The current state of Spiritshifting: Ideas, reworks and more

[Harpagornis]

The abilities are finally working again - good. But whenever i think "everything is working" another bug spawns out of nowhere.

 

For whatever reason the Spell-Disruption is back for all forms even when i remove the ability from the Bear alltogether. There must be another hidden stacking...

 

Then the Druid often times gets flanked even when only facing one enemy - thats really annoying...

 

Persistent Distraction somehow respawned in the Spiritshift files even though it has been deleted for a long time. Thats spooky.

 

The new ability-menu in the character screen for whatever reason does not remove any abilities but hides the Spiritshift - its a mess...

 

The very best is that all of those bugs spawn randomly. I have Shifters who work flawlessly and others where the bugs strike alltogether.

 

Is there any logic in this madness? If the bugs keep coming the mod will never be finished... :D

Edited September 19, 2018 by Harpagornis

[mant2si]

Maybe something happen with your save-files ? You could install console and check all hidden buffs and properties

[Harpagornis]

How can i check hidden buffs and properties with console @mant2si? This could help a lot!

 

The strangest thing is that my older saves all work perfectly fine but when i start a new game things are going wrong - at least for some class combos...

Edited September 19, 2018 by Harpagornis

[mant2si]

How can i check hidden buffs and properties with console @mant2si? This could help a lot!

 

The strangest thing is that my older saves all work perfectly fine but when i start a new game things are going wrong - at least for some class combos...

https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/2

 

I think if your previous save works then, maybe something with game cache ? I don't know but if Ob has some caching this may break your mod, I suggest you to copy your mods, re-install, reinstall/check with steam if all game file valid, then copy your save folder then delete original one, and test your mod on clean game (delete all data from users folder)

Edited September 19, 2018 by mant2si

[Harpagornis]

Yeah, i had the same idea.... a complete new install. Maybe there is something in the cache that breaks some strings in the mod. I tested half a dozen old saves and everything works fine. The only downside here is that the bonus shifts will only apply after a level up but that is in my eyes only a minor issue.

 

However: I have reworked the +Accuracy talents for Beasts and Primordials who now grant +15 Accuracy instead of 10. As these monster types fit perfectly with the background of Druids this should be fine - no?

 

I also played around with a passive talent that will heal on each hit but so far its not working like intended. Sometimes it grants HP sometimes not. Therefore i skipped the idea for now while increasing the passive healing when switching between the forms from 15+5 per PL to 20+10 per PL. Thats 20+70 @level 20 for MC plus Strength bonus and Dawnstar's blessing which will put this up to 135++ healing per change. Seems okay.

 

As i had constantly problems with Spell Disruption i removed the ability alltogether from the Bear (while also looking at the codes of all other forms to make sure they went out) and replaced it with a reworked Barbaric Shout (now Raging Shout) that will be used automatically whenever the Druid shifts into the Bear. I must admit this looks pretty cool.

 

As i wont have a lot of time in the next days (including the weekend) i will post the Alpha Mod not later than Friday so everyone can run some tests to give me a first feedback. I am really curious what the kind soul called @mant2si will tell me about it. I must admit that i cannot really say how powerful the Shifter now is at level 20. Is he weaker than before? Much stronger? Close to OP? In some days we will know!!

Edited September 19, 2018 by Harpagornis

[Harpagornis]

At least on my last tests every ability seems to work - therefore i will post here the first Alpha Version of "Spiritshifting:Evolution".

 

I splitted the mod into two attachements.

 

"Spiritshifting Evolution" is for the Override Folder.

 

"Progressiontables" is for Pillars of Eternity II\PillarsOfEternityII_Data\exported\design\gamedata.

MAKE SURE TO GET A BACKUP OF YOUR ORIGINAL progressiontables.gamedatabundle BEFORE COPYING THE NEW ONE

 

For some reason - at least on my computer - the Progression Tables are not loaded when i put them into the Override Folder. Maybe its working for you - try it out. I hope that in the next version this will have been fixed.

