Updates

[Sergio1992]

nice! I wish you the best of luck!

[Echon]

The updates to the priest and wizard spells from BG2 are finally complete. Some of those spells remain unchanged for the moment. This is either because the spell does not come from the P&P sources, only shares its name with the P&P counterpart, or is too difficult (if not impossible) to implement. These changes represent the majority of beta 4. There are a number of bugs I want to fix, but the next version should probably be out next week.

Here is the list of spell changes:


Cure Disease no longer cures Feeblemind. The casting time is 1 round (was 1).

Zone of Sweet Air also belongs to the sphere of Elemental Air and druids have access to it. The casting time is 6 (was 3).

Summon Insects lasts 1 round/level, doing 4 points of damage once per round. The save is vs. spell (unmodified). There is no casting failure. The casting time is 1 round (was 9).

Poison requires a succesful attack. If the save is failed, the target becomes incapacitated and dies in 1 turn. The casting time is 7 (was 4).

Negative Plane Protection lasts 1 turn/level, but only protects against one energy level/strength drain. Druids no longer have access to it. As per the description, its school is abjuration (was alteration). The casting time is 1 round (was 3).

Cause Serious Wounds lasts 1 round (was 2.5). It inflicts 2D8+1 damage (was 17).

Cloak of Fear causes fear for 8 rounds (was 4) in a smaller area of effect. It affects all creatures, including allies. Druids no longer have access to it.

True Seeing lasts 1 round/level (was 1 turn). It may be cast on other recipients now.

Iron Skins is permanent until the skins have been removed. 1D6 + 1 per 2 levels attacks are blocked. It may be cast on other recipients now. The casting time is 1 (was 9).

Magic Resistance lasts 1 round/level (was 3 + 1/level). It is now an abjuration spell (was alteration), and only affects the caster. Druids no longer have access to it.

Cause Serious Wounds lasts 1 round (was 2.5). It inflicts 3D8+3 damage (was 27).

Slay Living is now a ranged spell and does not require an attack roll. Only PC races are affected. The casting time is 1 round (was 1).

Mass Cure no longer affects the caster. The casting speed is 1 round (was 5).

Pixie Dust lasts 2 rounds/level (was 24 hours). It belongs to the Combat sphere, which means clerics gain access to it and druids lose access to it. It is now an alteration spell (was illusion/phantasm). Detect Invisibility does not work against Pixie Dust. The invisibility is reapplied once per round. The casting speed is 1 round (was 9).

Insect Plague lasts 2 rounds/level (was 6 rounds). It belongs to the Animal sphere and can only be cast outdoors. All creatures in the area of effect receive 1 point of damage/round. Creatures with 2 or fewer HD automatically flee, while creatures with 3-4 HD must check morale or flee. The casting time is 1 round (was 5).

Luck lasts 3 turns. It is now an alteration spell (was enchantment/charm). The casting time is 1 round (was 2). It provides a +1 bonus to all saving throws.

Chaos Shield lasts 5 rounds + 2 rounds/level (was 5 rounds + 1 turn/5 levels).

Glitterdust affects all creatures within the area of effect. The blindness lasts for three rounds. The dust fades after 2 rounds + 1 round/level and does not allow a saving throw. The dust prevents hiding in shadows and becoming invisible. The spell can now be dispelled and does not ignore magic resistance.

Remove Magic has become Dispel Magic.

Invisibility, 10' Radius has a casting time of 3 (was 9).

Dire Charm lasts 2 rounds + 1 round/level (was 5 rounds). It now causes the target to go berserk, attacking anyone within sight.

Protection from Fire lasts 2 rounds/level (was 1 turn/level).

Protection from Cold lasts 2 rounds/level (was 1 turn/level).

Hold Undead lasts 2 rounds + 1 round/level (was 2 rounds/level). The casting time is 5 (was 3). Undead with less than 3 HD do not get a saving throw vs. spell.

Melf's Minute Meteors gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls (was +5). The meteors do 1d4 fire damage (was 1d4+3 piercing + 3 fire damage).

Fire Shield (Blue) lasts 2 rounds + 1 round/level (was 3 rounds + 1 round/level). It now grants 50% fire resistance (was 50% cold resistance).

Icestorm lasts 1 round (was 4 rounds). It does 3d10 points of damage (was 2d8).

Stoneskin lasts for 24 hours (was 12 hours). It can be cast on any target now (was caster only). The number of skins is 1d4 + 1 per three levels (was 1 per two levels).

Contagion reduces the target's attack rolls by 2. It no longer slows the target.

Fire Shield (Red) lasts 2 rounds + 1 round/level (was 3 rounds + 1 round/level). It now grants 50% cold resistance (was 50% fire resistance).

Spider Spawn summons 1 Hit Die of spiders per 2 levels of the caster. The spiders may have from 1+1 HD to 4+4 HD each.

