SHADOW MAGIC
- Link to mod page at my site: https://artisans-corner.com/shadow-magic/
- Note: this mod is only compatible with versions 2.0+ of BG:EE, BG2:EE and IWD:EE.
- biography of a shadow adept Bhaalspawn
Component 1: SHADOW MAGIC MAIN COMPONENT
The Shadow Adept is a mage kit with a completely unique spell selection with 100+ new spells to choose from. A lot of them are copies of existing spells but there are quite a few relatively unique ones in there. A list of spells with descriptions can be viewed here.SHADOW ADEPT: Shadow adepts hurl themselves into the abyss of the Shadow Weave, immediately acquiring all the gifts available to casual students and discovering secrets unavailable to all but the most dedicated.
Advantages:
– Hit Die: d6
– May use Shadow Magic.
SHADOW MAGIC: Spells of the Shadow Weave are usually more powerful than regular magic, but drains the caster's life force. When a spell is cast, the shadow adept must make a Save vs. Death at a modifier equal to the spell level (e.g. -1 for 1st level, -9 for 9th level) or temporarily lose Constitution equal to the level of the spell cast for 3 rounds. If the shadow adept's Constitution reaches zero, is killed instantly.
The Shadow Weave is a mysterious and dark entity, far more alien and harder to control than that of Mystra's equivalent. As such, a great amount of mental acuity is required in order to master shadow magic. High intelligence, wisdom and charisma benefits those who choose to stray into Shar's domain.
INTELLIGENCE: Bonus spell slots
WISDOM: Increased spell duration
CHARISMA: Bonus saving throws and elemental resistance
– Gains the Darkvision innate ability.
DARKVISION: The shadow adept is gifted with the ability to see in the dark even better than in light, permanently gaining infravision and immunity to blindness.
– May cast one additional spell per level.
– +2 bonus to saving throws against spells of the Enchantment, Illusion and Necromancy schools.
– 4th level: May use the Shield of Shadows ability once per day.
SHIELD OF SHADOWS: The shadow adept surrounds self with a barrier of purpleblack force. This shield of shadows functions like a shield spell, setting armor class to 4 (2 against ranged weapons) and absorbing magic missiles cast at for 1 hour per 2 levels to a maximum of 9 hours.
From 8th level onwards, the shield of shadows also grants +4 to saving throws vs. death and +1 to all other saving throws.
– 5th level: May use Shadowstep once per day. Gains one use every 5 levels thereafter.
SHADOWSTEP: Step into the Shadow Plane and move for 7 seconds while others are frozen in time. The shadow adept cannot attack or use spells while in the Shadow Plane.
– 6th level: May use Find Shadow Familiar. This ability is only available to the protagonist.
FIND SHADOW FAMILIAR: The shadow adept may, once in their lifetime, bind a creature from the Plane of Shadow to them permanently, sacrificing four points of Constitution (which gradually recovers over several weeks) to summon a shadow familiar.
– 14th level: May use the Shadow Double ability once per day.
SHADOW DOUBLE: The shadow adept creates a copy of self out of shadowstuff. The copy is at 60% of the caster's level and has all the spells and abilities that the caster would have at that level.
Disadvantages:
– Suffers a -2 penalty to casting speed and caster level while in daylight.
– -2 penalty to saving throws against spells of the Invocation and Alteration schools.
– May not learn or use spells from the Weave.
– Alignment restricted to non-good.
Prime Requisites For Dual-Classing: Intelligence, Charisma
OPTIONAL: ALTERNATE SPELL COSTS
This required subcomponent allows the installer to choose the resource cost that Shadow Weave magic uses. The options are:- Drain Constitution (cost = spell level, lasts 3 rounds)
- Current Hit Points (cost = spell level*2)
- Maximum Hit Points (cost = spell level*2, lasts 6 rounds, current hit points do not recover)
- No cost
SORCERER KIT: SHADOW DISCIPLE
The main component also adds the Shadow Disciple kit, the sorcerer variant of the shadow adept with the same abilities.BARD KIT: NIGHTSINGER
The main component also adds the Nightsinger kit, a bard that uses shadow magic.NIGHTSINGER: A rare class of bards that choose to study the power of the Shadow Weave gain access to its dark powers, bestowing upon them a dirge capable of cursing their enemies.
