So, I've been testing this sword out in my playthrough. I gave it to Lae'Zel, who I set up as a samurai fighter and here's my thoughts. It's hard to really get value out of Craven Edge at low level, making only one attack per turn really limits the utility of Craven Edge, but it is nice to proc an occasional boost and get pushed up to a nice even strength score. I've gotten to level 5, and having an extra attack really allows the sword to shine, but I've found I usually use Craven Edge to boost Lae'Zels strength a bit before swapping to another weapon with a bit more oomph.
That said, I've happened upon a bug that makes it incredibly easy to cheese the strength boost: attacking inanimate objects. The various barrels, crates, doors, and all matter of clutter are all fodder that boost the sword when attacked. It certainly is amusing imagining Craven Edge ravenously soaking up the wood from a crate and strengthening the welder.
This seems very well made, but I was wondering if anyone was having issues when trying to play with this mod enabled. My game freezes while loading before the starting screen, don't know what I can do to fix this. (Btw I use Nexus to manage my mods if that is relevant in anyway.)
Loving the mod so far, but can i have a request ? can you adjust the sheating position of the weapon little bit higher ? because sometimes the sword clip to the ground.
i have some high quality weapon models and permissions if youd be interested in adding them as another mod(s). pm if interested Dragonslayer (Berserk) & Zangetsu shikai (Bleach)
Suggestions Potential Immersive Act 1 Spawn location: The Underdark Fish Village of BOOAL. There is some super not noticable areas that you can jump behind the village that don't have much but maybe it can be laying at the far edge of the map in the dark.
Potential Immersive Act 2 Spawn location: The Underground Shar Shrine in Act 2 where you go and pray to Shar to get one time buffs. The Dagger of Shar found there is pretty underwhelming but maybe right next to it is the Craven Blade as well.
Potential Immersive Act 3 Spawn location: I personally haven't finished Act 3 yet but I heard rumors about there being some kind of Murder Shrine to Bhaal somewhere there....seems fitting for it to be found there.
Negative Effect Ideas: 1) On Vox Machina, Grog went into a bloodlust and he couldn't tell the difference from friend and foe. So perhaps the wielder can do a Constitution or maybe a Wisdom Check with each hit on a living creature and when failed, they are stricken with 2 turns of Crown of Madness? 2) Alternatively, when Grog did a certain act, he lost ALL his moosles. Maybe this can be translated into a negative spike in STR after a Long Rest? It can be flavored as the Craven Edge punishing you for sleeping on the job when it could be feeding. It could be a Curse that could be healed with a Remove Curse spell. In terms of how much of negative spike, you could tie it to the characters current STR Modifier at the time of Long Rest and maybe half your STR Modifier rounded down on Short Rest. (Or maybe get rid of the Short Rest thing all together if the math is going to make to too difficult to code.)
Also, until you do find a way to make it available immersively, could you drop the UUID for those of us that have SE and want to drop it into our inventory using the console?
Ok, so I spent some time testing it out in the Act 3 Area. Personally, it doesn't feel overpowered. The DC being 12 is fine. Going up against guards that have a CON 18 it only ever proc'd twice out of the 10 enemies I tested it on. Which brings me to my bug report:
►The text says "living creature" but one of those enemies I fought was a Construct and it did a CON save which I don't think was supposed to happen. And then, it also made me think, there is a TON of Undead in Act 2. I wonder if the Throwing Save would proc for the Undead. I don't suppose it should since Craven Edge's whole shtick is it needs to drink blood. And the VAST majority of mobs in Act 2 don't have blood. So in hindsight, my suggestion of putting in the Shar Shrine would not be the best place to pick it up. The one place the STR siphon would barely proc. ►The text also says "Whenever CE damages a living creature..." Which means each time I use it to attack, the Throwing Save should proc every time even on my extra attacks and bonus attacks. Nope. It procs once per turn. ►I don't mind this bug actually but the STR that remained did not disappear during Short Rest. Which I am fine with. it was tough just getting the 2 Strength that I got.
