The current state of Spiritshifting: Ideas, reworks and more

[mant2si]

That why you must use git for all your projects man  Rename it to 7z

progressiontables.7z.txt

Edited September 14, 2018 by mant2si

[mant2si]

I attached file to my previous post  

[Harpagornis]

Thanks @mant2si. Somehow i reconstructed the file but... i hate this PT... even though the spells should no more available they are still there... madness!!!

 

EDIT: The file you attached is completly cryptic... cannot use it with Notepad++

Edited September 14, 2018 by Harpagornis

[mant2si]

Thanks @mant2si. Somehow i reconstructed the file but... i hate this PT... even though the spells should no more available they are still there... madness!!!

Just create public repository on github or private on bitbucket, then you can share your module code with community 

Edited September 14, 2018 by mant2si

[mant2si]

Thanks @mant2si. Somehow i reconstructed the file but... i hate this PT... even though the spells should no more available they are still there... madness!!!

 

EDIT: The file you attached is completly cryptic... cannot use it with Notepad++

Rename it to  progressiontables.7z and unzip Without zipping it has 9mb size

[Yosharian]

If you removed Elements spells, then you could give Shifters back the ability to cast while in Spiritshift form.  This would make them a lot more fun to play.

Edited September 14, 2018 by Yosharian

[Harpagornis]

Hhmmm... yeah... casting the limited spells while also being able to shift more than once... holy cow... the Shifter will be - well - a real Shifter!  

 

However it will still be lot of work even more as i tend to mess around with the codes... i am too chaotic!!

[mant2si]

While Obsidian fix bugs and release next DLC, I decided to replay NWN as Shifter And you know their Shifter is really cool guy, who has 15, holy **** 15 different forms + 4 Base (From Druid class)

1. Some forms  can merge equipment bonuses (even armor and weapon) to shifted form (include weapon and shield)

2. Each form has their own cons and pros, for example Rakshas can cast unlimited AOE or risen lord has immunity to crit/mind spells
3. They rewrite Druid stats, so you don't need to worry about maxing Dex or Int for Rakshas
4. All form has unlimited duration and druid can transform to it 1 - 3 times
 

Edited September 15, 2018 by mant2si

[Harpagornis]

Yeah, NWN was really cool regarding Shapeshifting. I dont think that we need to push Shifters that far (15+4 Forms sounds like overkill) but there should be some more changes coming. If we can get them in. Or if Obsidian gives Shifters some love. Good joke - no?

 

As the modding eats time like nothing else (and i tend to play around with the codes too much) i have made only small progress:

 

1. All spells with keyword "Elements" got removed (except for Natures Mark Autogrant)

2. I have started to give each Form additional tranformations at level 4, 10 and 16 (four time shifting for each form!)

3. I have started giving all Forms innate affliction immunities (starting from level 1!)

4. Replaced Bears Level 16 ability Crush (Panther Leap) with RAGE! (Citzals Martial Power). This should "solve" the Accuracy Problem and it also transforms the Bear into a really cool looking Spirit Bear!

5. Replaced Stags Level 10 ability Vigorous Defense with Revenge (Blade Turning) while increasing its duration to 10 s. We need more OP buttons no?

 

More to come soon... hopefully!

Edited September 15, 2018 by Harpagornis

[mant2si]

Thanks for your changes 10s for Blade Turning is really cool, how much times we can activate this ability during shifting ? 

Edited September 15, 2018 by mant2si

[Harpagornis]

@level 16: Four transformations = 4 times = 40 seconds (plus scaling & Int-Bonus) = lots of pain for the enemies!

 

EDIT: On paper this looks really OP... no?

Edited September 15, 2018 by Harpagornis

[Harpagornis]

I did some level 10 group fights to test Stags Revenge (Blade Turning) and i think its on a good way. I could neutralize melee attacker nearly for the whole fight and even if it runs out there is still the Boar with regeneration and Taste of the Hunt. At level 16 things should get even easier with 4x Unbending. The only thing that the Forms lack are a bit are more AoE attacks. The Stag gets one at 16 but the rest is more suited for 1vs1 (Concussion Blow, Flurry of Blades).

 

We could integrate another ability maybe at level 20 but that would push Spiritshifting maybe over the top. Hhhmmmm... not sure about that one. However: With the affliction immunities the Shifter should be able to neutralize a lot of CC and - not to forget - the Stag also gets Suppress Afflictions. I did not change the Spiritshift duration so far but with Int and at high level ~40 seconds should be enough. Maybe we can change the base value to 30 seconds.

