Done: Magic Upgrade

Minor spell change after next module update:

cleave health - on a successful Fortitude save, target creature will suffer 1/10 current hitpoints in damage (rather than the old 1/4)...just better for balance...after all, the target made it's save, it shouldn't still get kicked so hard.

Spell change (with next module update and hak update):

old name: magic vestment
new name: magic armor
other changes:
- will no longer affect shields
- will be open to more casters (it's a 3rd level spell): Bard, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Sorcerer/Wizard
- name change and addition to other spell lists will require the new updates hak I expect to have ready this weekend

coming (relatively) soon:
fortify shield - +1 armor AC per 3 caster levels (max +5), for shields (Brd 3, Clr 3, Drd 3, Pal 3, Sor/Wiz 3)
battlecrown - +1 deflection AC per 4 caster levels (max +5), for helms (Brd 4, Clr 4, Drd 4, Pal 4, Sor/Wiz 4)

Edited to add:

Spell change: ice dagger
old: auto-hit, reflex save for 1/2 damage
new: ranged touch attack needed to hit, no save

Spell change (with next module update):

glyph of warding

new damage maximum: 6d8
old: 5d8

VC command: ;;option glyph x
replace x with acid, cold, electricity, fire, sonic, negative, or divine to change the damage type before casting (sonic is default).

Negative damage won't affect undead or demons. Divine will affect only undead and demons. (Yes, I'm going to say that these only count full demons and fully undead beings, so PC vampires and demonspawn won't be affected).

No longer uses a placeable heartbeat script.

Should not trigger for the caster or party members (will show a brief visual effect, but won't actually trigger).

So are you also fixing Storm of Vengeance while you're at all this? Just curious since you're at all of this and I love the spell

evilkittenofdoom wrote:So are you also fixing Storm of Vengeance while you're at all this? Just curious since you're at all of this and I love the spell

Eventually.

Next change up: elemental swarm

This spell will be added to the cleric list with the next hak update, but only clerics of Aquar, Conflagral, Terris, and Typhis will be able to cast it.

Each casting will call forth 4 elder elementals of the same type. Clerics that can cast it will get elementals that match their patron deity. Druids will be able to preselect which kind they desire via a VC command:

;;option eswarm xxx- replace xxx with air, earth, fire, water, or random

Underwater, the fire and air elementals won't be able to be summoned with this spell. Druids casting underwater can summon earth elementals or water elementals (picking a different type will still net 4 water elementals).


Also: implosion

This spell will inflict 1d4 points of magical damage per caster level, then the target must make a fortitude save or die from much more massive damage (being ripped to pieces).

Next spell change: invisibility sphere

Getting rid of the sort-of-buggy mobile circle, changing the spell to a simpler "mass invisibility". Right when cast, all allies (party members) within a large circle will get an invisibility spell effect placed on them for 1 minute per 2 caster levels (cutting duration in half, since it's only one level higher than regular invisibility and party members can then take the effect with them).

Is the implosion change live? If it is, it's not doing any of the magical damage

Staff of Steps VII - If I understand how this is supposed to work (I am not sure), it seems to be borked. Crids save DC is 38 for level 1 Ray of Enfeeblement. With the staff stepping it up to the equivalent of an 8th level spell (+7 steps), the DC should have been 45... but it was still showing 38 in combat log.

Staff of the Transmuter - Crid's save DC on Flesh to Stone is normally 47. With the staff equipped, still 47, not 49 as advertised.

Looking into the staff of steps issue tonight. Found the problem with implosion and fixed it for next module update.

Spell Change: gnimish's shockwave

Old Damage: 2d6 (+1 per caster level)
New Damage 1d4 per caster level (maxe 15d4)
Old Save Type: Reflex 1/2 (and to avoid stun)
New Save Type: Fortitude 1/2 (and to avoid stun)

now THAT is exciting

Spell Change (after next module update sometime tomorrow): quillin's company of archers

The archers summoned by this spell are going to be changing.

Old: Invulnerable (due to a mistakenly marked "plot" flag) 1st level fighters with normal bows and arrows, which serve more as unkillable distractions (which the NWN monster ai doesn't deal with intelligently) than actual archers, which is definitely not the intent of the spell.

