Balance Polishing Mod Release 1.0

[Elric Galad]

Hi everyone,

I have just finishined the first complete version (1.0) of my own mod which will aim at making the game more balanced. 

My main objectives are the following :
- Make all abilities/subclasses worth including in a build,
- Ensure that Tier VIII and Tier IX are interesting enough to go Single Class,
- Correct a couple of weird mechanics to make them more consistent with generic rules.

I plan to deliver it on Nexus Mod a bit later probably within a couple of weeks.

Important notes ;
- This mod is designed for RtwP. I "think" most of its content should work for TB, but I haven't tested it,
- This mod is in English only. It will work with any language setup though, but modified texts will appear in English,
- This mod has been designed and tested with the content of PoE2 Community Patch (I own no rights on CP, but I wanted to promote it).
- This mod will apply to any newly created character. For existing ones :
 

Spoiler

Active abilities will work
Passive abilities may or may not work, but a respec will allow them to work
Passive class abilities cannot be re-acquired via respeccing, so they might not be available to existing characters at all (unless someone has a solution). This is only a problem for Sharpshooter, Mageslayer and Trickster nerf, I think.

The files, version 1.0 :

The ones with most of the changes, mostly buffs or minor corrections :

BalancePolishingModBuffs 1.0.zip

The ones with nerfs for a couple of broken features (such as preventing Salvation of Time abuse, or Troubadour nerf). They will be described in red in the notes below. You may not want to use this package.

BalancePolishingModNerfs 1.0.zip

The one with Summon Rebalance, with a lot of tweaks (buffs and nerfs) delivered as a stand-alone package :

BalancePolishingSummonRebalance 1.0.zip

Installation instructions, In order to get the intended experience :
 

Spoiler

- Get the Community Patch first and follow the installing instructions :  https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/335
- Download the mods archives above.
- Open <Pillars of Eternity II>/PillarsOfEternityII_Data/ folder.
- Find the /override subfolder. The correct file path would be: <Pillars of Eternity II>/PillarsOfEternityII_Data/override/
- Extract the archive into your override directory, such that you get <Pillars of Eternity II>/PillarsOfEternityII_Data/override/BalancePolishingModBuffs and <Pillars of Eternity II>/PillarsOfEternityII_Data/override/BalancePolishingModNerfs
- Launch the game,
- Check the mod menu. The files should be loaded after the ones from Community Patch, so they have to be lower on the list,
- If you don't want the Nerfs, de-select them from mod menu (or just don't install them).
- If you don't want a particular change, search the file with the corresponing name in the PillarsOfEternityII_Data\override\xxx\design\gamedata directory and delete it.

Detailed list of changes :

I didn't include the full explainations in this thread, but feel free to read them in the "Project for a Balance Mod" thread. Most of the descriptions should be up-to-date, but there might have been a couple of changes. Therefore, the release thread should be considered as the reference.

Discussion References per topic :

Spoiler

Fighter, Paladin, Chanter : https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/113694-project-for-a-balance-mod/?tab=comments#comment-2192038
Ranger : https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/113694-project-for-a-balance-mod/?tab=comments#comment-2194854
Barbarian + minor Fighter and Ranger rework : https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/113694-project-for-a-balance-mod/page/5/?tab=comments#comment-2199905
Cipher, Wizard : https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/113694-project-for-a-balance-mod/page/5/?tab=comments#comment-2200695
Rogue : https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/113694-project-for-a-balance-mod/page/5/?tab=comments#comment-2201712
Druid, Priest : https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/113694-project-for-a-balance-mod/page/6/?tab=comments#comment-2206374
Monk : no change to this class (apart a bugfix)
On the particular topic of Summon :
- Analysis of Summons in the normal game : https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/114591-mechanics-the-summoners-tables/?tab=comments#comment-2202629
- Description of changes : https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/113694-project-for-a-balance-mod/page/5/?tab=comments#comment-2205785

 

1) Class changes :

A) Fighter

Inspired Discipline : 
3  Discipline -> 2  Discipline

Power Strike & Inspired Strike :
4  Discipline -> 3  Discipline
6s Stun -> 10s Stun
6s Staggered -> 10s Staggered
Inspired Discipline only : +200% damages -> +300%

Take the Hit :
4s Recovery -> 0s  Recovery

Into the Fray & Upgrades :
2  Discipline -> 1 Discipline
10 – 14 damages -> 5 – 10 damages

Mule Kick :
Most upgrades use the PL of the original ability. A PL 3 upgrade of a PL 1 ability used by a PL5 character will for example get a scaling of +4.
There was a glitch that counted Mule Kick as PL3 instead of PL1, so I corrected it for ruleset consistency. This basically gives Mule Kick +2 PL.

Toughened Fury :
25% proc chance, as announced by CP (CP implemented only 20%)

B) Paladin

Light of Pure Zeal :
5 Zeal -> 4 Zeal

Exorcism :
4 Zeal -> 3 Zeal

Healing Chain (complete rework) :
2 Zeal
Range 5m + 4m Jump
Friendly Target + 50 Bounce (yes, 50)
Heal 10 health per bounce (no reduction per bounce)
Can bounce several time on the same target (0,3s delay)

Hastening Exhortation & Upgrades :
2 Zeal -> 1 Zeal
- Hastening Exhortation : Nimble for 15s
- Zealous Exhortation : Swift for 15s
- Hastening Command: Nimble and Strong for 15s

Liberating Exhortation & Upgrades :
2 Zeal -> 1 Zeal
20s Duration -> 15s

Reinforcing Exhortation & Upgrades :
2 Zeal -> 1 Zeal
12s Duration -> 10s

Glorious beacon & Upgrades :
3s/4s Cast -> 0,5s/4,5s Cast
1,5m AoE -> 2,5m AoE
8s Duration -> 12s Duration (for all effects, including upgrades)

Sacred immolation & Upgrades :
4 Zeal -> 3 Zeal
32 raw damages per tick -> 20 damages
(I overrode the 3,5m radius from Community Patch)

Wrath of the Fives Suns (Pallegina special ability) :
Penetration : 7->12 
Penetration properly scale with PL (currently it does not)
Damages : 5-7 -> 5->15 (x5 Projectiles)
EDIT : 2 Zeal -> 1 Zeal

Greater Lay on Hands :
8s Duration -> 10s Duration

Hands of Light :
8s Duration -> 15s Duration

 

C) Chanter

Also refer to Summon Rebalance for changes specifically about summons.

