What special abilities would you give to NPCs who have none?
Grinkles
Member Posts: 10
Several recruitable characters come with unexplained special abilities that they "shouldn't" have. For example, Dynaheir is able to slow poison once per day, and madman Tiax is able to summon a ghast to the battlefield on a moment's notice. Perhaps Dynaheir's rather high wisdom (15) grants her the ability to fight poison as a cleric or druid would, and perhaps the chaotic evil Tiax is able to befriend ghasts through sheer maniacal willpower. However, neither ability is explained canonically as far as I know.
If it were up to you to assign new special abilities to characters who lack them, which abilities would you give to those characters? Here are a few that I think could be fun purely for "flavor":
Garrick - Vocalize (he's a bard, isn't he?)
Kivan - Goodberry (spending so much time in the forest, he better know how to forage!)
Shar-Teel - Protection from Males (similar to Protection from Evil, but works vs. humanoid males)
Skie - Free Action (since her biography claims she is a skilled dancer)
Xzar - Spook (what's scarier than a glance from an unhinged necromancer in the heat of battle?)
For the record, here's a list of companions who do receive special abilities unrelated to their class:
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Branwen - Spiritual Hammer
Dynaheir - Slow Poison
Eldoth - Create Poisoned Arrows
Faldorn - Summon Dread Wolf
Minsc - Berserk
Quayle - Invisibility
Safana - Charm Person
Tiax - Summon Ghast
Yeslick - Dispel Magic
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If it were up to you to assign new special abilities to characters who lack them, which abilities would you give to those characters? Here are a few that I think could be fun purely for "flavor":
Garrick - Vocalize (he's a bard, isn't he?)
Kivan - Goodberry (spending so much time in the forest, he better know how to forage!)
Shar-Teel - Protection from Males (similar to Protection from Evil, but works vs. humanoid males)
Skie - Free Action (since her biography claims she is a skilled dancer)
Xzar - Spook (what's scarier than a glance from an unhinged necromancer in the heat of battle?)
For the record, here's a list of companions who do receive special abilities unrelated to their class:
-------------------------------
Branwen - Spiritual Hammer
Dynaheir - Slow Poison
Eldoth - Create Poisoned Arrows
Faldorn - Summon Dread Wolf
Minsc - Berserk
Quayle - Invisibility
Safana - Charm Person
Tiax - Summon Ghast
Yeslick - Dispel Magic
-------------------------------
Post edited by Grinkles on
6
Comments
Xan - Doom
Xzar - Inflict Minor Wounds (he doesn't really need 'Spook'. As a Necromancer, he'll naturally get 'Horror')
Garrick - Vocalize (great choice, OP)
Kivan - Goodberries (yeah, definitely on this one, too)
Khalid - Shield (a touch of Harper magic, incorporating his protective nature)
Alora - Glitterdust
I also consider the passive bonuses from some characters to be an equivalent.
Viconia - Magic Resistance
Kagain - 20 Con
Coran - 3 pips in bows + 20 Dex
Baeloth - Magic Resistance and a few additional spell picks
Dorn - Illegal class / race combo
That's why I dislike the mods that remove the illegal stats from Kagain or Coran, plus they could have find a Tome before adventuring with your party.
But I also like that some characters, like Garrick, get nothing. Once again I think it adds to the realism that not everyone is equal in Faerun.
Edwin has his necklace,
Alora has her rabbit foot of luck,
Xan has his Moonblade,
Boo has Minsc,
Rasaad's got shoes, or are those open to anyone? Anyway, the new guys have quests, that's even better.
Did I forget anyone?
That'd leave for "the poor blokes who couldn't sweet talk their DM into giving them some cool boon" :
Xzar
Montaron
Shar-Teel
Skie
Jaheira
Khalid
Garrick
Kivan
Imoen
and Ajantis (or is being able to play a paladin a boon in itself? =D
I'm very much a fan of spook for Xzar, it's a really nice spell, remains useful well into higher levels. Could be a fear too (he wouldn't be the only one to get second level spells after all) but it might be too much of a game changer, especially early on.
