From Left to right: Assassin (Human) - Level 9 Fighter, sitting on 13 levels of inactive Shadowdancer. Glass cannon melee DPS and ranged support Soon to be the backstabbing one-crit-wonder. GM in Longswords. Support (Half-Elf) - 9/11/9 F/M/C, Support, Pre-buff spammer, combat buff/debuff thrower, summoner, and slinger. Chimera (elf) - Level 13 Shapeshifter, Secondary Tank, Spike Growth Spammer, Ranged Bombardment, crowd control and summoning. Shifter (human) - Level 13 Shapeshifter, Primary Tank, soon to be DPS Crit-monster after dualing to fighter. Assassin Mage (human) - Level 12 Wizard Slayer. Ranged Support and last-ditch melee. Next to be Arcane Bombardment and eventually a rare Magic Immune Mage and BBoD savage Bounty (halfling) - Level 15 Bountyhunter. One-trick-pony trapper and can just about use a crossbow. Eventually to be the Party Maze Master
The Giant Fiendish Snakes in the last area of Dragon's Eye appear whenever a yuan-ti priest casts Call the Snakes. They vanish after 5 rounds, but will reappear when Call the Snakes is cast again.
Money feels too short in the mid-game. I can understand reducing the sale price of the loot since it was very high in the unmodded game - but this feels like it has gone too far in reaction to that. With a 6 person party at level 3 of Dragons Eye I only had 10,000GP. Considering the Bag of Holding is 9,000 at 20Cha (and remained un-purchased) and things sell for pitiful amounts this feels overly punishing, and this is with a party which is very gear independent, It would be un-enjoyable to play through with a party that needs lots of gear to be effective and I think this just limits potential viable party compositions or demands that you grind up loot. Couple this firstly, with the need to hang onto lots of specific items for later, which you might normally sell and secondly with a couple of merchants which, if you progress too far in the plot they disapear, it feels like an over-enthusiastic reduction. Loot sale values should be around 30% higher imo. The solution I found was just to grind out a pile of gold through resting ambushes, which I doubt was the intention since this will just over-level you.
[/spoiler]
That really depends on how many valuable magic items you sell and how many you buy. I don't ever remember needing to grind for gold in Chapters 1 or 2 with this mod installed, but I also usually sold a lot of magic items and didn't buy that many early on.
Yxunomei starts with Spell Shield, which protects against Dispel Magic and Remove Magic in this mod. It lasts 8 rounds or until removed by a spell like Spell Thrust or Secret Word. Spell Shield can be identified by the dark blue globe around the character.
@alice_ashpool
The Giant Fiendish Snakes in the last area of Dragon's Eye appear whenever a yuan-ti priest casts Call the Snakes. They vanish after 5 rounds, but will reappear when Call the Snakes is cast again.
That makes sense, I thought there might be something like that happening. The combat log goes by so fast sometimes its a struggle to work out whats happening Knowing this would probably change how I played it since it benefits a really aggressive strategy - the Giant Feindish Snakes are the triple threat of high damage high hp and high ac. They feel like the most dangerous single thing in level 5 tbh. 5 rounds feels like an eternity sometimes.
That really depends on how many valuable magic items you sell and how many you buy. I don't ever remember needing to grind for gold in Chapters 1 or 2 with this mod installed, but I also usually sold a lot of magic items and didn't buy that many early on.
I can't bear to get rid of things which "might" be useful down the road so am always loathed to sell things and always keen to buy things. I needed about 10k GP extra which I got from selling some things and the non-depreciating Yeti pelts. It has deffo felt tight on the gold front after I bought all the bag+quiver+case of plenty.
Yxunomei starts with Spell Shield, which protects against Dispel Magic and Remove Magic in this mod. It lasts 8 rounds or until removed by a spell like Spell Thrust or Secret Word. Spell Shield can be identified by the dark blue globe around the character.
Interesting. I haven't used any removal stuff, my go to SCS strategy is Remove Magic or to wait things out... heh. But part of this comes from misreading the Spellshield description as only protecting against 1 remove magic, rather than for all cast during the 8 round duration. It would have been really satisfying to dispel her.
Severed Hand Lower levels
The lower floors are not my favorite parts anyway, and the changes made to them in this mode I feel are some of the weakest. The main issue is that at least in unmodded the fights on these initial floors are a series of semi-interesting set-piece battles: Ambushes of various sorts as you explore. Now the whole thing blends into one in an amorphous blob of a ghost horde and then suddenly everything on the floor is dead. This persists onto floor 2 and 3, except it's worse. The exception is the Bladed Skeleton "Challenge Room" which felt good. Also the usual issue of too many skeletons with Smite.
Severed hand Upper Levels
What I feel the the lower levels gets wrong the upper levels gets right - each of the four towers has a theme from vanilla, but here they are dialed up to 11 with some very challenging fights which never feel unfair and are clearly differentiated from each other.
Solonor Tower (Clerics): I did this one first, a nice theme and nice abilities and clearly lots of work has gone into boosting enemies and putting in good pre-buffing scripts. Overall it was very easy as the first thing every cleric does after auto-casting all their buffs is to dispel all their buffs - but really single class clerics are weak in general. Only standout thing was our first Deva in the main fight on 2nd floor.
Sheverash Tower (Fighters + Archers): Only the first floor was particularly challenging, mostly because the thac0 and HP of the elven swordsmen has been bumped up so high. The archers on the second level were no issue, mostly because they half-killed themselves with their own Spike Growth and Entropy Shield turns them into substandard melee combatants. The main challenge was the race to actually get them before they killed each other. The highlight of this tower is the Ancient Wyvern battle on the top. This feels well done. Unlike a lot of other modified enemies it does not spam a knock-back effect ever 2 seconds, but it does use it. Difficult to hit due to very low AC but vulnerable to magic, and natural 20s.
Correllon Tower (officers): Definitely the hardest of the three initial towers. The large fights backed up by a Mage are made very tricky by the high thac0, attacks, damage and HP of the enemies. They will rip through your team in moments if you let them. Fighting in the doorways ended up with getting AoE bombed by the back row wizard - sphere of chaos is deadly in enclosed spaces; on the other hand going into the room resulted in being overwhelmed in melee. Bountyhunter had upgraded to Resilient Sphere Traps by this point and I think their save penalty has been improved by the mod because he is very effective at taking a handful of enemies out of the battle for 7 rounds which can be invaluable. The sphere can also be dismissed with a simple Remove Magic cast. The Lesser Mithral Golems are a nice dangerous addition to this tower (and the Wizard one), especially the one on the main fight on floor 2. I died a fair few times in this tower.
Labelas Tower (Wizards): The final tower, and what a tower. The bridge battle was suitable "epic" - the Elven Offers being the single most deadly enemy in the tower and here there are three guarding a squad of Enchanters+Wizard. I like the mix-up of the Enchanters and the Wizards each one with different tactics and spellbooks. In the end the WIzardslayers 5 arrows per round and a whole host of AoE damage over time spells cleared the bridge, but not without a lot of anxiety.
