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About this mod
A mod that aims to bring the Warlock: "Pact of the Chain" Invocation/Pact more in line with its 2024 iteration as opposed to 5E and BG3's version.
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
Hello everyone! So this is actually my first mod, as such I ask you to take it easy on me 😅. But yeah this is:
2024 Pact of the Chain!
A mod I made that attempts to bring the Warlock's "Pact of the Chain" more in line with the 2024 version of dnd.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER/POINT OF THIS MOD (OPEN/WIP)
I've spend HOURS on this mod, with a large portion of it being dedicated to simply learning how to use the toolkit, as the tutorials that are out there really don't encapsulate what I was trying to set out to do. With that said I've done just about everything I can to get this mod working as far as my skillset is concerned, especially while staying WITHIN the toolkit itself.
I got all of the abilities (attacks and features) of the Familiars themselves implemented with very few issues such as not being able to implement the: "if a target fails this save by 5 or more they've paralyzed" aspect of the Pseudodragon's sting, and simply the omission of the Slaad Tadpole as I could not get it to work properly no matter what I tried.
BUT outside of the what the familiars can do in game, there are some kinks I just could not iron out, all of them being visual aspects. For example, the Sprite is meant to have fairy/pixie type wings, but I simply could not get the in-game Pixie wings to work on my Sprite model, with all signs seemingly pointing to me having to learn an outside software such as Blender to implement it, which I simply don't have the time for.
SO I'm leaving this mod open to other modders and contributors who would like to take a crack at ironing some of these issues out (a detailed list of issues will be down below).
The mod is at a point where I'm happy with it personally as a player, and am fine using it in my games, BUT, I know it can be better, it's just that I simply lack the skills/knowledge to improve it further.
So if this seems like something you'd be interested in helping with, please feel free to edit the pak file, or download the project folder in the optional files, or reach out to me if you'd like!
Installation
Install via BG3MM
What's Included/Does Work?
The Pseudodragon, Skeleton, Sphinx of Wonder, Sprite, and Venomous Snake familiars were all added and implemented to feature completion and appropriate RAW stats. (Proper AC, passives, flight, attacks, etc)
The Skeleton, Sphinx, and Sprite (minus fairy wings, and a skirt) familiars are all successfully complete from a visual/animation aspect.
Each summon has a unique prepare animation effect.
What Isn't Included/Doesn't Work?
Most of these are visual but as stated:
- The Sprites wings should be fairy like, as opposed to feathered.
- The Pseudodragon, does not have wings (even though it can fly), flying animations, nor animations for it's bites or sting. (I initially tried to simply shrink down a dragon model, but it would always have NO animations regardless of what I tried).
- The Pseudodragon's sting is meant to paralyze if the target fails the saving throw by 5 or more, however I could not figure out how to get that working.
- The Venomous Snake does not have a bite animation.
- The Slaad Tadpole is omitted entirely due to the model just not working properly.
- I wanted to edit familiars to where they could interact with the world more, by doing things like lock picking, and disarming traps, just like how they can in DnD proper as opposed to BG3. But I could not for the life of me figure that out.
NEW! Homebrewed Version
Even with the introduction of more pact familiars into the game with this mod, it was clear from playtesting that still, some familiars were just outright superior to others. Making it so that there were next to no scenarios in which you'd actually want to use some of them. So this homebrew version of the mod makes a few changes to the initial, as close to DnD 2024 as possible, familiars I implemented, in an attempt to make them all a bit more even with each other so that way there isn't one that's outright better than the rest in most cases. Instead, making some of the other options more enticing, as to make simply picking the one you like the most based on appearance or fantasy, more impactful.
____________________________
Sphinx of Wonder
This thing is PRETTY dang strong! It has great mobility, tons of HP and very solid damage for a familiar.
The only change I'll be making as to not ruin what makes the familiar fun is a slight HP nerf to 20 HP to bring it a bit more in line with some of the other familiars. Keeping the HP pretty high and its magical resistance, since it's a dedicated melee combatant, doesn't inflict any statuses/conditions, and doesn't have out of combat utility such as going invisible like some of the other familiars.
HP: 24 -> 20
____________________________
Sprite
Outside of invisibility I find this familiar pretty underwhelming which is a shame considering Archfey is one of my favorite Warlock subclasses now following the changes it received in DnD 2024, and I always imagine the Sprite being the most common familiar for Warlocks of that Patron.
