This mod aims to make mages in the game to appear more stylish. For that end it adds mage-specific staffs with ranged attacks and circlets, plus it also tweaks all robes, so that player can choose their look. The idea of this mod began in the Narbucchad's Demise Wizard's Staff thread, after I discovered the ranged staff animation within the game files.
Since version 1.3, BG:EE and BG2:EE content has been combined into one single mod. It will recognize the game and skip the content of the other. There are a lot of components now, so I will try to describe them here as clearly as possible.
Mod components are following:
WIZARD’S STAFF FOR BG1
STAFF OF WIZARDRY FOR BG2
STAFF OF WIZARDRY FOR IWD
CUSTOM INVENTORY ANIMATION FOR SOW
STAFF OF THE MAGI WITH RANGED ATTACK
CIRCLETS
CUSTOM INVENTORY ANIMATION FOR CIRCLETS IN BG1
CIRCLET OF REVELATION FOR BG1
VISUAL TWEAKS FOR ROBES
ROBE COLORSETS FROM COSMETIC CHANGES MOD
Navigation:
UPDATE LOGS
INSTALLATION
SCREENSHOTS
▲This adds 7 Staffs with +1 enchantment, to the High Hedge stock and Xithiss in the Black Pits, after the first upgrade of his stock.. Each one has different color, mainly to fit different color styles of NPC mages. They have unique paperdoll animations which I have accidentally discovered some time ago, but lacked an inventory paperdoll, which I drew myself. I have also edited few existing icon bams to fit colors of individual staffs and created energy projectiles which all fit the color of their staffs' gems (See the screenshot below).
With the WeiDU install (the last rar file), proper descriptions and names are added. If you wish to use an override install (the first rar file), the description uses related string, but is rather vague and incorrect.
▲This component adds 7 Staffs of different color variations into the store of Garlena, the helmite on the top of Watcer's Keep. She can be accessed from both SoA and ToB. These Staffs have both ranged and melee attacks and you can switch between them. Since version 1.3, they are also available in the Black Pits 2, in the stock of the un-named Illithid.
In BG2, they are called Staffs of Wizardry and are +3 weapons. But the main difference from BG1 is, that I decided to expand an ambition of this mod a bit and include the problematic area of specialist mages. Each of the staffs can be further empowered, when its wielder reaches 250 000 XP in total, by clicking on a button "activate" in the item description screen. If it's wielded by a specialist mage, staff will be imprinted with his specialization, receiving additional school-based abilities (the list of abilities is below). When a pure mage activates the staff, he will be given a choice to either empower the staff universally, or to choose any specialization (including wild magic), which will turn him into the respective specialist and imbue the weapon with respective specialization. This is mainly to allow dual and multi-class mages to specialize in-game. Sorcerers can only choose to empower the staff universally.
Warning:
Note that if you are dual-classing from a kit, you will loose that kit with all its powers and become a specialist, with original pure class. Also, when you become a specialist this way, all spells from the forbidden school will be erased from your spell book, and all your memorized spells will be drained in the process. So you better do this before resting. This doesn't apply to wild mage.
Activated staffs have following abilities:
[spoiler]Staff of Abjuration
- 25% chance of casting Spell Thrust, on successful hit
- can cast Minor Spell Turning once per day
Staff of Conjuration
- 25% chance of casting Summon Insect, on successful hit (like the priest spell)
- can cast Monster Summoning III once per day
Staff of Divination
- 25% chance of casting Know Enemy, on successful hit
Know Enemy: Lowers AC, THACO and saving throws at -4 each for 2 turns
- can cast Oracle once per day
Staff of Enchantment
- 25% chance of casting Hold Person, on successful hit
- can cast Domination once per day
Staff of Illusions
- 25% chance of casting Blackout, on successful hit
Blackout: Target is effected by Blindness and Deafness for two hours (Save vs. Spell negates the effect)
- can cast Shadow Door once per day
Staff of Invocation
- 25% chance of casting Lightning Bolt, on successful hit (only effects the target)
- can cast Cloudkill once per day
Staff of Necromancy
- 25% chance of casting Vampiric Touch, on successful hit
- can cast Animate Dead once per day
Staff of Alternation
- 25% chance of casting Slow, on successful hit
- can cast Teleport once per day (similar to Dimension Door, but is cast instantly)
Staff of Wild Magic
- 24% chance of casting one of the "on hit" spells of the other staffs, on successful hit
- can cast Wildstrike once per day
Wildstrike: All spellcasting of the target is effected by wild surges in next 5 rounds
Staff of Dragon Power
- 25% chance of casting Wing Buffet, on successful hit (throws target back, uncouscious for one round, 2d8+4 crushing damage)
- can cast Dragon Fear once per day
Dragon Fear: All enemies within 40 ft. Radius must Save vs. Spell with -4 penalty or flee in terror. Some creatures are immune to the effects of fear, including all undead.
