Balance Polishing Mod Release 1.0

[Elric Galad]

Considering Deadly Surprise :

Play Dead is nice as a full heal (that takes some time), but the upgrade feels a bit redundant. BPM set its bonus damages to +350% (pet damages, that's not so much) but it doesn't address the problem of its redundancy with Vengeful Revival in particular.

Therefore, I plan to revert back to vanilla game +100% damages only and add some affliction(s).

That will also help pet to trigger its sneak attack on its own, and gets some actual benefits from Acute Inspiration from Bonded Fury (Deadly Surprise is a "pet ability", not ranger's).

Currently my choice would be to add Shaken and Disoriented afflictions vs Will on next attack (Surprise !). Base duration would be 25s because pet has a naturally mediocre Intellect. That would also help Stag pet to land its crits  

[Elric Galad]

Just a draft of a Sacred Immolation rework in order to align Pulse Duration and self damages duration.
It is a common plan with @MaxQuest
This change is quite technical, both rule-wise and implementation-wise.

 

Sacred Immolation effects each follow different rules :
- Sacred Immolation damage is a Pulse effect. Pulse effects do benefit from INT but not from PL.
- The self damages is an Hostile effect. It does "benefit" from INT and PL and is reduced by RES.
- Sacred Sacrifice self-rez. It does "benefit" from INT and PL and is not reduced by RES. This one can be extended by SoT. => This somehow causes Sacred Sacrifice self damages to work the same way due to a bug (corrected by current BPM version)

 

The idea from this file is to align all durations. This requires coding them as sub-effects of a "master" beneficial effect.
As a side effect Sacred Immolation now does benefit from INT and PL, is not reduced by RES and can be extended by SoT. 

The duration can be significantly higher than before (~21s with my SC Paladin with Axe of Magran) especially because you do get an "ultimate tick" when the spell ellapse (even if previous tick was like 0.1s before it ellapses).

It might require a little duration tuning.

EDIT : or not. Scaling from PL for damages is a buff (and not much for MC Paladin), but self damages not reduced by RES is a nerf. Overall it's pretty equivalent.

But overall it feels quite clean.

 

EDIT : New version, now includes upgrade. I'm going to further tweak Sacred Sacrifice for other reasons, but the new version below is the closest from vanilla game.

 

Notes :
- This file is for now only about Sacred Immolation itself. I want to stabilize it before adding the upgrades.
- Sacred Immolation is disabled when active. In vanilla game, Sacred Immolation is disabled when the self damages is active, which allows recasting it when already active with RES duration reduction of the self damages part. This isn't possible anymore. Sacred Immolation will be re-activable as soon as all its effects stop, and not sooner.
- Tested Voiward damage reduction : OK
- Being knocked down stop the effects as before.
- Because of display issue, I had to code a dummy AoE attack for targetting (that also carries the cast/recovery time) and a display Status. Divine Immolation will probably require a secondary dummy AoE for targetting allies.
- As it is a draft file, I didn't include previous BPM change 4->2 Zeal and/or CP change AoE 2.5->3.5m. For now it is as close as possible from vanilla.

 

Sacred Immo.zip

Edited October 1, 2022 by Elric Galad

[Elric Galad]

On 9/30/2022 at 7:25 AM, Elric Galad said:

Considering Deadly Surprise :

Play Dead is nice as a full heal (that takes some time), but the upgrade feels a bit redundant. BPM set its bonus damages to +350% (pet damages, that's not so much) but it doesn't address the problem of its redundancy with Vengeful Revival in particular.

Therefore, I plan to revert back to vanilla game +100% damages only and add some affliction(s).

That will also help pet to trigger its sneak attack on its own, and gets some actual benefits from Acute Inspiration from Bonded Fury (Deadly Surprise is a "pet ability", not ranger's).

