The only solution is ctrl-J one of the clashing characters.
Noted. I don't believe I've ever used ctrl-j. How does it work, exactly?
I dont use ctrl-j in combat. However I do use it as a time saver if I know that there is nothing of interest in an area. i.e. If I have already cleared an area I sometimes jump across it as it is a bit tedious walking the party across an empty area.
@Serg_BlackStrider The new Maze animation may be ok, I guess. My kensai was able to counter it against Kangaxx. It could just be a matter of getting used to it.
I'll have to see how it looks in dense combat, as it was with the rhakshasas in Amara's case.
As for Stinking Cloud, the problem only seems to emerge when there are two overlapping each other. If it weren't for the specific context of the final Ascension fight, where Abazigal's two summons cast one each, I'd be ok with it.
@Wise_Grimwald Noted. That makes sense. I could see ctrl-j being helpful there.
@Alesia_BH : well, if you say so, so be it It's your choice after all. I'm just curious what the differencies are between those spells in original and EE setups. You could try though just to place the Maze's BAM into override folder and check if there are any changes.
I will get the EE Bam file to you semi-soon. In the meantime, here's a picture of the new animation. Importantly, it doesn't converge from a distance. It just emerges near the character like this and then kind of compresses.
I am eondering if the Holy Redeemer Fighter/Cleric kit comes as standard with EE or if it comes with a mod. Anybody know?
To have it, charisma has to be 12 minimum, and it has the benefit of the Redeem Innate Ability. (The drawback is that you can't use Charisma as a dump stat. )
For the record, here's a list of all kits available in the unmodded game, as of patch 2.6. Sorted by base class, with footnotes for special mechanics outside the standard system that require note.
[1] Mage specialists are race-restricted; only humans have access to all specialties. In addition, basically everything about the kits is hard-coded in inconvenient ways. Each specialty has a dedicated bit in the kit ID, and any other kit that uses that bit will have the specialty's spell learning restrictions at character creation or sorcerer level-up. The bonuses to spell learning and saves for spells in the school are tied to a match between kit ID and school ID. The penalty to spell learning outside the school applies whenever the kit doesn't match the school and isn't "generalist". And this applies to all arcane characters, not just actual specialists - so a Blade or a Berserker -> Mage gets a 15% penalty on all spell learning. Oops.
[2] Gnomes have a special relationship with the Illusionist kit. All gnome mages you create will be illusionists, including multiclass mages. This is the only way to create a multiclass character with a kit in the standard game.
[3] The wild mage's 5% chance for wild surges, bonus to wild surge rolls, and access to the unique wild magic spells are hardcoded to the kit ID.
[4] Originally a separate class, barbarians were folded into being a fighter kit with the EE. The barbarian's immunity to backstabs is hardcoded to the kit ID.
[5] As the name suggests, dwarven defenders are race-restricted. Dwarves only.
[6] The "Grizzly Bear" kit is used for Wilson, and is not available at character creation. In BGEE, the list of kits has a dummy entry in its place, for the sake of compatibility with kit mods.
[7] The Shadowdancer's "Hide in Plain Sight" ability is hardcoded to the kit ID, and cannot easily be duplicated otherwise.
@jmerry Thanks. I was wondering where my Holy Redeemer came from as I have done a Google search and it hasn't come up. It just comes up with the Hallowed Redeemer sword. I since then searched my Weidu log and apparrently it came with the I hate undead mod.
I have been playing with my current installation for some time with only minor glitches. However, in my current game, Tenya has no spells to choose from at level 4. She has two empty slots. She comes from the Tenya mod. Has anybody got any ideas as to how to get her spells? I haven't added any other mods recently.
Might they come when she levels up again? She is currently level 7 and needs quite a lot of experience to level up to 8.
She used to have all sorts of extra spells in addition to the standard ones. These have all disappeared too.
@Alesia_BH : ouch! Nice for hide-n-seek game though... I guess
And you are correct - fixing cloud spells aren't straightforward unfortunately. It's not something like 'change the projectile' and that's it. Seems those are using some other types of resources. I'll try to make some digging over there but I can't promise anything.