No one knows just how Tiax managed to learn this particular bit of necromancy, perhaps because it seems an odd question to ask while being mauled by one of his creations. The spell summons a feral ghast, which remains for 1 turn to serve Tiax’s bidding before returning to dust.
The Witches of Rashemen or Wychlaran usually multiclass with Cleric and have high Wisdom, as they're expected to be spiritual leaders.
Since you couldn't have a Cleric/Mage Human multiclass or a pointless level 1 Cleric/level 1 Mage dual-class, perhaps even for balance reasons, they gave her a useful Cleric-like ability.
Or like Driz'zt was learning a few cantrips, without being a Mage/Wizard in the books (unless I'm mistaken), Dynaheir was taught a Cleric spell instead of being a full-fledged Cleric dual-class.
It should also be noticed that there are no illegal NPC stats or abilities. They're NPCs.
There are ton of illegal NPCs, both in books and adventures. I've seen some ADnD Lawful Good Fighter/Druids in a list somewhere.
Or an ADnD Chaotic Neutral Wild Elf Druid. http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Aerilaya
The rules only exist for PCs and for balance reasons. The NPCs can be whatever they want, since they're controlled/created by DMs/developers and DMs/developers do as they please as well.
Xzar:Infravision 3/day
Montoran:Wound (Cause a bleed effect if the next melee attack hits, 1/day 1hp/round 5 rounds
Shar-Teel:Taunting (1/day makes target attack her, save vs. spell -2 neg)
Skie:Mirror Image 1/day
Jaheira:Strength 1/day
Khalid:Wizard slayer kit
Garrick:Vocalize 1/day (excellent)
Kivan:Archer Kit
Imoen:Same Bhaalspawn powers we all know and love, rep based
Ajantis:Cavalier Kit
It would just be cool to have someone around who could be a Fighter/Mage for you instead of feeling tempted to make one for a lot of your playthroughs. And who better than our frail fellow who thinks the world is crashing down? You could argue that Imoen and Shar-Teel have some specials of their own, as those are the only two NPCs in the game who have the necessary stats to dual class (without using tomes). Khalid has a special trait too, though it's a negative one with his low morale and tendency to crap out when he gets hit too much.
And before anyone can pipe up with the apparent contradiction between my two posts, if they had designed Boo properly, Minsc would be totally unnecessary. Minsc provides nothing that Boo should not be capable of normally. And if we had direct control of Boo we could control his special 'Go for the eyes' attack, instead of it randomly targeting the most evil monster in the group.
On the other hand, Garrick really sucks! Give him IWD bard songs. All he cares about is music, give him a repertoire
I'm eager to find out what special abilities SoD NPCs have
Khalid: Champion's Strength (self only)
Ajantis: Holy Power
Kivan: Entangle
Minsc (as I turn him into a Barbarian in my game): Detect Evil (good one @bengoshi !)
Coran: Luck
Alora: Aid
Jaheira: Being able to cast "Raise Dead" as a druid is an special power IMHO.
Garrick: Friends
Xan: Emotion (Hopelessness)
Skie: Free Action (self only)
Xzar: Horror
Edwin: Charm Person (it would explain why he uses to treat everyone around him as a servant)
Montaron: Ghoul Touch (all that time traveling with a Necromancer helped him discover something useful for an assassin)
Kagain: Death Ward (he IS the most resilient character in the entire saga)
Shar-Teel: Dirty Fight (Blindness)
Viconia: 50% MR is good enough
Rasaad: Sunfire
Neera: Protection From Fire
Dorn: Being an illegal Half-Orc / BlackGuard with 19 STR is good enough
Baeloth: 50% MR is good enough and illegal spells selection is good enough
Aerie: Call Lightning (Aedrie Faenya take care of her)
Nalia: Knock
Korgan: Fear
Keldorn: Armor of Faith
Valygar: Minor Globe of Invulnerability
Anomen: Shield
Haer'Dalis: Dimensional Door
Cernd: Summon Pack (Animal Summoning II that only calls for wolves)
Hexxat: Being a indestructible vampire is good enough
^- This, so much this!