Balduran Set and others

maverick

By reading a discussion with the bonus merchants Deidre and Joluv, I just had something on mind.
With these merchants we can have the armor of Balduran, the shield of Balduran and also its sword.
We all know its helmet (which is well the best for me) and even its cloak during BG1. I was so sad when I figured out there was no cloak anymore in BG2. So the first point would be to add the cloak of Balduran in BG2.
Another point is about the Balduran items. An armor, a shield, a sword, a cloak and an helmet, so why shouldn’t it have a Balduran set through BG1&2 with other items such as gloves, ring and so on, to make a complete set which can add new powers to the user.
But some of the original items cannot be used by other kits like the armor or the helmet with rogues or wizards. So I thought about new items which have belonged to famous characters in Faerun like Khelben, Elminster or even divinities for priests or paladins.

Communard

Well I don't think Elminster would be too happy if you met him wearing half his stuff

maverick

Well of course but that's not what I had on mind, I meant another item that he used but not anymore such as an ancient robe or ring.

AndreaColombo

Are you suggesting additional powers while wearing a complete set of Balduran items in the same way as complete sets gave you more power in Diablo II?

maverick

Well first I've completely forgot that point with Diablo II. Actually I thought about a new power while wearing the complete set, not additionnal bonus like Diablo II, but just "one power" like an high ability.

Zymran86

Why not add other sets with new Heroes or villain's Background story on them that the Beamdog writers could come up with?

nulspace

I think the addition of new powers would be approaching OP territory...a lot of that bonus merchandise is already incredibly powerful.

AndreaColombo

That Balduran full plate is pretty neat...

ElectricMonk

In my opinion, if you're wearing/wielding all of Balduran's gear, the last thing you need is a set bonus. I do like the idea of set bonuses in games in general, just not sure how it could be implemented in Baldur's Gate. If it were to be incorporated, I would think it would need to be with all new items... and I think it's important to be careful to not put awesome set bonuses on items that are already really powerful.

kamuizin

I will be happy with a way to find the cloak of balduran agin in amn (quest, merchant... etc... etc... etc...) without having to lose the helmet (when you export a character from BG with the cloak but not the helmet, the game put the cloak on the place of the helmet if i'm not wrong), i don't think set items are compatible with baldur's gate kind of game but we never know... maybe a +1 bonus to all the items to make it simple? really doesn't matter much to me this implement.

AndreaColombo

Also, why did the Helm of Balduran start looking like the Helm of Kiel in BG2? It looked perfectly fine as it was, with no need for a change. Give us the original back.

aXidal

I want the Butter Knife of Balduran in BGII.

AceofWands

Why not have these items in BG1 or SoA? They could have some minor enchantments and then towards the end of SoA or even in ToB you could have Cromwell or Cespenar enhance the whole set if you have it. Maybe make the sword +3, increase the charisma bonus for the armour say, etc etc, nothing too overpowered.

Put the new items in difficult areas, definitely not for sale and even chuck in the butter knife as the crucial ingredient for the upgrade (it gets destroyed in the process thankfully). Surely any self-respecting hero of the game would find the armour of our eponymous hero very desirable?

Tanthalas

Someone actually already asked for more Balduran item.

Discussion merge in complete!

caruga

@AceofWands

Just want to say I hate language I can't use Cespenar. He's the Jar Jar Binks of the BG universe. I'd gladly kill the SOB in exchange for no cheesy homogenised item upgrades. Cromwell ftw.

As to the OP, I don't see why people are disagreeing with it; where three items that are already in the game do not offend, a few more added, does? I don't understand how you all tick.

I wouldn't mind seeing (a very few) set equipment bonuses either. I think it would be cool if the entire Balduran set can be collected only across the three installments, BG1 to TOB. It's close to the namesake of the series after all.

Put the new items in difficult areas, definitely not for sale

I agree. And I think Diedre's inventory in general should be carved up and distributed across the lands.