@Alesia_BH : Looky-looky what I've found: some more info on the matter - one and two. Could be useful to check about how it all works.
EDIT:
Okay, that's what I've found so far comparing side by side CLOUD.PRO (Stinking Cloud spell uses it) from original and EE. The only noticable difference between them is that original projectile has 2 Flags checked (Colored BAM(0), Not light source(3)) while in EE there is another one also checked - Translucent (7).
So maybe you could start with unchecking it in your game and see if it will change something.
PSA: Do not wear the Studded Leather of Thorns when fighting any kind of enemy with a return damage mechanic (such as frost salamanders or anyone with a fire shield active). It has the same issues as dueling fireshields in the current EE version, triggering an infinite loop.
PSA: Do not wear the Studded Leather of Thorns when fighting any kind of enemy with a return damage mechanic (such as frost salamanders or anyone with a fire shield active). It has the same issues as dueling fireshields in the current EE version, triggering an infinite loop.
Lol. That sounds like a timely announcement. I hope you didn't lose a character.
I am playing off thread for a bit, but I will eventually write up some reports for the 2 runs I've been working on, though they won't be very detailed - so, when I get to it, we shall see if I lost a character to this fun little "interaction"
Not trying any fix currently, as the run this happened in is played entirely without mods. I don't use any arcane magic in the party in question, so not using fireshields is no trouble at all, so I felt no need for that - I didn't expect the armor (which I was only wearing due to some very unfortunate circumstances anyway) to cause the same problems.
The armor causes the same problem as fireshields because it basically is one - it's the exact same mechanic. So is Keldorn's sword, for that matter. When hit, cast subspell on whoever hit you; the spell uses one of three new projectiles introduced in patch 2.6 to limit its range.
My fix for it: getting hit by a fireshield subspell causes a brief (2-tick) immunity to that subspell. It's not perfect; while I'm aiming for one cycle back and forth as it was in 2.5, that sometimes just doesn't happen. I think pauses might scramble effect order, and this is very reliant on that?
It's still considerably better than any alternative I've found.
Incidentally, I finally stopped procrastinating and updated my tweak mod to version 3.1. It's a minor update really, with bug fixes for two existing components and two small new components.
Incidentally, I finally stopped procrastinating and updated my tweak mod to version 3.1. It's a minor update really, with bug fixes for two existing components and two small new components.
Looking forward to it.
I see that you fixed the noble efreeti and ulitharid in Spellhold. Very good!
Speaking of Spellhold, have you considered addressing the issue of Bhaal not following the PC into Candlekeep?
I have been playing with my current installation for some time with only minor glitches. However, in my current game, Tenya has no spells to choose from at level 4. She has two empty slots. She comes from the Tenya mod. Has anybody got any ideas as to how to get her spells? I haven't added any other mods recently.
Might they come when she levels up again? She is currently level 7 and needs quite a lot of experience to level up to 8.
She used to have all sorts of extra spells in addition to the standard ones. These have all disappeared too.
I started a new game with Wanda.
Wanda has now joined up with Tenya who is now Level 7. She has all her quota of spells, which means that the problems in my last game were just a corrupted save game file. I was concerned that it might have corrupted my entire set-up. It didn't. No further advice needed upon what may have gone wrong. The current game is fine.
Okay, that's what I've found so far comparing side by side CLOUD.PRO (Stinking Cloud spell uses it) from original and EE. The only noticable difference between them is that original projectile has 2 Flags checked (Colored BAM(0), Not light source(3)) while in EE there is another one also checked - Translucent (7).
So maybe you could start with unchecking it in your game and see if it will change something
Using EE Keeper, it informs me that if I carry on I will lose SPPR112 which apparently is Protection Circle. (I have no idea whether or not that is important) Could somebody explain.
@Wise_Grimwald: I've seen that message before. When EEKeeper doesn't recognize a spell's file name, it won't save it to the character. It shows up when you're moving from one game to another (like from BG1 to BG2, if a mod-introduced file in BG1 is not also installed on your BG2 install) or a mod has been uninstalled and hence a file is missing.
Are you playing with Spell Revisions or something? SPPR112 doesn't exist in my install; just SPPR111 and SPPR113.
