- Mod authors: Inferno, Duality, others
- First published: 2002? (not sure)
- Adds content to: BG2 chapter 2 (Athkatla)
The Planar Sphere Mod is a very old mod, which has been improved by multiple authors over the years.
Despite its undeniable game balance issues and at times overbearing silliness, it remains one of my favorite BG2 mods of all time, because it is, quite simply, fun to play through.
It adds the following content:
Tired of having a big empty Planar Sphere as your stronghold?
This mod allows you to turn it into a full-blown training facility for Cowled Wizard apprentices. This adds content to almost every room of the sphere - characters to talk to, new spells to learn (example), a shop, a forge for enchanting weapons yourself, a few mini-quests, and a series of 'visitors' (combat encounters at the sphere entrance)...
Many of the interactions are on the sillier end, so if you prefer to think of the Cowled Wizards as sinister overlords rather than a gang of buffoons who like to blow themselves up with their own experiments, then this may not be for you...
To start:
- A few days after you've completed the normal Mage stronghold quest-line (training apprentices and Lord Argrim quest), Teos will appear again in the Planar Sphere (standing on the entrance bridge). Talk to him.
(If your CHARNAME is not a mage, you can install the "Multiple Strongholds" component of the Tweaks Anthology mod to get access to it.)
It's not merely the fate of the Sword Coast, that hangs in the balance – it's the fate of the entire multiverse! An uber-powerful sorcerer is trying to implode the planes of existence, and the gods & overgods are powerless to stop him. Only you, CHARNAME & party, can foil his evil plan...
This is a pretty large quest with a grandiose story that starts in the Planar Sphere, but takes you around Athkatla (and... other places). Legendary Forgotten Realms characters, and even gods, make an appearance – and die. Magic itself incarnates and goes to battle. Extraplanar creatures swarm Athkatla.
Despite its craziness, the story draws you in. Planescape: Torment fans will recognize the many references to that game's setting. Some humorous fourth-wall-breaking dialog is thrown into the mix.
The battles are interesting (basically a series of unique "boss fights", and not many trash mobs), and very challenging. If your party isn't ready for the toughest encounters of Watcher's Keep, you won't get very far in this quest, either.
The XP rewards total in the millions, the loot includes very overpowered items (example 1, example 2), and CHARNAME receives high permanent bonuses.
Ridiculous? Over-the-top? Yes. But also great fun...
Not recommended for Forgotten Realms lore purists or those who seek a balanced game; but for powergamers, this is a must-try.
To start the quest:
- After having turned the Planar Sphere into a Cowled Wizard academy (see section A above), talk to Teos again (he now stands next to the table in the room where the Solamnnic Knights were), and accept his task to retrieve an artifact. It will lead to this quest.
- When Athkatla is temporarily "changed", explore various districts for bonus content that won't be available before or after (such as a hard-to-find shop, and a very long and silly cut-scene, lol).
- In the last two boss fights of this quest (both back inside the Planar Sphere), the rewards – but also the enemy numbers & AI – scale with the difficulty slider. Turn it up to Insane to get the best loot. In the earlier fights it makes no difference.
Download version 2.6c of the mod from this post.
Then, before installing the mod, patch it using the Big World Fixpack to make it EE-compatible.
(If you use BWS to install your mods, you'll automatically get the patched version.)
Alternatively, if you are only interested in the "Mage stronghold brought to life" part, you could have a look at Roxanne's Expanded Mage Stronghold mod – which is apparently an EE port of the Planar Sphere Mod, but with the "Evil archsorcerer" quest removed and the remaining content rebalanced. (I haven't tried this myself yet.)
Then, before installing the mod, patch it using the Big World Fixpack to make it EE-compatible.
(If you use BWS to install your mods, you'll automatically get the patched version.)
Alternatively, if you are only interested in the "Mage stronghold brought to life" part, you could have a look at Roxanne's Expanded Mage Stronghold mod – which is apparently an EE port of the Planar Sphere Mod, but with the "Evil archsorcerer" quest removed and the remaining content rebalanced. (I haven't tried this myself yet.)
