How about a kit of a kit? There could be like 9 different types of a type of a class, one for each alignment, each with their own special abilities within the special abilities of the kit of the class. But the special abilities of the special abilities of the kit of the kit of the class would be alignment-specific to the original alignment of the kit which could or could not be the alignment of the original class.
And then each kit of a kit could have- (head explodes)
I was thinking of a fighter kit in a "300" or spartan style, immune to fear, can't wear armour, but shields, bracers, boots, cloaks, belts and helmets are ok. May not use any two-handed weapons except spear.
The goal here is to create a kit which isn't a DPS fighter, but is capable of absorbing a LOT of damage.
Hoplite (Fighter) Kit:
Bonuses: - +1 to hit +1 damage with spears every 5 levels - Speed Factor of spear decreases by 1 every 8 levels - May Wield a Spear as a one-handed weapon
Shield Expertise:
-Small shields have no penalty against missile or piercing weapons -Medium Shields gain a +1 AC bonus vs. Missile Weapons -Large shields gain a +1 AC bonus and give a +2 to save vs. breath
Hoplites may activate "Hold the line" once a day per every 4th level. During this ability, the hoplite is unable to move but the AC bonus granted by the shield doubles for 2 rounds/4 levels. Thus, a level 9 hoplite with a +2 large shield would gain an AC bonus of -8 for 4 rounds.
Restrictions:
- Limited to Spear, short sword, quarter-staff and Bow - Restricted to sword(spear) and shield style - May not wear full-plate mail armor - Gains a weapon proficiency every 5 levels instead of every 3 *Edit - Never gains more than 3/2 attacks per round - May NOT dual-class (to prevent Hoplite/Mage uber-tanking)
I'm still uncertain. It feels very like a niche kit to me, to be honest. There is nothing to prevent a person from RPing a character with these traits as it is (with the exception of spear&shield fighting). While the majority of kits (with the exception of the Cleric kits, arguably), offer a mechanical digression form the capabilities of the original class, this kit seems more interested in powering up the already-present possibilities of the class: none of the disadvantages actually matter because you don't want that character to use any of the qualities that have been restricted from them.
Yeah, I'm sure there are better balancing ways...but aside from limiting the arsenal there aren't really many things I could think of to limit the Hoplite other than reducing the maximum attacks/round to 3/2 rather than 2. Actually I think I shall edit that
Greeks usually depicted warriors in art as being naked, especially famous or heroic ones. I think having no armour at all would be fitting with this, and would be an interesting and simple disadvantage for a kit.
And people need to forget the spear idea. Hoplites used spears in combination with their huge shields *as part of a huge formation*. Fighting alone a hoplite would use whatever was convenient - usually a sword, but realistically anything.
Also I'd amend my idea from earlier:
Hoplite:
Disadvantages:
*May not wear any armour *Minimum wisdom 14
Advantages:
*+2 AC with shield *Immune to charm, hold and domination
Also, unrelated to the above - Ethereal kit for Sorcerers.
Disadvantages:
*Has d2 hit points per level regardless of modifiers *-1 spell casts per level.
Advantages:
*Gains the spirit form ability once per day. For 1 turn/level the Ethereal gains the following abilities:
-level 1; +1 AC -level 6; +1% elemental resistance/level -level 10; +1% Magic Resistance/level -level 13; +1 AC, caster becomes invisible while ethereal (normal restrictions apply) -level 15; Immunity to normal weapons
Necromancer Mage/Sorcerer Kit (Not like the specialty school one)
Advantages:
Everytime a necromancer slays an enemy, he has a 5% /10% / 15% / 20% chance to raise him as a skeleton / ghoul / skeleton warrior (the ratio goes up as he levels, and the creature gets stronger as he levels)
- At level 9, may cast 'Greater Horror' Enemies must make a harsher save or be feared. Those that make a save take anxiety 1d10 damage
- At level 11, he may summon 'Golem' once a day (Same stats as the Clay Golem)
- At level 14, gains Spirit Missile. He shoots forth dreaded spirits from his body as a slow projectile that briefly stuns the enemy for 2 seconds and deals 2d8(+1 per level) damage up to 5 targets around him
- At level 17, gains "Greater Finger of Death" (Area of Effect). Enemies either must be slain or make a save and suffer 3d8 damage
- At level 20, he may summon 'Iron Golem' once a day
- At level 23, he may cast 'Blood Magic:Death' Necromancer sacrifices a portion of his life to kill a single enemy completely. Enemy receive no save, ignores magic resistance, and is killed instantly (in chunks so they cannot revive) This spell has a long casting duration and will cause 5d20 damage to the caster. Enemies with 250 or more health are not affected by this spell. Enemies that are incredibly powerful are also not affected by this spell.