 

For the moment this first Alpha Mod is all about testing bugs and - most important - testing the power of the new born Shifter. I fear that i will have to tone them down. I am very curious about your judgement @mant2si.

Spiritshifting Evolution.zip

progressiontables.zip

Edited September 20, 2018 by Harpagornis

[Harpagornis]

Progression Table should now work properly while also some abilities got polished. Just extract the Spirithshifting Evolution Folder into Override - here is the update:

 

 

Spiritshifting Evolution.zip

[mant2si]

Good job, I will test it on weekends, I highly recommend to put your sources on GitHib or BitBucket, this will simplify your development + allow other people test your mod directly from sources, for example I don't like download any kind of zip file from internet

[Harpagornis]

As Druids are not one of the most favoured classes its time to change this even though my focus is on Shifters only. After collecting lots of ideas here Shifters got new abilities when leveling up while also have access to additional talents. Here is an overview what has changed:

 

BEAR:

L4: Barbaric Blow

L10: Thunderous Blows

L16: RAGE! (reworked Citzals Martial Power)

Immune to Might Afflictions

Uses Raging Shout when transforming

 

BOAR:

L4: Taste of the Hunt

L10: Boar Charge

L16: Proliferation (reworked Lay on Hands)

Immune to Constitution Afflictions

Regeneration increased to 7

 

WOLF:

L4: Wounding Strike

L10: Ferocious Strikes (Disciplined Strikes)

L16: Concussion Blow

Immune to Perception Afflictions

Summons Spirit Wolf when transforming

 

CAT:

L4: Camouflage (Smoke Veil)

L10: Finishing Blow

L16: Game Over! (Flurry of Blades)

Immune to Dexterity Afflictions

Swift Inspiration

 

STAG:

L4: Armor Breaker (reworked And Hel-Hyraf Crashed Upon The Shield)

L10: Revenge (reworked Blade Turning)

L16: Clear Out

Immune to Resolve Afflictions

Immune to Flanked

 

New Talents:

Beast Slayer: +15 Accuray against Beasts

Primordial Hunter: +15 Accuracy against Primordials

Bark Skin: +2 Armor

Vicious Strikes: +2 Penetration, +15% Damage

 

All Spiritshift Forms get additional transformations at level 4, 10 and 16 (max four shifts for each Form!).

 

Passive Healing when transforming increased to 20 (base) + 10 (per PL).

 

All Spiritshift Forms deal two forms of damage.

Bear (crush+slash), Stag (crush+pierce), Cat, Wolf & Boar (pierce+slash).

 

Removed ALL Elemental Spells

Removed ALL Elemental Talents

 

More changes coming soon...

Edited September 21, 2018 by Harpagornis

[Harpagornis]

In the "most-likely" case that the current modifications will be "too strong" i have planned several nerfs.

 

First thing could be the reduction of additional shifts from four to three only gaining new ones at level 7 and 13.

 

Another nerf that could be even more interesting is that Shifters get another attibute called "Armor Reluctance" that disables any spell casting when wearing Armor - even in human form. I think this would fit well to the background of a Shifter that constantly manipulates its form so any kind of Armor is not more than a hinderance. At the moment i am testing how this could be integrated into the mod.

 

Lets hope @mant2si will tell me that Shifters are "still okay"...

