@Alesia_BH First round of tests, loading up my final safe, checking everything that happens in the combat log: 0 Mordenkainen's Disjunctions after keeping my party alive for a while. In fact, except for teleport without error if they get wounded, the fallen solars seem to cast no spells at all, only using their bows and swords. The bow dispels definitely get through SI:A + Spell Shield, as you mentioned.
However, I noticed somethint very weird - Jon once again used his triple remove magic sequencer. At this point, only Pietro had lost his buffs due to solar attacks (Gardi even had The Reflex on because I wanted to see if they would use their spell if their arrows wouldn't do anything) - so Andi and Illuminata should have protected buffs. Despite that, this happened:
I will double check that, make 100% sure I have the correct buffs going. Andi didn't get affected, strangely enough, as he should have the same buffs as Illuminata.
Interesting. Maybe Jon-Jon's dispel is erroneously bypassing SI:A after all.
Perhaps a different version of the spell was placed in the Sequencer and it wasn't flagged Abjuration? Or maybe this has something to do with the simultaneous application of castings via the Sequencer. That does (or historically has) created issues in other contexts.
Let's try to remove confounds first. Can we nix everyone but Jon-Jon and just see what that sequencer does against SI:A?
okay, I checked again, and I think I might just not have had the correct spell protections up in my previous final safe. Now, remove magics seem to get blocked as they should. Still zero disjunctions.
I even made sure to place Gardi next to the Solar, buffing her with divine protection, which would make her a very juicy target for such a spell, otherwise the solar can do nothing to her - and he just kept shooting with the bow:
Yep. Propably the biggest mistake of the run, but I've only noticed it now, after doublechecking the final save twice - I really somehow managed to forget SI:A on Illuminata (Andi had it) and Entropy Shield on both of my divine spellcasters for the Irenicus battle! Nothing unusual about Jon's remove magic, I just got lost in the details on pre-buffing and missed the most important thing.
I've made another test for disjunction, again putting it on insane to make sure there is no difficulty element, giving them even more opportunity and juicy targets. No casts once again, so I think we can be fairly certain that they won't do it. If their only target has The Reflex equipped, they completely stop shooting and just stand around (in my case, at least, they didn't even try to move into melee combat, so I could kill them with a throwing axe from range without any trouble). In the case of Divine Protection and PFMW, they just keep on shooting to no avail.
During these tests, I've also noticed that Balthazar, with the automated AI, will most likely have Lunar Stance active here, and Jon's timestop will leave him active, so he can propably kill the solars during Jon's own timestop.
Yep. Propably the biggest mistake of the run, but I've only noticed it now, after doublechecking the final save twice - I really somehow managed to forget SI:A on Illuminata (Andi had it) and Entropy Shield on both of my divine spellcasters for the Irenicus battle! Nothing unusual about Jon's remove magic, I just got lost in the details on pre-buffing and missed the most important thing.
Pre-battle jitters, I guess, lol. I made a similar mistake in that fight once, forgetting SI:C on one of my characters, after making no buffing mistakes that I'm aware of in the rest of the run.
I've made another test for disjunction, again putting it on insane to make sure there is no difficulty element, giving them even more opportunity and juicy targets. No casts once again, so I think we can be fairly certain that they won't do it. If their only target has The Reflex equipped, they completely stop shooting and just stand around (in my case, at least, they didn't even try to move into melee combat, so I could kill them with a throwing axe from range without any trouble). In the case of Divine Protection and PFMW, they just keep on shooting to no avail.
TBH, it kind of sounds like their scripts are messed up. Are they casting Creeping Doom? Heal? Anything at all?
TBH, it kind of sounds like their scripts are messed up. Are they casting Insect Plague? Heal? Anything at all?
I have a wild thought, considering my latest struggles with SCS installations - could it be that their components didn't properly installed to begin with? I definitely noticed when trying to install the whole SCS in one go that *Improved Fiends and Celestials* does gave me 'errors and warnings' during installation. Maybe it's worth it to check your SCS' debug file in terms of presence such errors? It's HUGE but with a search option through the file for "ERROR / Out of memory / Warning" strings it should be easy task.
The Fallen Solar isn't created from scratch. It exists in the base game, as the boss for the last pool. What does it look like before the mods get to it?