New: The archers summoned will be 4th level fighters armed with shortbows with either unlimited acid arrows or unlimited fire arrows (and will no longer be unkillable). They will be added to the party as henchmen, so the caster should properly get some xp for things they kill (and they should start killing things more often with a higher Dex, higher fighter level, and elemental damage added to their arrows).

As henchmen, the archers should follow the caster around (instead of just staying in one spot) for the duration and should take basic orders just like any other henchman.

Oh, and the archers won't be translucent and glowing green anymore.

All other aspects of the spell will stay the same (duration, number of archers summoned, etc.).

Progress Report: Feb. 11, 2011.

I feel accomplished. I recoded 27 spells today (and might be able to do a few more after the family is asleep). Too bad every day can't be so productive.

aw man..i liked the glowy effect they were it made it appear as if they were made from real magic. Now it will see like im draggin nameless folks from all over aenea to die for me

Tomorrow sometime (because it won't be on the server before the next reset)...

Spell Change: repel vermin

Instead of creating a mobile vermin-scaring Area of Effect (AoE) that can lag behind a character moving faster than a walk (as it does currently), this spell will instead do the following:

When cast, all allies within a medium radius of the caster (in other words, right next to him/her), will gain a +10 dodge bonus to AC vs. vermin for the duration (10 minutes/caster level). Once the spell is in effect, allies no longer need to stay next to the caster for the spell to continue.

This will stay an enchantment school spell, with the AC bonus being explained as "the bugs and rats being scared and hesitant to attack the PC".

The Amethyst Dragon wrote:Tomorrow sometime (because it won't be on the server before the next reset)...

Spell Change: repel vermin

Instead of creating a mobile vermin-scaring Area of Effect (AoE) that can lag behind a character moving faster than a walk (as it does currently), this spell will instead do the following:

When cast, all allies within a medium radius of the caster (in other words, right next to him/her), will gain a +10 dodge bonus to AC vs. vermin for the duration (10 minutes/caster level). Once the spell is in effect, allies no longer need to stay next to the caster for the spell to continue.

This will stay an enchantment school spell, with the AC bonus being explained as "the bugs and rats being scared and hesitant to attack the PC".

Could maybe just have vermin get their own faction, and have the spell make the targets neutral to vermin?

daveyeisley wrote:

The Amethyst Dragon wrote:Tomorrow sometime (because it won't be on the server before the next reset)...

Spell Change: repel vermin

Instead of creating a mobile vermin-scaring Area of Effect (AoE) that can lag behind a character moving faster than a walk (as it does currently), this spell will instead do the following:

When cast, all allies within a medium radius of the caster (in other words, right next to him/her), will gain a +10 dodge bonus to AC vs. vermin for the duration (10 minutes/caster level). Once the spell is in effect, allies no longer need to stay next to the caster for the spell to continue.

This will stay an enchantment school spell, with the AC bonus being explained as "the bugs and rats being scared and hesitant to attack the PC".

Could maybe just have vermin get their own faction, and have the spell make the targets neutral to vermin?

Or I could do an instant area effect (maybe with a really, really big radius) that does a fear effect on vermin. Probably wouldn't go with adding a new faction just for vermin (it takes the toolset a half hour just to update the module whenever I make even a tiny change to factions). I'm just trying to simplify such a low-utility, rarely-used spell down to a single script (rather than the 3 it takes now as a standard duration-AoE).

Sooooo. I didn't get any comments on my post on this in the suggestions section, which is a first, so I thought I would add a comment here.

Since you are doing an overhaul of every single spell...more or less...perhaps you could add DISSONANCE and OVERPOWERING SHOUT to the Bard spell list. i would like to point out the obvious synergy there, as well as the fact that Shout is on the P&P Bard spell list. Finally I would like to quote MJs reply in this thread (PC Stats for Aenea - https://aenea.aforumfree.com/t3949-pc-stats-for-aenea

MannyJabrielle wrote:I've seen a number of clerics. I've seen as many bards, but more often it's a level or two used to get AA or RDD/DS levels.... not many "full time" bards.

Barbarian's definitely at the bottom of the list. Wizard/sorc and monk are the most common that I've seen

This is really unfortunate, as Bard should be a very "entertaining" class to play (sorry I had to).

Any thoughts? Response please.

Sophiastra wrote:
This is really unfortunate, as Bard should be a very "entertaining" class to play (sorry I had to).