Currently my choice would be to add Shaken and Disoriented afflictions vs Will on next attack (Surprise !). Base duration would be 25s because pet has a naturally mediocre Intellect. That would also help Stag pet to land its crits  

Finally, I went with 20s Shaken and Disoriented for Deadly Surprise (so 15s with pet's 5 base INT).

 

I also reworked Takedown a bit.

I felt weird to me that it caused Prone on Hit only, as it is supposed to be the primary objective of the ability. Since it also targets Fortitude (often quite high), I thought it was meh as an Interrupt. Previously, I modified Brutal Takedown to cause Interrupt on Graze too since it felt meh compared to Takedown Combo.

For next version, I have changed all 3 Takedown abilities to interrupt on Graze, as for similar single target abilities from other classes (Force of Anguish, Skyward Kick, Knockdown).

And Brutal Takedown is getting a 20s Staggered effect on top of its increased PEN. Staggered isn't the best affliction, but it is nice and one will still get the bonus PEN vs MIG Resistant foes.

 

Overall, the pet can now act as a mini-rogue (feels good since it has a passive to get +30% damages vs Afflicted target), so you'll be a bit more tempted to pick pet abilities (outside of Takedown Combo, which always had potenial).

[NotDumbEnough]

I think Force of Anguish and Skyward Kick are not interrupt on graze because they only consume wounds, and it is fairly easy to get an infinite chain of Efficient Anguishes with Dance of Death, Nazpalca, Voidwheel etc.

[Elric Galad]

33 minutes ago, NotDumbEnough said:

I think Force of Anguish and Skyward Kick are not interrupt on graze because they only consume wounds, and it is fairly easy to get an infinite chain of Efficient Anguishes with Dance of Death, Nazpalca, Voidwheel etc.

But they are (as Knockdown). I may have expressed poorly.

I think Force of Anguish isn't used much because it requires your character to walk a lot, and Skyward Kick requires re-targetting (and compete with other Tier 7 abilities, which is a concern for Multiclass)

Edited October 3, 2022 by Elric Galad

[Elric Galad]

I plan to change Pain Link to 30s and 30% damages reflected back.

It is generally less useful than dealing 30% more damages to a specific target, but with twice the duration as Recall Agony (it also costs more), it will have time to cause some pain.

 

I also tweaked a bit Chanter Summons.

Ghost upgrade now lasts for 120s (a summon you can forget until killed).

Drake and Spore lasts for 50s (twice more than Ancient Weapons and Ogres who come in groups).

Drake and Dragon can use their breath 5x times instead of 2 and Dragon breath now has the same DoT as Drake's. So they are very strong AoE. 

Drake is still somewhat fragile as a lone summon and Dragon can be seen as a SC buff (but the 4 ancient Weapons are still crazy enough to be the most well rounded choice).

(BPM nerfed the Dragon HP a lot, even if AR was raised)

Everything is done for players not to pick Ancient Weapons every time

Edited October 5, 2022 by Elric Galad

[Bosmer]

The change to pain link is very welcome, I tried to build around it, but it never seemed like a really decent investment of ability points , focus or casting time .. 

[NotDumbEnough]

This makes multiclassed Beckoner a bit more interesting now, as you don't need the power levels to make Drake/Spore interesting. Also nice to have the Drake last long enough to reliably die so that the upgrade can take effect. 

 

IIRC Dragon has extremely high stats so the DoT will likely last a very very long time. That said I don't think the Dragon lacked for AoE damage in the first place, I used weapons all the time because the Dragon was terrible at dealing single target damage (very long recovery time, unable to compete with 4 weapons attacking the same target).

Edited October 5, 2022 by NotDumbEnough

[Elric Galad]

1 hour ago, NotDumbEnough said:

This makes multiclassed Beckoner a bit more interesting now, as you don't need the power levels to make Drake/Spore interesting. Also nice to have the Drake last long enough to reliably die so that the upgrade can take effect. 