Troubadour :
Brisk Recitation phrase take 4s instead of 3s.

Set to Their Purpose, They All Knew Their Part :
6 Phrases -> 5 Phrases (as unupgraded version)
(this was justified when it provided Brillant...)

Far from Defeated, His Heart Filled with Joy :
6 Phrases -> 5 Phrases (as unupgraded version)
+3 Phrases -> +2 Phrases
Far from Defeated, His Heart Filled with Joy and Their Companion Braved the Horde Alone are now considered Offensive instead of Non-Offensive (important for Skald)

...Each Kill Fed His Fury :
Contrary to the ability it is upgraded from, this ability provides mere +5 stats boost instead of inspirations.
As it seemed really random, I replaced the stat boost by actual Strong, Fit and Steadfast Inspirations.

Boil Their Flesh From Skin to Bone & Upgrade :
Secondary Cones replaced by simple 2,5m radius AoE. This enables the Acid Explosion to be properly centered on the victim.
( I learned that the secondary Cones originated from the caster instead of from the actual victim. This changes also correct this glitch)

His Laughter Rang Through the Halls :
8s Daze -> 30s
Interrupt on Hit -> Interrupt on Graze

His Heart Did Fill With the Light of the Dawn :
+1 Ressource -> +2 Ressources
Does not affect the caster anymore.

 

D) Rangers

Sharpshooter :
+20% Range with all ranged weapons

Hobbling Shot :
Hobbled for 10s->15s 

Heal Companion & Upgrade :
2 Bonds -> 1 Bond
Cast time : 3s/4s -> 0,5s/4,5s
Range 4m -> 10m
Note : I didn't follow Community Patch change for this one.

Revive Companion & Upgrade :
Revive with 50 health -> 100 health
Vengeful Revival : +20% damage -> +30%

Deadly Surprise :
+100% damage -> +300%

Bonded Fury :
3 Bonds -> 2 Bonds
Cast time : 0,5s/4s -> 0,5s/0s
Range : 6m -> 10m

Twinned Shot :
2 Bonds -> 1 Bond

Vengeful Grief :
Duration 15s -> Infinite (note that DEX and MIG affliction still dispell the Inspirations you get)

Heart Seeker :
4 Bonds -> 3 Bonds

Shadowed Hunters :
Pet's first bite after using the ability apply a 30s DoT effect (20 raw damages per 3s tick). Note that first pet attack doesn't break invisibility (this is true in the base game).

Distracting Training :
6s -> 15s (not that this is the base duration. It will be lower in general because the ability use pet's Intellect)

Pet Abilities Keyword :
Added Beast Keyword to all pet abilities cast by the Ranger so they benefit from equipment with bonus to Beast abilities.
Applied to Heal Companion, Revive Companion, Bonded Fury, Master's Call, Shadowed Hunters & their upgrades.
Not applied to Takedown and Play Dead cause they are cast by pet themselves (and PL can be detrimental to Play Dead cause it rise its duration)

 

 

E) Barbarian

Mage Slayer :

Removed the Spell Resistance entirely.
Added -25% Hostile and Beneficial effect duration.

Corpse Eater :

Greatly buffed special food (and also replaced bonus MIG and malus INT by more varied effects) :
- Kith Meat : -5 Diplomacy, -15% Damages received, +3 Corpse Eater PL
- Corpse Loaf : -3 Diplomacy, +3 Health per 6s, +10 Fortitude, +4 Corpse Eater PL
- Forbidden Pie : -3 Diplomacy, +4 Resolve, Mind Affliction Resistance, +5 Corpse Eater PL
In addition, Kith Meat and Vessel Flesh can be bought from Vithrack and Imp vendors (Kith Meat price set to 100 gold)

Instruments of Boundless Rage :
3 Rage -> 2 Rage
Added Fire Keyword

Heart of Fury :
4 Rage -> 3 Rage 

Savage Defiance & Upgrades :
15s -> 25s
Stalwart Defiance : changed to Gain Concentration every 6s

Leap & Panther's Leap :
6s Dazed -> 4s Stun
Dragon Leap :
6s Dazed -> 6s Stun
Panther's and Dragon Leap are now correctly tagged as Leap upgrades (which basically makes them scale as PL5 abilities -> effective +3PL)

Carnage :
Can now Crit (so can apply Blood Frenzy )
Accurate Carnage :
+5 Accuracy -> +10 Accuracy

Blood Surge :
25% Chance -> 50% Chance, but only apply to Hostile Targets (same change as Community Patch did for its Paladin equivalent)

Blood Thirst :
Cleaned the mess that causes it to proc twice on the same target and prevented it from being stackable with Crushing Blow.
Now proc only once except sometimes when 2 targets are killed in a row (it applies twice then, cause Recovery is cleared before second target is killed, so you keep one charge)

Barbaric Blow & upgrades :
Removed the PR and Damages bonus to make the ability more focused.
Now Barbaric Blow & Upgrades do :
- 75% Hit to Crit chances 
- +75% Crit damages bonus (note : Crushing Blow do get this bonus, even if it does not get Crit Damages Bonus in the base game due to a bug)
- +200% Carnage AoE (so roughly 2.5m radius instead of 1.5m)
- Barbaric Smash : no refund, but cost reduced to 1 Rage
- Crushing Blow : no recovery (not conditional anymore)

Spirit Tornado :
Spirit Tornado applies Stagger on any hit, not only Weapon Hits (as the unupgraded version)

 

F) Wizard

Conjurer :
Summon Familiar cast time : 3s/4s -> 0.5s/0s
(It's not very well known, but Familiars provide a +1 stacking and generic PL Bonus, as well as random +3 to one stat and a minor bonus.)

