Secret behind Dog's damage ??

Discussion in 'Arcanum Discussion' started by symban, Aug 16, 2012.

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  1. symban

    symban New Member

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    After several months without Arcanum I am back to my favorite game, and this time I wanted to make some changes to followers to my liking. I know that 2 ways are; Save Game Editor 1.8 and gamelevel.mes

    As a side note I am not planning to make them stronger, I want to tune them to fulfill their roles better only. Especially Dog the worthless mutt!

    I like the idea of Dog coming with me and biting the arse of my enemies, but for a starving animal who was about to be beaten to death, he is a bit.. outdamaging the combined power of the rest of my party !! I would like him to be half a fighter adding a bit of spice to combat, not the ace of the arsenal.

    I checked what his damage output; and with 20 DX,ST,melee(expert),dodge
    his 20 speed was allowing him 4 attacks with 40-50 damage per attack.

    I know that Dog has the leveling scheme of pure melee-dodge bringing his DX,ST to 20 making him formidable. I started tuning his ST down; first to 12, then to10, then to 8, to 5(!!) and finally 3 where he would have a nice penalty on damage. But it still hits for 18-22 (!)

    I thought he might be receiving some boost from his melee skill, and started tuning down his DX so he would lose melee skill. With 9 DX now his melee is down to 11 (apparently he has +3 from his background), and with 9 speed he cant attack more than once per turn. Still his damage is outrageous.

    11 melee, 9 DX, 3 ST naked character hitting 50% more than Virgil or Magnus with nice arms (or naked), ST, DX, melee (but no expertise in melee). Expert melee should not have any effect on damage just hit chance with light, and apprentice bonus does not effect Dog neither as he is unarmed. I could not find a reason for his still very high raw damage.

    But then it occured to me, I can not see his background which might include dome +20 damage, or his inventory where he might be equipped with claws and fangs that has 15-20 damage.

    I remembered Morte from Planescape:Torment, and thought Dog might have teeth that increase in damage with level. And using editor I tuned his lvl down this time. But the only effect was on his life and fatigue.

    I am really curious about the secret behind Dog's power and would like to find and tune it down, and make him a fine fellow barking around and hitting for 4-8 damage per hit without hurting his DX that much.

    Any help is appreciated, thanks !
     
  2. Drog Alt

    Drog Alt Member

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    Basically, Dog is just a unique Brute Fang (you've probably seen them in the wild), they (like pretty much any other non-NPC critter) deal custom damage when unarmed. It's 30-40 of normal damage in this case. Of course, being normal damage, it also gets affected by the STR modifier. So the damn beast will be dishing out 50-60 of pure damage when it gets to STR20.

    Also, I suggest you use the Follower Editor in-game mod, instead of the hacks. You can even make Dog cast Harm and various Force spells with this mod, so that it can finally take its rightful place as the Ultimate Being of Doom. Just imagine him shielding himself with a spell and throwing a few lightning bolts around before shredding things to death with his teeth. Dog doesn't give a shit, he's just this badass.
     
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  3. Wasted_Savior

    Wasted_Savior Member

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    I've always felt that dog was beyond the scope of what he should have been. It struck me as odd that such a terrifying force of nature could be subdued by a little village gnome. I'm glad to see someone is trying to make him what he should have been, rather than letting the gnome have at him like I always did.
     
  4. symban

    symban New Member

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    Thanks Drog ! That explains it very well, one thing that comes to my mind; is it possible to assign another dog/wolf type of critter with lower base stats to dog instead of Brute Fang? (maybe like the early wolves that comes at level 3). If so what mes file should I be looking for?

    Or would even attempting such a thing would break any game with Dog already added to party?

    PS: will turn off his auto lvling scheme to ensure he does not gain back the ST and DX I removed back from him, will be handy, thanks !
     
  5. symban

    symban New Member

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    For anyone who wants to tune down dog in a more fitting companion here is what I did;

    Once I had Mutt in my party using save game editor 1.8 I lowered his ST to 3 (for damage penalty to balance his very high natural base damage a bit, you may go to 1 if you want as well. It effects Life as well though); and his DX to 9.

    DX 9 is very crucial as his attacks consume 5 speed, with 9 he will be able to walk enough and attack, but will not attack twice any turn.

    Then using the Follower Editor Drog mentioned above, I turned his level-up scheme to no-scheme so it will not gain back these stats with lvling.

    As to how to use the stat points from lvls; as we lowered his ST his life is now low, so you may use follower editor to manually increase his life.

    Personally I distribute between life/PE/find traps (I thought fitting for a dog).
     
  6. The Pigeon

    The Pigeon Member

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    "it can finally take its rightful place as the Ultimate Being of Doom"

    And when he does,
    he can ascend like Xero does at the end of Quake 3 :p
     
  7. Zanza

    Zanza Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the spoiler Pigeon, I had almost completed the game too.
     
  8. Dark Elf

    Dark Elf Administrator Staff Member

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  9. Zanza

    Zanza Well-Known Member

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    The spoiler tag is different, you only have to click the button instead of highlight the text. An improvement!
     
  10. werozzi

    werozzi Member

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    Welcome to the 21'st century, my victorian friend.
     
  11. The Pigeon

    The Pigeon Member

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    @Zanza ah sorry. I had assumed anyone who would has played Quake 3 would have finished it already.
     
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