@callimachus The Bard Song's effect is actually just a regular .spl file that is applied to the character and set to be activated via the Bard Song button. So when you select the HLA Bard Song, it is applied to the character and overrides the regular Bard Song. We can create 12 Bard Songs for the Elven Minstrel that when selected through the spell menu will override the current Bard Song. If we make these Bard Song effects available through a spell button, then you can alternate through different Bard Songs.
The upside would be that if you select the "Sleep" Bard Song, instead of it being cast once with one saving throw given to the enemy, it will be constantly cast for as long as the Minstrel sings just like how the confusion effects of the Jester's Song works. So you are getting multiple, unlimited casts of the one spell for free. The downside is that you'd have to switch between Bard Song effects because that is the limits of the Infinity Engine, but if we make the casting time 0 then it wouldn't be such a hassle.
I haven't tried this yet, but theoretically you could make a Bard's Song that emulates a harmful spell effect (but one that is cast over the entire area, from the caster outwards). For example you could make a Bard Song that emulates the blast of a Fireball. So when the Minstrel sings, a fiery blast aura extends outward from the Minstrel and continues to fire after every round or turn. Or you could have the Bard Song summon up the effects of an Ice Storm or any offensive spell that has a nonspecific target. To protect the caster, we could make them immune to the effects of the Bard Song, so the Elven Minstrel could be used as a "bomb" that runs into swarms and detonates through its' singing. Or we could have it instead generate a harmful circular wall around itself that prevents entry or harms those who enter the proximity of the Minstrel, so allies could find sanctuary by sticking close to the Minstrel while it sings.
Or you could make a Bard Song that constantly generates an Insect Swarm or summon a creature like the Water Weirds (the illustration of an Elven Minstrel in the Bard's Handbook has it summoning up waves of water to attack, so this could be a way of brining that to life). So if 6 are summoned but one is killed, a new one is summoned after the next round or turn.
So the Minstrel would be sacrificing choice and variety in their spell selection but would gain unlimited casting of a particular spell (or for as long as they can keep a song going). To me that sounds like it could end up being pretty powerful and offer a different way of using the Bard's Song.
This is a brief rundown of the "songs" of each Bard Kit, just to show where the Minstrel would fit in gameplay wise. The Minstrel would be the only Bard Kit that has a damaging effect to their singing.
Bard Song - Boosts morale and removes fear Jester's Song - Confuses and disables enemies Skald's Song - Boosts party's abilities for battle Blade's Song - Brandishes weapon to lower enemy Morale by 2 and increase ally attack rolls by 1 Charlatan's Song - Charm's humanoids Jongleurs's Song - Allows the Jongleur to "tumble", "juggle" & "dodge" enemy attacks Dirgist's Song - Inflicts the hold status upon Undead Meistersinger's Song - Charm's surrounding animals, summons 6 animal companions and gives a sanctuary effect to animals Geisha's Song - Has a chance to detect invisibility Chanter's Song - Instils fear in enemies and the weapon speed of the party increases Whistler's Song - Alters the weather into a storm or fog Professor's Song - Finds and removes traps, whilst also giving bonuses to non-combat skills Minstel's Song - Offensive magic is cast through their instruments and song.
Things have slowed down a bit. I know for me at least I've been busy with other things so the spell creation isn't going as fast as it could. And now with the news about BG2:EE being put on hiatus makes it feel even slower. I hope they do sort out the BG2:EE business or we might have to stop at BG1 or downgrade this to work only in vanilla BG2. It probably doesn't change things but it does kinda kill the mood.
I'll get back into the swing of things in the upcoming weekend. It's frustrating how pretty much everything has been thoroughly planned out, that all that is left is the tedious work of creating the files.
I played through the game with this mod and I felt that the Armor Rework is a bit overpowered which is a little disappointing because I like the idea of the Dodge AC Modifier and damage reduction features.
@econon thanks for the feedback, in what sense did you think it was overpowered? All of the damage reduction and ac adjustments apply to enemies and players, but further feedback would help to improve things even more.