So my idea in terms of balancing it with the other familiars is to make it the defacto RANGED familiar option, as currently there's no familiar solely dedicated to ranged combat, with the skeleton essentially being meant to both ranged AND melee. The Sprite will keep it's underwhelming Needle Sword for close combat in a pinch, BUT its Enchanting Bow will change from a measly 1 damage to being a longbow that now deals the standard 1D8 + modifier (4) damage while keeping its charm on hit (no save) as it only last for a turn, only really keep's the Sprite itself safe, and with the Sprite only having a +6 to hit, it really wont be super impactful later on in the game.
This makes it great at locking down a single target, but since the Charmed effect only lasts a single turn, it'll have to constantly zip around the battlefield as to be wary of other enemies since it'll still be fairly squishy, with only a slight buff of 4HP bringing it up 14 total which I feel is just fine for a dedicated ranged combatant. Especially one that doesn't have Darkvision
Enchanting Bow: 1DMG -> 1D8+4
HP: 10 -> 14
____________________________
Skeleton
For the Skeleton familiar, I look at its stat block and I assume that its whole fantasy is that it's meant to be versatile. It doesn't inflict any crazy status effects, nor does it have crazy movement or really any out of combat utility.
No, it simply has a meh AC, not the worst HP, and okay damage both at melee and range with a shortsword and shortbow. So, I think it just needs a bit of help being better at its role of versatility.
To accomplish this, I've decided to give them a shield and leather armor, bumping their AC up to 16, and increasing their HP slightly, up to 15.
Making it so that it can stick it out in melee combat a good bit longer (while helping to make its bludgeoning vulnerability less of a major setback), all while dealing not great, but still okay damage for a familiar. And it keeping its shortbow for again, okay damage at range up until it closes the gap and gets in its targets face. Making it also the tankiest of the familiars, at least in terms of AC.
AC: 13 -> 16 (via shield and leather armor)
HP: 13 -> 15
____________________________
Pseudodragon
The Pseudodragon is honestly in a pretty good spot imo. Serving as the familiar that can attack multiple times in one turn should it choose to bite.
So, I really wouldn't change its actions, especially since it can poison targets for, in most cases, the entire duration of a fight.
Oh, and it also has magic resistance, and an AC of 14 😅. SO, I think leaving its traits and actions alone, while simply giving the little one a small HP buff up to 13 now as opposed to its original measly 10, is more than enough to bring this familiar in line with the others.
HP: 10 -> 13
____________________________
Venomous Snake
The Venomous Snake is just... Bad lol. It has an awful 12 AC and 5HP, backed up by a, to be honest, pretty decent attack.
So my fix for this familiar, that quite honestly, thematically, could go alongside any Warlock subclass; is to simply up its dexterity to 16 (thus increasing its chance to hit, and AC), while giving it a bonus action disengage.
This lends itself nicely to the idea of that "slippery" snake that's just so dang hard to get a hold of. But allowing it to still be focused and eventually taken out by another enemy.
Also, I've modified its bite to where it can confuse targets for a turn based on a saving throw as I find it quite weird that a VENOMOUS Snake, does not inflict its targets with a condition. All of this may seem like a lot, but the thing only has 5 HP, so if it gets hit once, its essentially a goner 😂
Dexterity: 15 -> 16 (leading to an increase in AC and chance to hit)
Bite: changed to potentially inflict targets with the "confusion" status effect now for 1 turn.
Compatibility
This mod will likely not work 100% with other mods that alter Pact of the Chain. As of my testing it does however work alongside the DnD2024 All in One mod!
By 100% I mean that for example while during my testing all of the familiars were summoned just fine, but when testing them alongside the Dread Overlord Warlock mod, for some reason the Skeleton and Pseudodragon familiars specifically would instantly die whenever I summoned them. While the other familiars would work just fine.
Also installing this into my ongoing playthrough seems to have worked fine, but I haven't done any long term testing on such, nor can I attest to how a save file will run if the mod is removed during a playthrough so install at your own risk!
Future Fixes
Feel free to post and let me know about any potential issues with the mod, however, for things that fall outside of the scope of the Toolkit itself, I'll most likely be unable to fix said issues. And for those that do fall within it, I am VERY new to modding with this being my first one so again, your patience and understanding for what I can, and cannot do is very much appreciated.
SHOUT OUTS
HUGE shoutout to Screen for really getting me started and teaching me many of the modding basics!
