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[Help needed] Redesigning existing kit (Skald)

BalladBallad Member Posts: 205
edited May 2014 in General Modding
Disclaimer: I'm completely new at this; please be gentle :)

Hello everyone! I am curious about finding out what goes into making a rebalancing mod for an existing kit (Skald in my case.) I have done minor modifications to kits and spells with NearInfinity before - so I have a faint idea about the 2DA files involved. However, this time I would like to turn my ideas into a proper WeiDU mod so that other people could possibly give it a try as well.

I have read the kit creation tutorial at Gibberlings3 and while it looks daunting, I am sort of starting to wrap my head around it. However, I am still confused as to how this all applies when customizing existing kits, the ADD_KIT command is for creating new kits after all. And even if that was not an issue, I would still have a lot of unresolved questions, such as how to modify/create special abilities.

I suppose I should be specific rather than general, so here is the idea I am trying to implement:

Skald Rebalancing (builds on Rogue Rebalancing)
***

I have always thought BG2 did a horrible job with this fantastic-sounding kit, essentially relegating him to a support role. Rogue Rebalancing remedied this issue somewhat, though the class was still too passive for my liking. In redesigning the kit, I drew on my experiences with Dark Age of Camelot, an mmorpg in which Skalds were fearsome nordic warriors, able to fight using two-handed Viking weaponry and sing their battlesongs at the same time. I also kept some of the Rogue Rebalancing components such as the song and the HLAs. Here's what I came up with:


Skald
This Nordic bard is also a warrior of great strength, skill and virtue. PRO_HISHER songs are inspiring sagas of battle and valor, and the skald devotes PRO_HISHER life to those pursuits. In battle, the Skald fights alongside PRO_HISHER warrior brethren, and has the ability to greatly augment PRO_HISHER comrades' battle prowess by chanting PRO_HISHER resonant ballads and epic poetry. Unlike with bards of other schools, arcane magic takes a secondary role in the Skald's training and PRO_HISHER spellcasting abilities are modest in comparison.

Advantages:

- Uses the Fighter's THAC0 progression table when wielding melee weapons.
- May become specialized (allocate two proficiency slots) in Two-handed Swords, Bastard Swords, Axes and War Hammers as well as Two-handed weapon and Single weapon fighting styles.
- Gains Skald's Song at first level. This ability further improves at 9th and 18th level.
- Gains Battlesinging as a passive ability at 8th level. This ability further improves at the 16th level.

Skald's Song: (Rogue Rebalancing)
By chanting a war song, a Skald can inspire allies as they go forward into combat. Chanting can elevate spirits, remove concerns about danger, keep men's minds focused on combat and fill friendly forces with a sense of being larger than life. The effects of the song further improve as the Skald gains more levels:

1st: gives allies +2 to hit, +2 to damage, -2 to AC and immunity to Fear.
9th: gives allies +3 to hit, +3 to damage, -3 to AC, immunity to Fear and Confusion.
18th: gives allies +4 to hit, +4 to damage, -4 to AC, immunity to Fear, Stun and Confusion.

Battlesinging:
Through rigorous martial training and breathwork practice, the Skald eventually learns the ability to weave PRO_HISHER ballads in the thick of battle. This ability is further perfected at higher experience levels:

8th: grants the Skald the ability to engage in combat while singing his song. While doing so, the Skald incurs a 3-point penalty to his movement rate, armor class and speed factor.
16th: penalties are reduced to 1-point each.

Disadvantages:

- Casts spells at one-half of PRO_HISHER Character level.
- Can only learn spells up to the Sixth spell level.
- Incurs a 2-point penalty to spellcasting speed
- Pick Pockets ability one-quarter normal.

HLA's would remain the same as with Rogue Rebalancing. In addition, I would like to open the kit for Dwarves and Half-Orcs to select.


Coming up with ideas is easy, but when it comes to implementing them, I find myself sucking my thumb. I suppose my questions boil down to the following:

How do I modify existing kits with WeiDU?
What should I use to extract the needed spell files? Can I just use NearInfinity or is there a catch?
How do I extract the existing componenets from the Rogue Rebalancing mod?
How do I implement the Battlesinging ability?
How do I implement the spellcasting nerf (spells cats at one half of his character level)?
Also, I would welcome any general advice on kit-modding and spell-creating as well as any links to possible tutorials I might have missed.

Now, I realize my post is quite a mouthful. I know I am looking up to quite a challenge and would be very grateful for any piece of advice you can throw my way. Many cheers in advance!

Comments

  • WispWisp Member Posts: 1,102
    Unfortunately, a lot of this is not implementable. I'm not particularly up to date on what restrictions are lifted by the EEs, so I'll refrain from commenting on which bits are problematic (but notably, you can't sing and fight at the same time).
    Ballad said:


    How do I modify existing kits with WeiDU?

    How do I extract the existing componenets from the Rogue Rebalancing mod?

    I would suggest you spend some time poring over RR and see what the kit parts of that mod does, and how it does it. Feel free to refer to the IESDP and the WeiDU readme (which works a lot better as a reference work than some sort of guide to modding) if you want to look something up. You can, of course, also ask questions.

    What should I use to extract the needed spell files? Can I just use NearInfinity or is there a catch?
    There's no particular catch. It's occasionally rather clunky and labour-intensive working that way, but some people seem to prefer it even so.
    CrevsDaak
  • CrevsDaakCrevsDaak Member Posts: 7,155
    You can give the THAC0 bonus to melee weapons by the CLAB file (make a spl that adds that effect and add it to every level until 20 with AP_ before it's name in the CLAB file), but changing the casting level can't be done (as far as I know) because it's hard coded.
    To edit spells you can use NearInfinity, and the put the names' strings (in case you need them) with WeiDU.
  • AstroBryGuyAstroBryGuy Member Posts: 3,437
    As @Wisp said, you can't sing and fight at the same time. The best you could do use RR's Lingering Song HLA as a model for how to extend the effects of a song for a time after the skald stops singing. You could grant such an ability at 8th (or whatever) level.
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