 

I got another idea: Why not allowing Spiritshifting out of combat? In this case for instance the Boar could sneak up to a group of enemies stunning all of them with Charge. I think this would give the Shifter a lot of more openers - no? Another thing: Should the Druid be allowed to cast again when being shifted?

 

Maybe we can put another bonus shift at PL 8 to make single class Shifters "a bit" stronger.

 

Here is an image that shows the new ability-screen - lots has changed:

Edited September 16, 2018 by Harpagornis

[Harpagornis]

I made some huge progress giving the Forms even more utility:

 

Bear: Immune to Might Afflictions, Carnage

Boar: Immune to Con Afflictions, Regeneration increased to 7

Cat: Immune to Dex Afflictions, Persistent Distraction, Sneak Attack

Stag: Replaced Suppress Affliction with Natures Wrath (Sworn Enemy), Immune to Res Afflictions

Wolf: Immune to Per Afflictions, Replaced Mark Prey with Wounding Strike, Automatically summons a Wolf when transforming (!)

 

That looks really powerful... hmmmm... maybe we should reduce the Spiritshift Usage to 3?

[mant2si]

I made some huge progress giving the Forms even more utility:

 

Bear: Immune to Might Afflictions, Carnage

Boar: Immune to Con Afflictions, Regeneration increased to 7

Cat: Immune to Dex Afflictions, Persistent Distraction, Sneak Attack

Stag: Replaced Suppress Affliction with Natures Wrath (Sworn Enemy), Immune to Res Afflictions

Wolf: Immune to Per Afflictions, Replaced Mark Prey with Wounding Strike, Automatically summons a Wolf when transforming (!)

 

That looks really powerful... hmmmm... maybe we should reduce the Spiritshift Usage to 3?

Do you plan to add more features to pure Shifter  L8 - L9 ? 

Edited September 16, 2018 by mant2si

[Harpagornis]

I am thinking about a PL9 Spiritshift Form - something like Galawains Aspect for the player.

But so far i have enough troubles keeping all the codes and files under control.

 

If we reduce the number of Shifts to 3 we get some room for other things... hmmmmmm...

 

EDIT: The "Leader of the Pack" for Wolf is really cool now. Suddenly another Ghost Wolf is standing beside him after transforming... love that!

It gets resummoned with each new shift into Wolf Form. Should help Shifters a lot (Flanked!!).

Edited September 16, 2018 by Harpagornis

[Harpagornis]

What about this level plan:

 

L4: New Ability

L7: Second Shift

L10: New Ability

L13: Third Shift

L16: New Ability

(L19: Fourth Shift)

 

When looking at the late game group or boss fights @mant2si how many Shifts do you think should we aim for (with the current abilities)?

 

Or is the actual scaling okay in your eyes?

 

 

P.S. Finally i got ALL abilities, passives and scalings working all together. Holy cow this new Shifter is really cool. Now its time to rename abilities and descriptions while also changing icons for more flavour. This should be fun!!

Edited September 16, 2018 by Harpagornis

[mant2si]

> When looking at the late game group or boss fights @mant2si how many Shifts do you think should we aim for (with the current abilities)? 

3 - 4 Will be OK

> Or is the actual scaling okay in your eyes?

For multi-classing yes

>  Replaced Mark Prey with Wounding Strike

Mark Pry is really good, I think you can leave it instead of Wounding Strike 

 

Could you put your module under VSC (git, bit-bucket) ?  It's looks very promising, now if you mix Shifter with Rogue/Fighter/Monk/Barbarian you can get very decent build, when you can shift multiple times and cast different healing abilities ... very cool

But I afraid of abilities stacking, because when I suggest you to add Carnage and Sneak attack, I have thought about L16, because I not sure how they will work with Rogue Subclass and Barbarian 

> But so far i have enough troubles keeping all the codes and files under control. 

 
There exist tools that allow you split your JSON files on multiple files and then build them back to single

[Harpagornis]

Okay, lets leave the four shifts for now. We can change that anytime!

 

Single Class Shifters could get some special level 8/9 abilities - should be the next step if everything else runs smoothly.