Transmuter :
Form of the Fearsome Brute changes :
- Form of the Fearsome Brute Armor : +100% Recovery -> +20% Recovery
- Form of the Fearsome Brute Fist : 13-25 damages, 6PR -> 18-24 damages, 7PR
- Form of the Fearsome Brute duration : 30s -> 20s
- Form of the Fearsome Brute duration : +1 Engagement -> +3
Note : these changes also apply to Form of the Fearsome Brute Potions

Bewildering Spectacle :
Cast time : 3s/4s -> 0.5s/3s

Confusion :
Added Interrupt on Hit
AoE : 2.5m -> 5m
Note : these changes also apply to Confusion Scrolls, Wael's priest and Trickster's versions.


 

G) Cipher

Wild Mind :
Miscast : set to foe only, but damages lowered to 0.5 x Focus.

Tenuous grasp :
0.5s/4s cast time -> 0.5s/2s

Fractured Volition :
Change Weakened for Enfeebled.

Haunting Chain :
Duration 20s -> 40s.

Soul Ignition :
Target Fortitude -> Target Will (due to Cipher's passive, this is a buff)
16 damages per tick -> 20 damages 
Duration : 15s -> 18s

Mindweb :
Now break after being damages 3 times.
Note that this erases the changes from CP that were supposed to make Mindweb break after a Hit (but didn't work)
 

H) Rogue

Trickster :
Sneak Attack 20% + 5%/PL -> 10% + 5%/PL

Streefighter :
Indirect nerf : Blunderbuss Modal : Distracted for 10s -> -10 Accuracy for 10s

Smoke Veil :
2 Guile -> 1 Guile

Shadow Step & Upgrade :
3 Guile -> 2 Guile
Paralysis 6s -> 8s

Shadowing Beyond & Upgrade :
3 Guile -> 2 Guile
+50 Deflection that was weirdly cancelled on 1st or 2nd attack (without any explaination) -> +25 Deflection for whole duration

Smoke Cloud & Upgrades :
Interrupt on Hit -> Interrupt on Graze

Finishing Blow & Eleminating Blow :
+3% damages per % health lost from 50% -> +1.5% damages per % health lost from 100%
 Devastating Blow :
+6% damages per % health lost from 50% -> +3% damages per % health lost from 100%
I did not change the max value, but I made these abilities count from 100%.

Sap :
Hobbled for 30s -> Shaken for 30s
Added impossibility to receive Concentration debuff on target for 30s.

Perplexing Sap :
Removed the weird Confusion on target's attack effect.
Upgrade Skaken from changed Sap to Fighten.
This version of Perplexing Sap is basically a Silencing attack, or a cheap source of Tier 2 Affliction for Resistant foe.

Strike the Bell & Upgrades (complete rework) :
 - Still Full Attack that Interrupts on Graze, with +25% damages and +2 PR.
 - Now all versions adds a 15s Dazed effect
 - Melee 1 Hander adds a -25 Will debuff for 15s
 - Melee 2 Hander adds a -25 Fortitude debuff for 15s
 - Ranged Weapon adds a -25 Reflex debuff for 15s
 - All other effects removed.
 - The upgrades now allow their respective -25 defense debuff to last for the whole Combat (in a similar fashion as Gouging Strike)

Confounding Strike :
Start at -10 deflection malus, -2 per hit up to a total of -34 (doesn't stack with flanked)
Fix the stacking not working from CP. Thanks @Frykas for pointing it.

Persistent Distraction :
 - Deflection and AR malus doesn't stack with similar effect anymore, as for all others Distracted Afflictions. Thanks @Frykas for pointing it.

Deep Wounds :
Now applies 20% fixed amount of weapon damages in 4 ticks (2s ticks) as announced by CP. CP implemented 3 ticks (3s ticks) for a total of 15%.

 

I) Druid

Also refer to Summon Rebalance for changes specifically about summons.

Wall of Thorns  :

No actual changes, but this ability displayed a base PEN of 7 which was wrong : it is actually base PEN 9, so I corrected the display

Nature's Terror :

- Casting time changed from 4,5s/3s to 3s/3s.

Sunlance : 

- Casting time changed from 4,5s/3s to 0,5s/4,5s.

- Added Interrupt on Hit.

Nature's Bounty :

- Now its effects (20 health restored, +2 PER and MIG, +20% Action Speed for 30s) will apply directly instead of summoning potion.

- AoE reduced 5m -> 2,5m to compensate that it now affects summons and everything.

Entropy :

- Added 3 Base Bounce (Base 4 Targets)

- Number of procs raised from 3 to 5. 

- Charges are not consumed by Graze and Crit anymore

- Removed Interrupt part

Tornado :

- AoE set to 10m radius.

- Range set to 20m

- Added a true "Interrupt on Graze" effect, which is consistent with the Vertical Launch part.

- Casting Time tuned from 6s/2s to 4.5s/3s

Touch of Death :

- Set casting time to 0,5s/3s instead of 3s/3s.

- Add a +25 Acc modifier for this spell. So if your accuracy is equal or greater than foe's Will, the kill is guaranteed.

Wildstrike Frenzy :

- Changed from Procs on Kills to Proc on Kills

Fury Strom Blight Weapons :

- Now properly count as weapons (generate focus, etc...)

 

J) Priest

Also refer to Summon Rebalance for changes specifically about summons.

Divine Terror :
- Duration 20s -> 30s

Salvation of Time :
Change to a lasting beneficial effects which adds 0.5s to every beneficial effects every 1s. That effectively halves their ellapsing speed of buffs (including SoT itself : it lasts 20s with a base duration of 10s).
Basically still add 10s but :
- Now benefits from PL and INT
- Now applies to effects cast after it (especially useful for Vanishing Strikes...)
- Useless to cast several times in a row
- The most important : now a single effect cannot have its duration more than doubled. 
It is still a very good spell, even better than before, but it is now impossible to abuse by combining it with Brilliant, and all other buffs will also have to be re-cast again at some point.