Inside the tower it is very claustrophobic with multiple wizards and enchanters - I think I was on the end of back to back triple timestops at one point. The encounter is made much harder by the High HP Lesser Mithral Golem which is in the Anti-chamber and engages you as soon as you enter (as well as another that comes up later), along with all the doors springing open. Super challenging but the Wizard slayer proved her worth again, as did multiple casts of remove magic. The only issue with this is that a lot of the Wizards have Contingencies, but they are set to fire on too low an HP perhaps since they only ever fire after death.
Overall great for the Upper section, so so for the Lower.
A few screenshots, forgot to take many:
A dead Ancient Wyvern:
One of a handful of failed attempts at the Correllon Tower floor 1, with Otiluke's Sphere traps in use.
Bridge battle:
Claustophobic Wizard Fight in Labelas, shortly before TPW:
Bugs Noticed:
Exaltation removes the confused state as per description but does not remove the confused graphic or portrait icon.
Staff of Fast-casting +3 only says "not useable by: monk" but is not usable by many other classes inc. F/M/C
Bountyhunter had upgraded to Resilient Sphere Traps by this point and I think their save penalty has been improved by the mod because he is very effective at taking a handful of enemies out of the battle for 7 rounds which can be invaluable.
I didn't actually improve the save penalty of those traps (though maybe I should). However, the shadowed elves actually have poor saving throws. The spell Whirlwind is quite effective against them, as it can stun them and bypasses Minor Globe of Invulnerability.
I'm all for tougher characters and monsters, but I have seen these sorts of overhauls before. And party mages usually suffer, with most enemies getting serious Magic Res. Is this one all-class friendly?
Don't worry, mages are still good in this mod. Certain enemies are resistant to magic, but other enemies are resistant to physical attacks and/or weak to magic. There should be opportunities for all classes to shine.
I've also tried to avoid making enemies completely immune to magic. Golems and Belhifet have a decent amount of magic resistance but aren't completely immune to magic.
* More gold has been added as loot throughout Chapters 1 and 2.
* More scrolls are available in Chapters 1 and 2.
* Temples throughout the game can now cast Lesser Restoration and Greater Restoration on you. They also now sell Potions of Superior Healing.
* Various items have been added to the game. There are now several items early on that protect against knockback effects. Wylfdene now drops his greataxe when he dies.
* Trolls and Winter Wolves are more dangerous.
* Belhifet and Poquelin no longer cast Mass Flaying.
* In final Luremaster fight, the time between certain waves has been increased, but if you kill all the enemies in those waves, the next wave will come shortly after.
* Beltyn's Burning Blood and Ice Storm scrolls have the correct description.
* Giants in Chapters 4, 5, and 6 no longer critically hit on every attack, with the exception of Joril.
* The Shapeshifter Greater Werewolf form now regenerates 2 HP per second, but this regeneration increases based on level up to 8 HP per second for a level 50 character.
@OlvynChuru, just a small thing, but in the THIEFSKL.2DA added by the mod (ClassEnhancements folder), you have lines added for unkitted Ranger and Archer/feralan, giving them 10 skill points per level. I'm assuming this is unintended because:
1. There's nothing in the descriptions about getting skill points
2. Ranger Hide/Move skills are set to specific values at each level, so spent points are lost every time you level up
3. The issue Sorzo mentions in page 10 of this thread: If you end up with 250 points in both skills, and you have points remaining, you're stuck on the screen and need to alt+tab out.
I downloaded the latest version a week ago and started a new run (HoF, double damage and XP) with a solo FMC. Just beat the base game and will tackle the expansions over the weekend, with the ultimate goal of finally taking down the Luremaster after being thwarted last time.
As I had hoped, the experience is significantly easier than with a full party, though it should be noted that I don't hesitate to exploit cheese at every opportunity. For the first part of the game, I was able to exploit invisibility to get in, kill a few enemies, retreat, then rest before repeating rather than fighting entire encounters in one go. Past a certain point, the combination of being overleveled and playing such an insanely versatile class made most encounters fairly simple, and the ones that weren't were still far more manageable than before. Whereas before I spammed Sword of Days on a Cavalier, my new favorite tactic is to keep a steady stream of Greater Shields of Lathander going to stay invulnerable while grouping up a bunch of tough enemies and obliterating them with multiple casts of Meteor Swarm.
Yxunomei and Belhifet were still a bit tricky and suitably the hardest single obstacles once again, but I was able to deal with both in under an hour each this time around.
For the most part, things were smooth sailing until the final battle. Icasaracht went down on my first try, though the Soul Gem half is still a bit hectic and tense, between the wyverns, incoming damage if you aren't shielded at all times, and massive army of endless undead while the wyverns are up.
The Iron Colossus proved to be a turning point. The potion it drops, when combined with Armor of Faith, Kresselack's Armor, and two Defender weapons, allowed for long-term sustainable immunity to physical damage. With various other immunity spells added to that, I was essentially invulnerable unless dispelled or hit with Imprisonment or a Lower Resistance effect. Without that, there's probably no way I would have pulled the last fight off.
Even so...the Luremaster battle still took several painstaking hours of trial and error, and it would have likely taken several days if I hadn't by some miracle gotten a quicksave off in a corner in the midst of a particularly well-executed attempt. The Shapeshifter, Beholder, and Dragon were the three main obstacles I had to learn to deal with, since they would dispel my defenses if given the slightest opportunity, with honorable mention to the Necromancer (who got a dispel off once, I think, but otherwise died very easily most of the time) and Axe Knight, whose Imprisonment on hit insta-killed me several times until I figured out what was going on by reading the weapon description in my inventory. Everyone else literally wasn't a threat while my defenses were up, and most of the time they just stood there, though I had to be careful when switching weapons because of them.
The Shapeshifter was a quick mage duel that I got the timing of down soon enough, with him usually managing to remove my Shield of the Archons as he appeared before I could handle him via Time Stops. The Beholder was much, much worse, and it was only through the quicksave shortly before it appeared that I managed a workable strategy. There's a split-second delay between when he casts his spell protections and Infinite Eyes, which is his only initial defense against physical attacks. Time Stopping with enough cast duration reduction gear immediately after he spawned left him helpless to being burned down physically.
The dragon caused a couple reloads until I learned to remember to buff against Fear, though in the end it went down smoothly once I noticed that Absolute Immunity, its main initial physical defense, doesn't protect against +6 weapons. Whacking him as he spawned under consecutive Time Stops did the trick.
The Jackal ended up being the last one standing, and his immunities were honestly a bit annoying, since I couldn't wield the knife meant to be used against him and he could regen through most of the damage spells I had to work with. In the end, the install setting to aura cleanse low-level spells was his undoing, and he went down to about 15 volleys of the humble Magic Missile.
Thank you again for all your hard work on this fantastic mod. I'm not sure whether I'll revisit it again, but it was very satisfying to come back and finally eke out that win.
Hello everyone.
I've played through this game once already, but I decided to play again with a different party.
I'm at the undead level of Dragon's Eye at the moment, and the game has so far been fairly smooth sailing. I absolutely love its difficulty and it has been really pushing my knowledge of this game's rules to their limits. I have played this game on and off across the years and have beaten it at least 20 times, no exaggerations, and still I manage to find a fresh new challenge every time.
My party is thus, and they are arranged in order of the screenshot.
Leon - Sorcerer. Magic artillery. He's wearing the fire robe so his fireballs have their damage boosted. Very powerful. Can't wait til he gets high enough to start chaincasting his spells. Will switch to Enfusing robe once that happens. He has some nice roots too, with stinking cloud and web working quite well together.
