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Topic Summary

Posted by: Lord Kain
« on: August 02, 2004, 09:30:20 PM »

you could actually have her BE duel class like it said she was in the read me. That would lower her fighting power. Another thing. The other vampires of the game aren't immune to level drain (there suposed to be) But sense they are Valen should be effected as well.


You could slow her vampire evolution every 2,000,000exp.

The main thing that makes her powerful is her level drain.
Maybe the final Matriarch status should wait tell 8,000,000exp.
Also having her claws never count as more then +3 weapons could limit what she can turn her power on.

Dispite her power. At her peak she could never defeat my Kensai/Thief who dual wields the axe of unyelding and blackrazor, (in her case he'd use daystar)

As for nerfing the hunters. DONT let them each summon a deva. The party can't summon more then one deva so why the hell can they!

Posted by: boo&minsc
« on: January 02, 2004, 03:42:49 PM »

hello there  ;)

----munbo jambo (you can skip it)----
first of all let me say i find Valen mod concept very interesting, although i never played it (neither BG2 for a long time, RL sucks...) and i'm looking forward to summer vacations...
i decided to post here since i hate overpowered npc's/items; they ruin the game... ironically being i a power gamer (or a least i try to)
-------------------------------------------


you want to have a vampire in your party like other vampires... but it can't be because it is too overpowered; so some major changes have to be taken, not ruining the concept of Valen, but neither take the fun/challenges of the game... so take a look at my sugestions and flame me :P (i bet lot of people won't like it... but it's just MHO)

Valen isn't a vampire; but instead she's half vampire, half human
(or half elf... "her mother was an elfish sorcerer"..."her birth wasn't wished, has she is a product of a rape"... i don't know, spread wings to imagination)
this gives the biography background to make her different from other vampires, like using magical items, leveling up, et cetera... things that weren't intended to happen to creatures but only NPCs. with this argument you can make a balanced NPC-vampire: lower her damage, thaco, resistances, speed, et cetera



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The Gaseous Form should be more vulnerable to fire and magic.
wouldn't cold make more sense? fire => heat => solid->liquid->gaseous
if she's already in gaseous form, more heat shouldn't do nothing... au contrair, cold would 'damage' the gaseous form

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the sunlight stuff. My thought instead is what every other vampire does.... turn into a bat.
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she is useless on one/fourth of the game (in daylight) where she can't be used as a fighter and not even as a thief
how about making vampire bats more powerfull ? wirm-bat? bat-girl? LOL :D (sorry... couldn't resist it)
now seriously:
idea1: she's half-vampire, she keeps her humanoid form and can withstand the daylight, but i sures hurts: she gets STR/DEX/CON penalties, and also gets slowed and what about 1HP lost per hour ?
idea2: her mother trying to hide her true nature, enchanted a magical amulet that makes her withstand the sun (only usable by Valen) (another user suggested a ring slot)
idea3: she's Blade's daughter :) lol (couldn't resist it.. again)

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5 potion of invisibility

she's a vampire and a thief... she should have a skill like: "3 times a day - improved invisibility" + "5 times a day - invisibility"... and this could grow with her level-ups (or maybe start lower)
(i don't know if she has it already, but by the 5 potions.. it doesn't seem)

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she can't be resurrected, thus she can get definitively killed
this totally sucks :( idea: for Valen to join up your party... someone has to carry her coffin, making her resurrectable
i don't know if the not-resurrect thing was Weimer's idea or IE limitation
yes, you can always reload... but it makes sense that she doesn't leave her coffin and that she could only permantely die if pierced by the wooden stick ou a critical hit by a piercing weapon(nice idea, i don't know if it's possible)

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she gets killed by your OWN turn undead/ false dawn/ sunlight if you try to use it against undead
now that ruined it! :(

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she gets you in some fights you don't want to engage (like the guards in gov district)
encore... but since she's caotic evil... it makes some sense... OTOH she's in your party... she's supposed to obbey

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Instead of tweaking Valen, how about making a tactics component for the mod. Make the enemy use anti undead tactics if Valen is in your party: have clerics cast sunray, equip the odd character with holy water, even a protection from undead scroll(should be part of any veteran adventurers kit), or even have a cleric or two turn undead! Lets see how overpowered Valen is when an evil cleric controlls her and she turns on your party!
superb idea! but i think this should be already in the mod.