So yeah, it was definitely fun to use. It looks really great. The way it is now feels balanced so if you leave it as is, I'd be fine with it. But if you want to get it as close as possible, revisit the strike consistency by changing the Saving Throw Proc from 'per turn' to 'per hit'. Because then it would start to feel OP but if you want to incorporate the self-affliction of Crown of Madness it should balance itself out again. Lastly, if you don't want to go throw the hassle of changing the coding to exclude non-blood creatures, it would be easier just to reflavor the text to say "Whenever CE damages a enemy...". But if you decide to keep the 'Living Creatures' mechanic, than keep in mind it won't be as useful in Act 2.
I do like Edvin's idea of +1 STR on killing blows. But I do see where you are coming from that it would be OP in Act 1. But in Act 3, it definitely would balance out. Here's an Idea....Since you have a mechanic built in already to "evolve" CE to a stronger why not include an additional Passive that allows Craven Edge to grow along with the user's level. That way it can be found in Act 1, not be overpowered, and by the time you are level 10, you will be in Act 3. And at level 10, that is when you enable the +1 STR per kill mechanic. That is when Craven Edge can REALLY awaken the closer it gets to the one location that is ALL about Murder. If you need some ideas about the self-leveling mechanic, take a look at this mod to see if it can give you some ideas.
Okay ya I figured there would be some issues somewhere this effect was surprisingly hard to do considering. I might be able to scale the effects my other two weapon mods have it but I am unsure how exactly to scale them in a balanced way or how possible it is I’m open to suggestions.
there are limitations in the game to how I can tweak these effects easily. With out having to drag script extender into anyway so a few options would be good. As I don’t wanna depend on se for a weapon lol.
I woke up this morning and a light bulb went off. it is possible for you to use built in mechanics. that way you don't have to build them from scratch. I went to BG3.wiki and looked List of Conditions. And I saw a couple of things that would be PERFECT for CE:
►Again, CE's whole schtick is that it needs blood. so inflict Bleeding = Disadvantage with CON saves can really bring this thing online quick. ►Another on-theme idea: Blood Scent Frenzy = Advantage to enemies that are not construct, an ooze, a plant, or an elemental. This can help lean in on the lore that it is sentient and desires things that have blood. ►And another one: Bloodless = Also leans in heavy on the whole sentient blade thing as it is drinking the blood of the enemies, they can be afflicted with Bloodless. Bonus points if you can figure out a way to make it stackable. ►BOOOAL's Faithful = this one may actually be a better one to start off with at lower levels for balancing purposes as this gives a chance at inflicting Bleeding. You may want to reflavor it to not mention BOOOAL, maybe like "Dormant Hunger". ►BOOOAL's Blessing = the only reason I am adding this is to promote my Immersive Spawn Location in Act 1 even more. It synergies so well for both mechanics and roleplay ►Demonspirit Madness = Awhile Crown of Madness would be great starting off, you can then at later levels, replace it with this. Again, really works well with the sentient blade gimmick it has. ►And last but not least, Revitalising Gore = Deeeeefinately nerf this if you decide to use it. Like 1d4 and then 2d4 at level 10.
As for power leveling, the mod I linked earlier had levels at 3, 5, and 7. you can just copy and paste their leveling structure into your own but change the levels to be a little bit higher like 4, 8, and 11.
Also, if you haven't been using this already, definitely use the HexdataBrowser to quickly and efficiently find the built in code for the conditions I mentioned above if you decide to use any of them.
I have to run now but if you want a fully laid out Leveling Suggestions, when I get back tonight, I can edit my post to include some ideas of what Levels can have what. I'll even include what I assume the code should look like. Amateur modder here. In the end you would know better than I. lol
I have been modding for a few weeks and that's the first time I have run across that particular site thanks! I don't know if the weapon would inflict bleeding, as it wants to absorb blood. I CAN see it having an advantage on bleeding targets though. I think perhaps the extra stack upon getting the killing blow would be good place to start and a 1-3 enchant bonus as you level to keep things tidy. Have to come up with a new name for it, Icingdeath and Twinkle and my Taulmaril have it termed Heroes Journey... Maybe Villianous Path? Though I suppose that would be implying the person using the weapon was evil.