Staff of Wizardry (Empowered)
- Wielder can cast any 5th-level spell, once per day[/spoiler]
Since version 1.3, Staffs of Wizardry can be upgraded by Cespenar in ToB. There are seven gems called "Shard of Netheril" scattered in ToB maps, which can be combined with Staffs of Wizardry. If you want to know, where exactly, see spoiler below:
[spoiler]Fist floor of Watcher's Keep - container with candle in the back room
Fourth floor of Watcher's Keep - tomb of the demilich
Saradush - underground with vampires - secret room opened by tortured spirit
Yaga-Shura's Lair - guarded container with skull wardstone
Dead body of Draconis
Room of the Lich in the Sendai's Enclave
Stock of Amkethran Tavern[/spoiler]
Upgraded staffs have +5 enchantment and have increased on-hit chance to cast spell to 35%. They also gain one additional 8th-level spell (Note that this spell doesn't have tooltip, since maximum of tooltips for an item has been exceeded, so the tooltip displays only the name of the staff. However, when spell is cast, it shows proper name in the dialog window. I will try to resolve this in the future.)
Additional spells are:
[spoiler]-Staff of Abjuration +5: Pierce Shield
-Staff of Conjuration +5: Conjure Swamp
Conjure Swamp: Covers 30 ft. area with toxic swamp. Everyone within takes 6d4 acid damage per round nad must save vs. spell at -4 penalty or be slowed.
-Staff of Divination +5: Prediction
Prediction: Caster gets bonus to +6 AC, -6 to THACO, +3 to saves and becomes immune to backstab and normal missiles, for 5 rounds.
-Staff of Enchantment +5: Thrall
Thrall: If failed save vs. spell at -2 penalty, target is permanently under complete control of the caster and acts as a party member. This spell also ignores mind shielding protections.
-Staff of Illusions +5: Simulacrum
-Staff of Invocation +5: Incendiary Cloud
-Staff of Necromancy +5: Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting
-Staff of Alternation +5: Mass Polymorph Other
Mass Polymorph Other: Same as Polymoprh Other spell, but covers 30 ft. area and all enemies must save vs. spell at -2 penalty.
-Staff of Wild Magic +5: Wild Sphere
Wild Sphere: All creatures within 30 ft. area are affected with wild surges for 5 rounds
-Staff of Dragon Power +5: Lesser Dragon Form
Lesser Dragon Form: For 2 turns, caster is transformed into a small dragon and receives substantial melee bonuses. This spell uses Red Abishai animation from PST provided for EEs by @viader and his Extended Animations Resource Pack.
-Staff of Wizardry +5: Wielder may cast any 8th-level spell once per day[/spoiler]
▲Staffs of Wizardry for IWD:EE are very similar as for BG2:EE. The differences are, that the staffs (which are available in Orrick's shop) are only of +1 enchantment when bought and they will get to +3 only after the "activation" when the wielder is over 250 000 XP. Then, the staff can be upgraded to +5 the same way, when he reaches 1 000 000 XP. All spells and abilities remain same.
▲This component has been rendered somewhat obsolete, because unlike BG:EE, there are now original inventory animations for these staffs, as the game uses the animation for the Staff of the Magi and Staff of Ram. Still, you can choose between the original, and the custom, that I made for BG:EE (See screenshot). If you install this component, custom will override the original, if you don't install, you will have the original.
▲This component adds ranged attack to the Staff of the Magi. You can choose melee or ranged the same way as it works for Staffs of Wizardry. The projectile has yellow color.
