Let there be Gnomes!

Addon-content:

1. New subrace: Gnomes (included: own starter-zone and quest)

2. Additional zones and quests:
a) Midlevel zone & quest (15-20): starts near Last Hope, related zone has to be found on the worldmap
b) Highlevel zone (35-50): a hidden zone, that can't be entered by normal means / a quest starts inside, on the 2nd level

About Gnomes:

Gnomes are distant relatives of Halflings, albeit a tad smaller in stature and much weaker physique. In the world of Maj_Eyal, not much is known about them for simple reasons: they usually don't leave home to go on adventures, much less to take part in heroic endeavours. People commonly mistake Gnomes for extraordinary small and malformed Halflings, even if that is far from being the truth. The existence of Gnomes as a proper subspecies has passed history unnoticed for centuries, while they lived peacefully, silent and hidden within Halfling society, dedicating their lives to the study of the physical, magical and historical dimensions of Maj'Eyal.

In theory, however, gnomes make great adventurers. While they lack any of those physical attributes, that are commonly associated with a lifestyle dedicated to performing heroic deeds, they got the ability to gain advanced knowledge about almost anything related to skillful adventuring. They start their career with two instead of just one racial talent trees and are able to learn new talent types not available to their choosen class. As a result, they make for very flexible game play, but they are challenged by a low life-rating.

--- Major Revamp as of 20.12.2014 ---

! ! ! ! ! No compatibility with older versions ! ! ! ! !

Gnomes now offer a truly experimental game experience. Gnomes get two racial trees:

- one tree allows them to learn just about any talents associated to different meta themes (they can learn one type each of these groups: technique/cunning, spell/celestial/chronomancy, psionic/wild-gifts, cursed/corruption).

- the other tree provides general offensive and defensive benefits as well as resource (stamina, mana, psi, equilibrium) regeneration.

As a result, playing as a gnome makes it possible to spice up just about any class with new talent combinations normaly only experienced when playing the Adventurer class.

Additonaly, gnomes still start with their Gnomish Pocket Encyclopedia - an item, which at level 30 allows them to pick one further talent type from about just any category (excluding stone wardens talents).

Specifics - Stats and Racial Talents:

Stat modifiers: -4 Strength, +1 Dexterity, -6 Constitution, +1 Magic, +0 Willpower, +6 Cunning, +0 Luck
Life per level: 6
Experience penalty: 10%

Update (24.01.2015):

- added a visual distinction between generic and class trees in the dialogues where you choose which talent-type to learn

Allows characters to respec anywhere in game, not just in towns. This is a direct reversion of the change made in 1.2.3 to the way it was in 1.2.2 and before.

INFO: This mod is *defunct*. Dead and buried. Been for years now.
Hope you had fun using it while it worked.

To be honest, I've been hoping something similar would make it into the main game but it never did. Which I will forever be miffed by :).

There are alternatives (for both, the alchemist part and the escort part), check the comments, search the addons.

I keep it here for those few who might want to play an older version of the game or for coding reference.

--- Old description:

A few things to make rng less random with regards to character build (because I really, really dislike it when a build is subject to randomness).

This includes and is limited to:
- no alchemist poaching,
- choose your own escort types.

It does make the game easier. Not in a significant way but use at risk to your own pride.

Formerly "known" as Succor and easement.

Adds a game option "Alternate zones" to enable or disable (or optionally force) v1.0.3's new alternate zones, either globally or individually by zone.

Also available as part of the ZOmnibus Addon Pack.

Many in Maj'Eyal have heard of "demons", sadistic creatures who appear seemingly from nowhere, leaving a trail of suffering and destruction whereever they go. Their Fearscape floats far above the skies, watching and waiting, but not idly; their agents scout the land, their legions build up their forces, and their scholars develop new spells and strategies. As the barrier between our worlds begins to crack under their scrutiny, helpless Eyalites have begun to disappear, whisked up to serve as their slaves and playthings. They imbue these victims with magical powers to better survive the ensuing stresses - can you use your new-found abilities to escape the legions of Mal'Rok?