Wizard Eye has a casting time of 1 round (was 9).

Spell Immunity lasts 1 turn/level (was 1 round/level). It may be cast on any target. The spell provides immunity to one specific spell of 4th level or less.

Protection from Electricity lasts 5 rounds/level (was 1 turn/level). It provides 50% electricity resistance (was 100%).

Lower Resistance lasts 1 turn + 1 round/level (was 1 round/level). It lowers the target's resistance by 16% + 1%/level (was 10% + 1%/level). The target's resistance works against the spell now but at 20% lower than normal. It can now be dispelled.

Conjure Lesser Fire/Air/Earth Elemental have become one spell, Conjure Elemental. It lasts 5 rounds/level (was 1 turn + 1 round/level). The casting time is 1 round (was 9). The elemental is friendly but the caster must remain concentrated to prevent it from turning hostile. The caster may at any time choose to end the concentration , which will also be broken if the caster is damaged. After the second round there is a 2% chance per round that the elemental breaks free and turns hostile.

Protection from Acid lasts 5 rounds/level (was 1 turn/level). The casting speed is 5 (was 6). It provides 50% resistance to acid damage (was 100%).

Phantom Blade lasts 1 round/level (was 3 rounds + 1 round/level). The sword is considered +2 with regard to what it can hit, but gains no THAC0 or damage bonus (was +3 with bonuses). Versus undead it provides a +4 bonus to hit and does 4d4 damage (was +10 damage).

Minor Spell Turning lasts 5 rounds/level (was 3 rounds/level). It turns 1d4 spell levels (was 4), and can turn spells of 1st-3rd level (was 1st-4th level). It may now be dispelled.

Sunfire has a casting time of 5 (was 3). The maximum damage is 12d6 (was 15d6). It may now be cast at any point within range instead of being centered on that caster.

[Echon]

It is time for me to start working on the full release of v2.00 and leave the beta behind. Here is my current to-do list.

1. Create new icons for all the spells that FotD adds to the game. I am already working on this and have completed the icons for a couple of priest spells.
2. Update all classes with missing features and abilities.
3. Add a BG:EE specific TRA.
4. Add more optional tweaks.
5. Fix bugs.

Also, the Fields of the Dead site has been given a new layout. Go check it out: click!.

[Echon]

The new spell icons are coming along nicely. In the attached image you can see nine of the new priest spell icons. The spells are:

Curse, Sunscorch, Faerie Fire
Strength of Stone, Cure Moderate Wounds, Bestow Curse
Summon Animal Spirit, Adamantite Mace, Impregnable Mind

[Echon]

All priest spell icons have been completed, 12 in total. Here are the first 9 wizard spells:

Fist of Stone, Protection from Paralyzation, Cat's Grace
Bone Club, Turn Pebble to Boulder, Fire Aura
Mordenkainen's Force Missiles, Conjure Elemental, Summon Shadow

I only need to create 3 more icons before I can move on to the next item in my to-do list.

[Kulyok]

Wow, that's very beautiful. Took me half a minute to realize it wasn't from the original game. Looks great.

[Echon]

Thanks. I wanted them to look like the original icons, which is why some of them have been rather timeconsuming.

[Galactygon]

I think they look even better than the vanilla ones. That is really fine work, Echon.

[Echon]

Thanks. Glad to hear that.

[Echon]

I had noticed that some priest spells did not belong to the correct sphere(s) of influence, and that both clerics and druids could use certain spells from spheres they did not have access to, so I went through all priest spells to double check this. This is the complete list of changes to the cleric and druid spell selections.

Clerics lose access to:

Shillelagh
Barkskin
Flame Blade
Protection from Fire
Animal Summoning I
Protection from Lightning
Call Woodland Beings
Animal Summoning II

Clerics gain access to:

Pixie Dust

Druids lose access to:

Detect Evil
Armor of Faith
Doom
Find Traps
Know Alignment
Resist Fire/Resist Cold
Invisibility Purge
Miscast Magic
Rigid Thinking
Defensive Harmony
Death Ward
Negative Plane Protection
Farsight
Cloak of Fear
Chaotic Commands
Magic Resistance
Pixie Dust

Druids gain access to:

Chant
Remove Curse
Zone of Sweet Air


There were also a few spells from BioWare's hand, i.e. not P&P spells, that did not belong to any sphere. They now do.

