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God Powers

ExtremeGimpExtremeGimp Member Posts: 1
in Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
Just thinking about the demi-God aspect of the game which I always thought was really cool.

Another thing that always bugged me was how the special abilities worked for other NPCs; Minsc has berserker rage (not a ranger ability) and Branwen has free magic hammer (free domain spell kinda thing). There is never any in-game explanation so how do they get those abilities?

It would be fun if as you pursued your destiny (i.e. pursued the storyline and progressed through chapters), you got to choose the special abilities from your demi-god powers instead of having them be related to your alignment. They are pretty pointless as it is and this would really enhance this mechanic. It would also make what is a very hardcore (difficult) game a bit easier in an interesting way that makes sense for the story. Also, when you import to BG2 the stakes are way higher because maybe some of those special abilities were really good and you'll actually miss them when they are taken in the prologue.

I wonder if Beamdog ever considered modernizing or enhancing that mechanic for EE. Any thoughts? Would you be receptive to a change like this?

Comments

  • masteralephmasteraleph Member Posts: 270
    Minsc's rage is a loss of control due to his brain injury, and Branwen's hammer is a cleric of Tempus thing (which doesn't exist as a choice for a kit in-game). Other characters have things too- Edwin (for some reason) has extra spells even beyond being a specialist mage (as does Baeloth), Xan has his Moonblade, Aurora has her luck item, Jaheira gets Harper's Call, Kagain and Coran both have illegal stat arrays, etc. It'd be nice if everyone got something, but it's pretty widespread.

    I'd also argue that the Bhaalspawn powers are actually relatively powerful. The first set isn't great (though I'll take extra near-instantaneous healing), but the second set in EE is either Slow Poison (very nice with Cloakwood) or Horror, which is nice in general. And good folks for the third set can get Draw Upon Holy Might, which is potentially quite powerful. I do think that Beamdog was paying attention- replacing Ghoul Touch with Horror was definitely an upgrade.

    You also don't lose them in BG2 until later (they're tied to your soul, afterall). And if you're into mods, Ascension does add additional abilities as you finish the ToB challenges in the demiplane.
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,829
    masteraleph wrote: »
    Branwen's hammer is a cleric of Tempus thing (which doesn't exist as a choice for a kit in-game).
    As of 2.5, it does; I think they made the kit for IWD and ported it over. She still gets to keep her Spiritual Hammer on top of the kit bonuses, too.

    Some other bits are tied to unavailable kits as well; Minsc's berserking is a Rashemi thing, and Edwin's extra spells are a Red Wizard thing.

    The player's Bhaalspawn powers in BG1 are tied to reputation, not alignment. If you know what you're doing, you can control exactly what you get.
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