Tower of Deception - a mod for BG2
Author: Valiant

You are hired by a mage called Tian to go visit the tower and find something valuable for him.

Play the D&D adventure Tower of Deception (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/Tower_of_Deception.pdf) in Baldur's Gate 2!

Requires ToB with the latest patch.
More information: http://www.blackwyrmlair.net/~valiant

Have fun!

[ March 31, 2007, 20:28: Message edited by: Baronius ]

ooh looks cool! I'm installing this now for the M/T solo run I just started (my first game as an arcane magic user).

Sounds great, thanks to all involved!

Quick question: I hope this isn't the type of mod that will have me fighting uber-cheese beasts? And hopefully I wont be finding stuff like Katana +9: Instakill in there? I guess my question is, is this balanced, or are we talking uber-cheesy beasts and uber-overpowered reward loot?

Fight is included, but no uber-stuff in this medium-sized mod. ;) You will have to think a bit as well to solve the quest, but no extreme hard riddle.

The Tower is waiting for you -- enjoy the new area graphics and challenges!

Hey Baronius,

I just gave your mod a try (up to the second floor of the tower) and I"d like to share some of my impressions.

The readme recommended a party between levels 10-13, so I loaded up an old game with my level 16 Skald and Minsc, Keldorn, Viconia, Jaheira and Yoshimo. The average level was a bit above, but I figured, what the hell.

First thing I noticed is that the dialogue is fairly well-written. It doesn't scream THIS IS A MOD and is not full of typos (the only thing I recall is an insignificant missing period in the option 4, first answer charname is able to give). Also, the text wasn't too long, which is good.

When my party got to the island, the video kicked in. It fits the BG-video style really well, and it was a pleasant surprise to see something like this in a mod. Actually, the few sceneries I saw were as beautiful as anything made by Bioware, and it makes me wonder if they're borrowed from some other IE game. If they're not, kudos to the artist because he rocks.

***** FROM HERE ON THERE ARE MINOR SPOILERS *****

The first battle felt okay and not overpowered. I wondered what an item like that would be doing in the ship's barrel, but it's a small detail after all.

Then entering the tower, I was impressed by the character's soundset. Again, in sound + vision, this mod is very well done and up there with original Bioware content. Problem is, I think the XP award for the creature was way too generous. It wasn't that much of a challenge to my group and I don't see why it should be to a level 10 party. It sure beats hard and fast, but nothing that 2 strong warriors and a bolt of glory can't kill in a few rounds.

Next room. I missed traps. For dungeon rooms with that many containers, it's practically mandatory that something is not what it seems. I noticed there was a scroll of protection from lightning, but didn't give it much attention...

...so in the next room, I was surprised with unusually strong shadows and one master shadow that casted out Chain Lightning with zero casting time. Constantly. If it happened once, we'd have an interesting enemy, but my whole party died in a matter of seconds. Same thing on the 2nd try.

At this point I stopped playing it and browsed here to write this. I didn't like that much the fact that in order to win a battle, I MUST use some metagaming (like, knowing what's ahead and preparing when your group actually don't know what's there).

Maybe it's just me, so someone else there might not give up so easily on the quest. I might try it again later, of course.

Please don't think I'm bashing your mod, though. I'll have to say for the third time, the visual content is simply amazing. Congrats.

...so in the next room, I was surprised with unusually strong shadows and one master shadow that casted out Chain Lightning with zero casting time. Constantly. If it happened once, we'd have an interesting enemy, but my whole party died in a matter of seconds. Same thing on the 2nd try. Chain lightning isn't casted by Shadow master, but is generated by machinery in that room, switch it off.

Thanks for pointing that out. But still, it happens too damn fast! This, combined with all the shadows attacking, killed my party in about 10 seconds.

It's a good idea for a challenge, but IMHO, it could use some tweaking/nerfing. It's not that I get frustrated because I had to find out that there was a switch; it's the fact that I didn't even have the time to do it.

I tested it and it wasn't so difficult. One character ran to switch off lightning machine, cleric started to Turn Undead and rest attacked Shadow master. It was finished in few rounds.

