Any Chance of Adding in the Axed Ranger Kits?
MilesBeyond
Member Posts: 324
So there were two Ranger kits for BG2 that didn't make the final cut. They were restored, however, in the Unfinished Business mod. Here are the kits:
JUSTIFIER: Some expeditions are so demanding and some foes so dangerous that they require the attention of a highly trained specialist whose combat skills far exceed those of the typical ranger. Enter the Justifier, a master tactician whose military instincts, fighting versatility, and steely nerves places him in the first rank of elite warriors.
For a determined Justifier no job is too difficult, no enemy too formidable. Their proficiency with weapons gives them an edge in combat, though the smaller time devoted to magical training leaves them slightly lacking in that department.
They must be of Lawful Good alignmment.
Advantages:
- +10% to stealth ability
- +1 to speed factor and thac0 per 10 levels
Disadvantages:
- No access to Charm Animal ability
- Spell casting ability limited to:
Cure Light Wounds and Armour of Faith once each per day from level 8
Luck and Remove Fear once each per day from level 10
Draw Upon Holy Might once per day from level 12
FERALAN: What happens to children who wander in the wilderness and are never recovered? Or worse, those who are abandoned there? Many succumb to the dangers of the wild, but a fortunate few are taken in by animals, raised as a part of a lion`s brood, or a wolf`s litter. Cut off from civilization, they gradually take on the characteristics of the creatures who adopted them, forming some kind of unity with the spirit of the wild. In the process they become feralans, beings who combine the savagery of beasts with the intellect of man.
Due to their wild nature, Feralans may not be of Lawful alignment. As Rangers, they are limited to Good alignments.
Advantages:
- +10% to Stealth ability
- Gains +1 AC at first level, and a further bonus of +1 AC per 5 levels
- May go into a Feral Rage once per day per 10 levels. The enraged state lasts for 60 seconds, and grants a bonus of +2 to hit, damage, and AC, and immunity to charm, hold and fear, maze, imprisonment, stun and sleep. He also gains 15 temporary hit points
- May cast Call of the Wild once per day. This summons an animal companion who will fight for the caster for 3 rounds + 1 round/level. More powerful creatures are summoned at higher levels
Disadvantages:
- Becomes winded after Feral Rage. While he's winded he receives -2 to hit, -2 to damage and a +2 penalty to armor class.
- Limited to one proficiency point in Bastard Sword, Long Sword, Short Sword, Two - Handed Sword, Katana, Scimitar, Halberd, Flail and Crossbow
- May not wear any armour or use Large Shields
- Maximum Charisma is 2 points lower than a standard member of the race
The Justified is essentially a more combat-oriented Ranger, while the Feralan is some sort of bizarre Kensai-Berserker-Beastmaster hybrid.
I know they won't be adding mod content but this isn't really mod content so much as it's original content that didn't make the final release.
I have to admit that while the Feralan might be a nightmare to balance properly, the Justifier is a great addition and if we want to keep Rangers with the same number of kits as everyone else, wouldn't be a bad substitute for the Beastmaster.
Also, are there any plans to implement any other aspects of the Unfinished Business mod? A number of the components for it were elements that were present in the original BG2 files but that never manifested due to coding mismatches, etc
JUSTIFIER: Some expeditions are so demanding and some foes so dangerous that they require the attention of a highly trained specialist whose combat skills far exceed those of the typical ranger. Enter the Justifier, a master tactician whose military instincts, fighting versatility, and steely nerves places him in the first rank of elite warriors.
For a determined Justifier no job is too difficult, no enemy too formidable. Their proficiency with weapons gives them an edge in combat, though the smaller time devoted to magical training leaves them slightly lacking in that department.
They must be of Lawful Good alignmment.