Definitely some sort of mod-added spell, as "Protection Circle" isn't a name I recognize. It would be the first level 1 priest spell added that go on the general lists, as that's the first empty slot (SPPR111 is Armor of Faith, SPPR113 is Doom).
I checked the Spell Revisions list. It's not one of those.
Definitely some sort of mod-added spell, as "Protection Circle" isn't a name I recognize. It would be the first level 1 priest spell added that go on the general lists, as that's the first empty slot (SPPR111 is Armor of Faith, SPPR113 is Doom).
I checked the Spell Revisions list. It's not one of those.
Thanks. If it is a mod added spell, I can live without it.
@semiticgoddess Let's continue our discussion here. I'd invite other to join in, especially @Serg_BlackStrider, since he's had some good ideas on this subject.
As you know, I've long worked with a list of restrictions. I've never systemized them into a Tweak mod, but the idea has occurred to me. I love the idea of developing a Tweak mod for balanced no reload play.
I'll begin by noting a few of my general conceptual restrictions that have helped me find balanced challenges on my chosen difficulty settings. Most can not be systemized into a mod, but are, rather, principles of play that could enhance the efficacy of a mod.
1. I do not use mods that benefit the player. I only use mods that benefit enemies and the AI. This includes kits, tweaks, and such. Seemingly subtle advantageous tweaks can have a big impact on gameplay. It's entirely possible to unbalance the game without even realizing it.
The only exception I make to this rule is mods that restore behavior that was in the original game, and was the accepted norm for many years. Free Action Protects Against Stun falls into this category. Incidentally, that's the only tweak I use that advantages the player.
2. I do not allow repeated applications of the same buff to stack. This includes potions and items, as well as spells. So, as examples, no stacking potions of master thievery or potions of absorption or potions of heroism or shield amulet charges or Boons of Lathander. The only exception I make here is that I'll allow repeated use of potions of genius after I've been intelligence drained to restore my intelligence to the pre-buff level, set by the application of one potion of genius and one potion of mind focusing.
3. I do not use tactics that are manifestly exploits and make no sense in the game world. Examples would include blinding thieves, wand of lightning shenanigans, etc.
4. When I'm playing as I think I should, I do not attack blue circled enemies. Instead I allow foes to get up their buffs. As Serg says, they do not interfere with my buffing, I should not interfere with their's. I find myself tempted to violate this norm when playing a thief or roguish character, and I often do cave. When I do not cave I end up with much more interesting gameplay.
NW: It may make sense to allow a rogue PC a small fixed number of assassinations in a play through, like one or two, to be used at their discretion.
5. When I'm playing as I think I should, I do not allow recharge of limited use items. This includes wands and such, as well as weapons, like the Staff of Striking. Ayla's play through, where I routinely recharged the Staff of Striking, drove this home for me.
6. I do not use blue spells or protection scrolls on enemies, most notably the protection from magic scrolls.
7. If a single item or tactic answers a large number of gameplay questions, I consider restricting it. There is a long list here, and I intend to discuss this subject in greater detail later, but I'll note that in BG1 this list includes arrows of detention and charm effects, among others. In my early days as a BG player, protection from magic scrolls were on this list, too. They obviously should be, in my opinion. I've made an exception here out of sheer laziness. I don't think it was a wise choice.
In any case, I think this is a reasonable starting point. I'm glad we're having this conversation. One of the things I miss about the old, old no reload challenge, on the original Bioware boards, is that we often had discussions like this. I've wanted to have this conversation here for some time now.
I've thought about making a list of "OP tools," a list of spells and items that tend to break the difficulty of key fights and make combat simple. Like, picking out the strongest arrow (Arrows of Detonation), the strongest flail (FoA or DoE?), the strongest level 3 mage spell (Haste/Slow/Spell Thrust/Skull Trap?) and abstaining from them. With a few exceptions, though, like allowing mages to cast Spell Immunity (easily the best level 5 mage spell) and clerics to cast Chaotic Commands (easily the best level 5 cleric spell).