Ohh you guys never stop to amase us BG players!

This mod looks awesome and I am soo dying to try it out! Thank you very much!

Just to make sure everyone knows it, Valiant is the author of the mod, so my advice/comments are no more than a tester's/contributor's words.

I didn't like that much the fact that in order to win a battle, I MUST use some metagaming (like, knowing what's ahead and preparing when your group actually don't know what's there).It's not easy to make such mods or even games which are both challenging and can avoid metagaming. If something is challenging, you might lose the battle and reload (because the game offers reloading), and thus you will unavoidably have precognitions for your next try. Yeah, the best feeling would be if everything were realistic, and your preparations for a battle could be purely causal...

I'm glad to see that you like this BlackWyrm mod (or have positive anticipations), guys!

Hopefully my M/T will try this today!

Also, very happy to see BWL back up and running!

Heh, I looked at the SSs, and 'who are you? It hardly matters, for your kind won't be tolerated here bla bla' now now where do I remember this line?

:hmm:

:idea:

Ofcourse! Guthma from IWD2, righto? Heh!

yes, a good deal of the dialogue seems to be borrowed from other parts of IE games. The mage that grants you this quest reminded me much of a certain Lord Jierdan of the Windspear Hills, for instance! :D

Isn't it a bit exaggerating to say a "good deal" of dialogues is borrowed? :) Even the original game re-uses much voice-acted text that is supposed to be specific, so I don't find it strange or surprising... the Baloar's sound rather fits a demon in my opinion, by the way. If it was Irenicus' voice, it would be weird though...

Oh I didn't mean it as a bad thing at all! I was just pointing it out as a kinda fun thing, to try and guess where I have heard little bits of dialogue before!

IMO It does not detract from the mod at all! Of course I haven't gotten into the actual tower yet. I really wanted to start last night so I talked to the mage and everything, but I got scared and think I'll do the Trademeet quests to get some exp before trying this!

Anyways, this mod looks very cool and I dont think the text-borrowing is a big deal at all.

Yes the text does seem borrowed from other quests but it's no big deal, the mod is well made and will be a welcome addition to my standard BG install. :)

There's just one little bug I'd like to ask about. The mage didn't appear for me (might be because I didn't start a new game but installed this mod on my existing one), so I had to CLUA him in which worked. However after I completed the quest and returned to Athkatla the mage was gone so I had to CLUA him again. Now the problem is that he was unaware that I completed the quest so he gave me the introduction dialogue again and took me to the sailor. The sailor however "knew" that I have complected the quest and he transported me back to the mage who now gave me my reward.

I know that in the end the whole thing worked but it was still a little bug that somewhat lessened the whole experience.

I believe it's not an explicit bug. Do you have Unfinished Business installed? As far as I can remember, there is such a problem with a certain component of UB, and the next release of ToD will solve it.

Yes, the problem is with the "restored crooked crane" component of UB.

Personally I think I'm going to just uninstall that compnent of UB. It isn't as if it adds much, unless you really love playing games of chance! :spin:

Yes I do have UB installed, I guess that explains it. Thanks :)

Oh no I have UB too! So is the conflict a serious one, or can it be bypassed like Aegor explained above? I do so have uninstalling mods from my loong list, it tends to cause lots of headache and it is boring.

Well the only thing that seems problematic is one (small, very minor) component to UB, the Restored Crooked Crane, so if you can just uninstall that one small component it would be OK I think.

Even if you don't uninstall it though, you can just CLUA the mage in as Aegor mentioned I believe. I have not finished the tower yet, but I had CLUA'd the mage in once and it worked ok for the beginniing of the quest.

Oh no I have UB too! So is the conflict a serious one, or can it be bypassed like Aegor explained above?It's not a serious one at all, though it depends what you consider serious.

I do so have uninstalling mods from my loong list, it tends to cause lots of headache and it is boring.This is probably a false induction from your past experiences. For example, the case with GreyClan was coincidental: some other mod interfered, probably due to your fault (using old savegame?).
I'm quite sure that basically all WeiDU-based mods (from those you are using at the moment) are well-written and the uninstallation/reinstallation of mods/components is deterministic and reliable in WeiDU -- so it's pointless to be afraid of some random arising problem while uninstalling e.g. UB's Restored Crooked Crane component.

