semiOverhaul for IWD2 (UPDATE!)

semiticgoddess

This mod is a compilation of tweaks and fixes for Icewind Dale 2, correcting the numerous power imbalances between classes, between spells, and between items. It also fixes a lot of inaccurate and incomplete descriptions. The mod adds and changes over 300 spells and over 600 items. semiOverhaul doesn't radically upend IWD2 gameplay; sorcerers will still be great bombers and clerics will still be great healers. But they no longer utterly outclass other character builds, and warriors in particular will be much more viable.

Components:

1. Class Revisions
2. Looser Alignment Restrictions for Classes
3. Spell Revisions
4. Spell Focus Feats for All Schools
5. Item Revisions
6. Creature Rebalancing
7. Better XP Progression
8. Faster Targos
9. Faster Horde Fortress
10. Faster Ice Temple
11. Faster Wandering Village
12. Faster Black Raven Monastery
13. Faster Underdark
14. Faster Dragon's Eye and Lord Pyros' Domain
15. Faster Severed Hand
16. More Potions for Oswald
17. Mage Scrolls for New Spells
18. Fewer Immunities for Bosses
19. Shapeshifting Sound Fix
20. More Accurate Saving Throws for Enemies

--Class Revisions--

This component dramatically rebalances the game to make warriors and rogues much more viable, while slightly nerfing some aspects of the typical powergaming classes (clerics, sorcerers, and druids). This component is most balanced when combined with the Spell Revisions component.

Barbarians: Barbarian rage now grants immunity to fear, hopelessness, stun, paralysis, sleep, and unconsciousness. Also, Barbarians get an additional 1- physical damage resistance for every 1 level after level 20, instead of every 3 levels.

Bards: The Lingering Song exploit is now closed, but bard songs are now more convenient, and all of them have practical uses (even the Song of Kaudies). They're also spread out over more levels and scale with levels so bards no longer reach their peak at level 11. All songs do not stack unless otherwise specified:

Level 1: The Tale of Currant Strongheart: +1 to hit and damage and immunity to fear. Increases to +2 to hit and damage and grants immunity to hopelessness at level 19.

Level 4: Tymora's Melody: +1 luck, +2 to saving throws and rogue skills. Increases to +2 to luck and +4 to saving throws and rogue skills at level 22.

Level 7: The Siren's Yearning: All enemies must make a Will save or be stunned for 1 round or until they take damage. The save DC is equal to the bard's level. This song also imposes a cumulative -1 penalty to Will saves for 10 rounds, every round. Allies have a 25% chance of being affected by this spell.

Level 10: The Song of Kaudies: All allies are affected by the Blink spell for 1 round (enemies have a 50% miss chance on party members, while the party has a 20% miss chance and 20% spell failure).

Level 13: The War Chant of Sith: +2 generic armor bonus, physical damage resistance of 3/-, and 3 HP healed every round. Increases to +4 AC, 6/- damage resistance, and 6 HP healed every round at level 25.

Level 16: The Ballad of Three Heroes: +5 spell resistance, 5/- resistance to all forms of magical damage, and the effects of the Tale of Curran Strongheart, Tymora's Melody, and the War Chant of Sith. Increases to +10 spell resistance and 10/- resistance to magical damage at level 28.

Clerics: Clerics, druid, and mages all use the same spell tables; they gain spell slots at the same rate. Also, Painbearers of Ilmater do not get Pain Touch or Symbol of Pain. Those spells are replaced by Soothing Touch (2d8 HP healed, cures poison, bleeding wounds, and pain effects) and Mist of Eldath. Inflict Wounds spells are much stronger, while spontaneous casting scales beyond level 4 (you can now cast Healing Circle, Heal, Greater Restoration, and Mass Heal via spontaneous casting).

Druids: Druids get new shapeshifting spells, more interesting than the vanilla game but less overpowered than the Tactics mod:

Level 5: Werebadger
Level 7: Viper
Level 9: Hook Horror
Level 11: Rhinoceros Beetle
Level 13: Shambling Mound
Level 15: White Half-Dragon
Level 17: Red Half-Dragon
Level 19: Blue Half-Dragon
Level 21: Black Dragon

The druid shapeshifting feats are also changed. They now allow druids to shapeshift into Will o' Wisps, Treants, and a swarm of insects as in the Creeping Doom spell.

Rogues: Rogues get +1 luck every 5 levels. They won't have the sustained damage output a warrior has, but they'll be able to land some very wicked sneak attacks (luck in IWD2 increases the chance of a critical hit).

Monks: Monks now get much faster and more accurate unarmed attacks, and their attack damage progresses more logically. Their base damage caps at 1d8, but they get higher damage bonuses and higher-level monks will deal triple damage on critical hits instead of double damage. Monks also get Abundant Step at level 10, a teleportation effect (which can break the game if you abuse it!).

Fighters: Fighters get +1 to damage every 5 levels, and now the fighter-exclusive Weapon Specialization feats give +5 to hit and damage. All warriors get better saving throws and stronger attacks.

Rangers: Rangers get more spell slots, and they get them at lower levels. They are also able to use Set Natural Snare every 6 levels, which snares enemies for 5 rounds on a failed Reflex save. Set Natural Snare is much more effective than in the original game; the save DC now improves by 1 for every level and will work reliably even in Heart of Fury mode.

Paladins: Paladins get more spell slots, and they get them at lower levels. Paladins get an additional casting of Lay on Hands every 5 levels.

Sorcerers: Sorcerers get slightly slower spell growth and slightly slower access to new spell picks. They will no longer hit their peak at level 20 and then experience near-zero growth.

--Looser Alignment Restrictions for Classes--

Even IWD2's very broad class system can be restrictive in some ways, mostly in the lawful/chaotic axis. This component loosens a few of the restrictions, allowing certain classes to be compatible with more alignments:

Bards can be any alignment besides Lawful Neutral (previously could not be any lawful alignment)
Monks of the Old Order can be any non-chaotic alignment
Monks of the Broken Ones can be Neutral Good
Monks of the Dark Moon can be Lawful Neutral, True Neutral, and Neutral Evil
Paladins of Ilmater and Mystra can be Neutral Good
Paladins of Helm can be Lawful Neutral
Rogues can be Lawful Good

--Spell Revisions--

This component significantly strengthens many underused spells while slightly weakening the most powerful options. It also switches some spells to lower or higher levels and grants some spells to classes that previously could not cast them. Listing all the changes would take too long, but here are a few examples:

1. Spells that have hit dice limits will now work on critters of any level or hit dice. The Sleep spell can now knock out high-level targets (though the effect is weaker and offers a save) and Power Word Kill will instantly slay a single target on a failed save at -4.

