Looks like you can't link to other places, so I'll post my thread here as well...

This is my Reclassification Mod. Original details were posted on the PostCount thread and copied here.

Classes:
Overall, each class has less requirements as base stats for races have dropped. This allows you to still put stats where you want, but you won't be able to max 1 stat as quickly as before. HP have been made tiered at whole numbers.
Specialists (135 stat requirement):
Fighter: All about the attacks, cheap XP class, not much alteration. Loses the KO ability (see later)
Rogue: Primary Skill: Skulduggery (wait, wut?, yeah you heard it, see below)
Monk: Has been moved to Specialist group. Psionics has been removed (see below) and now they have the ability to KO enemies and have the Mental Immunity ability. Pretty much RFS-81 as a base class and lesser XP requirement.
Bard: No real change
Gadgeteer: Primary Skill: Guns & Bows (see below)

Specialist Casters (150 stat requirement):
Priest: Big HP increase, larger variety of armors. Can cast from Divinity and Enchantment (see below)
Alchemist: Small HP increase. Stealth. More potions to mix.
Mage: No real change. Can cast from Wizardry and Enchantment (see below)

Hybrids (230 stat requirement):
Lord: Shield as primary skill. Given Stam regen and Dispel Undead. Magic learned offset is now -2 (he can learn spells starting at level 3) Can cast from Divinity and Enchantment (see below)
Ranger: Dual Wield and Axe now secondary skills. Magic learned offset is now -2 (he can learn spells starting at level 3). More potions to mix.
Samurai: Magic learned offset is now -2 (he can learn spells starting at level 3) Can cast from Wizardry and Enchantment (see below)

Elite (245 stat requirement):
Ninja: Alchemy has been removed. Given the rogue ability to backstab with thrusting weapons (adds in more variety as now the ninja can be extremely effective with MA, Staves, Swords/Daggers and thrown). Skulduggery (see below)
Valkyrie: Primary sKill polearm. Can cast spells from Wizardry, Divinity and Alchemy. Armor capabilities significantly lessened and available weapons lessened to compensate for additional magic. Magic learned offset is now -3 (she can learn spells starting at level 4)
Bishop: Primary Skill Artifacts. Can cast spells from Divine, Wizardry and Alchemy. Can use axes. Magic learned offset is now -1 (he can learn spells starting at level 2)
Enchanter: Primary Skill: Enchantment. Can cast spells from Divine, Wizardry and Enchantment.

Skills: (assume skills remain the same unless noted below)
Bow: Changes to Guns & Bows (though guns represents all modern weapons, you get text clipping if you put in too many words)
Modern Weapon: Changes to Skulduggery.
Skulduggery: Thief and Ninja skill. Allows those classes to use Bag of Tricks. Bag of Tricks can be purchased from stores. When a character with high enough Skulduggery combines one of 12 gems (see below) with a Bag of Tricks, a special item only the Thief or Ninja can use becomes available. It can be used like any other item, but with just 1 charge.
Psionics: Changes to Enchantment.
Enchantment: Is a new magic school that houses all enchanting spells (ones that affect the party). It is available to all Wizardry and Divinity users. In addition, it will allow characters to enchant weapons and armors with gems (see below) to enhance their abilities.
Artifacts: Now Artifacts & Gemology. Allows characters to cut stones and combine them into more potent gems.

Spells:
Many spells have been reclassified. Psionics no longer exists and has been replaced with Enchantment. Many damaging spells have been given a boost. Probably too many changes to be listed here.

Races:
Overall, base statistics have been lowered for each race and balanced so that everyone gets 350 points in character creation (290 from race and 60 bonus points). I never liked how every race started at a base 25% resistance to each sphere. Sadly, going below 0 causes wraparound, thus giving 100% resistance, so, I have lowered the base resistance for everyone to 10% and then gave each race + or - from there, ie- Felpurrs have 0% in water and Fairies have 25% in mental. Abilities have pretty much remained the same with slight adjustment to resistances based on if their abilities are good or bad.

Items:
All weapons and shields have been given a skill requirement to wield. Thus, if you cannot surpass the requirement, you must wait til you skill up enough to do so.

Gems:
There will be 4 types of uncut gems floating around Dominus. Monsters will drop them and they will be found in chests. On a very basic level, they will be ammunition for slings akin to rocks. There will be two items associated with these rocks: a jeweler's kit and a rock hammer. The jeweler's kit will be needed to turn uncut gems into regular gems, or upgrade gems into more brilliant versions. The rock hammer will be used by non-gadgeteers to be able to perform these functions at a high level. You will need a basic level in engineering to a) cut a gem and b) upgrade each gem. There will be four different gems (Ruby, Diamond, Emerald and Topaz) and four levels to each gem, (Rough, Brilliant, Marquis and Radiant). Each upgrade in gem increases it's damage as ammunition.