Though it's important to note that since certain important resources and status variables are stored in the savegame, you can't use certain savegames after uninstalling something. You might need to use an earlier savegame. For example, if you've entered the area where a mod has placed a creature, the creature won't disappear when you uninstall the mod and reload a late save.

Heh, you are right ofcourse. I do not have any save games right now in BG2, it is a fresh new installation and I did not have chance to start a game yet, still playing and enjoying the awesomness of BG1.

But ofcourse nothing can prevent me from trying out this cool all new and fancy mod! TYVM!

No it's not serious Silverstar, you don't have to uninstall UB to enjoy the quest. The CLUA console works just fine except for that little extra introduction you get.


*** spoiler below ***

Just one question Baronius if I may. That Cleric you meet on the 3rd floor, is he important once you return to Athkatla? I saw a line where the PC says that they might meet somewhere in Athkatla after the quest is completed. So do you meet him somewhere? I noticed that he has a very spiffy Helmet of Defence that you can't pickpocket and since you can kill him without a reputation loss I was wondering... :evil:

*** spoiler ends ***

^Thanks Aegor, it is good to hear. I can CLUA console the mage, have done such things before. :)

Who knows, it might work for you without the need for CLUA. I was after all in the middle of the game, perhaps after a fresh start it will work without a problem.

Skipping that certain component of UB when installing is also a solution. If you've already installed UB, you can uninstall that component.

Aegor: as for the spoiler, sorry, I don't know... as I said, I'm not the author. He checks only the official ToD forum.

Hi guys, as a creator of Tower Of Deception mod just want to inform you all that I have already started to test a new version, namely v2. It will fix some bugs found in, and will correct some other things as well. Will announce it when finish all test and possibilities, but only at official mod forum and on official mod webpage. So don´t hesitate and visit Black Wyrm Lair forum for more infos... Stay tuned.

Valiant

And about a "cleric trapped inside" :) - who knows, maybe you´ll meet him sometimes during your journies...

Just kidding. Seriously I planned to show him up again after you solve the tower, but still I don´t have a good quest for him. I´ll think about it in next versions, but I don´t guarantee it...

Now I fell sorry I haven't killed him and took that lovely helmet ;) . Thanks for the info, it would be nice if you could add a quest with him later on.

In v2, I wouldn´t recommend you to kill him, otherwise you won´t be able to escape. Because in this version he´ll be the one who will teleport you back to captain Kergo... You could stuck then in the tower until you CLUA your party out of it... hehehe...

Mmm, that's too bad :D . Perhaps you could have him teleport with the party so that evil players could have a chance to kill him once he gets them out of the dungeon. And for good NPCs, he could give them his helm as a reward ;) .

Teleport him where?? He´s the one who teleport party back to tower front door, but he´ll disappear to somewhere else, he won´t stay with the party. And evil parties may kill him after they´ll speak with him for the first time...

I will find some solution in case he´ll be killed, don´t worry. And with that reward - that´s a good idea you have with that helmet... I´ll think about it...

I guess I must be stupid, because I cannot figure out how to break a certain object after killing its guardian. I tried the +5 2-handed sword, I tried the blade of roses, I tried flametongue, I tried a standard longsword, nothing worked. I even tried to console-kill it. nothing worked. What do I do?

You must hurt it with fire, but use something (spells or items) which hits more than one target.

Razfallow is right, you cannot kill it with any weapon, magic or enchanted other way. It´s totally invulnerable. If you have read all dialogs properly, you would noticed that only a "great" fire can destroy it. Swords similiar to Flametongue does not produce great fire, they just add a fire damage to normal damage, that´s what they do...

Great fire is something else. And of course, you cannot destroy it while guardian is alive... His life force is bounded with Astral Shard, so while he´s alive, Astral Shard is taking life force from him...

Think about it.

You have made this incredibly difficult for my solo fighter. If I werent using SK to give myself a potion of explosions this quest would of been impossible.

