38 replies to this topic

[shohy]

Dual Classing
Multiclassing has been highly requested by fans for Blizzard's RPGs for decades now.  The Infinity Engine allows for this.  Yes, it means that, by default, players could have D2 versions of Assassin >> X, Barbarian >> X, Druid >> Fighter, or Necromancer >> X.  With mods, multiclassed versions of Assassin (Thief), Barbarian (Fighter), Druid, and Necromancer (Cleric) are possible, though normally characters are limited to one kit at a time.  Mechanically speaking, there's normally little reason to dual from D2's classes, but with Dual to Kit, characters can dual into these classes if they have no kit otherwise.

Note the D2 kits have mechanics that encourage not dualing, but allowing dual classing for those who want it without further mods still helps.

Recommended Spells: D2 Druids
I recommend the D2 Druid get access to these spells as well due to adapting to the BG rule set.  Most the recommended spell additions are things that a typical Druid is assumed to have like Dispel, healing, and status prevention/removal effects.  Others are just thematic to the Druid, like Goodberry or Entangle.

Level 1: Cure Light Wounds, Entangle, Goodberry

Level 2: Barkskin, Charm Person or Mammal, Resist Fire/Cold

 

Level 3: Cure Disease, Cure Medium Wounds, Dispel Magic, Magic Fang, Hold Animal, Remove Curse (WoW Druids get a curse removal spell), Remove Paralysis, Zone of Sweet Air

 

Level 4: Cure Serious Wounds, Death Ward, Free Action/Freedom of Movement, Lesser Restoration, Neutralize Poison

 

Level 5: Animal Growth, Cure Critical Wounds, Iron Skins(?), Protection from Acid/Cold/Electricity/Fire, Raise Dead/Recall Spirit, True Seeing

 

Level 6: Regeneration

 

Level 7/HLA: Energy Blades

 

Recommended Spells: D2 Necromancers
I recommend the D2 Necromancers get access to these spells as well due to adapting to the BG rule set.  (Remember, necromancy involves power over life and death, and Clerics and D2 Necromancers have significant overlap in what sorts of debuffs/maladies they inflict.)  Most the recommended spell additions are things that a typical Cleric is assumed to have like Dispel, healing, and status prevention/removal effects.  Others are just thematic to the Necromancer, like Finger of Death.

Level 1: Cure Light Wounds, Protection from Evil, Resist Fear

Level 2: Resist Fire/Cold

 

Level 3: Cure Disease, Cure Medium Wounds, Dispel Magic, Invisibility Purge, Remove Curse, Remove Paralysis

 

Level 4: Cure Serious Wounds, Death Ward, Free Action/Freedom of Movement, Lesser Restoration, Protection from Evil 10' Radius, Neutralize Poison

 

Level 5: Animal Growth, Chaotic Commands(?), Cure Critical Wounds, Magic Resistance(?), Mass Cure, Protection from Acid/Cold/Electricity/Fire, Raise Dead, Repulse Undead, Slay Living, True Seeing

 

Level 6: Harm(?), Heal

 

Level 7/HLA: Command Undead, Finger of Death, Greater Restoration, Mass Raise Dead, Resurrection, Symbol of Death

Sorceress
Telekinesis seems like a handy replacement for Knock as a level 2 spell.  Spell Revisions changes Knock to Battering Ram which is similar in essence to what D2's Telekinesis is doing.  (This skill in D2 is available early and it should likewise be available early with this mod.  It isn't worth a level 6 spell slot, especially when compared to an ability of the same level which grants a D2 mercenary!)

Necromancer: Misc
The default hair color should be white.

Wild Magic
It isn't clear what non-spell abilities count as magic for purposes of antimagic and wild magic.  Pweath list them!

Unsummon
This should be an innate ability and not a spell.  (Dismissing hostile summons is best suited as another ability.)

Replacing Skill Points Buttons When Not Used
Note how you replace the Offensive/Defensive Auras buttons after using them, regardless of the selection after clicking.

D2 Items
Adding Gheed as a vendor to the exterior of Watcher's Keep seems like a fair way to handle including these items.  (Gheed was planned as a merchant for D1 but was scrapped.  He's definitely in D2 and one of my favorite NPCs!)  The items may be best done in a separate mod or component.