2. Spells that give random bonuses are now consistent. Bull's Strength (now Ox's Fortitude), Eagle's Splendor, and Cat's Grace give a +4 bonus without fail; Champion's Strength gives +7.

3. Some spells have been changed to scale with levels. Poison now deals more damage at higher levels, and Tortoise Shell is harder to break down at higher levels.

4. Some spells grant smaller bonuses, but allow them to stack. Shield now grants a shield bonus and stacks with bracers of armor, while Spell Resistance stacks with a creature's innate and item-based resistances.

5. Spells that made each other redundant have now been diversified. Symbol of Hopelessness and Symbol of Stunning now have different uses.

6 Some spells have been changed to be more user-friendly. Vampiric Touch no longer requires an attack roll, and Chant no longer disables spellcasting.

7. Overpowered spells have received reasonable nerfs. Chromatic Orb now stuns for one round instead of paralyzing for many rounds at higher levels, while Skull Trap is now level 4.

8. Underpowered spells like Horror and Power Word Sleep have had their save DCs changed to make them more reliable, while others have been moved to lower levels or been given entirely new effects. Flaying is now a level 5 spell instead of level 8, and Lich Touch now grants some undead-style immunities to the caster.

9. Many spells are available to more classes, but take up higher-level spell slots. Druids can now cast Moon Motes at level 2, clerics can now cast Call Lightning at 5, and mages can now cast Spell Resistance at level 6, among many other changes.

10. Stone to Flesh now actually works. Previously, petrification could mean a completely irreversible death; now Stone to Flesh will always fix a petrified character.

Newly available spells include Mental Domination, Righteous Wrath of the Faithful, Spook, Dimension Door, Lutzaen's Frequent Jaunt, Translocation Trick, and Protection from Magic Energy.

--Spell Focus Feats for All Schools--

In the unmodded game, spellcasters could only choose Spell Focus to empower Evocation, Necromancy, Transmutation, and Enchantment spells. This component expands those four feats to apply to the other four spell schools as well. The new feats are:

Spell Focus: Evocation/Conjuration
Spell Focus: Enchantment/Illusion
Spell Focus: Necromancy/Divination
Spell Focus: Transmutation/Abjuration

--Item Revisions--

This component rebalances numerous items in IWD2, including some that only show up in Heart of Fury mode or as random drops. It also updates many incomplete spell descriptions, including save DCs for on-hit effects.

--Creature Rebalancing--

This component empowers mind flayers and Chahopek the Guardian. Mind Blast and Ultrablast have higher save DCs and bypass magic resistance, and mind flayer attacks have a 25% chance of instantly killing the target (Fortitude DC 30), mimicking the instant death effects of BG2-style Intelligence drain. Note that Spell Shield from the Spell Revisions component will block the stun effects from Mind Blast and Ultrablast. Chahopek now has more than twice as much HP and has a much stronger breath weapon, but has lower damage resistance than in the vanilla game. Creature rebalancing also empowers enemy spellcasters by giving Spell Focus feats to clerics, druids, mages, and sorcerers.

--Better XP Progression--

In most RPGs, you gain levels at a roughly constant level over the course of the game. In IWD2, though, you gain XP and levels slower and slower as you progress in the game, which is the biggest reason why the late game is so much less fun than the early game. This is because many enemies are rigged to be a lower challenge rating than their actual level. By the time you're in the Severed Hand, you might be fighting critters that are level 17 but have a challenge rating of 9!

This component fixes that. There are two install options. The first option sets all creatures' challenge rating equal to their level, which results in extremely fast leveling as the game progresses. The second option, which is the recommended version, sets CR to slightly below their level after level 9. Neither option will affect early game enemies much, but midgame and endgame enemies will now grant XP appropriate to the challenge they pose.

--Faster Targos--

This component allows the player to skip most of the Targos questline. The first time you speak with Shawford Crale, you can trigger the goblin invasion with Vghotan, Ghotrag, and Caballus by saying "Did you hear that?" midway through the dialogue.

--Faster Horde Fortress--

This component simply rigs the front gate of the Horde Fortress so that you can force it open and attack the fortress head on rather than sneaking through the tunnels.

--Faster Ice Temple--

Getting through the Ice Temple is one of the slowest parts of IWD2, with lots of disconnected plot triggers and quest items. This component allows you to skip the whole thing by tearing down the wall through brute force. If you deal enough damage to the Ice Wall Fault in the northwest corner of the exterior map (the one with Sherincal and the Remorhazes), the wall will collapse and you can proceed to the next area. Destroying the wall is extremely difficult, however, as the wall has tremendous damage resistances, lots of HP, and deals cold damage whenever it is struck.

--Faster Wandering Village--

This component allows you to skip all of the Wandering Village questlines and the Fell Wood Maze by going straight to the exit. Enter the Fell Wood where the spirit greets you, choose the east exit to the treant area, and the exit to the next area will already be open.

It is still possible to complete all of the Wandering Village quests with this component installed.

--Faster Black Raven Monastery--

This component allows you to skip the Black Raven Monastery trials without having to kill the monks. The door in the monastery basement can now be forced open.

--Faster Underdark--

This component lets you skip the Viciscamera questline. You should be able to force open the doors to the mind flayer city and proceed without doing any chores for Malavon.

--Faster Dragon's Eye and Lord Pyros' Domain--

Dragon's Eye and the time paradox questline in Lord Pyros' Domain have long been the low point of IWD2, with massive amounts of backtracking, numerous plot triggers with few clues to indicate where you're supposed to go, and very little reward for the immense amount of time you have to invest in the game just to get through it. This component allows you to avoid all of that nonsense and proceed directly to the Fields of Slaughter, if you want to.