Hand of Berath :
- 5PL -> -10PL
- Now auto-hit.

Revenge of Skaen :
- Range 5m -> 10m
- Added a -20 Accuracy effect in addition to Blind.
The -20 Acc does not stack with -10 Acc from Blind but the idea was to create an effect that goes through Perception Resistance

Blessing of Wael :
- +5 All defenses -> +10
- Now works vs any kind of attacks (not just melee ones)
- Now targets Will
- Changed the Blind affliction (which was too redundant with Skaen's Revenge) for a random effect of -10 PER, INT or RES.

Symbol of Berath :
Added acid Keyword

Gaun Spells  :

- Added Plant Keyword (bugfix from CP, not base game)

Wael Confusion  :

- Added Illusion Keyword (bugfix from CP, not base game)

K) Monk

No changes but fixed the glitch from Community Patch that prevented Shattered Pillar to get max 10 wounds after picking lesser Wounds (note that Community Patch add-on also fixed it in parallel)

 

2) Summon Rebalance :

Nerfs are hihjlighted in red, but are part of the same package.

Weapon & Armor Scaling :

The biggest change is now that all summons weapon and armor scale with level (as Animated Weapons, Summoned Weapons, Companion Pet's Weapons and a handful of other summons already do).
They all follow the rules of the table in the link below (+1 PEN, +4 Acc, +15% damages for their weapons and +1AR at level 5, 9, 13 & 17) 
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/227477-pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire/faqs/76599/non-pl-scaling
(Only exception are some of the Tier IX Summons because you get them after level 17. But most of them will have legendary quality weapons, or strong enough weapons anyway. )
 

Wizard & Monk :

No Change

Druid :


Ondra's Whip, Watery Double, Lashing Vine : no changes. I think these abilities are balanced as they are (and they all scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17 ).

Summon Sporelings :
Added Weapon & Armor scaling.

All Blights Summons :
Added Weapon & Armor scaling.

Call to the Primordials :
Added Weapon & Armor scaling.
Reduced the number of oozes from 3 to 2.
Reduced the duration from 30s to 20s.
Bog Ooze removed from the list of potential summons, replaced by Lesser Bog Ooze (but with the added scaling, it's actually somewhat stronger).

Fire Stag : 
(Weapons and armor already scaled)
(minor) Change its fire shield so it procs on "damaged" as other fire shields, and not on Hit/Crit.
Set Engagement limit to base.
Adjust base damages to 13 - 19 with PEN 8 (equivalent of a sword with +2 PEN and fast attack rate).
Explosion is now triggered by death instead of ability activation. That means Barring Death Door will prevent it from exploding and doing any damages.
But when Fire stag is killed by foe, it explodes as if the ability was triggered.
Fire stag can still kill itself to trigger the explosion.
Explosion has been set to foe-only.


Aspect of Galawain :
(Weapons and armor already scaled)
Adjusted base damages to 13 - 19 with PEN 8 (equivalent of a sword with +2 PEN and fast attack rate). (Wolf gets higher base damage, and Lion has bonus attack speed as previously).
Adjusted armor :
- base 5 AR -> base 8 AR,
- 25% recovery -> 0% recovery.  Bear gets +2 AR on top of this as previously.
Added an Interrupt on Hit effect to its base attack.


Priest :

Spirtual Ally :
Added Weapon & Armor scaling (its armor scales up to equivalent of legendary plate).
Tune down duration to 25s because scaling weapons make him much better at high level and it was already a decent summon. 

Incarnates :
Changed -5 PL for 35s into -1 PL (stacking if used multiple time) for 120s.
This counts as a hostile effect and is decreased by Resolve and similar feat.

Now for specific Incarnates :

- Eothas :
Equipment set to Legendary Quality. 
Replaced one of the priest incarnate by a copy of the first since it had an infinite recovery and could only act once.
Duration reduced from 35s to 20s (triple summons would be too strong for 35s).

- Berath : Equipment set to Legendary Quality 
Duration reduced from 35s to 25s (double summons would be too strong for 20s).

- Magran : Weapon and shield set to Legendary Quality.
Buffed to be a defensive juggernat :
Set her CON to 25, RES to 25
Armor changed to 14 AR without weakness apart Cold and its Recovery would be lowered from +67% to +34% (this value is the one from a Fighter with Armored Grace wearing a heavy armor).

- Skaen : added +2 weapon PEN, +10 Acc, damages set from 14-20 to 18-25 (fast attack speed). +2 AR.
(Basically similar to a scaling from Exceptionnal to Legendary.)

- Wael : get scaling bonus (+4 PEN, + 16 Acc, +60% damages with weapons, +4 AR). I also gave him +10 CON so its health pool is more in line with other Single Incarnate, albeit still the frailest. I also added +5 DEX, +5 PER.

- Rymrgand : No changes to this monster.


Chanter :

Skeletons :
Added Weapon & Armor scaling. They start as poor so they have "exceptionnal" weapons at level 20.
Note : "Many Lives..." phrase skeletons don't really scale anyway.

Phantom :
Added Weapon & Armor scaling.
Phantom upgrade duration : 25s -> 60s.

Wurms :
Added Weapon & Armor scaling.
Base Duration lowered from 25s to 18s.
Upgrade cost : 4 phrases -> 3 phrases (I have already aligned all chanter upgraded invocations with the cost of their original ability)

Wisps :
Added Weapon & Armor scaling.

Ogres :
Added Weapon & Armor scaling.
Set their active abilities to 1 per encounter. I didn't want them to be better than Drake at AoE or better than Wisp at Interrupting.
Changed their "Down the Hatch" ability : it doesn't provide Tenacious and Robust anymore : this would have lead to too much AR and PEN if added with the scaling. Now "Down the Hatch" is renamed "Ogre Defiance" and only provides 10 health per 3s for 20s. Disoriented drawback has been removed. 
I added 2 PEN to their attack abilities to compensate for the loss of Tenacious.

