How have you messed about with your party?
Chow
Member Posts: 1,192
As in, used Shadowkeeper or Level 1 NPCs (the latter of which not working right now) to make your characters into something more interesting than the base classes. If you've done so at all, I mean.
Here's what I did:
Shar-Teel - Berserker. She's pretty much insane enough that I figured her not going into a bloodthirsty rage was a bit of a bummer. And then I proceeded to never use her berserker rage even once, but it's the thought that counts. I also sometimes turn her into an assassin when I dual-class her, but this time around I felt like doing different.
Ajantis - Inquisitor. The kit is pure awesome in a can, very flavored, and makes some pretty big changes on how one needs to play their paladin, and Ajantis having been tutored by Keldorn, the quintessential inquisitor in the sequel, it made perfect sense to me for him to be one.
Montaron - Assassin. Mostly because he seems to be largely concerned for the stabbing part of being a thief, at least personality-wise, so I thought I'd help him out. It means I'll need to have another thief in a party, but I typically have two of them anyway so it doesn't matter. Other times I've switched him to a wizard slayer, because it's a funny thought.
Xan - Sorcerer. He's pretty pointless otherwise, what with having no fireballs or basically anything else of use. I love sorcerers and there are none in the game, even with Enhanced Edition's new characters, so might as well.
Coran - Bounty hunter. Those traps are pretty neat, and I thought he could be using them on wyverns and other wild animals. Swashbuckler is another common choice, considering his basic personality, but there's really not a single kit among fighters or thieves that could help his archery, which is a bummer (I miss the sniper kit some mod added).
Kivan - Archer. Self-explanatory.
Dynaheir - Wild mage. I felt that where she's from magic might be kind of wild, and it differentiates her a little more from Edwin and might give another reason to why Red Wizards might want to see her killed. Of course, now we have a legitimate wild mage in the game, so I didn't do it this time around, but it's been a common choice in the past.
And, as a bonus, one that I did NOT change, even though it appears to be possibly the most common choice for people to meddle with:
Minc - Was on the fence between berserker and barbarian, but he couldn't charm animals either way, and I felt that charming animals, while essentially useless, is an important part of his character.
Here's what I did:
Shar-Teel - Berserker. She's pretty much insane enough that I figured her not going into a bloodthirsty rage was a bit of a bummer. And then I proceeded to never use her berserker rage even once, but it's the thought that counts. I also sometimes turn her into an assassin when I dual-class her, but this time around I felt like doing different.
Ajantis - Inquisitor. The kit is pure awesome in a can, very flavored, and makes some pretty big changes on how one needs to play their paladin, and Ajantis having been tutored by Keldorn, the quintessential inquisitor in the sequel, it made perfect sense to me for him to be one.
Montaron - Assassin. Mostly because he seems to be largely concerned for the stabbing part of being a thief, at least personality-wise, so I thought I'd help him out. It means I'll need to have another thief in a party, but I typically have two of them anyway so it doesn't matter. Other times I've switched him to a wizard slayer, because it's a funny thought.
Xan - Sorcerer. He's pretty pointless otherwise, what with having no fireballs or basically anything else of use. I love sorcerers and there are none in the game, even with Enhanced Edition's new characters, so might as well.
Coran - Bounty hunter. Those traps are pretty neat, and I thought he could be using them on wyverns and other wild animals. Swashbuckler is another common choice, considering his basic personality, but there's really not a single kit among fighters or thieves that could help his archery, which is a bummer (I miss the sniper kit some mod added).
Kivan - Archer. Self-explanatory.
Dynaheir - Wild mage. I felt that where she's from magic might be kind of wild, and it differentiates her a little more from Edwin and might give another reason to why Red Wizards might want to see her killed. Of course, now we have a legitimate wild mage in the game, so I didn't do it this time around, but it's been a common choice in the past.
And, as a bonus, one that I did NOT change, even though it appears to be possibly the most common choice for people to meddle with:
Minc - Was on the fence between berserker and barbarian, but he couldn't charm animals either way, and I felt that charming animals, while essentially useless, is an important part of his character.
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Monty is soley focused on hide in shadows/move silently at the moment, as has the stealth boots (and will layter be given the shadow armour), I use him heavily for scouting (which he can do even in daylight) and backstabs. Will give hom the quarter staff weapon proificiency later, so that he can use the staff of striking for awesome backstabs. It does mean I need to use another thief for locks/traps, though
A fighter with short-sword *rolleyes* and similar ridiculous stuff...
In BGEE i changed only 2 things so far. Ajantis does have 2 points in Scimitar instead of greatsword (you know why ^^) and Coran uses shortbows instead of longbows, just cause he can't even wield a composite bow and the 2nd best bow he can use, without changing his other stats should be the Eagle Bow.
IMO it's not really cheating, as they were supposed to wield either all swords or bows with a mere proficiency.
