New Mod: Wild Mage Additions

[JOG]

Hy, this is a Mod for BG2/Tob as well as BG1TuTu. It's exclusively for Wild Mages, so feel free to skip it if you don't plan to play one...

Wild Magic in D&D remind me a bit of Moorcock's worlds, where magic is incredible powerful and also incredible dangerous for the caster as much as for his foes. Throne of Bhaal introduced the wild mage, but Wild Magic was reduced to Nahals Reckless Dweomer and the Chaos Shields to make a favourable result more likely.

This mod adds 18 Wild Magic Spells (well, at least they're chaotic/randomized) to BG2 and BG1TuTu. Among these Spells are "Vortex", "Wildstrike" and "Hornung's Random Dispatcher" from the Tome of Magic.

In addition, there's a new mage "kit": the Spellshaper, a chaotic practitioner of wild magic, who memorizes spells like a Wizard but has the talent to cast spells spontaneously on demand like a Sorcerer. This talent isn't very reliable, and the Spellshaper suffers strong restrictions to the number of spells he can cast per day, as well as the speed in which he gains access to new spell levels. To hedge his bets, the Spellweaver learns a bit of physical combat as well. (THAC0 Progress like a Thief, and Combat related "Feats" like Ambidextrousity and Backstabbing)

http://home.tiscali.de/jo.ge/bg/shaper.htm

[Borsook]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Bioware fill all the screen space with ther wizard kits? If so does your new kit substitute an old one or what?

[Ashara]

I'd venture a guess that it substitutes WM itself

[JOG]

Technically it's not a real kit but an in-game modification of the wild mage, you're free to decide if you actually want to play a Spellshaper.

When you start a new game, you don't choose my "kit", but "Wild Mage" instead. When the protagonist is a neutral or chaotic wild mage, he will cast a spell spontaneously when he's badly hurt in combat, and then have the opportunity to become a spellshaper. Lawful protagonists and other chars in multiplayer games can learn a spell that makes the same happen to them.

No matter how far you're in the game, you always can become a Spellshaper. If you don't want to become one, you don't need to: Just suppress the spontaneous change, remove the Spell from your spellbook. And continue to play a true wild mage.

[Borsook]

That sounds very interesting, gotta have a closer look

[Ashara]

Concur, I always felt that a wild mage was sort of dissappointing for the name. Kudos on making this mod.

[JOG]

Well, what did I expect when making a mod of such chaotic nature...

Seems like a chaos-magic mod isn't needed at all, the engine itself is very apt at behaving inconsistent and unpredictable 

I've just released it, started playing and found a bunch of bugs I never happened to notice during weeks of testing...

Uploaded V1.1, The changes only apply to Spellshapers, and the first two bugs will only be fixed when you create a new Spellshaper. 

Bugfixes:

• Spellshaper: -1 saving throw penalty was removed at next levelup - fixed
• Spellshaper: -2 missile damage penalty actually was a +253 Bonus - fixed
• Spellshaper: Fixed a Bug, where a Spellshaper could get infinite feats by having party members talking to him...
• Spellshaper: Cosmetics: Wild Magic Backlash displayed random text instead of "Wild Magic"
• Spellshaper: Cosmetics: Text comments for Random Wild Surges after resting were missing

[Ashara]

Keep up the good work If I will have to run a new BG2 campaign, I will definetly run it with a WM and this modification.

[JOG]

Another update:

This time mainly balancing/enhancements for the spellshaper kit:

• Fixed spellbook-dialogue bug when learning Rhialto's Chaos Conduit instead of becoming a Spellweaver spontaneously
  
  
• Divided wild magic spells and spellshaper kit into separate components.
  
  
• Added optional avatar-change for Spellshaper.
  
  
• Spellshaper: Cosmetics: Added advantages and disadvantages to in-game Kit-description
  
  
• Spellshaper: Fixed a bug, where sometimes the feat-gaining dialogue interrupted the Levelup process
  (No damage was done just weird behavior)
  
  
• Spellshaper: "Shape Spell" is no longer a Feat but learned automatically at 5th level.
  