Anyway the madness thing and it progressing is a great, idea and you think that should be applied once the weapon transforms? Actually have to think about the best way to approach that having it apply only upon the transformation for how this stuff works might be difficult, but I imagine with some creative tinkering it can be done. Actually maybe at the start of every encounter after that but then again I have zero idea if that part is doable have to check let me know what you think.
I don't know if the weapon would inflict bleeding, as it wants to absorb blood
Well, I mean, it can't get some sip if it don't slash, right? Since it slashes, it siiiiiiiiiips.
Have to come up with a new name for it...
In terms of what to call the passive of Level Progression, according to the Wiki Craven Edge has Secret Features. One of them is called Sentience. Maybe you can call it that as the Feature of Sentience is that the blade itself has 16 INT, 12 WIS, 18 CHA. Which makes it half of an Adventurer. And what do all Adventurer's do? They level up. (BTW, it would be kinda cool if you put in a Secret unwritten hidden feature where by equipping it, you secretly benefit a +3 to INT Saving Throws, +1 WIS Saving Throws, +4 CHA Saving Throws since this technically makes you 1.5 adventurers. :D If you do decide to do that, let me know and I will delete this post so that future adventurers can find it on their own, come back and try to report it as a bug but you just come back and say, "ah, so you found the easter egg. ;)")
Anyway the madness thing and it progressing is a great, idea and you think that should be applied once the weapon transforms?
I think it the madness can occur a little later in level. Maybe not so early as in Act 1 it can be a simple whisper "huuun....geeeer.....". It terms of roleplay, I would imagine that once it reaches level 8, the being inside can be a little more prevalent about the progress it made pushing you to get some more of that blood. And that can translate to CoM coming online but this you would keep to 'end of turn' instead 'once per hit.' Then anytime you hit 25 STR and it transforms, you change it from CoM to Demonspirit Madness. Unless you want it to instead tie to the STR level. Say like once you are at 20 STR, you have a chance of suffering from CoM. Once you hit 25 STR, then it transforms and the Demonspirit Madness becomes the self-infliction instead. Doing it this way can make it feel more authentic as the Sentient being inside gets more satiated but the greed of it wanting more makes you lose your mind. TBH tho, not sure how that would look coding wise. Which is why I am suggesting to tie to the Level instead. I mean, even Larian went on record and confirmed translating 5e to BG3 was very difficult to do. So you can use that card and "take some liberties" on how you want to translate that into BG3.
Actually maybe at the start of every encounter after that but then again I have zero idea if that part is doable have to check let me know what you think.
Definitely at the end of your turn. At the end of the Turn, CoM procs and you have to do a WIS saving throw. If you fail, you are inflicting, it will give you one stack of CoM, you lose your next turn but the player attacks indiscriminately regardless, turn ends, and you are free from the infliction. Awhile DemonSpirit Madness stays and you can only be free of it if you succeed a DC13 WIS Saving Throw which will only happen after it full transforms.
That doesn’t sound like a bad idea I gota figure out effects for the weapon too and bleeding aside I get it but typically try and keep within the premise of the weapons. Working in aegis fang atm but after that kind of not sure what I’ll end up making next.
im a big stealth and rogue player but looking through daggers seems like most of the rogue type stuff really already in game. Was thinking perhaps the sickles from puss in boots, just wish there was a way to transform them. Not sure gonna try and do another weapon that isn’t covered well but im out of ideas for famous ones with preexisting lore.
aside from maybe the many notched axe but there are no good pictures and other then being silver and flametounge feels plain.
I dunno, man. Inflicting Bleeding sure does seem to be within the parameters of what I see. Again, the BOOOAL's Faithful passive may be a more balanced option. But I do get what you mean, you want to stick with the parameters of what is written for it in official DnD rules.
