Hello all. The reason I'm doing this is that the monk has always annoyed me in Baldur's Gate because it seems to be entirely based on some version of the Shaolin warrior monks but the Shaolin monks use weapons (currently, historically, and in movies), and as far as I know training in just about every melee weapon known to them at the time was a key part of their training, and it's one reason the various Chinese martial arts today have so many weapon styles (weapons are way better than hands for fighting and people trained in them to fight, not just compete). Yes, they also trained in unarmed combat but for some reason that ended up as this Monk class that can barely hold a sword.
Also low-level Monks are really weak. They're supposed to be a mighty front-line warriors but you instead have to keep any monks you have cowering in the back throwing rocks like spell-less wizards. This wasn't as much of a problem in BG 2 since you start at a higher level, but once BG:EE added the monk and then made one of their main new characters a monk it really showed. I like Rasaad but he's basically a wasted party slot for most of BG 1 for everything except his story/writing.
So I looked for a mod to change this and not finding one I decided to make one. I'd never modded before but I searched around these forums and read what modding information I could find and dove in. Some of the stuff I read was out-dated and there were some broken links, but also some useful information and eventually I stumbled upon the latest version of Near Infinity and got started poking around.
So here's my attempt at a mod to turn monks into weapon-using warrior monks (just like the real warrior monks) and to make them better at low levels, thus allowing both players to make such a character but even more importantly to give people a reason to actually take Rasaad in BG 1. I also wanted to remove some Monk abilities so it's still somewhat balanced.
Here's what I've done already:
1) Allowed Monks to be of Neutral Alignment (Edited ALIGNMNT.2DA : Changed all non-chaotic alignments to value of 1 for Monks and did that for Neutral Evil/Neutral Good for Evil and Good Monk kits). Because Monks are relatively zen and neutralness seems to fit.
2) Allowed Monks and Kits to be all races (Edited CLSRCREQ.2DA : Changed Monks and kits to 1 for all races. Then edited KITABLE.2DA : changed all races to K_MN_H for Monk.) Because why not? Anyone could train as a monk.
3) Gave Monks more weapon proficiency points. (Edited PROFS.2DA : Gave Monks 6 at first level with a rate of 2). Because warrior monks spend much of each day training with weapons. No sex, no entertainment, and no alcohol means lots of training.
4) Removed Find Traps and Gave all monks detect Illusion (Edited THIEFSCL.2DA : Set values for 100 for Monks and Kits for Detect Illusion, Hide in Shadows, and Move Silently. Value 0 for everything else.) I reasoned Monks would never have seen traps in their monasteries.
5) Gave Monks more points to apply to thief skills each level. (Edited THIEFSKL.2DA. Set start points to 40 and Level points to 25 for Monks.) I reasoned Monks should be pretty good at sneaking around and seeing through illusions.
6) Allowed Monks to place weapon proficiency points for Melee weapons and Melee weapon skills to same level as warriors. But no shields or missile weapons (Edited WEAPPROF.2DA). Warrior monks train melee weapons, but historically no missile weapons or shields.
7) Gave Monks an additional AC bonus of 3 points (Edited SPCL822.SPL. Selected all abilities (all named Melee). Selected View/Edit two times. Then edited AC Value. Started at 6 for the top one and went down 1 value point each time.) At lower levels monks should still be decent enough at dodging that they don't just walk up and die against any bum with a sword.
8) Gave Monks the same hitdice (hitpoints) as Barbarians. (Edited HPCLASS.2DA and changed monks to HPBARB). Monks are tough warriors who spend all day training. They should have far more hitpoints than your average cleric.
9) Replaced the movement speed bonus with a crushing resistance bonus of 5%. (Edited SPCL812 and SPCL813- Changed to crushing resistance bonus. Set value to 5.) I figured monks shouldn't be any faster at running. They have no armor, but in Baldur's Gate heavy armor doesn't slow one down. Crushing resistance makes total sense though.
10) Removed immunity to disease, haste, slow, charm and normal weapons. Also removed magic resistance. (Edited SPCL814, SPCL817, SPCL819, and SPCL821. Clicked on Edit tab at top. Scrolled down to Spell Abilities. Clicked remove.) I figured Monks should be just as susceptible to magic as anyone else (except for illusions), and if anything a life spent in a monastery should make them more susceptible to diseases. Plus with everything I'm giving them I need to remove something to keep things fair.
Here's what I still want to do but don't know how to do it:
1) Remove deflect missile bonus. They already have lots of AC bonuses and it's not much easier to dodge a crossbow bolt than a sword especially when you're not looking at it.
2) Allow Monks to use all melee weapons, but not missile weapons, helmets, or shields. I can place proficiency points on the weapons but I can't use them yet.
3) Give monks animations for the other races (I'll probably just use the warrior ones if that's possible). Right now I can select other races but they all look human.