- At level 27, he may cast "Gates of Hell". He gates in 9 of the most powerful hasted demons that will be unable to see the caster. These demons are level 20 each and deal immense mix of elemental damage. There is a 10% chance that a Demon Lord (excluding Demogorgon) will be summoned
Disadvantages: - Must be 'Chaotic Evil' - Must not have high reputation, or else he loses his dark magic and becomes a plain mage - Because of his attunity to dark magic, he loses 1d5 health everytime he casts a spell
Pale Master! An arcane wizard who delves deep into the Necromantic arts, trading his/her humanity for the terrifying powers of the undead.
Here is my rough idea of how it would be implemented in BG:EE:
Advantages: - Immune to poison, paralysis, stun and level drain. - Receives a +4 bonus to Save vs. Death. - May turn undead as a cleric of equal level. - Receives a 25% bonus to learn spells from the Necromancy school. - At level 5, may cast animate dead once per day as an innate spell-like ability. - At level 10, the character becomes immune to all death effects. - At level 15, the character becomes immune to critical hits.
Disadvantages: -Character receives a -2 to STR and CHA on character creation. -Cannot learn spells from the schools of Illusion and Enchantment/Charm. -Receives a -25% penalty to learn spells from all remaining spell schools. -Cannot be of good alignment.
[I opted for less of a tanking mage, since the Dragon Disciple seems to have already taken that role]
Arcane Archer - Wizard kit Race Restriciton: Elf or Half-Elf
Minimum stats: * Dexterity: 9 * Intelligence: 9
Hit dice: d8, 2hp at level 9 and beyond
Advantages: * Priest THAC0 table * Priest/rogue proficiency point gain (One point per 4 levels) * Can master short- and longbows (up to 5 points) * Imbue arrow: Can attach any prepared spell to an arrow with both positive and negative effects on arrow impact.
Disadvantages: * May not use any other weapon than bows * Reduced spell progression: 3/4th of that of a wizard of the same level, rounded down (still the same as a level 1 Wizard on level 1); For Example: a level 20 Arcane Archer has the same spells known and spells prepared as a Level 15 Wizard; a level 10 Arcane Archer has the same spells known and spells prepared as a Level 7 Wizard. * May not specialize towards a certain school of magic * Gains Spell HLAs at Level 23 (instead of 18)
HLAs (Additionally to spell HLAs), beginning at Level 18, can be chosen multiple times: * Enhanced arrows: Once per day, an Arcane Archer can convert a stack of non-magical arrows to arrows with an enhancement bonus of +5 * Seeker arrow: Once per day, an Arcane Archer can shoot an arrow around obstacles. This arrow ignores invisibility, mirror images and concealment and can interrupt a spell being cast. * Hail of arrows: Once per day, The arcane archer shoots arrows within a specified area of effect, up to the level of the arcane archer in targets. An arrow for each target is spent. * Arrow of death (Can only be chosen once): Once per day, Target must save vs death (+5) or die.
Arcane Archer - Wizard kit Race Restriciton: Elf or Half-Elf
Minimum stats: * Dexterity: 9 * Intelligence: 9
Advantages: * Priest THAC0 table * Priest/rogue proficiency point gain (One point per 4 levels) * Can master short- and longbows (up to 5 points) * Can attach any prepared spell to an arrow with both positive and negative effects on arrow impact.
