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[MOD] Auril's Bane Expansion for IWD EE [WIP]

RedrakeRedrake Member Posts: 426
edited October 2017 in IWD:EE Mods
I decided to create a separate thread instead of using threads started by other people.

Auril's Bane was possibly the only true mod in the original IWD1, as the other were mostly tweaks and fixpacks. Item Upgrade and Unfinished Business also deserve a mention, but Auril's Bane also fixed some of the later on included restored content, like Voice of Durdel Anatha Quest.

It was old (2003) and it added content. Spells, kits (as saved characters), quests, items, cantrips, abilities and even PnP adaptation of rules (bonus spells due to high intelligence for mages and bards).

The original mod was created by Grog. Later on, since 2005 I also helped him with the fixpack parts, restored content and harder enemies (Harder Yxunomei and True Dragon Icasaracht).

After Grog kind of went MIA (around 2007), I remained the caretaker of the mod answering questions (on the back then Chosen of Mystra forum) and then releasing an expansion of the fixpack from Auril's Bane.

What did this expansion do? It was both fixpack and tweaks (but aimed at keeping the game balanced). Originally, non-weidu, later it had a weidu version and it did as follows:


I fixed bugs (this was way before Unfinished Business was released), added items that were in the pool, but not included in the game, added descriptions to items and modified certain items (nothing overpowering, just added mostly modifications to weapons that were otherwise just plain +3 or +4 weapons with fancy descriptions).

This is the list of modifications from the first version of the mod concerning the items:

