Item Properties and Caster Levels

[Riotnrrd]

Disclaimer: This post is due to shameless self interest.

Item properties are used for wands, scrolls, and magic items. They are made available in iprp_spells.2da, currently 1049 lines in length, with the last 49 being ALFA created item props.

Many spells scale significantly with caster level. Example: Magic missile. 1 bolt every 2 levels, up to a max of 5 bolts (9th caster level)

I'd like to add some new item properties, particularly for wands. Obviously, adding item props for all spells for all caster levels is untenable (number of spells times number of caster levels is huuuuge).

One global fix would be to add caster level flags to items, then add spellhook checks into various ALFA core scripts (cr_GetCasterLevel, acr_GetSpellSaveDC, acr_GetIsSpellResisted, etc etc), and then to edit spells to call the new functions instead of NWN2 core scripts. This is non-trivial, and many would say there are greater priorities for ALFA.

A case-by-case fix is to add the new proposed caster level props into iprp_spells.2da. Case in point: Magic missile. Magic missile has 1,3,5, and 9th caster levels, but not a 7th. Adding these is significantly less effort, but still requires changes to the haks, and thus doing a batch at once would minimize TA effort (HAK updates etc).

I propose to add a few caster levels to certain spells, up to level 9 or so. Some spells scale at odd levels (magic missile), while others scale at weird levels (scorching ray or melfs acid arrow). I'd like to start with level 1 or 2 spells that would be useful in wands like the following:
Level 1:
Ray of Enfeeblement (CL 3,5,7,9)
Magic Missile (CL 7)
Lesser Orb of Fire (CL 3,5,7,9)
Lesser Orb of Cold (CL 3,5,7,9)

Level 2:
Melf's Acid Arrow (6,9)
Scorching Ray (7)
Snilloc's Snowball Storm (5,7,9)

Thoughts? I'd be happy to add a few more if they would be particularly useful. I could use some help identifying useful spells for item props on spells, scrolls, or magical items. If you have the capacity to check whether a certain caster level exists (in toolset by checking item properties On Use: Cast Spell) before requesting it would be helpful!

[Zelknolf]

Well, I'd say that something like this isn't really hurting anything, so it'd be fruitless to resist it, but it would be both hak and item property changes, so that would need to pass muster with TA and DMA to be implemented. I do see projects like this as something that would, if we were willing to expand the scope and increase the options for customization, lay the foundations for a great many enhancements. I did catch you in chat to explain the plot there (or, rather, to explain an enhancement from... October '07? We didn't recreate it in NWN2, in any case), but lurkers in the thread ought to be updated, I guess.

[Brokenbone]

Are the NWN1 goodies Zelk created which let spells "scale" based on whatever was cooked into the item tag (or was it resref) non-portable? Those were cool. Probably only one or two people other than Zelknolf knew how to use them in building, though since there were only ten people playing by that point... heh.

[Riotnrrd]

Are the NWN1 goodies Zelk created which let spells "scale" based on whatever was cooked into the item tag (or was it resref) non-portable?

That's covered under 'global fixes', above. Have to rewrite several core scripts and add hooks into all the spells, currently assigned 'low priority' and 'non-trivial' undertaking.

[Brokenbone]

All right, didn't understand that... now I do!

Guess one would attack these one level at a time. Check it out though, Wands are dandy and all, but so are Scrolls, more folks can probably Scribe Scroll than Craft Wand. Still, volunteers doing any given chunk can I guess determine where their own efforts focus. If someone really wishes there was a properly scaling, dunno, scroll of bull's strength, but the technical author wants to focus on evocations and such, hey, "scaling" evocations will be available faster than the thing that doesn't have volunteers.

[Riotnrrd]

Once the item props are created, they can be used for any of scrolls, wands, or magic items.

Same for the global fix, if its ever assigned a priority.

[AcadiusLost]

The advantage of separate itemproperty rows for spell / caster level combinations is that they can be priced correctly via 2DA such that wands and scrolls don't need manual price adjustments, and especially so wands/staves/rods with limited charges decrease in overall worth/value linearly with remaining charges.

A broader system would still be nice to have, but certainly for spells that have several "popular" CL variants, it's good to have the itemprops in the 2DAs.

[Zelknolf]

An ALFA1esque system would need some extra handling to cooperate with multiple charges, yeah, but it could be done. As I'd said originally, I'd have to be crazy to resist adding the 2da lines; I suppose I file my response in the category of many things where, with a long enough time line, you're always better off building powerful and versatile foundations than massive build.

[Keryn]

An ALFA1esque system would need some extra handling to cooperate with multiple charges, yeah, but it could be done. As I'd said originally, I'd have to be crazy to resist adding the 2da lines; I suppose I file my response in the category of many things where, with a long enough time line, you're always better off building powerful and versatile foundations than massive build.

+1