I think the drake is fine now. It can fly all over the place and apply its Fire DoT everywhere, and knocking down people a bit. It seems to be able to target quite well, maybe that's the key difference with the adult dragon whose cone attack with friendly fire can be harder to use (that plus duration, and the mate from the upgrade). 

1 hour ago, NotDumbEnough said:

IIRC Dragon has extremely high stats so the DoT will likely last a very very long time. That said I don't think the Dragon lacked for AoE damage in the first place, I used weapons all the time because the Dragon was terrible at dealing single target damage (very long recovery time, unable to compete with 4 weapons attacking the same target).

Well, not that much. Its breath is a level 9 ability, so even with its 20ish INT, the duration is still reasonable (20s) because PL is missing.

I'm not completely set about the dragon. It has to be the best at tanking and dealing AoE (albeit less conveniently, and for less time than the Drake), so I think emphasizing its specialty could be a good way. 

Maybe Tail Lash should push and Interrupt. Maybe its single target KD ability should do more single target damage (as a spike, meanwhile Weapons keep the static part), or maybe it shall come with a debuff...

I thought it was pretty to have Drake and Dragon with the same number of breaths, but the former stays for twice the duration, so maybe it is normal if it gets more...

[Elric Galad]

Ok, got it. The vanilla Dragon Summon has a buggy Frightening aura. It is supposed to proc every 3s for Infinite duration, 3s based duration and 15m radius. But the pulse duration is strangely written 1000E9 so it only procs once when the dragon is initially summoned.

So I've just added a couple of goodies to Dragon special attacks without increasing their number (you'll see Overbearing Knockdown...), fixed the Frightening aura (reduced the AoE to 2.5m radius), added Fire Immunity (so can feel safe summoning the dragon Vs fire based foes) and I think it will be fine.

Still won't beat the 4 weapons gangbang at dealing auto attack damages, but now has a good amount of utility.

 

The drake will have 5 uses of its abilities, but I think it's good this way due to increased duration.

Edited October 6, 2022 by Elric Galad

[Exanos]

On 10/6/2022 at 11:35 PM, Elric Galad said:

Still won't beat the 4 weapons gangbang at dealing auto attack damages, but now has a good amount of utility

Long time since i played a sc chanter but an easy way to differentiate weapons and dragon will be engagement slot.

0 for weapons : summon for damage.

Lot for dragon : summon for holding the lane

 

[Elric Galad]

1 hour ago, Exanos said:

Long time since i played a sc chanter but an easy way to differentiate weapons and dragon will be engagement slot.

0 for weapons : summon for damage.

Lot for dragon : summon for holding the lane

 

It could have been a good idea but that's actually the niche of the ogres.

[Elric Galad]

A few planned changes :

 

Ancient Weapons (slight) nerf :

Following an idea by @Testlum, I'm going to set all weapons abilities to 3x encounter. They get so many uses that it is tiring to even think about using all charges  

It includes the Tier 9 Wand abilities, which I think was 2x encounter, but I don't mind a slight relative buff of the Tier 9 upgrade (SC promotion)

 

Instrument of Boundless Rage (previously set to 2 rages) :

Minor change, but I will make it target Deflection and cause Prone on Graze (instead of Hit). The idea is to make it more specialized compared to go-to-driving roar AoE damage dealing and interrupt (which target Fortitude and cause normal interrupt on Hit).

 

Long Pain and the Pain Persists :

I'm going to buff the summoned weapon to fast speed. Basically a ranged fist with +1 base damage. No change for Instruments of Pain.

I feel it was a bit meh to spend time and wounds just to get a relative generic ranged weapon. It was basically a ranged version of Monk Fists, but these ones are passive and doesn't require casting.