Kiara - She's a classic sword-and-board Cavalier. -19 AC unbuffed so far, and she's the bastion of the party. Is wielding Erevain's longsword right now. Her LoH is incredible for self healing and healing her friends in a pinch.
Sophie - She's a one-trick-pony, a heavy hitting Fighter wielding a two handed sword, but that's all she needs to be. She deals incredible damage and crits often.
Lucian - Shapeshifter druid. I've never actually played a Shapeshifter in this game, and am genuinely surprised at how powerful they are. He deals great damage, can serve as a decent off-tank, and his self-healing is great. Getting to level 13 is such a chore, but I am excited to see how the Greater form is different than what he is now. He's a cool werewolf with a lot of benefits. Spike stones, entangle, etc are super useful during a lot of these fights, since they like to overwhelm with sheer numbers.
Cody - Priest of Helm. If I started again, I would've probably made him a C/M, which is what he was during my first playthrough. He gains spell levels quickly, but aside from the mass heal, I think I could've had a better situation with another arcane caster. He's still pretty good though. I just got the ring that doubles his buff duration, so that's pretty nice for him being a pure character. He hits pretty hard with flamestrike though, and his glyph of warding is nothing to sneeze at. His biggest issue is aiming. His spells take so long to cast, that if I don't aim them correctly, he can fail to hit anything once his spells complete. Still, he's a great support character, and his mass heal will only get better once he levels up.
Trace - Archer. Another one-trick-pony, but a powerful even so. He's basically a machine gun. Enough said!
This was the fight that I found the hardest the first time, and the 'proving grounds' of sorts for parties. If I can get past Presio, I can beat the game. Resonably expected, it was incredibly frustrating.
Bottlenecking, again, was mandatory, since I loaded up the bridge with spike stones and webs. Cody cast a few Glyphs of Warding, while Lucian cast Produce Fire and Leon spammed Fireball. I had Cody wait behind everyone, so once Presio got off her Stinking Cloud, he could cast Zone of Sweet air immediately.
Being able to dispel all Presio's nonsense was key, since she's constantly unloading disabling spells upon you. The zombie Slows are a problem as well, so I made sure Leon, Cody, and Lucian all had several castings of Dispel Magic.
There is a great deal of luck that comes into play here, and whether the hordes of zombies and wights get rooted either make or break this fight. There is honestly no time to waste and every second counts.
As soon as the Blackguard came into view, I had Trace snipe him with missile fire, and the constant stream of fire damage was enough to kill most of the zombies. Sophie and Kiara were at the front of the party, and if an enemy broke through all of my rooting spells, they were ready to defeat them quickly. After the Blackguard, Presio's apprentice, and most of the undead horde was destroyed, I retreated back to the entrance, so I could save and defeat Presio and the rest of the army without having to do the main part of the work all again. Additionally, this helped me weather all of her spells; Suffocation, her Cloudkills, and even her Symbol were disarmed fairly harmlessly. After I saved, I returned to the floor and dispatched her easily after casting Remove Magic.
Kiara, who Presio had mocked for having a 'weak' faith, was, ironically, the one to finish her off. Tell her again how Good is weak, I dare you.
This is arguably the hardest/worst fight in the game, but it doesn't feel as cheap as the final fight (that insufferable Spells Forgotten mechanic is awful). Presio's fight is incredibly difficult with repeated disables (especially the Slow, which basically means you're dying to the zombies, no questions asked), enemies that are capable of killing you instantly, and requires quite a bit of luck.
Despite this, everyone survived, and life goes on. Yxunomei wasn't as hard as Presio, I remember, but I am still dreading her all the same.
JBeing able to dispel all Presio's nonsense was key, since she's constantly unloading disabling spells upon you. The zombie Slows are a problem as well, so I made sure Leon, Cody, and Lucian all had several castings of Dispel Magic.
Why not cast Free Action on your characters? That'll prevent the slow. Given you have a single-classed cleric with the ring that doubles the duration of their spells, they should be able to protect the party with Free Action for a while.
There is a great deal of luck that comes into play here, and whether the hordes of zombies and wights get rooted either make or break this fight. There is honestly no time to waste and every second counts.
Could you elaborate on what you think is particularly luck-based about this fight? Even if a couple of enemies get past the webs, you should still be able to shoot them down or finish them off in melee.
This is arguably the hardest/worst fight in the game, but it doesn't feel as cheap as the final fight (that insufferable Spells Forgotten mechanic is awful).
The simplest way to deal with the gelugons is to interrupt them when they're casting Stygian Ice Storm. Have the party attack them until their spell is disrupted.
So I started a run. Me being myself - as a megamod installation.
// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]
~EEEX\EEEX.TP2~ #0 #0 // EEex: 0.9.4
~HOUSETWEAKS\HOUSETWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #17 // House Tweaks: NPC Soundsets for Icewind Dale: 1.91
~UB_IWD\SETUP-UB_IWD.TP2~ #0 #300 // Marketh's Ring: v9
~EEEX\EEEX.TP2~ #0 #1 // Enable effect menu module - (LShift-on-hover to view spells affecting creature): 0.9.4
~SKINEATER\SKINEATER.TP2~ #0 #0 // Terror of the Skineater (IWD EE) -> Yes, but don't patch existing save games: v2.1
~OURLADY\OURLADY.TP2~ #0 #0 // Tale of Our Lady Dreamless (IWD EE) -> Yes, but don't patch existing save games: v2.4
~KULDAHAR\KULDAHAR.TP2~ #0 #0 // The Rediscovery of Kuldahar (IWDEE): v1.2
~BLINKINGDEAD\BLINKINGDEAD.TP2~ #0 #0 // Night of the Blinking Dead (IWD) -> Yes, but don't patch existing save games: 2.2
~INNBB\INNBB.TP2~ #0 #0 // Below & Below Inn (IWD EE) -> Yes, but don't patch existing save games: v2.1
~FINDIT-IWD\FINDIT-IWD.TP2~ #0 #0 // FindIt IWD:EE: v2.4
~D2-WEAPON\D2-WEAPON.TP2~ #0 #0 // D2-Weapon - A Souls-inspired Weapon Pack: 1.5
~FORGEIT-IWD\FORGEIT-IWD.TP2~ #0 #0 // Forgeable artifacts for IWD EE: v1.6
~FORGEIT-IWD\FORGEIT-IWD.TP2~ #0 #1 // Improved Icasaracht Armor for IWD EE: v1.6