Among the fixes are:
- Many of the items in the game have only one charge and after they are used, they are gone forever. The chess pieces or barrier amulet are among those. Now, they can be used once/day, similar to other items like Horn Valhalla. Even items with more charges (except for wands) remain after they are exhausted and they can be sold and recharged.
- Arrows of the hand were no different than the Arrows +2. I've changed this, so now Arrows of the hand offer +4 damage vs orcs
- Black Dragon Scale had an incorrect AC if you take in consideration its description. The armor can be used by thieves without restriction and yet it counts as a scale mail armor with AC 4. I set the AC to 2 making it more useful.
- Fang of Gloomfrost (dagger) had an incorrect restriction. The weapon should be usable by druids, but is not. This has been fixed.
- All the weapons made of ice in Gloomfrost are now +5. This was especially necessary since there are no +5 halberds, scimitars and two handed swords in the game.
- Hellpick, according to its description was used to kill drow wizards. It seems logical to me that the weapon should have bonus against mages. Therefore, +5 damage vs mages.
- Kaylessa's Gloves are now usable by anyone except for single class mages.
- Kinetic Spear according to its description should have been able to cast lance of disruption at 5% chances, but the item was a plain +2 Spear. This has been fixed.
- Mail of Life now counts as elven chainmail (no restrictions for thieving or arcane spellcasting). According to its description is an elven enchanted chainmail.
- Cradle of Mielliki has been changed. From a common +1 Scimitar, now its a +2 Scimitar with 50% chance of slaying orcs (with a saving throw allowed). It can also be wielded only by Rangers and Druids. Is no longer a random drop in Kresselack's Tomb, but a regular drop on Arundel at the end of Chapter 3.
- Pikeman's End is a +3 weapon which was available in the original game, but by mistake removed by Grog when he made AB. The weapon is in Conlan's store and I've reduced it's price to fit into Grog's reduced prices tweak.
- Long Sword +3: Enforcer was usable only by fighter/mages in the original game. Now it can be also be used by bards, mage/thief and fighter/mage/thief.
- Valiant has been changed from a Scimitar +2 to a Scimitar +3.
- Giant's Sleep has been changed so that now provides +6 bonus to thac0 and damage against Giants and is only usable by rangers.
- Pale Justice. Now this is an important fix. In the original non-HoW game, Pale justice made the paladins immune to fear, Dire Charm and Symbol of Hopelessness. With HoW, the weapon also protected them against Wail of the virgins. But with HoW, the paladins are immune to fear starting from level 2, therefore the immunities granted by the weapon are obsolete. So I've replaced the 2 entries for the immune to fear effects with immunity to curse and Disintegration. This should make it useful in Trials of the Luremaster where so far there's no defense against disintegration spells cast by beholders.
- Patriot Helm is now only usable by dwarves, as per its description.
- Kaylessa's Ring now grants +1 Dexterity like her other items. In the original game you could randomly find her armor or her bow or her gloves or her ring. Each of them granted +1 Dexterity, except for her ring which was a + 15% Stealth Ring only.
- Long Sword of the Hand is now a Long Sword +4.
- Redemption Warhammer is now only usable by Clerics and Paladins.
- Serrated Bone Blade is now not usable by good characters.
- Spendelard's Protector is now a +3 Quarter Staff
- Made a description for Warhammer +4: Defender. Such a great weapon deserved one. Also changed its name to Moradin's Defender. It is also a reward for saving the deep gnomes from the Fire Salamanders (I mean come on, no reward except a deep thank you?)
- Selune's Promise is now only usable by clerics.
- Winter King's Plate is now usable by druids. The plate is made out of hide of a polar worm, not metal, therefore is according to 2E rules wearable by a druid.
- Replaced Throwing Axe +2 from Dragon's Eye Level 5, with Azuredge. Yes, the BG2 version.
- Removed the second Axe of Caged Souls from Dorn's Deep. It was now replaced with Benorg's Truth. I've also added a description to this weapon.
- Talon of Gloomfrost didn't provided the proper bonus to fire and cold resistance. This has been fixed.
- One huge bug that I noticed were the weapons that supposedly granted bonus against certain creatures. In effect, those bonuses were missing. A lot of weapons, like Love of Black Bess, Pale Justice or Pig's Eye had no such bonuses. I changed them so that they actually benefit from them.
One weird item was Conlan's Hammer. According to its description it's supposed to grant +5 against Iron Golems, but it fact it's a +5 weapon against any enemy. It is impossible to create a bonus against just Iron Golems though, so I changed the description too, so that it grants +5 against all golems. Otherwise it's a +3 weapon.
- Overall fixes for all weapons that grant bonus against creatures, alignments and classes. The weapons affected are Bonecleaver, Axe of Caged Souls, Evil Spider Crusher of Doom, Guktok's Chopper, Misery's Herald, Selune's Promise, Giant Killer, Trollslayer, Alamion, Pig's Eye, Wind of Heaven, Hell's Bane, Conlan's Hammer, Pale Justice, Dead God's Dreaming, Kondar, Inconsequence and The Mace of Weal and Woe. The only weapons in the game that granted bonus were the Three White Doves and Giant's Sleep.
- Two Handed Sword +4: Life Giver was a very powerful weapon. A +4 weapon with healing chances when it hit the enemy and regeneration as well. Thus I wrote a description for it and renamed it Palaestra.
- Ankheg Plate Armor and Beetle Shields are now usable by druids. Those are not metal so that's strictly within the rules.
- Mithral Plate Armor is back to being non-magical. It is also lighter than the more common Iron Plate. In the original IWD Mithral Plate Armor was one of the best armor to be had, as it was no magical so you could equip a ring of protection +2 with it. In HoW they made it magical so it's just as common as Iron Plate Armor, which grants the same AC 0, but while Iron plate weights 35, Mithral weights 70. I changed it so that Mithral is once again not magical and it weighs 30.
- Pestilent Dawn morningstar was supposed to grant immunity to disease. This has been fixed.
- Slightly altered the list of available items from Jester's Bag of Holding. Some more gems and common items can now be found. I also removed the duplicates.
- Three White Doves was not granting 5% chance of slaying outer planar creatures. This has been fixed.
- Symbol of Corellon Larethian now grants +2 THAC0 against orcs as it should from its description.
- Bardic Horn of Valhalla now summons beserkers with barbarian animations, like it does in IWD2.
- Arrows of Slaying was available to buy in Lonelywood, but it was bugged. It crashed the game when used. That's because the weapon is designed to kill Ogre Mages, but Ogre Mages do not exist in IWD1. I fixed it so that it slays Ogres.
- Unique items. Removed a lot of the duplicate items found on various creatures. It is no longer possible to gather 10 Rings of Free Action.
- More stealable items on various creatures. Nothing overpowered.
- Additional items can now be found in various stores and containers. Among them are most items from BG1, except for Balduran items and manuals to improve attributes. However the latter are expensive. Don't ruin yourself to buy them all. Some of them can be found at Gerth and others at Sister Caliana in Kuldahar. Edion also sells several such items.