I've also considered making a general tweaks mod to impose mild nerfs on the most game-breaking tools (and also add some modest buffs to the weakest spells and items). Nothing so game-changing or well-balanced as Item Revisions or Spell Revisions; just something that would dampen the impact of the best options while still preserving the basic nature of SCS no-reload gameplay.
That kind of tweaks mod might include:
1. A significant drop in XP rewards from basilisks, maybe with a smaller reduction in XP from stuff like sword spiders and battle horrors. Maybe also a modest buff to XP from kobolds and hobgoblins, to reflect the real threat they pose.
2. Nerfing Arrows of Detonation to 2d6 damage, giving them a THAC0 boost but requiring a successful attack roll for them to work, and/or making them limit APR to 1. This would come with a drop in their price so they'd still be worth buying.
3. Nerfing Potions of Magic Shielding to give +5 to ST and +25% to resistances, with similar nerfs to other major potions.
4. Making Sleep less likely to affect lower-level creatures and giving it a small chance to affect higher-level creatures.
The basic idea is to prevent top-tier tools from completely breaking the difficulty of major fights, while still allowing them to play some role in the game. Greater freedom without sacrificing challenge.
I think we should start with BG1. Let's begin by focusing on the player side (items, etc), then we'll move to the enemy side (XP adjustments and such). Make sense?
Let's start by compiling a list of nerf or nix candidates. Items first, then spells, then kit abilities. We can break these up into tiers, and begin with the top tier. Feel free to add more.
Section 1: Items
1.1 Top Tier OP Items
Cloak of Algernon, Protection from Magic, Arrows of Dispelling, Arrows of Detonation, Greenstone Amulet, Necklace of Missiles, The Victor, all wands
Current Proposals:
Protection from Magic
-Remedy: Remove from game or, in the alternative, make them for wizard slayers only
Cloak of Algernon
-Remedy: Remove the charm effect
Arrows of Dispelling
-Remedy: Remove from stores, per SCS
Arrows of Detonation
-Remedy: 2d6, +1 THACO, 4 stacks of 5, lowered cost
Greenstone Amulet
-Remedy: 5 charges, no recharge
Necklace of Missiles
-Remedy: Remove from the carnival, 5 charges, no recharge
The Victor
-Remedy: Reinstate power of L4, no recharge
All wands
-Remedy: Remove from stores, 5 charges, no recharge
Yes, I do have my personal set of self-imposed rules of fair play (and those are just my general rules when playing games - no cheats/exploits or cheap tactics, the way I see it):
- do not attack neutral characters, even if you know by metagaming that the fight is inevitable;
- if your opponents are able to use SCS pre-buffing - let them fire’em all before attacking and do not interrupt (none of them prevented you from preparing for the battle);
- do not use green scrolls of protection (specifically Protection from Magic green scroll) offensively (they are not meant for that);
- do not abuse *switching areas going through the doors back and force* only to drain your opponents of spells. you can flee from dangerous fight to return later;
- try to explore and clean an area in one go when you’ve first entered it (so I have to choose carefully where to go and when). if you'll encounter a deadly enemy there you can't handle yet - flee and return later. no need to hit a brick wall with your bare head;
- do not use *out of sight attacks*, i.e. you can scout, prepare (buffs, AoE spells etc.) and then show yourself to your foes;
- do not allow repeated applications of the same buff to stack, i.e. mutliple use of the same potions/items for stacking bonuses;
- try to protect your party members evenly with equipment and do not allow a weird and unrealistic equipment switching on-the-fly in combat aside from those in quick slots (I like how it works in Pillars of Eternity and Pathfinder series where you have a limited access to your shared party stash/or not at all and can't switch armor in combat);
- like Alesia i'm also leaning nowadays to no allow items/wands recharging;
Interesting enough but I've never used Cloak of Algernon's Charm ability (only used it for Charisma bonus) and even stopped using it at all when I began to play as no-reload since I can't justify for myself its aquisition.
So all in all I agree with Alesia's suggestions on the items' nerfs. First of all on Green scroll of Protection from Magic. And I'd also like to prevent somehow potions' buffs stacking.
