14 replies to this topic

[aVENGER]

This is basically something that I had on the back burner for a while, but never got around to finishing it. Since I have some free time coming up, I thought I might give it another shot, though it'll probably take a couple of months.

Anyway, I was always slightly irked by the fact that every other Bhaalspawn in the known universe had these ubercool unique abilities and immunities which supposedly stem from their divine heritage while our Protagonist and Imoen got stuck with Cure Light Wounds and Slow Poison. Cute. What stands out the most is that these low-tier Bhaalpowers essentially become obsolete by the time the Protagonist reaches SoA, not to mention when Imoen gets them in ToB. This small revision attempts to address that, while taking care not to make the new abilities too overpowered. Here's the WIP lineup of the revised Bhaalpowers:

Healing Touch (was Cure Light Wounds)

Range: Touch
Duration: Permanent
Casting Time: 1
Area of Effect: 1 creature
Saving Throw: None

By laying his hand upon a living creature, the Bhaalspawn can channel positive energy which cures 5 points of damage +1 point per level (up to a maximum of 25). This ability has no effect on constructs, undead or extraplanar creatures.


Drain Life (was Larloch's Minor Drain)

Range: Sight of Caster
Duration: Instantaneous
Casting Time: 1
Area of Effect: 1 creature
Saving Throw: None

Through this ability the Bhaalspawn can drain 5 hit points of life energy +1 point per every two experience levels (up to a maximum of 15) from a single living creature within his line of sight. If the Bhaalspawn exceeds his maximum hit point total in the process, he loses them after 10 rounds have passed. This ability has no effect on constructs, undead or extraplanar creatures.


Cure Affliction (was Slow Poison)

Range: Touch
Duration: Instantaneous
Casting Time: 1
Area of Effect: 1 creature
Saving Throw: None

By a simple touch, the Bhaalspawn can lift an affliction from a single living creature. The potency of this ability increases as the Bhaalspawn becomes more experienced:

Level 1: cures poison
Level 6: cures poison and disease
Level 12: cures poison, disease, blindness and deafness
Level 18: cures poison, disease, blindness, deafness and feeblemind

This ability has no effect on constructs, undead or extraplanar creatures.


Cause Affliction (was Horror)

Range: Touch
Duration: Special
Casting Time: 1
Area of Effect: 1 creature
Saving Throw: Neg.

By a simple touch, the Bhaalspawn can bestow an affliction upon a single living creature unless it makes a saving throw vs. death. The potency of this ability increases as the Bhaalspawn becomes more experienced:

Level 1: the target is poisoned (taking 5 hit points of damage + 1 per every two levels of the Bhaalspawn, up to a maximum of 15)
Level 6: the target is poisoned and diseased (taking a 2 point penalty to its strength and constitution scores)
Level 12: the target is poisoned, diseased, blinded and deafened
Level 18: the target is poisoned, diseased, blinded, deafened and feebleminded

This ability has no effect on constructs, undead or extraplanar creatures.


Divine Might (was Draw Upon Holy Might)

Range: Caster
Duration: 1 turn
Casting Time: 1
Area of Effect: Caster
Saving Throw: None

Through this ability, the Bhaalspawn can tap into the divine spark buried deep within his soul and gain a burst of power for a short time period. The Bhaalspawn's strength, constitution and dexterity scores are all raised by 1 point for every 3 levels of experience.

(Note: this ability is essentially unchanged from the unmodded game. I've merely altered its name.)


Divine Wrath (was Vampiric Touch)

Range: Caster
Duration: Instantaneous
Casting Time: 1
Area of Effect: 10' radius
Saving Throw: Special

Through this ability, the Bhaalspawn can tap into the divine spark buried deep within his soul and release a portion of the raw power in a single, concentrated burst. The unleashed energy damages all enemies in the immediate vicinity of the Bhaalspawn and has a chance to push them away, knock them prone and make them flee in panic. The potency of this ability increases as the Bhaalspawn becomes more experienced:

Level 1: deals 2d8 damage to all nearby enemies
Level 6: deals 4d8 damage to all nearby enemies pushing them away from the Bhaalspawn
Level 12: deals 6d8 damage to all nearby enemies pushing them away from the Bhaalspawn and knocking them prone for 1 round
Level 18: deals 8d8 damage to all nearby enemies pushing them away from the Bhaalspawn, knocking them prone for 1 round and making them flee in panic for the following 3 rounds

A successful saving throw vs. breath halves the damage and negates all secondary effects. Exceptionally large creatures (Giants, Dragons, Iron Golems...etc.) are immune to all secondary effects.