First, it rigs the door at the bottom of Dragon's Eye that leads to Lord Pyros' Domain to be unlockable (normally it can only be opened by fulfilling all other quest requirements and then filling all the basins with wyvern poison). You can therefore spend as much or as little time in Dragon's Eye as you want and then go straight to the exit.

Second, it rigs the north exit from Lord Pyros' Domain (not the exit you unlock during the questline, but the exit NORTH of that one) to lead directly to the Fields of Slaughter, instead of back to Dragon's Eye. Once you're in Lord Pyros' Domain, you can skip the Temporal Stasis quest just by going back from where you came. This will also skip Nickademus' favor.

--Faster Severed Hand--

The Severed Hand can also take a fair amount of time, and while it's not nearly as monotonous as Dragon's Eye or the Ice Temple, some parts of it can still be very slow. This component adds Ruinlord Argos Val to Isair and Madae's throne room. If you have a very high Bluff score, you can convince him to introduce you to Isair and Madae without having to do any of the other quests in the Severed Hand.

--More Potions for Oswald--

Healing potions are plentiful in IWD2, but other types of potions are extremely rare despite not being overpowered. This gives 3 copies of every non-healing potion to Oswald, plus a single copy of every permanent stat boost potion in the game. The latter are very expensive, though, and you likely won't be able to afford very many until later in the game.

--Mage Scrolls for New Spells--

This component adds high-level mage scrolls to various spell vendors, including Elytharra, Zack Boosenberry, Suoma, Bered, and Sheemish. A solo mage or a level 1 mage in HoF mode will be able to learn high-end spells and keep pace with a sorcerer.

This also adds scrolls of Spook, Translocation Trick, Dimension Door, Lutzaen's Frequent Jaunt, and Protection from Magic Energy to Suoma in the Wandering Village, allowing mages as well as sorcerers to learn these spells.

--Fewer Immunities for Bosses--

Many bosses have immunities to all kinds of disablers, even bosses that don't give plot-critical dialogues upon being defeated (traditionally, immunities are only given to ensure those dialogues trigger properly). This component removes some of the immunities normally available to bosses, giving them a +5 bonus to all saving throws to compensate for the loss.

--Shapeshifting Sound Fix--

Testing found that shapeshifting in a previous version of semiOverhaul could result in a weird sound loop. This component should fix the problem if it comes up, but is not otherwise necessary.

--More Accurate Saving Throws for Enemies--

This component adjusts all enemy saving throws in the game, making them roughly equal to the player's saving throws at the same level. Thus, a level 10 enemy fighter will have similar saving throws to a level 10 fighter in the party.

--Sudden Death Mode--

This is a simple component designed to speed up the pace of combat. Both enemies and party members get half of their normal HP. Clerics get 1d4 HP per level instead of 1d8, an 18 Constitution only grants +2 HP per level instead of +4, and an enemy with 50 base HP will have 25 HP. The +80 HP from Heart of Fury mode is not affected by this component, so this component will work in the enemy's favor in HoF mode. The game's difficulty should otherwise be identical, since enemies and party members are equally affected, but death will be much closer for both. Install this component if you're looking to make the game faster or more dangerous.

--Better Racial Enemies for Rangers--

In the vanilla game, there were a lot of racial enemy choices that simply weren't very useful. Getting bonuses against yuan-ti and undead was simply better than getting bonuses against bugbears and hook horrors. This component gives the player the ability to choose from a new set of racial enemies:

Giant Insects
Giant Arachnids
Demons
Goblinoids
Giants
Amorphous Beings
Constructs
Humans
Animals
Undead
Aberrations
Underdark Aberrations
Yuan-ti
Elementals
Trolls
Dragons

Due to how the component works, some mod-introduced items and spells may not work on their intended targets. For example, a hammer that does extra damage to golems will no longer deal extra damage to anything, while a spell that deals extra damage to shapeshifters will now deal extra damage to humans. Vanilla items and spells, however, should work normally; the Kegsplitter will affect kegs properly, and the Goblinslayer dagger will apply its effects to all "goblinoid" enemies, which includes orcs in this component.

This mod is most balanced when installed on top of other mods like Light of Selune, Tweaks for IWD2, and Tactics4IWD2, but it also works on its own. Much of the credit for the inspiration for this mod goes to the makers of those three mods, which provided the groundwork for this mod and the changes it makes. I would also like to thank @Firecrow, who provided indispensable feedback and played an instrumental role in inspiring many of the mod's features, as well as @subtledoctor, @bubb, and @Gwendolyne for providing invaluable technical support during the construction of the mod.

ThacoBell

The Pyros' quest wouldn't be half as bad if it was more clear HOW to trigger the next flag. I swear I have spent more time there running in circles than any other ENTIRE AREA in the game.

semiticgoddess

I've updated the mod! It now does all of the crazy stuff I planned on adding to the mod, plus a lot more ideas that came to me as I put it together. It's now the largest mod I've ever made. It has yet to see extensive play-testing, but testing has found no bugs so far. I will probably make some minor tweaks for balance purposes sometime in the future.

@Firecrow, you might be interested in this mod. One of the many changes includes revised shapeshifting for druids that is similar to that of the Tweaks mod, but not nearly as overpowered.

ThacoBell

Will definitely give this a spin in by next kinda but not really biannual IWD2 run.

AstroBryGuy

An idea I mod into my own IWD2 install: grant bards the Armored Arcana feat at 1st level. Allows them to wear light armor while casting spells (a 3E class feature).

Also, have you tested it with Almateria's IWD2 Fixpack?

http://www.shsforums.net/files/file/1085-almaterias-iwd2-fixpack/

semiticgoddess

@AstroBryGuy: I have not tested it with that mod. For some reason I never installed the fixpack. I'll give it a shot, but it shouldn't really conflict with anything.

I can add in the Armored Arcana feat for bards. It makes thematic sense, and it's not like it's overpowered for a bard to cast Cure Light Wounds while wearing leather armor without suffering a 5% chance of spell failure.

Firecrow

semiticgod said:

@Firecrow, you might be interested in this mod. One of the many changes includes revised shapeshifting for druids that is similar to that of the Tweaks mod, but not nearly as overpowered.

