How to use the console to create a wizard/cipher hybrid

[mnoisewater]

Hi all.

 

Until someone releases a proper mod, I’ve been experimenting with console commands in an attempt to create a hybrid spellcaster — a cross between a wizard and a cipher, something I imagine to be like D&D’s sorcerer class. I wanted to use a cipher, because they’re wickedly cool, but I also wanted the classic D&D fireballs/magic missiles/lightning bolts. And AoE spells.

 

So after stumbling around for a few hours, I found something that appears to work. Sort of.

 

This is strictly an experimental, ragtag solution for creating a hybrid spellcaster. I make no promises that this will work for you. And I’ve only tested this for a few hours — it might turn out that this doesn’t work for an extended period of time (although I have been able to save my game, reboot, and keep my newfound abilities). If you’re afraid of nerfing your game, ruining your campaign, or anything else, go no further.

 

You’ll be able to cast spells from your grimoire, and you’ll be able to cast any cipher spells you add via the console. And of course you’ll be overpowered (I’m wondering if I can somehow weaken this hybrid class or otherwise limit it with console commands).

 

Your cipher spells appear to be limited by focus just as they normally would (focus depletes and regenerates) — but I haven’t been able to figure out how to get the purple focus icon to display over the character portrait, so you won’t know how much focus you actually have at any given moment.

 

Here’s what I did:

 

1) Make a wizard (this can probably be done with any non-cipher class, but I made a wizard since that’s the hybrid I’m going for).

 

2) Open the console with the ~ key.

 

3) Type “iroll20s” (remove the quotes). Since this is a cheat, THIS WILL DISABLE ACHIEVEMENTS.

 

4) You’ll need to know the name of the character you’re modifying. The main character is called player. Companion NPCs appear to use their names (Eder, Pallegina, Aloth, etc.). But if it’s a PC you created and hired at the Black Hound, you’ll have to reveal his or her name with a console command. Type findcharacter and enter the name of the PC you hired. For example findcharacter Gandalf. The name will be something like Companion_Generic(clone)_1

 

5) Assuming that we’re modifying the main character, type “addability player soulwhip”. If you’re modifying someone other than your main character, replace “player” with the name you got with the findcharacter command

 

6) Now type “addability player focustrait”

 

7) Now type “addability player mind_blades”

 

8 ) To find the names of other spells and abilities you want to add, go through the objectbundle folder (PillarsOfEternity_Data\assetbundles\prefabs\objectbundle). Spell names generally match the names of the actual spells, with underscores between words (Mind Lance is called mind_lance, Minolleta's Minor Missiles is minolletas_minor_missiles, etc.).

 

After entering those commands, I now have a wizard with focus (albeit focus I can’t see) who can cast Mind Blades. And she glows purple-black in combat, like ciphers do, because of the soul whip. So I got that goin’ for me, which is nice. 

 

One way to limit this overpowered character might be to police yourself and limit the number of spells in your grimoire.

 

In a perfect world, I'd love it if ciphers could simply choose spells from the wizard's spell list (much like sorcerers in D&D) and have them drain focus, but that's beyond the scope of console commands.

 

Perhaps more interesting than the wizard-cipher hybrid is a wizard-druid combo — start with a wizard and add the names of druid spells with the addability command ("addability player sunbeam"). The wizard-druid combination seems to work especially well, because it looks like casting a druid spell depletes your wizard spell count — so combining wizard and druid effectively doubles your spell selection without actually letting you cast more spells.

 

I haven’t been able to figure out how to get non-wizards to cast wizard spells, because of grimoire limitations. Someone smarter than me will figure that out, I'm sure.

 

And of course you should be able to use the same steps to create a barbarian/fighter/paladin/druid-cipher (or whatever cipher combination your heart desires). I imagine you could also take a paladin give him a handful of priest spells, in D&D tradition.

Edited April 18, 2015 by mnoisewater

[Celerion]

This is really interesting, im gonna try this right now LOL.

[PBJam]

dunno if you've seen it but there are more commands that can help you here:

 

Pillars of Eternity: Console Commands

Edited April 19, 2015 by PBJam

[mnoisewater]

dunno if you've seen it but there are more commands that can help you here:

 

Pillars of Eternity: Console Commands

 

Yup, those are the commands I've been playing with

 

For the record, my goal in creating this so-called hybrid spellcaster is not actually to cheat (although this clearly is cheating), but rather to create a character with a bigger spell repertoire. I'm an old-school pen-and-paper D&D guy, and D&D offered a limitless selection of spells. That's really what I'm after -- variety. The cipher, as deadly as he is, is actually quite boring in terms of spell effects. There's not a lot to see, visually.

 

Whereas wizards and druids really light up the screen with their spell effects.

 

If I had more skill, I'd create a mod that allowed ciphers to use wizard spells, with the same focus costs. That would probably be the closer to D&D's sorcerer class.

[Mr. Magniloquent]

This is a fun idea! Good suggestion. I agree that it's a disappointment about the spell list access. Particularly in that no spells are sponsored, they should have let all of the classes have access to the same pool, just cast through their different mechanisms. Good post.

[golbeeze]

This seems like an interesting cross-class attempt. I gave it a shot, but I could not see the cipher spells as an option in battle. Only the wizard spells appeared available for casting. I followed the steps above and everything seemed to be working according to the text in the box. Any idea why the cipher spells wouldn't show up?

[mnoisewater]

This seems like an interesting cross-class attempt. I gave it a shot, but I could not see the cipher spells as an option in battle. Only the wizard spells appeared available for casting. I followed the steps above and everything seemed to be working according to the text in the box. Any idea why the cipher spells wouldn't show up?

 

If you followed the instructions to the letter, your wizard should be able to cast Mind Blades, which is a level 2 spell. Are you sure you don't see it there? I just tested it with Aloth and a created character, and both times it worked (Steam version 1.0.4.0540).

 

The trickiest part is getting your character name -- are you trying to add cipher spells to your main character, or another member of your party?

[kickingbird59]

You say you can't get the Cipher 'focus' icon to show up on the portrait ... what about starting with Cipher and adding Wizard spells

 

and, one way to limit your power would be to not 'dual-class' until, maybe level 6, and then maintain a policy of only adding level appropriate spells as though your cipher-wizard was levels 6\1 .. etc

[Doug]

Or just type I WIN, roll the credits and go play something else.

[mnoisewater]

You say you can't get the Cipher 'focus' icon to show up on the portrait ... what about starting with Cipher and adding Wizard spells

 

and, one way to limit your power would be to not 'dual-class' until, maybe level 6, and then maintain a policy of only adding level appropriate spells as though your cipher-wizard was levels 6\1 .. etc

 

I can add wizard spells to the cipher, but I can't cast them -- some limitation about ciphers not being able to use grimoires. I'm not skilled enough to work around that.

 

So for me, this only works by creating a wizard and taking cipher spells.

[mnoisewater]

Or just type I WIN, roll the credits and go play something else.

 

Yeah, so as I mentioned in the original post, the goal here isn't to "win", or to cheat -- it's to bend the rules to expand the game's limited spell repertoire, add replay value, and create kind of a dual-class character. With enough imagination, you can use the console to effectively create hybrid character classes, and get more hours out of the game.

 

This kind of rule bending was how we always played pen-and-paper D&D back in the day, and I see nothing wrong with it. (In fact, the 2e D&D books always encouraged players and DMs to break the rules, so long as it was fun for everyone.)

 

Incidentally, why would you care how people play a single-player game, anyway?

Edited May 6, 2015 by mnoisewater