It is really necessary to make the shard involunerable to mostly everything after the guardian is dead?

It´s necessary indeed. It´s coming up from its own nature. After all, you have solved it finally... :)

Die_Bad_Guys, if I remember correctly, there is at least one item in the Tower that allows you to solve this problem without having certain types of characters in your party (I'm trying to be as general as possible, to avoid spoilers for other players). However, it might be a good idea to add more such items (or more generally, possibilities).

[ April 22, 2007, 14:49: Message edited by: Baronius ]

Testing phase has begun. Version 2 is complete, now just testing all new stuff I added into it (...revisited scripts, cutscenes and such...)

A few posts above I metioned I´m already testing the whole mod, but after than I have added another content so I had to recompile it again, and to test in once more...

Just stick a potion of explosions on the corpse of the final guardian. Problem solved.

To Die_Bad_Guys: I have solved it other way.

I had to abandon the final battle, myself:

- My party had +3 weapons, Melf's minute meteors, lots of fireballs/wands/necklace of missiles, and a wand of resurrection to boot. 10-13 level. We still couldn't kill the guardian. Three Breach spells didn't help, either.

- None of my characters was able to equip the blade. Even a good-aligned ranger with Int 10 and Str 18/something couldn't.

So, yeah. Graphics/movie/new areas - awesome. I wish the dialogue was reworked and proofread - then it would've been a truly amazing mod.

If the final boss didnt have seemingly-infinite stoneskins it would be much more managable.

Like in BG1, some mods introduce enemies that are much more powerful than the protagonist. The Tower is a dangerous place, so it's no wonder that the Guardian had more stoneskins than the usual BG2 loser mage.

I don't see what's your problem, especially because a few posts back you said you couldn't break the shard after killing the guardian. Which means you've won the battle, and if so, why to complain about how "manageable" it is? I'm sure this isn't the hardest battle among the mods you use (or if so, you don't use difficult mods). Just wondering.

To Kulyok: my party consist of Minsc (Lilarcor equipped), PC (Fallen Paladin, Crasomyr equipped), Edwin, Jaheira, Valygar and Viconia, and I have killed Guardian in a half of a minute. Note that she cast PFNW and PFMW to herself. Dispel this, cast a Haste on your party and summon at least one fire elemental just to make her busy, while your fighters beat her up, and she´ll be dead in no time... Not a big deal.

Yes, the BLADE is very special weapon ,and because in SoA it is one of few weapons that have stats +5 (slightly overpovered), only strongest fighers, and I mean only fighters can wield it. I made it basically for fighters, as a replacement for Crasomyr, which can be wielded only by Paladins. That would be all...

BTW, as I didn´t find anyone else who´s native english speaker and is willing to proofread it for me, except Rabain (guy that translated and corrected my mod), dialogs will stay as they are now. Sorry for that. My options are limited.

I've heard good things about this mod and have it installed for my next playthrough.

As a part-time grammar-nazi I might be able to offer assistance with comprehensive proof-reading. Give me a week or so to try the mod properly and I'll get back to you.

(I appreciate the difficulties faced writing mods in a language other than one's native tongue, but options need not stay limited forever, Valiant. ;) )

Tower Of Deception v2 has been released. Visit BWL for more infos...

Luiz: you´re right, maybe, but as I said only Rabain was willing to proofread it for me. Others were just criticising me, but not helping me at all. Except you.

It's not only proofreading, it's, as I said, editing and reworking. The following is my opinion only, but I think the mod would only win if these were corrected:

- the quest-giver uses a copy-paste Firkraag dialogue most of the time;
- the story of the module that's written in the mod's readme/description is great, but the player isn't provided with it in the mod - he's only given a scrap of information by one of the guys trapped here. I'd enhance the dialogue - expand the dialogue for the demon, for the guardian of the sword, and for the trapped guy; as well, I'd rewrite the dialogue for the quest-giver;
- typos as such are quite few - but, yes, if Luiz helps, that'd be great;
- several things really stand out as mod content: I think if the sword was toned down to +4 enchantment, 2 spells per round were dropped, the lightning machine emitted lightning with less frequency(once per round, for example), it would be more in line with the rest of the game. As well, a AD&D expert may correct me, but as far as I remember, lizard shamans can't be capable of casting the Time Stop - I am not sure it makes sense to me.