Disadvantages: * May not use any other weapon than bows * Reduced spell progression: 3/4th of that of a wizard of the same level, rounded down (still the same as a level 1 Wizard on level 1); For Example: a level 20 Arcane Archer has the same spells known and spells prepared as a Level 15 Wizard; a level 10 Arcane Archer has the same spells known and spells prepared as a Level 7 Wizard. * May not specialize towards a certain school of magic * Gains Spell HLAs at Level 23 (instead of 18)
I forget if there's any warrior HLAs for ranged combat? Those should possibly be available.
P.S. should 3/4 * level 1 = 3/4 of a level and rounded down is 0.
Specialization for the arcane archer would probably be fine, seeing as a regular mage can't even use bows at all. Incidentally, how would non fighter GM work- bonuses to hit and damage only? If I remember right non-warrior specialization, like the swashbuckler, doesn't give the extra half attack.
I'd like to see multiclass kits. The bladesinger was such in 2e- I think they even had a kit for F/M/T. The arcane archer idea would probably work better as one. Simplifies a lot.
It's too bad the blackguard is a kit itself. I'd like to see kits for it. Anyone remember the bone knight from eberron? There's a similar sub class for the antipaladin in pathfinder too. Undead minions and loads of immunities. Not sure if it would work well in this system though, as their downside was loss of offensive power in the form of smites, which don't exist here.
As others have mentioned, more cleric kits would be great as well. Tyr, tempus, and cyric.
IIRC in NWN the arcane archer gets full warrior AB progression. The AA could be a ranger/mage kit with full THAC0 progression and specialization.
@FinneousPJ This would make the AA Overpowered, sorry. A PnP conform AA would average in BAB/THAC0 towards .75/Level anyway, thus Priest THAC0 Progression is fine. Most AA builds in NWN were Fighter x/Sorc 2/AA y which is an exploit. Also, the NWN implementation of the arcane archer is far, very far, away from it's PnP counterpart.
Engine wise it's better as a Wizard kit. Multiclass kits wouldn't work in BG(2):EE. I additionally added some HLAs.
@Silence your proposals for a Pale Master are really nice, which I am surprised to find myself admitting as NWN made me lose a lot of love for the concept. I was wondering why you chose illusion and enchantment as the inaccessible schools of magic for this kind of mage, though. Would like to hear back from you
Aren't Illusion and Enchantment the two schools Necromancers are supposed to be barred from? I know Illusion is one, so I'm just presuming the other. (In BG the specialists are only barred from one rather than two schools, but they also get less benefits so it probably evens out: The Invoker was barred from two in vanilla, but I think they may have changed that in EE to balance things out).
Going down that road, in fact, would it not be really interesting to play a Shadowcaster? A mage forbidden from learning evocation and transmutation spells due to their use of the Shadow Weave, but with additional spell-like special abilities to enhance their focus on Illusion, Necromancy and Enchantment. What do people think? It'd at least give those evil Mages something that Edwin doesn't have :P
Second Thoughts: Perhaps this is a bit excessive though, what with there already being a Monk kit dedicated to Shar, and an especially cool NPC worshipping her! I'll leave the post up for consideration anyway, but am no longer advocating this concept XD
@recklessheart: I would love to see a proposal for some kind of Shadow mage! You should do it. It would fit into the lore of the game quite well - with Shar, Dark Moon monks and Shadowdancers.
Also you're right - NWN/NWN2 did a horrific adaptation of the Palemaster and never fixed it. I'd love to see it restored to it's former glory in BG:EE.
To answer your question about barred schools, @Eudaemonium is correct - these schools were barred to Necromancers in vanilla 2nd edition. I felt it needed a smaller volume of spells considering all the advantages it stands to receive. One frustration for me with many kits is that they have no real disadvantages (e.g. Berserker).
I decided to expand on my idea for an arcane-orientated bard, which is comparable to the Sublime Chord prestige class published in the Complete Arcane 3rd edition sourcebook, so that is the name it is working under at the minute.