Advantages:
- The Nightsinger's Bard Song, "Dirge of Despair", curses their enemies, reducing their morale and saving throws.
1st level: -1 penalty to THAC0, damage and saving throws, lowers morale
11th level: -2 penalty to THAC0, damage and saving throws, lowers morale
21st level: -3 penalty to THAC0, damage and saving throws, lowers morale
- May use Shadow Magic.
SHADOW MAGIC: Spells of the Shadow Weave are usually more powerful than regular magic, but drains the caster's life force. When a spell is cast, the shadow adept must make a Save vs. Death at a modifier equal to the spell level (e.g. -1 for 1st level, -9 for 9th level) or temporarily lose Constitution equal to the level of the spell cast for 3 rounds. If the shadow adept's Constitution reaches zero, they are killed instantly.
The Shadow Weave is a mysterious and dark entity, far more alien and harder to control than that of Mystra's equivalent. As such, a great amount of mental acuity is required in order to master shadow magic. High intelligence, wisdom and charisma benefits those who choose to stray into Shar's domain.
- Gains the Darkvision innate ability.
DARKVISION: The shadow adept is gifted with the ability to see in the dark even better than in light. They permanently gain infravision and immunity to blindness.
- +2 bonus to saving throws against spells of the Enchantment, Illusion and Necromancy schools.
- 6th level: May use the Shield of Shadows ability once per day.
SHIELD OF SHADOWS: The shadow adept surrounds themselves with a barrier of purpleblack force. This shield of shadows functions like a shield spell, setting their armor class to 4 (2 against ranged weapons) and absorbing magic missiles cast at him for 1 hour per 2 levels to a maximum of 9 hours.
From 8th level onwards, the shield of shadows also grants +4 to saving throws vs. death and +1 to all other saving throws.
- 7th level: May use Shadowstep once per day. Gains one use every 5 levels thereafter.
SHADOWSTEP: Step into the Shadow Plane and move for 7 seconds while others are frozen in time. The shadow adept cannot attack or use spells while in the Shadow Plane.
- 18th level: May use the Shadow Double ability once per day.
SHADOW DOUBLE: The shadow adept creates a copy of themselves out of shadowstuff. The copy is at 60% of the caster's level and has all the spells and abilities that the caster would have at that level.
Disadvantages:
– Suffers a -2 penalty to casting speed and casting time while in daylight.
- -2 penalty to saving throws against spells of the Invocation and Alteration schools.
- May not learn or use spells from the Weave.
- Alignment restricted to Lawful Neutral, True Neutral, Chaotic Neutral or Neutral Evil.
ITEM PACK
The main component also adds several items that are exclusive to the shadow adept. Some can be found in BG1+SoD and all can be found in BG2. Some items require the shadow adept to have a secondary class in addition to the kit itself. Bear in mind that the quest component is required for a few of the items to show up in-game in BG:EE.FAMILIARS
The shadow adept has the ability to summon a familiar at 6th level. The shadow adept's familiar has a few differences in strength and function compared to a mage's familiar but mostly imitates vanilla familiar behavior. Familiars and their abilities may be viewed here.Component 2: SHADOW MONK
SHADOW MONK: Little is known about the secretive order of shadow monks, other than the fact that they draw upon the power of the Shadow Plane to wield dark ki. They are masterful assassins, manipulating powerful illusions to their advantage and skilled at striking from the shadows, but their ritualistic training has taken a toll on their physical stamina.
Advantages:
- +1 bonus to Dexterity.
- Gains the Darkvision innate ability.
DARKVISION: The shadow adept is gifted with the ability to see in the dark even better than in light. They permanently gain infravision and immunity to blindness.
- Gains the Life-Drain innate ability.
LIFE-DRAIN: Shadow monks channel the power of the Shadow Plane into their fists, gaining bonus effects based off of their level.
1st - 9th level: Drains 1 hit point on hit.
10th - 19th level: Drains 2 hit points and lowers target's strength by 1 for 2 rounds (save vs. death to avoid strength drain)
20th level onwards: Drains 3 hit points, lowers target's strength by 1 and 20% chance to drain one level permanently on hit
- Has a backstab multiplier of x2. Increases to x3 at 11th level and x4 at 21st level.