~STRATAGEMS\SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3551 // Increase the power of Cure Wounds and Cause Wounds spells to the level found in 3rd Edition D&D -> Spells heal or inflict the maximum amount of damage in this range: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS\SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3580 // Restoration and Lesser Restoration spells heal ability-score damage: 34.3
~MIH_SP\SETUP-MIH_SP.TP2~ #0 #1 // Made in Heaven: Arcane Spellpack: v6
~MIH_SP\SETUP-MIH_SP.TP2~ #0 #2 // Made in Heaven: Divine Spellpack: v6
~S9HOUSERULES\SETUP-S9HOUSERULES.TP2~ #0 #30 // Pomab & Conlan sell Convenient Ammunition: 1.1
~S9HOUSERULES\SETUP-S9HOUSERULES.TP2~ #0 #32 // Emmerich sells +1 Convenient Ammunition: 1.1
~S9HOUSERULES\SETUP-S9HOUSERULES.TP2~ #0 #61 // Conlan sells Magic Clubs: 1.1
~S9HOUSERULES\SETUP-S9HOUSERULES.TP2~ #0 #36 // No Save for Fire Arrows: 1.1
~S9HOUSERULES\SETUP-S9HOUSERULES.TP2~ #0 #70 // Jiedra and Doluv Bonus Merchants: 1.1
~ARTISANSKITPACK\ARTISANSKITPACK.TP2~ #0 #0 // Artisan's Kitpack: Arcane Archer Fighter Kit: 2.1
~ARTISANSKITPACK\ARTISANSKITPACK.TP2~ #0 #1 // Artisan's Kitpack: Vanguard Fighter Kit: 2.1
~ARTISANSKITPACK\ARTISANSKITPACK.TP2~ #0 #5 // Artisan's Kitpack: Dark Hunter Ranger Kit: 2.1
~ARTISANSKITPACK\ARTISANSKITPACK.TP2~ #0 #6 // Artisan's Kitpack: Divine Champion Paladin Kit: 2.1
~ARTISANSKITPACK\ARTISANSKITPACK.TP2~ #0 #7 // Artisan's Kitpack: Mystic Fire Paladin Kit: 2.1
~ARTISANSKITPACK\ARTISANSKITPACK.TP2~ #0 #9 // Artisan's Kitpack: Elementalist Druid Kit: 2.1
~ARTISANSKITPACK\ARTISANSKITPACK.TP2~ #0 #10 // Artisan's Kitpack: Hivemaster Druid Kit: 2.1
~ARTISANSKITPACK\ARTISANSKITPACK.TP2~ #0 #11 // Artisan's Kitpack: Rogue Archer Thief Kit: 2.1
~ARTISANSKITPACK\ARTISANSKITPACK.TP2~ #0 #12 // Artisan's Kitpack: Magekiller Thief Kit: 2.1
~ARTISANSKITPACK\ARTISANSKITPACK.TP2~ #0 #13 // Artisan's Kitpack: Trickster Thief Kit: 2.1
~ARTISANSKITPACK\ARTISANSKITPACK.TP2~ #0 #18 // Artisan's Kitpack: Warhorn Shaman Kit: 2.1
~A7-CHAOSSORCERER\A7-CHAOSSORCERER.TP2~ #0 #0 // "Chaos Sorcerer" kit: 2.6
~A7-CHAOSSORCERER\A7-CHAOSSORCERER.TP2~ #0 #30 // Add "Primordial Artifacts": 2.6
~TOMEANDBLOOD\TOMEANDBLOOD.TP2~ #0 #1201 // Rebalanced Arcane Opposition Schools -> No Opposition Schools: 0.9.26
~A7#IMPROVEDARCHER\A7#IMPROVEDARCHER.TP2~ #0 #10 // Add fighter kit: Marksman: v4.0
~A7#IMPROVEDARCHER\A7#IMPROVEDARCHER.TP2~ #0 #20 // Add paladin kit: Bow Knight: v4.0
~A7#IMPROVEDARCHER\A7#IMPROVEDARCHER.TP2~ #0 #30 // Add thief kit: Sharpshooter: v4.0
~A7#IMPROVEDARCHER\A7#IMPROVEDARCHER.TP2~ #0 #100 // Add +4 arrows, bolts and powerful bows to the game: v4.0
~IHATEUNDEAD\IHATEUNDEAD.TP2~ #0 #0 // Undead Predator (Ranger Kit): 3.8.1
~IHATEUNDEAD\IHATEUNDEAD.TP2~ #0 #1 // Holy Redeemer (Cleric Kit): 3.8.1
~IHATEUNDEAD\IHATEUNDEAD.TP2~ #0 #2 // Deathslayer (Wizard Kit): 3.8.1
~IHATEUNDEAD\IHATEUNDEAD.TP2~ #0 #4 // Death Tricker (Thief Kit): 3.8.1
~IHATEUNDEAD\IHATEUNDEAD.TP2~ #0 #5 // Burial Defender (Fighter Kit): 3.8.1
~IHATEUNDEAD\IHATEUNDEAD.TP2~ #0 #6 // Grave Mourner (Bard Kit): 3.8.1
~IHATEUNDEAD\IHATEUNDEAD.TP2~ #0 #7 // Circle Enforcer (Druid Kit): 3.8.1
~IHATEUNDEAD\IHATEUNDEAD.TP2~ #0 #9 // Pallid Mask (Monk Kit): 3.8.1
~IHATEUNDEAD\IHATEUNDEAD.TP2~ #0 #10 // Dreadful Witch (Shaman Kit): 3.8.1
~IHATEUNDEAD\IHATEUNDEAD.TP2~ #0 #11 // Imprisoned Soul (Sorcerer Kit): 3.8.1
~SONG_AND_SILENCE\SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #0 // Changes to trueclass bards and thieves, and unmodded game kits (required for other components): v15
~SONG_AND_SILENCE\SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #2 // Install Acrobat bard kit: v15
~SONG_AND_SILENCE\SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #3 // Install Chorister bard kit: v15
~SONG_AND_SILENCE\SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #4 // Install Dirgesinger bard kit: v15
~SONG_AND_SILENCE\SETUP-SONG_AND_SILENCE.TP2~ #0 #5 // Install Luring Piper bard kit: v15
~BETTERHOF\BETTERHOF.TP2~ #0 #0 // Improved Heart of Fury Mode: 4.0.2
~BETTERHOF\BETTERHOF.TP2~ #0 #768 // Class and Kit Enhancements: 4.0.2
~ZGKITS\ZGKITS.TP2~ #0 #0 // Install Graion kits.: 0.01
~LEUI-IWDEE\LEUI-IWDEE.TP2~ #0 #0 // lefreut's Enhanced UI - Core component: 1.9.2
~THIEVING-SKILLS-FOR-BARDS\THIEVING-SKILLS-FOR-BARDS.TP2~ #0 #1 // Install Thieving Skills for Bards: v1.2
~THIEVING-SKILLS-FOR-BARDS\THIEVING-SKILLS-FOR-BARDS.TP2~ #0 #2 // Allow more items to be usable by Bards: v1.2
~ABEL_NONRANDOM_TREASURES\ABEL_NONRANDOM_TREASURES.TP2~ #0 #0 // Restore IWD Random Treasures: v1
~ABEL_NONRANDOM_TREASURES\ABEL_NONRANDOM_TREASURES.TP2~ #0 #1 // Bags of (Get All) Treasures: v1
~EET_TWEAKS\EET_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2042 // XP for Traps, Spells and Lockpicking -> Vanilla friendly progressive: 1.12
~EET_TWEAKS\EET_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #4020 // Higher framerates support: 1.12
~MIH_SP\SETUP-MIH_SP.TP2~ #0 #14 // Revised Spell Learning XP: v6
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #50 // Avatar Morphing Script: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #110 // Icon Improvements: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #182 // Unique Containers [Miloch] -> Unique icons and names: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #191 // Use Character Colors Instead of Item Colors -> For non-magical shields and helmets: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2010 // Separate Resist Fire/Cold Icon into Separate Icons [Angel]: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2040 // Universal Clubs: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2090 // Change Experience Point Cap -> Remove experience cap: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2151 // Wear Multiple Protection Items -> No restrictions: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2200 // Multi-Class Grandmastery [Weimer]: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2210 // Change Grandmastery Bonuses -> True grandmastery [Baldurdash]: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2240 // Un-Nerfed THAC0 Table: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2250 // Un-Nerfed Sorcerer Spell Progression Table: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2261 // Alter Mage Spell Progression Table -> PnP table: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2270 // Alter Bard Spell Progression Table -> Un-nerfed table [Blucher]: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2281 // Alter Cleric Spell Progression Table -> PnP table: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2294 // Alter Druid Spell and Level Progression Tables -> Use cleric level progression changes with pnp druid/cleric spell table: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2312 // Add Save Penalties for Spells Cast by High-Level Casters -> Arcane and divine magic: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2339 // Remove Summoning Cap for Regular Summons: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2371 // Alter Dual-Class Restrictions -> Allow non-humans to dual-class: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2358 // Alter Multi-Class Restrictions -> Install options one and three (everyone can multi-class anything they can single-class): v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2410 // Druids Use 3E Alignment Restrictions: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2420 // Loosen Equipment Restrictions for Cleric Multi- and Dual-Classes: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2430 // Change Equipment Restrictions for Druid Multi- and Dual-Classes -> Loosen equipment restrictions for druid multi- and dual-classes: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2440 // Everyone Gets Bonus APR from Specialization [subtledoctor]: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2520 // Allow Mages to Use Bucklers and Thieves to Use Small Shields [Angel]: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2999 // Max HP at Level One: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3000 // Higher HP on Level Up -> Maximum: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3008 // Allow HP Rolls Through Level 20 [Angel]: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3010 // Maximum HP Creatures [the bigg] -> For all creatures in game: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3031 // Easy Spell Learning -> 100% learn spells and no maximum cap: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3040 // Make Bags of Holding Bottomless: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3050 // Remove Fatigue from Restoration Spells: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3083 // Increase Ammo Stack Size -> Stacks of 120: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3093 // Increase Jewelry, Gem, and Miscellaneous Item Stacks -> Stacks of 120: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3103 // Increase Potion Stacking -> Stacks of 120: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3113 // Increase Scroll Stacking -> Stacks of 120: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3198 // Alter Hostile Rest Spawns -> Quadruple frequency: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3280 // Give Every Class/Kit Four Weapon Slots: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3290 // Personalize Automatic Save Names -> Use scheme: 000000000-Protagonist-Save-Name: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3320 // No Depreciation in Stores: v10
~ATWEAKS\SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #102 // Change Spiritual Hammer into a ranged force weapon: v4.53
~ATWEAKS\SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #185 // PnP Fey creatures: v4.53
~ATWEAKS\SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #186 // Revised Call Woodland Beings spell: v4.53
~METWEAKS\METWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #600 // Allow Shamans to move while dancing
~SCALES_OF_BALANCE\SCALES_OF_BALANCE.TP2~ #0 #100 // IWO - Yet Another Revised Armor System: v5.37
~SCALES_OF_BALANCE\SCALES_OF_BALANCE.TP2~ #0 #102 // IWO - Functional Weapon Tweaks: v5.37
~SCALES_OF_BALANCE\SCALES_OF_BALANCE.TP2~ #0 #124 // WPO - Fighting Style Changes: v5.37
~SCALES_OF_BALANCE\SCALES_OF_BALANCE.TP2~ #0 #200 // SBO - Stat Bonus Overhaul: v5.37
~SCALES_OF_BALANCE\SCALES_OF_BALANCE.TP2~ #0 #201 // SBO - Stat-based Bonus Spell Slots: v5.37
~SUBRACE\SUBRACE.TP2~ #1 #200 // Subrace mod for Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition (BG1, BG:SoD, BG2, EET) -> No change subrace colors (Hair and Skin): 0.2.2
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2161 // Alter Weapon Proficiency System -> BG-style weapon proficiencies, with weapon styles [the bigg]: v10
~CDTWEAKS\SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2060 // Weapon Styles for All: v10
~KLATU\SETUP-KLATU.TP2~ #0 #2080 // Drop Equipment on Disintegration: 1.7
~KLATU\SETUP-KLATU.TP2~ #0 #2090 // Drop Equipment on Petrification: 1.7
~KLATU\SETUP-KLATU.TP2~ #0 #2100 // Drop Equipment on Imprisonment: 1.7
~ZGTWEAKS\ZGTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #10 // Add random arcane spell scrolls to arcane casters of their highest memorized level: 1.0
~ZGTWEAKS\ZGTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #13 // Add random arcane spell scrolls to arcane casters up until their highest memorized level - 4: 1.0
~ZGTWEAKS\ZGTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #22 // Add random arcane spell scrolls to divine casters up until their highest memorized level: 1.0
~ZGTWEAKS\ZGTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #23 // Add random arcane spell scrolls to divine casters up until their highest memorized level - 4: 1.0
~EEUITWEAKS\EEUITWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1070 // Faydark's Abilities Auto-Roller/GrimLefourbe's BG2 UI: 3.7.1
~ZG_BG_VOICES\ZG_BG_VOICES.TP2~ #0 #0 // Baldur's Gate Voice Pack for EE 2.6+: 1.0.0
~ZG_BG2_VOICES\ZG_BG2_VOICES.TP2~ #0 #0 // Baldur's Gate II Voice Pack for EE 2.6+: 1.0.0
~ZG_IWD_VOICES\ZG_IWD_VOICES.TP2~ #0 #0 // Icewind Dale Voice Pack for EE 2.6+: 1.0.0
~ZG_IWD2_VOICES\ZG_IWD2_VOICES.TP2~ #0 #0 // Icewind Dale II Voice Pack for EE 2.6+: 1.0.3
~ZG_BGNPC_VOICES\ZG_BGNPC_VOICES.TP2~ #0 #0 // Baldur's Gate NPC Voice Pack for EE 2.6+: 0.2.0
~ZG_PST_VOICES\ZG_PST_VOICES.TP2~ #0 #0 // Planescape Torment Voice Pack for EE 2.6+: 1.1.2
~ZG_NWN_VOICES\ZG_NWN_VOICES.TP2~ #0 #0 // Neverwinter Nights Voice Pack for EE 2.6+: 0.1.1
~DUAL_TO_KIT\SETUP-DUAL_TO_KIT.TP2~ #0 #0 // DUAL_TO_KIT_MENU -> Enable Dualclassing into Kits: 0.34
~ENHANCED-POWERGAMING-SCRIPTS\ENHANCED-POWERGAMING-SCRIPTS.TP2~ #0 #15 // Install Enhanced Powergaming Scripts -> Accelerated Pre-Buffing Speed: v6.4
~ENHANCED-POWERGAMING-SCRIPTS\ENHANCED-POWERGAMING-SCRIPTS.TP2~ #0 #10 // Install Enhanced Scripts for Simulacrum: v6.4
Things I'd note:
- I don't know why, but anytime I installed this mod, I ended up with mages unable to learn spells UNLESS I installed LeUI after BetterHoF. I have tested base Ui and DragonspearUI++-IWD before BetterHOF, but I didn't checked if DragonspearUI++-IWD also works when installed after BetterHOF, I expect it does.
