I even made a mod (bardic switch) that allows the player to transclass themselves from thief to bard and back at will. That way i could magic and use all thieving skills as a bard (rather than just pick pockets) as well as backstab.
That sounds amazing @lroumen! I'd love to try this out (I'm preparing to RP a bard in my next run, but he seems a little 'flat' as a Bhaalspawn idk). Did you manage to upload it somewhere maybe? Could you share?
I don't really support it anymore and I have no idea whether it works for the enhanced editions. If is kind of silly too, my first attempt to mod. And now I have been delaying my better second attempt (stuck in area creation, I cannot find the time. ..). I hope you can get it to work on ee.
My typical experience is to try a new character class that interests me; adventure until the wife kicks me off the computer; read the interesting builds you guys write about on these forums; start a new character; rinse and repeat until I get annoyed with myself and then I'll build a paladin to actually play through the entire trilogy. Even then I only get to the end of BG2/start of ToB when the restartitis hits....
My signature character is of coarse my huge half-orc wielding a mighty two handed weapon, I just love playing characters like that, my favorite DnD weapon is the warmace but the BG series is unfortunately lacking those, but fear not there be massive two handed swords ( it seems that the original creators love them as well since there is so many and usually they are the most powerful weapons) so without further ado here is my half-orc in his 3 part series:
Part 1:
I thought just for kicks I will use the canon team, since my guy is of coarse amazing at melee combat it really doesn't matter who I bring around, but at the same time, its just been so long since I've done a canon run, I thought, ah why not, i'll do it just for poops and giggles so off we went throughout all of the sword coast, exploring every area, unlocking every chest killing every baddie until we would up at the fallen temple where someone waits for the final showdown:
now before manuals and tomes he had a good roll of 92 ( 19 str, 18 dex, 19 con, 15 int, 5 wis, 16 cha) and in theory I could have rolled 18 for charisma but to me, it doesn't seem fair that half-orcs get +1 to strength/constitution and only -2 to intelligence, so I gave him a -2 to charisma as well, and I even had the liberty of giving Khalid the manual of dexterity ( since in reality 19 dex would really do nothing for this character build) so that made it so my melee guys could have -8 AC each, but now it's off to SoA to continue to part 2 of the 3 part series...
... since in reality 19 dex would really do nothing for this character build ...
Except that
if you intend to stay Good-aligned, then the Hell-tests near to the end of SoA will force you to lose a point of DEX, so
having a "spare" point of DEX can actually be quite valuable.
lol, I definitely don't plan to stay good aligned, the +2 strength and +2 con, AND the +15 HP are way more useful than 10% magic resistance, plus I miss out on the tanari quest in watchers keep if im good aligned
I don't have a signature character, I think. Not been around long enough, and I think a signature character isn't necessarily what your favourite is, but the character for whom you are known.
Still, here is my baby, my pride and joy... who survived BG1 and is making the attempt at doing BG2 solo.
Cho'Rok is merely the Korean word for 'Green'. It is, along with Epona Rae, the only name I've used that isn't also the name of a stellar or planetary body/satellite.
The unkitted Cleric has the whole 'divine power of undetermined source' about it, at least until you read that letter in Candlekeep. It must be neutral, to personify both the ability to bring great harm or great healing. The trials of a bhaalspawn... sometimes they fail to resist, yet the next day do great good with their power. Moments of strength and moments of weakness and all that.
The Druid has the 'Force of Nature' angle, plus the ridiculously good Druid HLAs that actually have your character transforming into godly avatars of the elements and harnessing the forces of the universe.
These feel the most 'Bhaalspawn' to me, given their Divine orientations.
However, I must admit that my first thought and go-to concept is always a Fighter, the quintessential sword-and-shield adventurer.
I have no idea. I don't know anything about Arabic, other than that there is a slew of good star names by arabian astronomers with heroic and villainous meanings.
But I like this possibility. Depending on which way she goes alignment wise, Cho'Rok may herald a new day for Faerun or merely a false dawn that gets one's hopes up only to bring death and destruction.
My signature character was, is and will always be my Drow F/M/T. Even when I was a child I would play dark complexioned Half-Elf F/M/T, telling to myself my character was a Half-Drow or something like that.
He also had flashy blue hair when I was a child but that's something else.
He is always good aligned, mostly Neutral Good but sometimes Chaotic Good aswell. F/M/T was always my favorite class and it still is to this day, I like the versatility, the power, the synergy ... Plus in BG1 you can actually be some kind of F/M/T/C with the good Bhaalspawn powers which is even more fun and powerful. I nearly exclusively play this character solo and it is the only character I played through BG2 and BP2 entirely. Of course he is dual wielding scimitars ... The Drizzt's fantasy ...
