[MOD] Improved Heart of Fury Mode Version 3.0

Icewind Dale's Heart of Fury Mode was meant to be an "ultimate difficulty mode," but it wasn't very well executed. Its main feature is to give enemies extremely large HP bonuses, such that a regular orc could have about 100 hit points. This is bad because it makes fights very tedious. Most of playing Heart of Fury Mode consists of sitting around as your summoned creatures (which also get the extra HP) slowly kill the enemies. Icewind Dale's difficulty also suffers from the fact that the enemies' AI is terrible, and previously there was no good AI-enhancing mod (like Sword Coast Strategems) for Icewind Dale. This mod presents a more interesting "ultimate difficulty mode." It's not actually a difficulty setting, so it can be played on Normal, Insane, or even on Heart of Fury mode itself. Here are the main features: * Battles are made tougher by giving enemies more powers (for example, Fire Beetles can breathe fire), occasionally adding more enemies in an encounter, giving enemies better AI, and making enemies stronger all around, rather than simply by giving them lots of hit points. 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 in which I've improved the AI: I'm not sure if the mod's AI is comparable with SCS, but it's the closest thing for Icewind Dale. * The mod powers up most of the magic items in the game, like in Icewind Dale 2's Heart of Fury Mode. Example items: [spoiler] [/spoiler] * 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. * 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 3.0! Now the mod changes the whole game, including Heart of Winter and Trials of the Luremaster! You can download the mod here. Change Log: [spoiler] Version 2.0: * The Heart of Winter expansion has been modded. * I made druid shapeshift forms more powerful. Since the characters and creatures in the game are more powerful, the shapeshift forms need to be more powerful otherwise they could be less useful than the normal character. * Some spectral undead creatures (shadows, spirits on the Burial Isle) can now go through walls. Spectral undead that don't realize that they're undead (e.g. shadowed elves, spectral guards in Trials of the Luremaster) do not have this ability. * The enemy that you fight if you wish to be more experienced using Limited Wish now has some really badass abilities that no one else has (for context, this mod makes it so that this wish makes you fight a single, extremely powerful enemy rather than several golems; I won't spoil what this enemy is, but it gives 250000 experience (or more depending on the difficulty), and it's no pushover). * Skeleton Warriors were removed from Kresselack's tomb. I plan to put a more powerful version of them somewhere else in the game later. I made a few other changes to the Vale of Shadows. * Presio no longer casts Great Shout with Chain Contingency. She doesn't summon nishruus, and she doesn't use her Spell Trigger in the duel. * Geelo no longer casts triple Shout with Spell Sequencer. * I made some changes to items and put some more items in the game. * Chain Lightning and Soul Eater now only harm enemies like I intended them to and don't produce blue fires flying all over the place. * Know Alignment now offers no save, as I intended. * Star Metal Cudgel now deals 4d6 extra damage against unnatural creatures, as I intended. * Flame Strike, Iron Body and Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting have been modified. Version 3.0: * I finished my Trials of the Luremaster modifications. * Party members will be less likely to die permanently. I'm doing this because party members are going to die a lot in this mod, so it would be good not to have to reload as often. * Some enemies now require higher enchantments to hit. * Enemies now have better attack AI. * Goblin archers no longer shoot Goblin Arrows. * The prologue cave now has fewer Orc Archer Elites. * The Goblin Marshals and Orc Archer Elites in the prologue now use Whirlwind Attack instead of Greater Whirlwind Attack. * I made Lysan tougher. * I changed the powers of basic wights around a little to make them simpler and more sensible. They no longer drain luck on hit, nor do they have that weird life-draining ability I had given them that they only used on luck-drained creatures. Instead, they drain one level on hit. * Ettins now only have two attacks per round while throwing boulders. * Sahuagin leaders now correctly buff their allies as I intended. * Icasaracht now uses her aura of fear. * The moonblade created by the Moonblade spell now counts as a silver weapon and deals the extra damage against lycanthropes. * Wall of Moonlight now deals the full 5d10 damage against lycanthropes. * Cloak of Fear now lasts 1 turn and the save against the fear is made at -2.c * Mass Cause Light Wounds now offers no save. * Enchant Weapon now only sets the weapon enchantment to +5. * Rangers and Druids can now cast Dispel Magic. * I made the Wisdom requirements for the Wish spell higher. In order to get the best selection of wishes, you need to have 25 Wisdom. * Larrel's Sending no longer kills the party with Meteor Swarm at the Severed Hand entrance. I had originally made Larrel cast Meteor Swarm on the squirrel, but I had tested this revised cutscene before I had modified Meteor Swarm to have a larger area of effect. Now the party is in the area of effect, so they tend to get killed by it. Now Larrel casts Comet on the squirrel instead of Meteor Swarm. I have tested this and the comet doesn't hit the party. * Mirek now actually gives the reward he's supposed to. * The Unstrung Harp now actually takes three rounds to use. * I increased the power of some katanas. [/spoiler] Tips: - Do not play this mod on the game's regular Heart of Fury mode. The changes this mod makes to the game are separate from the regular HoF mode bonuses, so if you play on HoF mode, creatures will get the ridiculous HP that HoF gives them IN ADDITION to the even more ridiculous things that this mod gives the creatures. Play on another difficulty, like Insane, or Core Rules. When I was playtesting my mod I went through the game on Insane with double experience and max HP rolls. My team still got killed a lot. - Don't try to solo the game unless you really know what you're doing. - Make sure to have a character who can cast Dispel Magic. Dispel Magic is basically this game's version of Breach. There will be a lot of opportunities to use it once you reach Chapter 2.