Skills and Spells

Development of standard ALFA palettes (ABR)

Moderators: ALFA Administrators, Staff - Technical

User avatar
ç i p h é r
Retired
Posts: 2904
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:12 pm
Location: US Central (GMT - 6)

Skills and Spells

Post by ç i p h é r »

I know we intend to create all 3.5 ed skills (confirmed by Ronan), assuming any are left out by Obsidian, but what about spells? I realize there will be "rp only" spells which wouldn't actually function when invoked, but in talking with Lasterx, I came to realize that we might still want them in spell lists for players/DMs to use, and especially useful when possessing NPCs. These could be tagged with "(RP)" in the spell name so players understand the choice they're making at spell selection. The benefit to having these spells available even as placeholders is that they will be all in one place (the character sheet), and no workarounds are needed for spell memorization (especially for NPCs). In other words, it makes it much easier for DMs to DM such things when possessing NPCs that have RP spells or dealing with players who want to cast them.
User avatar
Fionn
Ancient Red Dragon
Posts: 2942
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2004 7:07 am
Location: Seattle, WA

Post by Fionn »

Trade scrolls are much easier then too. If we can't script the spell, we can at least fill out the description with the IG effect so we're clear how [Detect Alignment, Teleport, etc] will be working in ALFA.
PC: Bot (WD)

Code: Select all

     -----          -----          -----          -----
    /     \        /     \        /     \        /     \
   /  RIP  \      /  RIP  \      /  RIP  \      /  RIP  \      /
   |       |      |       |      |       |      |       |      |
  *| *  *  |*    *| *  *  |*    *| *  *  |*    *| *  *  |*    *|
_)/\\_//(/|_)(__)/\\_//(/|_)(__)/\\_//(/|_)(__)/\\_//(/|_)(__)/\\_(
User avatar
ç i p h é r
Retired
Posts: 2904
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:12 pm
Location: US Central (GMT - 6)

Post by ç i p h é r »

Precisely. All the necessary information would be in the game to work with and memorized/learned/whatever as any other spell would be. Perhaps we can at a minimum script-fire the desired spell effect for casting purposes, which could be something unique created for that spell with the particle editor. In any case, this will completely eliminate the need to refer to any external documents/sourcebooks as you implied, which players and DMs may or may not have (yes, some people around here don't actually own a PHB!).
User avatar
Fionn
Ancient Red Dragon
Posts: 2942
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2004 7:07 am
Location: Seattle, WA

Post by Fionn »

custom VFX (both FNF & DUR) would be great. At a minimum, we need the ability to see "PC Casting *****" on /DM (hopefully BW has DM's see that for all creatures, rather than only when possessing as now).
PC: Bot (WD)

Code: Select all

     -----          -----          -----          -----
    /     \        /     \        /     \        /     \
   /  RIP  \      /  RIP  \      /  RIP  \      /  RIP  \      /
   |       |      |       |      |       |      |       |      |
  *| *  *  |*    *| *  *  |*    *| *  *  |*    *| *  *  |*    *|
_)/\\_//(/|_)(__)/\\_//(/|_)(__)/\\_//(/|_)(__)/\\_//(/|_)(__)/\\_(
Ronan
Dungeon Master
Posts: 4611
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2005 9:48 am

Post by Ronan »

I planned to do extra "RP" spells the same way as I did them in NWN1 (though admittedly no one has seen those RP spells, since I have not worked on them for 8+ months, and haven't had the time to finish them lately). All spells which have RP effect(s) are broadcast to the PC's emote channel (local display, all DMs, etc). RP spells have tlk entries with canon descriptions, etc. I expect to copy the tlk entries over directly into NWN2, but of course the spells.2da entries will not transfer.

I thought of a dynamic system to allow the addition and preparation of any sort of spell, but thats something which might take quite a bit of time to do properly in the case of sorcerers and bards, and I don't think its very high priority.
User avatar
Lusipher
Talon of Tiamat
Posts: 2065
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2004 12:39 am
Location: Northrend
Contact:

Post by Lusipher »

I wanted to ask you, Ronan, if we might be able to include specific spells from 3.5? I ask because our player faction deals with Dragons and we want to take PrCs, feats, etc that will deal with dragons. One thing we would like to see included is spells from Dragons of Faerun. There are a number of spells for all caster classes. I know some would have to probably be nerfed, but if we could include them one of us from our Player group would send you the spells and help with icons, etc. Most the the things we want to include would come from Draconomicon in regards to PrCs and feats and a lot of the spells comes from Dragons of Faerun.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft.

Follow me on Twitter as: Danubus
User avatar
ç i p h é r
Retired
Posts: 2904
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:12 pm
Location: US Central (GMT - 6)

Post by ç i p h é r »

Yes. Balance concerns aside, if you do all the prep work yourself, then it's a shoe in. Draconomicon is already on the content list, so adding in the spells, skills, and feats only seems logical.
HEEGZ
Dungeon Master
Posts: 7085
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 4:17 pm
Location: US CST

Post by HEEGZ »

If we can get more spells in, and they meet standards such as balance, etc. then I'm all for as many as people want to make. I'd do a few myself if I had the time to learn how.
Ronan
Dungeon Master
Posts: 4611
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2005 9:48 am

Post by Ronan »