Any thoughts? Response please.

LOL True. Bards in Aenea are a very powerful and versatile class to play on Aenea.

Those two spells, it'd be neat to see them in the bard spell list.

Hmmm... overpowering shout might make it onto the bard spell list, dissonance will not.

Sweet!

For what its worth, I dont hate bards.... I mean it. The aenean bard songs really do make the class MUCH better to single-class in, and would make it moreso if they all worked as advertised. (last i knew a few were buggy).

I dont see dissonance as a bard spell because its a save or die. Bards do have strong thematic ties to sonic based spells, but mainly for enchantment/fear/damage effects. Directly, instantly killing with sound strikes me as slightly beyond what even master bards would be able to do. Again, my two cents...

Sonic spells that do damage, or disabling effects I totally agree make sense for bards, like overpowering shout, tempest rolling thunder, and even great thunderclap. Your milage may vary.

Thunder is more storm related, imo.

"Shout" on the other hand, seems a natural

Upcoming change: araneae's binding webs

This spell will soon require a ranged touch attack to affect a foe (in addition to a failed Reflex save by the target) to bring it on par with hold person (since the webs will affect any creature of medium or smaller size, not just humanoids).

Yup, still slogging away at this project while working on bugfixes, suggestions, game additions, and childrearing.

The Amethyst Dragon wrote:Upcoming change: araneae's binding webs

This spell will soon require a ranged touch attack to affect a foe (in addition to a failed Reflex save by the target) to bring it on par with hold person (since the webs will affect any creature of medium or smaller size, not just humanoids).

Yup, still slogging away at this project while working on bugfixes, suggestions, game additions, and childrearing.

My 2 cents... I liked the idea of the spell but never used it because of the reflex save. Adding a touch attack makes it even less attractive. Also, isnt binding webs a higher level spell than hold person? or am I misremembering?

araneae's binding webs is a 3rd level wizard/sorcerer spell (just like the arcane version of hold person). It's basically a version that works better on spellcasters since it uses a Reflex save instead of a Will save (escaping the webs before they fully form instead of using willpower to resist a compulsion to hold still).

I'm adding the ranged touch attack (which are not that difficult against things that are bad at Reflex saves anyway) to kind of even out it's power with hold person, since the webs version will work on any medium or smaller creature (unlike hold person, which only works on humanoids).

Working on duration AoE spells right now, consolidating them all down to 4 scripts (one for the spells, one for onenter, one for onexit, one for heartbeat). New heartbeat scripting (which starts running only once the first creature enters the AoE trigger) should keep the spells firing off every round or two (without missing rounds due to the engine setting AoEs at lower priority).

Spell changes (for next module update):

ice fog - effect no longer tied to creatures in area when cast, will instead be a duration AoE where creatures can slip and fall as long as they are in the area (and it still gives an automatic 1d4 cold damage per round) ... VFX in the areas should be less laggy (will use one of the newer thinner cloud models)

burn the souls - should correctly keep track of virtual Wis and Cha scores below 3 so that it will properly kill those that remain in the AoE too long ... less laggy VFX each round affected ... VFX for the AoE should remain visible (it was originally being called and dismissed to fast for it to render properly)

silvania's holy rain - should start to properly affect demons in the AoE (since I'd added the racial type long after the spell, they weren't being affected before)

Sounds good

One question: if the heartbeat scripting only starts when a creature enters the area what will happen if the creature is already inside that area when the spell is cast? What if they dont ever move and trigger an OnEnter event?

Technically they enter it when the AoE effect/trigger is created.

AoEs are wierd. They get created as an effect, but function as a kind of trigger while they exist.

Was just browsing the vault and came across this little gem from theKrit... as far as I know he's rather good at the old scripting thing.. almost on par with our very own ...

Anyways.. was thinking maybe it's something for to look into if he needs any help with improving the scribe scroll process.. this seems like the krit has already done the whole scroll>caster level ... ... ...

link

Was scrolling back re-reading older updates to this process... and I noticed this:

The Amethyst Dragon wrote:
fortify shield - +1 armor AC per 3 caster levels (max +5), for shields (Brd 3, Clr 3, Drd 3, Pal 3, Sor/Wiz 3)

Anybody else see what doesnt make sense here? It its fortify shield.... it should grant a shield AC bonus, not an armor AC bonus...