In terms of transforming blades, if you interested going the Anime route, Bleach has a plethora to choose from. For video game blades, the only game I can recall right now that I played, is FF13. Lightning had a blade that would transform into a gun. That might be an interesting challenge to mod.
Meant more trying to keep it online with the dnd stats I don’t think the madness is bad as it’s displayed in the show though.
not looking for transformative as I don’t think that’s possible also there already is a katana. Some wow weapons might fit dunno could just find a cool weapon and do random traits
Oh I see what you are saying. You mean transformative in the sense that it gains additional passives/boosts/statuses when certain criteria are met. Gotcha.
By the way, I am quite literally tinkering with the mod now. I just got morbidly curious to see how it can handle some of the suggestions I made (and, boy, am I not a professional. I really have no idea how to do this cleanly but I am getting results) and as I was testing them I noticed in the Combat Log there is something missing and I found it. Initiative Siphon is missing the DisplayName and Description data lines from the 'H_CravenEdge_Technical' status. I added them manually and it is displaying correctly. Also fixed some typos in the localization XML file and in the Passives.txt. Just FYI for your next release.
For the display part, I left that out on purpose it's a kind of technical application so it can apply to both parties, there isn't a good way to do a stacking debuff without it. So it doesn't serve any actual purpose other than to apply the debuff and the buff to their respective people, which is why it falls off pretty much instantly, but I found it a bit annoying to see it spammed if it happened so I removed it so it wouldn't bother some people, in a perfect world I would not have to do it that way but can only work with what they give me. For the typos ya, not the best grammar person, I blame the education system personally.
Hmm, I think that saving throws will be quite difficult to balance. Enemies and bosses usually have pretty high stats in the later stages of the game. Also, the game has a finite amount of enemies.
Wouldn't it be easier to change it to "+1 Strenght for every enemy killed" ? Thanks to this, you will not have a problem with balancing.
I haven't played the game really past the first act, just don't have a lot of time. These are the stats I got from the official sword. I am not against making tweaks to make it more playable in the game, but early on it felt like it was applying almost every swing. If you or anyone could give me more data on how it does in the overall game I don't see a big issue adding in upon killing hit as another way to get +1 if it really is struggling. I kinda assumed the weapon might be TOO strong.
Not sure if I agree with the choice to include Blood on the texture. Considering the fact it sucks every drop of that touches it inside itself, the blade should be almost pristine.
I can add a version that removes the blood from the blade. (would keep it on the horns and the teeth), the idea of giving it that fresh I have eaten vampire-type look.
31 comments
Next Weapon: Aegis Fang
That said, I've happened upon a bug that makes it incredibly easy to cheese the strength boost: attacking inanimate objects. The various barrels, crates, doors, and all matter of clutter are all fodder that boost the sword when attacked. It certainly is amusing imagining Craven Edge ravenously soaking up the wood from a crate and strengthening the welder.
can you adjust the sheating position of the weapon little bit higher ? because sometimes the sword clip to the ground.
Dragonslayer (Berserk) & Zangetsu shikai (Bleach)
Potential Immersive Act 1 Spawn location: The Underdark Fish Village of BOOAL. There is some super not noticable areas that you can jump behind the village that don't have much but maybe it can be laying at the far edge of the map in the dark.
Potential Immersive Act 2 Spawn location: The Underground Shar Shrine in Act 2 where you go and pray to Shar to get one time buffs. The Dagger of Shar found there is pretty underwhelming but maybe right next to it is the Craven Blade as well.
Potential Immersive Act 3 Spawn location: I personally haven't finished Act 3 yet but I heard rumors about there being some kind of Murder Shrine to Bhaal somewhere there....seems fitting for it to be found there.
Negative Effect Ideas:
1) On Vox Machina, Grog went into a bloodlust and he couldn't tell the difference from friend and foe. So perhaps the wielder can do a Constitution or maybe a Wisdom Check with each hit on a living creature and when failed, they are stricken with 2 turns of Crown of Madness?
