January 2013 Custom Content Challenge: Spells and Spellcrafting

[Legacy_henesua]

               Awesome, Pstemarie! You could create a book item and paste the story into the description of the book.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Pstemarie]

               Its kind of long - 3 typed pages
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_The Amethyst Dragon]

               

Pstemarie wrote...

Its kind of long - 3 typed pages

I like the story idea.  It could just be a long book, or a few books (part I, part II, part III).
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Pstemarie]

               

The Amethyst Dragon wrote...

Pstemarie wrote...

Its kind of long - 3 typed pages

I like the story idea.  It could just be a long book, or a few books (part I, part II, part III).

Yeah its kind of exploded on me - expanded to 12 pages and still going strong with no immeadiate end in sight. 

It does have a title though...Of Forges, Squirrels, and Wizards.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_henesua]

               This gets better and better! Perhaps you need to use one of those huge tome placeables for this story. (with scripting that changes the description, based on which page is open.... If you want I'll write this script for you.)
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_The Amethyst Dragon]

               bad post, nevermind
               
               

               

                     Modifié par The Amethyst Dragon, 13 janvier 2013 - 07:32 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               <trying in vain...>

What this page needs is a few screenies! :-)


The default mounted familiar takes spirit form and crawls up the masters back.

Creepy, aint it?

<...to make the bird jealous>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_henesua]

               I dg it, Rolo. I am excited about hooking that into the work I am doing.

For Innocuous Familiars, I added Viper familiars, and streamlined how the familiars progress. Nothing photogenic enough for a screenshot, but still very cool. The latest demo module is available for download. Since I was testing the progression of the familiars I also included a level up device in the module. Enjoy.

I've also posted the stats of the familiars I have made so far as a project discussion thread.

Explanation of what's under the hood:
Streamlining the progression of familiars enabled me to reduce the number of blueprints required for each familiar by more than half. Innocuous Familiars now uses inherently less resources than the standard method of creating familiars. And the more familiars you make, the more efficient it is relative to the standard.

Example, I have only created 4 familiars for levels 1-20. The standard system would require 80 creature blueprints. No matter how many fmailiars you make, Innocuous Familiars only requires 20 creature blueprints. Each Innocuous Familiar requires 7 skins for levels 1-20. And I have made 7 creature weapons. So I am using 55 blueprints for everything. The standard method uses more just for the creature blueprints.

Why have I bothered with efficiency? Admittedly my first pass at this was a resource hog. And I couldn't figure out how to put all the creature items in an inventory using the toolset. So I decided to be smarter about the way that I apply the familiar's properties to their skin. Skills and Spell Resistance are handled by a script drawing upon ifamiliar.2da, a new 2da I made for this system.

This has another benefit. Its much easier to create new familiars and customize them with 2da edits.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par henesua, 13 janvier 2013 - 11:34 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Sir Adril]

               Oh, that's neat, making it easier to create and customize new familiars using a new 2da. I dig that! '>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_henesua]

               INNOCUOUS FAMILIARS
Updated to Beta 6.
The project now contains hooks to the Community Patch's spell system.

Prior to this update the feature's Spell Sharing, and Cast Master's Spell did not function at the proper spell level, and ignored metamagic. The Community Patch's spell system enables this to function properly.

If you don't have the Community Patch installed nothing is changed. Shared Spells and any Master Spells cast by the Familiar will simply be cast at the wrong level. BUT if the Community Patch is in place, these features will take advantage of it.

Anyone that wants to test this out, I would appreciate it.
The module, HAKs and TLK are available.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_henesua]

                INNOCUOUS FAMILIARS
Updated to Beta 8.



I am working on Imp Familiars as an example of the special familiars builders can create with this system. As it turns out they are more involved than I anticipated. So please consider the Imp a work in progress at this time.

New features in this update to accommodate Imps.