  
• Spellshaper: Modified "Weave Spell" functionality:
• Number of uses per day is now limited depending on level (once per day per 2/3 levels)
• Additional uses per day may be chosen as a feat
   
• Weave Spell is now (again) in the "Cast Spell" Menu and may be selected as Quick Spell
   
• It's now possible to switch to other spell-levels in the spell selection-menu. Going to spell levels that require an additional spell be removed from memory will drain the highest memorized spell, going back from a higher spell level to one that requires less spells to be drained will only restore a 1st level spell, though.
  
  
• Spellshaper: Modified "Weave Spell" Spell-Selection:
• Removed "Find Familiar" (pointless to have a cast-once spell here)
     
• Moved "Protection from Petrification" from 1st to 2nd Level (Bugfix)
   
• Moved "Earthquake" from 8th to 9th level (may still be cast at experience-level 22)
     
• Added 1st level spell "Find Traps" (Like priest spell, but duration only one turn)
   
• Added 1st level spell "Intoxication" (Victim must save vs. death or become intoxicated)
     
• Added 1st level spell "Special Snare" (Trap: 1d10 damage + Held for 2 Rounds/5 Levels)
     
• Added 7th level spell "Acid Storm" (As described in "Tome of Magic")
   
• Added 7th level spell "Teleport Portal" (Dimension door for whole party, needs no LOS!)
     
• Added 8th level spell "Entropy Burst" ((Un)holy word against lawful creatures)

[/list]   

[ronin]

Congratulations on an awesome mod.  I started a game with a wild mage and in Chateau Irencus got hurt badly and had the option to change and took it.  Your mod makes the wild mage actually interesting to play and also makes it a class to actually consider for CHARNAME.

thank you

ronin

[Borsook]

BTW will it work ok with dual-class? Anyway great job!

[JOG]

BTW will it work ok with dual-class? Anyway great job!

It will work fine with a cheated character with Wild Mage as second class, a character that dual-classed from Wild-mage to another class will gain the Spellshaper abilities from the other (higher) class.

So it kinda works, but since the Spellshaper is already a very combative mage (dagger mastery, two weapon fighting without penalties, THAC0 like a rogue, optional backstabbing, optional 20% HP bonus by chosing a feat) multi/dual-class combinations might be a bit overpowered...

Mainly the class is meant as a rogue who has specialized on magic, although he can't steal or hide in shadows he would fit very well into a thieves guild.

[ronin]

Quick queston JOG, will this work with the Druidic Sorcerer kit?  That would make that kit more uber than it is   

ronin

[Wounded_Lion]

I am not sure, but this mod may be incompatible with the Druidic Sorcerer.  The Art of Weaving ( available at http://www.rpgdungeon.net/weaver/ ), another great Wild Magic mod, does some similiar things but is incompatible with the Druidic Sorcerer because of an HLA conflict (if I remember correctly).  Do you know if this mod and The Art of Weaving are compatible?  I love Spellweavers...   

In regards to Dual-Classing, one of the components of G3 Tweaks allows Wild Mages and Barbarians to Dual-Class.  Check it out at http://www.gibberlings3.net/g3tweak/index.php

Is there a more detailed readme file for your mod, perhaps one that includes spell descriptions?

a W.L.

[JOG]

I am not sure, but this mod may be incompatible with the Druidic Sorcerer.  The Art of Weaving ( available at http://www.rpgdungeon.net/weaver/ ), another great Wild Magic mod, does some similiar things but is incompatible with the Druidic Sorcerer because of an HLA conflict (if I remember correctly).  Do you know if this mod and The Art of Weaving are compatible?  I love Spellweavers...   