Advantages:
Additional 1st level spell slot gained at level 5 Additional 2nd level spell slot gained at level 9 Additional 3rd level spell slot gained at level 13 Additional 4th level spell slot gained at level 17 The Sublime Chord's Bard song is different to that of the regular Bard, and advances in power with levels as follows: 1st - Regular Bard song 6th - Allies that hear the Sublime Chord's song gain 25% fire resistance, and inflict 2 points of fire damage to enemies that strike them in melee (as per the Fireshield (red) spell) for as long as the song is playing 9th - Allies that hear the Sublime Chord's song instead gain 50% fire resistance for as long as the song is playing 11th - Allies that hear the Sublime Chord's song gain 50% fire resistance, and inflict 4 points of fire damage to enemies that strike them in melee (as per the Fireshield (red) spell) for as long as the song is playing 15th - Allies that hear the Sublime Chord's song instead gain 75% fire resistance and inflict 5 points of fire damage to enemies that strike them in melee for as long as the song is playing
Disadvantages:
The Sublime Chord only rolls to gain d4 hit points per level The Sublime Chord cannot place proficiency in 'Two-Handed Weapon Style', 'Two Weapon Style', 'Sword and Shield Style', or 'Single Weapon Style' One quarter of normal pickpockets ability progression
What does everyone think? The Bard song seems suitably more arcane than the normal one, and the disadvantages seem significant enough for the Bard to be treated more like a caster, forcing them to be treated with more caution and delicacy (especially as they will be waiting longer before they gain some of their more powerful protection spells). I decided against allowing them to learn spells higher than 6th level however, as doing so would essentially elevate them to seeming more like a Mage kit than a Bard kit, I thought.
A Cleric kit, the Bone Knight, taken originally from the Eberron campaign setting.
Basically, they are able to craft a special suit of armor made of bonecraft material, something like a bone plate, that gives them undead powers. In the game, they would be able to "create" it, i guess. All the powers they have, are from the armor, and work while they have it on.
Advantages:
At level 1, they gain the aforementioned ability(Bonecraft Armor).
At level 4, they gain damage resistance 5%
At level 6, they gain animate dead as a special ability 1xday
At level 9, they become immune to stun.
At level 12, damage resistance becomes 10%
At level 15, they gain the ability Exoskeleton of Undeath. The Bone Knight's armor fuses with their body, and can't be removed without killing them. They gain immunity to poison, fatigue, sleep, paralysis.
At level 18, they become immune to critical hits and backstab. Their damage resistance increases to 15%
Disadvantages:
Cannot use magical armor, other than their own.
Cannot Turn Undead, can only Rebuke Undead instead.
I would probably include some AC scaling on the armor. Not sure how it compares power wise. Obviously better than vanilla cleric, but so are all of the current kits. If they had included the concept of spell domains it would make creating cleric kits a lot simpler.
A master thrower kit could be interesting. Gives thrown weapons and ranged fighters some love. The only problem is that it would probably look verrry similar to the archer. GM, scaling to hit and damage, and a special attack. Maybe space the to-hit and damage bonuses more and add more special abilities? Some kind of AoE for weapon ricochet, a speed reducing shot, and a poison like bleed ability. The idea being to leave the archer the design space of ranged damage king and make this kit more about adding utility.
Could be a rogue kit instead for variation maybe. Specialization in thrown, backstab at a distance but thrown weapons only. Possibly special attack powers.
The Bone Knight is an interesting concept, and one I have never read about prior to now, although I find it both unlikely and unsuitable considering the style of Cleric kits that have already been implemented in BG and which set the tone for how Cleric kits should be qualified, similarly to how it would be odd to have a frost-themed Mage kit or something standing alongside Transmuter, Conjurer etc.
The Bone Knight is an interesting concept, and one I have never read about prior to now, although I find it both unlikely and unsuitable considering the style of Cleric kits that have already been implemented in BG and which set the tone for how Cleric kits should be qualified, similarly to how it would be odd to have a frost-themed Mage kit or something standing alongside Transmuter, Conjurer etc.
