I have spent several days trying to achieve something that I thought should be relatively simple, but is not…
I want to build a NPC creature (in this case, a Giant Crab) that has two equal hit probability attacks per round using a standard 1d8 Claw creature weapon.
Unfortunately, while the in-game combat log clearly shows that the creature indeed has two attacks per round, they are at 0 and -5 respectively.
While I could lessen the negative score of the secondary attack by upping the creature’s STR or by adding the Weapon Focus Creature feat, I would rather not do this.
Ergo, I wonder if I am being very dense and have missed something obvious.
It just seems nuts that you can’t have a creature with two big claws having two equal attacks in one round!
The steps so far:
SetBaseAttackBonus(2, OBJECT_SELF); added to the basic X2 OnSpawn script.
feat.2da: Ambidex: Stat requirements & Prerequisites nerfed. ALLCLASSESCANUSE set to 1.
TwoWeap: As above.
ImpTwo: As above
cls_feat_cre.2da: The three above feats added and set to List 1; GrantedOnLevel -1; OnMenu 0. References checked as valid.
packftcrea1.2da: The three above feats added and references checked as valid.
The three .2da files added to my master hak and also to Override folder.
Toolset Creature Wizard: NPC is Race - Animal; Class - Animal Level 1.
Toolset Creature Properties: Levelup Wizard used to raise NPC to Level 6 - All three feats appeared nicely during this process.
Toolset Creature Properties: DEX set to 17 (just in case!); Other Stats set to 10; 1d8 Claw Weapon added to inventory.
N.B: I should also add that my cls_atk_1.2da has been modded to defer any BAB increases until level 6 - don’t know if this could be a factor…
So, I ask, why doesn’t Mr Crab seem to realize that he has all these handy feats?
Or is there another way to give an NPC two (or more) balanced attacks?
Any pointers would be very gratefully received.
P.S. Sorry to be so long-winded - just trying to provide as much info as possible!
Thanks, Baireswolf,
You are quite right, but I needed to ensure that all the .2da edits were right - hence having the toolset apply the “new” feats during the level-up process.
Thanks, Mmat,
I had already tried that by creating a custom claw weapon with a +5 attack bonus. Unfortunately the game engine couldn’t cope, sometimes showing scores of 0/0 but more often +5/-5 which was no good!!
Anyway, thanks again for your replies.
Anybody else have any ideas?
First of all, the suggestion while good have a problem and that is the fact that such weapon will pierce through DR up to x/+6, which is probably not a wanted effect.
Second, the reason why you see what you see is that for “natural attacks”, game uses the random creature weapons for each attack.
The way around this is:
use a model that doesn’t show weapons in hands, if you need to use model that shows weapons, then copy the line in appaearance make a copy of that model and disable showing weapons by setting MODELTYPE to S - this should work I think, but not 100% sure now, if it doesn’t you will have to edit the model directly…
use normal weapons, give the creature 2 daggers - now the creature attacks with same AB for both weapons 3) instead f giving the offhand dagger attack bonus, give the main hand dagger attack penalty and raise the AB by 5 either via STR (if the extra damage is not a concern, but even if it is you can mitigate it by penalty on both weapons again) or OnSpawn script where you apply ABIncrease effect +5.
A potentially simpler way is if you use SetBaseAttackBonus(1, OBJECT_SELF) then use EffectModifyAttacks(1) to add a bonus attack that will give +1/+1 as an example.
Make sure to test with combat debugging to check too!
Not going to work having say, 3 attacks at the same BAB but works fine for 2.
The creature weapons used is randomised chosen so just put the same one in all 3 slots is fine.
Ah good point. Actually, my suggestion does that already - step 3 is not needed, because offhand starts its own BAB sequence. But also comes with penalty which needs to be workarounded by raising STR, adding weapon feats/epic prowess or add the bonus AB by script.
Many, many thanks to you, Shadoow, and also to Jasperre for taking the time to help me with this issue.
You showed me where I had been going wrong all along - I was using the creature weapon slots instead of the main hand and offhand slots!
I now have a nice new custom +3 to attack shortsword which gives +0/+0 when two of them are equipped by Mr Giant Crab using the Ambidexterity and Two Weapon Fighting feats.