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Mental Mod: Is This Possible?


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#1 -MilesBeyond250-

-MilesBeyond250-
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Posted 15 October 2014 - 03:45 PM

Hey everyone, long-time user, first-time poster.

 

I've got an idea for a mod but before I dig into it I want to know whether it'd even be feasible to do, or if it's messing with too much stuff that's hard-coded.

 

 

It's always bothered me how in BG two of the three mental stats (INT and CHA) are almost completely useless. INT only impacts two things: It determines the difficulty of learning spell scrolls (which doesn't even show up on lower difficulties) and it provides a modest bonus to Lore. Hypothetically it's supposed to also determine what level of spells the caster is able to reach, but after testing this with both the vanilla game and with the Tweak and Fix packs installed, it doesn't seem to be implemented (given the fact that the game's been out for this long and no mod that I'm aware of has addressed with, I'm going to assume it's hard-coded). What this means is that on lower difficulties (and even, to an extent, on higher ones), there's no practical difference between a 9 INT Mage and a 19 INT Mage. CHA is even worse, playing a slight role in BG1 (occasionally better quest rewards, sometimes required to get certain quests/NPCs, mitigates morale failures) but becoming virtually useless in BG2, providing nothing more than slightly lower prices.

 

 

Now, part of this is just a flaw with the 2e rules, but part of this is due to poor implementation, and I'd like to change it a bit.

 

First, I'd like to see INT add bonus spells/day the same way WIS does. Ideally it'd also be nice to extend this to CHA for Sorcerers, but I'm assuming that the bonus spells are based on the type of spell rather than the class. This would give high INT Mages and Bards a few more spell slots than their low INT brethren (I know, I know, Mages don't need any buffing. But it bothers me that INT is useless).

 

Second, I'd like to see CHA add bonuses to certain abilities - Bard Song for the Bard, Turn Undead for the Cleric and Paladin (as well as Lay on Hands for the Paladin), and maybe a couple others. Things like Turn Undead giving penalties to save at higher CHA, or the effects of Bard Song lasting for 1 extra round at 16 CHA, 2 at 18 CHA, etc.

 

 

There'd be a few other changes, too (changing or even adding dialogue options to reflect CHA and INT, for example), but the above is the part that I look at and think that it may not be doable.