Edited September 21, 2018 by Harpagornis

[mant2si]

My first impression, the mod is really cool and give you a lot of different options and tools to deal with your enemies 

What is good and well balanced:

Healing on Spiritshift 
2 Damage Types 
Passive & Active bonus for each form  

I found next bugs:

1. On L5 you get Nature's Terror, Elemental spell
2. After PL5 you can't see Spritshift forms on level up screen
3. Beast Slayer give you accuracy vs Primordials
4. Your wolf summon behave as Ranger summon, but should behave as Chanter summon
5. Passive armor bonus and pen bonus also applied on normal weapon and normal armor

Level progressions suggestions:

1. Put Pen and Armor passives on PL7 and PL6
2. Put Beast Slayer and other abilities PL4

Ability suggestion:

0. Resulted Pen 15  is pretty high, could you give only  1 pen instead of 2
1. Make Terrifying Roar -> Terrify but for short period of Time (6S)

2. Paw Swipe is useless, I suggest you to change it on something else
3. Make Thunderous Blows duration little bit longer, at least 24S
4. I suggest you  to move Taste of the Hunt to Wolf form + change (Wounding Bite and Strikes ability to something else)
5. Finish Them is useless, I suggest you to change it on something else
6. Game Over AOE is Very small + I suggest you to make this ability Immobilize targets 
7. I suggest to make stag furry attack all targets Around you but with Primary Attack + for defense
8. I suggest to make - (Armor Breaker) - Each time the enemy takes damage, the effect's duration is increased

9. Revenge duration is too long, could you make it for 6S 

I will do more tests with bosses fights tomorrow
 

Edited September 22, 2018 by mant2si

[mant2si]

I also found that Paladin + new Shifter can stack to much armor for current AR system
Shifter + Rogue could have high AR without penalty to AS
Shifter + Monk is OK
Shifter + Fighter is OK
Shifter + Ranger is OK
Shifter + Barbarian is OK

I don't test Shifter with any mage class because of disabled spellcasting

[Harpagornis]

My first impression, the mod is really cool and give you a lot of different options and tools to deal with your enemies 

 

What is good and well balanced:

 

Healing on Spiritshift 

2 Damage Types 

Passive & Active bonus for each form  

 

I found next bugs:

 

1. On L5 you get Nature's Terror, Elemental spell -> I did not touch the Auto Granted Spells otherwise Natures Mark would have to go too

2. After PL5 you can't see Spritshift forms on level up screen -> The UI is still a mystery to me...

3. Beast Slayer give you accuracy vs Primordials -> After taking a look at the codes this should NOT happen. Everything looks okay...

4. Your wolf summon behave as Ranger summon, but should behave as Chanter summon -> Whats the difference?

5. Passive armor bonus and pen bonus also applied on normal weapon and normal armor -> Still have to find a way to make this Spiritshift only...

 

Level progressions suggestions:

 

1. Put Pen and Armor passives on PL7 and PL6

2. Put Beast Slayer and other abilities PL4 -> I left them on level 1 for testing purposes so this will be changed soon!

 

Ability suggestion:

 

0. Resulted Pen 15  is pretty high, could you give only  1 pen instead of 2 -> same thoughts here. Maybe reduce base PEN to 8 for Forms?!

1. Make Terrifying Roar -> Terrify but for short period of Time (6S) -> I dont understand what you mean concretly

2. Paw Swipe is useless, I suggest you to change it on something else -> Hhhmmm... i liked Paw Swipe a lot so far!

3. Make Thunderous Blows duration little bit longer, at least 24S -> Agreed!

4. I suggest you  to move Taste of the Hunt to Wolf form + change (Wounding Bite and Strikes ability to something else) -> Still working on some passive Life Leech for Wolf!!

5. Finish Them is useless, I suggest you to change it on something else -> Another ability i like!

6. Game Over AOE is Very small + I suggest you to make this ability Immobilize targets -> will have to take a closer look at this one!

7. I suggest to make stag furry attack all targets Around you but with Primary Attack + for defense -> Hhmmmmm...

8. I suggest to make - (Armor Breaker) - Each time the enemy takes damage, the effect's duration is increased -> I used the Shield Breaks first but thought it would be too strong for PL2

9. Revenge duration is too long, could you make it for 6S -> Agreed!

I will do more tests with bosses fights tomorrow

 

Edited September 22, 2018 by Harpagornis

[Harpagornis]

Okay, Beast Slayer is fixed. The "bug" was that both talents used the same StatusEffect ID.