This is his character sheet before fighting Sarevok and doing a 280 damage backstab. A true powergamer wet dream.
Allrighty, so I couple of days ago I talked about my signature character, and I have finally reached the end of SoA so here he is part 2 of the 3 part series:
This play through again I went with canon ( or what I believed to be canon; minsc, jaheira, aerie, imoen, and nalia) and it was actually quite fun, I rarely if ever go through with this team, and it was a nice change of pace, minsc did alright, with the defender of easthaven and with the mits of dexterity reaching a nice -11 AC, jaheira successfully got her harper pin ( which is pretty much mandatory because of the awesome save vs spell bonus), and she only reached 93 HP at the final battle in SoA ( lol buddy), and soft squishy aerie, holy crap, HP is almost non existent, with a whopping 55, ( my level 4 berserker had more, double lulz) and imoen I ran off to the asylum as quickly as possible to make sure her XP gap wasn't too big from the entire team ( since now for whatever reason she will always have 400 000 no matter what now) and she faired quite well only being 100 000 behind, and then nalia, gave her the good ol' robe of vecna and amulet of power and just watched her wreck baddies especially when she memorized horrid wilting. Here be what my guy was looking like right at the last battle in SoA:
So that ends SoA, and now on to ToB to finish of the 3 part signature series
Ah and now finally part 3 of my signature character:
So my canon team managed to make it through all the way of ToB, although the battle with abizigal was a colossal pain in the ass, but we got through, and one thing that I figured out that was nice, was 3 mages that have chain contingency with normal contingency already ready to go out once dealing out abidalzims horrid wilting x9 while they all get protected by a stoneskin at the same time, good stuff, but now its time for the final battle and the conclusion to my signature character's quest
to be fair, its kind of a REALLY good item, so the fact that it turns you into an iron golem and makes it hard to move around a little bit, makes it a hair more fair ( usually I don't even bring it along, but this time I thought, ah why not)
My signature main character change a lot with the years. I used to play mage/sorcerer for years in a row, everything from godlike stats to minimum stats and no gear. I would sit and read up on the spells from the manual while on the toilet when I was young.
Then I took up bard as a challenge, a blade. It was some of the most fun I've had and the bard (+ kits) became my signature character for a few years. I would play a front line blade, spell slinging Jester and a supportive skald.
Then I started to play no-reload (reading the threads on the old bioware forum back in the days, many years ago) and I went back to playing mage and surprisingly I picked up the paladin, a class that I absolutely hated with passion before. I started playing a lot of Cavalier/Undead Hunter in my reload games.
After I had played no-reloads with paladins, mages and bards for a year or two, I started to do challenge runs while doing no-reload and picked up the Avenger, Beast Mastery, Monk, Wizard Slayer and many other kits that I very rarely played.
Nowadays I'm playing with focus on RP, and pick a character based on his background, the party he will play with and what items to get him. I still only play no-reload, but more RP heavy.
Right now, and for the last two years, my Signature Main character and the one I play the most is either a Dwarf Lawful Neutral Priest of Helm or a Half-Elf Neutral Good Priest of Lathander. I'm feeling for clerics what I felt for mages back in the days.
Who knows, in a soon future I might go back to playing arcane casters, already have a bard game going on the side. The only character I can't imagine ever reaching for as a main, is the ranger.
My favorite character EVER is an Invoker I imported from the Black Pits II at level 17. He became so amazing, I actually used that import/export for 2 or 3 more characters. That's how much fun I had with him.
Ever since being roped into playing D&D at a young age by my parents, I've always had a thing for Rangers. She's always a Chaotic Good Half-Elf and I automatically dress her all in green *Ankheg Armour appreciation.* I usually make up her name- something pretentious like "Aerlenda" (my heroine's current name) - or I just steal one from a book character.
Ever since being roped into playing D&D at a young age by my parents, I've always had a thing for Rangers. She's always a Chaotic Good Half-Elf and I automatically dress her all in green *Ankheg Armour appreciation.* I usually make up her name- something pretentious like "Aerlenda" (my heroine's current name) - or I just steal one from a book character.
I always respect actual hero characters. My two characters are usually more morally ambiguous and even Piro of whom is Chaotic Good is primarily motivated by "fun" which can make her do some less-than-good actions sometimes. As for Val, being a Necromancer always has some pull towards evil though the character is mostly good. Not to imply Necromamcy is innately evil just that the worship of evil gods in exchange for necromantic powers can lead to a very dark path.
Depends on the rules of whatever universe you're in. In some universes there is no meaningful distinction between a skeleton and a golem, so the only ethical concern is getting permission to use someone's remains. In other universes, you're essentially enslaving someone's soul and adding a hefty dollop of spiritual torture to the mix. I've seen too many conflicting representations in D&D to keep track of exactly how it works in the Forgotten Realms.