▲In BG1, circlets already exist in the game files, with proper names and descriptions, so I merely put them in Thalantyr's stock (and to Xithiss in BP as well). They have (tiny) paperdoll animations, but they were missing inventory animations, which again I drew for them (they are an individual component).
In BG2, these circlets are not within the game files anymore, so I took them unchanged from BG1 and put them into the stock of Garlena, the helmite, on the top of Watcher's Keep. Only Circlet of the Archmagi and Eilistraee's Boon +1 were added. Unlike BG:EE, circlets have original inventory animations.
In IWD, Circlet of the Archmagi and Eilistraee's Boon +1 are added to Orrick's shop.
▲This component adds missing inventory animations for circlets in BG1, drawn by myself. Look at screenshots, if you want to see how they look.
▲This item allows mages to become specialists the same way as Staffs of Wizardry in BG2 work. But because Wizard's Staffs in BG1 don't offer such option, I made this one to make it possible in BG1. The circlet is available in Thalantyr's stock and can be used multiple times. But it only works for non-specialist mages (including dual and multis), so once mage becomes a specialist, he cannot use it to change his specialization. The effect is permanent.
▲Robe tweaks section doesn't add new items, but only tweaks existing robes. It gives them the ability to switch between all three possible visual types (no hood and no cape, no hood with cape, hooded with cape) via item abilities. Every robe then looks as original by default, but has two item abilities, which can change their looks to the other 2 visual types. This allows to set the favourite look for your wizard (and overcome some graphical glitches - elven female horribly colored leg comes to mind...).
Robe tweaks come in two versions (there are two folders in the rar file, and two choices in the WeiDU install). One version keeps all original set colors of robes and the other removes them, which makes them use character's colors instead.
Note, that as a side effect, I had to make all robes automatically identified.
Since version 1.3, robes remain in armor slot, so they don't need to be equipped again.
▲This component allows you to enjoy the custom colorsets for Robes of Archimagi made by @Dee in his Mr. Pennyway's Cosmetic Changes mod. They are also tweaked so you can change their visual type.
▲v1.0 of BG:EE, v1.0 of BG2:EE
-Staffs, circlets and visual tweaks for robes added
v1.1
-BG:EE and BG2:EE mods combined into single mod
v1.2
-Dialog bug of SoW for multi-classes fixed
-Various typos fixed
-Melee characteristic of SoW fixed
-Speed factor of SoW fixed
-Added own projectiles for WS and SoW
-Robes remain in armor slots after changing
-Blue SoW colorset slightly tweaked
v1.3
-SoW can be upgraded by Cespenar
-On-hit chance of SoW increased from 15% to 25%
-Circlet of Revelation added to BG:EE
-Added ranged attack to the Staff of the Magi
-SoW available in the Black Pits 2
v1.35
-Enchantment level of staffs fixed
-Thrall spell fixed
v1.36
-Polish translation added (credits to @Cahir)
v1.4
-Compatible with IWD:EE
v1.41
-Fixed invalid strings for some of SoW's on-hit effects in IWD:EE
▲Extract the "MSFM WeiDU Install.rar" file below in the game's core folder of either BG:EE or BG2:EE (the one with a file "chitin.key" in it) and run "setup-MSFM.exe". All parts can be installed individually.
You can also use non-WeiDU install (but only for BG:EE!). If you extract "BG1 override install.rar", there will be three folders with staffs, circlets animations and robe tweaks. Just put the content of a folder you want to use in the override folder. Note that the non-WeiDU install will miss correct descriptions of Wizard's Staffs.
I hope you enjoy it.
▲Wizard's Staffs and circlets in BG:EE:
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]Staffs of Wizardry in BG2:EE:
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]Circlets in BG2:EE:
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]Robe Tweaks:
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]Last but not least, this mod would not be what it is without help of @KidCarnival and his ideas. Special thanks also goes to @Anduin and his prowess in english grammar, which allows you to enjoy this mod without grammatical errors. Of course I must not forget to thank @Dee for allowing me to incorporate his awesome colorsets to my mod and @viader, whose work on extended animations I used for this mod.
(OP edited 23.11.2014)