Configurable Hotkeys for Scripts
I would much like configurable hotkeys for scripts because other mods use D as a hotkey for something.  Refer to Enhanced Powergaming Scripts for an example.
 

Code Help
Others on the Gibberlings3 Forum may be able to help you more.  CamDawg can likely get you access to posting updates on the G3 releases forum, and if you post a link to your mod here, expect it to be added to the EET mod compatibility list.  (To my understanding, the D2 kit mods are EET compatible.)  Others will be more positively responsive to your work if you mention it.

Bug?
Why can the D2 Necromancer Cleric only be Human when other D2 kits can be other races?  I'd like all races to be able to be all kits.

Finally for Now
Thankee!  Alleluia!
 

In fact, I've made a Diablo II item mod many years ago:

http://www.shsforums...re-for-bg2-v13/

And now I'm going all out to remake it with EE engine and make it able to interact with my Diablo II Kits mod.

Thanks for the detailed suggestions again, a new version may be released together with the new Diablo II item mod in several months.

Edited by shohy, 13 December 2022 - 01:53 AM.

[Endarire]

INTRO
Thankee for taking the feedback so well!  I was so thorough because we each want these mods to be the best they can be!

As for iconic Diablo series items, these are my suggestions and a nonexhaustive list...

BODY ARMOR
-Demonskin Coat (Full Plate): +25% physical damage resistance, +1 STR, +50% fire resist.

-Naj's Light Plate (Plate Mail): Allows arcane casting while wearing, equippable by all arcane casters, +25% to all resists, +1 INT, +1 CHA, +1 caster level.

RINGS
-Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac: Boosts all stats by 1, 2, or 3, and provides +50% or more resist to all energy types.

-Stone of Jordan: +1 spell slot per day of all spell levels, +1 caster level on all spells, and +d12 electricity damage per hit.

WEAPONS (CATALYSTS)
-Oculus (Club).  +2 caster levels, +10% chance to recover a spell slot of any level after each kill, +20% to all resists, +1 CON, +1 AC.

WEAPONS (NON-CATALYSTS)
-Windforce (Composite Longbow).  Knockback on hit, +1 DEX.

FINALLY FOR NOW
Thankee!

PS: The Paladin's Meditation or Concentration Aura seems like a handy place to grant the party immunity to maze.

Edited by Endarire, 15 December 2022 - 02:30 PM.

[Endarire]

It also seems sensical to me that, if it isn't already included, Assassins should benefit from dual wielding abilities while unarmed to mimic fist/claw weapons from D2.

Thankee!

[Endarire]

Multishot: With EEex and OlvynSpells, a Diablo 2-like Multishot ability is possible.  (Check the spoiler on the linked thread for New Priest Spells then search for Barrage.)

[Endarire]

I just found Gheed in the Reunion mod!  (Link)

[Endarire]

Greetings again!

Just checking in on your progress.  Thankee!

[shohy]

The item store mod is already done, but there're sooo many items that i've been testing it for more than 1 month.

[Endarire]

Thankee!  Alleluia!

[Endarire]

Another concern:

The Hydra ability is weak for a level 9 spell!  It only lasts 2 rounds and each of its shots deals d4 fire damage/2 caster levels.  A Sor or Wiz by this point can use chain contingency + 3x horrid wilting and kill most stuff that isn't immune, or conjure a Planetar that's sometimes more powerful than its caster!

I recommend Hydra change drastically, such as dealing d4 fire damage per CL and d4 magic damage per CL (no cap, no save, bypasses spell resistance) with a duration of 1 round per caster level.  Change the casting time to 1.  Ensure Hydras don't count against the summon unit limit.  Remember, level 9 spells are bordering on epic, world-shattering stuff!  Dealing damage alone is unimpressive.  (Even inanimate objects can deal damage if something touches them, like a bed of spikes!)

The Sor's abilities really should deal at least 1 die of damage per caster level instead of per 2 CL, perhaps with enchant excluded.  Meteor is another strong example as a level 8 spell that does less damage than incendiary cloud!  I recommend changing it to deal d6 blunt and d6 fire damage per caster level (or d12 damage per CL with half damage being blunt and fire).  Even in D2, enemies normally didn't stay around in the fire afterward.