Drake :
Added Weapon & Armor scaling.
Duration 25s -> 35s.
Added : Ground Immunity, Fear Aura and Dex Resistance that all other drakes have (Dragon Summon gets an improved version of Fear Aura).
Knockdowns :
- 2 per Encounter -> 3 per Encounter
- Damages set to 15 - 25, base PEN set from 7 to 10.
- Only affects Hostile
Fire Breath :
- 1 per Encounter -> 2 per Encounter
- PEN set from 6 to 9

Dank Spore :
Added Weapon scaling. AR already scaled, but I aligned it with other summons progression.
Duration 25s -> 35s.
Foul Thing explosion on death :
- added 40 - 55 raw poison damages
- set Sickened affliction to Infinite duration as announced by the ability.
- only affects Hostile
- corrected a bug that prevented the Sickened affliction from being displayed.

Animated Weapons :
Are currently already fully scaled.
No change.

Dragon :
Will receive the benefit of full weapon / armor scaling.
In addition to scaling, I'm going to change Dragon stats because they currently don't make sense, with a bottomless pit of health but lower AR and attack than the drake :
- Armor 7->10(+4 from scaling) with resistance to Fire and Slash and vulnerability to pierce. (Based on the (scaled) version of the Drake, +1 AR)
- Health 200 + 50/level -> 100 + 30/level
- Attack : 16-22 CRU/PIER, 7 PEN, normal attack speed -> 20-26 CRU/PIER, 9 PEN, fast attack (+scaling) (this is based on the drake attack, but slightly improved).
 

3) Miscellanous Changes :

Fire Godlike Fire AR :
2 -> 4 

Martial Casting :    
15% Action Speed -> 100% Action speed when casting summoned weapons.

Quick Summoning :  
15% Action Speed -> 25% Action speed when summoning. 

Adra Ban in shop :
Added Adra Ban to Una's Shop, for 10000 gold per unit.

Binding Block :
+15 Accuracy -> +20

Lasting Empower :
Corrected CP bug (duration increase applied to many stuff including non-empowered attacks), but I had to go back to base Game version.

Bashing Shield :

Now Bashing Shield (Magran's Blessing and Best Defense) Accuracy, PEN and Damages upon attacking increase according to the shield quality (example for excptionnal shield : +8 ACC, +2 PEN, +30%)
Special thanks to @Noqn for implementing this very clean ruleset.
Not applied to Tuotilo's Palm (its stats increase according to Transcendant Suffering / Monastic Unarmed Training as in the base game)

Damages and PEN set to base 7-10 with base 7 PEN to match their scaling.

Magran's Blessing Fire Shield slightly reduced to compensate for the scaling applied also to retaliations :
- 5-7 damages for base Fire Shield
- 8-12 damages for greater Fire Shield

Last but not least, the expected Cuttlefish nerf !!!  :
+1 Crew Morale -> +0 Morale

Edited May 11, 2020 by Elric Galad

[Powerotti]

On 5/9/2020 at 2:15 PM, Elric Galad said:

Strike the Bell & Upgrades (complete rework) :
 - Still Full Attack that Interrupts on Graze, with +25% damages and +2 PR.
 - Now all versions adds a 15s Dazed effect
 - Melee 1 Hander adds a -25 Will debuff for 15s
 - Melee 2 Hander adds a -25 Fortitude debuff for 15s
 - Ranged Weapon adds a -25 Reflex debuff for 15s
 - All other effects removed.
 - The upgrades now allow their respective -25 defense debuff to last for the whole Combat (in a similar fashion as Gouging Strike)

The only three valid weapon modals are now almost supressed and Strike the Bell - no brainer for most rogue MC. Mortar Shadowdancer got powerfull ability, because mortars targets reflex and now can permanently debuff it in AoE, making crits with Stunning Surge so easy

 

On 5/9/2020 at 2:15 PM, Elric Galad said:

Wildstrike Frenzy :

- Changed from Procs on Kills to Proc on Kills

What does it mean?

[Elric Galad]

2 minutes ago, Powerotti said:

The only three valid weapon modals are now almost supressed and Strike the Bell - no brainer for most rogue MC. 

I just provided a second mean to reach the same effect.
Modals provide the effect for free and can be applied thourgh Clear Out and similar effects, while Strike the Bell makes it applicable with a wider range of weapon (and the upgrade makes it Infinite Duration).
It's not like there were no other redundant effects in the game... (and it feels less redundant than the original Strike the Bell effects)

2 minutes ago, Powerotti said:

Mortar Shadowdancer got powerfull ability, because mortars targets reflex and now can permanently debuff it in AoE, making crits with Stunning Surge so easy

No, because for some reasons, only main target get debuffed by Strike the Bell (it's the case currently). It's an exception to the normal rule of debuff applications. So it's 2 Guiles per target.

You have to rely on your Fighter buddy to apply reflex debuff with Clear Out.

2 minutes ago, Powerotti said:

What does it mean?

Spirit Frenzy AoE is triggered when you kill your target with Spirishift weapon in the base game.

Spirit Frenzy AoE triggered when you crit your target with Spirishift weapon in my mod.

[Boeroer]

40 minutes ago, Elric Galad said:

Spirit Frenzy AoE is triggered when you kill your target with Spirishift weapon in the base game.

Spirit Frenzy AoE triggered when you crit your target with Spirishift weapon in my mod.

But you wrote "on kills" both times: 

Wildstrike Frenzy :

- Changed from Procs on Kills to Proc on Kills

 

You only nerfed procs from plural to singular.

[Elric Galad]

1 minute ago, Boeroer said:

But you wrote "on kills" both times: 

You only nerfed procs from plural to singular.

My bad. And It can't be edited anymore.
I will correct it for 1.1 update.

[L4wlight]

Quote

Fractured Volition :
Change Weakened for Enfeebled.

Haunting Chain :
Duration 20s -> 40s.