As of now, I can tell people: "Yes, it looks nice, it has a few new areas, try it at least once". But I'd like to be able to say with a clear heart: "It is very interesting, and a must-install mod. You'll keep playing it again and again".

As an example, BWL: Return to Candelight has undergone some great changes(dialogue was proofread extensively, there were some small rewrites, battles were toned down), and, as far as I am aware, it has become much better.

To Kulyok: Although I´ve never play BG2 with your Xan NPC mod, now I think I will give him a try. Then I´ll be able to tell you if you´re the right person for writing these arguments. BTW, we were discussing this on PPG forum, so don´t bring it here again, please. If you want, post it on the mod´s forum, not here.

First of all, you should imagine that the mod was developed with only one person. So it´s clearly impossible to make everything perfectly.

Dialogs - if you consider I´m not a native english speaker, logically it will lead to borrowing some lines from other dialogs, as I´m not able to create all by my own. So far I don´t see anything wrong in it. And of course, when I asked for help in this, no one answered...

Story - if most of the main plot is in readme, there´s no reason to repeat it in the mod´s dialogs again, I think. Scrap of informations that are given to the player is enough. So no significant change will happen here.

Sword - this is my own sword, and I like it as it is now. Basically I´m not forcing anyone to use it if no one likes it. Just drop it on the ground as soon as you´re teleported into Ustrain´ s bedroom and that´s it. Won´t modify it.

Lizard shamans - they are from original BG2:ToB resources, just check them. If they are bad-written in original game, that´s not my fault.

About lightning machine - it is so easy to cheat it that there´s no need to change it!! But perhaps I will increase the time of producing all that lightnings (only thing I will, in fact).

Conclusion - if I find someone that will be wiling to rewrite the dialogs, I´ll implement it into the next version. But I, myself, can´t. Out of ideas.

The Xan mod is well written, IIRC. Stay calm there, Valiant, the criticism Kulyok is offering is constructive. He's saying what he said so you can sort it to improve the mod, rather than to insult you. ;)

Dialogs - if you consider I´m not a native english speaker, logically it will lead to borrowing some lines from other dialogs, as I´m not able to create all by my own. So far I don´t see anything wrong in it. We understand it will be difficult as English isn't your first language. Borrowing dialogue is ok to get the first version of the mod out, as this allows you to get feedback sooner. However, isn't part of the point of later versions to improve on the first? You have something to work on so even without someone else writing, it should be easier to improve on what you already have.

Story - if most of the main plot is in readme, there´s no reason to repeat it in the mod´s dialogs again, I think. Scrap of informations that are given to the player is enough. So no significant change will happen here. You don't need to restate everything in the readme, but remember that some of us enjoy roleplaying our characters. In the same way that we don't pre-buff if our characters don't know there's an encounter coming up, we don't like our characters acting on imformation they haven't been told.

Sword - this is my own sword, and I like it as it is now. Basically I´m not forcing anyone to use it if no one likes it. Just drop it on the ground as soon as you´re teleported into Ustrain´ s bedroom and that´s it. Won´t modify it.
No-one will force you if you don't want to, but remember that a good modder is one that is open to feedback (this includes the negative points).

Lizard shamans - they are from original BG2:ToB resources, just check them. If they are bad-written in original game, that´s not my fault.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall ever seeing a lizard shaman ever casting a 9th level spell in the original game. Hmm.

In conclusion, Kulyok and any other who has commented on your mod isn't trying to make you feel bad- they are giving suggestions to help you improve. If you wish to ignore the advice, that is your decision, but remember that if lots of people end up saying the same thing, then that may well actually be the better way to go.

Very well then, off to go now. Another and AFAIK area artist (that is not borrowing previously posted or original art) is gone (from this forum). Take care.

@Valiant: if you seriously want a hand in rewriting dialogues, let me know. That is, if you'll consent to implement my changes.