@semiticgod, I looked only a bit, but already can give a some quick feedback.
I hasn't unmoded copy of game right now, so I installed "semiOverhaul" on my modded assembly (with backup of course). It has Tactics4IWD2, revised spell list for druid from Easy-of-Use, and twik on phisical resists from armors, shields and nature armor for PC and mobs. Maybe becouse this sOh installed with some problems. I can't see ingame info for almost all spells, that you revised.(

And why clerics has only two nine level spells as before?

Your additions for druid spells handle and with some RP sense, but on six level formed a double. Maybe it becouse my install of extended spell list for druid from EofU, but Spider Spawn added by it moved from four level to three without problem.

I will find unmodded version and try to install sOh on it for check.

Actually I did not really like your nerf for Sorcerer. Of course Sorcerer very OP if you want to do level1 start on HoF without any equip (better to say Wizard very bad for it), but for play on HoF after normal mode run, Wizard and Sorcerer balanced with each other good enough IMHO. Sorcerer uncomfortable for multiclassing, even few levels of other class severely disable his repertoire of spells. It is more difficult for him to develop Spell Focuses and to take elemental damage feats. I don't sure about extra spell slots for Wizard, but I think that slot numbers and spell picks reduction for Sorcerer little unfair compared Banite priest for example. But I like your spell list expanding for Sorcerers. Do Wizards can find this new spells too? And I don't sure about some of your spell moving. For example, Flaying and Suffocate. I think that these spells were in their places.

Three new druidic forms are good, especially i like Creeping Doom shapeshifting, but I can't see icons for Treant and Will o' Wisp.(

And how can i get transformations to Hook Horror and Black Dragon?)

I did not check many items, I checked only for two bugs known to me.

In unmodded game HoFed Nataniel's Ring of the Ram actually casts Dimensional Door instead Holy Power. And HoFed book "Heart of Winter" casts simple Blindness instead of PW:B. I tried them, but did not see any changes in either the description or the work. You did't fixed it yet, or changes just did't installed becouse other twiks of my IWD2 copy?

semiticgoddess

@Firecrow: I'll check on more of this stuff in the morning, but some of this is news to me, and I don't see what could have caused some of it. The Heart of Winter book is a vanilla bug. As for Ring of the Ram, my mod doesn't change the ring, nor would it replace Dimension Door with Holy Power. I think I know how to fix the missing icons for the revised shapeshifting spells, but the missing descriptions confuse me. There's no reason those strings would end up blank; I just used a standard WeiDu copy command to create them.

Firecrow

@semiticgod, when i tried to install LoS in addition to other already installed mods, I had the same problem with items discription. So maybe it becouse some conflicts between mods. I'll try to check tomorrow. {Update: maybe i just have't some fonts?}

Firecrow

semiticgod said:

The Heart of Winter book is a vanilla bug. As for Ring of the Ram, my mod doesn't change the ring, nor would it replace Dimension Door with Holy Power...

@semiticgod, thank, I realized.) I mentioned these bugs becouse it would be the first items that I would try to correct. I think that Ring needs just discription fix, only one charge/day of DD can be used for few tricks, but does not break the game. Don't sure about Book, becouse PW:B very powerful even on HoF, but simple Blindness and Freezing Sphere both with very low DC useless on HoF.

I almost win the Twins by my "tactical" solo HoF druid yesterday night. And I hoped to rest from IWD2 for some time and to begin my first LoB+SCS+Ascension try this week already.) You are so sadistic.

semiticgoddess

@Firecrow: I think I've found out the source of the bugs. When I install Ease of Use on top of semiOverhaul, the shapeshifting spells from the latter don't show up properly. But when I install semiOverhaul on top of Ease of Use, the semiOverhaul spells work normally.

semiOverhaul is designed to be installed on top of the other mods, largely because it shares some aspects of mods like Ease of Use and Tactics (in fact, all of the revised druid spells from EoU are included in semiOverhaul by default). Apparently, when it's placed earlier in the install, it causes problems.

I don't know how to rig it otherwise (semiOverhaul overwrites a lot of files), so semiOverhaul needs to be installed after other mods. I think that's the solution. semiOverhaul was built on top of those mods, so it works best when it's installed last.

Firecrow

semiticgod said:

semiOverhaul is designed to be installed on top of the other mods, largely because it shares some aspects of mods like Ease of Use and Tactics (in fact, all of the revised druid spells from EoU are included in semiOverhaul by default). Apparently, when it's placed earlier in the install, it causes problems.

@semiticgod, I put sOh exactly on top of other mods in my first attemt, so my problems because of something else. I found a clean version, now I'll try to install only sOh, if it will be without problems, I'll try again to assemble carefully with different mods before sOh.

semiticgod said:

in fact, all of the revised druid spells from EoU are included in semiOverhaul by default

This is very good for me. What about new shapeshifting? SemiOverhaul itself has only new Will o' Wisp, Treant and Creeping Doom forms, or all forms from alternative EofU shapeshifting included?

semiticgoddess

@Firecrow: Here are all the new shapeshifts:

Level 5: Werebadger
Level 7: Viper
Level 9: Hook Horror
Level 11: Rhinoceros Beetle
Level 13: Shambling Mound
Level 15: White Half-Dragon
Level 17: Red Half-Dragon
Level 19: Blue Half-Dragon
Level 21: Black Dragon

Feat: Will o' Wisp
Feat: Treant
Feat: Creeping Doom

Basically, I wanted to keep the shapeshifts that looked cool (half-dragons) and made thematic sense (will o' wisps) while replacing the shapeshifts that looked homely (verbeeg), didn't make much sense for a druid (fomorian giant), or were simply overpowered (the elemental half-dragon form). I also wanted each form to have a different special ability, so the upgrades would feel qualitatively different instead of just being bigger, better versions of the previous shapeshifts.