4) Change the text in the character creation screen and in the class/kit screens to reflect the changes.
5) Turn the finished product into an easily installable mod that anyone can use with BG1:EE
6) Host said mod on a website so people can download it.
So any suggestions and especially any help with the things I don't know how to do would be appreciated.
Thank you.
Also low-level Monks are really weak. They're supposed to be a mighty front-line warriors but you instead have to keep any monks you have cowering in the back throwing rocks like spell-less wizards. This wasn't as much of a problem in BG 2 since you start at a higher level, but once BG:EE added the monk and then made one of their main new characters a monk it really showed. I like Rasaad but he's basically a wasted party slot for most of BG 1 for everything except his story/writing.
So I looked for a mod to change this and not finding one I decided to make one. I'd never modded before but I searched around these forums and read what modding information I could find and dove in. Some of the stuff I read was out-dated and there were some broken links, but also some useful information and eventually I stumbled upon the latest version of Near Infinity and got started poking around.
So here's my attempt at a mod to turn monks into weapon-using warrior monks (just like the real warrior monks) and to make them better at low levels, thus allowing both players to make such a character but even more importantly to give people a reason to actually take Rasaad in BG 1. I also wanted to remove some Monk abilities so it's still somewhat balanced.
Here's what I've done already:
1) Allowed Monks to be of Neutral Alignment (Edited ALIGNMNT.2DA : Changed all non-chaotic alignments to value of 1 for Monks and did that for Neutral Evil/Neutral Good for Evil and Good Monk kits). Because Monks are relatively zen and neutralness seems to fit.
2) Allowed Monks and Kits to be all races (Edited CLSRCREQ.2DA : Changed Monks and kits to 1 for all races. Then edited KITABLE.2DA : changed all races to K_MN_H for Monk.) Because why not? Anyone could train as a monk.
3) Gave Monks more weapon proficiency points. (Edited PROFS.2DA : Gave Monks 6 at first level with a rate of 2). Because warrior monks spend much of each day training with weapons. No sex, no entertainment, and no alcohol means lots of training.
4) Removed Find Traps and Gave all monks detect Illusion (Edited THIEFSCL.2DA : Set values for 100 for Monks and Kits for Detect Illusion, Hide in Shadows, and Move Silently. Value 0 for everything else.) I reasoned Monks would never have seen traps in their monasteries.
5) Gave Monks more points to apply to thief skills each level. (Edited THIEFSKL.2DA. Set start points to 40 and Level points to 25 for Monks.) I reasoned Monks should be pretty good at sneaking around and seeing through illusions.
6) Allowed Monks to place weapon proficiency points for Melee weapons and Melee weapon skills to same level as warriors. But no shields or missile weapons (Edited WEAPPROF.2DA). Warrior monks train melee weapons, but historically no missile weapons or shields.
7) Gave Monks an additional AC bonus of 3 points (Edited SPCL822.SPL. Selected all abilities (all named Melee). Selected View/Edit two times. Then edited AC Value. Started at 6 for the top one and went down 1 value point each time.) At lower levels monks should still be decent enough at dodging that they don't just walk up and die against any bum with a sword.
8) Gave Monks the same hitdice (hitpoints) as Barbarians. (Edited HPCLASS.2DA and changed monks to HPBARB). Monks are tough warriors who spend all day training. They should have far more hitpoints than your average cleric.
9) Replaced the movement speed bonus with a crushing resistance bonus of 5%. (Edited SPCL812 and SPCL813- Changed to crushing resistance bonus. Set value to 5.) I figured monks shouldn't be any faster at running. They have no armor, but in Baldur's Gate heavy armor doesn't slow one down. Crushing resistance makes total sense though.
10) Removed immunity to disease, haste, slow, charm and normal weapons. Also removed magic resistance. (Edited SPCL814, SPCL817, SPCL819, and SPCL821. Clicked on Edit tab at top. Scrolled down to Spell Abilities. Clicked remove.) I figured Monks should be just as susceptible to magic as anyone else (except for illusions), and if anything a life spent in a monastery should make them more susceptible to diseases. Plus with everything I'm giving them I need to remove something to keep things fair.
Here's what I still want to do but don't know how to do it:
1) Remove deflect missile bonus. They already have lots of AC bonuses and it's not much easier to dodge a crossbow bolt than a sword especially when you're not looking at it.
2) Allow Monks to use all melee weapons, but not missile weapons, helmets, or shields. I can place proficiency points on the weapons but I can't use them yet.
3) Give monks animations for the other races (I'll probably just use the warrior ones if that's possible). Right now I can select other races but they all look human.
4) Change the text in the character creation screen and in the class/kit screens to reflect the changes.
5) Turn the finished product into an easily installable mod that anyone can use with BG1:EE
6) Host said mod on a website so people can download it.
So any suggestions and especially any help with the things I don't know how to do would be appreciated.
Thank you.