Advantages:
- +10% to stealth ability
- +1 to speed factor and thac0 per 10 levels
Disadvantages:
- No access to Charm Animal ability
- Spell casting ability limited to:
Cure Light Wounds and Armour of Faith once each per day from level 8
Luck and Remove Fear once each per day from level 10
Draw Upon Holy Might once per day from level 12
FERALAN: What happens to children who wander in the wilderness and are never recovered? Or worse, those who are abandoned there? Many succumb to the dangers of the wild, but a fortunate few are taken in by animals, raised as a part of a lion`s brood, or a wolf`s litter. Cut off from civilization, they gradually take on the characteristics of the creatures who adopted them, forming some kind of unity with the spirit of the wild. In the process they become feralans, beings who combine the savagery of beasts with the intellect of man.
Due to their wild nature, Feralans may not be of Lawful alignment. As Rangers, they are limited to Good alignments.
Advantages:
- +10% to Stealth ability
- Gains +1 AC at first level, and a further bonus of +1 AC per 5 levels
- May go into a Feral Rage once per day per 10 levels. The enraged state lasts for 60 seconds, and grants a bonus of +2 to hit, damage, and AC, and immunity to charm, hold and fear, maze, imprisonment, stun and sleep. He also gains 15 temporary hit points
- May cast Call of the Wild once per day. This summons an animal companion who will fight for the caster for 3 rounds + 1 round/level. More powerful creatures are summoned at higher levels
Disadvantages:
- Becomes winded after Feral Rage. While he's winded he receives -2 to hit, -2 to damage and a +2 penalty to armor class.
- Limited to one proficiency point in Bastard Sword, Long Sword, Short Sword, Two - Handed Sword, Katana, Scimitar, Halberd, Flail and Crossbow
- May not wear any armour or use Large Shields
- Maximum Charisma is 2 points lower than a standard member of the race
The Justified is essentially a more combat-oriented Ranger, while the Feralan is some sort of bizarre Kensai-Berserker-Beastmaster hybrid.
I know they won't be adding mod content but this isn't really mod content so much as it's original content that didn't make the final release.
I have to admit that while the Feralan might be a nightmare to balance properly, the Justifier is a great addition and if we want to keep Rangers with the same number of kits as everyone else, wouldn't be a bad substitute for the Beastmaster.
Also, are there any plans to implement any other aspects of the Unfinished Business mod? A number of the components for it were elements that were present in the original BG2 files but that never manifested due to coding mismatches, etc
2
Comments
My patience has limits.
The Justifier bonus to attack + speed factor comes at an odd and infrequent schedule. So it's a mild change. The kit also doesn't appear to have much of a disadvantage as the kit-specific abilities it gets are better than the ranger spells it loses.
The Feralan has a lot of powers but a lot of rules - very nonstandard ranger. He's also a roving target despite his AC bonus.
What I loved about the BG kits was they were streamlined and simple concepts that overlapped as little as possible (the one exception being the Berserker/Barbarian).
And in the meantime, feel free to look at other posts I participate in.
Those sound interesting although they could probably use some tweaking. But again, sounds cool! Yeah, most of your other posts are pretty good, so I don't really understand why exactly you are acting like a tool in this thread. I guess your username is catching up to you.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/2781/bg2-kit-stuff-always-with-the-bugs-0813#latest
bug report and fixes.
Maybe they restored the kit. Or maybe they were replaced by archer which seems to be absent from the code
I'm not 100% sure, but, like you already said, I think that code just uses Feralan instead of Archer.
I wonder if they replaced the Feralan with Archer at some point during the development of BG2.
http://www.gibberlings3.net/level1npcs/ (of course, for above party to work, i'd not only need a Feralan kit in BGEE, but for Divine Remix and Song and Silence to get a BGEE edition as well).
It's like... saying to an artist, "That painting isn't very good." Continually this was, and is, the case, as he makes no suggestions of his own. Such as, "If you add a tree here and add a pond here, it would improve the painting." But instead, it's just simply "That painting isn't very good." This is an abstract concept on how he has behaved in regards to kits.