Firecrow

@semiticgod, really cool.O_o What about this classic druid forms? Levels of gaining do not match with your new forms. Do this old forms remains in old places, mixing with new forms, or all old forms must disappears?

semiticgoddess

@Firecrow: No vanilla forms remain, partly because I wanted to stick to 12 different shapeshifting spells (the same number the vanilla game and the Ease of Use mod had) and partly because the vanilla icons don't match the mod-introduced ones. The Ease of Use mod made icons out of screenshots of the critter standing in the tunnels under Targos; the vanilla game used painted icons. They looked discordant when placed together, so I decided to go with standardized icons and unique shapeshifts. I never found the original forms that interesting, anyway; they don't have many special abilities beyond having better stats than previous forms.

By the way, I found out what was causing that missing shapeshifting abilities bug. I'll post the updated mod with the fix later tonight.

semiticgoddess

Updated to v1.2! All shapeshifting spells should show up properly. I also added some level 9 cleric spells, Lutzaen's Frequent Jaunt and Translocation trick (now a level 3 spell), and some more revisions to spells and items. I also reversed some of the nerfing on sorcerers, making them learn spells a little more quickly. I've also patched many tables to be compatible with the level 40 mod.

Firecrow

@semiticgod, I figured out with my spells info bugs. It was my fault. I watched your modifications from my old saves. For beginning of new game no this problems.

Druidic Sunbeam doubling disappeared too.

But i think that Sunbeam transfer on six level not good, becouse now two blinding/antiundead spells here. And Sunbeam much more better than Sol's Searing Orb. S'sSO becomes almost unuseful. It will be have only very limited application against drow and duergars in Tactics, where they have saving throw against Sunscoarch. Without Tactics drow and duergars can be more easily blinded by Sunscoarch, or Wall of Fire with undocumented drow&duergar blinding effect.

I am still lacking most of new druidic forms.

Also, did't you modificate Symbol of Fear somehow? In unmodded game it was unuseful becouse same DC with Symbol of Hopelessness.

semiticgod said:

Updated to v1.2! All shapeshifting spells should show up properly. I also added some level 9 cleric spells, Lutzaen's Frequent Jaunt and Translocation trick (now a level 3 spell), and some more revisions to spells and items. I also reversed some of the nerfing on sorcerers, making them learn spells a little more quickly. I've also patched many tables to be compatible with the level 40 mod.

I will try patch 1.2 tomorrow.

semiticgoddess

@Firecrow: I thought Sunbeam was level 7. Maybe I'll bump either Sunbeam down to level 5, or give it some new effects. Sunbeam is already redundant at level 7 because of Fire storm, and making Sol's Searing Orb a level 5 spell seems redundant since Static Charge and Smashing Wave are already better. Sunbeam has always seemed weak to me.

I changed all of the Symbol spells:

Symbol of Death: Fortitude save or die (Hit Dice don't matter)

Symbol of Hopelessness: Will save or be stunned for 5 rounds (targets remain stunned when damaged)

Symbol of Stunning: Will save or be stunned for 1 round per level (targets un-stun when damaged)

Symbol of Fear: Will save or fear for 10 rounds

By the way, the doubling of spells only shows up when you level up a character who gained, say, a level 5 Fireball spell in one install, then updated to an install with a level 6 Fireball, then level up that character, giving them a level 5 and a level 6 Fireball.

Firecrow

semiticgod said:

I thought Sunbeam was level 7. Maybe I'll bump either Sunbeam down to level 5, or give it some new effects. Sunbeam is already redundant at level 7 because of Fire storm, and making Sol's Searing Orb a level 5 spell seems redundant since Static Charge and Smashing Wave are already better. Sunbeam has always seemed weak to me.

Sunbeam one of the best spells in game for me.) This is debaff, control and strongest (antiundead) pure damage strike. Very complex, very useful. I use it in my druid run even more often then Firestorm. Using some summon as decoy, collecting mobs on it and highlighting whole pack with Sunbeam, i immobilize it for about one minute. It works better than Symbol of Hopelessness becouse spell focuses in Evocation. After that i has many time for several Firestorm casts. Or just for missile damage, becouse blinded mobs has big penalty for AC against missile attacks even in Tactics. Also blinded mobs (without blind fight feat) often missed. Tank with "Selune Mountains" or just Shambler can stay in Sunbeam spot among striking mobs much longer than without Sunbeam. And Sunbeam has up to 80d6 total damage against most undeads and mushrooms, much more better than Firestorm. I quite easeally destroyed Six by my solo druid on HoF Tactics largely thanks to Sunbeam. Some tanking with Shamblers in cemetery gate, few Webs and Entangles, few Insect Plague for Mirror Image churning, all seven level casts in Sunbeam and only Cairn and Kree survived. Actually i thought that you moved Sunbeam to six level becouse you want a nerf it a little (-1 DC).

Firecrow

semiticgod said:

Symbol of Stunning: Will save or be stunned for 1 round per level (targets un-stun when damaged)

Don't this makes SoS weaker than Greater Command? Which has momentary cast and +4 to DC becouse greater spell focus?

semiticgoddess

@Firecrow: Not exactly. For one thing, Symbol of Stunning is a level 8 spell while Greater Command is level 5, and spell level is added to save DCs. So even with Spell Focus, Greater Command only has a DC of 1 better than Symbol of Stunning.

Greater Command also has no effect on undead, whereas Symbol of Stunning should work on pretty much everything. Immunity to stun is extremely rare in IWD2; not even undead are immune to it by default. Only bosses enjoy immunity to stun.

Or at least, that's what I've seen historically. Right now, I'm looking at Near Infinity and the basic undead immunity item, 00CIDEAD.itm, appears to grant stun immunity even though I've seen plenty of undead getting stunned by Symbol of Hopelessness in the Tactics mod. I wonder if Tactics has warped my understanding of the unmodded game?

You know, I've been meaning to remove some boss immunities that I've long felt were unfair and unrealistic. Maybe I'll go ahead and tweak some immunity items to remove a few of the blanket immunities that don't make sense.

Anyway, the basic problem is that Symbol of Stunning and Symbol of Hopelessness have long been near-duplicates of each other. The only difference in the vanilla game is that the former can only affect 250 HP of critters, while the latter has a 25% chance of inflicting fear instead of a stun effect. And since Symbol of Hopelessness lets you deal a LOT more than 250 damage before its 10-round duration wears off, it's utterly superior to Symbol of Stunning in the vanilla game.