I always figured overpowering shout came directly from Patricia McKillips Riddle Master Of Hed series, which means of course bards should get it, it was a bard who taught it to the riddle master afer all!

I know it's been a long time since this thread was updated, and my NWNADHD hasn't helped, but...

Tonight I finally finished recoding all of the spells in the entire game. There may be a few bugs left floating around, but the spells are all rescripted in the new system.

Next up, implementing the changes to enchanting scrolls, wands, and potions to allow selectable caster levels at time of creation. This should be much faster, since I already coded the framework for it back at the start of this project. I'm hoping to have this part up and running by the time Aenea's 6-year mark rolls around.

Now.... this is exciting!

Greater Missile Storm with metamagic staves and metamagic feats = Win.

Progress update:

Base items:
scrolls - done
potions - done
wands - ~90 left to make

Once the base wands are made, I'll go in and change up the VC commands a little and will update the FAQ section with the new commands and behaviors.

Here's the basics for all three types...

VC command 1: set the caster class you want to use when enchanting ("wizard", "cleric", etc.)...setting persists until changed

VC command 2: set the caster level (x) you want to use when enchanting (1 to 40)...setting persists until changed

VC command 3: scribes/brews/imbues desired item:
- - - requires proper base component (blank scroll, empty bottle, bone wand)
- - - may require being in a "magical lab" (potions and wands)
- - - scrolls will be cheaper if scribed in a "library"
- - - base value: varies depending on item type:
- - - - - scroll = spell level x caster level x 25
- - - - - potion = spell level x caster level x 50
- - - - - wand = spell level x caster level x 3000
- - - - - 0-level spells count as 1st level for this
- - - gp cost: 1/2 base value
- - - xp cost: 1/25 base value

scrolls - can be any spell a caster knows, level 0 to 9

potions - more limited spell selection...basically single-target buffing/healing spells, level 0 to 3 (except cure critical wounds, which is also included). Clerics of Asis will automatically make more powerful versions of healing potions.

wands - any spell the caster knows, level 0 to 4, with a target range other than "personal/self"...who ever heard of a magic wand you can only point at yourself? The wand costs more than the scrolls with the same spells/caster levels (and more than in PnP) simply to cover the "play time convenience". Scrolls require that you prepare the spell every time you want to make that scroll. The wands only requires preparing it once for 50 charges (much faster, so it'll cost more to do).

A few of the wands will be able to be made by certain casters, but useable by other types. This may happen when the spell in question is lower level for some casters and higher level for others. For example, a wand of hold monster could be imbued by a bard or druid (it's a 4th level spell for them), but not a sorcerer or wizard (it's a 5th level spell for these guys). However, since the spell is on their list, the sorcerer and wizard would still be able to use such a wand once it's enchanted.

For any of these item types, the minimum caster level is the lowest level at which the spell can be cast. You can't make a fireball scroll with a caster level of less than 5, for instance. Likewise, this system won't bypass the caster level caps built into spells, so scribing a caster level 40 fireball scroll will still stop at 10d6 damage...the extra caster levels would just be wasted gold and xp.

Increasing the caster level of scrolls, potions, and wands will not make them more valuable to shopkeepers. The system is driven by variables and tags, not by me making (up to) 40 versions of every single spellcasting item after making (up to) 40 different 2da entries for every single spell after making (up to) 40 different .tlk file entries for every single spell. It's only really a money-making option if selling such items to other PCs.

Sweet.. and if your going to be digging through the VC commands I'll just point out these old threads could be checked on/fixed as well.... here and here


Also could the VC commands for Tempest's Shielding Wind, Quillins Arrow Of Silence and Blindness / Deafness be changed to reflect the in-game spell names of Tempests' Shielding Wind, Quillins Arrow of Silence and Blindness/Deafness .... I know the changes are subtle but by god it makes a difference if you have to try like 50 permutations of a name to scribe a scroll !!

And as a suggestion, the command for scribing scrolls is currently ;;enchant scroll xxxx, could we also get it set up so that ;;scribe scroll xxx is viable too ??


Really looking forward to this update/change !! Might actually make the crafting feats worthwhile

The Amethyst Dragon wrote:
wands - any spell the caster knows, level 0 to 4, with a target range other than "personal/self"...who ever heard of a magic wand you can only point at yourself?