In my opinion it's not really fair to give ALL ciphers the advantage of the most powerful affliction in the game that early. That would totally undermine the main hook of some (sub-)classes. If anything, Enfeebled could be added to Haunting Chain. This would at least limit it to single class ciphers and would finally turn this previously underpowered and underused ability into a worthwhile consideration.

[Elric Galad]

4 hours ago, L4wlight said:

In my opinion it's not really fair to give ALL ciphers the advantage of the most powerful affliction in the game that early. That would totally undermine the main hook of some (sub-)classes. If anything, Enfeebled could be added to Haunting Chain. This would at least limit it to single class ciphers and would finally turn this previously underpowered and underused ability into a worthwhile consideration.

Well, as strong as Enfeebled is (great Combo potential), I would not say it's the most powerful Affliction. It isn't even a Hard Crowd Control effect. Ciphers get Dominated on the same Tier which is arguably the strongest affliction, so I don't think Enfeebled is above the curve.

Priest of Woedica can inflct it in an AoE, FF can inflict it at will, so I don't think Cipher's version is that unique.
EDIT : And in mod 1.1, Heartseeker will cause Enfeebled with Infinite duration (for 4 Bonds again) 

(I'll keep your feedback in mind though, in case others would say the same)

Edited May 24, 2020 by Elric Galad

[Elric Galad]

OK, here's what I implemented for 1.1 :

Nerfs & tweaks :
 

Refer this link for the reason and debates about these changes :
https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/114874-op-classes/

Brilliant :
Now only restore spell Slot up to Tier 3 for Priests, Wizards and Druids.

His Heart Did Fill with the Light of the Dawn :
Removed the buff from 1.0. Since I initially wanted to make it more comparable to Ancestor's Memory and I've nerfed Brilliant in 1.1.
Now it is the only ability in the game (apart Blood Sacrifice) able to restore Spell Slots above Tier 4.

 

Blood Mage :
Blood Sacrifice Recovery to 3s
Added a -100% healing received for base 6s when using Blood Sacrifice, to make it more tricky to use.
Minor/Medium/Major blood sacrifice now restore spell Tier up to Tier 3/6/9 as intended (and not 4/7/9, thanks @Noqn for pointing it)

Tactician :

Tactical Dilemna now activates on Flanked or Hurt or Below (less than 75% health) and gives +50% recovery malus.
I wanted Tactician to have a big drawback for all the goodies it gets. This one sort of Mirrors Streetfighter.

Wall of Draining :
Now only add 0.25s to beneficial effects per ennemy hit every second. That is equivalent to +33%/+100%/+300%/Infinite Duration bonus when hitting 1/2/3/4 foes. You really need to hit much more foes reliably to get infinite duration. That doesn't prevent completely OP combs, but makes them more situational and more tricky to get.
To compensate, it now removes 2s from their beneficial effects instead of -1s.
Now correctly displayed as foe-only (it was incorrectly displayed as hitting allies when casting).

Buffs

(Mostly to address the general problem of Single Class Martial ressources) :

Stunning Shot : add 10% chance Bond on Crit

Heart Piercer : back to 4 bonds (1.0 tuned it to 3), but Enfeebled set to infinite duration (I wanted it to be a sort of passive)

 

Distracting Training : in addition to my previous duration buff to 15s, it is now allowed it to work on any Attack (not just melee), which is very good with Bonded Fury.

Wall of Flashing Steel :  add 10% chance Guile on Crit

Vengeful Defeat : add 2 Rages on Unconscious

Wall of Force : Now correctly displayed as foe-only (it was incorrectly displayed as hitting allies when casting).


Here are the files below :

 

BalancePolishingModBuffs 1.1.zip

BalancePolishingModNerfs 1.1.zip

BalancePolishingSummonRebalance 1.1.zip

Edited June 2, 2020 by Elric Galad

[thelee]

On 5/9/2020 at 5:15 AM, Elric Galad said:

Revenge of Skaen :
- Range 5m -> 10m
- Added a -20 Accuracy effect in addition to Blind.
The -20 Acc does not stack with -10 Acc from Blind but the idea was to create an effect that goes through Perception Resistance

just starting to go through this myself, and had an extremely minor note here -

unique armor "effigy's husk" (which is skaen-themed) can be upgraded to provide perception immunity. i thought it was a fun flavor effect that an all-in skaenite can use this armor and revenge of skaen and be protected from the spell's close-up effects.

i don't mind the range change (the aoe is still huge so the perception immunity would still be helpful), but i would lightly recommend getting rid of the add'l -20 accuracy penalty just so that the flavor is retained. maybe if you think it needs a buff give it a longer aoe duration or something?

[Elric Galad]

2 hours ago, thelee said:

just starting to go through this myself, and had an extremely minor note here -

unique armor "effigy's husk" (which is skaen-themed) can be upgraded to provide perception immunity. i thought it was a fun flavor effect that an all-in skaenite can use this armor and revenge of skaen and be protected from the spell's close-up effects.

i don't mind the range change (the aoe is still huge so the perception immunity would still be helpful), but i would lightly recommend getting rid of the add'l -20 accuracy penalty just so that the flavor is retained. maybe if you think it needs a buff give it a longer aoe duration or something?

That's a fair consideration.

The problem is that a Tier IX spell that feels redundant needs a bit more than just extra duration to be right (except INFINTE duration, but I start abusing it a bit too much). Even a 10m radius AoE would still feel a bit lacking... There would still be a lower level spell that does the same job even if less conveniently.

For now, I'm leaving it as it is. I'm just going to pretend that is another manifestation of Skaen treacherous nature (you though you were protected, my fellow priest ? uhh no).

But don't hesitate to suggest alternate ideas, because you're right about the slightly sad flavour of this issue.

[thelee]

17 minutes ago, Elric Galad said:

That's a fair consideration.

The problem is that a Tier IX spell that feels redundant needs a bit more than just extra duration to be right (except INFINTE duration, but I start abusing it a bit too much). Even a 10m radius AoE would still feel a bit lacking... There would still be a lower level spell that does the same job even if less conveniently.