 

If i take Mark Prey back we would have this plus Natures Wrath (Sworn Enemy) for Stag. I dont like that. But if you tell me what i could give the Stag at level 4 i would be happy. Suppress Affliction doesnt feel right anymore with Afflliction Immunities.

 

Thats a good keyword: What will happen if an enemy for instance blinds me and i then transform into the Wolf who is immune. Will the blindness be canceled?

 

I will test the Carnage and Sneak Attack stacking hopefully soon. As i use the same ID it should not stack... in theory. Oh, i like to give them the passives right from the start but changing them to Level 16 should be doable. Somehow!

 

Hhmmm... i never used GitHub before. Will have to think about that one. But i could drop the whole mod here in the next days for testing purposes!

 

P.S. The No-Spells for Spiritshift is still active so casting spells will force you to human form!

 

EDIT: Tested the stacking... hmmmm. As there are two ID´s for Sneak Attack it will stack with one of them... in this case with Trickster. As the other Rogues use the same ID they are fine. Carnage should also not stack until the Barbarian upgrades to Accurate Carnage... then there might be again some stacking. Holy cow. Maybe i should "ban" the passives to level 16. Or find a way to avoid stacking!

 

EDIT2: A new "bug" has sneaked in. For whatever reason all Forms are now applying spell disruption even though i never implemented this code!

 

EDIT3: The spell disruption is a mystery. After searching in the Spiritshift files i could not find any Mage Slayer ID. Hhmmmmm... but i must admit that i like the concept: Fueled by the furious rightesness of nature the Spiritshift Forms attack with such a force that spells will potentially get disrupted. In this case i would remove Carnage and Sneak attack again...

 

EDIT4: I think i found an answer as the spell disruption does NOT apply when using other class combos like Devoted/Shifter. Maybe its an effect of the sneak attack stacking that makes the game think that there is some kind of spell disruption. Hmmmm... this would make any Barbarian or Rogue Multiclass too strong... no?

 

EDIT5: As there seems to be no obvious way to avoid all kinds of potential carnage/sneak attack stacking (which also leads to spell disruption) it might be better to remove them. Spell disruption on the other hand might be an idea for all forms...

Edited September 17, 2018 by Harpagornis

[Harpagornis]

Okay, lets give an overview of the Spiritshift Forms up to now:

 

BEAR:

L4: Barbaric Blow

L10: Thunderous Blows

L16: Citzals Martial Power

Immune to Might Afflictions

Carnage

 

BOAR:

L4: Taste of the Hunt

L10: Charge

L16: Unbending

Immune to Constitution Afflictions

Regeneration increased to 7

 

WOLF:

L4: Wounding Strike

L10: Disciplined Strikes

L16: Concussion Blow

Immune to Perception Afflictions

Summons Spirit Wolf when transforming

 

CAT:

L4: Smoke Veil

L10: Finishing Blow

L16: Flurry of Blades

Immune to Dexterity Afflictions

Sneak Attack

Persistent Distraction

 

STAG:

L4: Sworn Enemy

L10: Blade Turning

L16: Clear Out

Immune to Resolve Afflictions

 

For all Forms: Additional Spiritshift Usage at level 4, 10 & 16.

 

NOTE: Many abilities have been renamed. With Sneak Attack and Carnage out again we have room for something new. What about Spell Disruption? Any ideas?

 

EDIT: Some ideas...

 

Bear: Spell Disruption

Cat: Persistent Distraction

Stag: Immune to Flanked

 

Wolf and Boar stay where they are.

Edited September 17, 2018 by Harpagornis

[Harpagornis]

Okay, i reworked Bear, Cat and Stag a bit:

 

Bear: Spell Disruption

I dont know how gamebreaking this will be but this is definetely not to be taken easy. Does this also disrupt boss monster abilities?

 

Cat: Swift Inspiration

I think this fits perfectly to the Cat as a fast and sneaky Assassin that cannot be engaged by enemies when on the hunt.

 

Stag: Immune to Flanked

Thanks to its superior Stag Defense this also feels very natural and complements well to the rest... no?

 

With all of this abilities and passives the Shifter now really looks like a "Jack of all Trades" with several build in mini-classes.

 

I will have to rethink about the numbers of Shifts now as well as reworking the ability tree.

 

The passive Elemental buffs can go out as well. Maybe we could create some more Shifter-specific talents?