Features:

• Start with a new class, the Doombringer! These avatars of demonic destruction charge into battle with massive two-handed weapons, cutting swaths of firey devastation through hordes of opponents. Armed with flame magic and demonic strength, they delight in fighting against overwhelming odds, softening up the crowd with waves of fire, then feeding on the flames and suffering of their surroundings to stay alive while quickly reducing any group to a pile of ash and gore.
• Unlock a new class, the Demonologist, with an all-new item enhancement mechanic! Bearing a shield and the magic of the Spellblaze itself, these melee-fighting casters can grow demonic seeds from their fallen enemies. Imbue these seeds onto your items to gain a wide array of new talents and passive benefits, and summon the demons within them to fight on your side! Ever looked at a gigantic demon-cursed minotaur and wished it was on your side for once? Well, now you CAN summon one to pound your foes into paste while you cast devastating spells from afar, or call forth a squad of Fire Imps to pelt your enemies to death while they exhaust themselves on your impenetrable defenses! Demons have persistent health, making them a little more precious than disposable necromancer skeletons or summoner beasts, but can be revived from death nonetheless.
• Two new zones, with all-new art, foes, and bosses! You've seen the plains of the Fearscape before, now see the lairs and headquarters of the demons themselves!
• Over 10,000 words of written lore to find! The demons were once an enlightened, peaceful race, hailing from a distant planet known as Mal'Rok; learn what drove them to plot Eyal's eternal torture! Discover monuments to each of the demonic species and noteworthy individuals, showing the place of honor each has among them! Get a glimpse into the culture and daily lives of these sadistic invaders and their brainwashed thralls!
• Unlock a new race, Doomelves: Shalore who've taken to the demonic alterations especially well, corrupting their typical abilities into a darker form. Blink away to safety, transform into a shadowy dúathedlen to hide in the shadows or prey on your foes with blasts of darkness, use your new resilience to soak up status effects and critical hits, and assault your enemies' minds to leave them unsteady in combat!
• Between the aforementioned classes and Doomelves, a whopping 75 new talents!
• Unlock two new cosmetic options! You know you've always wanted demon-horns.
• Two new events, appearing anywhere in Eyal!
• 20 new artifacts, with unique and interesting effects. Collect the Obsidian Treasures to amass more and more power! Slip your hands into the Will of Ul'Gruth and watch your sweeping blows smash down walls! Wear a giant hideous hell-mouth as a fashionable belt!
• 7 new achievements! Conquer the worst Urh'Rok's forces can throw at you, and hang their metaphorical skulls from your profile page!

Various enhancements to escort quest NPCs:
- Escorts now follow the player when not close to the portal.
- Escorts occasionally say useful things.
- Escorts heal 5% of their maximum health per turn.

This adds the Spell/Conveyance tree as a reward for completing the Tempest Peak questline for Angolwen. All the code is borrowed from DG's own, and thus everything works the same as antimagic characters getting Fungus.

Do you dislike it, when your escortees die on harder difficulties at the zone in, without you being able to help them? Do you sometimes feel as if money was worth little to nothing in Maj'Eyal? If so, this addon might help you. The library of Last Hope now sells seven Tomes with on-use-rewards, that mirror those of seven escort-types. The library of Elvala sells two (very expensive) tomes, that lead to even greater rewards after using them.

Fixed: talent types are now known, but not learned

The Talent Point Planner allows you to plan how to spend your character's future talent points (hence the name).  Bound to the <alt-shift-g> key by default [which can be changed in the usual manner], the planner makes a temporary copy of your character, levels it up to level 50, and opens the level-up dialog for you to set up your point plan.  When you're finished, the plan will be saved and displayed as annotations in the regular level-up dialog.

Also provides various small improvements and bugfixes for the levelup dialog:

• New game option "[ZOmnibus] | Sort unlearnt talent trees by name", with settings "None", "Unlearnt" or "All".
• New game option "[ZOmnibus] | Verbose talent requirements", which adds a warning message to talent descriptions in the levelup dialog if you cannot use a talent due to not wielding appropriate equipment or similar requirements.
• In the planner levelup dialog, press <Ctrl-U> to dump the current point plan to a file.
• Improves "advanced display" mode for talents with maximum level greater than 5.
• Updates stat display when increasing or decreasing level of talents that passively improve stats.

Also available as part of the ZOmnibus Addon Pack and ZOmnibus Lite.

Frequently Asked Questions:

• The planner isn't letting me include a talent point source that I know about.

Improves the "Press <control> to compare" functionality for objects.  New features:

• When pressing <control>, a note at the top of the text will tell you which object in your equipment is being compared against the current item.
• While holding <control>, tapping <shift> will cycle through the objects in your equipment that the current item can be compared to.  Useful when wearing two rings, dual-wielding, or using the second weapon set.
• (new in v3) Runes and inscriptions in your inventory or store inventories can be compared via <control> to corresponding inscriptions on your body.

Also available as part of the ZOmnibus Addon Pack and ZOmnibus Lite.