BGEE dlc or BG2EE animal npc

Aegir_Fellwood

A dog or wolf npc is pretty high on my wishlist, It's not even necessary with a lot of dialogue and sound files, plus the druid and ranger players get an animal companion - not that I think any classes should be excluded.

There are however possible issues with it; why bring along a dog?
(1) it can't be equipped with anything, other than maybe an amulet, unless special items are created for it
(2) it can't cast spells
(3) any sort of dialogue/banther it may have is going to be very limited
(4) ?

Even with those limitations I'd still bring it along, due to roleplay reasons, game balance (it's not THAT hard), and finally because imo it would be damn cool

Syntia13

You mean like in Fallout 1? (Damn, I loved that dog. It's one of the few things I remember of the game)
Actually, there already is a dog in BG2 (if you play a ranger and finish the stronghold questline).

kilroy_was_here

Just make a mage and pretend that your familiar is a dog that's playing dress up... and can talk. Those mages are all touched in the head anyway.

(never plays as a mage)

Aegir_Fellwood

@Syntia13 Oh what I didn't do to keep that dog (Dogmeat) alive lol, but no I was actually thinking about something like the Mabari in Dragon Age, an actual npc, and a part of the team, not just a summon or a figurine.

Syntia13

Oh, you too? Well hallo thar, fellow Dogmeat lover!
Ah, like DAO? Do you mean before or after installing the 'separate character slot for dog' mod? Because I'm not sure I'd like it if my pet took up an NPC slot in a 6 person party. I'd prefer it if he acted like a familiar (by which I mean - you can control it and it's included in the 'select all' command, but it doesn't have a portrait among the NPCs)
How would you see the dog's intelligence?
- familiar level, where you can literally talk to it
- mabari level, where it's uncannily smart, but you can only have a pretend talks with it
- Dogmeat level, where it's a dog

Personally, I think I'd like the last option most. While I like the fact that mages can talk to the familiars, and the dog's 'banters' in DA:O were hilarious, I'd rather have a pet that I can go to to get away from all the responsibility and stress of leadership.
"Who's my little good boy? Who's the good boy? Yes you are, you fluffy lovable killing machine you, good boy!"

XD

kilroy_was_here

I think that an addition like that can't really be balanced. If the dog takes up a character slot your party will be weaker since a humanoid NPC with class levels will be more powerful. If it doesn't take a spot it would give an advantage to any party without any tradeoff/weakness.

Aegir_Fellwood

@Syntia13 I would prefer the second option, and I never played DAO with any mods

@kilroy_was_here I agree, but I don't see that as a bad thing at all, quite the opposite really. I usually play with 3 or 4 partymembers, having more than that is, for some reason, just less exciting to me, and imo with fewer patymembers everyone has a more defined and crucial role to play.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who likes to play with a less than optimal team, it's simply a good way to increase the challenge without increasing the difficulty setting.
I also think that most of us, if not all of us, in some shape or form, roleplay a theme or concept or just some vague idea, and imo having an animal npc in the game greatly increases ones options.

...but maybe it's just me lol