First of all v7 seems to have toned down a few encounters and maybe rightfully so but this Sibel mod is completely overpowered. I played it once, though dualed to a Mage. First thing I noticed was this character gets a +5 damage weapon in chapter 3 that deals ridiculous damage like 5d6 or something like that. All other items are overpowered as well. Immediately toned it down to a 2D6 damage but the heal and ironskins were still powerful throughout the game, I should have toned down the percentage as well, perhaps around 5% or so.
Then I got stuck in the Arcanis village with no way of getting out and that was very uncomfortable for a few reasons, one being the whole village feels eerie to me with those few NPCs there gathering in the middle trading leather, reminded of those movies where all the characters are in on some conspiracy in the town and they all have that creepy vibe. There are other things that make the new area eerie, maybe the color palette as well but it's so much more.
At some point some Arcanis character gave all the party a significantly HP boost for no reason, then there are some other items that this mod introduces that give permanent attributes. I end up using very few upgrades in the end from this mod, they are just too overpowered.
Some of the encounters were.. not sure how to put it. I think of the Pitre/Dracandros/Exterminator fight which is an excellent and interesting fight and then on the other end you have something like the Sibel encounters, the opposite of that basically.

Riskbreaker: Kit was overpowered before and now ever more so. I removed all the speed bonuses but kept the speed bonus from the new boots later on. Did not upgrade the boots as they are very overpowered. Also the potions of invulnerability makes the Riskbreaker lose all it's cons. I didn't end up using the Heal ability as it's overpowered as well. Also thanks to the new Flail of Ages buff this kit is ridiculously overpowered now. Even before v7 I was using the Improved Haste ability only once my mages got lvl 6 slots, otherwise it comes a bit early and throws the game off balance. So to recap: no heal/damage spell, no speed bonus, no use of invulenarbility potions, and either tone down passive damage or even the new Flail of Ages damage too, and don't use IH until your mages get it as well.

Wizard Slayer: I played this with Haste, not Improved. So he had one extra attack throughout the game, around 4 if I remember right. There was no way to play without it and have a character limping behind when moving around the map. I didn't upgrade the Regiment boots either as they are overpowered. I tried not to use the purge magic ability too often because it makes the battles too easy. Purge Magic was used on a few dragons and other foes to speed up their demise. Some notable encounters where this ability was useful, a bunch of Grave Liches in WK and Demogorgon fight. Sibel was my only arcane caster in that run, dualed to a Mage at 9 wearing Vecna, and the Demogorgon fight would have been not doable without the purge magic from the Wizard Slayer. I did cast it in the middle so everybody got purged including Rozvanke which I baited towards the middle, and so it made the fight significantly easier. It really strips the enemies of their buffs this one. Anyway, Purge Magic is very powerful and I tried not to use it, perhaps it would be better balanced as a single target instead of area of effect. It's a strong kit now with ridiculous regeneration but needs basic Haste and the Purge Magic ability throws the game off balance if not use sparingly.

Avenger: Did not forge the Avenger Dream gear as it seemed a bit too overpowered, stayed with Rust Armor. Overall this kit is very strong and in another run I'm using it without the Clan Hunter summon, much more balanced imo without that powerful summon.

Archer: Once you change missile damage into piercing he becomes a viable character. A ranged Kensai basically. However Called Shot needs nerfing, I set mine to 4 seconds for the effects. So with about ten shots per round, it would lower the Thac0 by about 8 max and Strength about similar. Seemed a bit too strong still, I think the effects should last 3 seconds, this way it would lower Thac0 by about 5-6 max and STR as well but only to the target that he is focusing on. The point is to soften the target. Archer comes in handy in many tight places but is a bit boring to play and the gear selection is not quite linear.
I set Fire, Acid and Ice arrows to +3 and lowered prices for +4 Arrows. He was using Gesen Bow most of the game and switched to Tuigan Bow and +4 Piercing arrows for the tough fights.


Party was: Avenger, Wizard Slayer, Riskbreaker, Sibel(Swash9/Mage), Shaman, Archer
Difficulty: Hard
No use of tomes, no max hp on level up, no milking of spawns as it throws the game off balance completely, no doing quests of random NPCs and no breach on clerics as their power is severely diminished if breached.

Hi Berzerkerzz.

Thanks for the honest feedback. You are right, some of the stuff is indeed more powerful. A less experienced player might appreciate these opportunities, whereas an experienced one can limit themselves to more reasonable options :-) Unless you are of the opinion that everything should be strictly hardcore. Wizard Slayer was intentionally made with those restrictions because Purge Magic is that powerful. Overall, one way to look at it is you can use these more powerful combinations if you're doing some kind of a challenge run or trying out other classes that are less performant than others.

Fair enough, but we could only do so much with our limited resources. I'd say the vibe is just right in that sense, but to each his own, I guess. Overall, the village segment is merely a puzzle and a few small encounters. You can probably do it in an hour or so.


Avenger was actually toned down quite considerably, including the summon. I think it is a sturdy enough character right now, definitely not super-OP compared to other choices that perform well in IA.

Archer is, I presume, a local modification, we did not touch that kit in v7. It's a valid idea, but ranged weapon overall is a tricky subject. With ranged weaponry there's a good chance kiting would become a regular tactic, not something we want to endorse, necessarly. We pondered on some ideas in these past few years on how to make the kit playable in a way that's agreable with our philosophy, but haven't had much success so far. But I'm glad you've found it enjoyable (or so I gathered) with these relatively small changes. Perhaps this is something that merits further investigation.

How did you find the shaman class?

No breach on clerics is an interesting self-limitation.