Setting new precedent is always difficult, you fight against the inertia of what's been established and are at risk of seeming out of place. When it works though, you've expanded conventional thought and that usually makes some amount of risk worth it. I'm sure Beamdog won't be adding kits haphazardly though, thus far they've been sticking with canon concepts.
Hit Die d10 THAC0 Progression: Fighter (-1 per level) Saves: Fighter
Alignment: Non-Chaotic
The Weapon Master is a fighter that committed himself to a single type of weapon to master it to perfection. Because his training requires firm dedication, should the Weapon Master ever change his career by dual-classing, he will lose all bonuses except proficency points.
Advantages: * At Level 1, Pick a weapon and gain 3/5 proficiency in it. This will become the Weapon Master's Weapon of Choice. Only melee weapons can be picked. You can put the remaining point towards any weapon style and weapons (only 1 Point each weapon, weapon styles are unlimited). * At Level 3, the proficency in the Weapon of Choice becomes 4/5. * At Level 6, the proficency in the Weapon of Choice becomes 5/5. * You gain additional +1 To Hit and +1 Damage every 3 levels after 6, up until Level 18 while wielding your Weapon of Choice. * Beginning at Level 20, you can score a critical hit at a number that is 1 lower than your normal confirmation range. This bonus increases by 1 every 5 Levels after 20. This bonus stacks with any other confirmation range extenders. * You gain the ability to deal maximum weapon damage once per day every two levels.
Disadvantages: * May only put points into weapon styles and 1 point in other weapons other than the Weapon of Choice after choosing the Weapon of Choice. (Cannot put points into the Weapon of Choice as that weapon is learned separately) * Non-Fighter penalty when using other weapons the Weapon Master is not proficient in than the Weapon of Choice. * Gains 1 point per 4 levels only: You focus training on a single type of weapon, limiting your ability to learn proficiency with fighting styles. * Loses all the bonuses when dual-classing, cannot regain them even when the new class exceeds his Weapon Master level.
High-Level Abilities: Like a regular fighter.
I doubt that this will be included though, because it intersects thematically with the Kensai
Comments
And then each kit of a kit could have- (head explodes)
Hoplite (Fighter) Kit:
Bonuses:
- +1 to hit +1 damage with spears every 5 levels
- Speed Factor of spear decreases by 1 every 8 levels
- May Wield a Spear as a one-handed weapon
Shield Expertise:
-Small shields have no penalty against missile or piercing weapons
-Medium Shields gain a +1 AC bonus vs. Missile Weapons
-Large shields gain a +1 AC bonus and give a +2 to save vs. breath
Hoplites may activate "Hold the line" once a day per every 4th level. During this ability, the hoplite is unable to move but the AC bonus granted by the shield doubles for 2 rounds/4 levels. Thus, a level 9 hoplite with a +2 large shield would gain an AC bonus of -8 for 4 rounds.
Restrictions:
- Limited to Spear, short sword, quarter-staff and Bow
- Restricted to sword(spear) and shield style
- May not wear full-plate mail armor
- Gains a weapon proficiency every 5 levels instead of every 3
*Edit - Never gains more than 3/2 attacks per round
- May NOT dual-class (to prevent Hoplite/Mage uber-tanking)
from level 1 can shapeshift to werewolf (bg stats)
claws enchantment +2
resistance are added not fixed
from level 7 can shapeshift into greater werewolf (bg stats)
dmg scaling and enchantment with level on levels 13-20-24
resistance are added not fixed
Bonuses:
can cast spells while shapeshifted
can talk to npc
gain all the bonuses from his shapechanged forms like regeneration/stats/magic resistance
Restrictions:
can not wear any armor
can not shapeshift into other things
can not use any weapons while shapeshifted (only claws)
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/22531/favored-soul
And people need to forget the spear idea. Hoplites used spears in combination with their huge shields *as part of a huge formation*. Fighting alone a hoplite would use whatever was convenient - usually a sword, but realistically anything.