Maybe I'll just make one of them use a completely different opcode. The pause opcode locks critters in place and keeps them from taking any action, but it doesn't give attackers automatic hits, unlike other hold-like effect.

I'll give some more thought to Sunbeam and the importance of the blindness effect.

Firecrow

semiticgod said:

Not exactly. For one thing, Symbol of Stunning is a level 8 spell while Greater Command is level 5, and spell level is added to save DCs. So even with Spell Focus, Greater Command only has a DC of 1 better than Symbol of Stunning.

Greater Command also has no effect on undead, whereas Symbol of Stunning should work on pretty much everything. Immunity to stun is extremely rare in IWD2; not even undead are immune to it by default. Only bosses enjoy immunity to stun.

There are several different "stun" in IWD2. You can stun wights in Kuldahar Pass by Symbol of Hopelessness (a "stunned" message appears in the tray). Also wights can be affected by "knock unconscious" effect of Tremor. But you can't stun wights with Stuning Star of Speed, Club of Dazing, etc. Wights immune even for stun from Holy Word. Also alternate SoH panic effect don't affect wights too. Slayers-knight of Xvim has such type of immunites too, in vanilla they can't be stunned by Holy Word and stunning weapons, but can be stunned by SoH and knocked by Tremor. In Tactics Xvimian Knights has't any stunning immunity, but have blindness immunity and immunity to almost all (SoH not included) mind affecting spells, including Mass Dominate. Maybe your new SoS can be able to affect Slayer-Knights in Tactics and has some aplication becouse this. Also SoH can't affect Shambler and its slimes in River Cave, but Tremor can. I don't know nothing about how vanilla SoS can affect all this mobs. I play nonHoF only once and it was very long ago. On HoF SoS almost useless becouse great HP of all enemies. So I did't use SoS for many years. My notes about mobs stun immunities actual only for HoF too, I don't rememeber nothing about immunities of mobs in normal game mode.

semiticgod said:

Maybe I'll just make one of them use a completely different opcode. The pause opcode locks critters in place and keeps them from taking any action, but it doesn't give attackers automatic hits, unlike other hold-like effect.

Something like this written in the manual, but i can't remember mobs, which can avoid any strikes, being stunned, holded or unconscious. To my mind, even Greater Snow Trolls, which has some kind of lack stun "animation" takes all hits. But one kind of stun gives to affected mobs some kind of critical hit immunity. Stun from stunning weapons maybe? I don't sure right now, need to cheak it first.

semiticgod said:

You know, I've been meaning to remove some boss immunities that I've long felt were unfair and unrealistic. Maybe I'll go ahead and tweak some immunity items to remove a few of the blanket immunities that don't make sense.

If you will do this, make it by a separate component please. It can be severaly "unfair", but fighting Xvim Avatar and Twins in HoF Tactics was one of the most difficult challenges in my PC gaming life. Becouse their immunities too. I think that it is very good, lack of easy way of defeating them, with something like Harm and thAC0 buffs in Contagency/STrigger and triple Pierce Shield in Chain Contagency, or Energy Blades with overlapping Called Shots for lethal ability drain, with doubling this attack from Simulacrum. End bosses must be defeated by iron nerves and microcontrol ability. Proper tactics and clever fighting techniques must be critical, but even with them battle should not become simple.

semiticgoddess

@Firecrow: There's only one stun opcode in IWD2, opcode 45. Symbol of Hopelessness ostensibly uses a unique "hopelessness" opcode, opcode 400, but in my last install with Tactics and LoS and Ease of Use, it actually used a stun opcode (both stun and hopelessness have the same effect, though immunity to one doesn't mean immunity to the other).

The reason it doesn't affect everyone is not just because undead (say) have immunity to it because of an undroppable item, but also because a lot of spells and items use Display Spell Immunity String, opcode 290, right at the start of the spell that specifies which critters are immune. So, Charm Person has an opcode 290 effect that grants all non-humanoid critters immunity to the spell. Remove that, and it'll work on monsters like Dominate Person does. Remove the item-based immunity from undead, and Charm Person would then work on undead.

Tremor imposes unconsciousness, which is a separate opcode from sleep (unlike in BG, where they were the same opcode). To my knowledge, nothing beyond bosses is immune to unconsciousness; only to sleep.

Likewise, there's a separate opcode for Hold Undead, Control Undead, and Panic Undead.

Trolls are immune to stun because it interferes with their falling animation, yes. I didn't see a proper notification in the dialogue box last I remember, but they're flat-out immune to the opcode.

Stun grants immunity to critical hits as long as it lasts. So does paralysis and any effect that grants automatic hits. This is because attackers don't make attack rolls, and you can't roll a critical hit if there's no attack roll.

I never liked blanket immunities because they didn't just make the game harder; they made it simpler. If a boss is immune to absolutely everything except for physical attacks, as vanilla Isair and Madae are, the entire fight is reduced to doing one thing: whomping them with weapons. It's a very simplistic and lazy way of increasing the difficulty, because immunities just veto a huge set of the player's options.

Imagine playing a game where you can use every weapon from a kukri to a claymore, and you could win almost any fight with any weapon, if you knew how. And then the final boss comes, and surprise, the only thing that can hit him is a longsword. It's definitely harder, but it's harder in a way that makes the game less interesting, instead of more.

I would replace the immunities with save bonuses or something. Maybe they'd have a certain percent chance of being immune to A, B, and C, but not X, Y, and Z. A boss should be hard to knock out with a disabler, but if you've got a level 30 sorcerer with Greater Spell Focus: Evocation, Greater Spell Penetration, and 34 Charisma, your Great Shout spell with its save DC of 34 should at least have a chance of doing something to it beyond dealing a tiny amount of damage that a level 10 warrior with 10 Strength can do in one hit. And if that sorcerer can't do it, maybe the level 30 druid with Greater Spell Focus: Evocation, Greater Spell Penetration, and 34 Wisdom could make the boss lose his balance for just a few seconds with an earthshaking Tremor spell.

I had the same problem with Belhifet in IWD; he was immune to EVERYTHING except for +3 melee weapons (the original game had no +3 missile weapons at all). What's the point of having mages for 90% of the game if the last 10% can only be won by fighters?

