Sorcerer or improved mage?

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rrrrg not enough scrolls I hate this game.....

Is there a mod that gives wizards a couple free spells known at every levelup (as in 3E)? Or one that brings the Sorcerer class from IWD2 in?

Or at least a mod that provides much mor scrolls, and makes the chance to scribe 100%?

 

The "IWD in BG2" mod is your answer. It's IWD in the SoA engine, so you can have Sorcerers, Monks, kits, Half-Orcs and most importantly...BARBARIANS. It's the Frozen North for crying out loud! You can customize how you want the Weapon Profs to run in game as well. BG1, BG2 or IWD style. Also adds severla NPCs, so you only need ot make on character if you wish. To make a whole party, you will need to run it in MP mode.

Otherwise, you can always use Dalekeeper to add spells to your spellbook after level up.

But you're right, the lack of mage-scrolls is the one lacking aspect of IWD. Otherwise it's a great game with tons of various items to find. Hack n slash galore.

 

Chance to scribe is based on intelligence. A 19 intelligence will take it to 100%. I believe there is also an option in the control panel that will allow 'no failure' in memorizing scrolls.

 

I don't want to change the whole game, just the ability for my guys to learn the spells they need without having to use dalekeeper.

I've played a lot of gold box and IWD2, but not this game or the BG series before. I made a 6-man party and cleared the first two areas, barely enough to gain levels on a few characters, but then decided to try soloing HoF starting at XL1.

Half-elf cleric/mage, rolled until I had enough points to do what I needed to. Got some level from quest xp and killing beetles. Once I hit cleric:5 I could start grinding through with undead summons. No complaints so far, obviously HOF is not meant to be started at XL1 so I don't have any right to expect it to be easy or balanced.

But.... I'm very disappointed by the lack of mage scrolls. It seems there are one, maybe two copies of each spell. You need to quicksave before attempting to scribe anything important, and heaven help you if you have 3+ arcane casters to split spells between.

 

So ... you're spanking everything in sight but want to get all the high powered mage spell so you can ... spank harder? I think the game keeps the mage spells at a minimum for balance.

 

Well, it's a little weird that I am casting level 5 cleric spells but limited to only a single level 3 spell (haste) and nothing higher. However, I'm not really complaining about that. I'm just imagining what it would be like in normal mode trying to divide these paltry few scrolls among two or even three mages, and I've concluded that it would be pretty miserable.

 

You're trying to comapre IWD with IWD2, which were built upon two completely different systems. Also, like T2 has stated, the lack of spells keeps the balance in IWD. Plus, it makes IWD closer to PnP than IWD2 does. IWD was created as a Hack n Slash fest. As were the Goldbox games for the 80s. They had very small lists of spells to choose from. Basically, don't expect the games to play the same. It's probably why you will see other members on these boards stating they greatly prefer IWD over IWD2 or vice versa.

 

You also need to buy spells, in each chapter (the inventory changes). It's okay to have two arcane spellcasters -- there's enough spells for both although not at the high levels. I think a bard and a mage make a good combination.

 

The mod is VERY easy to make.

Download the 2da editors and Infinity Explorer from the IWD section of Sorcerers Place's website. You also might want to try Near Infinity. In a pinch you can use Notepad or sometimes if you're lucky Open Office Calc when exporting to a text file (I haven't had much success with Excel 2003 or 97, haven't tried with 2007. I was able to mod Star Trek Starfleet Command's I &II's specs file with Excel however, so I'm not sure what the deal was).

Modify the MXSPL***.2da files to give more spells to each class you wish. You can even make bards cast 9th level spells by adding additional columns.
I made bards cast spells up to 8th level for laughs, and rather than finding it overpowering, I found it fun. I then went and let Rangers and Paladins cast spells as if they were priests 7 levels lower and potentially able to cast 7th level spells, thus turning them into a sort of multiclass fighter/druid or fighter/cleric.

Anyways, if you need further help on the modding the files, check out this page:
http://gemrb.org/iesdp/files/2da/2da_tob/mxsplxxx.htm
http://iesdp.gibberlings3.net/files/2da/2da_tots/mxsplxxx.htm
( I believe these are mirrors)
http://iesdp.gibberlings3.net/index.htm
http://gemrb.org/iesdp/index.htm

It should be fairly easy to figure out the abbreviations for which file affects which class.

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Sorry, I misread it as "more spells", not more scrolls .

For 100% scribing, try either the obsolete ease-of-use patch or its successor, the G3 Tweaks pack.

Also, make sure you talk to the wizard in Kuldahar every time you complete a dungeon to see if he has any new scrolls. There are a couple other merchants that sell scrolls, but I can't recall who they were off-hand.
Make sure you buy up all the scrolls you'll want to use ASAP because the lower-level ones can be lost-forevers if you take too long. It's a way to drain your gold and make you concentrate on the magic shop first before anything else.
I'd say not just the scrolls but some of the unique items he sells too, but some get replaced by better items.
This guide might help you:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/256221-icewind-dale/faqs/11312
and cross-reference it with this one when deciding what to buy from the mage in Kuldahar
http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/256221-icewind-dale/faqs/8494