Rasaad yn Bashir
Corvino
Member Posts: 2,269
There doesn't seem to be a discussion of Rasaad in the English language forums yet, thought I'd start one.
He looks like an interesting character, and the new area included in his personal quest (the Cloudpeaks) offers a fun change of direction. We've also seem few Calimshite characters ingame, so more depth is good.
He's also a monk. We have not had any official monk/barbarian/sorcerer NPCs before, so yay for variety. I enjoy playing monks but have done a full BGT run with one before and the BG1 part was pretty nasty. Unless there's a rework of how they level he could be a bit underpowered.
He looks like an interesting character, and the new area included in his personal quest (the Cloudpeaks) offers a fun change of direction. We've also seem few Calimshite characters ingame, so more depth is good.
He's also a monk. We have not had any official monk/barbarian/sorcerer NPCs before, so yay for variety. I enjoy playing monks but have done a full BGT run with one before and the BG1 part was pretty nasty. Unless there's a rework of how they level he could be a bit underpowered.
Post edited by Tanthalas on
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He seems interesting but I'm not sure he'll fit with my Good party so I might take him on my 2nd playthrough along with Grommy's brother.
Monks have a good description of the class and when they gain abilities in the manual. They were never balanced for BG1 and as a consequence are pretty underpowered from level 1-8. They get fighter THAC0 progression but their AC and lower hitpoints, lack of dual-wield and weapon specialisation make them much less effective at low levels. Make no mistake, they turn into killing machines but at BG1 levels they are quite limited.
Here's a link to a monk progression chart:http://playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate:_Progression_Charts#Monks
@SirBuliwyf @charname High stats and decent monk-specific gear are ways to keep him more viable in BG1, lets see what gets implemented.
"For a young man, Rasaad yn Bashir radiates an uncommonly mature aura of calm and wisdom. After a disastrous mission to a monastery in Athkatla, he now wanders the Sword Coast in search of enlightenment.
Orphaned on the streets of Calimport, Rasaad and his brother, Gamaz, barely survived by begging and theft. Caught in the act by a monk of the Order of the Sun Soul, the boys received not punishment but their first instruction. Soon the brothers excelled in the physical, mental, and spiritual training of the monastery devoted to Selûne, goddess of the moon.
In the aftermath of his brother's death, Rasaad has left his order to seek his own solace. If he can also find opportunities to reflect his inner light on those in need, he is eager to do so."
i think the concept sounds solid and that he is lawful good. it will be nice to have a monk npc, a very welcome addition.
i am a bit skeptical of his potential personality (most of the three) because he does sound really promising, but i'm afraid it could quickly devolve in some mysterious otherworldly crap being said about every rock in sight, delivered in deep, breathy, gentle voice. hmmm...
discuss.
Plus, the concerns that you've voiced. It is indeed possible that Mr Rasaad becomes half hypermysterious brooding boxer, half yoga hippie, and that would be... ugly. I do however have confidence in Beamdog to make him interesting.
edit- @The_New_Romance i hope that too
As with what Trinit seems to be saying, I can only worry that we may have another Cernd on our hands, a druid who's name always reminds me of spatially adjusted type.
Anyway, i don't do well with monks to be honest, but since my first pnp party had a monk i'm gonna give him a try, well to see the new dialogues too :P
And yes, Monks are extremely powerful at high levels. And just like P&P druids, after a certain point (I think it's level 8 for a monk, Master of Dragons being the Level Title), they have to fight with a superior to go up in levels. I wonder how they are going to implement that in the game. They get 4 sided dice for hit points, albeit 2d4 at first level. And the level is capped at 17. There, you can go no higher. At level 12, you get 5 attacks every 2 rounds (3 in the first, 2 in the second) and at level 17, this rises to 4 per round. And they generally don't use weapons, because their hands can literally bitch-slap you into next week. At 17th level, they do 4-32 points of damage with their open hands (That's 16- 122 per round...)
The entire "disasterous mission" to Athkatla & death of his brother does have echoes of Caine's story. His master is killed by an arrogant nobleman whom Caine kills in the heat of the moment. The nobleman is related to the royal family though, and Caine has to flee to the US to avoid execution & seek penance. If Rasaad's story follows a similar arc he'll have an interesting return to Athkatla in BG2:EE.
@Corvino I would love to see something like that. Especially for BG2, where some of the stereotypes for the NPC's are so overdone. (Cernd, I'm looking at you!)
Looking forward to the cloud peaks, not so much Rasaad
this remains to be seen in bg2:ee. a request will be made when the time comes, i'm sure of it.
I think because of that, dont get me wrong. thats a great idea to implement, but is cause of keeping the game balanced too was a reason. I dont think they will implement going that far. The mages were strong enough or most would argue already overpowerful enough to solo the game alone. It be a nice idea. But demigodness just wont ever happen as mages are just far too strong enough as they are already. But the monk in vanilla only had access to fighter HLA and just didnt make them monklike at all. My post is hoping they put the monk HLA in the game to make them unique from a fighter with different HLA altogether.
True. After 30 you are considered godly like. I just dont think it means exactly like that. Just a way to reflect how smart characters are by that point. But Demigod status is still a strong point. I think what you more think it is, is its EPIC. They do have that when you reach 29 as you are entering a protege class state of epicness. I cant exactly remember how they sorted it out but first 10 levels are beginning 11 to 20 is your avancement to said class, 21-30 is your protege levels and 31-40 is your epic attaining of your path.
Its something like that but yes anyone can argue by that point you are a demigod in a way. Your point is just as strongly valid as mine. There are many ways to reflect such a level should define your PCs status.
Monks did get their own HLAs from a mod. I think it was in Oversight. It just wasnt right to have them base off fighter HLAs.
Im not saying more power. They just were too powerful already in the game to have anything else be goiven to them. You could already call them demigods even at level 1 for just knowing how to cast magic missle lol.
as i said i agree with new HLA's idea.
OT- i like the looks of new areas that come with rasaad. reminds me of IWD areas i loved- snowy, calm and mysterious, with great atmospheric music, although i cannot force myself through hack&slash of iwd2. iwd1 yes, but iwd2...