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Are jesters still worth playing?

I noticed that jesters were changed considerably with the big SoD update.

Before the update their song confused enemies unless they made a saving throw at -4.

Now enemies are confused only if they fail their saving throw at +2!

At level 15 jesters also can slow enemies (unless they make their saving throw with no penalty) and at level 20 they can render their enemies unconscious (unless they make their saving throw at +2). All of these effects are cumulative, and I assume that they require separate saving throws (so an enemy could be slowed but not confused, etc.).

While the additional effects are interesting, this strikes me as a rather serious downgrade in terms of the jester's effectiveness. And once your PC is at levels 15+, serious foes (i.e., the kind that are not squashed within a round or two) make their saving throws most of the time (or so it seems IME).

Perhaps I'm missing something?

Comments

  • mf2112mf2112 Member, Moderator Posts: 1,919
    That is a pretty big nerf, wow. Using a Greater Malison and some Dooms could help some.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    I don't know about SoD, but in BG2 going back to vanilla, their song offered a bonus of +4, not a penalty of -4. Beamdog actually strengthened the Jester kit by adding slow and sleep effects and decreasing the save bonus.

    If SoD used to give a -4 penalty to the Jester song, that would have been the biggest buff any class has ever gotten in the BG saga.
  • ThrasymachusThrasymachus Member Posts: 915
    According to the old BGEE manual jesters' song required a save at -4. But perhaps that was a typo? I've never played one before, so I was relying on the manual.
  • magisenseimagisensei Member Posts: 316
    I think its a typo otherwise it would be an amazing ability imagine unlimited confusion with save at -4 nothing would be safe from the song. In the RR mod which sounds almost exactly like the SoD version all monsters get a +4 save to the song (meaning that monsters gain a bonus to saving throws when listening) this decreases as the jester levels along with added effects.

    Is it worth playing, sure it makes for a different kind of play - more chaotic and fun but requiring a bit of micro-management in terms of spells and song combo. Works great on low level monsters especially if you throw in great malison before singing.
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,760
  • JumboWheat01JumboWheat01 Member Posts: 1,028
    If I recall correctly, it was indeed a +4 bonus for the enemy to save, but with 2.0 they actually buffed it to only +2.
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