- 3rd level: May use the Shadow Pool ability.
SHADOW POOL: Shadow monks wield the power of the Shadow Plane and can manipulate it in order to cast a limited amount of Shadow Magic. The shadow monk must first spend one round drawing energy from the Shadow Weave then cast the spell. The shadow monk's concentration may be disrupted during the channeling or the casting time.
Level 1 (3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th levels): Shadow Missile, Blinding Darkness, Shadow Veil, Decoy
Level 2 (7th, 10th, 13th, 16th levels): Dark Mirage, Black Mist, Ghostly Visage, Shadow Walk
Level 3 (11th, 17th, 23rd levels): Shadowblast, Lifedrinker Touch, Shadow Comets, Impose
Level 4 (15th, 21st, 27th levels): Fireshield (Shadow), Shadeskin, Summon Shadow, Shar's Blessing
- 5th level: May cast Shadowstep once per day. Gains an additional use every 5 levels thereafter.
SHADOWSTEP: Step into the Shadow Plane and move for 7 seconds while others are frozen in time. The shadow monk cannot attack or use spells while in the Shadow Plane.
- 12th level: May cast Shadow Door once per day. Gains additional uses at 16th and 20th level.
- 15th level: May use the Deathstrike ability once per day.
DEATHSTRIKE: The shadow monk teleports to a chosen target and turns invisible for one round. Their next attack within one round is a guaranteed critical hit and drains six levels from the target.
Disadvantages:
- Hit Die: d6
- -2 penalty to Strength.
- -4 penalty to Constitution.
- Alignment restricted to non-lawful and non-good.
- Uses the shadowdancer's high level abilities table instead of the fighter's, with the exclusion of Use Any Item.
- May not use the Lay On Hands ability.
- May not use the Stunning Blow ability.
- May not use the Quivering Palm ability.
Portrait Artist - TamikaProud at DeviantArt
Her statistics are as follows:
Strength - 11
Dexterity - 19
Constitution - 12
Intelligence - 17
Wisdom - 12
Charisma - 16
As of now, the mod has only been tested for BGII:EE but should be able to work for the vanilla Baldur's Gate II and EET.
Please use this thread for any questions, thoughts, or bugs regarding the mod. Any feedback is welcome and greatly appreciated!
Thank you so much for your time and I hope you enjoy the mod. :)
EDIT: I decided to put a face to the NPC.
ANOTHER EDIT: I updated the link here to direct you guys to the new G3 download page, sorry about that! The Beaurin Legacy now includes ToB!
The Beaurin Legacy has a forum of its own and can be downloaded 
by @Smeagolheart and @bob_veng
Preview
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Replace Low Quality TOB & SOA Portraits
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This component, for Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced Edition, replaces legacy portraits included with the game for Bhaalspawn. The portraits that
are replaced are generally low quality 38x60 size and are replaced with beautiful 169x266 portraits created for the Enhanced Edition
engine.
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Edwin/Edwina
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This component, for Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced Edition, gives Edwin a female portrait once he completes the Nether scroll ritual. The portrait
was created by Syntia13 and is based on the default portrait for Edwin in Baldur's Gate 2. This is highly recommended but optional. If
you've replaced the portrait for Edwin with a custom one, you might not want to load this component.
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Ust Natha Drow NPCs
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This component, for Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced Edition, provides drow versions of vanilla NPC portraits. This is highly recommended but
optional. The code to transform the portraits was thoughtfully provided by K4thos. Most of the drow versions of NPC portraits are by
Isandir. If you've replaced your NPC companion portraits with a custom portraits, you might not want to load this component.
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Vampire NPCs
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This component, for Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced Edition, provides vampire versions of vanilla NPC portraits. This is highly recommended but
optional. If you've replaced your NPC companion portraits with a custom portraits, you might not want to load this component.
"Vampirized" NPC portraits provided by lefreut.
