SCS does almost nothing to change SoD, at least on core rules. Maybe some opponents will have a couple more potions available, but I might be misremembering that. Basically, there is really no noticable difference.
@Flashburn Please explain why you think so? I did another look at all the patch notes for 2.5, and played the game myself. If anything, 2.5 is a much better quality than 2.3.
I haven't actually played with 2.5, but despite all the (fairly minor) fixes listed in the patch notes, a pretty major bug was introduced according to the 2.5 Patch Feedback forum.
Characters can get stuck inside each other's circles and be unable to move. (1, 2)
This is probably even more the case when one uses ctrl+J a lot, like me. Those threads make it seem like it happens pretty regularly, too. Based on my party's abilities for my next run, I am absolutely going to run into this and it's going to be a nightmare trying to get all my dudes and their critters "unstuck."
Even without ctrl j it happens to me quite often. Meeting yoshimo for instance with a full party already gave me several grievances with the double column offset formation.
I saw that happen as well, though I didn't think to link it to v2.5. It notably caused some pathfinding problems in my FMC run, and my Druid/Mage actually got stuck with Melissan in the final fight and was unable to move.
Random question. How do people feel about reusing characters who were chunked in BG1 but reappear in BG2? For example I'm not entirely sure about how to treat Edwin's reappearance after he got chunked in my game. I could use him, treat him as unrecruitable, or ignore that whole questline! No right answers, but how would other people treat that kind of situation in a no-reload?
In terms of game mechanics, it's perfectly legal. It was never intended to be impossible, and BG2 dialog lets you reference characters' previous deaths, at which point they make some oblique reference to being resurrected.
Conceptually speaking, permanent deaths don't make sense to begin with, since "chunking" doesn't actually exist in PnP, at least not the kind you get in BG. Physical damage alone can't render a character impossible to raise under normal D&D rules; that behavior is unique to BG (and I'm not sure why they introduced it anyway).
Plus, if you're got SCS, chunking is supposed to be impossible, but a bug prevents that particular fix from working, so that also makes the chunking a bug.
I never actually install that SCS component anyway . I guess I can see it for some kinds of deaths - such as via death spell or disintegration which would require a wish. I think in my tetraology no-reload Xan & Sarevok both got chunked via Draconis & Balor vorpal so I rolled with it on that occasion and had a slightly underleveled party vs Melissan. Not nearly as sure that I'd be able to accomplish that with SCS though!
Edwin was actually *only* chunked by a backstab so that's an easier case to make than if he was incinerated by fire. Though now I come to think of it I think we may have bravely fled Ulgoth's after looting his corpse so it will have to be a clone anyway. Will try him if it doesn't feel odd!
If I remember correctly, P&P Raise Dead only requires that the caster has some part of the target's body at the time of death. (Could be a 3e change, actually...) So it's probably completely legitimate to just claim you cut off Edwin's finger or something before booking it. This does raise the question of what happens to the person's old body; does it still exist? I'm not sure if there's any lore regarding that...
Plus, if you're got SCS, chunking is supposed to be impossible, but a bug prevents that particular fix from working, so that also makes the chunking a bug.
Now (as of ver. 31) this component is moved from SCS to the Tweaks Anthology.
I actually like the risk of chunkings. I mean I hate it when it happens, and I've aborted a few runs because of chunkings, but to me it makes the game more thrilling. Besides it forces one to be doubly careful as Yoshimo would say.
For the purposes of a no-reload run, Illusionists enjoy the advantage that they can be gnomes, who get +3 to saves vs. spell at 16 Constitution and +5 to saves vs. spell at 18 Constitution. That goes a long way towards improving a mage/thief's survivability.
Of course, a multi-classed Shadowdancer/Mage would be even safer than the Illusionist/Thief. At-will invisibility that ignores aura is much stronger defensively than +5 to saves vs. spell.
Personally, I think a Bounty Hunter/Mage would be the most fun if you're not factoring in unmodded racial restrictions, as would an Assassin/Mage. Swashbuckler/Mages have some decent bonuses, but I don't find them quite as interesting since the bonuses are all passive.
I am considering playing a kitted mage/thief. What would you consider the best kit?
Conjurer? Illusionist? Assassin? Something else?
Conjurer would be very strong as you'd have the thief's Detect Illusions skill to make up for the relinquishment of detection spells, which are all prohibited Divination spells. (Note that Glitterdust also has a chance to reveal invisible creatures.)
In EE giving a thief multiclass a thief kit leads to some of those kits' penalties not being applied properly. So for example an assassin/mage multi still gets 25 skill points everytime they level up, and you also get an extra spell per level like a specialist mage does. Obviously you can create a very powerful character that way too. Personally I wouldn't enjoy playing such a tweaked character but you have great possibilities with it.
