Kit-Specific HLAs for Better Identity
OneX
Member Posts: 5
This idea is inspired by Rogue Rebalancing, where bard kits get unique HLAs. For example, Blade gains Whirlwind but loses Enhanced Bard Song, while others get upgraded Bard Song. It’s a small change, but it creates clear identity without just adding power.
Core idea:
Each kit gets 1–2 unique HLAs that match its theme, while losing some HLAs that don’t fit.
→ More flavor, better balance, and clearer differences between kits.
Examples
Druid
- Totemic Druid: upgraded Animal Spirits (no shapeshift → stronger summons)
- Avenger: loses Elemental Shapeshift → gains unique forms
- Shapeshifter: upgraded Greater Werewolf for late-game scaling
- Unkitted: keeps Elemental Shapeshifting as its niche
Ranger
- Beast Master: alpha animal summoning
- Archer: ranged debuff (e.g., slow/cripple on hit)
- Stalker: gains Assassination-style burst option
- Unkitted: improved Tracking (marked enemies get debuffed for a duration)
Balance approach
Not pure buffs—trade-offs:
- Gain unique HLAs
- Lose some standard ones
Example: Elemental Shapeshifting could be exclusive to unkitted druids.
Goal
Not to make kits stronger, but more distinct and interesting at high levels.
What do you think?
And are there mods that already do this beyond bard changes?
Core idea:
Each kit gets 1–2 unique HLAs that match its theme, while losing some HLAs that don’t fit.
→ More flavor, better balance, and clearer differences between kits.
Examples
Druid
- Totemic Druid: upgraded Animal Spirits (no shapeshift → stronger summons)
- Avenger: loses Elemental Shapeshift → gains unique forms
- Shapeshifter: upgraded Greater Werewolf for late-game scaling
- Unkitted: keeps Elemental Shapeshifting as its niche
Ranger
- Beast Master: alpha animal summoning
- Archer: ranged debuff (e.g., slow/cripple on hit)
- Stalker: gains Assassination-style burst option
- Unkitted: improved Tracking (marked enemies get debuffed for a duration)
Balance approach
Not pure buffs—trade-offs:
- Gain unique HLAs
- Lose some standard ones
Example: Elemental Shapeshifting could be exclusive to unkitted druids.
Goal
Not to make kits stronger, but more distinct and interesting at high levels.
What do you think?
And are there mods that already do this beyond bard changes?
0
Comments
I agree—rangers need more love overall, especially Beast Master, which really needs something to justify its restrictions.
Archer is already strong, but a bit more flavor wouldn’t hurt. Something like an “arrow to the knee” ability that slows or cripples a target would fit well without making it overpowered.
So yeah—less about buffs, more about identity.
As for mods that add HLAs, new and old (old that may no longer work without some hacking):
- Refinements (massive HLA list, many of them are broken as in not working at all)
- Oversight (Monk HLAs, mod does not work with EEs without some hacking and it does not recognize Monk kits)
- Artisan's Kitpack (overpowered kits but HLAs are cool, only some classes/kits get new HLAs)
- Artisan's Bardic Wonders (alright but for some reason vanilla Bard gets no special HLAs)
- Morpheus Skills and Abilities (only Fighters, Paladins and Skald, along with some generic ones everyone can get)
- Wizard Slayer Rebalancing (still works and makes the kit rather cool, but the HLAs are nothing special in powergaming terms)
deadinside already gave some examples.
Personally I like the initial idea, but from a practical point of view, I think more specific mods that focus on one or two themes only, tend to work better, even when buggy. For instance, there is the Paina NPC mod, with a heavy focus on spiders as a theme. In older releases there was the spider avatar, which animation was a bit buggy. Still I kind of like that idea. Or the Aura NPC, which is almost bug free (or mostly bug free), exploring the idea of tinker-add-ons.
Your idea is more generic and an attempt to put unique HLAs on a class-specific focus nonetheless. I have not tested all mentioned mods, so my own knowledge is limited, but even then I would reason that a more focused approach kind of works better. For instance, in the Dusk NPC mod, the npc FALL, as a focus for ranger/beastmaster (great with animals and unique beasts). Often such mods also come with a story, whereas the mods with a focus on just classes, tend to not come with a story usually. Having some kind of background story works well usually; it grounds a mod into the game and theme usually (though one could argue whether all themes really fit, but even the original game had liches, for instance).
Skitia also has one archer NPC with some unique features; could need a slight power boost, but Skitia designs more with a story-centric focus than powergaming focus.
What WOULD be kind of cool would be a mega-mega mod, that has not only unique NPCS, items and features, but also specific advantages for classes. It would probably be a lot of work, but people could perhaps split work; morpheus (if he has time) could focus on the feature set, and others on the stories, NPCs and so forth. It seems quite a lot of work though; just focusing on a single NPC appears a better strategy, IMO, such as with Aura NPC - the author can focus on polishing that NPC and the feature set, so the work is also put in more constraints than, say, having all the listed unique HLAs. Power-wise many things in the game are a bit .... broken. For instance, people always complain how weak Aerie is - that is true and is in part due to dual-classing. One gets more flexibility, of course, but power-wise it really is so much worse than having a specialized mage and a specialized cleric (though, of course, 2 substituting for 1, so it is not always a possible 1:1 trade-off to be done).
That’s a fair point—focused mods are easier to polish and usually work better.
What I’m suggesting is more of a power redistribution at the system level: each kit gains something and loses something, so overall balance stays about the same.
The idea also treats kits differently based on their current state:
- Beast Master (weak) → gets a real buff (e.g., stronger Animal Summoning) to catch up
- Avenger (balanced) → trades power for flavor (loses something like Elemental Shapeshifting, gains unique forms)
- Archer (already strong) → mostly gets flavor (e.g., “arrow to the knee” slow/cripple), and could lose some HLAs to compensate
So it’s not about adding power everywhere, but about shifting it to improve identity while keeping things in line overall.
That’s fair—bigger mods do tend to get messy without a team behind them.
What I like about the Refinements mod isn’t the power increase, but the identity it gives. Each specialist mage having its own HLA set makes them feel distinct, rather than just variants with minor differences.
That’s more in line with what I’m suggesting—less about power, more about making each kit feel unique.