- do not abuse *switching areas going through the doors back and force* only to drain your opponents of spells. you can flee from dangerous fight to return later;
- do not use *out of sight attacks*, i.e. you can scout, prepare (buffs, AoE spells etc.) and then show yourself to your foes;
-
- try to protect your party members evenly with equipment and do not allow a weird and unrealistic equipment switching on-the-fly in combat aside from those in quick slots (I like how it works in Pillars of Eternity and Pathfinder series where you have a limited access to your shared party stash/or not at all and can't switch armor in combat);
NW: I sometimes play fast and loose with item switching, especially in solo play. Switching weapons is fine, I think. Switching worn item slots should be reserved for out of combat, like armor.
Comments
I dont use ctrl-j in combat. However I do use it as a time saver if I know that there is nothing of interest in an area. i.e. If I have already cleared an area I sometimes jump across it as it is a bit tedious walking the party across an empty area.
I'll have to see how it looks in dense combat, as it was with the rhakshasas in Amara's case.
As for Stinking Cloud, the problem only seems to emerge when there are two overlapping each other. If it weren't for the specific context of the final Ascension fight, where Abazigal's two summons cast one each, I'd be ok with it.
@Wise_Grimwald Noted. That makes sense. I could see ctrl-j being helpful there.
I will get the EE Bam file to you semi-soon. In the meantime, here's a picture of the new animation. Importantly, it doesn't converge from a distance. It just emerges near the character like this and then kind of compresses.
To have it, charisma has to be 12 minimum, and it has the benefit of the Redeem Innate Ability. (The drawback is that you can't use Charisma as a dump stat. )
Thanks. It doesn't have a great impact on the game which is as it should be for new kits. Just enough to make the kit interesting.
Mage: Abjurer[1], Conjurer, Diviner, Enchanter, Illusionist[2], Invoker, Necromancer, Transmuter, Wild Mage[3].
Fighter: Berserker, Wizard Slayer, Kensai, Barbarian[4], Dwarven Defender[5], Grizzly Bear[6].
Cleric: Priest of Talos, Priest of Helm, Priest of Lathander, Priest of Tyr, Priest of Tempus.
Thief: Assassin, Bounty Hunter, Swashbuckler, Shadowdancer[7].
Bard: Blade, Jester, Skald.
Paladin: Cavalier, Inquisitor, Undead Hunter, Blackguard.
Druid: Totemic Druid, Shapeshifter, Avenger.
Ranger: Archer, Stalker, Beastmaster.
Sorcerer: Dragon Disciple.
Monk: Dark Moon Monk, Sun Soul Monk.
Shaman: none.
[1] Mage specialists are race-restricted; only humans have access to all specialties. In addition, basically everything about the kits is hard-coded in inconvenient ways. Each specialty has a dedicated bit in the kit ID, and any other kit that uses that bit will have the specialty's spell learning restrictions at character creation or sorcerer level-up. The bonuses to spell learning and saves for spells in the school are tied to a match between kit ID and school ID. The penalty to spell learning outside the school applies whenever the kit doesn't match the school and isn't "generalist". And this applies to all arcane characters, not just actual specialists - so a Blade or a Berserker -> Mage gets a 15% penalty on all spell learning. Oops.
[2] Gnomes have a special relationship with the Illusionist kit. All gnome mages you create will be illusionists, including multiclass mages. This is the only way to create a multiclass character with a kit in the standard game.
[3] The wild mage's 5% chance for wild surges, bonus to wild surge rolls, and access to the unique wild magic spells are hardcoded to the kit ID.
[4] Originally a separate class, barbarians were folded into being a fighter kit with the EE. The barbarian's immunity to backstabs is hardcoded to the kit ID.
[5] As the name suggests, dwarven defenders are race-restricted. Dwarves only.
[6] The "Grizzly Bear" kit is used for Wilson, and is not available at character creation. In BGEE, the list of kits has a dummy entry in its place, for the sake of compatibility with kit mods.
[7] The Shadowdancer's "Hide in Plain Sight" ability is hardcoded to the kit ID, and cannot easily be duplicated otherwise.
Might they come when she levels up again? She is currently level 7 and needs quite a lot of experience to level up to 8.
She used to have all sorts of extra spells in addition to the standard ones. These have all disappeared too.