@Blackraven or anyone else who knows: I'm wondering if I create an assassin and then use Shadowkeeper to make the character an assassin/mage, will the character be as it should be with the limited skill points et al.
I am wondering if it is possible to make a mod like the Imoen as Conjurer mod, but in reverse.
With the Imoen as Conjurer mod you copy the effects from Imoen to your PC in order to increase your spell slots to that of a specialist mage. (In EE Keeper)
Surely it would be possible to create a character with effects that make the number of slots those of a generalised mage. Please tell me if I'm wrong.
Then all us non-modders would have to do is copy those effects over to our own PC.
Sadly it doesn't seem as if anybody knows the answer to the above question.
However, I have another one. I am trying to transform Tulbor back into his proper shape. I buy the potion from the merchant but he doesn't give it to me.
I buy the substitute, but he doesn't give that to me either.
@Wise_Grimwald I don't know what's going on, but did you try to see if EE Keeper can fix that problem? NearInfinity might be of use for that situation as well, if that works for EE, not sure if it does.
I've had a look through the potions, but can't remember the name of it and I couldn't find it in either potions or miscellaneous. However I do know that quite often items are not put in the correct category.
EDIT
Discovered that it is called Transformation Elixir. Now, I might find it in EE Keeper.
EDIT 2.
I found it and it worked, but can't understand what was wrong with my game. It hasn't happened before. I didn't get the reputation boost though, the only reason that I do the quest.
@Wise_Grimwald I've had the same thing happen quite a few times, all when I asked for the alternative potion first, and then the real transformation potion. Normally if I ask again he will give the right one so I have both, but as you mentioned, there are times when he does not.
I am wondering if it is possible to make a mod like the Imoen as Conjurer mod, but in reverse.
With the Imoen as Conjurer mod you copy the effects from Imoen to your PC in order to increase your spell slots to that of a specialist mage. (In EE Keeper)
Surely it would be possible to create a character with effects that make the number of slots those of a generalised mage. Please tell me if I'm wrong.
Then all us non-modders would have to do is copy those effects over to our own PC.
I'm not sure what you want to do here. To have a generalist mage with extra spell slots? A specialist mage without extra spell slots?
@Aasim In EE if you give a thief/mage a thief kit, then the mage gets the spell slots as if he/she were a specialist mage. All I want is to reduce those spell slots to be what they should be for a generalist mage. This is because the character becomes overly powerful.
I discovered this from Blackraven who postred this:
I am considering playing a kitted mage/thief. What would you consider the best kit?
Conjurer? Illusionist? Assassin? Something else?
Conjurer would be very strong as you'd have the thief's Detect Illusions skill to make up for the relinquishment of detection spells, which are all prohibited Divination spells. (Note that Glitterdust also has a chance to reveal invisible creatures.)
In EE giving a thief multiclass a thief kit leads to some of those kits' penalties not being applied properly. So for example an assassin/mage multi still gets 25 skill points everytime they level up, and you also get an extra spell per level like a specialist mage does. Obviously you can create a very powerful character that way too. Personally I wouldn't enjoy playing such a tweaked character but you have great possibilities with it.
(edited for typos)
I am wondering if the reason for this is that the character is a gnome and would normally be an illusionist, hence the extra slots. I suppose that I could add the normal illusionist spell restrictions which another mod has removed automatically. That would be easy to do in EE Keeper, and it would go some way to reducing his power.
In addition, if the kit that you give the character is assassin, the number of skill points he/she should get on levelling up should be reduced to 15. It isn't. He/she still gets 25. That however isn't what I WAS asking about, but if somebody could let me know how to reduce those skill points to what they should be, that would be great. I know that I could reduce them after each levelling up, but I would rather do it once shortly after character creation if that is possible. Then if I decide to run the character again the changes will still be there.
@Wise_Grimwald the problem with number of spells may be due to using the assassin kit. In the original game specialist mages were the only specialist kit and adjustments relating to specialists were therefore applied to all kits - hence the long-running problem of adjustments to saving throws applying to non-mage kits. While the saving throw issue has now been resolved in the EE, it may be that other things (like number of spells) have not.
@Zaghoul@Wise_Grimwald Thank you for drawing my attention to this, I'll have a look into why the potions are not handed over for some instances. @Wise_Grimwald rep increase should happen if you chose the first reply option after Eltolth and Alanna are done talking (~Greetings, Eltolth! I'm happy you are well again. Let me give you back your notes. I used them to discover what happened here. I won't disturb you two any longer. Farewell!~) What game are you on?