Made some small fixes for spells.
- Fixed several small errors in spell descriptions
- Infravision moved to level 3 as it is in PnP.
- Fixed bard spell levels to be in par with PnP. They are no longer able to cast spells above level 6. Considering that IWD1 sets spells to be cast at caster level and a bard levels up faster than a mage at high levels bard are over-powerful compared to mages.
- I've also created an expanded spell advancement table for paladins and rangers. This is especially necessary for ranger/clerics who otherwise are unable to cast level 7 druidic spells. These 2 files should also go to Override folder.

Racial and classes fixes:
- Fixed pickpocket bonuses for bards. PnP rules state that pickpocket bonus increase with 5% each level. However in IWD1 a Bard starts with 35%. Add to that 15% from Half-elf racial bonus and you could get a 50% chances right from the start. As such, pickpocket is extremely easy. Now the skill starts at 16%.
- As per PnP rules, Halflings no longer get -1 Wis. Only -1 Str.
- Overall fixes of certain enemies. Shadowed enemies in the Hand are undead, which can be turned, but they are also racially, elves, orcs, goblins etc, so they are not spectral undead.
- Some of the Trial of the Luremaster creatures had no races assigned. This has been fixed.
- Changed Frostbite into a larger Wyvern, as it is their leader in Wyrm's Glacier. Wyverns also drop heads when they die (which can be in turn sold).

CRE fixes:
- Kaylessa was originally a fighter with 9 in each attributes. I've made her a ranger with some more decent attributes.
- The priestess of shar CRE counted as male. The appearance was female, the voice was female, but her gender was male. This has been fixed.
- I also gave to most undead evil alignment and to most animals neutral alignment (not the winter wolves, they count as evil)
- Kontik needed a major overhaul. She was an level 18 mage, but her only spells were hold person, spirit armor and minor globe of invulnerability. I added Icelance, Ice Storm and Shocking Grasp to her arsenal.

Additional modifications:
- Adinirahc is mentioned in Note to Krilag as being the leader of the drow mercenaries in Upper Dorn's Deep. However he's not there. I added him. He's a somewhat powerful Fighter/Mage.
- Harder Yxunomei. An expansion of the one Grog designed. I added more Yuan-ti in her party and also in her chamber, after you kill her. As a tester once said "Come on, who traps the chamber after the main battle?"
- True Dragon Icasaracht. I modified her hps and skills in accordance with the PnP rules regarding white dragons.

Finally, some weapon descriptions:

Moradin's Defender

It is said that Moradin bestowed a special blessing upon the best dwarven smiths so that once in their life time they could create a magical item of extraordinary strength. This particulary weapon was forged by Bedwar Fireaxe, high priest of citadel Adbar in the year 1045 DR for his most prized son, Rohalt. Rohalt wielded the weapon with pride until he fell in a battle against frost giants in the Spine of the Worlds in the year 1250 DR.

STATISTICS:

Damage: 1D4 +5
THAC0: +4
Damage type: Crushing
Armor Class Bonus: 2
Resistance Bonuses:
+15% Piercing Resistance
+15% Slashing Resistance
+15% Crushing Resistance
+15% Magic Resistance
+3 Save vs. Spells
+50% chance heal 5 Hit Points On hit
Weight: 6
Speed Factor: 3
Proficiency Type: Hammers
Type: 1-handed
Not Usable By:
Druid
Mage
Thief


Enforcer

Elenthor was an elven bladesinger of no small fame who lived most of his life in the forest of Cormanthor. This weapon was enchanted for him by his beloved wife Anorweyn Evensong. Unfortunately, Elenthor and all of his clan were destroyed by a marauding band of drow during a night raid in the year 1067 DR. The weapon came into the hands of a drow deathsinger by the name of Celeron Zen'duis. He presumably sold the weapon and thus found its way back to the surface.