Sorvan's Spellweavers were the base for my Spellshapers. A Spellweaver can turn into a Spellshaper, but stops to gain new Spellweaver abilities (since both kits accomplish this by using the override-script) The new spells work fine, of course.

The same applies to all other wild mage-mods: They can learn the spells (Only characters with the wild-mage kit may learn the spells), but when a char becomes a Spellshaper, the old mod might be deactivated, if it also uses the character's override-script.

My mod doesn't add any HLA's, I just set the "excluded_by" entries for the extra spell-slot HLA's, since the Spellshaper isn't supposed to get them. So if the HLA's are the only conflict between the "Art of Weaving" mod and the "Druidic Sorcerer" mod, then the Spellshaper "kit" should run with it. (if need be you can always install the Druidic Sorcerer after my mod and thus allow the Spellshaper to gain extra spells slots as HLA's)

Is there a more detailed readme file for your mod, perhaps one that includes spell descriptions?

See the PDF-Files on the right side under "detailed information" at http://home.tiscali.de/jo.ge/bg/shaper.htm

[JOG]

Yet another update... v1.3 now: 

• Fix: Spellshaper: class-name wasn't displayed on top of inventory/character sheet
  
  
• Fix: Spellshaper: "Find Traps" from Weave Spell ability had no icon (used the one from BG1TuTu)
  
  
• Fix: Mod now actually starts in a TOB-only game (sorry, forgot to change BALDUR25.BCS...)
  
  
• Fix: Solved script-conflict with Baldurdash-fixes that prevented Rhialto's appearance after resting.
  
  
• Fix: "Rodent Form" and it's twin now prevent the caster from casting them several times. (thus it's no longer possible to gain cummulative effects...)
  
  
• Tweak: Tuned down "Vortex". Now it does only 2d6 points of electricity, magic and shock damage (safe for half). Most enemies now ignore the Vortex (it's "invisible")
  
  
• Tweak: "Cellular Regeneration" now allows a saving throw vs. death when cast on enemies (Can no longer be abused as a guaranted way to knock out enemies...)
  

http://home.tiscali.de/jo.ge/bg/shaper.htm

[JOG]

Just uploaded the new v1.4

• More compatibility: Installation of Spellshaper "Kit" no longer modifies "LUMA0.2DA"
  
  
• Added optional component "Misc Spell Modifications"  that fixes glitches with original spells. (As yet: Dimension Door no longer needs LOS + Magic Missile now does 1d4+1 damage)
  
  
• Added 8 new wild magic spells and made "Entropy Burst" a real wild magic spell.
  
  
• Tweak: Cosmetics: "Teleport Portal" and "Dimension Door" graphically improved
  
  
• Tweak: reduced casting time of "Wildstrike" from 6 to 3 for balancing reasons.
   
  
• Tweak: reduced casting time of "Wild Sphere" from 12 to 6 for balancing reasons.
  
  
• Spellshaper changes:
• Spellshaper doesn't get any high level abilities (including level 10 spells)
  
• Changed Level 30+ feat progress to 1/3 levels, and required max int. to 19
  
• Removed the -1 Saving Throw penalty (too confusing in records screen and not that much of a disadvantage)
  
• May no longer spend 3 points in Dagger profiency, maximum is now 2.
  
• Made appearance of random items as "wild dream" effect 3 times more likely
  
  
• "Shape Spell":
• Fix: Ability can no longer fail due to magic resistance
  
• Spellshaper gains this Ability now at 10th level.
  
• Changed Shape Spell progression to max out at 35th level.
  
  
• "Weave Spell":
• Ability now also works when only spells from this mod are memorized
  
• Ability can now create 10th level spells.
  

[/list]
[/list]

http://home.tiscali.de/jo.ge/bg/shaper.htm

[Aran]

I haven't had a chance to try this yet, but it looks interesting. A couple of nitpicks after reading your PDFs:

- The Spellshaper kit entry mentions that at level 45, the duration of the Weaveshear ability increases to 15 rounds. I must mention that BGII: ToB can't handle levels past 40 to my knowledge. (Hey, if you found some way to make it work, I'd be interested in seeing it.)