Death Ward (Protection)
Holy Power (Combat)
Farsight (Divination)
Repulse Undead (Necromantic)

[The Imp]

Death Ward (Protection)
Holy Power (Combat)
Farsight (Divination)
Repulse Undead (Necromantic)

Did you think it might be a good idea to strip 8 spells from Clerics and then give one back, or 17 from druids and give only 3 ? EDIT: Yeah, you are not actually removing most of those spells from them as they didn't actually have them in the first place. Where's the real list ?
They already have a very strict selection in the first place and this can make it worse. Now were they to be compensated on an equal grounds, it would be understandable, like for example kit restricted spells, or some other way. But ... the concern is playability. Play the BG2 normal campaign with a druid as your only healer and you run into very much trouble even in the primary guests as you have no way to protect against the vampires ! Unless you intent to go completely without ever being hit, by the level drain effect.
The reason why the above mentioned spells do not have a sphere is that they could be what's called universal sphere. The Repulse undead has nothing to do with Necromancy but everything to do with being a priest.
The concept of a sphere system is the worst thing ever... in a story driven computer game, yes it works on a PnP as you can throw things aside and remake the rules as you see fit, but not in this game. And a sphere system is already in the Divine Remix mod. So you could just encourage people to use that instead.

Also the removal and adding spells has bad side effects for compatibility. And depending how exactly you do it, with kit mods or spell mods and no one can say which is the default, as it's all over the place todays.

[Echon]

Did you think it might be a good idea to strip 8 spells from Clerics and then give one back, or 17 from druids and give only 3 ? EDIT: Yeah, you are not actually removing most of those spells from them as they didn't actually have them in the first place. Where's the real list ?
They already have a very strict selection in the first place and this can make it worse. Now were they to be compensated on an equal grounds, it would be understandable, like for example kit restricted spells, or some other way. But ... the concern is playability. Play the BG2 normal campaign with a druid as your only healer and you run into very much trouble even in the primary guests as you have no way to protect against the vampires ! Unless you intent to go completely without ever being hit, by the level drain effect.

I made these changes because this is how things are in P&P. As I hope you know, the purpose of FotD is to bring everything closer to the AD&D 2E game. Due to the limits of the game, and the fact that it is realtime instead of turnbased, certain exceptions are made, but this is still the overall goal.
Which of these spells do you think they did have access to in the first place? The above list is based on a comparison of an unmodded BG:EE installation and FotD.
As for your druid-only and level drain concern, this might apply to BG2, but FotD is not compatible with that game. It only works on BG:EE, Tutu and BGT, and there are no creatures or spells here that can drain levels.
It may look like both classes lose a lot of spells, but FotD also adds a number of new priest spells to the game. And there are more to come.

The reason why the above mentioned spells do not have a sphere is that they could be what's called universal sphere.

There is in fact already a 'universal' sphere; it is called All. It contains Bless/Curse, Chant, Remove Curse/Bestow Curse, Dispel Magic and True Seeing. None of those four BioWare spells seem to fit in with these spells, in my opinion.

The Repulse undead has nothing to do with Necromancy but everything to do with being a priest.

I am open for suggestions if you believe it should belong to a different sphere, but regardless of where it ends up, this is obviously not a druid spell. Druids deal with animals and creatures of the forests. Animating and turning undead, for example, are the domains of clerics.

The concept of a sphere system is the worst thing ever... in a story driven computer game, yes it works on a PnP as you can throw things aside and remake the rules as you see fit, but not in this game.

Spheres are the divine equivalent of the arcane schools of magic, which define the spells that are available to the specialist wizards. If you believe it sucks, that is fine. This may suggest that you are not exactly the target audience for a mod like this.

And a sphere system is already in the Divine Remix mod. So you could just encourage people to use that instead.

'Hey, don't use my mod, use this other one instead which is much better'. Really? I am not saying DR is bad - I would not know since I have not tried it, but I would rather spend my time finishing this, and I am not going to leave it half done just because another mod overlaps with it.

Also the removal and adding spells has bad side effects for compatibility. And depending how exactly you do it, with kit mods or spell mods and no one can say which is the default, as it's all over the place todays.

This may prove to be an issue, but it does not really concern me.

[The Imp]

Hmm, after thinking a bit... I think I was kinda wrong. But first.

As for your druid-only and level drain concern, this might apply to BG2, but FotD is not compatible with that game. It only works on BG:EE, Tutu and BGT, and there are no creatures or spells here that can drain levels.

I am sorry for you, but the BGT-weidu, and BGT do contain the whole of BG2, including the vampires in the example. ..
Not that I blame you for not thinking into that deep in this.

Spheres are the divine equivalent of the arcane schools of magic, which define the spells that are available to the specialist wizards.

That would be great if it were so, independent from each others... but there's something that mixes the Wizards specializations and Divine Sphere's in PnP and I ... example: Necromancy is both, well ... a Divine Sphere and Wizard Specialization, but the Wizard specialist can't heal people with it, so one can see that they are not the exact same thing. Well, actually it's "Necromantic Sphere" for priests... but that could get lost in the traffic/translation so to speak ... I already lost it once, and you did too, but differently, or perhaps your words didn't just tell the whole of it. See the above... He-heh-eh-he.