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CREDITS and Additional Information
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This mod is based on older mods for Baldur's Gate prior to the EE editions had mods that included small portraits for some NPCs. The pictures in these mods are lower resolution than the ones carefully selected for this mod. Some of these older mods for classic Baldur's Gate with smaller pictures that directly inspired this project are:
Gerri's BGT NPC Portraits ( https://kerzenburg.baldurs-gate.eu/downloads.php?id=69 )
BG1NPC ( http://www.gibberlings3.net/bg1npc/ )
Sources of the pictures include Neverwinter Nights portraits found online, searches for baldur's gate and IWD portraits, and as a last resort search engines were used to round out the collection.
If there are any particular portraits that need to be removed you don't wish them to be featured in this work, let me know and the pictures will be removed. If you have any suggestions for submissions or changes, please feel free to comment in the discussion forum.
This mod is distributed freely and not for any commercial purpose non-profit. This mod was not developed, supported, or endorsed by BioWare, Interplay/Black Isle, Beamdog or any other official agency. Portraits remain the copyright of their respective rights holders.
If there are any copyright issues or this statement needs revision then please contact me to let me know what to do
about it. The purpose of this mod is not to make money but to advances knowledge and progress of the arts through the addition of something new onto a great game.
Special thanks to bob_veng on the baldur's gate.com forums for assistance recoloring, adjusting, selecting and creating new portraits for this mod.
Thank you all and enjoy,
Smeagol
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Technical Details and how you can add your own portraits
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All pictures are 169x266 or greater.
The table in (mod folder)\tbl\bgee.tbl lists the creatures/actors and portrait name.
You can reference the creature name to the actor in tools such as NearInfinity.
The Portrait names in the tbl are filenames in the portrait folder.
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KNOWN ISSUES
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None at this time
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Thanks everyone you know who you are, I hope you appreciate the hard work of the artists as I do.
Additional thanks to lynx and argent77 from Gibberlings3 Forums for coding assistance.
Thank you to Mr2150, Cahir, AstroBryGuy, Thels, lefreut, swit, K4thos, Syntia13, Isandir and others for their input
and assistance on the Baldur's Gate Forums.
The mod name was suggested by Cahir.
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v1.01 21 Sept 16
- Updated 57 portraits with bob_veng
v.1.00 08 Sept 16
- Updated 42 portraits with bob_veng
- revised code for Isandir's CHARNAME Portraits component
V.0.99 03 Sept 16
- Downgraded Weidu from beta version to stable version 239
- Added additional install components
Isandir's CHARNAME Portraits
Replace Low Quality TOB & SOA Portraits
Edwin/Edwina
Ust Natha Drow NPCs
Vampire NPCs
- Modified & replaced a few portraits with bob_veng
Version History:
V0.91 20 Aug 16
- Fixed a few entries
V0.90 20 Aug 16
- Initial Release
When possible, the mod powers up enemies by improving their main ability. Trolls in this mod regenerate faster, bombardier beetles use their spray ability more frequently, sword spiders move super-fast and attack ten times per round, and shadows are like Strength-draining mind flayers (to say nothing about what the mind flayers are like).
* There are multiple ways the mod improves the AI:
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* Summoned creatures are NOT powered up, so you can't rely on them. Some enemies will get special summoning spells that summon creatures that are powered up, though.
* The party will be powered up slightly. Player characters roll 8-20 for stats (as in Dark Sun), rather than 3-18.
(Keep in mind that enemies will also have stats like this)
The party starts the game with 30000 experience (divided among the party, so a smaller party will get more experience per character). Pomab sells some good magical equipment and scrolls, and the party starts with a lot of gold.
If you are playing with mod NPCs, they will get +2 to all stats to reflect the higher stats PCs start with.
* Throughout the game items are added, removed, and switched around. There are new random item selections. The random items you get are more likely to actually be useful.
* Many spells are revised. The purpose of the spell revisions is primarily to strengthen weak spells (sometimes significantly), rather than to weaken strong spells.
The game will start off not too difficult - the goblins at the beginning of the game won't be much tougher than they are normally. But the game will get really hard really fast.
I've released Version 3.4! This patch lets you start Heart of Winter right after beating the final boss, without having to start a new game and lose your money and containers. It also sends you back to the inn in Lonelywood after beating Icasaracht so that you can start Trials of the Luremaster. There are various other changes as well.