 

Changed Paw Swipe to Crushing Blows (Stunning Blow with Bonus Accuracy, Damage & PEN).

 

Lowered Base PEN down to 8.

 

Increased AoE and Damage and PEN for Game Over (Flurry of Blades).

 

Increased duration of Thunderous Blows to 15 seconds.

 

Reduced duration of Revenge (Blade Turning) to 6 seconds.

 

But what about the Wolf? Maybe some ability like Triumph of Crusaders that also gains health on hit? What else?

 

AR is a bit tricky but i wont change this only because their is this stupid Paladin class!

Edited September 22, 2018 by Harpagornis

[Harpagornis]

I got an "easy" fix for the AR talent problem: Armor Reluctance!!! Whenever the Shifter wears any kind of Armor spell casting is disabled - even in human form!

 

This would make casting a lot more dangerous or tactical (Smoke Veil -> retreat -> cast). Whats your opinion on this one @mant2si?

Edited September 22, 2018 by Harpagornis

[mant2si]

I got an "easy" fix for the AR talent problem: Armor Reluctance!!! Whenever the Shifter wears any kind of Armor spell casting is disabled - even in human form!

 

This would make casting a lot more dangerous or tactical (Smoke Veil -> retreat -> cast). Whats your opinion on this one @mant2si?

I don't like this change, maybe you simple remove all spells at all or allow to cast them only in non-human form ?

Edited September 22, 2018 by mant2si

[Harpagornis]

Spellcasting when shifted is complete overkill and does not feel right. Personally i like the small dilemma of "Spells" or "Armor" and it would also fit really good into the background of Shifters who constantly manipulate their bodies so any kind of Armor is just a hinderance.

 

Have you noticed that the old "Spiritshift-Armor-is-not-vanishing"-bug has returned? Holy cow...

 

The Wolf is still a problem.. ability like...

Edited September 22, 2018 by Harpagornis

[mant2si]

Spellcasting when shifted is complete overkill and does not feel right. Personally i like the small dilemma of "Spells" or "Armor" and it would also fit really good into the background of Shifters who constantly manipulate their bodies so any kind of Armor is just a hinderance.

 

Have you noticed that the old "Spiritshift-Armor-is-not-vanishing"-bug has returned? Holy cow...

 

The Wolf is still a problem.. ability like...

I don't understand how this feature will fit solo game-play, in BG2 and NWN shifter druids has access to all spells

[Harpagornis]

Wouldnt spellcasting in Spiritshift Form break the balance? But before making any decision here lets wait what the boss tests will show us! 

 

I started reworking the Wolf and the first thing that went out is "Wounding Strike" which got replaced by

"Hunters Mark" which is a heavily reworked Divine Mark with very fast casting time and decreased slash/pierce damage. The deflection penalty should still be very helpful!

 

For Disciplined Strikes i am still trying to rework Triumph of Crusaders so it will heal on hit. If this works the Wolf will bring a lot more power to the table.

 

Crushing Blow (reworked Stunning Blow) should also be a nice addition for the Bear (instead of Paw Swipe).

 

Thunderous Blows went up to 18 seconds duration.

 

Okay, more changes coming soon - time for some sleep!

Edited September 22, 2018 by Harpagornis

[Harpagornis]

Lots of small changes thanks to the tests of @mant2si.

 

And one for the ultimate trial: I removed the Spell blocking when shifted. How OP is the Shifter now? Test it!

 

Changelog 0.21:

 

- Beast Slayer now properly gives +15 Accuracy against Beasts.

 

- New Level 4 Bear ability "Crushing Blows" (like Stunning Blow with +10 Accuracy, +25% Damage, +2PEN).

 

- Base Penetration for all Forms lowered to 8.

 

- Duration of the Level 4 Stag Ability "Armor Breaker" (And Hel-Hyraf Crashed Upon The Shield) increased to 18 seconds.