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What if she has an XP penalty?
a level-up table is a better one IMO

about the level drain... why not a saving throw allowed, or a 50% chance it drains 1-3 levels... and of course 'bosses' are imune to level drain. or maybe even remove the level drain ability, making it avaible only in ToB for enemies X levels lower than Valen...
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the hp drain should be improved as she gets new claws.
great idea! :) why not to kick the level drain and have a HP drain instead :) since she's only half vampire

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Valen ahs the weapon-immunity of other Vampires, at Matriarch rank she can only be harmed by +3 weapons or greater.
that's wayyy powerfull... somehow a penalty should increase also... "+3 weapons" cames along with "-30% piercing resist"
overall this is positive, since what? only 1/3 of damage out here comes from piercing

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removing the dagger proficiency, as vampires aren't actually meant to have claws, just more powerful fists. Vampire fists are supposed to deal 5-10 base (crushing) damage and drain 2 levels, or possibly more based on the age (level) of the vampire.
this is very subjective, and IMO out the dagger, in the fists, but 3-6(crushing) + 2-4 (slashing)
imagine yourself a vampire, you could punch but you can also cut with your steel like sharp nails...
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to prevent dual-wielding
if IE possible, i think unarmed dual wielding makes sense... 'all your life you have been killing with your hands... well, to be honest, only your right hand'; it makes sense your master unarmed fight, you dual wield your fists
(i don't remember monks, if not, they should also... but this is D&D, not my idea of logic'ness :/)

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Although I guess this would make the vampire hunters less of a challenge...
Not to mention pointless. "Attack the vampire, though we have not a hope of killing it!"  
hurry... get the vacuum cleaner, i left it in my wagonmobile :D LOOL
the gaseous form even turns vicon


nice... after wrting all this i see that TG Maestro as defined the path to custom the mod...
in Nov 19 2003... ohh well... i'll post it anyway... :/


cya... and thanks Weimer for all you have contributed to the modding scene :)

@TGM
how are things going ? btw.. what about the other mod you talked about tweaking? (K-Z : )



kind'a- offtopic, but it IMO it would be nice... (i just though of it now, it wasn't my intention)
but what do you think of adding the jokes i said here as some funny NPC interactions...
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Edwin: Oooh my... you sure know how to spill some blood... you sexy bat-girl... Is there any chance you can teach me those techniques? Shall we say... dinner at 8 o'clock ?
Valen: That would be nice... i always wanted to taste some red wizard wannabe blood...
Edwin: hmmrrr... forget i said that, i have to....hmmm... help the childrens... in an orphanege.... in neverwinter.... yes, that's it.

Slayer1: Attack the vampire, if by any chance she turns to her gaseous form, get the vaccum cleaner on the slayer-mobile.

Kagain: Tell me ou' fowl beast... how can yea' withstand the daylight? How do yeh' survive? Aren't yea' supposed to turn to dust?
Valen: Tell me dwarf... How do you survive without your brain? : )
Kagain: What?
Valen: I said a lot of suncream. : )
Kagain: What the bloody hells is a funcream? O_o Yea' eat it? Or ya' drink it? haha
Valen: Grrr... these punny livings creatures just make wish to be dead.
Viconia: Aren't you already? If you aren't happy i can always turn you... undead! : )
Valen: Very funny... i bet the locals townfolks would like to ear it also... and then burn the drow witch... : )


hope i didn't forget anything :P lol
Posted by: reiella
« on: December 30, 2003, 12:36:57 AM »

More legitimately than the "NPC Vampires don't use magical items as often as PC Vampires" argument is the presentation of her Armor (Ability to soak sun) and that she can drop major proficency into her claw attacks.

However, the argument that "NPC Vampires don't use magical items as often as Valen" is as silly as claiming that ANY humanoid you encounter doesn't make use of a similiar party wealth level.  It's also a rather ugly downward spiral of the party getting continually new and better resources (some exceptions, the nodrop items on some folks, and 'scripted' items :P).  Just because she and Lassal/Bodhi are both vampires instead of both humans doesn't change the balance relation.

I do agree, however, that she should typically be better off than Bodhi except maybe in an Ascension time period situation, but then again, I'd be hesitant there as well, due to Improved Bodhi.
Posted by: T.G.Maestro
« on: December 18, 2003, 02:51:52 PM »

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Just because common or wellknow folklore doesn't hi-light the fact that Vampires do/don't use magical items, it doesn't mean that it doesn't happen.
No Seif, you got my words in a wrong way. I was referring to the fact that Vampires in BG2 don't seem to use ANY magical items that would enhance their fighting provess, unlike Valen. And this makes her much more powerful than her "siblings".
Posted by: Seifer
« on: December 18, 2003, 08:20:22 AM »

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otherwise she isnt a real vampire
Still you forget that REAL vampires don't tend to use magical equipment like she does. She is clearly an equal for Bodhi when she is buffed up with some heavy magical goods. This part SHOULD be balanced by any means - and playing with her innate and racial abilities is one way to do this.
This is nothing more then a supported stereotype.  I might as well claim that Wizards don't use spells.