- SCS's healing spell buffs doesn't work, I dunno what's going on with the healspells there.
- Scales's SBO technically doesn't work with BetterHOF, because Scales kills the Dark Sun stat-rolling trick (that took me a while to find out) and one needs to manually rebuild abracead.2da. BetterHOF also breaks YARAS's ability of customizing thieving/spellcasting penalties with the additional eff files attached to the armors.
Just cleared the Vale of Shadows, with my current team. I'm interested how this turns out.
I've noticed a bug. When my Shapeshifter transformes into his Greater Werewolf form, he loses access to his spells. He is level 31. Maybe being over 30 triggers this?
Enjoying this mod so far. I never actually played IWD past the first dungeon. I've just reached Chapter 2. At first I was worried by the generally high level of power and magic in the items but you have a knack for making items interesting. I really appreciate how niche some of the items are, especially the bard items are super interesting. In terms of challenge, I'm playing on core difficulty. I wasn't sure which difficulty to pick so I just picked core without Heart of Fury activated. I read that summons aren't effective but I've actually been using them en masse to great effect, granted I do have the tweak component that removes the summoning cap. My party is pretty munchkin I think so that might be making things easier. My party also makes zero RP sense because of this.
bard. I read that having a mage isn't necessary in IWD so I used that excuse to make a bard. Tymora's song seems really useful and I actually think bards are deceptively powerful blasters because of how quickly they gain levels.
undead hunter
Cleric of Talos. I randomly put the early point in warhammer so I was super grateful to find that electric warhammer, essentially made for a cleric of Talos right there in the starting shop lol. ty for that.
Gnomish bounty hunter. Essentially just cheese. I've never explored this kit but the mechanics around the traps are ridiculous. Also with sneak attack enabled I have the +3 chaos dagger equipped. I've actually found this gnome, with a lot of micro to have the highest bust dps of my entire group. I beat BG2 with SCS recently and my charname was an assassin. This character is also in charge of the many throwable consumables in the game
Elven archer
Avenger druid
So chapter 1 and chapter 2 thus far have revolved around me using every single spell slot on my druid and cleric to summon undead and beetles lol. Then I stealth my ranger and send my army of summons to thin the encounter while my archer supplements with ranged damage. Usually, the army dies at which point I kite the encounter back to my traps whilst prebuffing the rest of my party to engage. Before I was capable of this, I was naturally abusing web/grease
So I'm definitely being cheesy. Summoning undead in a party that has a druid/paladin in of itself is extremely cheesy imo. The encounters definitely throw curveballs and I've been enjoying working my way through it. It doesn't bend you over backwards the way BG scs did, but BG is also non linear so it makes more sense. Really good mod so far. I wish someone would do something similar for ToEE
This mod is a blast to play, I'm especially enjoying the Class and Kit enhancements. Would it be possible to adapt them so that they could be installed in BG:EE and BG2:EE? Or would that be too much work?
Comments
From Left to right:
Assassin (Human) - Level 9 Fighter, sitting on 13 levels of inactive Shadowdancer. Glass cannon melee DPS and ranged support Soon to be the backstabbing one-crit-wonder. GM in Longswords.
Support (Half-Elf) - 9/11/9 F/M/C, Support, Pre-buff spammer, combat buff/debuff thrower, summoner, and slinger.
Chimera (elf) - Level 13 Shapeshifter, Secondary Tank, Spike Growth Spammer, Ranged Bombardment, crowd control and summoning.
Shifter (human) - Level 13 Shapeshifter, Primary Tank, soon to be DPS Crit-monster after dualing to fighter.
Assassin Mage (human) - Level 12 Wizard Slayer. Ranged Support and last-ditch melee. Next to be Arcane Bombardment and eventually a rare Magic Immune Mage and BBoD savage
Bounty (halfling) - Level 15 Bountyhunter. One-trick-pony trapper and can just about use a crossbow. Eventually to be the Party Maze Master
The Giant Fiendish Snakes in the last area of Dragon's Eye appear whenever a yuan-ti priest casts Call the Snakes. They vanish after 5 rounds, but will reappear when Call the Snakes is cast again.
That really depends on how many valuable magic items you sell and how many you buy. I don't ever remember needing to grind for gold in Chapters 1 or 2 with this mod installed, but I also usually sold a lot of magic items and didn't buy that many early on.
Yxunomei starts with Spell Shield, which protects against Dispel Magic and Remove Magic in this mod. It lasts 8 rounds or until removed by a spell like Spell Thrust or Secret Word. Spell Shield can be identified by the dark blue globe around the character.
I can't bear to get rid of things which "might" be useful down the road so am always loathed to sell things and always keen to buy things. I needed about 10k GP extra which I got from selling some things and the non-depreciating Yeti pelts. It has deffo felt tight on the gold front after I bought all the bag+quiver+case of plenty.
Interesting. I haven't used any removal stuff, my go to SCS strategy is Remove Magic or to wait things out... heh. But part of this comes from misreading the Spellshield description as only protecting against 1 remove magic, rather than for all cast during the 8 round duration. It would have been really satisfying to dispel her.
All in all Dragon's Eye has been great.
The lower floors are not my favorite parts anyway, and the changes made to them in this mode I feel are some of the weakest. The main issue is that at least in unmodded the fights on these initial floors are a series of semi-interesting set-piece battles: Ambushes of various sorts as you explore. Now the whole thing blends into one in an amorphous blob of a ghost horde and then suddenly everything on the floor is dead. This persists onto floor 2 and 3, except it's worse. The exception is the Bladed Skeleton "Challenge Room" which felt good. Also the usual issue of too many skeletons with Smite.
Severed hand Upper Levels
What I feel the the lower levels gets wrong the upper levels gets right - each of the four towers has a theme from vanilla, but here they are dialed up to 11 with some very challenging fights which never feel unfair and are clearly differentiated from each other.
Solonor Tower (Clerics): I did this one first, a nice theme and nice abilities and clearly lots of work has gone into boosting enemies and putting in good pre-buffing scripts. Overall it was very easy as the first thing every cleric does after auto-casting all their buffs is to dispel all their buffs - but really single class clerics are weak in general. Only standout thing was our first Deva in the main fight on 2nd floor.
Sheverash Tower (Fighters + Archers): Only the first floor was particularly challenging, mostly because the thac0 and HP of the elven swordsmen has been bumped up so high. The archers on the second level were no issue, mostly because they half-killed themselves with their own Spike Growth and Entropy Shield turns them into substandard melee combatants. The main challenge was the race to actually get them before they killed each other. The highlight of this tower is the Ancient Wyvern battle on the top. This feels well done. Unlike a lot of other modified enemies it does not spam a knock-back effect ever 2 seconds, but it does use it. Difficult to hit due to very low AC but vulnerable to magic, and natural 20s.