 

- Increased AoE for the Level 16 Cat Ability "Game Over" (Flurry of Blades). Damage increased to 28-42. Penetration increased to 9.

 

- Duration of the Level 10 Bear Ability "Thunderous Blows" increased from 12 to 18 seconds.

 

- Duration of the Level 10 Stag Ability Revenge (Blade Turning) decreased from 10 to 6 seconds.

 

- New Level 10 Wolf Ability "Hunters Mark" (like Divine Mark with +10 Accuracy, 15 seconds duration, 41-51 slash/pierce damage, casting duration: 0.5 seconds).

 

- Moved the Level 10 Wolf ability "Ferocious Strikes" to Level 4 and increased the duration from 15 to 22 seconds.

 

- Decreased the Casting Time of the Level 16 Bear Ability RAGE! (Citzals Martial Power) to 0.5 seconds.

 

- Removed Spellblocking when wearing Armor in Human Form.

 

- Enabled spellcasting when shifted.

 

More changes will follow for sure...

Spiritshifting Evolution 0.21.zip

Edited September 23, 2018 by Harpagornis

[mant2si]

I will test it today against boss fights

With enabled spell-casting in shifted form you can return this back

- Removed Spellblocking when wearing Armor in Human Form.

- Enabled spellcasting when shifted

That is cool, now you can mix you Shifter with caster classes, but then you need to think which spell can be used by Shifter and which not

[mant2si]

I think that I need to explain why casting in Shifted form should be enabled and why casting in Human Form should be disabled:

* This feature will add more fun to Shifter game-play:
  - Give you possibility to create ****er/(Wizard, Cipher, Priest) classes
  - Allow you to Buff/Debuff party members without annoying micro-management
* This feature is pretty balanced because:
  - All power-game Solo or even party builds use shield , because shield usually mean from 30 - 40 (Passive Deflection), Shifter can't do that, that mean that all Bosses will crit them constantly, but even Group of normal enemies without shield can cause a problem 
  - Shifter can't use weapon, armor with PL bonuses or power-game weapon such as Scordeo's Edge
* Disabling spell-casting for shiftier in human form in armor, will mean that you don't have chance to use shield or strong weapon as fallback

[Harpagornis]

I am really curious how the new setup will work against lategame groups or bosses especially when using MC.

 

Lets hope that the Armor Reluctance wont put back spell blocking when shifted - will test it soon!!

[Harpagornis]

Continued finetuning some abilities:

 

I must admit that the Boar is the most boring Form even though its powerful healing (and raw damage) puts it into a "okay" spot.

To give it also some punch Charge got a rework:

- Removed the Recovery Time

- Charge now also applies 20-30 base crush damage to anyone in the path

 

I am also thinking about removing more Recovery Timers to make the Forms act much faster. Good idea?

 

Activating Armor Reluctance (no spell casting when wearing Armor) also disables spell casting in Forms so i have to find another way...

 

Another option to give Shifters even more freedom would be to allow Spiritshifting outside of combat. Not sure about this one even though it sounds interesting.

 

However: Feedback is always welcome!

 

EDIT: Reworked Level 10 Cat Ability "Finish Them".  Renamed it to "Executioner". Increased damage, added +2 Bonus Penetration and +30 self healing per hit.

Edited September 24, 2018 by Harpagornis

[Harpagornis]

Even though it seems that no one here is really interested in a Shifter Mod - except for @mant2si - i will continue the optimization in the next weeks (when i finally will get some time!). In the meantime i invite everyone to either give me some feedback on the ideas or test the Alpha Mod in practice. There is still a lot of work to do! 

 

Next things on the workflow:

- Optimizing active abilities

- Adding more talents

- Level Scaling finetuning

- Find a way to activate "spell disabling" in human form

- Do a complete run with Single and/or Multiclass Shifter

Edited September 24, 2018 by Harpagornis