Level 22 with no class, CE, 177 HP. Stats 19/19/14/16/16/20. Base THAC0 5, base AC -10, 4 APR. Immune to weapons below +4, acid, cold, electricity, stun, sleep, polymorph, charm, hold, level drain, confusion, backstab, poison, petrification, slay, Magic Missile, imprisonment, maze. Sees through invisibility, 85% magic resistant, 50% resistant to physical damage, casting speed improved by 4, hasted movement.
Its primary weapon is ranged, dealing zero physical and 2d6+4 magic damage with +2 to hit. 84% of the time, it dispels at level 22 and also wipes out spell protections, combat protections, and illusionary protections. The remaining 16% of the time, it kills on a failed death save at -2, disintegrating the body.
Its backup melee weapon deals 2d20+16 damage with +5 to hit, and kills the target 26% of the time on a failed death save at -2, chunking the body. This weapon does not gain bonuses from strength.
Spell-wise, the fallen solar doesn't have anything memorized. It calls in some help when first approached, casts Heal on itself up to once every five rounds if it's badly hurt, casts Vocalize on itself if it's ever silenced, casts Free Action on itself if its ever webbed or entangled, and casts True Sight up to once every ten rounds if there's someone invisible nearby. It also has a bunch of spells that are lower priorities than its ranged attacks: Death Spell, Confusion, Creeping Doom, Remove Magic, Earthquake, Finger of Doom, Fire Storm, Unholy Word, Imprisonment, Improved Invisibility, Charm Person, and Prismatic Spray.
And now, the mods. First, Ascension. It clones the basic finsol04 creature a few times, changes how they're used, and gives them a new script. It's a little smarter about using its spells, and doesn't get the block that summons some demons because it's now a minion rather than a boss.
Next, SCS. Specifically, the "Improved fiends and celestials" component. This component creates a "rat" that serves as a marker for teleports. New repeating versions of Heal, Death Spell, and Vocalize are created for the solar to use instead of the old SpellNoDec versions. Then it crafts an entirely new script from dw#solar.ssl. Here's the helpful comment that starts with:
/*
Vanilla fallen solar:
- heal 1/5 rds
- vocalise at will
- free action at will (used to avoid web/entangle/slow - we'll change this to innate free action)
- truesight 1/10 rds - make this at-will, it's simpler
- death spell 1/5 rds
- confusion three times total
- earthquake three times total
- creeping doom once
- remove magic at will
- finger of death once
- fire storm once
- unholy word three times
- imprisonment once
- improved invisibility at will
- "nalmissra_charm" three times (save at -2; other minor effects) - for simplicity swap for domination
- prismatic spray once
Also casts startlingly fast, has permanent haste, immune to basically any movement-blocking attacks.
170-odd hp, regenerates at 40 hp/round (maybe faster given haste, not sure). Immune to all damage
types except fire; 50% resistance to physical damage; 85% magic resistance.
Immune to +3 weapons. Armed with a bow whose arrows have a dispel effect (and sometimes kill on
contact) and a vorpal mace.
Ascension one replaces Nalmissra charm with Erinyes charm (save at -5)
We'll go with the Ascension version, but we'll replace Imprisonment (which is ridiculously lethal
if cast instantly) with a "Disjunction" power that strips all magic defences and is usable once per 4 rounds. We'll also allow teleportation.
We'll de-chunkify the mace (as with Balors), shift the resistances to be 50% vs electricity/acid
and 100% vs fire. We'll not bother with vocalise, on the grounds that probably we've got instacasting
installed.
*/
As for spell usage ... some of those blocks look pretty unconditional. Like Earthquake:
IF TRIGGER
See([PC])
!GlobalTimerNotExpired("quake","LOCALS")
TriggerBlock(CorePlus)
THEN DO
Action(SpellMyself,CLERIC_EARTHQUAKE|100|100)
SetGlobalTimer("quake","LOCALS",24)
END
There's basically no limit there; if the solar sees a player character, they'll be willing to use Earthquake. No check for any sort of resistances.
There are also some misses, like the Heal blocks:
IF TRIGGER
HPPercentLT(Myself,60)
THEN DO
Action(SpellMyself,CLERIC_HEAL|100|50)
END
IF TRIGGER
HPPercentLT(Myself,30)
THEN DO
Action(SpellMyself,CLERIC_HEAL|100|50)
END
What's wrong with that? We replaced the standard Heal with a new repeating version earlier. Those won't do anything if the creature doesn't have the spell.
