Caster buffs

[Elusa]

If I can make a suggestion: Make the easy changes first, as Thaelis alluded to. Durations, description alterations, damage, DCs, etc. Probably an unnecessary suggestion, but you never know.

Some of this stuff will actually be nerfs, but hey, as long as we're more accurate to the source material, I'm all game. Though there are some that should definitely not be changed. Dominate Person, I'm looking at you (1/day per level?!?). Also Darkness. 1/min per level + extend = epic trolling. Like filling all of the Second Wind area with darkness for 40 minutes. Also a few spells that are insta-kill in PnP because there's (usually) no PvP fights to the death in PnP. Of special note, Wail of the Banshee would be a welcome nerf. Same with Finger of Death. Obvious bias against insta-kill spells is obvious.

On a related note, can True Strike ever be fixed to match PnP, or is that hard-coded? Because more than once I've tried to use it and due to NWN2 mechanics never managed to even attack in time.

[thaelis]

tually be nerfs, but hey, as long as we're more accurate to the source material, I'm all game. Though there are some that should definitely not be changed. Dominate Person, I'm looking at you (1/day per level?!?). Also Darkness. 1/min per level + extend = epic trolling. Like filling all of the Second Wind area with darkness for 40 minutes.

I was thinking of mentioning this too, but then I thought Lotus is pretty conservative, I don't think he's gonna give some of those spells the full min/level anyway.

Min/level Cloudkill would be annoying as hell...blocking an entire area so no one can pass for 40 mins? Eek.

Darkness/Web/Entangle I'd have to disagree, as on their own they can't hurt someone. Making them min/level or even 30 secs/level could lead to some useful tactics like luring enemies back into the area of effect. You could say the same thing about people trolling with Illusory Wall (permanent duration), but in reality it hardly ever happens.

In regards to Dominate Person. Control Undead is already 1 hr/level and undead are more powerful than virtually anything living. Again though, I doubt it's gonna be made more than min/level, which is plenty.

[thaelis]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...VE&usp=sharing

Added Reduce person (greater), Remove fear, Remove paralysis, Stonehold

Added Power word: Maladroit & Weaken - no discrepancy with PnP but felt I needed to note how useless they are.

Added Icy prison, mass - Pathfinder spell analogous to Burst of glacial wrath but far more useful.

Added Sunbeam - Druid-only spell, devastating to undead. Was severely nerfed in NWN2.

Added Bodak's glare, Cloud of bewilderment, Curse of impending blades & Mass curse of impending blades, Destruction, Devour magic, Dirge, Divine power, Foundation of stone, Glass doppelganger, Holy sword, Implosion, Owl's insight, Righteous might, Searing light, Sound burst, Sun metal, Sunburst, Word of faith.

Amended Energy drain, Gate & Planar binding range of spells.

Reviewed costly material components.

Added Bigby's line of spells.

To give an idea of how different they are to PnP, my character's grapple bonus with a Grasping Hand should be +31 but is actually +44 in NWN!

Edit: I also just realised that in Pathfinder you can add your Dex bonus as well as Str to the grapple defense roll, so high Dex characters are getting up to an additional -9 on the roll!

To illustrate this, in Pathfinder a level 20 Fighter caught by a 20th level Wizard's grasping hand would have ~50% chance to free themselves each round. A level 20 Rogue would have a ~25-45% chance depending on their BAB.

The same applies to Crushing Hand and (to a lesser extent) Forceful Hand.

Clenched Fist, which doesn't use the grapple mechanics is the only one which was pretty balanced in vanilla NWN2, so it's become pretty useless with its Sundren custom 5 round duration.

[thaelis]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...VE&usp=sharing

Amended Drown - found a virtually identical Pathfinder spell, "Suffocate". Very well-balanced spell.

Added Prismatic spray, Summon monster VIII, Summon monster IX

Added Battering blast (Blast of force), Delayed blast fireball, Lightning arc

Amended Shades.

Added a new spell, Caustic Eruption. Although I'm loathe to suggest adding new spells, a new 7th or 8th level Conjuration spell would be necessary for Pathfinder's Shades to be viable (currently there are only 3 available, two of which are somewhat redundant).

Added Shadow conjuration and Greater shadow conjuration

[Elusa]

On a highly related note, any spoilers as to which spells are being reconsidered? If any?

[thaelis]

I know it's only been two months since I made the list of spell inconsistencies, but just in case it got put in the 'too much work' category along with Crafting, here is an abridged version.

Bare bones spells which need fixing:
Mage Armour: less AC stacking cheese
Shapechange: less arcane caster=best tank in the game cheese
Polymorph: consistency
Tenser's Transformation: consistency, and also just silly
Shield: +2-3 AC for non-shield-using casters (my personal max. AC is 32...I die in 1 round against almost anything)
Holy sword: everyone complains it's OP
Dominate Monster/Dominate Person: most strong creatures immune or have been given absurdly high Will saves, yet durations are also nerfed
Control Undead: undead are easier to dominate, stronger and spell lasts more than 6x longer than dominate

Personal Additions
Prismatic Spray: i love this spell, but it is just so damn useless
Bombardment: because Shamans/Druids should be badass

Some of these being changed would make a huge difference to gameplay. Wiz/Sorc having 3 more AC for example might not seem like a lot but it at least means you can survive that extra round to cast a spell that saves your life.