Correllon Tower (officers): Definitely the hardest of the three initial towers. The large fights backed up by a Mage are made very tricky by the high thac0, attacks, damage and HP of the enemies. They will rip through your team in moments if you let them. Fighting in the doorways ended up with getting AoE bombed by the back row wizard - sphere of chaos is deadly in enclosed spaces; on the other hand going into the room resulted in being overwhelmed in melee. Bountyhunter had upgraded to Resilient Sphere Traps by this point and I think their save penalty has been improved by the mod because he is very effective at taking a handful of enemies out of the battle for 7 rounds which can be invaluable. The sphere can also be dismissed with a simple Remove Magic cast. The Lesser Mithral Golems are a nice dangerous addition to this tower (and the Wizard one), especially the one on the main fight on floor 2. I died a fair few times in this tower.
Labelas Tower (Wizards): The final tower, and what a tower. The bridge battle was suitable "epic" - the Elven Offers being the single most deadly enemy in the tower and here there are three guarding a squad of Enchanters+Wizard. I like the mix-up of the Enchanters and the Wizards each one with different tactics and spellbooks. In the end the WIzardslayers 5 arrows per round and a whole host of AoE damage over time spells cleared the bridge, but not without a lot of anxiety.
Inside the tower it is very claustrophobic with multiple wizards and enchanters - I think I was on the end of back to back triple timestops at one point. The encounter is made much harder by the High HP Lesser Mithral Golem which is in the Anti-chamber and engages you as soon as you enter (as well as another that comes up later), along with all the doors springing open. Super challenging but the Wizard slayer proved her worth again, as did multiple casts of remove magic. The only issue with this is that a lot of the Wizards have Contingencies, but they are set to fire on too low an HP perhaps since they only ever fire after death.
Overall great for the Upper section, so so for the Lower.
A few screenshots, forgot to take many:
A dead Ancient Wyvern:
One of a handful of failed attempts at the Correllon Tower floor 1, with Otiluke's Sphere traps in use.
Bridge battle:
Claustophobic Wizard Fight in Labelas, shortly before TPW:
Bugs Noticed:
Exaltation removes the confused state as per description but does not remove the confused graphic or portrait icon.
Staff of Fast-casting +3 only says "not useable by: monk" but is not usable by many other classes inc. F/M/C
I didn't actually improve the save penalty of those traps (though maybe I should). However, the shadowed elves actually have poor saving throws. The spell Whirlwind is quite effective against them, as it can stun them and bypasses Minor Globe of Invulnerability.
The staff requires 22 Intelligence. Does your character have at least 22 Intelligence?
Don't worry, mages are still good in this mod. Certain enemies are resistant to magic, but other enemies are resistant to physical attacks and/or weak to magic. There should be opportunities for all classes to shine.
I've also tried to avoid making enemies completely immune to magic. Golems and Belhifet have a decent amount of magic resistance but aren't completely immune to magic.
Change log:
* More scrolls are available in Chapters 1 and 2.
* Temples throughout the game can now cast Lesser Restoration and Greater Restoration on you. They also now sell Potions of Superior Healing.
* Various items have been added to the game. There are now several items early on that protect against knockback effects. Wylfdene now drops his greataxe when he dies.
* Trolls and Winter Wolves are more dangerous.
* Belhifet and Poquelin no longer cast Mass Flaying.
* In final Luremaster fight, the time between certain waves has been increased, but if you kill all the enemies in those waves, the next wave will come shortly after.
* Beltyn's Burning Blood and Ice Storm scrolls have the correct description.
* Giants in Chapters 4, 5, and 6 no longer critically hit on every attack, with the exception of Joril.
* The Shapeshifter Greater Werewolf form now regenerates 2 HP per second, but this regeneration increases based on level up to 8 HP per second for a level 50 character.
Download
1. There's nothing in the descriptions about getting skill points
2. Ranger Hide/Move skills are set to specific values at each level, so spent points are lost every time you level up
3. The issue Sorzo mentions in page 10 of this thread: If you end up with 250 points in both skills, and you have points remaining, you're stuck on the screen and need to alt+tab out.
As I had hoped, the experience is significantly easier than with a full party, though it should be noted that I don't hesitate to exploit cheese at every opportunity. For the first part of the game, I was able to exploit invisibility to get in, kill a few enemies, retreat, then rest before repeating rather than fighting entire encounters in one go. Past a certain point, the combination of being overleveled and playing such an insanely versatile class made most encounters fairly simple, and the ones that weren't were still far more manageable than before. Whereas before I spammed Sword of Days on a Cavalier, my new favorite tactic is to keep a steady stream of Greater Shields of Lathander going to stay invulnerable while grouping up a bunch of tough enemies and obliterating them with multiple casts of Meteor Swarm.
Yxunomei and Belhifet were still a bit tricky and suitably the hardest single obstacles once again, but I was able to deal with both in under an hour each this time around.
For the most part, things were smooth sailing until the final battle. Icasaracht went down on my first try, though the Soul Gem half is still a bit hectic and tense, between the wyverns, incoming damage if you aren't shielded at all times, and massive army of endless undead while the wyverns are up.
The Iron Colossus proved to be a turning point. The potion it drops, when combined with Armor of Faith, Kresselack's Armor, and two Defender weapons, allowed for long-term sustainable immunity to physical damage. With various other immunity spells added to that, I was essentially invulnerable unless dispelled or hit with Imprisonment or a Lower Resistance effect. Without that, there's probably no way I would have pulled the last fight off.
Even so...the Luremaster battle still took several painstaking hours of trial and error, and it would have likely taken several days if I hadn't by some miracle gotten a quicksave off in a corner in the midst of a particularly well-executed attempt. The Shapeshifter, Beholder, and Dragon were the three main obstacles I had to learn to deal with, since they would dispel my defenses if given the slightest opportunity, with honorable mention to the Necromancer (who got a dispel off once, I think, but otherwise died very easily most of the time) and Axe Knight, whose Imprisonment on hit insta-killed me several times until I figured out what was going on by reading the weapon description in my inventory. Everyone else literally wasn't a threat while my defenses were up, and most of the time they just stood there, though I had to be careful when switching weapons because of them.
The Shapeshifter was a quick mage duel that I got the timing of down soon enough, with him usually managing to remove my Shield of the Archons as he appeared before I could handle him via Time Stops. The Beholder was much, much worse, and it was only through the quicksave shortly before it appeared that I managed a workable strategy. There's a split-second delay between when he casts his spell protections and Infinite Eyes, which is his only initial defense against physical attacks. Time Stopping with enough cast duration reduction gear immediately after he spawned left him helpless to being burned down physically.
The dragon caused a couple reloads until I learned to remember to buff against Fear, though in the end it went down smoothly once I noticed that Absolute Immunity, its main initial physical defense, doesn't protect against +6 weapons. Whacking him as he spawned under consecutive Time Stops did the trick.
The Jackal ended up being the last one standing, and his immunities were honestly a bit annoying, since I couldn't wield the knife meant to be used against him and he could regen through most of the damage spells I had to work with. In the end, the install setting to aura cleanse low-level spells was his undoing, and he went down to about 15 volleys of the humble Magic Missile.
Thank you again for all your hard work on this fantastic mod. I'm not sure whether I'll revisit it again, but it was very satisfying to come back and finally eke out that win.
I've played through this game once already, but I decided to play again with a different party.