Of course, all this scripting won't help unless the creature itself is also edited. The functions in fiend_shared have a template for the solar edits:
DEFINE_PATCH_FUNCTION solar
STR_VAR arguments=""
BEGIN
PATCH_MAKE_PATCH
fiend_general=>null
level_all=>35
resist_fire=>100
resist_acid=>0
remove_spells=>all
add_spells=>"INNATE_FIEND_TRUE_SIGHT INNATE_FIEND_TELEPORT INNATE_FIEND_DISPEL_MAGIC INNATE_SOLAR_VOCALIZE INNATE_SOLAR_HEAL INNATE_SOLAR_DEATH_SPELL WIZARD_CONFUSION(3) CLERIC_EARTHQUAKE(3) CLERIC_CREEPING_DOOM WIZARD_FINGER_OF_DEATH CLERIC_UNHOLY_WORD(3) INNATE_FIEND_IMPROVED_INVISIBILITY WIZARD_DOMINATION(3) CLERIC_FIRE_STORM WIZARD_PRISMATIC_SPRAY"
END
LPF apply_patches STR_VAR filename file_ext=CRE edits=patch_data END
END
Now, which creatures get this "solar" patch template applied to them? Anything with script dw#solar, at the time the main creature-patching is done.
Which creatures have that script at this point? As far as I can tell, none of them. Ever. The only other mention of that script is one if Ascension isn't installed, extending the finsol04 script to include the content of dw#solar.
Then we revisit things later with the "Ascension demons use SCS abilities and AI" component. This component compiles dw#solar again, and renames it to finsol04.bcs. No other changes are made; in particular, that "solar" patch is never applied to any creature.
So, that's the problem. The fallen solars at the Throne get new scripts, but they never get the patch that would give them memorized spells to use. And since those new scripts rely on having spells memorized, they never use those spells. Oops.
@jmerry Thanks for alle the work&insight. I'm not sure if DavidW is aware of this issue, but if not, it's certainly something worth pointing out. Not sure if there's any work on a new SCS version, though, since it's been quite a while at this point. At least now we know what's going on
Fellow adventurers, I happen to have a rather specific question which eventually could be clarified via testing, though I was hoping that some of you may know the answer by heart.
In particular, I was wondering whether Shadows' and Shadow Fiends' attacks strike as magical weapons and therefore whether PfMW would provide protection against the on-hit effects of STR drain and paralysis, respectively. I've realized that with my previous characters I mostly relied on immunities and now I'm somewhat puzzled as to what would be the most efficient protection for an arcane caster with no access to the relevant items (or summons, for that matter).
I have recently come across the webpages about Hanseath and shortly afterwards an image to which I gave a background from my own photos shown below. It appears that Chaotic Neutral Dwarven Barbarians and Berserkers would be most suitable as followers of Hanseath and perhaps a Chaotic Neutral Cleric. A party of drunken dwarves who love getting into fights appeals to me.
I've come across too many human parties like that. Two of my work colleagues regularly ended up fighting each other after getting drunk, though when sober they were the best of mates.
However, what about a Hanseathic Paladin? Should a Paladin of Hanseath be Lawful Good or Chaotic Neutral?
The mods that I have allow dwarves to be Paladins and for my next run I have been thinking of having a party of dwarves who are followers of Hanseath, a barbarian, a berserker, a cleric and a paladin. The role playing could be fun, but I haven't worked out the details for the cleric and paladin yet.
Since Hanseath is a god of strength giving the cleric DUHM as an innate spell seems to be apt, but what about the paladin?
I could roll any of the paladin kits and use keeper to change alignment to Chaotic Neutral Would that be the most suitable or should the paladin be lawful good? I have had a mod in the days of Tutu which allowed a Chaotic Good Paladin kit but haven't seen one since EE. Is there a mod that allows for paladins to be anything other than lawful good?
The questions that I have are in bold, but any other input would be welcomed.
Not sure if this is the right place to ask but I'm finishing up a BG1ee SCS insane run and then want to play bg2+Tob/ascension. Should I use an older version of SCS? Not sure where I can dl it either.
