Regarding the game play (EDITED MAY 15, 2008), you'll see Options

[Bereth Darkides]

I have rewrote this 5 times because I am non too happy with the extreme game balance problem.
Is there anyway to tone down the power and or numbers of the nuclear skeleton warriors I am facing (at 9th-10th lvl) that does not include playing outside of core rules!

HOLY FAK!

You see I really hate having to cheat.

(PS,,, Vlad what were you thinking)?


(EDITED TODAY GO TO PAGE 3)

This post has been edited by Bereth Darkides: May 15 2008, 07:35 PM

[Ymarsakar]

Because there is no Dungeon Master to continually tweak things in a BG2 game, the game must then be balanced so that the monsters you summon aren't more powerful than your entire party. If you can summon a demon from a scroll, without even being high enough level to cast that spell from memorization tables, then the game would become unbalanced if that demon was invulnerable to the enemies that your current party can take on.

You must then now remove all summon fiend or demon scrolls, but you can't make scrolls require a specific level to cast, since that is ingame engine limitations.

BG2's gameplay is very linear and any mod creator must take that into account. There is only so much that can be done with exceptional circumstances via scripts, areas, and new creature dialogs. So unlike in AD and D table top, you just can't have the Dungeon Master give a dynamic choice to the party of "cast summon demon" or "don't take the risk" or "stealthily avoid/negotiate the monsters while acquiring the same xp value". The party's going to be killing monsters and if you give them the capability to summon a demon immune to +3 weapons, then they're going to use it and exploit that advantage. Then every other creature further along then must be upgraded in order to then challenge the party and their power.

Nej2, the crypt and dragon's eye, are very much like dungeon crawls in which you have to use every resource at your disposal to personally attack and destroy numerous enemies. But it would take an extraordinary amount of effort simply to provide a one time cast of a one time spell for a one time encounter. It is both much more convenient and faster to lower the power of player party summoned monsters.

There will always be the problem of, if you give the player a special spell for this area, of how to prevent him from using it in another part of the area against other enemies.

Improved Anvil is very though about that kind of game balance, but it also requires a lot of work and time spent. Whether any particular modder will decide to spend that time tweaking things to both fit the game balance as well as your preferences, Bereth, is obviously not set in stone.

<B>Because it would diminish the dragons power and level now wouldn't it</b>

There are various different ways to ensure that dragons are more difficult of an enemy to defeat than other lesser creatures. Increased damage immunities, spell applications, spell immunities, summoned guards, as well as various high strength attacks can dramatically increase the ability of a dragon to take on entire armies of lesser creatures. And of course, creatures immune to +3 magic weapons can only be dealt with, in the game, by acquiring +4 or greater weapons. If you are not at the point in the game where you can acquire said weapons or can't find a +4 weapon that you have 5 proficiencyes or 2 proficiencies in, then you have not just "balanced" the dragon, you have made the dragon undefeatable except by spells.

Changing the weapon immunities of creatures would then require that you change the entire balance of the rest of the game. You have to add in +4 weapons earlier than intended or have make it so that parties that don't have +4 weapons can't defeat the dragon. If you add in +4 weapons, then all your other creatures not immune to +3 weapons just got a little bit weaker.

In the final end tally, what is the overall and general theme, point, and philosophy behind making a Baatezu immune to certain enchanted weapons of a low enough grade? How will that, in fact, improve the player experience? Did you use the scroll expecting the Baatezu to slaughter your enemies? But you must have known that vanilla summoned creatures were barely adequate for BG2's enemies. Vlad would have to totally convert vanilla summoning spells to make them useful against Nej2's improved enemies.

Sikret did convert some spells in vanilla to be better in harmony with Improved Anvil, but in the end, it is still never as easy as simply ensuring that a baatezu can defeat a cave troll. Bereth.