2) Alternatively, when Grog did a certain act, he lost ALL his moosles. Maybe this can be translated into a negative spike in STR after a Long Rest? It can be flavored as the Craven Edge punishing you for sleeping on the job when it could be feeding. It could be a Curse that could be healed with a Remove Curse spell. In terms of how much of negative spike, you could tie it to the characters current STR Modifier at the time of Long Rest and maybe half your STR Modifier rounded down on Short Rest. (Or maybe get rid of the Short Rest thing all together if the math is going to make to too difficult to code.)
Also, until you do find a way to make it available immersively, could you drop the UUID for those of us that have SE and want to drop it into our inventory using the console?
►The text says "living creature" but one of those enemies I fought was a Construct and it did a CON save which I don't think was supposed to happen. And then, it also made me think, there is a TON of Undead in Act 2. I wonder if the Throwing Save would proc for the Undead. I don't suppose it should since Craven Edge's whole shtick is it needs to drink blood. And the VAST majority of mobs in Act 2 don't have blood. So in hindsight, my suggestion of putting in the Shar Shrine would not be the best place to pick it up. The one place the STR siphon would barely proc.
►The text also says "Whenever CE damages a living creature..." Which means each time I use it to attack, the Throwing Save should proc every time even on my extra attacks and bonus attacks. Nope. It procs once per turn.
►I don't mind this bug actually but the STR that remained did not disappear during Short Rest. Which I am fine with. it was tough just getting the 2 Strength that I got.
So yeah, it was definitely fun to use. It looks really great. The way it is now feels balanced so if you leave it as is, I'd be fine with it. But if you want to get it as close as possible, revisit the strike consistency by changing the Saving Throw Proc from 'per turn' to 'per hit'. Because then it would start to feel OP but if you want to incorporate the self-affliction of Crown of Madness it should balance itself out again. Lastly, if you don't want to go throw the hassle of changing the coding to exclude non-blood creatures, it would be easier just to reflavor the text to say "Whenever CE damages a enemy...". But if you decide to keep the 'Living Creatures' mechanic, than keep in mind it won't be as useful in Act 2.
I do like Edvin's idea of +1 STR on killing blows. But I do see where you are coming from that it would be OP in Act 1. But in Act 3, it definitely would balance out. Here's an Idea....Since you have a mechanic built in
already to "evolve" CE to a stronger why not include an additional Passive that allows Craven Edge to grow along with the user's level. That way it can be found in Act 1, not be overpowered, and by the time you are level 10, you will be in Act 3. And at level 10, that is when you enable the +1 STR per kill mechanic. That is when Craven Edge can REALLY awaken the closer it gets to the one location that is ALL about Murder. If you need some ideas about the self-leveling mechanic, take a look at this mod to see if it can give you some ideas.
there are limitations in the game to how I can tweak these effects easily. With out having to drag script extender into anyway so a few options would be good. As I don’t wanna depend on se for a weapon lol.
►Again, CE's whole schtick is that it needs blood. so inflict Bleeding = Disadvantage with CON saves can really bring this thing online quick.
►Another on-theme idea: Blood Scent Frenzy = Advantage to enemies that are not construct, an ooze, a plant, or an elemental. This can help lean in on the lore that it is sentient and desires things that have blood.
►And another one: Bloodless = Also leans in heavy on the whole sentient blade thing as it is drinking the blood of the enemies, they can be afflicted with Bloodless. Bonus points if you can figure out a way to make it stackable.
►BOOOAL's Faithful = this one may actually be a better one to start off with at lower levels for balancing purposes as this gives a chance at inflicting Bleeding. You may want to reflavor it to not mention BOOOAL, maybe like "Dormant Hunger".