XiphiasRex, LostSoul, Vahn Smash, and many more for answering my constant questions in the discord lol
2024 Pact of the Chain!
A mod I made that attempts to bring the Warlock's "Pact of the Chain" more in line with the 2024 version of dnd.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER/POINT OF THIS MOD (OPEN/WIP)
I've spend HOURS on this mod, with a large portion of it being dedicated to simply learning how to use the toolkit, as the tutorials that are out there really don't encapsulate what I was trying to set out to do. With that said I've done just about everything I can to get this mod working as far as my skillset is concerned, especially while staying WITHIN the toolkit itself.
I got all of the abilities (attacks and features) of the Familiars themselves implemented with very few issues such as not being able to implement the: "if a target fails this save by 5 or more they've paralyzed" aspect of the Pseudodragon's sting, and simply the omission of the Slaad Tadpole as I could not get it to work properly no matter what I tried.
BUT outside of the what the familiars can do in game, there are some kinks I just could not iron out, all of them being visual aspects. For example, the Sprite is meant to have fairy/pixie type wings, but I simply could not get the in-game Pixie wings to work on my Sprite model, with all signs seemingly pointing to me having to learn an outside software such as Blender to implement it, which I simply don't have the time for.
SO I'm leaving this mod open to other modders and contributors who would like to take a crack at ironing some of these issues out (a detailed list of issues will be down below).
The mod is at a point where I'm happy with it personally as a player, and am fine using it in my games, BUT, I know it can be better, it's just that I simply lack the skills/knowledge to improve it further.
So if this seems like something you'd be interested in helping with, please feel free to edit the pak file, or download the project folder in the optional files, or reach out to me if you'd like!
Installation
Install via BG3MM
What's Included/Does Work?
The Pseudodragon, Skeleton, Sphinx of Wonder, Sprite, and Venomous Snake familiars were all added and implemented to feature completion and appropriate RAW stats. (Proper AC, passives, flight, attacks, etc)
The Skeleton, Sphinx, and Sprite (minus fairy wings, and a skirt) familiars are all successfully complete from a visual/animation aspect.
Each summon has a unique prepare animation effect.
What Isn't Included/Doesn't Work?
Most of these are visual but as stated:
- The Sprites wings should be fairy like, as opposed to feathered.
- The Pseudodragon, does not have wings (even though it can fly), flying animations, nor animations for it's bites or sting. (I initially tried to simply shrink down a dragon model, but it would always have NO animations regardless of what I tried).
- The Pseudodragon's sting is meant to paralyze if the target fails the saving throw by 5 or more, however I could not figure out how to get that working.
- The Venomous Snake does not have a bite animation.
- The Slaad Tadpole is omitted entirely due to the model just not working properly.
- I wanted to edit familiars to where they could interact with the world more, by doing things like lock picking, and disarming traps, just like how they can in DnD proper as opposed to BG3. But I could not for the life of me figure that out.
NEW! Homebrewed Version
Even with the introduction of more pact familiars into the game with this mod, it was clear from playtesting that still, some familiars were just outright superior to others. Making it so that there were next to no scenarios in which you'd actually want to use some of them. So this homebrew version of the mod makes a few changes to the initial, as close to DnD 2024 as possible, familiars I implemented, in an attempt to make them all a bit more even with each other so that way there isn't one that's outright better than the rest in most cases. Instead, making some of the other options more enticing, as to make simply picking the one you like the most based on appearance or fantasy, more impactful.
____________________________
Sphinx of Wonder
This thing is PRETTY dang strong! It has great mobility, tons of HP and very solid damage for a familiar.
The only change I'll be making as to not ruin what makes the familiar fun is a slight HP nerf to 20 HP to bring it a bit more in line with some of the other familiars. Keeping the HP pretty high and its magical resistance, since it's a dedicated melee combatant, doesn't inflict any statuses/conditions, and doesn't have out of combat utility such as going invisible like some of the other familiars.
HP: 24 -> 20
____________________________
Sprite
Outside of invisibility I find this familiar pretty underwhelming which is a shame considering Archfey is one of my favorite Warlock subclasses now following the changes it received in DnD 2024, and I always imagine the Sprite being the most common familiar for Warlocks of that Patron.