Also I'd amend my idea from earlier:
Hoplite:
Disadvantages:
*May not wear any armour
*Minimum wisdom 14
Advantages:
*+2 AC with shield
*Immune to charm, hold and domination
Also, unrelated to the above - Ethereal kit for Sorcerers.
Disadvantages:
*Has d2 hit points per level regardless of modifiers
*-1 spell casts per level.
Advantages:
*Gains the spirit form ability once per day. For 1 turn/level the Ethereal gains the following abilities:
-level 1; +1 AC
-level 6; +1% elemental resistance/level
-level 10; +1% Magic Resistance/level
-level 13; +1 AC, caster becomes invisible while ethereal (normal restrictions apply)
-level 15; Immunity to normal weapons
Advantages:
Everytime a necromancer slays an enemy, he has a 5% /10% / 15% / 20% chance to raise him as a skeleton / ghoul / skeleton warrior (the ratio goes up as he levels, and the creature gets stronger as he levels)
- At level 9, may cast 'Greater Horror' Enemies must make a harsher save or be feared. Those that make a save take anxiety 1d10 damage
- At level 11, he may summon 'Golem' once a day (Same stats as the Clay Golem)
- At level 14, gains Spirit Missile. He shoots forth dreaded spirits from his body as a slow projectile that briefly stuns the enemy for 2 seconds and deals 2d8(+1 per level) damage up to 5 targets around him
- At level 17, gains "Greater Finger of Death" (Area of Effect). Enemies either must be slain or make a save and suffer 3d8 damage
- At level 20, he may summon 'Iron Golem' once a day
- At level 23, he may cast 'Blood Magic:Death' Necromancer sacrifices a portion of his life to kill a single enemy completely. Enemy receive no save, ignores magic resistance, and is killed instantly (in chunks so they cannot revive) This spell has a long casting duration and will cause 5d20 damage to the caster. Enemies with 250 or more health are not affected by this spell. Enemies that are incredibly powerful are also not affected by this spell.
- At level 27, he may cast "Gates of Hell". He gates in 9 of the most powerful hasted demons that will be unable to see the caster. These demons are level 20 each and deal immense mix of elemental damage. There is a 10% chance that a Demon Lord (excluding Demogorgon) will be summoned
Disadvantages:
- Must be 'Chaotic Evil'
- Must not have high reputation, or else he loses his dark magic and becomes a plain mage
- Because of his attunity to dark magic, he loses 1d5 health everytime he casts a spell
Here is my rough idea of how it would be implemented in BG:EE:
Advantages:
- Immune to poison, paralysis, stun and level drain.
- Receives a +4 bonus to Save vs. Death.
- May turn undead as a cleric of equal level.
- Receives a 25% bonus to learn spells from the Necromancy school.
- At level 5, may cast animate dead once per day as an innate spell-like ability.
- At level 10, the character becomes immune to all death effects.
- At level 15, the character becomes immune to critical hits.
Disadvantages:
-Character receives a -2 to STR and CHA on character creation.
-Cannot learn spells from the schools of Illusion and Enchantment/Charm.
-Receives a -25% penalty to learn spells from all remaining spell schools.
-Cannot be of good alignment.
[I opted for less of a tanking mage, since the Dragon Disciple seems to have already taken that role]
Race Restriciton: Elf or Half-Elf
Minimum stats:
* Dexterity: 9
* Intelligence: 9
Hit dice: d8, 2hp at level 9 and beyond
Advantages:
* Priest THAC0 table
* Priest/rogue proficiency point gain (One point per 4 levels)
* Can master short- and longbows (up to 5 points)
* Imbue arrow: Can attach any prepared spell to an arrow with both positive and negative effects on arrow impact.
Disadvantages:
* May not use any other weapon than bows
* Reduced spell progression: 3/4th of that of a wizard of the same level, rounded down (still the same as a level 1 Wizard on level 1); For Example: a level 20 Arcane Archer has the same spells known and spells prepared as a Level 15 Wizard; a level 10 Arcane Archer has the same spells known and spells prepared as a Level 7 Wizard.