For now, I'm leaving it as it is. I'm just going to pretend that is another manifestation of Skaen treacherous nature (you though you were protected, my fellow priest ? uhh no).

But don't hesitate to suggest alternate ideas, because you're right about the slightly sad flavour of this issue.

maybe blind + dazed ? seems a little more apt for a tier ix spell.

effigy's husk can be upgraded for either might immunity or perception immunity. Maybe skaen's treacherous nature is that you have to pick which one to be protected from  

Edited June 2, 2020 by thelee

[Elric Galad]

37 minutes ago, thelee said:

maybe blind + dazed ? seems a little more apt for a tier ix spell.

effigy's husk can be upgraded for either might immunity or perception immunity. Maybe skaen's treacherous nature is that you have to pick which one to be protected from  

Sounds a bit better fluff-wise but a bit worse mechanically. I'm going to think about it

[Boeroer]

Afaik Skaen is an unforgiving patron and generally cruel and deceptive - but not treacherous when it comes to his followers (the underdogs) but towards high-status targets.

So that "either blind or dazed" thing wouldn't make much sense for me in this particular case. That certain Skaen items entirely protect the priest from his own spell is kind of cool. I wouldn't take it away with the daze. Maybe Staggered since one could avoid that with a resistance like from boots or something. If the reduced healing effct of Effigy's Husk stacks with Sickened (or Weakened) I would consider that. You could nearly shut down any hostile healing around you then - and stay immune with a Resistance (or in case of Weakened become immune with Rekvu's Stained Grasp + an injury).    

Edited June 3, 2020 by Boeroer

[Elric Galad]

1 hour ago, Boeroer said:

Afaik Skaen is an unforgiving patron and generally cruel and deceptive - but not treacherous when it comes to his followers (the underdogs) but towards high-status targets.

So that "either blind or dazed" thing wouldn't make much sense for me in this particular case. That certain Skaen items entirely protect the priest from his own spell is kind of cool. I wouldn't take it away with the daze. Maybe Staggered since one could avoid that with a resistance like from boots or something. If the reduced healing effct of Effigy's Husk stacks with Sickened (or Weakened) I would consider that. You could nearly shot down any healing around you then and stay immune with a Resistance (or in case of Weakened become immune with Rekvu's Stained Grasp + an injury).    

Don't know. I loved Skaen priest in PoE1 ("subversion, the scapegoat cousin of justice"), then I was disappointed when Skaen suddenly decided to SERVE Woedica. Yup, serving a Queen. I don't have much esteem for him since then  

Also, there is this description from Effigy's description :

If the offering is accepted by the god - which is not guaranteed - Skaen will manifest in the effigy and become an utterly unstoppable and pitiless vessel of the god's power, immune to pain and imbued with a monstrous strength.

Not very sure about reducing Healing, since it feels quite redundant with Woedica's Writ of Healing on same Tier (and taking Skaen spell as part of a Woedican priest would make sense...).

[Boeroer]

Not really redundant - Sickened and Weakened not only mean reduced healing, but also -5 CON. I personally don't really care if a Priest of Woedica might want to take a Skaen spell or not. What I would care about when looking at Skaen spells is how a SC Priest of Skaen can cast a cool spell (which does more than just blinding at such high PL). And if the -50%/-75 healing aura of Effigy's Husk stacks with sickened (or weakened) that would be awesome - since enemy healing effects would almost get nullified IF you wear Effigy's Husk which could be really useful.

[Elric Galad]

15 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Not really redundant - Sickened and Weakened not only mean reduced healing, but also -5 CON. I personally don't really care if a Priest of Woedica might want to take a Skaen spell or not. What I would care about when looking at Skaen spells is how a SC Priest of Skaen can cast a cool spell (which does more than just blinding at such high PL). And if the -50%/-75 healing aura of Effigy's Husk stacks with sickened (or weakened) that would be awesome - since enemy healing effects would almost get nullified IF you wear Effigy's Husk which could be really useful.

Well, Writ of Healing provides Enfeebled, so CON malus is redundant too.
I don't say it's a bad idea, I'm just saying that for me it has the same number of problems of my current version (reduncy between 2 tier 9 spells vs redundancy between a spell and a given Equipment).

I knew I had to make this spell foe-only (which would be a solution, I could even revert back to previous range) so we wouldn't be re-opening this topic  

[Elric Galad]

1.2 Changes

Greater Focus : +1 starting and max Focus per character level, up to +20 starting and max Focus

Keen Mind : +1,5 starting and per character level,+30 starting Focus

Complete Self : (minor buff) 50% +5 focus on Crit. This one should be enough.

Brutal Takedown : Interrupt on Hit -> Interrupt on Graze (to give it more interest compared to Takedown Combo)

Rooting Pain : +0.25 PEN per PL above Tier 4 (instead of nothing). The total absence of PEN scaling (passive usually does not scale) was annoying.

Moon Godlike : 10 health +2/PL (I think it's pseudo-PL like Monastic Unarmed Training) so it would sit around 30 at max level.
CP made it 10 health +1/PL
This would be comparable to restore (except for PL scaling) but with much greater AoE.
This 3x per encounter would feel enough, even if you don't control it. Maybe even a tad strong. It's around 100 party health for the price of a Helmet and Racial.

Fire Godlike :
(I have already set ashen skin to +4 Fire AR to match Pale Elves)
+1AR under 50% -> +2
Base Damages 2-4 -> 4-5
Damage increase : +20%/PL ((I think it's pseudo-PL too), so ultimately close to fire shield.


BalancePolishingModBuffs 1.2.zip

BalancePolishingModNerfs 1.2.zip

BalancePolishingSummonRebalance 1.2.zip

I hope I'm done now  (and I can finally release it on Nexus)

Edited June 7, 2020 by Elric Galad

[draego]

thanks for the hard work

[Rooksx]

The Blood Sacrifice nerf has changed it from a free action to a standard action in turn-based. I thought that may be a result of giving it a recovery time, but that doesn't seem right as recovery is meant to be equivalent to initiative.  It's a pretty significant nerf. For one, my standard opener was to cast a bunch of low-level free action buffs, then use blood sacrifice to restore those tier levels, then cast a standard action spell. That's no longer possible. The bigger impact is that as it's a standard action, you can't do anything else that round. Maybe that's more balanced, not sure yet. 