And for everybody else who is keen to know about the progress of the mod, my sentiments are pretty much the same as Mordeus's, but progress has been made, the spells for alteration, abjuration, divination and illusion are done, and enchantment and invocation are on their way.
It is an extremely time consuming and long winded process, and as mordeus says it is not helped by the recent turn of events. As always though, for those playing the mod any feedback or ideas are welcome, and thanks for the continued interest.
@requiem sorry I haven't elaborated more on my point. The light armors become overpowered compared to heavy armor because of the dodge bonus you get from having a high dexterity, so if you get a party with a naturally high dexterity you will have no problem. By the end of the game my party achieved a AC score of -11,-6,-9,-8,-9 and 3 (he was a mage). I do realize that light armor doesn't reduce as much damage as heavy armor but when I used heavy armor I felt my health just draining away.
I do like how it makes thieves and clerics less helpless, but it also makes warriors that use heavy armor have to be a health sponge (making Kagain pretty helpful if you throw him in a suit of armor). Maybe you should get the dodge bonus even if you're not wearing and just make armor take away from that bonus.
BUT I guess the biggest negative about the armor rework is that I don't feel I could have beaten the game without it.
Still I had a amazing time playing through the game with this mod playing as a Strifeleader so I could use long swords and play as a cleric. I also noticed some spells haven't got the right picture like slow. And it would be nice if recovered projectiles stacked so you don't have spam click for 5 arrows.
@mordeus there actually was a BG II mod that made a harmful bard donc if i recall correctly. Et was the conductor bard kit i think. He also made the hidden kits which were basically a kit for jumeled classes. Maybe it could help you for the multiclassed cleric !
Allright @Mordeus and @Requiem it seems that @Archaic should resume work on the other mode that I'm looking for the most, so please let us know if You abandon Yours or just laid low until legal stuff sorts out. I would be very dissapointed if this whole mess discourage you to put it off. You've had so much enthusiasm for this, really. And previevs looked thrilling. Raise from the dead guys, pretty please. Make similar pool as @Archaic did if You like and You'll see how much interest of Your mod still lingers ob this forum.
Au contraire - it shows that people are still interested in their work. If I was modding that would motivate me. Obviously it wont magically bring back inactive authors, but that does not mean it is pointless.
I want to give some background of where I've been. I ended up having a bit of a medical situation that put me off limits from the computer. Let's just say I was getting some really screwed up vision and headaches, you can probably guess the condition from that. But I've been put on medication and it has stopped happening to me. It also forced me to switch jobs to a non-computer based design company, so I've been working as an illustrator at a print company that does some oldschool screenprinting work. So this is pretty much the only thing I'm going to use the computer for, well at least til the end of the year.
I've got this week completely free and three days off each other week to work on this. So this mod is back active. I'll send out an email to Requiem to say that I'm back and we'll see if the 'team' can continue this.
But if it ends up only being me, then that is fine since I can spend the next two months getting all the spell animations done which is the most massive component of the mod. I might try recruiting some other modders to get this moving along.
I'll continue this post in a couple of minutes, I have to update that other thing I promised to do for people over Spellhold.
Comments
The upside would be that if you select the "Sleep" Bard Song, instead of it being cast once with one saving throw given to the enemy, it will be constantly cast for as long as the Minstrel sings just like how the confusion effects of the Jester's Song works. So you are getting multiple, unlimited casts of the one spell for free. The downside is that you'd have to switch between Bard Song effects because that is the limits of the Infinity Engine, but if we make the casting time 0 then it wouldn't be such a hassle.
I haven't tried this yet, but theoretically you could make a Bard's Song that emulates a harmful spell effect (but one that is cast over the entire area, from the caster outwards). For example you could make a Bard Song that emulates the blast of a Fireball. So when the Minstrel sings, a fiery blast aura extends outward from the Minstrel and continues to fire after every round or turn. Or you could have the Bard Song summon up the effects of an Ice Storm or any offensive spell that has a nonspecific target. To protect the caster, we could make them immune to the effects of the Bard Song, so the Elven Minstrel could be used as a "bomb" that runs into swarms and detonates through its' singing. Or we could have it instead generate a harmful circular wall around itself that prevents entry or harms those who enter the proximity of the Minstrel, so allies could find sanctuary by sticking close to the Minstrel while it sings.