STATISTICS:

Damage: 1D8 +3
THAC0: +3 bonus
Damage type: Slashing
Resistance Bonus: +5% Magic Resistance
Special:
Memorize 1 additional 1st level Mage spell
Memorize 1 additional 2nd level Mage spell
Weight: 4
Speed Factor: 4
Proficiency Type: Long Sword
Type: 1-handed
Only Usable By:
Fighter/Mage
Fighter/Mage/Thief
Bard


Giant's Sleep

This weapon was used by the human ranger Althax Grom. Althax hated the giants that plagued his homeland and was trained to exterminate them from a young age. Although Althax originally fought his foes using the sword and bow, he quickly decided that those weapons were too slow against his huge foes. His druid friend, Eladan, enchanted this hammer for him. The reputation of the weapon grew as legends of Althax grew. Even though the warhammer has passed through many hands since Althax's untimely demise, Giant's Sleep will always be remembered as the weapon of that powerful warrior.

STATISTICS:

Damage: 1D4 +3, +6 vs Giants
THAC0: +4, +6 vs Giants
Damage type: Crushing
Weight: 5
Speed Factor: 1
Proficiency Type: Hammer
Type: 1-handed
Only Usable By:
Ranger
Cleric/Ranger



Also, Auril's Bane originally included additional spells. Some of those are already added by EE (Armor of Faith, Meteor Swarm, Holy Power), so those are simply excluded (with the exception of their icons, those Grog created are so much better looking than in BG2). Others will once again need to be properly implemented.

Voice of Durdel Anatha is already included in EE, although the version Grog made, included access to Pale Justice only after solving this quest. Even so, I am not going to convert it as it might lead to bugs.

EE already includes Items Upgrades mod (due to Cam's involvement with Beamdog), which was not one of my favorites, but I am going to be forced to not include the fixes and tweaks for the items affected by that component.


Future updates to the mod might include additional content, but for now I aim to make a workable version for EE.

Any suggestions are welcome. Any questions about the content of the mod are to be answered.

And any criticism is welcome as well, as long as it is constructive.

Post edited by Redrake on

Comments

  • RavandelRavandel Member Posts: 55
    Sounds awesome!

    My requests:
    *make this mod translation friendly
    *separate this into lesser categories like: item fixes, class tweaks etc.

    Question:
    What other new content this mod has or you are planning to implement?
  • RedrakeRedrake Member Posts: 426
    Ravandel said:

    Sounds awesome!

    My requests:
    *make this mod translation friendly
    *separate this into lesser categories like: item fixes, class tweaks etc.

    Question:
    What other new content this mod has or you are planning to implement?

    For translations, I expect volunteers. I only speak Romanian and English.

    Separation is taken into account, but the problem is that some of the things this mod features are from the core Auril's Bane files. I can divide the fixes from the Core Files, but I cannot divide the items from Auril's Bane from class tweaks if both are included in the Core Files.

    As for later content, I do want to have more items added, some random, some placed for consistency with the story. Unique items, as I do like writing their stories. ;)

    Later on, who knows, maybe quests, encounters and even areas. But that's not a priority now.
  • RavandelRavandel Member Posts: 55
    Ok thx for answer. And about translations I meant doing lang folders etc. so future translation will only add another files. Its that method with Name1 @1
  • RedrakeRedrake Member Posts: 426
    Hmm, I didn't know about the lang folders...