Just because common or wellknow folklore doesn't hi-light the fact that Vampires do/don't use magical items, it doesn't mean that it doesn't happen.
Posted by: Avrom
« on: December 17, 2003, 04:04:36 PM »

I enjoyed playing Valen, but I felt (like, I think, a lot of others here) that there were two things that detracted from the experience:

1) The vampire hunter scene was all-but-impossible
2) The rest of the game was much, much too easy.

I think a few tweaks would take care of both of these without proving a detriment to Valen's uniqueness:

1) Make Valen a single-classed thief (it looked, from an earlier post, like she was once). There's a dearth of good thieves in the game anyway, and it takes away much of the ridiculousness that comes with using her claws combined with weapon specialization and whirlwinds. It also faces a party with an interesting choice: Use traditional fighter-types, with better chances to hit and better defence, or use Valen to drain lots of levels?

2) Add protection from level drain to more cleric scripts. And have oppenent clerics try to turn her.

3) Slow down Valen's claw advancement, as suggested earlier in this thread (actually, I just noticed that the latest release does this--1 level/1.5 million XP...good idea!).

4) Make monsters that can't affect Valen's mist form ignore it. The fact that they don't makes her *very* succeptible to abuse--I took out all the golems in Firkraag's lair this way without breaking a sweat...let Valen go for them first, and once she turns to mist, they'll keep ineffectually beating on her while the rest of your party attacks them with impunity.

5) In compensation, the vampire hunters need to be seriously nerfed. I can think three ways to do this:

a) Make them substantially lower level. Maybe give Van Helsing and Buffy about 3 million XP each, and the others 2.5?
b) Make them show up much later--at 4.5 million XP or so.
c) Divide them into two groups: Let Van Helsing appear solo at 2.5 million XP, and have the others show up as a group an extra million XP later.
Posted by: T.G.Maestro
« on: November 19, 2003, 05:33:52 AM »

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otherwise she isnt a real vampire
Still you forget that REAL vampires don't tend to use magical equipment like she does. She is clearly an equal for Bodhi when she is buffed up with some heavy magical goods. This part SHOULD be balanced by any means - and playing with her innate and racial abilities is one way to do this.
Posted by: Schatten
« on: November 19, 2003, 04:19:46 AM »

her gaseous form should be untouched i think.
and her vamp immunities should be like all vamps and her speed also. otherwise she isnt a real vampire. ;)
Posted by: T.G.Maestro
« on: November 19, 2003, 12:53:12 AM »

I already pointed this out in one of my earlier posts. Valen gets the natural THAC0 bonuses as she levels up, she gets the enchantment/THAC0 bonus of her claws, plus she gets the THAC0/damage bonuses of weapon specialization. Absolutely overpowered and insane if you ask me.

Anyway, I've a working and very much balanced version of Valen here with me, so if someone is interested in trying a much more realistic vampire party member, feel free to PM me and we will talk about the details.
The things I've been edited on Valen:
- her claws and THAC0 bonuses;
- her level draining capabilities (now stops at +3);
- her armor (it was giving an incorrect AC, as if it had a +7 enchantment, which is obviously not the case);
- her immunities (she will receive stronger immunities as she levels up, and won't gain all of them at start);
- her resistances (it improves as she levels up, starting from a Fledling Vamp. level);
- her movement speed (again, it starts at 130% and increases to 200% as she advances in her Vampire status);
- her Gaseous Form (lasts longer at higher Vamp. levels, while lasts shorter at low levels, plus its crazy resisatnces were balanced a bit);
- she gained a few weak spots in addition ;) , just to make her more tricky to play;
 
Posted by: Novio
« on: November 16, 2003, 05:17:32 PM »

"-Proficiencies on claws: I examined .cre files for quite a long time, and I still believe most creatures DON'T use the proficiency bonuses to their weapon (hands, claws, and other undroppable items). "


Creatures use the THAC0 that was assigned to them so proficiencies are relatively pointless.
Posted by: Schatten
« on: August 09, 2003, 05:21:17 PM »

1) True, but isnt it too much of a nerf to reduce her thac0 AND her level draining? perhaps give her profincies with every vamp upgrade. so after the last upgrade she has grandmastery with her claws.
3) nah, those upgrades are a brilliant idea.
5/6) its better when in mistform she wanders around or vanish, so the enemies target other party members instead.
7) jep, 5lvl draining is way too much. even vamps in ravenloft drain max 3 lvl.
8) no, her armor is good like it is now.
Posted by: Tancred
« on: August 09, 2003, 04:33:25 AM »