Also I thought about playing sod on insane, are there any mods worth installing for it? I saw that there's a tweak pack where you can start out with less xp, has anyone tried to start with 60k on insane?
Thanks but players are saying there's more bugs in newer versions and aspects of ascension aren't working correctly but I'll try the newest version and iwdification.
I wasn't aware of the bug, but I've checked my character now (after inquisitor dispel got rid of the blindness flag). The AC seems to be fine (propably due to wearing armor according to what @jmerry wrote) - exactly what it should be. The Thac0 is not - it is indeed 4 points too high. Since the next level up, due to being a level 14 druid, is 1,5 million XP away, I don't really think I want to wait this long.
I've never used any type of third program to change stats on my characters - what would you recommend for someone who is absolutely clueless in such things? Something very easy to install and super easy to use would be ideal
You're running Windows, right, Enuhal? If so then I'll defer to jmerry on this one. Near Infinity is the clear choice in OS X. There may be other options for Windows users.
Comments
However, I noticed somethint very weird - Jon once again used his triple remove magic sequencer. At this point, only Pietro had lost his buffs due to solar attacks (Gardi even had The Reflex on because I wanted to see if they would use their spell if their arrows wouldn't do anything) - so Andi and Illuminata should have protected buffs. Despite that, this happened:
Perhaps a different version of the spell was placed in the Sequencer and it wasn't flagged Abjuration? Or maybe this has something to do with the simultaneous application of castings via the Sequencer. That does (or historically has) created issues in other contexts.
Let's try to remove confounds first. Can we nix everyone but Jon-Jon and just see what that sequencer does against SI:A?
I even made sure to place Gardi next to the Solar, buffing her with divine protection, which would make her a very juicy target for such a spell, otherwise the solar can do nothing to her - and he just kept shooting with the bow:
(And I'm glad the erroneous casts didn't get anyone killed at the Throne, lol.)
On Mordy D. Noted. I'm happy they're not casting it. That spell scared me, lol
I've made another test for disjunction, again putting it on insane to make sure there is no difficulty element, giving them even more opportunity and juicy targets. No casts once again, so I think we can be fairly certain that they won't do it. If their only target has The Reflex equipped, they completely stop shooting and just stand around (in my case, at least, they didn't even try to move into melee combat, so I could kill them with a throwing axe from range without any trouble). In the case of Divine Protection and PFMW, they just keep on shooting to no avail.
During these tests, I've also noticed that Balthazar, with the automated AI, will most likely have Lunar Stance active here, and Jon's timestop will leave him active, so he can propably kill the solars during Jon's own timestop.
Pre-battle jitters, I guess, lol. I made a similar mistake in that fight once, forgetting SI:C on one of my characters, after making no buffing mistakes that I'm aware of in the rest of the run.
TBH, it kind of sounds like their scripts are messed up. Are they casting Creeping Doom? Heal? Anything at all?
I have a wild thought, considering my latest struggles with SCS installations - could it be that their components didn't properly installed to begin with? I definitely noticed when trying to install the whole SCS in one go that *Improved Fiends and Celestials* does gave me 'errors and warnings' during installation. Maybe it's worth it to check your SCS' debug file in terms of presence such errors? It's HUGE but with a search option through the file for "ERROR / Out of memory / Warning" strings it should be easy task.
That's whacked.
Does anyone know where GrimJim is? He fixed Irenicus's script when the Ascension/SCS interaction broke it. He could probably fix this too.
Before we bother GrimJim we should figure out if this issue is specific to Enuhal's install or if it's a general problem.
Enuhal, your Weidu log would be helpful for reference. The SCS debug file would be useful, too.
Does anyone else have a save that would be conducive to testing fallen solar behavior?