    I'll consider it.
  • RavandelRavandel Member Posts: 55
    AFAIK it might be different name of this folder (you choose). Example of that is in this mod:
    https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/65516/mod-weasels#latest

    Translations folder if I remember. You can translate mod easily that way.
  • MathsorcererMathsorcerer Member Posts: 3,042
    I still have the original Auril's Bane install on the USB stick I use to store games/mods. Auril's Bane was the *best* *mod* *ever* for IWD1 and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

    I haven't spoken to Grog in forever, myself.
  • RedrakeRedrake Member Posts: 426

    I still have the original Auril's Bane install on the USB stick I use to store games/mods. Auril's Bane was the *best* *mod* *ever* for IWD1 and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

    I haven't spoken to Grog in forever, myself.

    Last time I spoke to him in 2012, I think. He had some family issues so his activity was rather low.
  • RedrakeRedrake Member Posts: 426
    And here's some info on the older Aurils Bane spell and items additions.
    First a list of spells:

    Cleric:
    * Quick Boost (new Orison)
    * Cause Fear
    * Cure Extensive Wounds
    * Cause Extensive Wounds
    * Sleep
    * Protection from Acid

    Druid
    * Daze Animal (new Orison)
    * Ice Bolt
    * Produce Flame
    * Miasma
    * Protection from Acid
    * Icestorm
    * Feeblemind#
    * Finger of Death#

    Wizard
    * Static Bolt (new Cantrip - Mage only)
    * Lesser Vitriolic Sphere
    * Larloch's Negative Energy Orb
    * Lightning Blast
    * Minor Malison
    * Protection from Evil 10' Radius
    * Larloch's Major Drain
    * Snilloc's Major Missile


    Cure Extensive Wounds (Necromancy)
    Level: 3
    Sphere: Healing
    Range: Touch
    Duration: Instantaneous
    Casting Time: 6
    Area of Effect: 1 creature
    Saving Throw: None

    This spell is a more potent version of the Cure Light Wounds spell. When laying his hand upon a creature, the priest heals 14 points of damage. This healing cannot affect undead or extraplanar creatures.


    Gnomish Workman's Goggles

    These goggles were designed to help a gnomish workman while he worked in the lab. Firstly, they offer the workman's eyes, and surround facial area splash protection, presumably for when experiments go wrong. And secondly, they contain various magnifing lenses to aid with detailed examination of objects. Unfotunately, while they are good for examining things up close, they make for a poor sighting scopes.

    STATISTICS:

    Special:
    +2% Acid Resistance
    +6 Lore
    +5 Open Locks
    +5 Find/Remove Traps
    -2 Damage
    -2 THACO with missile weapons
    Weight: 0
    Usable Only By:
    Gnomes


    HOLY JUSTICE OF TYR: Tyr and his followers are devoted to the cause of justice, to the righting of wrongs and the deliverance of vengeance. This is not necessarily equality or fairness, as some make the maimed god out to represent, but rather the discovery of truth and the punishment of the guilty. Tyr's followers tend to be stiff-necked about theology, and see matters in black and white terms.

    Advantages:
    * Level 1: Detect Evil, Hold Person, and Smite Evil 1x/day
    * Level 3: Strength of One 1x/day
    Disadvantages:
    * None


  • RedrakeRedrake Member Posts: 426
    Last evening I looked in Near Infinity in parallel at the original IWD1 AB files (along with my mod, which despite many rumors floating around, did work perfectly with AB installed) and at the IWD1 EE.

    By the looks of things items are not going to be an issue, except for those who have spell effects. Those I need to translate into EE (add EFF).
    Spells are also going to need a lot of work, especially the one Grog created. OTOH, I realized that if I want to make AB for IWD EE, I also need to do something else.

    I need to modify the icons. Either the ones added by Grog or simply (not simply, in fact) replace most of the existing BG2 spell icons with the ones from the original IWD1.

    We'll see how that goes.

    I'll also need to check thoroughly the dialog.tlk from EE to avoid any conflicts.

