HLA change?

FredN

.....Did the requirements for access to HLAs change recently? My understanding was that when a character reached 3,000,000 experience they could learn these. However, in my current party of 6, everyone has reached or exceeded that experience level, but only my cleric, Viconia, gained a HLA, namely summon fallen Deva.
.....Addendum: I went back and loaded up a save from about 2 years ago, with exactly the same NPCs; only my own character was different. Everybody had 4-5 HLAs! Whirlwinds, Greater Whirlwinds, Use any Item, Summon Deva, Summon Planetar, Acuity, Create scrolls and potions, etc. etc. Now, there have been a few bugs in this particular current run, like Cespenar not being able to see and upgrade my Helm of the Rock, so this may be another such problem. Which, alas, is not resolved when I verify file integrity. It tells me that all the files are fine. So, I am not really sure what the heck is going on here, but it's a bit annoying. I'll still finish this run, regardless, but I'd like to know exactly what is going on here.
.....Addendum 2: OK, I did some fiddling around with save game and re-verifiction of files. Hurrah! Cespenar now has upgraded my stuff, both the circlet of Netheril and the Helm of the Rock. Now I just have to get some experience for my crew and see if the HLAs start appearing.

FredN

Indeed, didn't even need to gain a level. One combat and we got some HLAs. Well, 4 of us did; Hexxat and my Bard didn't. No idea why, but 4 out of 6 idn't too terrible.

jmerry

You get HLAs at level-ups. One for each level with total* XP 3M or more. So a fighter/druid gets two HLAs at exactly 3M XP (fighter 14/druid 14) and a pure cleric doesn't get their first until 3.15M XP (cleric 22).

* Unless you're a dual class. The inactive first class is ignored for dual-classed characters, and they gain HLAs based only on the active class's XP. Also, those HLAs are only from the active class's list, unlike multiclass characters who draw from a merged multiclass list.

FredN

.....Indeed, that was my understanding of how HLAs worked as well. I suspected something had gotten corrupted since I couldn't get either the Helm of the Rock or the Circle of Netheril updraded either. Almost all of these anomalies have now been fixed, and indeed, 4 of my crew got TWO HLAs at once as soon as I rectified the file problem. I do wonder why neither my Bard nor Hexxat have gotten any HLAs however.
.....Both of them are well over 3 Million experience. I do note that, since Bards have been ruled as part thieves, both Hexxat and myself are technically eligible for Thief HLAs. This makes me wonder if thief HLAs are stilll somewhat borked in my current game. Guess I shall have to wait until they level up, and see if that fixes the matter. Improved Bard song and Use Any Item would be sweet.

FredN

Well, this is interesting. As I had hoped, when my Bard levelled up, they got to pick from the HLA roster. This included most of the thief HLAs like setting various traps, evasion, create potions and scrolls etc. However, there was one HLA that apparently I cannot learn, namely use any item. Not sure exactly why, but I suspect the designers thought letting bards have both use any item plus Enhanced Bard song would be too OP. And indeed, there was no real choice here for my first HLA; Enhanced Bard Song won hands down. A nice buff for the entire party.

Trouveur

Bard can learn use any items in unmodded game.

FredN

To the best of my knowledge, my game is unmodded EE. Use any item does show up on the roster of HLA choices, however I cannot click on it. Or rather, I can click on it but it is not learned, unlike all the other options. Is there some other skill that is a prerequitie for learning UAI?

Trouveur

What do you mean by it's not learned ?
Click on it then finish the level up. There is no prerequisite.

FredN

.....OK, maybe I am doing something wrong. But when I click on that one skill, nothing happens. Anything else I click on, the skill lights up, I get the description and can learn it. UAI does not light up, gives no description and is not learnable. Hexxat now has also reached that level, and she also cannot learn UAI, so it's not just my Bard that is affected.
.....Now, I did a run through about a year ago with a similar party, and I know for a fact that Hexxat did indeed learn UAI in that game. What the problem is here I cannot say. Some odd bug is possible, given my earlier problems with learning thief HLAs. I'll see what happens when we get the next level up.

FredN

OK, whatever weirdness was plaguing my game, gaining a level seems to have had the effect I was hoping for. Use Any Item has now been successfully acquired.