Firecrow

@semiticgod, I looks at the immunities of mobs from outside, you looks at it from inside.) Thanks for some elucidation about implementation of immuties, very interesting for me.

semiticgod said:

I never liked blanket immunities because they didn't just make the game harder; they made it simpler. If a boss is immune to absolutely everything except for physical attacks, as vanilla Isair and Madae are, the entire fight is reduced to doing one thing: whomping them with weapons. It's a very simplistic and lazy way of increasing the difficulty, because immunities just veto a huge set of the player's options.

But Isair and Madae don't immune to everything in vanilla game. Even on HoF. They can't be stunned or SoHed, but they can be blinded (especially Sunbeam good for this, becouse it ignore spell resistance and has four attempts from one cast). Also they can be knocked by Tremor after lowering their spell resistance and expire of Madae (Un)Holy Aura. They can be easely entangled in second fight by Holdfast Arrows after expire of Isair's Aegis and Madae's Divine Shell. And at last Wizards and Sorcerers can just focus on spell damage. Horrid Wilting, Flaying can greatly injure Twins despite of all their protections. Also Twins can't be desintegrated or killed by Black Blade, but Harm theoretically can hit them (at least they do a saving throw against such try). Iyachtu Xvim ridiculously weak in vanilla game. He can be easily SoHed, desintegrated, blinded by PW:B, a bundle of water elementals can easy zahuyarit' him to "near death" (becouse he is very reluctant to cast PfE). But he is a god, he must be extremely tought.

semiticgod said:

Imagine playing a game where you can use every weapon from a kukri to a claymore, and you could win almost any fight with any weapon, if you knew how. And then the final boss comes, and surprise, the only thing that can hit him is a longsword. It's definitely harder, but it's harder in a way that makes the game less interesting, instead of more.

This is more relevant for Tactics, not for vanilla game. Twins and Xvim receive some extra immunites and saving throw bonuses. Very difficult to do something with them by direct spellcasting now. But at least your spells can helps greatly against their comrades and minions. Regarding the Twins (and Xvim) themselves - there can be a different attitude to the immunities problem here. For me this is like duel. I can have almost all of their immunities from spells and items too, my healing, saving throws and AC even more greatly then their. Finally, no more tricks and cheating, only true strength and honor of the warrior. In other words, I can use many different types of weapons, but for face to face single combat I will choose a longsword, my favorite weapon.

semiticgod said:

And if that sorcerer can't do it, maybe the level 30 druid with Greater Spell Focus: Evocation, Greater Spell Penetration, and 34 Wisdom could make the boss lose his balance for just a few seconds with an earthshaking Tremor spell.

Actually it work even in Tactics. I can not blind Twins with my Sunbeam more, but they (and their courtiers) can be knocked by Tremor as a vanilla game. I did't test many of arcane spells in Tactics, becouse play only as a druid yet, but i think that Twins have some vulnerability for arcane casters too.

Firecrow said:

Proper tactics and clever fighting techniques must be critical, but even with them battle should not become simple.

semiticgod said:

I never liked blanket immunities because they didn't just make the game harder; they made it simpler.

My clumsy English did little misunderstanding here.) I mean "easy" of course, not "simple".
But "simple" relative and subjective notion too. You has reduction of spells selection for final battle of Tactics, and for you this is simplification. For me this is complication, becouse i must greatly improve my microcontrol skill, think more through item selection, do many weapons changes during final battle.

semiticgoddess

@Firecrow: For clarity's sake, my use of the word "simple" wasn't actually a reference to your use of the word.

I'm surprised to hear that the twins have vulnerabilities to Tremor even in Tactics. You know a great deal about this game that I don't! I remember, years ago, looking up the twins in DLTCEP and seeing that they had 50 Spell Resistance and immunity to Lower Resistance (!), which made them virtually immune to magic. Yet now that I look them up in Near Infinity in an unmodded game (aside from my own mod), there is no immunity to Lower Resistance, and they only have 28 SR! I've been working under a false assumption about the twins for years.

It hasn't mattered much, though. In my last couple no-reload runs of IWD2 (I dimly remember a HoF run after the normal mode run), I just hit one of the twins with a Protection from Magic scroll.

Firecrow

semiticgod said:

@Firecrow: I'm surprised to hear that the twins have vulnerabilities to Tremor even in Tactics. You know a great deal about this game that I don't!

Thanks. Really, I am very pleased to hear something like this from one of the most knowledgeable gamers and modders.)

Also i want to know about another bug (or feature?) from vanilla game. I can blind undeads by Sunscoarch and PW:B, but other blinding spells don't work. Did you changed something with this in semiOverhaul?

I install patch 1.2 and now can see all druidic forms. But something strange with slot numbers. Looks like every forms has separate charges, exept feats forms, which has common pool. This is becouse your vision of shapeshifting rebalance, or i have some bug?

I really liked this change. I was about to whine that rebalanced Flaying very weak for Level 8 Banite's Domain spells, but i see that you already thought about it.

semiticgoddess

Firecrow said:

semiticgod said:

@Firecrow: I'm surprised to hear that the twins have vulnerabilities to Tremor even in Tactics. You know a great deal about this game that I don't!

Thanks. Really, I am very pleased to hear something like this from one of the most knowledgeable gamers and modders.)

What a wonderful compliment! Thank you!

Firecrow said:

Also i want to know about another bug (or feature?) from vanilla game. I can blind undeads by Sunscoarch and PW:B, but other blinding spells don't work. Did you changed something with this in semiOverhaul?

Nope. And I have no idea why this might be. The undead immunity item grants no immunity to blindness or any spells that use the blindness opcode, and no blindness spells have the opcode that would make undead immune to them. My only explanation is that undead immunity to certain forms of blindness is hardcoded.

Firecrow said:

I install patch 1.2 and now can see all druidic forms. But something strange with slot numbers. Looks like every forms has separate charges, exept feats forms, which has common pool. This is becouse your vision of shapeshifting rebalance, or i have some bug?

Yup. Long story short, I modeled my shapeshifting component after the Ease of Use one, so it works the same way. In the vanilla game, both the regular Wild Shape abilities and the feat-based Wild Shape abilities are tied to a single count (which is either hardcoded or attached to some file I just don't know about). In Ease of Use and semiOverhaul, we don't use that count; we just give druids the custom shapeshifting spells individually, with extra uses per day using the CLAB.2da table.

