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My Alternative Runes Mod (MAR Mod)
By: The Man of the Waterfall
Version: 0.1a
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INTRODUCTION:
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The 'My Alternative Runes' mod is a simple mod that attempts to add effects/bonuses to the Sun, Earth, and Moon runes based on what they did in the first Witcher game. Translation for what effects were added was based on the evaluation I did for the 'My Alternative Imports Mod'. The two new runes were also given something extra. This mod did not intend to make the runes significantly more powerful, but instead it just adds some flavor.

There are other long established mods that modify runes which may be more to your liking. Which mod suits one best depends on the level of change one seeks. Please take a look if one have not already:
'Improved Runes' by Deejerz88
'Balanced Powerful Runes' by Sir_Toejam

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INSTALLATION:
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To install, take the file in the folder(s) and place it into the same sub-directory pattern inside the Witcher 2's installation directory. or you can drag the entire CookedPC folder into your installed Witcher 2's folder. If you are pompted to overwrite, then you may have another mod modifying the same file. Make sure to back-up your existing version before attempting to overwrite or manually merge the contents.

The file contained in this mod is listed below:
..\MyAlternativeRunes\CookedPC\items\def_stats_item_runes.xml

See the CHANGES section below for a description of the runes' stat changes.

To uninstall, remove the file mentioned above from the the respective subfolder in the Witcher 2 folder.

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CHANGES:
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Sun Rune -->
Damage +5% (unchanged)
Chance to Stun +2%
Change to Incinerate +3%
Comments: The added effects were to simulate in a small way the former ability to 'blind' and incinerate. The sun rune simply remains a cheaper alternative to the higher tier runes, but also worth looking at if you want to specifically add to stun.

Earth Rune -->
Vitality +25 (unchanged)
Damage Reduction Multiplier on Block +5% (unchanged)
Damage +1
Chance to Knock-down +1%
Comments: The rune now adds a flat single point of damage (min-max) to the weapon applied. In addition, 1% knockdown was provided. The Earth Rune remains the cheapest rune and the effects - I feel - reflect that. Keep in mind that all the percentage bonus to weapons on other runes will work better for weapons with higher damage. I see the earth rune as something good for early swords where sword damage is still low (benefits more from the new flat damage increase) and where the vitality bonus and blocking bonus can be of more use/help.

Moon Rune -->
Sign Damage Bonus +4 (unchanged)
Bonus vs. Insectoids +2%
Bonus vs. Gargoyles +2%
Bonus vs. Necrophages +2%
Bonus vs. Wraiths +2%
Comments: To emulate the "silver sensitivity" bonus, I looked at what types of monsters existed in the first Witcher saga who responded to silver sensitivity (using the Witcher Wikia). From that, I looked at the currently available creature bonus and decided on these four. Silver swords were poor on humans, so obviously bonus against humans were excluded. Harpies is said to be weak enough never-mind worry about silver sensitivity, so specific bonus for it was excluded to reduce clutter. The bonus versus large/huge was excluded as I believe large creatures were sensitive to silver for being one of the categories included already or for other reasons, and not just because they are large/huge. (Plus I should know since I am pretty large myself from my 20 years of chomping down hamburgers, and just because I am 'huge' doesn't mean suddenly poking me with a sterling silver fork is more effective than the stainless steel fork. On the other hand, I did become more susceptible to diabetes.)

Fire Rune -->
Damage +5% (unchanged)
Resistance to Incineration +20% (unchanged)
Chance of Incineration +10% (unchanged)
Igni Sign Incineration Chance +5%
Comments: Fire Rune seems well off already. I just added small bonus to Igni Sign setting a foe on fire since it was a separate calculation.

Ysgith Rune -->
Damage +7% (unchanged)
Chance of Bleed +8% (unchanged)
Chance of Poison +4%
Comments: Ysgith Rune seems well off as well. I added a small chance of poison.

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KNOWN ISSUES:
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N/A - None so far; will keep an eye out for a while to see if any of these causes problems for me, or if something is reported to have issues.

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