    As mentioned before, AB (for TotLM) is already weidu, but I still need to transform it to the newer version of weidu to be installed in EE. I might need some help on that regard, but right now I need to compile my notes and see what I can transfer and what I cannot.
  • brunardobrunardo Member Posts: 526
    I always wanted to try this mod and hope it can work fine on IWD EE for my next run...
  • RedrakeRedrake Member Posts: 426
    brunardo said:

    I always wanted to try this mod and hope it can work fine on IWD EE for my next run...

    I heard that people claimed it was not feasible and as such no one made any attempt to convert it.

    In fact it involves a lot of work and the odds are that while it is going to be Weidu, it might not be compatible with other mods. It adds too many things that other mods don't and it even breaks EEKeeper.
  • RavandelRavandel Member Posts: 55
    How it could break EEKeeper? I mean what exactly breaking it? Do you know?
  • RedrakeRedrake Member Posts: 426
    Ravandel said:

    How it could break EEKeeper? I mean what exactly breaking it? Do you know?

    It adds modifications to the innate abilities of classes in order to allow extra spells for mages from high Int and for bards from high Cha.
    The keeper is not designed to handle those and gives errors when trying to load a savegame from AB.
    NearInfinity works just fine though.
  • RedrakeRedrake Member Posts: 426
    edited November 2017
    All right, I have some progress. I looked over the files from AB and it looks like the kits additions from Grog are definitely going to be excluded from conversion. However, since EE already has kits, this is not such a big issue. I am going to have to edit some of the quests dedicated to his kits (Votary and Selunite).

    Also, some of the spells are going to need some extensive work as by the looks of things I'll have to create some EFF files for them. I also wish IWD1 EE also included the icons from the original IWD1 game, as it would've made my work easier. What I am currently done with is converting the CREs and the item proficiencies, abilities and kits.

    It also makes me tempted in creating an additional component that restores the spell icons from the original game into EE. A few years ago I made this into a request to Beamdog, but they pretty much rejected it (I have no idea for what reason). Adding those from IWD2 is even more tempting, but I suspect they don't translate properly.

    I'm eagerly awaiting for the month of December when I'll have more time to dedicate to this. For now the work is taking way too much of my free time.
  • RVNSRVNS Member Posts: 285
    Any news on this? sounds interesting.
  • RaduzielRaduziel Member Posts: 4,714
    Awesome.
  • AedanAedan Member, Translator (NDA) Posts: 8,551
    Any news? May I ask you if you are still working on it?
  • CoM_SolaufeinCoM_Solaufein Member Posts: 2,606
    Actually this mod is the combination of two mods, Project Auril, my mod and Winter's Bane, Grog's mod in the year 2002. It was my first mod, excluding the custom items I made for BG and Grog's second mod after Dark Side of the Sword Coast. Even though it was a joint effort, Grog did more of the maintaining of the mod than I since a lot of the content was his and it was a bit more complex for me.

    It would be great to see this for IWD EE. :)
  • RVNSRVNS Member Posts: 285
    I agree!
  • Viking8008Viking8008 Member Posts: 16
    Eh, well?
  • MistercuriousMistercurious Member Posts: 43
    Hi!

    I'd like to try the mod myself - where can I download the IWDEE version??

    Thankyou!
  • RedrakeRedrake Member Posts: 426
    Hi!

    I'd like to try the mod myself - where can I download the IWDEE version??

    Thankyou!

    There is no IWDEE version. My work on this mod has stopped since 2018. Lost a HDD were I had saved my work and never found the motivation to start again.
  • MistercuriousMistercurious Member Posts: 43
    Ok thanx for the info!

    I wonder - can I use old Icewind Dale Mods that came out before the Enhanced Edition on EE or are they incompatible?
  • GraionDilachGraionDilach Member Posts: 589
    edited November 2022
    Unless their readme states they are compatible with both IWD and IWDEE, they are incompatible.
  • RedrakeRedrake Member Posts: 426
    IWD EE was basically created by adding IWD content on a BG2 EE platform. Even back in the days of old, switching mods from one game to another was very difficult, especially due to eff files (added into BG2 spells and abilities).
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