The four types of gems:
Ruby - Tend to focus more on enhancing strength and damage
Emerald - Tend to focus more on enhancing dexterity and accuracy
Diamond - Tend to focus more on enhancing intelligence and skill
Sapphire - Tend to focus more on curses and balancing payoff to detriment

The three levels are Brilliant, Marquis and Radiant.

For example- Bloodlust: Has already been enchanted by some other crazy wizard with a Radiant Sapphire, giving it a +1 attack, high initiative and high AC, but at a detriment of -10 Divine and Mental.

Enchantment level will determine when an item can be enchanted. For weapons and shields, Enchantment will need to be equal or greater than the skill requirement for the weapon or shield. A minimum of 25 will be required for an item to be enchanted. Armor will be enchanted based on a tiered system. Starting at Enchantment 25 and increasing every 5 points, another piece of armor can be enchanted. Once all armor has been cycled through, it starts again but with a higher level gem. Only Enchanters can end up enchanting all armor and weapons with the highest level enchantments (since they will be able to achieve 125).

I am always open for suggestions or input for anyone interested in the process here.

All enchanting spells in one school? That's like all individual and party buffs, tactical and strategical? Dude: I suggest it costs health rather than stamina to cast enchantment magic or something because that sounds extremely powerful. I realize it is a counterpart to the Bishop, that still has three schools after all. As far as Enchanter vs Bishop goes it may be just fine and brings versatility since both can't simply use all spells. To cut out Enchantment for the Bishop is awesome. On 2nd thought that kind of tunes down Enchantment insofar as it is combined with Divinity, which has the best enchantments traditionally (so it is more like an improved Divinity school rather than two schools when combined). Divinity still has it's own enchantments?

What of the Lord though? He, traditionally overshadowed by the Valk yet still one of the strongest classes, gets buffed and has access to this school. He gets stamina regen, which is one of the most powerful class abilities and a lot better than hp regen, while keeping his hp regen on top of it? He also gets better casting abilities, still having the *now improved* best school of magic plus a lower offset? I assume he'll still have the best armor in the game, access to all Fighter weapons and the 2nd highest hp per level? You do realize that a Hybrids lower magic skill is only half as bad if there is no resistance to go up against, if he casts enchantments that is?
...
I mean: it is an RPG and if people want to go easy, playing some immensely overpowered character, that's basically fine.
"Hello Mr Fairy Ninja" - "How are you doing Sir Light Sword Fighter?"
Fun is what matters! However: that's what it sounds like. Is that intentional? Did I get something wrong?
If it is intentional I'd still suggest to give him some sort of Kryptonite. The Fighter lacks magic as well as utility abilities and depends on good equipment - the best of which is supposed to be a random find. The Fairy Ninja has elite xp requirements and becomes the death machine only after aquiring the Cane (guarded by a level 20 rogue) and also has severe armor restrictions. The Lord sounds like a true monster without any weaknesses to compensate.

On a side note the Bard looks a bit weak with all these changes, which sound to be mostly about buffs. Is there a way to give a "higher chance to find stuff" ability? That would suit his character anyways.
I'd say your mod sounds like a net gain in power throughout. Maybe I misjudge that. As it sounds however you could do with a higher difficulty to make up for it.

I love the concept, but modding is extremely limited and spells can only use spell points. I am definitely evaluating what goes in Enchanting. The spells in Enchanting are exclusive (but when it is available to all Wiz and Div casters, it doesn't matter to them. Right now I have the following 12 spells...

Detect Secrets
Divine Trap
Enchanted Blade
Guardian Angel
Missile Shield
Magic Screen
Armorplate
Eye for an Eye
Soul Shield
Haste
Superman
Body of Stone

Now, haste is up for debate to move to alchemy. Maybe Superman too. Divinity has a few that are "Divinie" based like Bless, well, really just Bless. The plan is that if you have a Bishop and an Enchanter, they feed off of each other as one does the artifacts for enchanting while the other does the actual enchanting. While both are strong, both have a spell level delay and are elite XP. That's valid and I am on the fence whether Hybrids should have enchantment spells. This may be good cause to nix that idea. Def not the plan, and the goal is to have all the classes somewhat balanced given their role and their experience requirements. Well, when you factor in the skill requirements for Weapons and Shields, that is a major nerf to the entire game. I have also lowered all starting stats as well. I could consider allowing the bard to use the bag of tricks, but that really isn't that much more than what he already has with his instruments.

Thanks for the feedback and it has already made me reconsider some original plans.

My pleasure really. I wouldn't follow through with any modding ideas I may or may not have but you do follow through with yours. By discussing your mod you give me a way to partake in something I respect a lot without having to carry the burden of a huge work load ^^

If you like feedback allow me to ask a few questions and possibly bring up another point or two.
Personally I love Wizardry 8 not least due to its adjustable difficulty and the ingenious beginning. By now I mostly play solos - that's the adjustable difficulty of course. Now it does sound like a party without engineering or enchantment misses out on a lot of the new mechanics. Is that so?