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #0 // Rewritten Final Chapter of Throne of Bhaal: 2.0.23
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #10 // Balthazar can be redeemed: 2.0.23
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #20 // Improved Sarevok-Player Interactions: 2.0.23
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #30 // Improved Imoen-Player Interactions in Throne of Bhaal: 2.0.23
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #40 // Restored Bhaalspawn Powers: 2.0.23
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #50 // Improved Slayer Transformation: 2.0.23
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #60 // Expanded Epilogues for Bioware NPCs -> David Gaider's expanded epilogues for Bioware NPCs: 2.0.23
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Tougher Abazigal: 2.0.23
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1100 // Tougher Balthazar: 2.0.23
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1200 // Tougher Demogorgon: 2.0.23
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1300 // Tougher Gromnir: 2.0.23
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1400 // Tougher Illasera: 2.0.23
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1500 // Tougher Yaga-Shura: 2.0.23
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2000 // Full-body portrait for Bodhi: 2.0.23
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2100 // Alternate Balthazar portrait, by Cuv: 2.0.23
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2200 // Extended Epilogues for additional Beamdog NPCs, by shawne: 2.0.23
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2300 // Sharper portraits of Abazigal and Gromnir for the Enhanced Edition, by DavidW: 2.0.23
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2400 // Slightly improved cutscenes, by DavidW: 2.0.23
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1500 // Include arcane spells from Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1510 // Include divine spells from Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2900 // Move or modify some overpowered magic items: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3010 // Replace +1 arrows and other projectiles with nonmagical "fine" ones: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3020 // Replace many +1 magic weapons with nonmagical "fine" ones: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3040 // Reduce the number of Arrows of Dispelling in stores -> Remove Arrows of Dispelling from stores: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3505 // Wider selection of random scrolls: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3540 // Reduce the power of Inquisitors' Dispel Magic -> Inquisitors dispel at 1.5 x their level (not twice their level): 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3550 // Increase the power of Cure Wounds and Cause Wounds spells to the level found in 3rd Edition D&D -> Spells heal or inflict a random amount of damage (1d8 per level of the spell, plus 1 point per caster level, to a maximum of 5 points per spell level): 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3580 // Restoration and Lesser Restoration spells heal ability-score damage: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Faster Bears: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4030 // Improved shapeshifting: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4050 // Decrease the rate at which reputation improves -> Reputation increases at about 2/3 the normal rate: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4100 // Improved NPC customisation and management: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4115 // Thieves assign skill points in multiples of five: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4150 // Allow the Cowled Wizards to detect spellcasting in most indoor, above-ground areas in Athkatla: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4160 // Increase the price of a license to practise magic in Athkatla -> License costs 10,000 gp: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4170 // Increase the price asked by Gaelan Bayle -> Gaelan wants 40,000 gold pieces: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4190 // Make Watchers' Keep accessible between SoA and ToB (warning: this will make it inaccessible until the end of SoA): 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4210 // Randomise the maze in Watcher's Keep: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4215 // Remove unrealistically helpful items from certain areas: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4216 // Remove unrealistically convenient ammunition from the game -> Only remove nonmagical ammo from random containers: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4230 // Delay the arrival of the "bonus merchants" in the Adventurers' Mart and the Copper Coronet: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4240 // Treat mages' and priests' High-Level Abilities as innate abilities rather than memorisable spells (each may be taken only once): 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5000 // Ease-of-use party AI: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6100 // Potions for NPCs: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6500 // Improved golems: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6510 // Improved fiends and celestials: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6520 // Smarter genies: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6540 // Smarter dragons: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6550 // Smarter beholders: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6560 // Smarter mind flayers: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6570 // Smarter githyanki: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6580 // Improved Vampires: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6590 // Smarter Throne of Bhaal final villain: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6800 // Smarter Illasera: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6810 // Smarter Gromnir: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6820 // Smarter Yaga-Shura: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6830 // Smarter Abazigal: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6840 // Ascension versions of Irenicus and Sendai use SCS abilities and AI: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6850 // Ascension demons use SCS abilities and AI: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8000 // Make the starting dungeon slightly harder: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8010 // Improved Shade Lord: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8020 // Spellcasting Demiliches: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8040 // Tie difficulty of level-dependent monster groupings to the difficulty slider: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8050 // Improved Random Encounters: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8060 // Improved de'Arnise Keep ("Tactics Remix"): 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8070 // Improved Unseeing Eye: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8080 // Improved Bodhi: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8085 // Ascension version of Bodhi uses Improved-Bodhi abilities: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8090 // Party's items are taken from them in Spellhold: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8100 // Improved battle with Irenicus in Spellhold: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8110 // Improved Sahuagin: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8120 // Improved Beholder hive: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8130 // Rebalanced troll regeneration: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8140 // Improved Drow: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8150 // Improved Watcher's Keep: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8160 // Improved Fire Giant temple: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8170 // Improved Sendai's Enclave: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8180 // Improved Abazigal's Lair: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8190 // Improved Minor Encounters: 34.3
Improved celestials and fiends is definitely installed according to the log.
