This is offset by the fact that his melee ability is pretty piss-poor.
Well, yes, from up front in a fair fight. Which he won't ever do because he is a thief.
His lower strength really only gives him -1 to attack and -3 to damage. A backstab with a longsword (which he's the most proficient with) adds +4 to attack and +1d8 damage, or +2d8 on the last couple levels. It gives him a pretty good opening in fight.
This is offset by the fact that his melee ability is pretty piss-poor.
Well, yes, from up front in a fair fight. Which he won't ever do because he is a thief.
His lower strength really only gives him -1 to attack and -3 to damage. A backstab with a longsword (which he's the most proficient with) adds +4 to attack and +1d8 damage, or +2d8 on the last couple levels. It gives him a pretty good opening in fight.
Why would you use Coran in melee, anyway?
IDK, maybe because something has enough HP to manage to get in his face before he shoots it completely full of arrows?
I'm not trying to be a naysayer, @Chow. Coran is bloody awesome. I'm just pointing out that he is balanced in that his melee is crap. True he can backstab decently, Monty's much better for that sort of thing though. People like to compare Coran and Kivan and I think that's stupid. They serve different roles. I like to compare Coran and Monty. Monty is a versatile fighter/thief, good at the up close and personal while still being pretty decent with ranged weaponry. Coran is your ranged fighter/thief, absolutely beast with a bow, kinda bad with melee. As you say his only real purpose in melee is to backstab, which he does okay at.
Fair enough. I'm not saying you're a naysayer, either: I just saw an opportunity for discussion.
I guess if you wanted backstabs, you'd rather take Montaron than Coran, but now you have three characters filled: Kivan, Coran, and Montaron. You'll probably only need two of those. It all depends on whether you'd like two mighty archers, or a bit more melee capabilities, and in either case you'll have some backstabs when you need that stuff.
(and talking kits, I think he'd actually make a better stalker, since he's out "stalking" bandits)
Agreed entirely, this is why I'm glad they didn't add kits to the old NPCs. He is definitely a Stalker. NPC Archers don't run around with 18/12 Strength, I'm sorry.
Well that's the beauty of modding. Everyone can have their own way. For me, Kivan is definitely an archer. Every playtrough.
I gave Coran Ogre Gauntlets. That alone pretty much made him a melee god as well; with the new Belt, he's even better. Not a tank, but put the claw on him and then just cackle a bit at his absurd awesomeness.
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His lower strength really only gives him -1 to attack and -3 to damage. A backstab with a longsword (which he's the most proficient with) adds +4 to attack and +1d8 damage, or +2d8 on the last couple levels. It gives him a pretty good opening in fight.
Why would you use Coran in melee, anyway?
I'm not trying to be a naysayer, @Chow. Coran is bloody awesome. I'm just pointing out that he is balanced in that his melee is crap. True he can backstab decently, Monty's much better for that sort of thing though. People like to compare Coran and Kivan and I think that's stupid. They serve different roles. I like to compare Coran and Monty. Monty is a versatile fighter/thief, good at the up close and personal while still being pretty decent with ranged weaponry. Coran is your ranged fighter/thief, absolutely beast with a bow, kinda bad with melee. As you say his only real purpose in melee is to backstab, which he does okay at.
I guess if you wanted backstabs, you'd rather take Montaron than Coran, but now you have three characters filled: Kivan, Coran, and Montaron. You'll probably only need two of those. It all depends on whether you'd like two mighty archers, or a bit more melee capabilities, and in either case you'll have some backstabs when you need that stuff.
Kivan Coran and Monty?
With some form of Mage and/or Cleric backup, unstoppable lol. That sounds awesome.
Well that's the beauty of modding. Everyone can have their own way. For me, Kivan is definitely an archer. Every playtrough.
If you're already Shadowkeeping him a kit, might as well.
Besides, even if he were stalker, what, he'd backstab with that halberd of his? That wouldn't really work either.