Also, since you listed some spells, I wonder how you assess the different spells. Does it make any sense to share my oppinion regarding the power and usefulness of specific spells? Guess I'll try my luck, feel free to skip on it.

I'd say the best spells are Guardian Angel and Superman, followed by Summon Elemental and Body of Stone. Some of the strategical buffs (those castable outside of combat I mean) are also very desirable. Among those I'd probably rate Magic Screen highest although it does depend on class and the resistances associated with their typical equipment. Heal, Restoration and Stamina are outright necessary of course but the potions are so common: you do not depend on actually having the spells. In a group the group versions of those are pretty strong and not abundant in consumables.
The damaging spells can be strong but most are replacable since any character can deal normal damage anyways - they'd be pretty far below buffs and utility on my list. They don't cut it unless you fully commit to casting to begin with and mostly can't compete with a strong melee fighter in the endgame. That melee fighter really wants those buffs though. That's a bit blunt and to be taken with a grain of salt yet it's the best "quick assessment" concerning damaging spells I could come up with.
The cures to various effects are mostly weak since they are too specific and Restoration, spell or potion, renders them almost entirely redundant. Note that the potion can be brewed by alchemists by the dozen before long. Also quite some of the curative spells belong to schools that aren't trained easily for those that have these spells, resulting in them being way weaker than the corresponding potions, which are also easy to come by.
Knock Knock and Identify deserve attention as multipliers, them arguably being the best spells for training magic skills. Thus a school with just Knock Knock and Earthquake in the earth realm has a powerful Earthquake while the school with only Earthquake and Falling Stars in the earth realm simply wastes two level 7 spell slots. That is also why Enchantment offers a very weak Superman & Haste and a mediocre Body of Stone so far: no earlier spells in those realms to train with. Then again it is always combined with other schools whose spells can be used to train the realms.
Though this is not an assessment of all spells it probably outlines the different factors I'd consider in evaluating spells.

If one plays with a very limited selection of characters the non-spellbook access to those spells is decisive. Superman is kind of easy to aquire for any character as a potion, Guardian Angel a bit more rare but still buyable while Magic Screen scrolls for instance are non-buyable rare finds. Those limitations make access to certain magic schools more (or less) interesting of course. Mind: you can't use Superman potions in every minor battle (too rare still) but you can cast it routinely if you have it as a spell. Also the spell is more powerful (potions are but lvl5). Did you use this tool for magic school balancing: spell consumables and their availability?

Workload depends on the size of the job you are doing. Hopefully this won't require major modifications/ Engineering not so much since I am not using it as a skill. Yes on Enchantment, and now it will be tied to 3 classes, Wizard, Priest and Enchanter. You are focusing on the spells, and I understand that, but the point of the enchanter class is really about weapon and armor enchantments. They have a small subset of spells really just to help increase the strength of the Enchantment school. I was considering lua scripting skill increases, but since I have found no definitive algorithm for skill increase, it would just be a shot in the dark. Damaging spells will get an increase in power. I was debating on decreasing monster's resistances (thus increasing the damage from spells, but also increasing their susceptibleness to that type of magic. In return, I was going to increase their damage resistance to hopefully off-set. I plan on adjusting the availability of potions and increasing the need for an alchemist to make them instead of buying them. That will be the balance aspect later.

The main focus now is handling the Enchanter's ability to enchant items as well as use the usefulness of Skulduggery. Right now, I am working on how the Bag of Tricks will be used.

The following items can be attained from the bag:
Assassin's Blade - Instant Death
Dagger Trap - Dagger Scatter
Dart Trap - Poison Darts
Void Trap - Anti-Magic
Sand Trap - Blinding Flash
Mesmerizing Trap - Hypnotic Lure

I am debating on adding more for outside of combat, like to cast Divine Trap and whatnot. Of course, they overlap with many gadgeteer gadgets. The plan is you can combine a gem with the bag of tricks to get a specific item out of it. Each gem will result in a different item (though I have 12 possible gems, so I may need to come up with 12 tricks). Or, you could use the bag by itself, but it comes at a price, as a random item comes out. I will likely add in a few monty hall items to be pulled out that gems cannot get that have little or no real use. It will be an interesting mechanic added to the game. Skulduggery increases either by adding points or by using the items.

Another update, and thanks to lua scripting I have been able to implement stances for the Ranger.

The Ranger starts out with a "Ranger Charm". When the Ranger uses it for the first time, it puts him into his Ranged Stance, which is +25 Ranged Combat (the Ranger no longer has Ranged Combat as his primary skill). When used again, it puts him into his Dual Wielding stance, which then removes the +25 Ranged Combat and gives +25 Dual Wielding.