I'm not quite sure how to find and share the SCS debug file.
The Fallen Solar isn't created from scratch. It exists in the base game, as the boss for the last pool. What does it look like before the mods get to it?
Level 22 with no class, CE, 177 HP. Stats 19/19/14/16/16/20. Base THAC0 5, base AC -10, 4 APR. Immune to weapons below +4, acid, cold, electricity, stun, sleep, polymorph, charm, hold, level drain, confusion, backstab, poison, petrification, slay, Magic Missile, imprisonment, maze. Sees through invisibility, 85% magic resistant, 50% resistant to physical damage, casting speed improved by 4, hasted movement.
Its primary weapon is ranged, dealing zero physical and 2d6+4 magic damage with +2 to hit. 84% of the time, it dispels at level 22 and also wipes out spell protections, combat protections, and illusionary protections. The remaining 16% of the time, it kills on a failed death save at -2, disintegrating the body.
Its backup melee weapon deals 2d20+16 damage with +5 to hit, and kills the target 26% of the time on a failed death save at -2, chunking the body. This weapon does not gain bonuses from strength.
Spell-wise, the fallen solar doesn't have anything memorized. It calls in some help when first approached, casts Heal on itself up to once every five rounds if it's badly hurt, casts Vocalize on itself if it's ever silenced, casts Free Action on itself if its ever webbed or entangled, and casts True Sight up to once every ten rounds if there's someone invisible nearby. It also has a bunch of spells that are lower priorities than its ranged attacks: Death Spell, Confusion, Creeping Doom, Remove Magic, Earthquake, Finger of Doom, Fire Storm, Unholy Word, Imprisonment, Improved Invisibility, Charm Person, and Prismatic Spray.
And now, the mods. First, Ascension. It clones the basic finsol04 creature a few times, changes how they're used, and gives them a new script. It's a little smarter about using its spells, and doesn't get the block that summons some demons because it's now a minion rather than a boss.
Next, SCS. Specifically, the "Improved fiends and celestials" component. This component creates a "rat" that serves as a marker for teleports. New repeating versions of Heal, Death Spell, and Vocalize are created for the solar to use instead of the old SpellNoDec versions. Then it crafts an entirely new script from dw#solar.ssl. Here's the helpful comment that starts with:
Vanilla fallen solar:
- heal 1/5 rds
- vocalise at will
- free action at will (used to avoid web/entangle/slow - we'll change this to innate free action)
- truesight 1/10 rds - make this at-will, it's simpler
- death spell 1/5 rds
- confusion three times total
- earthquake three times total
- creeping doom once
- remove magic at will
- finger of death once
- fire storm once
- unholy word three times
- imprisonment once
- improved invisibility at will
- "nalmissra_charm" three times (save at -2; other minor effects) - for simplicity swap for domination
- prismatic spray once
Also casts startlingly fast, has permanent haste, immune to basically any movement-blocking attacks.
170-odd hp, regenerates at 40 hp/round (maybe faster given haste, not sure). Immune to all damage
types except fire; 50% resistance to physical damage; 85% magic resistance.
Immune to +3 weapons. Armed with a bow whose arrows have a dispel effect (and sometimes kill on
contact) and a vorpal mace.
Ascension one replaces Nalmissra charm with Erinyes charm (save at -5)
We'll go with the Ascension version, but we'll replace Imprisonment (which is ridiculously lethal
if cast instantly) with a "Disjunction" power that strips all magic defences and is usable once per 4 rounds. We'll also allow teleportation.
We'll de-chunkify the mace (as with Balors), shift the resistances to be 50% vs electricity/acid
and 100% vs fire. We'll not bother with vocalise, on the grounds that probably we've got instacasting
installed.
*/
As for spell usage ... some of those blocks look pretty unconditional. Like Earthquake:
IF TRIGGER See([PC]) !GlobalTimerNotExpired("quake","LOCALS") TriggerBlock(CorePlus) THEN DO Action(SpellMyself,CLERIC_EARTHQUAKE|100|100) SetGlobalTimer("quake","LOCALS",24) ENDThere's basically no limit there; if the solar sees a player character, they'll be willing to use Earthquake. No check for any sort of resistances.There are also some misses, like the Heal blocks: What's wrong with that? We replaced the standard Heal with a new repeating version earlier. Those won't do anything if the creature doesn't have the spell.