My edit stuff is usually only limited to proficiency at all, and I try to avoid cheesy/buggy gamemechanics, like a newly created lvl 7 fighter in BG2 can't put in 5 prof points or double stealing/looting items (ring of Gaxx anyone?) or using additional ammunition in Firetooth, Gesen & Co. (which cripples you nonetheless as those weapons use their 'own' +x stat modifier as enchantment instead of the ammunition). Am used to play IWD/2 anyway, where I have full controll of my own party, so I see no reason to not change minor things
Eagle Bow (Short Bow) - +2 Damage, +2 THAC0 [Kill Marek]
Dead Shot aka Long Bow of Marksmanship (Long Bow) - +2 Damage, +3 THAC0 [Kill the Hobgoblin in Tazok's Tent]
Composite Long Bow +1 (Composite Long Bow) - +3 Damage, +2 THAC0 [Buy at Feldepost's Inn]
Coran's best bow is clearly the second, not the Eagle Bow.
The scimitars go along with his calimshan roots pretty well and look pretty cool with his monk avatar. He isn't overpowered by any means, but effective enough so I can enjoy his so-far awesome storyline without having to babysit an ineffective character. Hopefully this won't corrupt my game haha!
I also made Imoen a mage thief multiclass. I also gave her a female elf thief avatar so she doesnt tower over my half elf cleric ranger in comparison. U cant see her ears so it fits pretty good. Yes I know dual classing is more powerful but I have more fun with multiclasses. Having to wait for the old class to reactivate is both annoying and completely silly from a logic standpoint. Actually a lot of 2nd edition special rules are silly but I still love the system anyways
I depinkified Imoen
On the inventory screen, I changed her major colour to be the same as her more muted purplish minor colour. I had never done this before. It feels a bit wrong but my eyes hurt less now.
She now also looks like she could legitimately sneak up on someone without her neon clothing giving her away. Hell, the black Shadow armour and the moody purple clothing almost make her look like a badass.
What have I done?
My only Shadowkeeper change was to bring my CHARNAME up to being a Swashbuckler/Mage, as per his character concept. Next time through of course, I'll probably make minor changes to every NPC that crosses my party, not least being Xan being a Fighter/Mage to put that sword to use.
I think only the newest BG2 tweaks or fixes made it even to the fireball-limit. Imagine a ToB-casted 40d6 lvl3 spell o_O !
edit: and yes, I neither like sleep or fireball; haven't met a monster which slept anymore and there are better spells than a fireball, which just risks to hurt your party.
1: Minsc-> barbarian. I feel it fis him more than ranger or berserker.
2: Kivan-> Stalker. It was a toss up between that and archer, but stalker just works with his personality. I'll also change his halberds to something that can backstab.
3: Cleric kits from divine remix (if that has been updated) for Branwen and Viconia. Maybe also for Yeslick and Tiax.
4: Ajantis -> Cavalier. I know he was tutored by Keldorn, but he seems more of a "slay the monster and rescue damsels" type of guy to me.
5: Rasaad-> Kensai. That way he can keep his "no armor martial artist" shtick and not be totally useless.
6: Jaheria -> Ranger/Cleric. I don't know why she pretends to be so true neutral. She is neutral good and everyone knows it. This way she can keep being a fighting priest and keep the nature flavor.
7: Faldorn->Avenger. It's not like she's a physical powerhouse anyway, and it fits her flavor.
8: Dynaheir-> sorcerer. I like what @Chow said about her magic being different enough that red wizards hunt her, but she is too constrained to be a Wild Mage, and besides, we have Neera for that now.
I don't know how to do it yet, but I also want to mod Skalds so that they cast like Clerics (the whole warrior poet idea works better for me if the can wear armor and cast) and Blades so they cast like Sorcerers.
Minsc tempts me because the only thing rangery about him is Boo, and I really feel if berserker had been around in BG1, the devs would have made him that. I mean, he introduces himself as a berserker. The headwound just makes him think he can talk to animals, as borne out by the fact that he does not meet boo until convalescing.
I have changed Shar-Teel, all spawns. I changed her level 2 spawn to have two profs in longsword, moving one from dagger. I changed her level 4 spawn to fighter3/thief4 (less xp than base) dual class. Her level 6 spawn is fighter 6/Thief 7(more xp than base). In all cases she is built to get GM in longswords and all thieving points are in stealth, with her early thief profs in dagger and shortbow. I just see no reason not to DC Shar-Teel in a playthrough, and I don't want to have to make sure I get to the basilisk area early every game
By the way, do you guys go in and change it every playthrough or do you put modified .cres in your override. It annoys me and breaks immersion for me to go into SK regularly, so I just saved some altered .cres in override.
Shar-Teel - Berserker or Barbarian
Viconia - Cleric / Thief or Cleric / Mage
Eldoth - Skald
Garrick - Jester
Faldorn - Avenger
Jaheira - Totemic Druid or Ranger
Khalid - Fighter / Mage
Minsc - Berserker
Kivan - Archer
Branwen - Fighter / Cleric
Dynaheir - Sorcerer
Xzar - Cleric / Mage
Montaron - Assassin
Ajantis - Inquisitor