Now you will be basically increasing your fist range. Not really DPS since the additional damages will be compensated by casting time... (Pain Persists may slightly increase DPS since it reduces the need of casting)

Pain Persists duration on Crit : +1 (unmodded) -> +3 (current BPM version) -> +4 (as Wildstrike Frenzy, future BPM Version)

Edited October 11, 2022 by Elric Galad

[NotDumbEnough]

Is it possible to make The Long Pain summon a melee weapon with very long range rather than a ranged weapon? The primary problem with the ability, I think, is that it is ranged and does not work with many monk abilities.

[Elric Galad]

4 minutes ago, NotDumbEnough said:

Is it possible to make The Long Pain summon a melee weapon with very long range rather than a ranged weapon? The primary problem with the ability, I think, is that it is ranged and does not work with many monk abilities.

I thought about that but it would destroy the animation (always unfortunate) and there are people who like using it with Driving Flight.

[Elric Galad]

New version available with many changes (lots of adjustment from previously tweaked abilities...)

Edit Deadfire Balance Polishing Mod at Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com)

Enjoy playing Slayer Seeker Survivor Standalone mod with these tweaks !

wOw !

LoTS oF bUiLDs !

Edited October 13, 2022 by Elric Galad

[NotDumbEnough]

The change for Resonant Touch is a bit misleading, for a moment I thought you deleted the ability from the game.

[patronkus]

1 hour ago, Elric Galad said:

New version available with many changes (lots of adjustment from previously tweaked abilities...)

Edit Deadfire Balance Polishing Mod at Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com)

Enjoy playing Slayer Seeker Survivor Standalone mod with these tweaks !

wOw !

LoTS oF bUiLDs !

Keen to get into it again!

[patronkus]

In a brief bit of testing this morning, I saw the change to Ajamuut Stalking Cloak and tested it with Whispers of the Wind. Bushwhack appears to apply to all the hits of Whispers of the Wind as WotW applies Invisibility to the monk inbetween it's attacks (I think). Suffice to say this is an extremely powerful combination of effects. Unsure if intended or not but wanted to make note of it.

[Elric Galad]

4 hours ago, patronkus said:

In a brief bit of testing this morning, I saw the change to Ajamuut Stalking Cloak and tested it with Whispers of the Wind. Bushwhack appears to apply to all the hits of Whispers of the Wind as WotW applies Invisibility to the monk inbetween it's attacks (I think). Suffice to say this is an extremely powerful combination of effects. Unsure if intended or not but wanted to make note of it.

It's intended. Granted that WotW was nerfed to cost 9 Wounds, the combination is powerful, but you can't really repeat it as easily as before.

 

5 hours ago, NotDumbEnough said:

The change for Resonant Touch is a bit misleading, for a moment I thought you deleted the ability from the game.

Changed the mod description  

[Hoo]

By the way, I have a question about Wahai Poraga. 

This weapon has been addressed and fixed since 2.0 version, and I really wonder how this weapon's additional attacks work. 

1) is each individual additional attack considered as melee-weapon attack? For example, Carnage should be applied on the hits in this case, and can generate Focus.
2) Several Primary/Full Attack abilities are applied on whole enemies while attacking a target with a few unique weapons, such as Whispers of the Endless Paths. Does Wahai Poraga's each hit cause those corresponding effects of Primary/Full Attack abilities?
3) Can each critical hit cause Enervating Blows/Interrupting Blows?

This weapon seems very uniquely designed, but I've never used it yet, because the vanilla version looks meh. Has anyone tested how this weapon exactly work?

[Elric Galad]

OK, so for next version :

 

I might have gone overboard with Drake, giving it 5x of each abilities to promote its AoE damages might have been a good intention, but giving it a 5x AoE Knockdown made it too close from Wisp territory.

So I lowered the number of Knockdowns to 3x (breath is still 5x) but rised the damages from 15-25 to 25-35.

Sorry for the iterative tweaks, but finding a purpose for each of the Chanter Summon (who share the same ressource and Summon slot) isn't that easy.