So. Now we return back to the regular programming... hope you learned something too.

[Echon]

I am sorry for you, but the BGT-weidu, and BGT do contain the whole of BG2, including the vampires in the example. ..
Not that I blame you for not thinking into that deep in this.

This is true, and I am not particularly fond of it. Once players reach the BG2 part the game becomes a mix of FotD changes and vanilla gameplay, but that is simply the way things are currently.

That would be great if it were so, independent from each others... but there's something that mixes the Wizards specializations and Divine Sphere's in PnP and I ... example: Necromancy is both, well ... a Divine Sphere and Wizard Specialization, but the Wizard specialist can't heal people with it, so one can see that they are not the exact same thing. Well, actually it's "Necromantic Sphere" for priests... but that could get lost in the traffic/translation so to speak ... I already lost it once, and you did too, but differently, or perhaps your words didn't just tell the whole of it. See the above... He-heh-eh-he.

I see that I could have phrased this in a better way. Spheres of influence are an additional way of grouping the spells beyond the schools of magic. For example, Cure Light Wounds, a necromancy spell, belongs to the sphere of healing.

[Echon]

Summer happened, and FotD development has been very slow lately. Still, a few things have been done.

A new weapon type, the composite short bow, has been added to the game in both normal and high quality versions. The composite short bow requires 17 strength and provides a +1 bonus to hit and damage.
High quality versions of the composite long bow, katana, wakizashi and ninja-to have been added to the game.

[Echon]

Strength of One has been updated. The number of creatures it affects now depends on the level of the caster. The old implementation, due to the limits of BG, only worked for party members. Now it may also be used by enemy NPCs.

Strength of One
(Alteration)

Level: 3
Sphere: Law
Range: 0
Duration: 6 rounds
Casting Time: 6
Area of Effect: 1 creature + 1 creature/2 levels
Saving Throw: None

By casting this spell, the priest imbues each creature with a strength bonus equal to that of the strongest creature in the group. Prior to casting, one creature is designated the keystone. Upon completion of the spell, all affected individuals gain a bonus to damage equal to the keystone's bonus to damage from strength. Any magical bonuses belonging to the keystone are not added; only the keystone's natural strength is conferred on the group. No more than 10 creatures may be affected by this spell.

[Echon]

Like Strength of One, Defensive Harmony has been updated and re-implemented. Available to enemies now.

Defensive Harmony
(Enchantment/Charm)

Level: 4
Sphere: Law
Range: 0
Duration: 5 rounds
Casting Time: 1
Area of Effect: 1 creature/2 levels
Saving Throw: None

This spell must be cast on at least two creatures. Defensive Harmony grants affected creatures a defensive bonus by bestowing an enhanced coordination of their attacks and defenses. While the spell is in effect, each affected creature gains a +1 bonus to armor class for every other creature benefitting from the spell, to a maximum of +5 (although more than five characters may be affected by the spell). Thus, if four creatures are affected by Defensive Harmony, each creature gains a +3 bonus to armor class. No more than 10 creatures may be affected by this spell.

[Echon]

The random treasure system has received several updates. The treasure tables now include all gems, jewelry, potions, magical ammunition, and most wizard and priest spell scrolls. The creatures and monsters of the game will drop a greater variety of items. Some carry less, some carry more, and others no longer carry any treasure at all.

The six tomes/manuals have been restored to their original locations. There is now an optional component that allows the user to relocate the books.

Bards are allowed to use composite long bows.

Lower Resistance is now an alteration spell (was abjuration).

Specialist wizards and their opposition schools have been given a minor balance update. Diviners are now barred from illusion/phantasm spells (in addition to conjuration/summoning), while illusionists have been given access to the school of invocation/evocation. On average, each specialist is barred from 30,5 spells. For diviners, this amount increases from 13 to 24 (still the lowest), while it decreases for illusionists from 53 to 35 (still the highest, together with transmuters).

[Echon]

Classes are being updated. First up is the Paladin and the non-evil kits.

Paladins may Detect Evil at will.
A permanent Aura of Protection provides a +2 bonus to AC vs. attacks from evil creatures. (In effect, a constant, non-dispellable Protection from Evil)
Immunity to Disease.
Paladins may only cast spells from the spheres of Combat, Divination, Healing and Protection.

[Galactygon]

It has been some years since the last update. How is it going with your mod Echon?

[Echon]

It has been some years since the last update. How is it going with your mod Echon?

I have not worked on it since the last update, so I guess I have abandoned it. I doubt development will be resumed. I might fix some issues in the installer, so that it works with the current version of BG:EE.

[Galactygon]

I really like the mod concept so I'm sad to hear it's being abandoned. Best of luck in whatever your endeveaors will be outside of modding!

[Echon]

Thanks.