I've seen too many conflicting representations in D&D to keep track of exactly how it works in the Forgotten Realms.
Of course yes, it depends upon the rules of the setting. For Forgotten Realms, however, I'm taking my cue from the Church of Lathander, who certainly regard all undead as inherently Evil.
*cough* Baelnorn *cough* Not to mention that across the different D&D editions sometimes Animate Dead has the evil descriptor (3e) and sometimes it doesn't (5e). Also Necromancy isn't limited to undead raising. One could easily use fear spells, enervation, and other negative energy spells without casting an evil descriptor spell. Or worship Kelemvor and use his special version of animate dead, The Dead March I believe it is called.
In 2e healing spells are considered to be Necromancy, too.
In all my years of playing D&D I've only played one evil necromancer and that was my very first game as a Drow Lawful Evil Wizard (Necromancer). All the rest have been good or neutral. A Lawful Good Wizard could cast Animate Dead as much as they wanted to if it was within their moral code but a Chaotic Evil Cleric of Lolth might have limitations since Lolth seems to be strict on raising the dead.
Even when I was a child I would play dark complexioned Half-Elf F/M/T, telling to myself my character was a Half-Drow or something like that.
That's exactly what I'm playing! As I use portraits based on photos of myself - and I don't particularly like shaving off my IRL beard for new BG portraits - a half-drow it is. Also, I kind of think half-elves are cooler/more interesting with their "between two worlds-thingy" than elves .
At the moment, I'm especially pleased with my newly modded elven chain, where I've replaced the style and green color with something more alike my portrait.
Ah and now finally part 3 of my signature character:
So my canon team managed to make it through all the way of ToB, although the battle with abizigal was a colossal pain in the ass, but we got through, and one thing that I figured out that was nice, was 3 mages that have chain contingency with normal contingency already ready to go out once dealing out abidalzims horrid wilting x9 while they all get protected by a stoneskin at the same time, good stuff, but now its time for the final battle and the conclusion to my signature character's quest
Comments
Been using it for all infinity games
It's damn satisfying to just beat the living %$#?! out of everything hostile and never bother with anything else
upgraded runehammer + crom faeyr is a sight to behold
"upgraded runehammer + crom faeyr is a sight to behold"
Indeed, let the hammers fall!
And now I have been delaying my better second attempt (stuck in area creation, I cannot find the time. ..). I hope you can get it to work on ee.
My typical experience is to try a new character class that interests me; adventure until the wife kicks me off the computer; read the interesting builds you guys write about on these forums; start a new character; rinse and repeat until I get annoyed with myself and then I'll build a paladin to actually play through the entire trilogy. Even then I only get to the end of BG2/start of ToB when the restartitis hits....
Part 1:
I thought just for kicks I will use the canon team, since my guy is of coarse amazing at melee combat it really doesn't matter who I bring around, but at the same time, its just been so long since I've done a canon run, I thought, ah why not, i'll do it just for poops and giggles so off we went throughout all of the sword coast, exploring every area, unlocking every chest killing every baddie until we would up at the fallen temple where someone waits for the final showdown:
now before manuals and tomes he had a good roll of 92 ( 19 str, 18 dex, 19 con, 15 int, 5 wis, 16 cha) and in theory I could have rolled 18 for charisma but to me, it doesn't seem fair that half-orcs get +1 to strength/constitution and only -2 to intelligence, so I gave him a -2 to charisma as well, and I even had the liberty of giving Khalid the manual of dexterity ( since in reality 19 dex would really do nothing for this character build) so that made it so my melee guys could have -8 AC each, but now it's off to SoA to continue to part 2 of the 3 part series...
Hi'keem the Dragonborn
Gender: Male
Race: Dragonborn (human, but...shut up)
Class: Sorcerer
Alignment: True neutral
I might draw myself a portrait and use it in the a playthrough o.o
Literally every game I play, i'm a arcane caster,
Still, here is my baby, my pride and joy... who survived BG1 and is making the attempt at doing BG2 solo.
Cho'Rok is merely the Korean word for 'Green'. It is, along with Epona Rae, the only name I've used that isn't also the name of a stellar or planetary body/satellite.
The unkitted Cleric has the whole 'divine power of undetermined source' about it, at least until you read that letter in Candlekeep. It must be neutral, to personify both the ability to bring great harm or great healing. The trials of a bhaalspawn... sometimes they fail to resist, yet the next day do great good with their power. Moments of strength and moments of weakness and all that.