@Wise_Grimwald rep increase should happen if you chose the first reply option after Eltolth and Alanna are done talking (~Greetings, Eltolth! I'm happy you are well again. Let me give you back your notes. I used them to discover what happened here. I won't disturb you two any longer. Farewell!~) What game are you on?
I think that the rep increase isn't happening because of SCS and is intended by the mod. Whether or not you get the reputation boost is now random. However, that wasn't really what I was writing about. It was the fact that when I spoke to Tulbor, I wasn't given a potion to give to Alanna's Neighbour.
I have read on the web that the poisoning ability of Assassins and Blackguards has been nerfed by an update. How can I tell whether or not it has been nerfed in my set-up?
You used to be able to poison the same enemy multiple times. Now each enemy is only affected once at a time (though you can still poison several enemies).
Comments
Characters can get stuck inside each other's circles and be unable to move. (1, 2)
This is probably even more the case when one uses ctrl+J a lot, like me. Those threads make it seem like it happens pretty regularly, too. Based on my party's abilities for my next run, I am absolutely going to run into this and it's going to be a nightmare trying to get all my dudes and their critters "unstuck."
Conceptually speaking, permanent deaths don't make sense to begin with, since "chunking" doesn't actually exist in PnP, at least not the kind you get in BG. Physical damage alone can't render a character impossible to raise under normal D&D rules; that behavior is unique to BG (and I'm not sure why they introduced it anyway).
Plus, if you're got SCS, chunking is supposed to be impossible, but a bug prevents that particular fix from working, so that also makes the chunking a bug.
I'd say go for it.
Edwin was actually *only* chunked by a backstab so that's an easier case to make than if he was incinerated by fire. Though now I come to think of it I think we may have bravely fled Ulgoth's after looting his corpse so it will have to be a clone anyway. Will try him if it doesn't feel odd!
Conjurer? Illusionist? Assassin? Something else?
Of course, a multi-classed Shadowdancer/Mage would be even safer than the Illusionist/Thief. At-will invisibility that ignores aura is much stronger defensively than +5 to saves vs. spell.
Personally, I think a Bounty Hunter/Mage would be the most fun if you're not factoring in unmodded racial restrictions, as would an Assassin/Mage. Swashbuckler/Mages have some decent bonuses, but I don't find them quite as interesting since the bonuses are all passive.
In EE giving a thief multiclass a thief kit leads to some of those kits' penalties not being applied properly. So for example an assassin/mage multi still gets 25 skill points everytime they level up, and you also get an extra spell per level like a specialist mage does. Obviously you can create a very powerful character that way too. Personally I wouldn't enjoy playing such a tweaked character but you have great possibilities with it.
(edited for typos)
With the Imoen as Conjurer mod you copy the effects from Imoen to your PC in order to increase your spell slots to that of a specialist mage. (In EE Keeper)
Surely it would be possible to create a character with effects that make the number of slots those of a generalised mage. Please tell me if I'm wrong.
Then all us non-modders would have to do is copy those effects over to our own PC.
However, I have another one. I am trying to transform Tulbor back into his proper shape.
I buy the potion from the merchant but he doesn't give it to me.
I buy the substitute, but he doesn't give that to me either.
That is despite paying for both of them!!
My character is a Champion of Bane.
Does anybody know what is going on?
However I do know that quite often items are not put in the correct category.
EDIT
Discovered that it is called Transformation Elixir. Now, I might find it in EE Keeper.
EDIT 2.
I found it and it worked,
paging @jastey
To have a generalist mage with extra spell slots? A specialist mage without extra spell slots?
I discovered this from Blackraven who postred this: I am wondering if the reason for this is that the character is a gnome and would normally be an illusionist, hence the extra slots. I suppose that I could add the normal illusionist spell restrictions which another mod has removed automatically. That would be easy to do in EE Keeper, and it would go some way to reducing his power.
In addition, if the kit that you give the character is assassin, the number of skill points he/she should get on levelling up should be reduced to 15. It isn't. He/she still gets 25. That however isn't what I WAS asking about, but if somebody could let me know how to reduce those skill points to what they should be, that would be great. I know that I could reduce them after each levelling up, but I would rather do it once shortly after character creation if that is possible. Then if I decide to run the character again the changes will still be there.
Thank you for drawing my attention to this, I'll have a look into why the potions are not handed over for some instances.
@Wise_Grimwald rep increase should happen if you chose the first reply option after Eltolth and Alanna are done talking (~Greetings, Eltolth! I'm happy you are well again. Let me give you back your notes. I used them to discover what happened here. I won't disturb you two any longer. Farewell!~) What game are you on?