Or you could make a Bard Song that constantly generates an Insect Swarm or summon a creature like the Water Weirds (the illustration of an Elven Minstrel in the Bard's Handbook has it summoning up waves of water to attack, so this could be a way of brining that to life). So if 6 are summoned but one is killed, a new one is summoned after the next round or turn.
So the Minstrel would be sacrificing choice and variety in their spell selection but would gain unlimited casting of a particular spell (or for as long as they can keep a song going). To me that sounds like it could end up being pretty powerful and offer a different way of using the Bard's Song.
This is a brief rundown of the "songs" of each Bard Kit, just to show where the Minstrel would fit in gameplay wise. The Minstrel would be the only Bard Kit that has a damaging effect to their singing.
Bard Song - Boosts morale and removes fear
Jester's Song - Confuses and disables enemies
Skald's Song - Boosts party's abilities for battle
Blade's Song - Brandishes weapon to lower enemy Morale by 2 and increase ally attack rolls by 1
Charlatan's Song - Charm's humanoids
Jongleurs's Song - Allows the Jongleur to "tumble", "juggle" & "dodge" enemy attacks
Dirgist's Song - Inflicts the hold status upon Undead
Meistersinger's Song - Charm's surrounding animals, summons 6 animal companions and gives a sanctuary effect to animals
Geisha's Song - Has a chance to detect invisibility
Chanter's Song - Instils fear in enemies and the weapon speed of the party increases
Whistler's Song - Alters the weather into a storm or fog
Professor's Song - Finds and removes traps, whilst also giving bonuses to non-combat skills
Minstel's Song - Offensive magic is cast through their instruments and song.
I'll get back into the swing of things in the upcoming weekend. It's frustrating how pretty much everything has been thoroughly planned out, that all that is left is the tedious work of creating the files.
And for everybody else who is keen to know about the progress of the mod, my sentiments are pretty much the same as Mordeus's, but progress has been made, the spells for alteration, abjuration, divination and illusion are done, and enchantment and invocation are on their way.
It is an extremely time consuming and long winded process, and as mordeus says it is not helped by the recent turn of events. As always though, for those playing the mod any feedback or ideas are welcome, and thanks for the continued interest.
I do like how it makes thieves and clerics less helpless, but it also makes warriors that use heavy armor have to be a health sponge (making Kagain pretty helpful if you throw him in a suit of armor). Maybe you should get the dodge bonus even if you're not wearing and just make armor take away from that bonus.
BUT I guess the biggest negative about the armor rework is that I don't feel I could have beaten the game without it.
Still I had a amazing time playing through the game with this mod playing as a Strifeleader so I could use long swords and play as a cleric. I also noticed some spells haven't got the right picture like slow. And it would be nice if recovered projectiles stacked so you don't have spam click for 5 arrows.
I downloaded FoF and thought I installed it correctly. However when the sprite appears I get a boat load of "MISSING STRING ######"
Kinda messes up everything with my cleric. Forgive me as it is the first attempt I've ever had at modding :S
I want to give some background of where I've been. I ended up having a bit of a medical situation that put me off limits from the computer. Let's just say I was getting some really screwed up vision and headaches, you can probably guess the condition from that. But I've been put on medication and it has stopped happening to me. It also forced me to switch jobs to a non-computer based design company, so I've been working as an illustrator at a print company that does some oldschool screenprinting work. So this is pretty much the only thing I'm going to use the computer for, well at least til the end of the year.
I've got this week completely free and three days off each other week to work on this. So this mod is back active. I'll send out an email to Requiem to say that I'm back and we'll see if the 'team' can continue this.
But if it ends up only being me, then that is fine since I can spend the next two months getting all the spell animations done which is the most massive component of the mod. I might try recruiting some other modders to get this moving along.
I'll continue this post in a couple of minutes, I have to update that other thing I promised to do for people over Spellhold.