The Druid has the 'Force of Nature' angle, plus the ridiculously good Druid HLAs that actually have your character transforming into godly avatars of the elements and harnessing the forces of the universe.
These feel the most 'Bhaalspawn' to me, given their Divine orientations.
However, I must admit that my first thought and go-to concept is always a Fighter, the quintessential sword-and-shield adventurer.
But I like this possibility. Depending on which way she goes alignment wise, Cho'Rok may herald a new day for Faerun or merely a false dawn that gets one's hopes up only to bring death and destruction.
He also had flashy blue hair when I was a child but that's something else.
He is always good aligned, mostly Neutral Good but sometimes Chaotic Good aswell.
F/M/T was always my favorite class and it still is to this day, I like the versatility, the power, the synergy ...
Plus in BG1 you can actually be some kind of F/M/T/C with the good Bhaalspawn powers which is even more fun and powerful. I nearly exclusively play this character solo and it is the only character I played through BG2 and BP2 entirely.
Of course he is dual wielding scimitars ... The Drizzt's fantasy ...
This is his character sheet before fighting Sarevok and doing a 280 damage backstab. A true powergamer wet dream.
This play through again I went with canon ( or what I believed to be canon; minsc, jaheira, aerie, imoen, and nalia) and it was actually quite fun, I rarely if ever go through with this team, and it was a nice change of pace, minsc did alright, with the defender of easthaven and with the mits of dexterity reaching a nice -11 AC, jaheira successfully got her harper pin ( which is pretty much mandatory because of the awesome save vs spell bonus), and she only reached 93 HP at the final battle in SoA ( lol buddy), and soft squishy aerie, holy crap, HP is almost non existent, with a whopping 55, ( my level 4 berserker had more, double lulz) and imoen I ran off to the asylum as quickly as possible to make sure her XP gap wasn't too big from the entire team ( since now for whatever reason she will always have 400 000 no matter what now) and she faired quite well only being 100 000 behind, and then nalia, gave her the good ol' robe of vecna and amulet of power and just watched her wreck baddies especially when she memorized horrid wilting. Here be what my guy was looking like right at the last battle in SoA:
So that ends SoA, and now on to ToB to finish of the 3 part signature series
So my canon team managed to make it through all the way of ToB, although the battle with abizigal was a colossal pain in the ass, but we got through, and one thing that I figured out that was nice, was 3 mages that have chain contingency with normal contingency already ready to go out once dealing out abidalzims horrid wilting x9 while they all get protected by a stoneskin at the same time, good stuff, but now its time for the final battle and the conclusion to my signature character's quest
Then I took up bard as a challenge, a blade. It was some of the most fun I've had and the bard (+ kits) became my signature character for a few years. I would play a front line blade, spell slinging Jester and a supportive skald.
Then I started to play no-reload (reading the threads on the old bioware forum back in the days, many years ago) and I went back to playing mage and surprisingly I picked up the paladin, a class that I absolutely hated with passion before. I started playing a lot of Cavalier/Undead Hunter in my reload games.
After I had played no-reloads with paladins, mages and bards for a year or two, I started to do challenge runs while doing no-reload and picked up the Avenger, Beast Mastery, Monk, Wizard Slayer and many other kits that I very rarely played.
Nowadays I'm playing with focus on RP, and pick a character based on his background, the party he will play with and what items to get him. I still only play no-reload, but more RP heavy.
Right now, and for the last two years, my Signature Main character and the one I play the most is either a Dwarf Lawful Neutral Priest of Helm or a Half-Elf Neutral Good Priest of Lathander. I'm feeling for clerics what I felt for mages back in the days.
Who knows, in a soon future I might go back to playing arcane casters, already have a bard game going on the side. The only character I can't imagine ever reaching for as a main, is the ranger.
He became so amazing, I actually used that import/export for 2 or 3 more characters. That's how much fun I had with him.
Not to mention that across the different D&D editions sometimes Animate Dead has the evil descriptor (3e) and sometimes it doesn't (5e). Also Necromancy isn't limited to undead raising. One could easily use fear spells, enervation, and other negative energy spells without casting an evil descriptor spell. Or worship Kelemvor and use his special version of animate dead, The Dead March I believe it is called.
In 2e healing spells are considered to be Necromancy, too.
In all my years of playing D&D I've only played one evil necromancer and that was my very first game as a Drow Lawful Evil Wizard (Necromancer). All the rest have been good or neutral. A Lawful Good Wizard could cast Animate Dead as much as they wanted to if it was within their moral code but a Chaotic Evil Cleric of Lolth might have limitations since Lolth seems to be strict on raising the dead.
Anyway this is probs going off-subject.
At the moment, I'm especially pleased with my newly modded elven chain, where I've replaced the style and green color with something more alike my portrait.