I'm at the undead level of Dragon's Eye at the moment, and the game has so far been fairly smooth sailing. I absolutely love its difficulty and it has been really pushing my knowledge of this game's rules to their limits. I have played this game on and off across the years and have beaten it at least 20 times, no exaggerations, and still I manage to find a fresh new challenge every time.
My party is thus, and they are arranged in order of the screenshot.
Leon - Sorcerer. Magic artillery. He's wearing the fire robe so his fireballs have their damage boosted. Very powerful. Can't wait til he gets high enough to start chaincasting his spells. Will switch to Enfusing robe once that happens. He has some nice roots too, with stinking cloud and web working quite well together.
Kiara - She's a classic sword-and-board Cavalier. -19 AC unbuffed so far, and she's the bastion of the party. Is wielding Erevain's longsword right now. Her LoH is incredible for self healing and healing her friends in a pinch.
Sophie - She's a one-trick-pony, a heavy hitting Fighter wielding a two handed sword, but that's all she needs to be. She deals incredible damage and crits often.
Lucian - Shapeshifter druid. I've never actually played a Shapeshifter in this game, and am genuinely surprised at how powerful they are. He deals great damage, can serve as a decent off-tank, and his self-healing is great. Getting to level 13 is such a chore, but I am excited to see how the Greater form is different than what he is now. He's a cool werewolf with a lot of benefits. Spike stones, entangle, etc are super useful during a lot of these fights, since they like to overwhelm with sheer numbers.
Cody - Priest of Helm. If I started again, I would've probably made him a C/M, which is what he was during my first playthrough. He gains spell levels quickly, but aside from the mass heal, I think I could've had a better situation with another arcane caster. He's still pretty good though. I just got the ring that doubles his buff duration, so that's pretty nice for him being a pure character. He hits pretty hard with flamestrike though, and his glyph of warding is nothing to sneeze at. His biggest issue is aiming. His spells take so long to cast, that if I don't aim them correctly, he can fail to hit anything once his spells complete. Still, he's a great support character, and his mass heal will only get better once he levels up.
Trace - Archer. Another one-trick-pony, but a powerful even so. He's basically a machine gun. Enough said!
This was the fight that I found the hardest the first time, and the 'proving grounds' of sorts for parties. If I can get past Presio, I can beat the game. Resonably expected, it was incredibly frustrating.
Bottlenecking, again, was mandatory, since I loaded up the bridge with spike stones and webs. Cody cast a few Glyphs of Warding, while Lucian cast Produce Fire and Leon spammed Fireball. I had Cody wait behind everyone, so once Presio got off her Stinking Cloud, he could cast Zone of Sweet air immediately.
Being able to dispel all Presio's nonsense was key, since she's constantly unloading disabling spells upon you. The zombie Slows are a problem as well, so I made sure Leon, Cody, and Lucian all had several castings of Dispel Magic.
There is a great deal of luck that comes into play here, and whether the hordes of zombies and wights get rooted either make or break this fight. There is honestly no time to waste and every second counts.
As soon as the Blackguard came into view, I had Trace snipe him with missile fire, and the constant stream of fire damage was enough to kill most of the zombies. Sophie and Kiara were at the front of the party, and if an enemy broke through all of my rooting spells, they were ready to defeat them quickly. After the Blackguard, Presio's apprentice, and most of the undead horde was destroyed, I retreated back to the entrance, so I could save and defeat Presio and the rest of the army without having to do the main part of the work all again. Additionally, this helped me weather all of her spells; Suffocation, her Cloudkills, and even her Symbol were disarmed fairly harmlessly. After I saved, I returned to the floor and dispatched her easily after casting Remove Magic.
Kiara, who Presio had mocked for having a 'weak' faith, was, ironically, the one to finish her off. Tell her again how Good is weak, I dare you.
This is arguably the hardest/worst fight in the game, but it doesn't feel as cheap as the final fight (that insufferable Spells Forgotten mechanic is awful). Presio's fight is incredibly difficult with repeated disables (especially the Slow, which basically means you're dying to the zombies, no questions asked), enemies that are capable of killing you instantly, and requires quite a bit of luck.
Despite this, everyone survived, and life goes on. Yxunomei wasn't as hard as Presio, I remember, but I am still dreading her all the same.
Thanks for your feedback!
Why not cast Free Action on your characters? That'll prevent the slow. Given you have a single-classed cleric with the ring that doubles the duration of their spells, they should be able to protect the party with Free Action for a while.
Could you elaborate on what you think is particularly luck-based about this fight? Even if a couple of enemies get past the webs, you should still be able to shoot them down or finish them off in melee.
The simplest way to deal with the gelugons is to interrupt them when they're casting Stygian Ice Storm. Have the party attack them until their spell is disrupted.
Things I'd note:
- I don't know why, but anytime I installed this mod, I ended up with mages unable to learn spells UNLESS I installed LeUI after BetterHoF. I have tested base Ui and DragonspearUI++-IWD before BetterHOF, but I didn't checked if DragonspearUI++-IWD also works when installed after BetterHOF, I expect it does.
- SCS's healing spell buffs doesn't work, I dunno what's going on with the healspells there.
- Scales's SBO technically doesn't work with BetterHOF, because Scales kills the Dark Sun stat-rolling trick (that took me a while to find out) and one needs to manually rebuild abracead.2da. BetterHOF also breaks YARAS's ability of customizing thieving/spellcasting penalties with the additional eff files attached to the armors.
Just cleared the Vale of Shadows, with my current team. I'm interested how this turns out.
Use whatever party you want. The Class and Kit Revisions component makes a lot of classes and kits more useful.
bard. I read that having a mage isn't necessary in IWD so I used that excuse to make a bard. Tymora's song seems really useful and I actually think bards are deceptively powerful blasters because of how quickly they gain levels.
undead hunter
Cleric of Talos. I randomly put the early point in warhammer so I was super grateful to find that electric warhammer, essentially made for a cleric of Talos right there in the starting shop lol. ty for that.
Gnomish bounty hunter. Essentially just cheese. I've never explored this kit but the mechanics around the traps are ridiculous. Also with sneak attack enabled I have the +3 chaos dagger equipped. I've actually found this gnome, with a lot of micro to have the highest bust dps of my entire group. I beat BG2 with SCS recently and my charname was an assassin. This character is also in charge of the many throwable consumables in the game
Elven archer
Avenger druid
So chapter 1 and chapter 2 thus far have revolved around me using every single spell slot on my druid and cleric to summon undead and beetles lol. Then I stealth my ranger and send my army of summons to thin the encounter while my archer supplements with ranged damage. Usually, the army dies at which point I kite the encounter back to my traps whilst prebuffing the rest of my party to engage. Before I was capable of this, I was naturally abusing web/grease
So I'm definitely being cheesy. Summoning undead in a party that has a druid/paladin in of itself is extremely cheesy imo. The encounters definitely throw curveballs and I've been enjoying working my way through it. It doesn't bend you over backwards the way BG scs did, but BG is also non linear so it makes more sense. Really good mod so far. I wish someone would do something similar for ToEE
Any tips regarding download ?
What other mods do you have installed?
and added mod
I've got this
Also what is this
This mod is currently not compatible with EEex.
That's something that won't be there in the next update.
I hope that when this new update will be released, mod will be fully traified and Russian translation (from Arkie) finally will be added.