Enchant is mostly good as-is, but should give its full damage bonus to ranged weapons as well.  Not doing so seems unpleasantly arbitrary.  (Its die cap may be reached too soon considering +10d3 damage per hit at CL20 on a character with 4+ attacks per round will destroy them if not immune, but it's also fire damage and a party buff on a normally weak as-is class.)

Blaze is odd because its damage is low and it requires foes to follow the fire trail for any damage.  It's quite situational, and the damage is still too low.  (Make it d8 fire per CL with either no cap or a cap of at least 15 dice.)

For abilities that set resists to a certain number like Cyclone Armor setting resists to 75%, change them to instead provide a bonus to the relevant resistances but prevent self-stacking.  For example, resist elements from Spell Revisions does this.

Thankee!

Edited by Endarire, 14 February 2023 - 12:38 PM.

[Endarire]

For EE games, I'd like to have the Druid & Necromancer also be available as Shaman kits for the spontaneous spellcasting.  Just like with the D2 Sor, they would know all spells of all levels they could cast.  Even more preferably, because of how the EE engine works, these kits could be made into fully spontaneous casters like the Mystic kits from Faiths & Powers.  I'm unsure off-hand how to handle the implementation, but subtledoctor, the author of these kits, knows more and has been responsive on that thread.  (Alternatively, subtledoctor also released a mod that allows EE prepared casters to cast their spells spontaneously like D&D 5e casters.  That URL should explain what code is needed to make it work.)

The D2 Assassin should also start with 2 points in Two Weapon Style as the description says.

The D2 Assassin kit should also either not get standard thieving traps OR auto succeed on setting them.  At present, I set traps (the innate ability called "Traps") with a low Set Traps skill (5 to 10) and got no noticeable trap and no message explaining what happened.  (These tests were on a level 1 character in BG1EE.)  However, it seemed like I just needed to wait awhile for background scripts to finalize and then the Traps window showed a Fire Blast trap.  Also, the Fire Blast trap didn't trigger when I lured a hostile Elminster over it unlike a normal thief trap.

What say you?

Thankee!

Edited by Endarire, 15 March 2023 - 12:11 PM.

[Endarire]

Does this mean that more than one of each D2 kit can be in a party together - at least on EE - and things work?  For example, can a party of 6 Paladins work together if they use different auras?

Thankee!

[shohy]

Does this mean that more than one of each D2 kit can be in a party together - at least on EE - and things work?  For example, can a party of 6 Paladins work together if they use different auras?

Thankee!

More than one Paladins and Barbarians are OK, but not for the remained 5 kits.
I've got your suggestions for Scripts, Hydra and Fire Blast, a patch will be built later for them.
 
The Assassin attains 2 points in Two Weapon Style only after game begins.
The Assassin doesn't have normal traps, setting traps is surely succeed no matter how many points on Trap Setting. 
Cyclone Armor can prevent self-stacking already.

Edited by shohy, 26 March 2023 - 01:01 PM.

[Endarire]

Thankee!  Mentioning those explicitly in your official documentation helps!

Also, starting an Assassin with maximum (250?  255?) Trap Setting skill means players won't accidentally put points into it.

EDIT: What say you to my other proposed rule changes for these kits?

Edited by Endarire, 26 March 2023 - 11:33 PM.

[Endarire]

Barbarian: On EET, I can't select the D2 Barbarian at character creation.  Barbarian is a Fighter kit, not a separate class entry like in vanilla.

Druid: Armageddon looks like a cheap special effect from a low budget movie.  Talk with OlvynChuru, author of OlvynSpells, about using or adapting his OlvynTweaks component which tweaks meteor swarm to have it shoot individual damaging meteors in an area.  I think that's the effect you intended, and it's closer to its source material.

Why are armageddon and hurricane not allowed to be cast simultaneously with the new overwriting the old?  It seems strange.

Arctic blast barely has any graphic.

For fire trail graphics, I recommend talking with OlvynChuru and using his wall of fire graphic.  Also note that the firestorm graphic looks like fire and may be a fair substitute.