Anyone who wants to add canon spells is of course welcome to do so, so long as the spells aren't terribly unbalanced, like others have said. I'd planned to right a guide on how to do and submit these, though I need to brush up on NWN2's new spells.2da first. Also, I'm unsure if the game currently supports spell additions (many 2da edits don't seem to function properly in NWN2 at present), but I think we can assume that if it doesn't work now, it will in the future.
User avatar
Joos
Frost Giant
Posts: 769
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2004 8:05 am
Location: Melbourne, Oz

Post by Joos »

Ronan wrote:I planned to do extra "RP" spells the same way as I did them in NWN1 (though admittedly no one has seen those RP spells, since I have not worked on them for 8+ months, and haven't had the time to finish them lately). All spells which have RP effect(s) are broadcast to the PC's emote channel (local display, all DMs, etc). RP spells have tlk entries with canon descriptions, etc. I expect to copy the tlk entries over directly into NWN2, but of course the spells.2da entries will not transfer.
It would be pretty neat if the standard spellcraft skillcheck was necessary to see what kind of spell was being cast. Also, small details like as if the spell is prepared as a Silent spell, it only shows in the DM channel etc. Just a wishlist however, all I am reading here sounds very nice!
User avatar
bartleby
Brown Bear
Posts: 276
Joined: Fri Apr 16, 2004 10:01 pm
Location: New York

Post by bartleby »

Been working on a very rough version of 3.5 summon monster spell if it would be useful. Idea in the end is to have the Summon monster / Animal spells already present just bring up a GUI that would allow the caster to choose the type of creature to summon as well as the level of creature so that a lvl 2 summon monster could summon 1d3 monsters from the lvl 1 list. Any who heres a very rough video if the link works anyway heh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KHBAefSEMk
User avatar
AcadiusLost
Chosen of Forumamus, God of Forums
Posts: 5061
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 8:38 am
Location: Montara, CA [GMT -8]
Contact:

Post by AcadiusLost »

Well worth the forum necromancy!

I'm certain we'd be interested in such a thing- are you drawing the summon options from the base NWN2 palette, or have you made custom blueprints for them (fiendish/celestial/etc)?

Maybe we can get some Standards interest in tooling up the options to go into the haks, so they don't vary from server to server.

I believe PnP also lists alignments for each of the summon types- and says the summoning itself gains a descriptor of the appropriate alignment: so summoning a fiendish dire rat is both Lawful and Evil. Did we want to consider either 1) incremental alignment shifts based on summoning choices, or 2) barring summoning of diametrically opposed alignment creatures?
User avatar
ç i p h é r
Retired
Posts: 2904
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:12 pm
Location: US Central (GMT - 6)

Post by ç i p h é r »

I like it. From the video, it appears as though the little boxes in the GUI are blank. What do you intend to populate there? Creature icons?

All in all, a very promising idea.
User avatar
bartleby
Brown Bear
Posts: 276
Joined: Fri Apr 16, 2004 10:01 pm
Location: New York

Post by bartleby »

What the summoning spell does right now is very very beta. I just changed the summoning lvl 1 default script entry in the 2da to a custom script that brings up the GUI which has attached to each button an OnLeftClick=UIObject_Input_ActionTargetScript which mimics to a certain degree spell casting functionality and triggers the script that summons the dog.

Changing the spell to summon a different creature is as simple as changing the ID. I have a list of 4 creatures per sumoning level from d20 that I think NWN2 has the models to support rather well. Adding effects to the models for the celestial animals and fiendish summons i think would look good as well but thats just asthetics.

The only problem with using UIObject_Input_ActionTargetScript is that it doesnt defaultly have a spell radius limit so you can cast the spell anywhere you click on. I can get around this by checking to make sure that the spell is with in a 30 foot raduis and either cancel the spell if not or have the caster run to with in 30 feet of the target and then cast the spell Im not sure which is best yet though.

What would be the best solution is to anchor an actual custom spell to the gui buttons that cant be dragged or accessed in any other way and which has as its parent spell the coresponding summoning spell. Im not entirely sure how to do this yet though or if its even posible.
like it. From the video, it appears as though the little boxes in the GUI are blank. What do you intend to populate there? Creature icons?
I did intend to populate the boxes with Creature icons but havent decided yet was thinking of trying to modify some of the existing ones if posible but have been focusing mainly on trying to get the gui to directly list the spells. Oh and the spell box GUI doesnt close right now for testing purposes but that should be easy enough to keep track of.

I'm certain we'd be interested in such a thing- are you drawing the summon options from the base NWN2 palette, or have you made custom blueprints for them (fiendish/celestial/etc)?

Maybe we can get some Standards interest in tooling up the options to go into the haks, so they don't vary from server to server.
Right now Im just using a slightly modified standard wolf template for testing but planned on implimenting celestial fiendish and basicly what ever alfa wants from d20.

I also think it might be a good idea to see if what ever AI Alfa ends up using has checks based on int maybe to go after the caster of summoned creatures.

If anyone knows a good amount about creating custom GUIs or could point me to a good source it would be very apreciated. Thanks for the positive feedback!
User avatar
ç i p h é r
Retired
Posts: 2904
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:12 pm
Location: US Central (GMT - 6)

Post by ç i p h é r »

As to your first question, I'd say move the player to the requisite location to cast the spell. The other alternative is "black box". It forces the player to have to keep guessing to find the right spot and that's just no good for game play.

As to your question about resources, why we have our very own resource in the wiki! Mind you it's outdated as I haven't kept up with the changes over the months, but I'm especially interested in having you supply whatever knowledge you glean as a result of your own experiments.

http://www.alandfaraway.org/docs/Technical/ACR2GUI

Thanks.
Locked