My bet: She's an portrait from somewhere else and the devs didn't even thougth that using that portrait would lead to this amount of assumption!!
Actually, it's been CONFIRMED by Mad Bee, UI/Concept/Character Artist at Beamdog that the lady in the portrait is Hexxat: "Also painted the portrait I point out in the picture of a certain new character" - and we know the only new character now is Hexxat.
I'm not denying the portrait is Hexxat, i'm saying that people are assuming too much about who she is (which race to be more specific) based only in the portrait.
My bet: She's an portrait from somewhere else and the devs didn't even thougth that using that portrait would lead to this amount of assumption!!
Actually, it's been CONFIRMED by Mad Bee, UI/Concept/Character Artist at Beamdog that the lady in the portrait is Hexxat: "Also painted the portrait I point out in the picture of a certain new character" - and we know the only new character now is Hexxat.
I'm not denying the portrait is Hexxat, i'm saying that people are assuming too much about who she is (which race to be more specific) based only in the portrait.
I think considering they selected the portrait for her indicates that the developers see it as a fairly accurate representation of how they desire her to appear, and thus making some generalisations based on it is probably at least somewhat sensible.
Well, some things I have to say about it all... I don't really find a non-kitted/non-multiclass thief all that good... And even if she gets treated as a human so that she might be able to Dual-Class... Most NPC thieves seem to have pretty stupid thief skill distribution, so unless it's done well, she might still not be good as a thief, though I suppose if it's like that, one could always Shadowkeeper those skills to turn her into a worthwhile thief...
I still think Hexxat planetraveld. Maybe the Knights of Solamnia chased her from the plane of Dragonlance? Or she came from Ravenloft. And I think she is Neutral and can change alignment according your actions (she came from another plane so thats perfect logic).
I was actually really hoping for a kitted thief (especially considering that all the other new characters are kitted), but I guess that's ok. A shadowdancer NPC would have been really fun, though...
@Fardragon: Assuming, once again, that she's anything more than what she appears to be: human.
It's worth repeating that the point of these NPCs isn't necessarily to do or be something extraordinary - Rasaad is, after all, just a human monk. That doesn't preclude him from having an interesting storyline.
Considering how secretive they have been about her, even going as far to say that revealing the most basic details about her would be big spoilers. After all that it would be a pretty huge troll on Overhauls part if she was nothing but a regular human thief. While it is always possible that they have indeed been trolling us, I personally doubt it at least.
Like I said before, If she's a trueclass thief, it seems fairly sensible to assume she's either going to have some kind of exotic racial skills or personal skills. Mazzy has her Paladinesque skills, Sarevok his Deathbringer Assault, Minsc Berserk and Viconia Magic Resistance. Other characters in BG2 also have their specific items or abilities, like Nalia's ring, Valygar and Keldorn's armour and weapon combo, or Jan's combination of awesome gear. Haer'Dalis gets his unique swords, free pip in short swords and at high level some sweet, sweet resistances.
Rasaad is also technically not a trueclass monk anymore, he has the Sun Soul kit, so I am not sure if he counts much. Even if this had remained the case, there is no guarantee he would not have received something unique in BG2EE (or still may), like Jaheira gets both her unique accessory and resurrection spell (Harper's Call).
Also like @Messi said, they have been highly secretive about her, which leads me to assume some kind of spoiler in her Record Sheet. Unless they are trolling us, which is always feasible.
My personal favourite options now are Doppleganger (because then she can be all things to all people) or something like a Werepanther (because it'd be funny if she was a better shapeshifter then the Shapeshifter). Both appeal to my sense of humour.
With Shadowdancer seemingly not an option, however, I am leaning estimates of Alignment towards Lawful Evil than Neutral Evil.
I wouldn't be surprised if the devs following this thread were scratching their heads and trying to come up with some last minute flavor to add to a plain vanilla human NPC. That and a serious talk with the concept artist.
I'm sort of relieved she's a trueclass Thief, to be honest.
I did not care much to start with. It's always the stories of the characters that convince me to have them in the party. I did not play BG2 in about 10 years but I don't recall ever really missing one class or another. All this speculation about the new NPC's race is also not very interesting to me. I would much prefer her to have a really interesting story rather than an interesting race. If she ends up human with a really cool story perfect. If she is a genasi/werepanther/doppleganger/whatchamacallit but totally cliche, meh. All IMO of course.
I think a lot of the race-based speculation is driven mostly by the devs' attitude of not revealing any information about her, including her stats. Since we now know that she's trueclass, that really only leaves her race and alignment as the big mysteries, and while the various factions are keen to have her be Evil or Neutral, there isn't a great deal of mystery to be had surrounding that.