• Since Bind Familiar is likely to be treated hostile by most creatures with intelligence over 5, I have introduced a means for something like an Imp to be negotiated with. In the module I gave the caged imp a conversation to demonstrate how this works.
• Potential familiars can be considerd "aligned". If unaligned, the familiar takes on the master's alignment at the moment of being bound to the master. (Thus alignment can diverge over the course of play). If aligned, the familiar keeps its alignment at the moment it is bound by the master. You can make of this feature what you will. But I do plan on intoducing a feature which shifts the master's alignment toward their familiar in particular circumstances, and perhaps vice versa. I'll introduce toggles to make this optional.
• I've added some new feats and item property bonus feats. Only the Familiar Magic Missile works at this point. At present the Magic Missile feat has unlimited uses, but I am working on a means to tie it and other familiar spells to a persistent spell pool stored on the master, and refreshed with each rest.
• I've also added a "PACKAGES" column to ifamiliar.2da. I am playing around with the idea of giving a familiar a levelup package should a builder want to play with these. This would enable a builder the option to reduce all familiar blueprints to a level one creature, but still enable them to advance in various classes as they level up just as henchman do in the original campaign. I don't have much use for this feature yet and so haven't implemented it, but again would like feedback on the idea.

Should anyone want to test this out, I would appreciate feedback.
The module, HAKs and TLK are available.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               loving the new familiar content!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Sir Adril]

               That familiar alignment thing is cool. With the way it can diverge over play, clever module writers may account for such a thing and include a couple of events triggered by the alignment of both master and familiar getting too far apart.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_henesua]

                I wanted to let veryone knwo that after testing I determined that trying to use a PACKAGE to LevelUp a familiar won't work. Th only associate type that you can level up via script (as far as I can tell with vanilla NWN) is a henchman.

Here's a very poorly written explanation of my findings. (Sorry about teh writting. In a bit of a rush.)

Pasted from the discussion thread since you can't link to specific posts in a discussion:
One interesting development. I was able to add the familiar as a henchman to the party in the onspawn event, and it immediately switched from being a familiar to a henchman. And once it was a henchman I could level it up. Unfortunately it could not be possessed nor could it be converted back to a familiar, not as far as I can tell. Incidentally I am testing all of this in the same OnSpawn event.

Also, it was interesting how the Summon/Unsummon familiar icon behaves. I put the Summon Familiar Icon in the quickbar. And I summoned a familiar by clicking on it. The icon per usual, immediately became an Unsummon icon. When the familiar became a henchman, the icon remained an Unsummon icon, but no longer functioned to unsummon the creature that was now a henchman. In fact it didn't appear to do anything. Then I went back to the class menu to get at the icon, and the Summon Familiar icon was available there. I had an Unsummon Icon in the quickbar and a Summon Icon in the class menu. Using the class menu I could summon another familiar. The quickbar Unsummon Icon remained. I tried clicking on it again, and it unsummoned the familiar. (The second summon was not able to be added as a henchman since I already had the maximum alotted henchman with the module settings and so it remained a familiar and behaved like one.)

Interesting behavior to say the least.

But... you can't level up familiars like you can henchmen. And converting them to a henchman will enable the master to summon another one, unless I shortcircuit the thing via script... which is possible. BUT you can't unsummon the henchman with the same toggle, and I have no way of accessing a script which captures the player's clicking the unsummon button. If I did I think I could make this work, but this is a vanilla NWN project, so no engine HAKs to get around hardcoded limitations.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               @henesua

I'm just thinking out my pie hole, but can't you possibly get around the whole built in familiar concept and its drawbacks by simply scripting it all as spells and monster scripts. Yes you lose the ability to possess your familiar, but it opens up exponentially more things you can do with familiars.

Just as an example, I'm working on some master-minion scripts that make minion type characters follow the commands of any master-flagged entity of the same faction within reasonable distance and of appropriate level and intelligence. I realize its much easier to script monsters this way than players because for players it requires a lot more "button" slots be used up and for monsters its all just scripted in.

Do you think it would be reasonable to abandon a broken wooden wheel when a new steel one is available with a little work? It would however (maybe) require modification of 2da files, including new feats, spell lines, and removing others, such as summon familiar. I also assume the familiar picker screen would still exist in the level-up wizard. I know all that goes against the need/want to conform with vanilla settings, but then again, I'm not of the mindset that vanilla settings are even worthwhile '>

Another thing I am working on is 4th edition variations of flaming sphere, spiritual hammer,  and summoned monsters, where the objects behave as a creature and take commands from their owner. These work exactly (well kinda) the same as my master-minion scripts, and so require a bit more from the caster.

Yeah I hate vanilla. I'm more of a chocolate guy myself.