Of course, all this scripting won't help unless the creature itself is also edited. The functions in fiend_shared have a template for the solar edits:
DEFINE_PATCH_FUNCTION solar STR_VAR arguments="" BEGIN PATCH_MAKE_PATCH fiend_general=>null level_all=>35 resist_fire=>100 resist_acid=>0 remove_spells=>all add_spells=>"INNATE_FIEND_TRUE_SIGHT INNATE_FIEND_TELEPORT INNATE_FIEND_DISPEL_MAGIC INNATE_SOLAR_VOCALIZE INNATE_SOLAR_HEAL INNATE_SOLAR_DEATH_SPELL WIZARD_CONFUSION(3) CLERIC_EARTHQUAKE(3) CLERIC_CREEPING_DOOM WIZARD_FINGER_OF_DEATH CLERIC_UNHOLY_WORD(3) INNATE_FIEND_IMPROVED_INVISIBILITY WIZARD_DOMINATION(3) CLERIC_FIRE_STORM WIZARD_PRISMATIC_SPRAY" END LPF apply_patches STR_VAR filename file_ext=CRE edits=patch_data END ENDNow, which creatures get this "solar" patch template applied to them? Anything with script dw#solar, at the time the main creature-patching is done.
Which creatures have that script at this point? As far as I can tell, none of them. Ever. The only other mention of that script is one if Ascension isn't installed, extending the finsol04 script to include the content of dw#solar.
Then we revisit things later with the "Ascension demons use SCS abilities and AI" component. This component compiles dw#solar again, and renames it to finsol04.bcs. No other changes are made; in particular, that "solar" patch is never applied to any creature.
So, that's the problem. The fallen solars at the Throne get new scripts, but they never get the patch that would give them memorized spells to use. And since those new scripts rely on having spells memorized, they never use those spells. Oops.
Cheers,
A.
In particular, I was wondering whether Shadows' and Shadow Fiends' attacks strike as magical weapons and therefore whether PfMW would provide protection against the on-hit effects of STR drain and paralysis, respectively. I've realized that with my previous characters I mostly relied on immunities and now I'm somewhat puzzled as to what would be the most efficient protection for an arcane caster with no access to the relevant items (or summons, for that matter).
Thanks!
B.
Shadow fiends: not magical
Devil shades: magical, enchantment 4.
So, it depends on the exact mix of enemies, and what you're most afraid of.
I've come across too many human parties like that. Two of my work colleagues regularly ended up fighting each other after getting drunk, though when sober they were the best of mates.
However, what about a Hanseathic Paladin?
Should a Paladin of Hanseath be Lawful Good or Chaotic Neutral?
The mods that I have allow dwarves to be Paladins and for my next run I have been thinking of having a party of dwarves who are followers of Hanseath, a barbarian, a berserker, a cleric and a paladin. The role playing could be fun, but I haven't worked out the details for the cleric and paladin yet.
Since Hanseath is a god of strength giving the cleric DUHM as an innate spell seems to be apt, but what about the paladin?
I could roll any of the paladin kits and use keeper to change alignment to Chaotic Neutral Would that be the most suitable or should the paladin be lawful good? I have had a mod in the days of Tutu which allowed a Chaotic Good Paladin kit but haven't seen one since EE.
Is there a mod that allows for paladins to be anything other than lawful good?
The questions that I have are in bold, but any other input would be welcomed.
Also I thought about playing sod on insane, are there any mods worth installing for it? I saw that there's a tweak pack where you can start out with less xp, has anyone tried to start with 60k on insane?
https://www.gibberlings3.net/mods/tweaks/scs/
https://www.gibberlings3.net/mods/quests/ascension/
Not sure if there are any reasons to use an older version at this point unless you're looking for some very specific removed customization options.
No experience with any SoD mods, so I can't help you there.
Best,
A.
I've never used any type of third program to change stats on my characters - what would you recommend for someone who is absolutely clueless in such things? Something very easy to install and super easy to use would be ideal