Edited June 8, 2020 by Rooksx

[Elric Galad]

7 hours ago, Rooksx said:

The Blood Sacrifice nerf has changed it from a free action to a standard action in turn-based. I thought that may be a result of giving it a recovery time, but that doesn't seem right as recovery is meant to be equivalent to initiative.  It's a pretty significant nerf. For one, my standard opener was to cast a bunch of low-level free action buffs, then use blood sacrifice to restore those tier levels, then cast a standard action spell. That's no longer possible. The bigger impact is that as it's a standard action, you can't do anything else that round. Maybe that's more balanced, not sure yet. 

I agree this could be annoying for TB, but as stated in the initial post, the mod wasn't designed (and was absolutely not tested at all) for TB.
TB is too far from being balanced anyway and I have not enough experience with this mode to commit Something about it : that's why I discarded it from my objectives.

Please take into account that the Blood Mage nerf is a dedicated file that you can delete, as stated in the installation instructions :

"- If you don't want a particular change, search the file with the corresponing name in the PillarsOfEternityII_Data\override\xxx\design\gamedata directory and delete it. "

[Rooksx]

It is the recovery that makes it a standard action. That can be overridden to make it a free action in turn-based. 

 

{
            "$type": "Game.GameData.AttackMeleeGameData, Assembly-CSharp",
            "DebugName": "Blood_Sacrifice_Self",
            "ID": "effef826-1f55-4284-914b-e1dc6fc12b79",
            "Components": [{
                "$type": "Game.GameData.AttackBaseComponent, Assembly-CSharp",
                "RecoveryTimeID": "9d15e1c1-c6e1-4b25-bc1d-bf3707f6f534",
                "OverrideTacticalActionType": "Free"
            }]
        }

 

cl.wizard.blood_sacrifice.gamedatabundle

[Elric Galad]

1 hour ago, Rooksx said:

It is the recovery that makes it a standard action. That can be overridden to make it a free action in turn-based. 

 

{
            "$type": "Game.GameData.AttackMeleeGameData, Assembly-CSharp",
            "DebugName": "Blood_Sacrifice_Self",
            "ID": "effef826-1f55-4284-914b-e1dc6fc12b79",
            "Components": [{
                "$type": "Game.GameData.AttackBaseComponent, Assembly-CSharp",
                "RecoveryTimeID": "9d15e1c1-c6e1-4b25-bc1d-bf3707f6f534",
                "OverrideTacticalActionType": "Free"
            }]
        }

 

cl.wizard.blood_sacrifice.gamedatabundle 7.53 kB · 0 downloads

Ok, I will include  it in my next release.

[Malanir]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm amazed by all the work done here, i'm one of those silent readers that goes through the whole forum for years without posting a thing  

But for once i had to intervene slightly,

One thing that surprises me is that i don't see anything about companions classes. And i did a quick search on nexusmod and i dont find something up to date for them.

Im pretty sure you guys must have a good reason no to implement this (difficulty, coding whatever). 

Pillars is a lot about immersion with your companions and its big part of the fun, and for a "community" patch i am again surprised that nothing is about how to "balance" your companions and for them to fulfill some roles or precious abilities (SoT, Ancient Memory, etc.).

Here is my suggestions if you have any interest in them : (only those who matters on a RP perspective or which counts to my heart  )

Eder : 

Fighter choice : Unbroken, devoted. (doest fit quite much as Eder is the one that sticks to you from PoE 1 ; the two names of those subclasses quite well define his relation towards the Watcher.

Rogue choice : Eder is the kind of guy that travelled a lot and did go through tough situations, ambushes etc, a streetfighter subclass would fit aswell.

And why not a Fighter/cipher (ascendant) subclass, Eder travelled with the Watcher all along ad could have been "touched" by all those things and have some enlightment regarding spirits.

Pallegina :

Crusader : Devoted & Tactician, she is damn cold heated at some points and could easyly counted as a tactician and also she is stubborn on others so she could be this kind of monomaniac devoted  

Serafen :

Berserker seems a bit obvious according to his wild cipher subclass, and loss of control of himself.

Multi class new option Cipher / Ranger (Stalker, he is in people minds so it could fit). Pets are not something irrelevent for sailors,  crews used to have a lot of cats on board not only for rats but because they were incredibly useful to predict weather, so Serafen could have a panther or something.

Tekehu is very unique he is fine as he is

Aloth :

Blood mage, (i mean on his crusade against the Leaden Key he can have accept to tend on dark magic to reach his goals, or specialised in any magic)

Subclasses : Trickster could fit him and ofc Tactician could fit him aswell on the fighter side.

Maybe even priest ? a pact with a God to reach his end why not ?

Xoti is pretty unique and well there is enough topics about her i won't give my opinion on her.

Maia Rua :

adding a cipher (ascendant) multiclass possibility could be terrific, she speaks about the innate feeling she had on shooting a captain from X yards distance, if thats not some cipher 6th sense, what is ?  

 

And i'm done here, on your hard and great work i really all thank you for what you have done.

I have one final question as im about to start my final run of PoE2 : does this patch disable steam achievments ? 

Wish you luck in your creations.

 

Malanir.

 

 

[Malanir]

Ah i have an extra question, can this mod be used via Vortex ? (utility engine for most game mods on Nexusmod). 

Nvm i just finished reading the previous post about your mod and figured it wasnt released on nexus mod yet, only the old community patch.

So here is the question : Will it be possible to use your mod with Vortex once it's released ?  

Edited June 17, 2020 by Malanir

[ekt0]

I personally do not use mod but I am here to say that I appreciate your work greatly.

I think Pillars of Eternity Deadfire really needs balance patch like the one you are trying to do.

Edited June 17, 2020 by ekt0