In addition, I have changed the gems a bit. There will only be 1 of each type to use for enchantments (for simplicity) though there will be 7 different types of gems. Attached is an image of what they will do.

Some more info for those interested.

Scripting in LUA has allowed some extra functionality that should make things more interesting.

The Bag of Tricks will work as such:

Rogues and Ninja start out with the Bag Of Tricks. It can be activated in two ways. You can merge a gem with the bag to receive the specific item you wanted or you can just put your hand in the bag (use it) and hope all works out well. Using the bag in this manner will activate a random loot script that will put an item in your inventory. Your Skulduggery level will determine the likelihood of a positive outcome. A 100% Skulduggery will allow you to use the bag without gems and never having to worry about the outcome.

Once you pull an item out, you must use it or discard it before you use the bag again. If you discard the item and use the bag again, another item will appear. If you then pick up the item you discarded, the item you had pulled out will disappear. Thus, you can only have 1 item at a time in your entire party (thus, if you have multiple Rogue or Ninjas or combination, one one can use it at a time).

If you pull out a negative item, your Bag disappears until you use the item. You cannot discard the item or you lose your bag. The bag only returns with you use the item pulled out. These items will all be potions with negative results like poison, insanity, Paralysis, sleep and so on.

I have also implemented Disenchanting for items that you have enchanted with a gem. You will need Disenchantment Powder which can be created by an Alchemist.

Lastly, I have scripted it so that any and all monsters can "drop" uncut gemstones. The likelihood of dropping a gemstone will be based off of you highest member's Mythology (the implication is that knowledge about the monsters increases the chance you know where they hide gemstones in their pockets, claws, armpits or whatever). It also creates more synergy between enchanting, artifacts and mythology.

Instead of them leaving the item on the ground, the party acquires the item into their pack.

Nope, I don't think it's annoying to continually bump this. I actually find it interesting to read, even if I don't have any comments or plans to actually try out the mod. Anyway, this subforum could use more traffic anyway. (Yes, I know the "anyway"s are redundant here.)

Thanks...I guess. Sad face to not trying it out.

A few new things:

Samurai's: due to their mystical abilities, now have a chance to have Enchanted Blade cast upon them at the start of battle. The chance will be based on Samurai level + 10%.

Lord: Lords now have the ability to use their Shield to create a Bulwark. This Bulwark increases the AC of the shield significantly but also reduces the speed and Dexterity of the Lord. If you use the shield again, the Bulwark is removed.

Lastly, I am working on BYOCKO. That stands for Build Your Own Character Kind Of.

During Character Creation, you will see there are no secondary skills (or point allocated to it) and that all those points have been given to your primary skill. You can now choose which secondary skills you want your character to have. Of the 15 points you can allocated, each will be doubled in value upon starting the game. You put 3 points in Locks & Traps, game starts and you have 6. Put 1 point in Artifacts, you start with 2.

All the game did with Secondary skills is give them a boost to start with. Now you can pick the skills you want boosted. I am also trying to give a +% growth to these skills based on how much you put in. If you put in 5, you would get a 25% boost. If you put in 2, you'd get a 10% boost. This isn't working as I had hoped, but the jury is still out.

To those still following at home. Thanks to MadGod, I was able to at least move Skulduggery from Weapon skills to Physical skills. Much cleaner there.

Final changes are as follows:
Valkyries are back to being hybrids, and having 1 spell school. But it is now the Enchantment spell school. This will allow all hybrid parties enchantment spells as well as enchanting items.

Enchantment has added various mental spells to fill out it's repertoire.

And lastly, the Bishop has taken a hike. I always felt like he was a glorified priest anyway. So, I made a glorified Monk. The Grandmaster has taken the Bishop's place.

The Grandmaster can cast from Divinity, Alchemy and Wizardry schools, albeit at a -1 level offset (same as alchemist. The Grandmaster forgoes all weapons and most armor (including ranged) as they win their battles on pure body and mind. They do not hide as Grandmasters face their opponents face to face, but they do critically hit. They have mental immunities, can blind fight and can remove cursed items. Their love of knowledge still has their primary skill as artifacts and they love puppies and babies.

In addition, all characters will get a base weapon in their favorite weapon skill to start the game. Rogues, Ninjas and Bards will require 3 points in Skulduggery to start off with the bag of tricks, otherwise they can get one from an NPC later down the road.

I am reading and following. I have no new ideas for you, but I would like to play the mod when you get done.

Btw @OP, since you seem to know your way around:

Is there a convenient way (read: for someone who only fooled around with the Cosmic Forge editor a bit) to change class/race names and descriptions? And how do you import custom item images (not the 3d models, only the inventory images), which obviously has been done a lot by various mods?

Thanks.

jkaplow21 how is your mod coming on?