I'm fairly convinced that she'll turn out to be an interesting character, though, regardless of what her racial background is. I just personally love speculating about these things, and enjoy reading those of others. I can always write the glowy yellow eyes off as a quirk of the concept art, after all. Dorn has glowing eyes in his but not in the game. I think overall, if anything it points me more towards an Evil alignment than it does a specific racial background.
Human Thief with an awesome personality and questline would be more than enough for me, especially if she turned out to be of an Evil Alignment, preferably Lawful but I can go with Neutral or even Chaotic, but we already have 2 each of them already.
This shade story about her is an idea that i like. I agree that she will have some sort of special ability of any kind, because she's "just" a pure single-class thief. And we can't know what it will be for sure, but i'm betting on something like this shade thing. Or an evil pact she made that gave her a dark secret and special dark power. Can't wait to meet her
Meh, if she is shadovar with innate abilities to shadowstep and such to make her more interesting than a plain thief, why not just give her shadowdancer kit to begin with. Also I think that whole shade thing would be a slight anachronism, because I'm pretty sure that the Shade Enclave returned to Faerun after conclusion of the Bhaalspawn saga. But then again, so is the shadowdancer kit.
@doomdoomdoom How is the Shadowdancer itself an anachronism? Perhaps in edition order? The Shadowdancer prestige class was never tied to any lore events.
Also, I would imagine they made her unkitted so her skill points and backstab multiplier would be unnerfed.
The Plane of Shadow existed before Shar took it and made it her home. The Shadow Weave doesn't exist at this point in the canon, but shadow magic is definitely something that exists.
Her concept image looks a bit serpentine... Scaled torso, limbless, and a cobra like hood and those eyes a bit reptilian. Yuan-ti pureblood perhaps as race? Extaminaar background?
I have no idea if they remain armless after birth, lol...
YT Purebloods just look human with some telltale snake-like features, such as eyes, a forked tongue, etc. The 2E Monster manual says they can pass for human about 80% of the time. That said I'm fairly sure her torso is a dress, and why would a Yuan-ti wear a snakeskin dress? It seems vaguely blasphemous and insulting to their gods.
The Plane of Shadow existed before Shar took it and made it her home. The Shadow Weave doesn't exist at this point in the canon, but shadow magic is definitely something that exists.
Just tossing that out there.
Considering in BG2 you fight Shades, the Shade Lord and a frickin' Shadow Dragon, I think its fairly clear that the Plane of Shadow has some influence and power!
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It's worth repeating that the point of these NPCs isn't necessarily to do or be something extraordinary - Rasaad is, after all, just a human monk. That doesn't preclude him from having an interesting storyline.
Oh well, Shadowkeeper to the rescue...
Rasaad is also technically not a trueclass monk anymore, he has the Sun Soul kit, so I am not sure if he counts much. Even if this had remained the case, there is no guarantee he would not have received something unique in BG2EE (or still may), like Jaheira gets both her unique accessory and resurrection spell (Harper's Call).
Also like @Messi said, they have been highly secretive about her, which leads me to assume some kind of spoiler in her Record Sheet. Unless they are trolling us, which is always feasible.
My personal favourite options now are Doppleganger (because then she can be all things to all people) or something like a Werepanther (because it'd be funny if she was a better shapeshifter then the Shapeshifter). Both appeal to my sense of humour.
With Shadowdancer seemingly not an option, however, I am leaning estimates of Alignment towards Lawful Evil than Neutral Evil.
I'm fairly convinced that she'll turn out to be an interesting character, though, regardless of what her racial background is. I just personally love speculating about these things, and enjoy reading those of others. I can always write the glowy yellow eyes off as a quirk of the concept art, after all. Dorn has glowing eyes in his but not in the game. I think overall, if anything it points me more towards an Evil alignment than it does a specific racial background.
Human Thief with an awesome personality and questline would be more than enough for me, especially if she turned out to be of an Evil Alignment, preferably Lawful but I can go with Neutral or even Chaotic, but we already have 2 each of them already.
Give her a strength-booster like the belt or gloves, Ring of Invisibility, aaaaand it's backstab time!
I agree that she will have some sort of special ability of any kind, because she's "just" a pure single-class thief.
And we can't know what it will be for sure, but i'm betting on something like this shade thing. Or an evil pact she made that gave her a dark secret and special dark power. Can't wait to meet her
Also I think that whole shade thing would be a slight anachronism, because I'm pretty sure that the Shade Enclave returned to Faerun after conclusion of the Bhaalspawn saga. But then again, so is the shadowdancer kit.
How is the Shadowdancer itself an anachronism? Perhaps in edition order? The Shadowdancer prestige class was never tied to any lore events.
Also, I would imagine they made her unkitted so her skill points and backstab multiplier would be unnerfed.
Just tossing that out there.
Here is a snippet from the code:
BEGIN ~Who Let the Hexxat Out? Part II~
PRINT ~meow!~
I have no idea if they remain armless after birth, lol...