Ayden Project Documenatation

Author: Keneth O'Connor (keneth.oconnor@gmail.com)
Version: 2.5
Download: Link

Table of Contents

About Ayden Project

Ayden is primarily a companion mod, but comes bundled with a set of additional components.

Ayden project is still in development. Be sure to check back once in a while to get the latest version.

Installation

  1. Make sure you have an updated version (v2.6) of Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition installed on your hard drive.
  2. Extract the contents of the archive to your Baldur's Gate installation directory.
  3. If you have BG:SoD installed you must also install the DLC Merger mod before anything else.
  4. Run Setup-Ayden.exe and follow the instructions that appear on the console screen.
  5. It is recommended that you start a new game to make full use of this mod's features.
Example Installation Directory:

Component: Warlock Kit

This component adds a new Thief kit called Warlock into the game.
WARLOCK: Warlocks are masters of the dark arts, reckless mortals who draw their power from strange and sinister entities. Unlike mages, who approach magic through the medium of spells, a warlock invokes powerful magic through nothing more than an effort of will. By harnessing his dark gift through fearsome determination, a warlock can enhance his senses, beguile the weak-minded, or scour his foes with blasts of eldritch power.

Advantages:
  • Faster Lore progression (+6/level).
  • Can use a small number of innate magical abilities.
  • Becomes increasingly more powerful as his powers awaken.
Disadvantages:
  • Has only one weapon slot.
  • Cannot use thief skills other than Detect Illusions.
  • Gains no inherent backstab multiplier.
  • Cannot set snares.

Table: The Warlock

Level Abilities Lore Level Abilities Lore
1st Eldritch Blast (1d6), Devil's Sight 6 21st Eldritch Blast (11d6), Energy Resistance III 126
2nd Shadow Armor 12 22nd Devour Magic 132
3rd Eldritch Blast (2d6), Unearthly Resilience I 18 23rd Eldritch Blast (12d6) 138
4th Brimstone Ray 24 24th High-Level Abilities 144
5th Eldritch Blast (3d6), Energy Resistance I 30 25th Eldritch Blast (13d6) 150
6th Walk Unseen 36 26th 156
7th Eldritch Blast (4d6), Fiendish Servant I 42 27th Eldritch Blast (14d6) 162
8th Hellrime Breath 48 28th 168
9th Eldritch Blast (5d6) 54 29th Eldritch Blast (15d6), Energy Resistance IV 174
10th A Cold Day in Hell 60 30th 180
11th Eldritch Blast (6d6) 66 31st Eldritch Blast (16d6), Unearthly Resilience III 186
12th Enthrall 72 32nd 192
13th Eldritch Blast (7d6), Energy Resistance II 78 33rd Eldritch Blast (17d6) 198
14th Flee the Scene 84 34th 204
15th Eldritch Blast (8d6), Fiendish Servant II 90 35th Eldritch Blast (18d6) 210
16th Vitriolic Burst 96 36th 216
17th Eldritch Blast (9d6), Unearthly Resilience II 102 37th Eldritch Blast (19d6), Energy Resistance V 222
18th Vomit Swarm 108 38th 228
19th Eldritch Blast (10d6) 114 39th Eldritch Blast (20d6) 234
20th Lightning Chain 120 40th 240

Class Abilities

Lore Bonus

Warlocks gain 6 points of Lore at each level, rather than 3 points like other thief kits.

Unearthly Resilience

The warlock slowly starts regenerating his health at a rate of 1 hit point per round.

Energy Resistance

The warlock gains 20% energy resistance to acid, cold, electricity, or fire.

Fiendish Servant

The warlock gains the service of an imp, which he can summon once per day.

Invocation Descriptions

Eldritch Blast

Level Equivalent: 1-9

A warlock's basic attack—a surge of pure eldritch power. This ability deals 1d6 points of magical damage for every two warlock levels after first (to a maximum of 20d6 at 39th level) and is subject to magic resistance.

Devil's Sight

Level Equivalent: 1
Duration: 8 hours
Recharge: 1 hour

You gain the visual acuity of a devil, granting you infravision and a +20% bonus to Detect Illusions.

Shadow Armor

Level Equivalent: 2
Duration: 8 hours
Recharge: 1 hour

You envelop yourself in shadows that deflect attacks as though they were studded leather armor (AC 7) and give you immunity to the magic missile spell. For every three levels after 2nd, the armor gains a +1 bonus, to a maximum of +5 at 17th level.

Brimstone Ray

Level Equivalent: 1-9
Area of Effect: 20-foot line
Recharge: 2 rounds

You change your eldritch blast into a fiery burst that incinerates your victims. Creatures struck by brimstone ray catch on fire and take an additional 2d6 points of fire damage on the following round if they fail a saving throw.

Walk Unseen

Level Equivalent: 2
Duration: 1 hour
Recharge: 1 minute

You gain the ability to fade from view. You are invisible for the duration of the effect or until you engage in combat.

Hellrime Breath

Level Equivalent: 1-9
Area of Effect: 15-foot cone
Recharge: 4 rounds

You change your eldritch blast into a breath of chilling cold that deals cold damage to all creatures in the area of effect and reduces their Dexterity for 2 rounds. Affected creatures get a saving throw for half damage.

A Cold Day in Hell

Level Equivalent: 4
Duration: 1 hour
Recharge: 1 hour

You manifest the extremes of hellish domains, gaining either a +50% resistance to cold and a -50% resistance to fire or a +50% resistance to fire and a -50% resistance to cold.

Enthrall

Level Equivalent: 5
Duration: 8 rounds
Recharge: 1 minute

You enthrall a creature's mind, allowing you to control their actions while the invocation is in effect. Regardless of whether the creature makes a successful saving throw or not, it can not be affected again by this ability for 24 hours.