Can we get confirmation on this being adapted to account for the fact that self-only wands have existed in Aenea for quite a while and will continue to exist based on the info/revelation in the other thread in the FAQ section here?

The Amethyst Dragon wrote:For any of these item types, the minimum caster level is the lowest level at which the spell can be cast. You can't make a fireball scroll with a caster level of less than 5, for instance. Likewise, this system won't bypass the caster level caps built into spells, so scribing a caster level 40 fireball scroll will still stop at 10d6 damage...the extra caster levels would just be wasted gold and xp.

Would not the additional caster levels be used for penetrating spell resistance? If not, then the new system would be kind of a great waste of your time and effort, as this is the *main* drawback of the current implementation...

New enchantment system (for scrolls, potions, and wands) going online in a minute or so. There's a new thread in the FAQ section with the details.

I did add back in the ability to imbue a wand of shield, since that one exists already as the wand of shielding. When I get more time I'll revisit other caster-only spells. For now, I think 210 different wands should hold folks over for a while.

As far as higher caster levels counting against spell resistance, I'm not sure. Spell resistance checks are currently buried deep into the game engine workings, and I haven't been able to efficiently recode that function myself (to properly account for things like spell mantles, globes of invulnerabilty, specific spell immunities, etc....all stuff the build-in function handles with little overhead).

The higher caster levels are currently good for more damage dice though, so that 10th level wand of fireball is still more powerful than that 5th level one.

Outstanding work! Thank you!

VERY impressive work !

In this thread however there is a slight typo in the scrolls and potions section (the dreaded cut/paste type of typo) ;

The Amethyst Dragon wrote:
For a spellcaster to create a magical wand, there are several requirements that must be met.

I couldn't post the bug there as that thread is locked....

And a few questions;;

Does this mean the old ;;enchant xxxx are no longer working for scrolls, potions and wands? Or will they just default to a basic item?

Does this have any impact on the other enchant feats and/or commands ?

Are potions and wands already in the game for ALL those spells? Will ALL those spells become items in-game to be found or can they only be created (and sold / distributed) by PC Casters... ((if the latter it might make the crafting feats a really nice addition to a build)).....

Also it states that all three require a stocked magical laboratory.. does this then nullify the well stocked library (that used to be needed for scrolls?)...

Excellent, some outstanding work done here. I cannot wait to dig my fingers into the new crafting opportunities!


Ah, and I see Rusty beat me to it with reporting the typo found in the scroll explanation thread...

In the FAQ thread, said:

When enchanting certain types of magical items, a spellcaster is able to select the caster level that the resulting magic will be cast at.

Does this mean that even if the mage is a higher level, if he casts from that created scroll, the spell will be at the level mandated in the scroll?

And I've never been clear on what happens with casting from scroll by UMD for Rogues. Will the mage-created scroll spell cast at the stipulated level? How about for merchant-bought scrolls without a stipulated level, what level do they cast at for Rogues? (I don't suppose Rogue level substitutes as caster level?)

AFAIK, the scroll designation determines spell lvl for UMD; thus differing effects for typical scrolls vs Player crafted scrolls.

RustyDios wrote:VERY impressive work !

Thanks!

RustyDios wrote:In this thread however there is a slight typo in the scrolls and potions section (the dreaded cut/paste type of typo) ;

Typos fixed.

RustyDios wrote:Does this mean the old ;;enchant xxxx are no longer working for scrolls, potions and wands? Or will they just default to a basic item?

The old ;;enchant xxxx commands will no longer work for scrolls, potions, and wands.

RustyDios wrote:Does this have any impact on the other enchant feats and/or commands ?

Not yet. I do plan to eventually address all of the item enchantment commands, converting over to the new, shorter (and more logical) ";;mi" commands and cleaner background code.

RustyDios wrote:Are potions and wands already in the game for ALL those spells? Will ALL those spells become items in-game to be found or can they only be created (and sold / distributed) by PC Casters... ((if the latter it might make the crafting feats a really nice addition to a build)).....

Yes, there are base scrolls, potions, and wands in-game for ALL of those spells. I had to make a new item for each spell for each of those types that can be enchanted with it so that the new system will work.