As you can see, this revision generally strives to retain the basic roles which the Bhaalpowers had in the original game while simultaneously making them scale a bit better with the Protagonist's level. In brief, what I've tried to do was to make the Bhaalpowers slightly more useful and unique, hopefully, without making them too overpowered. Considering some of the wacky stuff that some of the other Bhaalspawn got (i.e. Sarevok, Sendai and Yaga-Shura) I don't think this is too much. Lastly, here's a preliminary screenshot to show off the shiny new icons:

Revised Bhaalpowers

Edited by aVENGER, 13 May 2010 - 07:44 AM.

[Shaitan]

Awsome

[BohemianReader]

Yes that's impressive. I think this idea is very good. That's true, Bhaalpowers are really to low when you confront them to powers of other bhaalspawn. Moreover, I've always found frustrating that CHARNAME was so weak (in the sens that he can't be ressurect) and offer new powers to him which are more powerful with the passing of time is very judicious. At least I think...


I don't found spell too powerful. I've found them rather useful and adpated to the level of CHARNAME. So all is perfect !

Good luck, I'm impatient to see more.

P.S : Bams of spell are really nice. I love them...

[aVENGER]

Good luck, I'm impatient to see more.

In that case, here's another screenshot to whet your appetite.

Divine Wrath

P.S : Bams of spell are really nice. I love them...

Thanks! They are based on the spell icons from Icewind Dale 2, though I've altered them slightly to suit my needs.

[Lollorian]

So awesome!!!

[vilkacis]

I like it.

[Wisp]

1) What happens if I import a bg2-style character (from bg1tutu game nearly finished) into bg2 with the oldstyle bhaalpowers? Will this component detect that the imported character has the old spells and replace them with the new ones?

If you import a Tutu save where you have the aTweaks powers into a BG2 game where you don't have aTweaks installed, you will get the vanilla powers. It works the opposite way as well; if you import a character with vanilla powers into a game with aTweaks installed, your vanilla powers will be transformed into aTweaks powers.

I presume that installing this over bg1 game where I already have the powers would cause problems.

You shouldn't experience any problems.

2) Originally in ToB you were supposed to get new bhaalpowers when you completed the tests. These were removed but have since been restored by several mods. One of the powers that you get is Draw Upon Holy Might. Is this ToB version updated and renamed to the new "divine might" version.

Yes, the DUHM you can get in ToB will also become Divine Might if you have aTweaks installed.

3) Since many of these powers scale up with levels upto 18 even, and since the powers are lost when you lose your soul, is there any chance of a component that restores these bhaalpowers when you kill Irenicus and regain your soul.

Coincidentally, I wrote a mod like that a while back. Maybe I should include it.

This would create a conflict with the above power though, unless maybe the pocketplane challenge could give you a new stronger version of "divine might" with say a longer duration or such.

There would be no conflict (technically, at least). You would simply get up to 3 uses of Divine Might. Though it might look a little odd, since it wouldn't be one "stack" with 3 Divine Mights, but one "stack" with 2 and another ability by its lonesome.

Edited by Wisp, 20 May 2010 - 11:59 PM.

[berelinde]

Hey, this is cool. It might actually inspire me to try a Tutu game again and import to BG2.

And Wisp, you should definitely include it.

Edited by berelinde, 21 May 2010 - 01:00 PM.

[Pol]

Hey folks. Can anyone tell me how the level-scaling Bhaalspawn powers will work with multiclass characters?

All scalable innates work as follows, your highest level in either class is used for your casting level; this is also the level checked by HD limited spells like Chaos and Death Spell.

[aigleborgne]

I like it !

I always thought those bhaal powers suck, even in bg1.
At best, a few of them might prove usefull but not that much.

I've seen a mod (can't remember which one) that already changed them but I'm not sure they were scaling through levels.