So my idea in terms of balancing it with the other familiars is to make it the defacto RANGED familiar option, as currently there's no familiar solely dedicated to ranged combat, with the skeleton essentially being meant to both ranged AND melee. The Sprite will keep it's underwhelming Needle Sword for close combat in a pinch, BUT its Enchanting Bow will change from a measly 1 damage to being a longbow that now deals the standard 1D8 + modifier (4) damage while keeping its charm on hit (no save) as it only last for a turn, only really keep's the Sprite itself safe, and with the Sprite only having a +6 to hit, it really wont be super impactful later on in the game.
This makes it great at locking down a single target, but since the Charmed effect only lasts a single turn, it'll have to constantly zip around the battlefield as to be wary of other enemies since it'll still be fairly squishy, with only a slight buff of 4HP bringing it up 14 total which I feel is just fine for a dedicated ranged combatant. Especially one that doesn't have Darkvision
Enchanting Bow: 1DMG -> 1D8+4
HP: 10 -> 14
____________________________
Skeleton
For the Skeleton familiar, I look at its stat block and I assume that its whole fantasy is that it's meant to be versatile. It doesn't inflict any crazy status effects, nor does it have crazy movement or really any out of combat utility.
No, it simply has a meh AC, not the worst HP, and okay damage both at melee and range with a shortsword and shortbow. So, I think it just needs a bit of help being better at its role of versatility.
To accomplish this, I've decided to give them a shield and leather armor, bumping their AC up to 16, and increasing their HP slightly, up to 15.
Making it so that it can stick it out in melee combat a good bit longer (while helping to make its bludgeoning vulnerability less of a major setback), all while dealing not great, but still okay damage for a familiar. And it keeping its shortbow for again, okay damage at range up until it closes the gap and gets in its targets face. Making it also the tankiest of the familiars, at least in terms of AC.
AC: 13 -> 16 (via shield and leather armor)
HP: 13 -> 15
____________________________
Pseudodragon
The Pseudodragon is honestly in a pretty good spot imo. Serving as the familiar that can attack multiple times in one turn should it choose to bite.
So, I really wouldn't change its actions, especially since it can poison targets for, in most cases, the entire duration of a fight.
Oh, and it also has magic resistance, and an AC of 14 😅. SO, I think leaving its traits and actions alone, while simply giving the little one a small HP buff up to 13 now as opposed to its original measly 10, is more than enough to bring this familiar in line with the others.
HP: 10 -> 13
____________________________
Venomous Snake
The Venomous Snake is just... Bad lol. It has an awful 12 AC and 5HP, backed up by a, to be honest, pretty decent attack.
So my fix for this familiar, that quite honestly, thematically, could go alongside any Warlock subclass; is to simply up its dexterity to 16 (thus increasing its chance to hit, and AC), while giving it a bonus action disengage.
This lends itself nicely to the idea of that "slippery" snake that's just so dang hard to get a hold of. But allowing it to still be focused and eventually taken out by another enemy.
Also, I've modified its bite to where it can confuse targets for a turn based on a saving throw as I find it quite weird that a VENOMOUS Snake, does not inflict its targets with a condition. All of this may seem like a lot, but the thing only has 5 HP, so if it gets hit once, its essentially a goner 😂
Dexterity: 15 -> 16 (leading to an increase in AC and chance to hit)
Bite: changed to potentially inflict targets with the "confusion" status effect now for 1 turn.
Compatibility
This mod will likely not work 100% with other mods that alter Pact of the Chain. As of my testing it does however work alongside the DnD2024 All in One mod!
By 100% I mean that for example while during my testing all of the familiars were summoned just fine, but when testing them alongside the Dread Overlord Warlock mod, for some reason the Skeleton and Pseudodragon familiars specifically would instantly die whenever I summoned them. While the other familiars would work just fine.
Also installing this into my ongoing playthrough seems to have worked fine, but I haven't done any long term testing on such, nor can I attest to how a save file will run if the mod is removed during a playthrough so install at your own risk!
Future Fixes
Feel free to post and let me know about any potential issues with the mod, however, for things that fall outside of the scope of the Toolkit itself, I'll most likely be unable to fix said issues. And for those that do fall within it, I am VERY new to modding with this being my first one so again, your patience and understanding for what I can, and cannot do is very much appreciated.
SHOUT OUTS
HUGE shoutout to Screen for really getting me started and teaching me many of the modding basics!
XiphiasRex, LostSoul, Vahn Smash, and many more for answering my constant questions in the discord lol