shadow Adept: if the tons of spells they get, killing yourself will become easier.
Actually, a bit of trivia: this mod began as a sorcerer kit. However, I didn't like the forced spell selection that came up in every level. If there's enough interest I could try to rebuild it as a sorcerer kit if people don't mind that aspect. It wouldn't be hard.
Fun fact: Yesterday I was thinking about this. The concept of a Shadow Adept fits better for a Sorcerer IMHO (as the Palemaster fits better for a Wizard - but that is literally another thread).
What was exactly the problem with the forced spell selection?
The way I see there is only one problem of running a Sorcerer Shadow Adept: if the tons of spells they get, killing yourself will become easier.
It's just a pain in the ass. The spell section being forced means I have to apply the effect which erases your regular spells on every level up. Not a big deal, but I eventually just decided mage was a better fit when I wanted to experiment with fighter/SA and cleric/SA dualclasses which is obviously impossible with the sorcerer. I always considered bringing the sorcerer-SA back though - I've even entertained the thought of a bard SA since they also use arcane spells. But my main priority was to get the core features of the mod working and it was just easier to work around the mage.
In other words, I'll probably bring the sorcerer back into the picture eventually. Just got a few more changes to make before I move on to that.
"I've even entertained the thought of a bard SA since they also use arcane spells. "
I've had that idea myself since the kit was first posted and I was running a dirgesinger imagined to be a Shar devotee. Considering Shar's (also referred to as The Nightsinger") focus , in combo with the SWeave, it could open up some interesting ideas for a new bard song.
@Artemius_I the Shadow Adept can't learn spells from scrolls, am I right?
How did you do this? I was using opcode 180 (Can't use item) to keep the Undead Slayer away from the Animate Dead scroll (thus making him unable to use the spell), but despite the opcode, he was able to use it and learn from it.
I'm using the Necromancer's usability flag, so maybe that's the issue, but I'm not sure.
I gave up on this restriction idea but would be nice to learn something new.
@Artemius_I the Shadow Adept can't learn spells from scrolls, am I right?
How did you do this? I was using opcode 180 (Can't use item) to keep the Undead Slayer away from the Animate Dead scroll (thus making him unable to use the spell), but despite the opcode, he was able to use it and learn from it.
I'm using the Necromancer's usability flag, so maybe that's the issue, but I'm not sure.
I gave up on this restriction idea but would be nice to learn something new.
What I did was add all the specialists' usability flags together to get 0x00003FC0. This wasn't my idea, I learned it off the shadow adept kit from Foundling. The problem with using this however is that it screws up the character creation display, showing the character as a regular 'Mage' rather than a shadow adept. Strangely, if the kit is then added in post-creation then everything displays just fine. That's why if you look at the files there's actually two shadow adept kits, the blank 'C0SADEP2' which has no abilities or restrictions and only has one effect which changes the user's kit to the proper 'C0SADEPT'. I haven't found an alternative to having to do this.
Unfortunately this probably won't help you much if you're just looking to restrict a particular item.
Okay, I've figured out that invalid string bug and patched it, but unfortunately it won't really help an existing save where your familiar is already summoned. You can try using the console if you really know what you're doing:
Mouse over your familiar and use C:Eval('ChangeAnimationNoEffect("c0safam1")')
Comments
Just a rough visualization in my mind, but wanted your thoughts.
EDIT: Can the Mephit be used as a scout? Does it see areas like a possessed Mage familiar?
EDIT: Actually its damage is better than it sounds as it levels up. All three familiars gain a flat +1 bonus to damage with each upgrade (maximum +4). This means the mephit gets the largest damage boost due to its 3 APR giving it a potential +3 dpr per upgrade as opposed to the wolf's +2 and the shadow's +1, which is further boosted by backstabbing.
I also made a mistake in my description above. The mephit doesn't have 50 in all skills, it has 50 points in all skills, and this doesn't account for Dexterity bonuses. In reality, it has ~60-70 points in Open Locks and Find Traps in its first stage, which is enough to go through a good bit of BG1 at least. You're still probably right in that it's the least useful of the three combat-wise, but I think it makes up for it in utility.
I might improve its backstab multiplier with upgrades though. It probably is still too weak offensively.
I did my best to make them imitate vanilla familiar behavior perfectly, so yes, they have the ability to provide vision among other things, making the mephit the best scout.
Intelligence and wisdom bonuses had a bit of an issue which caused them to randomly not apply for a reason I'm not sure of yet. I've fixed it so that it always applies. Now the bad news is this does not fix the issue for existing saves by itself. A new character is required... or some skills in save modifying.