 

Pallid Fate : 

With all my BDD tweaks, I feared that +3 PL while Near Death has become unplayable (the new BDD applies a shield, so when becoming Near Death healing will heal you, while damages will go to the shield ; this makes maintaining the Near Death condition less easy).

I will simply add a persisting +3 PL for base 6s (passive, so modifiable only by INT) after Death Godlike goes back from Near Death. 

You still have to "go there" to get your bonus, but at least you won't be cancelled by an undue healing (e.g. good synergy with Watchful Presence)

I really wanted to avoid applying Pallid Fate on Bloodied (even with a value nerf), but I had to find a way to make it slightly more playable.

[Desmodeus]

Is there any way to give Woedica priest access to haymaker? Its a bit strange that summoned "fists" are not counted as fists for profiency sake

On 10/16/2022 at 2:11 AM, Elric Galad said:

Pallid Fate :

I think it might be a bit too hard to balance in modern enviroment. Near death is very unstable status even in base game with BDD, now its extremely hard to keep on for decent amount of time, especially early on, when this bonus metters the most. Couple with fact that you sacrifice helmet slot for it and I fell now its a bit too weak for amount of work needed to sustain it

Maybe it would worth looking into total rework of Pallid fate? Something more reliable but still tied to flavour of closeness to Death. I was thinking about +1 PL per wound. Its easier to get but walking around with 3 woulds early on is kinda scary early on. Also you loose wounds on rest so it is additional restriction. Though it might become a bit too annoying without reliable way to wound character outside of combat

[Elric Galad]

2 hours ago, Desmodeus said:

Is there any way to give Woedica priest access to haymaker? Its a bit strange that summoned "fists" are not counted as fists for profiency sake

Huh, this is annoying, but adding Proficiency has always failed for some reasons in my testing. 

2 hours ago, Desmodeus said:

I think it might be a bit too hard to balance in modern enviroment. Near death is very unstable status even in base game with BDD, now its extremely hard to keep on for decent amount of time, especially early on, when this bonus metters the most. Couple with fact that you sacrifice helmet slot for it and I fell now its a bit too weak for amount of work needed to sustain it

Maybe it would worth looking into total rework of Pallid fate? Something more reliable but still tied to flavour of closeness to Death. I was thinking about +1 PL per wound. Its easier to get but walking around with 3 woulds early on is kinda scary early on. Also you loose wounds on rest so it is additional restriction. Though it might become a bit too annoying without reliable way to wound character outside of combat

First, Death Godlike also gets Death Usher, that BPM has tweaked to +5+1/lvl accuracy (up to +25) vs Near Death. For memory, the purposes were :

1) added damages could result in overkills, added accuracy prevents misses which is much better. 

2) added damages was competiting with effect that utterly destroys Near Death, while added accuracy synergizes with it. Death Godlikes are the Best at delivering this killing blow. 

I think this bonus is a very good base for Death Godlikes because it will be useful for basically any fights. Having a second bonus more situational isn't that bad for this reason. 

 

You're right to say Pallid Fate is hard to balance because of its (situational occurence ; raw power) ratio. In the right circonstances, it might be broken ; in the wrong one useless. I still believe it has to be made a little less hard to trigger or at least to maintain but should remain this way because it is very unique AND is complementary with Death Usher. It couldn't have been the sole racial trait. 

But I want to stay faithful as much as I can to vanilla game and I want to preserve the Symetry with Death Usher. 

That's why I believe that giving it a persistance after recovering from Near Death is suitable. I'm not closed to changing the 6s duration proposed above. There should be a value between 0s and Infinite duration that should feel balanced.

Edited October 19, 2022 by Elric Galad

[Bosmer]

I really like your idea and think that 6 seconds sounds about right. With high enough Int or dex you're looking at 3-4 Spells or Martial Abilities with +3 PL, which is a very strong effect, especially for multiclasses, and with some constitution it's not impossible to achieve. I see this being a very good alternative to nature godlikes for monks for example.