Necromancer: Using revive on a blood golem killed the golem, resummoned the blood golem, and also made the revive.

Poison nova seems like it should shoot out green poison drop projectiles, more similar to frozen orb.

Sorcerer: The OlvynSpells wall of fire looks better.

Overall: I was largely disappointed with graphical reuse from the BG(EE) engine.  I know ripping every frame of animation from hundreds of abilities is a lot.  The default graphics that bugged me the most besides the things i mentioned above were the D2 Druid shapeshift forms, blizzard, glacial spike, nova & frost nova, and the vine spells and wisps (Oak Sage, Spirit of Barbs, and Heart of the Wolverine).  I know that some D2 graphics are already in place, and you used these to set such a high standard that the contrast felt awkward.

I'm still glad these kits are publicly released so I can use them.

Thankee!

Edited by Endarire, 10 April 2023 - 10:21 PM.

[shohy]

Barbarian: On EET, I can't select the D2 Barbarian at character creation.  Barbarian is a Fighter kit, not a separate class entry like in vanilla.

Druid: Armageddon looks like a cheap special effect from a low budget movie.  Talk with OlvynChuru, author of OlvynSpells, about using or adapting his OlvynTweaks component which tweaks meteor swarm to have it shoot individual damaging meteors in an area.  I think that's the effect you intended, and it's closer to its source material.

Why are armageddon and hurricane not allowed to be cast simultaneously with the new overwriting the old?  It seems strange.

Arctic blast barely has any graphic.

For fire trail graphics, I recommend talking with OlvynChuru and using his wall of fire graphic.  Also note that the firestorm graphic looks like fire and may be a fair substitute.

Necromancer: Using revive on a blood golem killed the golem, resummoned the blood golem, and also made the revive.

Poison nova seems like it should shoot out green poison drop projectiles, more similar to frozen orb.

Sorcerer: The OlvynSpells wall of fire looks better.

Overall: I was largely disappointed with graphical reuse from the BG(EE) engine.  I know ripping every frame of animation from hundreds of abilities is a lot.  The default graphics that bugged me the most besides the things i mentioned above were the D2 Druid shapeshift forms, blizzard, glacial spike, nova & frost nova, and the vine spells and wisps (Oak Sage, Spirit of Barbs, and Heart of the Wolverine).  I know that some D2 graphics are already in place, and you used these to set such a high standard that the contrast felt awkward.

I'm still glad these kits are publicly released so I can use them.

Thankee!

I didn't test the Barbarian on EET, but it works well in BGEE and EE2. It is surely a Fighter kit.

The graphics in OlvynSpells are excellent, but it takes time for me to learn about them.

Armageddon and Hurricane have much greater durations than the original spells in Diablo II. If they're allowed to perform together in BG2, I think their durations should be shorten.

Revive will no longer work on allies in the next version.

I've thought about starting an Assassin with maximum Trap Setting skill, but that only works after game begins, not on character generation, so it may have limited sense.

I think the Hydra is powerful enough...it can easily exceed a total damage of 600, and works well outside of visual range. Besides, it can rapidly destroy Spell Turning and Spell Deflection of hostile mages.

Blaze makes damage for every second, leading on a enemy to run after you for 1 round will cause over 250 damage, it's a frighteningly amount for a level 4 spell.

Casting speed of some spells will be adjusted on considering their cooldown time in Diablo II as a reference.

I've written some scripts for those Kits to handle buffing and fighting with skills, but require more time for testing.

Thanks for your advice again!

Edited by shohy, 12 April 2023 - 11:55 PM.

[Endarire]

Thankee for your help!

[Endarire]

Tweaks Anthology also has a trap cap removal.  (The party's default trap limit is 7 and not 5 as you mentioned in your documentation.)  May we have those implemented?

Thankee!

[Endarire]

I tested recently and D2 Barbarian installs as a Fighter kit on BG1EE and BG2EE, not EET.  Not even NPC EE worked to allow me to set the kit.  It just isn't being installed on EET for some reason despite the installer running.

[Endarire]

I used the EET auto converter to fix the Diablo II Barbarian kit problem on EET.  (The problem was in the addkit file.)  Enjoy!