- The "Ambidextrousity" ability name isn't a word. I believe the word you're looking for is ambidexterity - that is, "to have dexterity with both" (in reference to hands).

[JOG]

I haven't had a chance to try this yet, but it looks interesting. A couple of nitpicks after reading your PDFs:

- The Spellshaper kit entry mentions that at level 45, the duration of the Weaveshear ability increases to 15 rounds. I must mention that BGII: ToB can't handle levels past 40 to my knowledge. (Hey, if you found some way to make it work, I'd be interested in seeing it.)

I have this old level 50 mod from TeamBG-days: http://home.tiscali.de/jo.ge/bg/dl\BG2_lvl50.exe
I always have it installed, but I don't think I ever had a char with level 40+

- The "Ambidextrousity" ability name isn't a word. I believe the word you're looking for is ambidexterity - that is, "to have dexterity with both" (in reference to hands).

Hm... well, I'm no native english speaker, but as I understand it, ambidextrousity is a synonym for ambidexterity, maybe a bit more old-fashioned and maybe used because it rhymes with "virtuousity"

The word is used in some computer games (Jagged Alliance 2, the old Exile games, Dune Mud) for chars that are skilled with both hands, and I read it in real-life when someone described the skills of guitar-players like yngwie malmsteen that play the guitar using both hands.

Also, dict.cc gives me 3 different translations for ambidextrous: "two handed", "sly/sneaky/scheming/duplicitous" and "bisexual"

[Aran]

"Ambidextrous" is an adjective, meaning "possessing dexterity with both" (again, with the connotation being of hands.) "Ambidexterity" is the noun form of the same word. "Ambidextrousity" is a malformed adjective form of ambidexterity. It's not real.

[Chiz]

Seconded. I only bother to reply since you mentioned the old exile games, showing that you have taste. Even so, in exile they didn't say ambidextrousity.

[JOG]

So okay, "ambidextrousity" is bad english; but I'm certainly not the only one using it. Just do a google search

At least I have an excuse

If there is another version I'll change it (you read it only twice in-game anyway).

With the dict.cc comment I meant to ask if the word is really that ambiguous; I already had some funny experience with the reactions to the title of my Morrowind Mod "Booty Island" (which is all about pirates...)

[Alladan]

I just wanted to post a few things I encountered while trying your mod. (Thanks for making it, by the way. Wild Mages might finally become playable now). Anyway, there seems to be an incompatibility with G3Tweaks-v18:ExpandedDualClassOptions. At least, my problems went away when I uninstalled it. I started a Wild Mage but I couldn't use any items except staffs. I couldn't read spells, the game said "wrong spell school". And I was just a mage on the character record screen and in kit description. It was as if I had no kit. I looked at a game in Shadow Keeper and the kit field was greyed out, not assigned, and unalterable. Actually, I don't know if the problem was there before I installed your mod. Anyhow, I suppose this is not your problem as much as those guys of G3, but I thought you should know of the apparent incompatibility.
And thanks again for those wonderfully chaotic spells.

[JOG]

A bit of thread-necromancy, but hey, BG2 is much older!!!

Just updated to v1.5:

• Added Polish translation
• Spellshaper: Fixed a Bug where you would get 255 Level 8 spells at 16th level.
• Spellshaper: Fixed a Bug where you could select the HLA Assasination only with x4 Backstab-Multiplier not with x5 or higher.
• Fixed an inconsistency with Rhialto's Spellbook: When not learned at level 17 or 18, Wildfire would vanish from the book 'till you reached 20th level.
• Fixed a problem with a Spellshaper and the spell Rhialto's Marvelous Reincarnation.

http://home.tiscali.de/jo.ge/bg/shaper.htm

[AnnabelleRose]

I am very happy to see an addition to this mod!