 

There is also the idea of putting in a new PL9 Spiritshift Form like Aspect of Galawain. With other words: Still some work to do...

 

Ideas and feedback are always welcome!

 

P.S. I have to say "Thanks" for the tip of removing all Elemental Spells @Yosharian as this opened up so many doors!!

Edited September 17, 2018 by Harpagornis

[Harpagornis]

After eliminating some smaller bugs or missing texts i would now be happy to get suggestions regarding new talents/abilities that the Shifter have to unlock.

 

Easy things could be something like:

 

+2 PEN

+2 AR

+Accuracy against Beasts (and similar)

Infinte passive regeneration (too OP?)

 

In this case i would remove the increased AR scaling and put PEN back to 9 base. But i am sure that you will throw in some more interesing ideas. No?

 

Thanks for your help - especially @mant2si! Man, you deserve a special note for all of your deep feedback!

 

EDIT: Found another problem regarding Sworn Enemy and Marked Prey. Even though both apply their debuff there is no bonus damage or accuracy displayed in the combat log. Strange. Lets see if i can find a solution...

Edited September 17, 2018 by Harpagornis

[mant2si]

Man you do a good job, and I will help you in testing your Shifter mod, but not in current patch, now after 1 hour of game-play I get huge FPS drop and that infinity animation loop... It occurs every few 5 - 10 minutes for me  

While we waiting for next patch, maybe you will develop PL8 - PL9 abilities I really want to see pure Shifter with Aspect of Galawain or Dragon form  

Edited September 17, 2018 by mant2si

[Harpagornis]

Did some reworks and added the first talents. After some small test fights against random groups two things went out. First i did not like the infinite debuffs from Marked Prey and Sworn Enemy as everything around the Shifter is "kill your enemy before Spiritshifting time and abilities run out". Furthermore i think that these debuffs should remain a little bit unique. I also dislike the quite long near-immortaly that Unbending gives as long as no enemy Mage is around. This means:

 

Boar:

Removed L16 Unbending and replaced it with "Proliferation" which is pretty much like Lay on Hands for Shieldbearer but with increased duration for the healing, changed icon, vocalization and description. The Boar still gets immortal but the time is heavily reduced and will not cover bigger group fights.

 

Stag:

Removed Sworn Enemy and put in Armor Breaker which is And Hel-Hyraf Crashed upon the Shield with greatly reduced AoE. This should help alot against heavy armored enemies and fits well with the Stags Horns being able to crack open any amor.

 

Beast Slayer:

Talent for PL1 that will increase Accuracy against Beasts by 10. Also fits perfectly with the background of Druids.

 

Bark Skin:

Talent for PL4 that will increase AR by +2 against all attacks and will stack with Spiritshift Armor. The increased Armor Scaling therefore got removed.

 

Vicious Strikes:

Talent for PL4 that will increase PEN by 2 and damage by 15%. This should give the Spiritshift Forms even more punch! The increased Base PEN was removed.

 

Any suggestions for more talents?

 

P.S. Next step will be the creation of a completly new Spiritshift Form - if i can get this work. My hopes say yes, my fears say no. We will see!

 

EDIT:

 

Added Primordial Hunter:

Level 1 Talent that gives +10 Accuracy against Primordials.

 

Removed the "Cannot die" from Proliferation but increased healing duration to 15 seconds. Its quite crazy when three healing numbers pop up constantly one after another: Boar Reg (Base:7) + Robust Reg (Base:10) + Proliferation Reg (Base:20). This is not as OP as Unbending but is still able to neutralize a lot of damage.

 

More to come!!

Edited September 18, 2018 by Harpagornis

[Harpagornis]

I need your help again @mant2si. I dont know why but lets call the person "wife" has played around with my mod folders while also changing or deleting gamedatafiles. Really funny! I have resetted everything but my abiities.gamedatabundle somehow is still broken. Whenever i load a savegame many abilities and the UI are a mess regarding Spiritshifting. If you can post it here this would be great - otherwise i will have to reinstall the whole game...

 

Damn it. Everything worked fine - even some new talents were nearly finished. Looks like i will have to Spirithift myself and then activate RAGE mode - no? 

 

P.S. If anyone else can upload the abilities.gamedatabundle i would appreciate that too!

Edited September 18, 2018 by Harpagornis

[mant2si]

**** happens, is this what you need ?

abilities.7z.txt