Communard

@caruga a set only collectable through BG1 -> ToB? The Pantaloons of Balduran?! :O

caruga

@caruga a set only collectable through BG1 -> ToB? The Pantaloons of Balduran?! :O

That was in the back of my mind. Nothing as overpowered as the BMU though.

looter

Why not add other sets with new Heroes or villain's Background story on them that the Beamdog writers could come up with?

I think thats an awesome idea

Ravel

I personally don't really care for the idea of set items in the traditional WoW/Diablo sense, where you get more stats & abilities as you collect more of the item set. I just don't think it would work well in a single-playthrough non-random-loot environment.

In order to not favor one class or another, you'd have to create at LEAST 4-5 rather generic sets just to avoid armor/weapon restrictions and still cover most of the classes. If you wanted to create one for each class, you'd obviously have to make more sets. Now, you have to think - each AMAZING, EPIC, LEGENDARY item you add to the game is going to reduce the excitement and rarity of the existing items in-game. I personally like that Baldur's Gate has a fairly long ramp-up time and that powerful magical items are relatively rare.

Since the devs are already adding new magical items to help outfit classes/kits which weren't well-covered in the original, I fear that adding extra set items to cover each class would lessen the excitement a bit.

Instead of a set of items, I much prefer individually powerful items with a strong lore and story behind them - so long as it doesn't conflict with existing lore (I'm looking at you Dak'kon's Zerth Blade).

Linkamus

No set bonuses in Baldur's Gate please.

Kalindor

I am ambivalent when it comes to adding set item bonuses to existing items. However, I am sure that modders would make use of such possibilities if they were added to the engine.

Flauschig

Does DD lore have item sets bonuses?

LadyRhian

@Flauschig Very few. I can recall two sets of items off the top of my head from "Pages from the Mages"-type things in Dragon Magazine, but I can no longer recall what they were, exactly. And the Regalia of Power from the Artifacts (Crown/Staff/Orb of Law/Neutrality/Chaos), plus a few other artifacts from the original Dungeon Master's Guide (I think the Teeth of Dahlver-Nar had powers that added when you implanted more teeth in your mouth. and the Hand/Eye of Vecna as well- but neither of those are FR. And there was the Rod of Seven Parts- also not a part of the FR. Oh, and the Cup and Talisman of Al'Akbar as well.

LadyRhian

@Flauschig I just looked it up in my copies of "Pages from the Mages", "Prayers of the Faithful" and "Volo's Guide to All Things Magical". The closest I came is that there is a Priest Spell Codex of the Selunan faith that is four rings, which cannot all be worn at once, but each ring has certain spells on them, and when two rings are worn in concert, you get an extra spell (which one depends on which of the two rings you are wearing at the time). I'll continue to look, but I can't guarantee I'll find it/them.

Heinrich

What about the Butter Knife of Balduran and the Journal as well?

I'd like to see a feature where you can give things like these to a curator in that giant museum in Baldur's Gate and get rewarded. It just makes me feel that my quest to retrieve Balduran's items for historical value was in vain that I couldn't as much as to sell some of them.

Nimz

I suggested some new set items a while back... but it didn't seem like a very popular idea :-(

http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/1585/set-items

LadyRhian

@Nimz Mainly because there are hardly none of those type of things in the Realms, and they are trying to stay true to the setting? I still haven't been able to find that article in Dragon Magazine, although, I have been working, so I haven't had time to go through all of the back issues to see if I even remember the two I mentioned previously are correct. I can guess from the fact that I only remember two (if that), that they weren't popular and/or didn't go over very well.

Elzarath

I don't mind sets, like the red dragon one. The armor, helmet, sword and shield were pretty neat.

Necdilzor

I remember the shield... saved me SO many times from those beholders. I always thought that Balduran was a set or that you had bonuses for wearing more than one Balduran item at the time.

What about Gorion items? Or did I miss them?

LadyRhian

I did post about FR Item sets in the General section. Essentially, in FR, such things are treated like lesser Artifacts, and there are only two- The Blades of Ochir Naal and the Ruling Rings of Yrix Alquinnar.

http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/2886/2-fr-upgradeable-item-sets-found/p1