[Fuzziebunny]

Dominate monster doesn't need any help. It is fairly powerful and last one min a level. And, while I would love to see less creatures immune to mind effecting spells, I don't really think this needs to be fixed

Dominate person is rather short however. Maybe a tiny time extension?

Holy Sword would be fine if only pallies could use the wands or scrolls of it.

[ManUtd4Ever]

*Stands and applauds the efforts of Thaelis*

Please make a clear and concise deliverable for LOTUS. We will enjoy the fruits of your labors.

Cheers!

[Fuzziebunny]

I made my own comments because I honestly believed the information wasn't known. It also seemed to have the potential to be extremely over powered. I use dominant spells all the time on my main. Dominate monster is incredibly powerful. I can and have dominated red and blue named creatures with that spell.

I am really sorry if you see my attempts to help as being a jerk or seeming ungrateful for anyone's hard work or effort. It really was not my intent at all. I really only wanted to help.

[thaelis]

Dominate monster doesn't need any help. It is fairly powerful and last one min a level. And, while I would love to see less creatures immune to mind effecting spells, I don't really think this needs to be fixed

"Gameplay Notes
This spell has a duration shorter than that listed in the spell description. It is 3 minutes + 1 minute / 2 caster levels."

If you really believe they are equal in strength then I challenge you to a duel of Dominated creatures! I will use the 7th level Control Undead and you use the 9th level Dominate Monster :P I am 100% sure I will win, whether it's best of 1 or 50 fights (they shouldn't even be equal, Dominate should be the more powerful/useful spell, being 2 levels higher!).

Also, I don't think MrSmith was commenting about you, just in general! As always I appreciate your view

[thaelis]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...VE&usp=sharing

I just had an apostrophe! (or is it epiphany? who knows...). I was buffing a skeletal minion to prepare for battle when I suddenly thought: how can you inspire courage/heroism in an undead?!

"Heroism, Greater
Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting]" - Pathfinder SRD

"Undead Traits
Immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, morale effects, patterns, and phantasms)" - Pathfinder SRD

Undead are supposed to be immune to Heroism/Greater Heroism! Yet another reason why undead minions are way stronger than in PnP or compared to other creatures/summons.

Added Heroism, Greater Heroism and amended Mordenkainen's Sword to spreadsheet.

Oddly, while most enemies will prefer to hit a Mord sword all day and completely ignore its creator, Spiders (vermin?) have no problem ignoring the sword and going for the caster! Smart little critters.

[thaelis]

I wanted to mention I'd be happy to revise the stats of summons to match Pathfinder Pnp if it's permitted. For most summons that would mean a slight increase in strength, a few (like Planar Bindings) would get a significant boost and Gate would get a big nerf in power (think along the lines of -8 AC) but at the same time have it's duration boosted hugely.

Someone would need to direct me to the Sundren custom creatures though as all I can find in the toolset are standard NWN2 creature blueprints

[thaelis]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...VE&usp=sharing

[thaelis]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

Added Aura of Vitality, Awaken, Call Lightning, Call Lightning Storm, Crumble and Cure Light Wounds (Mass).

Added Contagion (Greater), Gust of Wind, Harm, Magic Fang (Greater), Nature's Avatar, Poison and Vine Mine.

Revised Inferno and Fire Storm, Reflex DC's for the continuous damage should be 15/20 respectively, but require a full-round action to put out flames.

Added Polar Midnight (Druid/Cleric PnP version of Burst of Glacial Wrath), Spell Resistance, Stormrage (Storm Avatar), and Swamp Lung.

Revised Elemental Swarm. Since everything in the game already has max. HP, they should have >max. HP to stay equivalent to PnP.

Revised Spike Growth. Should be undetectable, cripple movement speed and much larger AoE.

Revised Earthquake. Should be larger AoE.

Added Restoration and Restoration (Lesser).

NOTES: The SRD I was using for the Spell Compendium references got shut down by WOTC, so they are all dead links. You can find the v3.5 Spell Compendium pretty easily by just googling it though.

Meteor Swarm has an area of effect of 60ft radius in NWN2. Since this seems to be largest AoE possible I've simply listed larger AoE spells as having it's radius, even though some are supposed to have 200ft radius!

[thaelis]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...GKs/edit#gid=0

Added Ethereal Jaunt/Etherealness - Gigantic inconsistency with PnP. Material creatures should be unable to damage you unless they are also ethereal. Unfortunately in NWN2 if someone possesses True Seeing they can attack you with ordinary weapons (probably spells too, need to test). Force effects and abjurations should be capable of harming an ethereal creature, so long as the caster can see ethereal. In short, these inconsistencies makes etherealness little better than a short-duration invisibility.

Healing Spells: Aside from the fixes, I'd like to see them get maximised or at least have their min. 'damage' increased. They are quite useless compared to buff spells or % healing spells like Regeneration/Rejuvenation Cocoon. Even if you have Augment Healing feat they still feel like wasted spell slots. Especially since healing potions are a dime a dozen.