No-one will force you if you don't want to, but remember that a good modder is one that is open to feedback (this includes the negative points). Glad to hear it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall ever seeing a lizard shaman ever casting a 9th level spell in the original game. Hmm.BAZLIZ02.CRE is the original file. Take a look on it.

Just a quick note here - Kulyok is not a native english speaker either - though you cannot tell from her dialogue. She is also an extremely experienced modder. She has strong opinions, and the willingness to voice them; if she is volunteering to help playtest or deal with balance issues, you are getting the equivalent of a professional independent contractor to assist. I would definitely consider getting her involved.

Luiz is an experienced modder, and playtests with good criticism, if he is availbale, steam him too.


I would volunteer myself, but am unfortunately booked for the forseeable fure.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall ever seeing a lizard shaman ever casting a 9th level spell in the original game. Hmm.
BAZLIZ02.CRE is the original file. Take a look on it. It's an unused file in ToB - something they were going to put in Abazigal's lair and then decided to pull, I think. I'd toyed with reintroducing it, but it looks like I got beaten to it.

Please forgive Valiant for his too big sensitivity to criticism. I suppose he misinterpreted the constructive criticism, which may be partly due to language issues as well. I remember I was the same stubborn and sensitive modder when I entered IE modding. I'm sure that the suggestions you've told here are all intended to improve the mod, and as long as Valiant's time allows it, I'm sure he will try to implement the ones he agrees with, and perhaps will consider even those that he refuses for the time being. He is usually extremely busy (RL), and the lot of suggestions here might have reached him as a thunderstorm. And when you feel modding would be a burden, it's frustrating if you force yourself to do it.

Baronius is right, guys, my apologies to all I could insult in any way. Generaly it wasn´t due to any language issues, I assure you, or due to any misinterpreted things. I understood everything without any problems. Real problem was somewhere else. I have discussed this with Kulyok via PM, so everything is ok now. As it always should be.

Once more, sorry for that.

heck, we all care deeply, and we all go off the deep end - we're all pretty driven people, or else we wouldn't be trying to fix up and add to the game :) !

No offense taken Valiant- good luck with improving your mod.

@Luiz: I´ve received some new modtexts and dialogs from Kulyok, so if you still willing to proofread it for me, I can send them to you via mail. Just send me your email address. I trust Kulyok it´s grammaticaly correct, but I hope it won´t be mistake if you take a look on them. Just from grammatical aspect. Hope Kulyok won´t mind this... :)

Well, as I've previously spotted a couple of tiny errors in the Xan mod, I'm sure Kulyok has some faith in my modest abilities. ;)

I do look forward to see what Kulyok has provided - she has excellent dialogue creation skills.

(I've emailed you.)

Cheers,
Luiz.

Oh, yes, your typo hunts are always very welcome. :)

I've emailed the files to Valiant yesterday, so I guess you'll be able to have a go at them eventually. (It's not as there're *many* additions, though).

And, yeah. Great mod.

Well, I've really gone to town on the dialogue files, Kulyok. I hope neither you nor Valiant take exception to the fact that I've made so damn many suggestions! :p But I hope my blatherings and observations will at least be of some help as you both work to improve the "face" of what is already a very, very impressive sidequest mod.

Cheers,
Luiz.

Don´t worry, Luiz, no offence taken so far...

ADD: I was looking on dialogs, just a few minutes ago, and I must say: what a research!! Many changes, totally lost in it... Now I really don´t know which one to use, hehe... :)

Thanks, Luiz, I will consider all dialogs. It will take some time, of course, but I don´t want to rush it. I must rewrite them, according to your all your notes you´ve made...

Once again, thanks. Val

[ May 14, 2007, 16:50: Message edited by: Valiant ]

I finished playing this mod a couple of days ago. I specifically started this current game to get to TOD, although I will now continue my party to the end of TOB.

I was very impressed with almost every aspect of this mod. The graphics were wonderful. It was great to be able to play some new areas that had completely new and fresh area maps that caused me to have to explore VERY carefully, not knowing where every trap and bad guy would be.