Can you find my character in this screenshot?
Maybe you could, maybe you couldn't but it's more difficult than it should be. I'd kind of like to revert all the clouds, but it seems like a big job.
And you are correct - fixing cloud spells aren't straightforward unfortunately. It's not something like 'change the projectile' and that's it. Seems those are using some other types of resources. I'll try to make some digging over there but I can't promise anything.
Illasera agrees. The thing is that I don't want to play hide and seek with her...
Thank you for your efforts, Serg. I appreciate it. I'll do some digging on my end, too.
Cheers,
A.
EDIT:
Okay, that's what I've found so far comparing side by side CLOUD.PRO (Stinking Cloud spell uses it) from original and EE. The only noticable difference between them is that original projectile has 2 Flags checked (Colored BAM(0), Not light source(3)) while in EE there is another one also checked - Translucent (7).
So maybe you could start with unchecking it in your game and see if it will change something.
Lol. That sounds like a timely announcement. I hope you didn't lose a character.
Are you currently playing off thread?
And btw, have you tried @jmerry ´s fix for that?
Not trying any fix currently, as the run this happened in is played entirely without mods. I don't use any arcane magic in the party in question, so not using fireshields is no trouble at all, so I felt no need for that - I didn't expect the armor (which I was only wearing due to some very unfortunate circumstances anyway) to cause the same problems.
My fix for it: getting hit by a fireshield subspell causes a brief (2-tick) immunity to that subspell. It's not perfect; while I'm aiming for one cycle back and forth as it was in 2.5, that sometimes just doesn't happen. I think pauses might scramble effect order, and this is very reliant on that?
It's still considerably better than any alternative I've found.
Incidentally, I finally stopped procrastinating and updated my tweak mod to version 3.1. It's a minor update really, with bug fixes for two existing components and two small new components.
Looking forward to it.
I see that you fixed the noble efreeti and ulitharid in Spellhold. Very good!
Speaking of Spellhold, have you considered addressing the issue of Bhaal not following the PC into Candlekeep?
Best,
A.
I started a new game with Wanda.
Wanda has now joined up with Tenya who is now Level 7. She has all her quota of spells, which means that the problems in my last game were just a corrupted save game file. I was concerned that it might have corrupted my entire set-up. It didn't.
Noted, Serg. I'll give that a try.
Thanks!
Are you playing with Spell Revisions or something? SPPR112 doesn't exist in my install; just SPPR111 and SPPR113.
I checked the Spell Revisions list. It's not one of those.
Thanks. If it is a mod added spell, I can live without it.
As you know, I've long worked with a list of restrictions. I've never systemized them into a Tweak mod, but the idea has occurred to me. I love the idea of developing a Tweak mod for balanced no reload play.
I'll begin by noting a few of my general conceptual restrictions that have helped me find balanced challenges on my chosen difficulty settings. Most can not be systemized into a mod, but are, rather, principles of play that could enhance the efficacy of a mod.
1. I do not use mods that benefit the player. I only use mods that benefit enemies and the AI. This includes kits, tweaks, and such. Seemingly subtle advantageous tweaks can have a big impact on gameplay. It's entirely possible to unbalance the game without even realizing it.
The only exception I make to this rule is mods that restore behavior that was in the original game, and was the accepted norm for many years. Free Action Protects Against Stun falls into this category. Incidentally, that's the only tweak I use that advantages the player.
2. I do not allow repeated applications of the same buff to stack. This includes potions and items, as well as spells. So, as examples, no stacking potions of master thievery or potions of absorption or potions of heroism or shield amulet charges or Boons of Lathander. The only exception I make here is that I'll allow repeated use of potions of genius after I've been intelligence drained to restore my intelligence to the pre-buff level, set by the application of one potion of genius and one potion of mind focusing.
3. I do not use tactics that are manifestly exploits and make no sense in the game world. Examples would include blinding thieves, wand of lightning shenanigans, etc.
4. When I'm playing as I think I should, I do not attack blue circled enemies. Instead I allow foes to get up their buffs. As Serg says, they do not interfere with my buffing, I should not interfere with their's. I find myself tempted to violate this norm when playing a thief or roguish character, and I often do cave. When I do not cave I end up with much more interesting gameplay.
