What Strongholds would you like to see for Barbarian/Sorcerer/Blackguard/Monk?
KidCarnival
Member Posts: 3,747
If new strongholds were made for these classes and they would not default to fighter (or mage) strongholds, what would you give them? What quests would there be?
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A blackguard stronghold might be looking after a mine/lair, and using a bunch of orcs, kobolds and undead to profit from it. You could defend it from adventuring parties, and spend money to fortify and trap it. It's income could be mixed between gold (from the sold ore) and magical items obtained from adventuring parties who weren't quite good enough to clear it.
A monk stronghold might be a church of some kind, where you spend most of your time answering Zen questions and the like, and sparring against other monks. I don't think it should have any real income, but perhaps it gives you one or two stat increases instead. Perhaps +1 to Wisdom and +1 to either Dexterity or Strength.
I can honestly see no real reason why a Sorcerer stronghold should be any different to the Mage stronghold, especially since it's already one of the more interesting strongholds.
Maybe something like, his brother is now in charge of his tribe and leading them in the wrong direction. You must help him save them from certain doom, eventually having to face his brother in single combat to decide leadership of the tribe (if you are not a barbarian yourself, then he will face his brother). Evil characters kill him, good let him live, etc. Eventually you become the new leader if you are a barbarian, or give it to the NPC if not (like the Nalia quest conclusion).
Once you take over you do a lot of the things that @onestep said.
For a blackguard, I'd really love the option to use the Cult of the Unseeing Eye as base of operations. You'd obviously eliminate the cult because they'd be rivals to your power, but you'd let a few gauths live. They were not that keen on taking their eyes out all along, but couldn't rebel against the stronger beholders. They now become your loyal minions and help you undermine the religions on the surface. Quests would be focussed on weakening the churches above and to undermine the people in power (kidnap a paladin of the Radiant Heart, frame a Stormknight of Talos for the crime; sell out a powerful thief to the authorities, then kill the authority's family and make it look like revenge for the arrest, plant false evidence against innocent people accused of crimes...) You throw the city into chaos and weakness, and sit below in your sewers and laugh.
Barbarian, like I said in another topic, a nomadic camp of tents in the wilderness, with charname becoming the leader. @Onestep's posting above is spot on for the quests.
Sorcerer - I don't see many problems with the Planar Sphere. Maybe a different questline, so a sorcerer would gain the same Stronghold as mages, but not get apprentices and instead have a bunch of helpers that give quests and manage things in your absence - the golem, maybe a mephit from the lower rooms and a creature of your familiar's kind (depending on alignment). Instead of teaching apparentices, your helpers would reveal some secrets of the sphere to you - you'd gather spare parts for some of the machines and (try to) restore artifacts. That way, you'd still have the mage-quest dynamic of "investment of x gold for chance to gain magical item x", but it would be more suited for a sorcerer.
For sorcerers I'd want something different, simply because I'm kind of sick of the Planar Sphere (plus I find it really boring, tbh)
Neera's encampment for Wild Mages seems like a good fit, but I'd have to finish her ToB quests first before I comment, since I don't know the outcome.
It would be sweet if each kit got their own stronghold, but thats asking for way too much, lol
I always thought a Bounty Hunter would be cool working for one of the officers in the government district or become Arin Linvail/Renal Bloodscalp's new hunter/seeker. An assassin could have a similar role for the Shadow Thieves or maybe even for another powerful group/faction.
If you kill the party you get their items is an awesome concept.
Maybe Bondari will make a cameo? lol, his party randomly comes in, they all die and reload, then decide to come back when they are higher level
Maybe your minions want a pay raise and one of the "union leaders" wants to revolt. Reminds me of Xykon from Order of the Stick
In the bard's playhouse, I like that you see the result of your choices as the play comes together. It would be nice to see things change due to what you decide in the quests.
With Neera's camp, there's one mechanical problem and that is Edwin leaving if you do Neera's questline. So you would have to make a choice between having this NPC or your Stronghold. If you play a mage/something and want Edwin in your party as second (or main) caster, that would be a problem. Strongholds should not favor an alignment, and this arrangement would favor good/neutral parties since it makes the only all-evil party impossible.
For a Blackguard Stronghold, it wouldn't matter if you piss off Keldorn or Mazzy - the class is limited to evil alignment and therefore, it shouldn't come as a surprise that some NPCs react to you/your plans the same way they react to Dorn; by refusing to have any part in it. Mage and Sorcerer are not alignment restricted and should therefore not conflict with any NPCs.
...did I accidentally make that sound like Pokemon?
hahaha oh man, I don't know how many of you guys played the game but I'm cracking up imagining Minsc as a Pokemon trainer. Boo is facing down an enemy and the Professor is trying to explain Pokemon types but he's drowned out by Minsc yelling something incoherent about butts
I'd say Scratch (gets updated to Slash), Bite, Rage/Roar/Growl type and then Super Fang
ahhh... good memories
edit: so I was looking up Pikachu's moveset and it turns out he can learn Wish! That's one strong Pikachu! Too bad it doesn't do the same thing in Pokemon as it does in BG2.
edit2: I feel like I derail threads a lot <_<
All jokes aside, I strongly support the idea of a rev0sed stronghold system. What has been suggested in this thread so far is great. Perhaps as additional quest for the blackguard, once he/she is in control of the stronghold, would be to go against the Paladin or Monk's stronghold. It would fit as last mission: paladin and monks are both always lawful, blackguards are a force of Chaos.
just my 2 cents.
Blackguard: A nice home for yourself in a place that carries the taint of Gehenna, your father's old domain. Perhaps tended to in your absence by a being you cowed that was "loyal" to your father, or a Bhaalite priest/ess?
Monk: Monastery, Cloudpeaks~
Sorcerer: Ehh...well, they're mages, but they're special mages. Power comes from the blood. Your power is likely divine. Something cool. Maybe a gutted dragon's lair, along with being able to choose what the dragon was that sired your ancestor, and getting their breath weapon?
As a Stronghold, this place could be taken by bards and fighters of any alignment and the quests could be about running the place - decide if you want to keep the courtisans (and how you treat them; I can see a good charname say he wants to stop the exploitation and turn them into waitresses or something; a neutral charname may say they should keep working, but get better conditions and can manage their business; an evil charname may threaten them to keep working). Same with the fight pit; there'd be a quest to hire famous gladiators, use it as a pit for public executions or hire a retired knight or something to give lessons to young fighters.
Such a stronghold would be nice to have for multiclass charnames who are equal parts class 1 and class 2 (and class 3) and wouldn't want to be limited by focussing on one side only. It always feels a bit weird that my Fighter/Thief/Illusionist is appointed to teach apprentices in the Planar Sphere, yet mostly uses his magic to support his thief and fighter skills outside and isn't much of a typical mage.