All of those spell items will not be found in merchant inventories or loot drops. None of the new items are blueprints in the game palette, but are instead copied from different "storage areas" in the module. The caster-level-selectable items are PC-made only.

RustyDios wrote:Also it states that all three require a stocked magical laboratory.. does this then nullify the well stocked library (that used to be needed for scrolls?)...

Typo fixed. Scrolls do not require a laboratory (or library), but they are cheaper to scribe in a library.

Angel of Death wrote:Excellent, some outstanding work done here. I cannot wait to dig my fingers into the new crafting opportunities!

I've personally tested this with scrolls, and it's nice.

Ramana Jala wrote:Does this mean that even if the mage is a higher level, if he casts from that created scroll, the spell will be at the level mandated in the scroll?

Correct. That has always been how scrolls (and wands and potions, and basically every other spellcasting item) works in NWN.

Ramana Jala wrote:And I've never been clear on what happens with casting from scroll by UMD for Rogues. Will the mage-created scroll spell cast at the stipulated level? How about for merchant-bought scrolls without a stipulated level, what level do they cast at for Rogues? (I don't suppose Rogue level substitutes as caster level?)

Rogues using UMD cast at the level specified by the scroll. This will remain for the new scrolls as well. Merchant-bought scrolls still have a caster level, it's still listed as a property of the scroll.

Sweet !! I'm sooo looking forward to getting in game with Grace and testing this out ! (Once she has re-acquired the crafting feats that is!)

Thankye for the quick responses !

The Amethyst Dragon wrote:Merchant-bought scrolls still have a caster level, it's still listed as a property of the scroll.

So the caster level of the scroll must be what that number is that's in parenthesis after the Use Spell property at the bottom of the scroll page. I'd had a hazy idea that it must be something like that. So Rogues do actually get some useful level of damage out of offensive scrolls.

Does that scroll caster level number have any impact on anything besides damage, like penetration against spell resistance?

Thanks for the clarifications, and I'm also looking forward to playing with the new scroll crafting!

Thanks for your hard work on this, !

It will be nice to craft spells at higher caster levels for extra dice and/or duration.

My main gripe has always been the SR problem, sadly, this won't do much for it... A level 10 fireball scroll will still fizzle against an enemy with high SR.

I if you have the ability to assign the caster level to the item, I am not sure there is any reason the default checks for SR, Mantles, etc wouldn't be able to recognize it. These things work for the spell scripts just fine, so they should work for items with higher caster levels, too.

daveyeisley wrote:If you have the ability to assign the caster level to the item, I am not sure there is any reason the default checks for SR, Mantles, etc wouldn't be able to recognize it. These things work for the spell scripts just fine, so they should work for items with higher caster levels, too.

Unfortunately, the build in function that checks spell resistance does it's own calculation for caster level, taken from the caster's actual caster level or the caster level defined in iprp_spells.2da (for items that cast). The new system for potions/scrolls/wands doesn't add new lines to iprp_spells.2da for multiple caster levels. To do that, I'd have to add new lines to the 2da for every possible caster level for each of the 300+ spells in Aenea (along with making a new entry in aenea.tlk for each one), then likely have to go back and write script lines to manually match up each spell with caster level to those 2da lines.

If I could figure out a way to do it efficiently, I'd do it, but for now it's a lot of overhead for spell items that are basically being used as backups to a caster's real power anyway (prepared/memorized/slot spells).

I recoded SR and the other checks one time in the very, very distant past, which then allowed for custom classes adding to spell caster levels, which would work with differing scroll levels. If I can dig out my archives, would you be interested?

It would involve adding a check routine to the spell scripts via #include and then renaming the check in the script to the new routine name. If you have a find/replace utility it's actually fairly quick.

Let me know if you have time to do this, and I'll play a little seek...

A_Vagabond wrote:I recoded SR and the other checks one time in the very, very distant past, which then allowed for custom classes adding to spell caster levels, which would work with differing scroll levels. If I can dig out my archives, would you be interested?

It would involve adding a check routine to the spell scripts via #include and then renaming the check in the script to the new routine name. If you have a find/replace utility it's actually fairly quick.

Let me know if you have time to do this, and I'll play a little seek...

Bless you, Vagabond, you give me hope!

if he can deliver something that gives you a lead to follow for developing an Aenean-specific solution, I hope you might be willing to persue it!