NW: It may make sense to allow a rogue PC a small fixed number of assassinations in a play through, like one or two, to be used at their discretion.
5. When I'm playing as I think I should, I do not allow recharge of limited use items. This includes wands and such, as well as weapons, like the Staff of Striking. Ayla's play through, where I routinely recharged the Staff of Striking, drove this home for me.
6. I do not use blue spells or protection scrolls on enemies, most notably the protection from magic scrolls.
7. If a single item or tactic answers a large number of gameplay questions, I consider restricting it. There is a long list here, and I intend to discuss this subject in greater detail later, but I'll note that in BG1 this list includes arrows of detention and charm effects, among others. In my early days as a BG player, protection from magic scrolls were on this list, too. They obviously should be, in my opinion. I've made an exception here out of sheer laziness. I don't think it was a wise choice.
In any case, I think this is a reasonable starting point. I'm glad we're having this conversation. One of the things I miss about the old, old no reload challenge, on the original Bioware boards, is that we often had discussions like this. I've wanted to have this conversation here for some time now.
Cheers,
A.
I think we should start with BG1. Let's begin by focusing on the player side (items, etc), then we'll move to the enemy side (XP adjustments and such). Make sense?
Let's start by compiling a list of nerf or nix candidates. Items first, then spells, then kit abilities. We can break these up into tiers, and begin with the top tier. Feel free to add more.
Section 1: Items
1.1 Top Tier OP Items
Cloak of Algernon, Protection from Magic, Arrows of Dispelling, Arrows of Detonation, Greenstone Amulet, Necklace of Missiles, The Victor, all wands
Current Proposals:
Protection from Magic
-Remedy: Remove from game or, in the alternative, make them for wizard slayers only
Cloak of Algernon
-Remedy: Remove the charm effect
Arrows of Dispelling
-Remedy: Remove from stores, per SCS
Arrows of Detonation
-Remedy: 2d6, +1 THACO, 4 stacks of 5, lowered cost
Greenstone Amulet
-Remedy: 5 charges, no recharge
Necklace of Missiles
-Remedy: Remove from the carnival, 5 charges, no recharge
The Victor
-Remedy: Reinstate power of L4, no recharge
All wands
-Remedy: Remove from stores, 5 charges, no recharge
- do not attack neutral characters, even if you know by metagaming that the fight is inevitable;
- if your opponents are able to use SCS pre-buffing - let them fire’em all before attacking and do not interrupt (none of them prevented you from preparing for the battle);
- do not use green scrolls of protection (specifically Protection from Magic green scroll) offensively (they are not meant for that);
- do not abuse *switching areas going through the doors back and force* only to drain your opponents of spells. you can flee from dangerous fight to return later;
- try to explore and clean an area in one go when you’ve first entered it (so I have to choose carefully where to go and when). if you'll encounter a deadly enemy there you can't handle yet - flee and return later. no need to hit a brick wall with your bare head;
- do not use *out of sight attacks*, i.e. you can scout, prepare (buffs, AoE spells etc.) and then show yourself to your foes;
- do not allow repeated applications of the same buff to stack, i.e. mutliple use of the same potions/items for stacking bonuses;
- try to protect your party members evenly with equipment and do not allow a weird and unrealistic equipment switching on-the-fly in combat aside from those in quick slots (I like how it works in Pillars of Eternity and Pathfinder series where you have a limited access to your shared party stash/or not at all and can't switch armor in combat);
- like Alesia i'm also leaning nowadays to no allow items/wands recharging;
Interesting enough but I've never used Cloak of Algernon's Charm ability (only used it for Charisma bonus) and even stopped using it at all when I began to play as no-reload since I can't justify for myself its aquisition.
So all in all I agree with Alesia's suggestions on the items' nerfs. First of all on Green scroll of Protection from Magic. And I'd also like to prevent somehow potions' buffs stacking.
NW: I sometimes play fast and loose with item switching, especially in solo play. Switching weapons is fine, I think. Switching worn item slots should be reserved for out of combat, like armor.
Cheers.
A.