* May not specialize towards a certain school of magic
* Gains Spell HLAs at Level 23 (instead of 18)
HLAs (Additionally to spell HLAs), beginning at Level 18, can be chosen multiple times:
* Enhanced arrows: Once per day, an Arcane Archer can convert a stack of non-magical arrows to arrows with an enhancement bonus of +5
* Seeker arrow: Once per day, an Arcane Archer can shoot an arrow around obstacles. This arrow ignores invisibility, mirror images and concealment and can interrupt a spell being cast.
* Hail of arrows: Once per day, The arcane archer shoots arrows within a specified area of effect, up to the level of the arcane archer in targets. An arrow for each target is spent.
* Arrow of death (Can only be chosen once): Once per day, Target must save vs death (+5) or die.
P.S. should 3/4 * level 1 = 3/4 of a level and rounded down is 0.
I'd like to see multiclass kits. The bladesinger was such in 2e- I think they even had a kit for F/M/T. The arcane archer idea would probably work better as one. Simplifies a lot.
It's too bad the blackguard is a kit itself. I'd like to see kits for it. Anyone remember the bone knight from eberron? There's a similar sub class for the antipaladin in pathfinder too. Undead minions and loads of immunities. Not sure if it would work well in this system though, as their downside was loss of offensive power in the form of smites, which don't exist here.
As others have mentioned, more cleric kits would be great as well. Tyr, tempus, and cyric.
This would make the AA Overpowered, sorry. A PnP conform AA would average in BAB/THAC0 towards .75/Level anyway, thus Priest THAC0 Progression is fine. Most AA builds in NWN were Fighter x/Sorc 2/AA y which is an exploit.
Also, the NWN implementation of the arcane archer is far, very far, away from it's PnP counterpart.
Engine wise it's better as a Wizard kit. Multiclass kits wouldn't work in BG(2):EE. I additionally added some HLAs. @HandofTyr
Due to the very limited selection of weapon choices (Long and short bow only!), up to Grandmastery is fine and logical.
Second Thoughts: Perhaps this is a bit excessive though, what with there already being a Monk kit dedicated to Shar, and an especially cool NPC worshipping her! I'll leave the post up for consideration anyway, but am no longer advocating this concept XD
Also you're right - NWN/NWN2 did a horrific adaptation of the Palemaster and never fixed it. I'd love to see it restored to it's former glory in BG:EE.
To answer your question about barred schools, @Eudaemonium is correct - these schools were barred to Necromancers in vanilla 2nd edition. I felt it needed a smaller volume of spells considering all the advantages it stands to receive. One frustration for me with many kits is that they have no real disadvantages (e.g. Berserker).
Advantages:
Additional 1st level spell slot gained at level 5
Additional 2nd level spell slot gained at level 9
Additional 3rd level spell slot gained at level 13
Additional 4th level spell slot gained at level 17
The Sublime Chord's Bard song is different to that of the regular Bard, and advances in power with levels as follows:
1st - Regular Bard song
6th - Allies that hear the Sublime Chord's song gain 25% fire resistance, and inflict 2 points of fire damage to enemies that strike them in melee (as per the Fireshield (red) spell) for as long as the song is playing
9th - Allies that hear the Sublime Chord's song instead gain 50% fire resistance for as long as the song is playing
11th - Allies that hear the Sublime Chord's song gain 50% fire resistance, and inflict 4 points of fire damage to enemies that strike them in melee (as per the Fireshield (red) spell) for as long as the song is playing
15th - Allies that hear the Sublime Chord's song instead gain 75% fire resistance and inflict 5 points of fire damage to enemies that strike them in melee for as long as the song is playing
Disadvantages:
The Sublime Chord only rolls to gain d4 hit points per level
The Sublime Chord cannot place proficiency in 'Two-Handed Weapon Style', 'Two Weapon Style', 'Sword and Shield Style', or 'Single Weapon Style'
One quarter of normal pickpockets ability progression
What does everyone think? The Bard song seems suitably more arcane than the normal one, and the disadvantages seem significant enough for the Bard to be treated more like a caster, forcing them to be treated with more caution and delicacy (especially as they will be waiting longer before they gain some of their more powerful protection spells). I decided against allowing them to learn spells higher than 6th level however, as doing so would essentially elevate them to seeming more like a Mage kit than a Bard kit, I thought.