I hope that in a future release of TOD the "copied" dialogs can be tweaked or rewritten so that they are not so obviously copies. That would be a very nice tweak that would provide a final bit of polish to an excellent, excellent mod.


I guess I wish that the big nasty sword didn't have such a high INT requirement. But since I don't happen to have a greatsword wielding character in my party at the moment, it was hard to get all bothered by not being able to wield a sword that neither my archer PC nor my NPCs cared to wield in the first place. (Then again, I suppose if I really, really, really wanted to wield it, one could always use SK to edit one of their characters to have the right INT.)


I enjoyed how the initial mage and the cleric both had their own little portraits. That was a nice touch that added a little more personality to their characters.

I didn't have any serious problem dealing with the Astral Shard at the end. Oh, I missed the dialog clues and tried hacking it and hitting it with lesser magics with no effect. Then for yucks, I pulled everyone back and fired off a fireball, and voila!


Oh, one thing that I never figured out... PM me if there's some spoiler you'd like to protect...

What was the story with those two frozen "women"? I was afraid to try anything too severe to unfreeze them. I tried a burning hands scroll I happened to have, to no effect. So, I just left them as is and moved on. Was there something I missed here? Were they of any importance?


All in all, TOD is a wonderful mod!!! Two big thumbs up!!!


Side comment: Regarding soloists... IMHO, and it is just *my* opinion, D&D isn't meant to be a solo game. It's meant to be a party game wherein the makeup of a good party is designed to cover as many contingencies as possible and no single character has to be the perfect, do-everything character.

If a solo fighter is having trouble defeating a given situation, frankly, that's what the "dumb" fighter gets for not bringing along a mage. ;) That said, it's not a bad thing to provide a way out for the poor, dumb fighter, although I think it might have been a little more subtle to have left the "backdoor key" to defeating the astral shard somewhere other than on the body of the shard's guardian.


Regardless, let me be clear. This is a great mod and well worth playing. I only wish that there'd been more to it.

@crucis: thank you for playing it, I´m glad you liked it. It was made for the players, so I´m always happy when some of them give me a positive feedback. And about those two dryads - I´ll send you a PM.

About the sword - that will be one of my updates, I will decrease required INT and will reduce its proficiences (it´s overpovered a little bit at the moment). I faced this problem from my testers already...

Once again, thanks.

Oh, dialogs are already rewritten, thanks to Kulyok, now I´m just waiting for all translations. They will be presented in V3, along with a few other cosmetic touches.

hey guys, it sounds really interesting so I just wanted to ask if this mod would encounter a problem with any of the following mods:

banter pack
unfinished business (without edited crooked crane)
jedi/sith kits
amber
quest pack

or will it run smoothly?

I just completed a complete BG2-SoA/ToB run with a few more mods installed. Of your above list, I had the banter pack and the quest pack installed with no problem. I intentionally did not install UB just to avoid all risk of problems.

I happened to have the Yasreana mod NPC installed, as well as the BG2 Tweak pack, and IIRC a couple of lesser mods.

And I had no problems with ToD. It's a WONDERFUL mod. I only wish that there was more to it. ;)

awesome, thanx crucis. I'll start downloading it asap

Nice mod - I just finished playing it with a lvl 9-11 party. I thought that the reward to difficulty ratio was perhaps a tad high, but then again I had just been playing a few of the improved IA battles, so in hindsight I probably should have shifted the difficulty level up a bit. I though that overall it was incredibly well presented and it all felt continuous with the original game. The puzzles were good and I particularly liked the bit with the frozen dryad and the mage. A +5 sword seems like a tad much to me though, this might be partly due to my low level party and gear (mainly +1/+2 weapons, lilacor, and Flail of Ages), but perhaps scaling the bonus down to +4 would make it more continuous with the rest of the game.
Oh and trapping the entry to that lich servant guarding the sword would have been good - I ran as soon as my party needed healing (he let off 2 abi dalzims I think) and he didn't follow. Locking the player in with him would prevent iffy hit and run tactics.

