Overpowered and Got to Go

[Bombur]

I'm tired of the overpowered abilities, spells, etc. in the game so I'm altering many of the files to make it more reasonable/balanced. For example, I have altered berserker and barbarian rage so that they no longer offer unrealistic immunities to things like level drain, maze and imprisonment. I have also rewritten the sorcerer spell progression tables so that they don't get an extra two spells per level, and I have reduced the benefits of weapon specialization.

There are some things I have yet to figure out, like how to get rid of quickslots for projected images (which I plan to level drain like a simulacrum, so that simulacrum is actually better than projected image for a change). I'd like to change the specialist mage kits too, but I think that stuff my be hard coded. Does the most recent version of kit editor access those? The one I have doesn't.

I also plan to get rid of many of the magical items throughout the game, and to reduce the abilities of many of those that I leave in the game.

Anyway, I'm taking suggestions on what to eliminate. What do you think is overpowered that I should cut from my game, and why?

[Takara]

Imprisonment. Stupidly unrealitic spell, and vastly overpowered.

[Aldeth the Foppish Idiot]

Well, imprisonment in general isn't so bad if a save were allowed. Throw me a bone here - I'll take a save vs. spells at -4. However, the demi-lich's no-touch, no-save imprisonment IS overpowered.

Another thing you can do to make it more difficult is reduce weapons of high enchantment, and weapons that give special bonuses for certain things. For example make Daystar +2 for everything, and not +4 vs. undead. Also, you could cut down on the number of weapons that are +3 or higher in enchantment. There are very few enemies that require greater than a +2 weapon to hit. Obviously there have to be at least a few +3 or +4 items in the game.

One thing I would not change are the items from Cromwell. You have to complete a signficant quest, and give him quite a bit a money for those items, so I really don't think they are overpowered when you consider what you have to do.

For Crom Faeyr, you need the Hammer of Thunderbolts (Illithids in sewers - very tough), Girdle of Giant Strength (Demon Knights in Underdark - very tough), Gauntlets of Ogre Strength (Planar Sphere - moderately difficult), and the scroll (Shadow Dragon - moderately difficult). Plus in order to get the key to get to the Hammer of Thunderbolts, you need to do most of the Windspear Hills. So given all that you have to do, you've earned a +5 weapon IMO.

[Bombur]

@Aldeth: I don't plan to change the Cromwell/Cespenar items too much. What really bugs me is that there are magic items on/in practically every table, box and corpse. There is no logical explanation for the existence of all these items, especially in a place that outlaws magic. Plus, you can sell these things for scads of cash. And you can find items that boost all your stats through the roof. Having all these items makes character level practically irrelevant. It is no longer about role-playing or becoming a more powerful character, unless you happen to be role-playing spoiled rich kid.

That reminds me -- I need to change the random treasure .2da!

[Ancient Galatan]

Make a hack that disables the ability of some monsters (espacially golems), so that they are no longer resistant to non-magical weapons anymore.

[dmc]

Make storekeepers smart enough to know that the scruffy adventurers are stealing from them. Either remove the opportunity for thieves to steal from stores or give a significant penalty for doing so. In the same vein, get rid of the vast majority of potions of master thievery -- they're absurdly overpowered.

Reduce the selling price of most found items.

There's nothing worse than being able to, within the confines of the game and without major cheating, deck out a beginning party with massive armor and weapons. Just stupid and unbalancing.

Make paladins and lawful good clerics tithe (i.e., reduce all found gold for parties where there are such persons by a percentage).

My two cents.

[david w]

Start the party at a lower level - maybe 3rd or 4th - to make the earlier parts of the game more of a challenge. Only first time players are likely to struggle with Irenicus' dungeon if you give them 7th/8th level starting characters, but make them 3rd/4th level and they might have a job getting the better of the normal unimproved Ilyich and his cronies.

Also you could increase the amounts of XP required to hit certain levels. There's enough XP - via monsters and quests and spell learning - to allow everyone to hit 20th level by the end of SOA, yet if you do you'll find the end parts of the game too easy. So why not move the required XP up so you finish SOA at level 15 or thereabouts? Defeating Irenicus with a party of level 15, or less, would be a real challenge.

You could also move some of the magic items from the Adventurer's Mart to other locations that aren't so easy to get to: give the Robe of Vecna to the Shadelord, give the Shield of Balduran to the Elemental Lich, and so on...

[Aldeth the Foppish Idiot]

Actually, I'd get rid of the bonus merchants items altogether. Most of them are way overpowered. There's only a few that I would keep that may not be considered overpower. To wit: Staff of Arundel, The Flail that gives you +1 to AC and elemental resistances (can't remember it's name), the +3 Halberd that gives +1 strength, -1 wisdom and -1 intelligence (again, I don't know what it's called), the Sensate Amulet, and Ervard's Sling (+5 but the damage is relatively low).

I don't think starting characters at lower levels will help, unless you change how much experience they need to level up. Level 3 characters have what? 5000 XP? In the course of a few battles they'll double their level.

[Bombur]

Yep, the bonus merchants should probably go. Just getting rid of the robe of Vecna would seriously restrain high level mages and sorcerers. I really prefer the items in the IWD/PST series -- many have negative side-effects to go with their powers. I also like the one's with high enchantment but low THACO and damage bonuses -- nice way to give a party the ability to kill a demi-lich without handing it to them on a platter.

Regarding experience, is there a way to apply a universal penalty to experience earned? That would be the simplest way to impede leveling.

[david w]

I don't think starting characters at lower levels will help, unless you change how much experience they need to level up. Level 3 characters have what? 5000 XP? In the course of a few battles they'll double their level.

Um... that *is* what I suggested. Change the XP required to advance to the next level and 3rd level players would have to undertake a few quests at the least before they reached 4th level.

[Cryohydropyro]

Modify the scripts and replace the stupid ForceSpell("xxx") command with either HasSpell("xxx")-Spell("xxx") trigger-action or ApplySpell("xxx") action. It's hard to imagine the slaver mages have an infinite repertoire of magic.

Screw Teleport Field. Too powerful.

Tone down both Project Image and Simulacrum.

Remove the bonus merchant items completely. Robe of Vecna, Vhailor's Helm, the Zerth Blade, Mercykiller Ring, and the Sensate Amulet are just too powerful to keep around.

Tone down Blackrazor, i.e. reduce the probabilty of the effects to 1-5%, change its enchantment to +2, etc. Irenicus just gets too easy after gettin it.

Give Imprisonment a save. It's just too powerful. Dragons ain't suppose to die just because a shrinking four-walled dimensional room trapped them.

Remove the absurd immunities that raging gives and the fatigue effect. Fifteen seconds of shouting and ramapaging shouldn't save you from a sure monster-killer spell like Imprisonment but it's also not enough to drain a full-sized warrior of energy.

Just my two cents.