To fix this issue without restarting, use EEKeeper, open the save and go to the Effects tab for the shadow adept character. Find the two effects called 'Spell: Apply Repeating EFF [272]' and open them. Set 'Frequency' to 1 and 'Type' to 3 for both, and the stat bonuses will reapply themselves on load.
Oh, and the casting level modifier for high intelligence was bugged. It only gave a maximum of +1 regardless of intelligence instead of +1-4 as intended. That was fixed as well.
EDIT: Just got to 6th level and tried summoning the familiars. They all came without issue (used EEKeeper to create a save of each alignment). They seem fine, though I wish there was a way to see what the thief skills are on the Mephit. Could you add them as a line of notes in the talk options when you speak to the Mephit so I can see the values?
EDIT 2: I am trying the lawful route with the Wolf. His regen seems to be pretty OP at 6th level. He held off two Ghasts alone and regened enough to not be in danger of dying. His attack is pretty good as well. Would think the regen should improve with the 4 ability improvement levels (11, 16, 21, 26). So the 6th level should be way less then what it is in my opinion.
EDIT 3: Just noticed that when the wolf familiar was attacked by Xvarts and they
crithit him (any hit seems to give the message) that a message appeared in the log saying invalid: 205597 on one line and the next line had the damage inflicted on the wolf.Dual-classing: Cannot reproduce. I made a level 2 shadow adept and I can dual-class just fine. You're not trying to dual-class at level 1, right?
Checking stats in dialogue: That's a good idea. I'll implement this in the full release.
Wolf regeneration: It's possible the regeneration might be a little high, but I'm not entirely sold on it yet. True, it's very convenient to have a self-healing meat shield, but as far as I've noticed in gameplay, Yin'rou has terrible AC and low hit points making the regen a bit of a necessity and while he can make short work of trash mobs, any reasonable damage-dealing enemy will easily hurt him for more than he can heal (2 hp/round). In the case you mentioned, ghasts generally deal fairly low damage and the familiar is immune to their hold effect which means he should by reason wipe them out without trouble. Try putting him through a few tougher fights and see if he still makes things too easy. If so then I'll tune it down.
Invalid string: Cannot reproduce this either at the moment, but I'll keep an eye out for it in case.
I'm not sure if anyone's run into this issue yet, but this update should fix any instances of the familiar becoming uncontrollable (green circle but can only be spoken to). The Night Cutter's also been reworked:
Night Cutter +2
STATISTICS:
Combat abilities:
- Returns to the wielder's hand when thrown
- When thrown, there is a 10% chance that the wielder will be teleported into melee range of the target and turn invisible for five rounds.
- On a successful backstab, casts Blinding Darkness on target and restores one 1st level spell to the wielder's memory.
Equipped abilities:
- Hit Points: -5
THAC0: +2
Damage: 1d4+1, +1 magic (melee only)
Damage type: Piercing or missile
Speed Factor: 1
Proficiency Type: Dagger
Type: One-handed
Requires:
3 Strength
Weight: 1
Actually, a bit of trivia: this mod began as a sorcerer kit. However, I didn't like the forced spell selection that came up in every level. If there's enough interest I could try to rebuild it as a sorcerer kit if people don't mind that aspect. It wouldn't be hard.
What was exactly the problem with the forced spell selection?
The way I see there is only one problem of running a Sorcerer Shadow Adept: if the tons of spells they get, killing yourself will become easier.
In other words, I'll probably bring the sorcerer back into the picture eventually. Just got a few more changes to make before I move on to that.
I've had that idea myself since the kit was first posted and I was running a dirgesinger imagined to be a Shar devotee. Considering Shar's (also referred to as The Nightsinger") focus , in combo with the SWeave, it could open up some interesting ideas for a new bard song.
How did you do this? I was using opcode 180 (Can't use item) to keep the Undead Slayer away from the Animate Dead scroll (thus making him unable to use the spell), but despite the opcode, he was able to use it and learn from it.
I'm using the Necromancer's usability flag, so maybe that's the issue, but I'm not sure.
I gave up on this restriction idea but would be nice to learn something new.
Unfortunately this probably won't help you much if you're just looking to restrict a particular item.
Okay, I've figured out that invalid string bug and patched it, but unfortunately it won't really help an existing save where your familiar is already summoned. You can try using the console if you really know what you're doing:
Mouse over your familiar and use C:Eval('ChangeAnimationNoEffect("c0safam1")')
Maybe that'll work. Not sure.