However, the feat-based Wild Shape abilities cannot be tied to custom spells. We actually had to copy our custom spells and rename them to overwrite the vanilla Wild Shapes for those three feats. This means the feat-based Wild Shape abilities follow the vanilla game's count, while the regular Wild Shape abilities increment by level.

I suppose I could rename the custom spells to replace the other vanilla spells, but I actually prefer it this way. When all Wild Shapes use the same count, the player is just going to use the most powerful one every time. With the new system, the strongest shapeshifts are more limited, which gives the player a reason to use lesser shapeshifts for minor encounters.

Firecrow

@semiticgod, i has only very limited modding expirience, and your explanation is little difficult for me.) But i tried substitute shapeshifting resources just with help of Dale Keeper 2 and Notepad++, and could add some of EofU forms in main druid shapeshifting progression.)

semiticgod said:

When all Wild Shapes use the same count, the player is just going to use the most powerful one every time. With the new system, the strongest shapeshifts are more limited, which gives the player a reason to use lesser shapeshifts for minor encounters.

This has some sense. Actually, I used mainly only three standart druid forms. Dire Bear for melee damage, Dire Panther for swift moving and Air Elemental for AC based tanking (insight bonus from monk multiclassing with bonus from high dex of AE). Shambling Mound can be used for extinguish Will o' Wisps in Fellwood, but usually I feel pity to waste one feat on this.
By the way, about swift moving. You made very fast snake form. But IRL snakes creeps quite slowly. I think that wolf or maybe worg would look better in this role. Extra Shape feat must be rebalanced somehow, becouse now it works only for feats forms. How about to add casting time for shapeshifting? This is possible? With additional Tactics aura cleansing effect many changes of shape in one round can be OP. Also instant mass gathering for Black Dragon transformation looks little "unnatural".

Not a big problem ofc, just minor cosmetic quibbles.
Lack of unique attack icons here.

It would be nice to replace the icons here too. For something more appropriate for this forms.

Also I cheaked for old vanilla exploit. It works even with your new realisation of druidic shapechange table.

Nature weapons of druidic form can be dispelled by some traps or by using Potion of Magic Dispelling from inventory screen. After that druid can take normal weapons and use it with all benefits of form abilities. Dire Bear can deliver 150 hp critical strikes with Massive Halberd of Hate. Or Air Elemental can be real sniper. Actually I like this exploit and used it in my druid runs. But FTGJ it must be fixed if possible. Also cursed weapons has this kind of bug too. When druid use shapeshifting with cursed weapons in hands, attack icons changes for natural weapons. But he will be striking with cursed weapons actually. Druid armed with Soul Stealer axe in Air Elemental form can be a real badass.

ThacoBell

@Firecrow "IRL snakes creeps quite slowly." Actually it depends on the snake. Large cinstrictors like pythons or anacondas that rely on ambush and strength ARE quite slow. But smaller hunting snakes can be VERY fast. In fact, the Black Mamba can get up to around 12 miles an hour at top speed. Not to mention that many snake strikes are actually faster than the human eye can follow.

semiticgoddess

@Firecrow: The vanilla Pain Touch spell can also be used for that exploit, as can scrolls of Chill Touch, Shocking Grasp, Ghoul Touch, Vampiric Touch, Phantom Blade, Darts of Bone, Ball Lightning, Melf's Minute Meteors, Mordenkainen's Sword, and Black Blade of Disaster. These are limited resources except for Pain Touch, but Pain Touch is now replaced by Soothing Touch and will no longer work for that purpose. A party member's Dispel Magic should also be able to do it.

I think it makes sense to rig the items to be undispellable (Dispel Magic can remove them unintentionally), but I'm hesitant to close the exploit. I actually made that exploit into a party-wide strategy for an experimental no-reload run of BG2 a while back--that was the Party of Spiders run, which is the origin of my forum icon--and I don't like to remove exploits unless they are obvious, game-breaking, and/or threaten the enjoyment of the run. I didn't like it much when EE removed that exploit.

I think I will do it only partially, to make the exploit a little harder to perform but not impossible if somebody really wants to. That would involve rigging shapeshifting items to be undispellable and giving a Remove Curse effect to shapeshifting spells. Chill Touch, Vampiric Touch, and Pain Touch are no longer available for this exploit (the Vampiric Touch potion is now a potion of Minor Globe of Invulnerability), so the player would need to rely on some very finite and scarce options to perform the trick. It could only be done a certain number of times per run.

I'll fix some icons for the shapeshifting abilities. As for the Improved Alacrity with shapeshifting thing, I could make the casting time faster, but that would let it be interruptible, and adding a 1-second pause effect would be inconvenient for the player. I'll probably just make the weaker forms heal less HP, or maybe add an effect to shapeshifting abilities that give a -1 casting speed penalty for 6 seconds, so you could only heal 48 HP even with Improved Alacrity.

There's actually one exploit that this mod opens: if you kill a character under the effects of Lutzaen's Frequent Jaunt, wait out the duration, and then resurrect them, they'll gain the abilities permanently. I may or may not remove this, since the spell is only available to sorcerers and they'll basically always have many more "jaunts" than they would ever need. It would only be truly overpowered unless you had that Improved Alacrity thing from Tactics and used it to kite enemies, but a HoF sorcerer should already have plenty of means of running away from enemies. It's not that much more gamebreaking than a single teleporting spell.

semiticgoddess

Turns out I can't rig the items to be undispellable; that flag is exclusive to EE. The only way to truly eliminate the exploit is to:

1. Make shapeshifting cast Remove Curse (arguably unrealistic)
2. Make shapeshifted critters immune to spells like Shocking Grasp
3. Either
-a. Make shapeshifted critters immune to Dispel Magic (overpowered and unrealistic)
or
-b. Make Dispel Magic force shapeshifted characters to completely return to natural form (inconvenient and arguably unrealistic).

I think I will just leave it alone. Removing the exploit would be more realistic, but it would be almost as messy and slightly more user-unfriendly than letting the exploit stay.