Basically, they are able to craft a special suit of armor made of bonecraft material, something like a bone plate, that gives them undead powers. In the game, they would be able to "create" it, i guess. All the powers they have, are from the armor, and work while they have it on.
Advantages:
At level 1, they gain the aforementioned ability(Bonecraft Armor).
At level 4, they gain damage resistance 5%
At level 6, they gain animate dead as a special ability 1xday
At level 9, they become immune to stun.
At level 12, damage resistance becomes 10%
At level 15, they gain the ability Exoskeleton of Undeath. The Bone Knight's armor fuses with their body, and can't be removed without killing them. They gain immunity to poison, fatigue, sleep, paralysis.
At level 18, they become immune to critical hits and backstab. Their damage resistance increases to 15%
Disadvantages:
Cannot use magical armor, other than their own.
Cannot Turn Undead, can only Rebuke Undead instead.
I would probably include some AC scaling on the armor. Not sure how it compares power wise. Obviously better than vanilla cleric, but so are all of the current kits. If they had included the concept of spell domains it would make creating cleric kits a lot simpler.
A master thrower kit could be interesting. Gives thrown weapons and ranged fighters some love. The only problem is that it would probably look verrry similar to the archer. GM, scaling to hit and damage, and a special attack. Maybe space the to-hit and damage bonuses more and add more special abilities? Some kind of AoE for weapon ricochet, a speed reducing shot, and a poison like bleed ability. The idea being to leave the archer the design space of ranged damage king and make this kit more about adding utility.
Could be a rogue kit instead for variation maybe. Specialization in thrown, backstab at a distance but thrown weapons only. Possibly special attack powers.
Fighter Kit
Hit Die d10
THAC0 Progression: Fighter (-1 per level)
Saves: Fighter
Alignment: Non-Chaotic
The Weapon Master is a fighter that committed himself to a single type of weapon to master it to perfection. Because his training requires firm dedication, should the Weapon Master ever change his career by dual-classing, he will lose all bonuses except proficency points.
Advantages:
* At Level 1, Pick a weapon and gain 3/5 proficiency in it. This will become the Weapon Master's Weapon of Choice. Only melee weapons can be picked. You can put the remaining point towards any weapon style and weapons (only 1 Point each weapon, weapon styles are unlimited).
* At Level 3, the proficency in the Weapon of Choice becomes 4/5.
* At Level 6, the proficency in the Weapon of Choice becomes 5/5.
* You gain additional +1 To Hit and +1 Damage every 3 levels after 6, up until Level 18 while wielding your Weapon of Choice.
* Beginning at Level 20, you can score a critical hit at a number that is 1 lower than your normal confirmation range. This bonus increases by 1 every 5 Levels after 20. This bonus stacks with any other confirmation range extenders.
* You gain the ability to deal maximum weapon damage once per day every two levels.
Disadvantages:
* May only put points into weapon styles and 1 point in other weapons other than the Weapon of Choice after choosing the Weapon of Choice. (Cannot put points into the Weapon of Choice as that weapon is learned separately)
* Non-Fighter penalty when using other weapons the Weapon Master is not proficient in than the Weapon of Choice.
* Gains 1 point per 4 levels only: You focus training on a single type of weapon, limiting your ability to learn proficiency with fighting styles.
* Loses all the bonuses when dual-classing, cannot regain them even when the new class exceeds his Weapon Master level.
High-Level Abilities:
Like a regular fighter.
I doubt that this will be included though, because it intersects thematically with the Kensai