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Although I guess this would make the vampire hunters less of a challenge...
Not to mention pointless. "Attack the vampire, though we have not a hope of killing it!"
Posted by: ValenFan
« on: August 09, 2003, 03:53:31 AM »

Ok, Valen is fun, and Valen is too powerful. Here are my thoughts on how to improve the mod so that you can have Valen without breaking the game:

1) Let Valen be a vampire and also a fighter-thief multiclass. But why does she have grandmastery in daggers? Ordinary multiclasses can't have it, and there's no real reason to give it to Valen... she's there to fill the thief slot.

2) As everybody's pointing out, claws using dagger proficiency doesn't make any sense.

3) Why does Valen need all these vampire powerups? It doesn't really make any sense that she becomes an elder vampire by wandering around with your hero for a couple of weeks. Just give her the abilities of an ordinary vampire (already considerable) and let her level up the way everybody else does.

4) Give her all of the vampire immunities/extra speed/regeneration and so forth, and all her fighter and thief abilities and so forth. None of these are really problematic.

5) The permanent death makes good sense, and certainly Valen shouldn't die normally (would ruin the aesthetic if you cast resurrection on your vampire buddy). But it's also annoying... given that you can just reload if anything bad happens, it won't really change the way you play or think about Valen. Why not have her work the way ordinary vampires do: if you pound her enough, she mistforms, and stays out for a long time? Although I guess this would make the vampire hunters less of a challenge...

6) The Valen mistform is, to my mind, the biggest problem. Because here's what happens time and again during tough fights. Valen wades in first since she's faster than everybody else. She kills a bunch of things, but gets beat up pretty fast since she has low hp. So she mistforms. Then everybody's pounding on the mistform, and the rest of the party walks up and slaughters them. It's a problem with the game's AI not knowing how to handle the mistform ability which the PCs ordinarily don't have. Perhaps the mistform could be more effective in getting out of the way?

7) Valen's claws: first of all, would it really be so tough to make them unusable by everybody else? I know I can just not use them, but it breaks the feel of the game when I know that there's that possibility. Second: the level draining ability is too strong. I know it's no better than the level draining ability that super-charged vampires you meet in the game get, but monster levels aren't always coded in reasonably so that you can often take out really tough enemies with just a few hits. If you take my above suggestion (so Valen doesn't get stronger vampire abilities as she gains xp), then you could give her just one version of the claws which could drain one or two levels. I guess the price of doing things this way is that in late game the claws can't compete with other weapons that you could find for Valen.

8) The special armor thing doesn't make too much sense, and it takes away some of the fun of the game. I'd imagine that if you're going to take Valen then you're going to use her as your thief, and there are lots of neat special armors for thieves in the game which you won't get to try out if that slot is always taken. Why not come up with some other explanation for why Valen can survive in sunlight (possibly using some less vital slot like a ring slot)?

Let me just conclude by thanking Weimer for making Valen. The mod is fun; the above are just suggestions for making the mod more fun.

 
Posted by: drae
« on: July 15, 2003, 07:18:40 AM »

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Just a BG2 junkie commenting on this..

After downloading the mod, being really impressed with the great portrait, the good voicing (voicing is very important imo, gives it the legit feel), I summarily uninstalled it and reloaded a different saved game after watching her zip around faster then anything I've ever seen.  It was utterly rediculous, I play the game to have fun, not run around in god-mode trivializing all the encounters of the game.

If she was a regular character, with some minor vampire strengths, and the same weaknesses I'd use her just because she's cool.

Great character, waaaay overpowered.
Just one thing, the voice is an original voice in the game :D And for her being overpowered, well send T.G. an e-mail and ask him to send his revised Valen. ;) Or, just give me your e-mail and I'll post it to ya, with it she's much more fun.
Posted by: Merkdabard
« on: July 13, 2003, 02:42:05 PM »

Just a BG2 junkie commenting on this..

After downloading the mod, being really impressed with the great portrait, the good voicing (voicing is very important imo, gives it the legit feel), I summarily uninstalled it and reloaded a different saved game after watching her zip around faster then anything I've ever seen.  It was utterly rediculous, I play the game to have fun, not run around in god-mode trivializing all the encounters of the game.

If she was a regular character, with some minor vampire strengths, and the same weaknesses I'd use her just because she's cool.

Great character, waaaay overpowered.