►BOOOAL's Blessing = the only reason I am adding this is to promote my Immersive Spawn Location in Act 1 even more. It synergies so well for both mechanics and roleplay
►Demonspirit Madness = Awhile Crown of Madness would be great starting off, you can then at later levels, replace it with this. Again, really works well with the sentient blade gimmick it has.
►And last but not least, Revitalising Gore = Deeeeefinately nerf this if you decide to use it. Like 1d4 and then 2d4 at level 10.
As for power leveling, the mod I linked earlier had levels at 3, 5, and 7. you can just copy and paste their leveling structure into your own but change the levels to be a little bit higher like 4, 8, and 11.
Also, if you haven't been using this already, definitely use the HexdataBrowser to quickly and efficiently find the built in code for the conditions I mentioned above if you decide to use any of them.
I have to run now but if you want a fully laid out Leveling Suggestions, when I get back tonight, I can edit my post to include some ideas of what Levels can have what. I'll even include what I assume the code should look like. Amateur modder here. In the end you would know better than I. lol
Anyway the madness thing and it progressing is a great, idea and you think that should be applied once the weapon transforms? Actually have to think about the best way to approach that having it apply only upon the transformation for how this stuff works might be difficult, but I imagine with some creative tinkering it can be done. Actually maybe at the start of every encounter after that but then again I have zero idea if that part is doable have to check let me know what you think.
Well, I mean, it can't get some sip if it don't slash, right? Since it slashes, it siiiiiiiiiips.
In terms of what to call the passive of Level Progression, according to the Wiki Craven Edge has Secret Features. One of them is called Sentience. Maybe you can call it that as the Feature of Sentience is that the blade itself has 16 INT, 12 WIS, 18 CHA. Which makes it half of an Adventurer. And what do all Adventurer's do? They level up. (BTW, it would be kinda cool if you put in a Secret unwritten hidden feature where by equipping it, you secretly benefit a +3 to INT Saving Throws, +1 WIS Saving Throws, +4 CHA Saving Throws since this technically makes you 1.5 adventurers. :D If you do decide to do that, let me know and I will delete this post so that future adventurers can find it on their own, come back and try to report it as a bug but you just come back and say, "ah, so you found the easter egg. ;)")
Awhile DemonSpirit Madness stays and you can only be free of it if you succeed a DC13 WIS Saving Throw which will only happen after it full transforms.
EDIT: Look what just came out. Might be handy.
im a big stealth and rogue player but looking through daggers seems like most of the rogue type stuff really already in game. Was thinking perhaps the sickles from puss in boots, just wish there was a way to transform them. Not sure gonna try and do another weapon that isn’t covered well but im out of ideas for famous ones with preexisting lore.
aside from maybe the many notched axe but there are no good pictures and other then being silver and flametounge feels plain.
In terms of transforming blades, if you interested going the Anime route, Bleach has a plethora to choose from.
For video game blades, the only game I can recall right now that I played, is FF13. Lightning had a blade that would transform into a gun. That might be an interesting challenge to mod.
not looking for transformative as I don’t think that’s possible also there already is a katana. Some wow weapons might fit dunno could just find a cool weapon and do random traits
By the way, I am quite literally tinkering with the mod now. I just got morbidly curious to see how it can handle some of the suggestions I made (and, boy, am I not a professional. I really have no idea how to do this cleanly but I am getting results) and as I was testing them I noticed in the Combat Log there is something missing and I found it. Initiative Siphon is missing the DisplayName and Description data lines from the 'H_CravenEdge_Technical' status. I added them manually and it is displaying correctly. Also fixed some typos in the localization XML file and in the Passives.txt. Just FYI for your next release.
Enemies and bosses usually have pretty high stats in the later stages of the game.
Also, the game has a finite amount of enemies.
Wouldn't it be easier to change it to "+1 Strenght for every enemy killed" ?
Thanks to this, you will not have a problem with balancing.
EDIT: Nvm. Found it: 76d5ca3-8d6e-4c6b-8898-f83e4fb22c1a
Gonna test run it and see how it turns out.
you can make up the stats