Custom Script

The warlock kit comes with a custom script (WARLOCK0) which can be set for any warlock character through the customize menu on the character screen.

A warlock using this script will automatically use Devil's Sight and Shadow Armor if the invocations are not currently active.

By default, a warlock will be aggressive in combat, using his offensive invocations, alternating between Brimstone Ray and Eldritch Blast unless the enemies' resistances are too high. He will attempt to use his abilities as safely as possible, though he might still hit some of his allies if the positioning changes significantly after he begins invoking his powers.

If enemies are within weapon range, the warlock will also attack with his weapon between invocations to make full use of his combat actions.

If switched to defensive mode, the warlock will use Detect Illusions when possible. He will defend himself if attacked and if the enemy is in range, otherwise he will withdraw to a safer distance. Use this mode if you find that the warlock is causing too much collateral damage with his invocations and would like to control him manually instead.

By switching stealth mode on, the warlock will use his Walk Unseen invocation (if available) as long as he is not currently engaged in combat.

HotKeys

Recruitable NPC

Information
Gender Male
Race Human
Class Warlock
Alignment Lawful Evil
Area Ulcaster (topside)
Starting Abilities
Strength 13
Dexterity 16
Constitution 8
Intelligence 13
Wisdom 12
Charisma 17

Shadow Walking

Once Ayden has recovered some of his lost power, he will offer to transport the party to previously visited areas through the Plane of Shadow. This ability is provided as a simple convenience to reduce unnecessary traveling time and will be unavailable during parts of the game where the player would otherwise not be able to leave the current area. In certain cases, it may provide an alternative means of escaping (such as when the player is thrown in jail).

Ayden's Refuge

This component adds a new area where the party can shadow walk to once Ayden regains his powers. Ayden's Refuge is a small pocket plane created by the warlock before being imprisoned and serves as a safe place to rest and store items.

Note: As with shadow walking, this optional component serves merely as a convenience and adds little narrative value overall. If it doesn't suit your play style, you do not need to worry about missing out on anything major.

Item Crafting

This component enables item crafting via the forge inside Ayden's Refuge. In order to craft items, Ayden must have recovered a sufficient portion of his power. After that, you can interact with the forge to view crafting recipes and craft items.

Some additional items have also been added to various vendors across the Sword Coast in order to more easily facilitate the crafting process. These mostly include mundane crafting components that would otherwise be hard to obtain (but should not be).

Note: This component is optional. If it doesn't suit your play style or you feel it adversely affects the balance of the game, you can skip it at installation (or ignore the forge in the Refuge).

Wands for Thieves

This simple component will enable the use of wands for all thief kits (including warlocks) if they meet the ability requirements.

Note: This will change the usability flags for all wands (including modded ones) that are available at the time of installation.

Thief Proficiencies

This component will change the configuration so that all thieves and thief kits can gain (at least) 1 point in spear or mace proficiency, like warlock. This should facilitate the use of light maces and certain spears.

Note: This will change the proficiency flags for all thief kits (including modded ones) that are available at the time of installation.

Known Issues

Compatibility

The mod might be incompatible with any mods that drastically change the game's file stucture and/or story flow (like BGT, etc.).

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Furret has left the area! Can I still recruit Ayden?

A: Furret has decided to visit a nearby halfling town. You can find him there.

Q: Ayden's skills have disappeared! How can I get them back?

A: That is a side effect of skill cooldown. They will reappear in due time.

Q: Ayden keeps hitting my party members with his Brimstone Blast. What can I do?

A: Switch him to defensive mode and use his abilities manually.

Q: I started a new game in Siege of Dragonspear. Can I recruit Ayden somewhere?

A: Currently, not without using the console. This might change in future versions.

Special Thanks

Special thanks to Westley Weimer, Valerio Bigiani (The Bigg), and Fredrik Lindgren (Wisp) for creating and updating WeiDU.

Eternal glory to Avenger for giving us DLTCEP. Most of this mod's game files were created with the use of his editor.

Salutations to John Olav Hauglid and the rest of the team for their work on Near Infinity. We'd be lost without it.

A shout out to Glenn Flansburg and Andrew Bridges for their BAM editing software.

Thanks to Razfallow for his Teleport mod and for allowing me to make use of it as part of this project.

A very special thanks to all my beta testers for helping me keep this mod bug-free and balanced.

A huge thank you to Skye for helping with the research and a lot of the legwork.

All original materials in this mod are © Keneth O'Connor. Please contact me if you wish to make use of anything.

WeiDU is released under GPL. The latest version of WeiDU can be downloaded here.

Several original (unmodified) BAM icons were extracted from Icewind Dale 2 and are a copyright of Atari.

Additional (unmodified) BAM icons were extracted from Planescape: Torment — Enhanced Edition and are a copyright of Beamdog.

The warlock class concept, as well as the City of Shade source material, are a copyright of Wizards of the Coast.

Some of the map assets were copied from Pillars of Eternity and are a copyright of Obsidian Entertainment.

The Baelnorn portrait was painted by Anastasya Zakharova. You can find her art over at nodens.artstation.com.

Version History

Upcoming Features

Version 2.5 (2021-09-10)

Version 2.4b31 (2017-05-14)

Version 2.4 BETA (2017-04-09)

Version 2.3 BETA (2017-03-26)

Version 2.2 BETA (2015-09-23)

Version 2.1 BETA (2015-09-16)

Version 2.0b13 BETA (2014-01-01)

Version 2.0b9 BETA (2013-12-31)

Version 2.0 BETA (2013-12-27)

Version 1.26 BETA (2007-06-21)