Overall I thought it was a fun, well polished mod and definitely worth the experience (I might hold of using the sword until later though)

@Stu: Yes, while I haven't played IA as yet, given what I've heard about IA's difficulty, TOD may seem a bit easy. But if you're not using any difficulty-enhancing "tactical" mods, TOD's difficulty seems to merge wonderfully with SoA's overall difficulty.

I will say that I was not overly fond of the final reward uber-sword. Didn't particularly like the BAM and found that the stat minimums kept it from being used by any except the most uber-powerful (in terms of stats) PC's. However, all of that said, I still loved the TOD mod and would highly recommend it to anyone.

Yeah, I had a sneaky suspicion that the difficulty would be spot on with the original game.
Btw - all those +2 weapons on the 2nd floor and not a single longsword! The one +2 weapon I could have used!
the stat minimums kept it from being used by any except the most uber-powerful (in terms of stats) PC'sWhat 10 intelligence and 15 strength - your just annoyed that Minsc cant wield it! Keldorn's fine with it though, although there is a bit of redundancy with Carysmer (if I ever beat the IA Firkrag).

Guys, thank for your feedbacks, but don´t worry - already started to work on v3, which will include a few minor corections about the sword (generaly it will be toned down a little bit), and also some other changes. And a brand new NPC will be added to fight with...

Stay tuned.

@crucius: Haven´t you liked the sword´s BAM? it takes me two hours to make it look like it is now... :(

Valiant, regarding BAMs, I guess what it comes down to is that I prefer the cleaner, more realistic looking BAMs for most weapons (swords in particular) in IWD1 and IWD2 vs. the somewhat cheesey, strangely colored BAMs for many weapons in BG2.

Your sword's BAM is not much cheesier than the Equalizer's BAM or many other sword BAMs in BG2. I guess that it's just a matter of taste. I like the sword BAMs from IWD1/2 where most blades are nice and have straight, clean edges and are steely gray/silver with only a little bit of embellishment for the hilts and handles.


Oh, and BTW, don't get me wrong. The idea of a powerful Greatsword for fighters isn't a bad idea. It just needs to be twaeked so that its stat minimums don't prevent most decent PCs of the appropriate class and alignment can carry it.


@Stu: IIRC, Valiant's greaetsword actually had something like a min INT requirement of ~15. It the mins had been 10 INT and 15 STR, that would have been no problem. Almost everyone, short of Minsc ;) , would be able to wield THAT weapon.

@crucius: no no, no offence taken so far, I just thought you don´t like it because how it is made or something, but now I see it is because your own personal tastes, that you prefer IWD1 or 2 style. No problem. And yes, it is made from Equalizer BAM,it is obvious, a part of it... :)

Either way, the sword will be toned down, but not to +4. Another way... :) and the requirements will be touched as well... It is true indeed that they are a little bit high...

I rather liked the bam - i thought you did a good job with it!

Valiant's greaetsword actually had something like a min INT requirement of ~15. It the mins had been 10 INT and 15 STR, that would have been no problem.My copy of the sword did have an intelligence requirement of 10 and a strength requirement of 15. Keldorn (Strength 17 and Intelligence 12) could wield it fine. Different version of the mod perhaps?

Stu, I'll have to go back and check, but for some reason, I thought that the sword had a requirement of 15 INT (and 15 STR), but I could be wrong. I didn't have a character in the party who wanted to wield any greatsword, so I didn't give the weapon a second look. But for some reason, I thought that the usability requirements were limiting, and I seem to remember that no-one in my party met those requirements.


And I do think that Valiant did a perfectly decent job on the sword's BAM, it just that I don't like the BG2 weapons BAMs' general look and feel in the first place. As I said before, I simply like the look and "feel" of the more realistic looking IWD1/2 style weapon BAMs. This is no dig at Valiant. Just a matter of personal taste.

Yes guys, it is possible that you have diferent versions of the sword. In V2, the sword´s requirements has been toned down a little bit, and it was renamed from Callandor to Warblade Of Twilight...

I was using the "Warblade" version, IIRC.

Ah - I've got Callandor, my bad then.

Tower of Deception v3 has been released!

Excellent!

Thanks a lot :)