Montaron Joinable NPC for BGII:EE
Archaos
Member Posts: 1,421
I know, the first answer by many would be "they cannot change existing content". But, here's the thing, Montaron is not involved at all, anywhere in BGII. You only find an item called "Montaron's Corpse", I believe. He doesn't appear at all in the game, unlike Xzar or Tiax.
So, you could either ignore his corpse or take it to a temple and have him resurrected.
To put it in perspective, if you took Dorn in ToB and you talked to Gromnir, shouldn't dialogue be included between the two? Which in a way changes existing content by adding additional dialogue.
Which is the same as adding dialogue if you took Monty's corpse to a Temple.
Why am I requesting this? Because Monty is perfect for the job.
BGII and ToB lacks any evil Thief, that's a fact and it has been requested by many.
Montaron is Neutral Evil. He's a Fighter/Thief, which in my opinion is better than a pure Thief and I believe, better than an Assassin.
A pure Thief eventually maxes out his thieving abilities and an Assassin, ironically, doesn't have enough until ToB.
Better THAC0 for backstabs (which he loves to do), good at melee and range, better HP, better armor (in case you need another tank), more proficiency points, both Fighter and Thief HLAs, plus Halfling bonuses.
Think of him as a more balanced, evil Coran.
His stats are not great but they can be given an upgrade.
In BG1 it's STR 16, DEX 17, CON 15, INT 12, WIS 13, CHA 9. Like Minsc, Viconia etc, his stats could be given a bump.
His DEX could go to 19 and his STR to 17 and CON to 16.
Plus, his personality is awesome, especially with the banter mod which name eludes me. His quotes are hilarious also.
His portrait could be given a facelift but that is not necessary.
So, you could either ignore his corpse or take it to a temple and have him resurrected.
To put it in perspective, if you took Dorn in ToB and you talked to Gromnir, shouldn't dialogue be included between the two? Which in a way changes existing content by adding additional dialogue.
Which is the same as adding dialogue if you took Monty's corpse to a Temple.
Why am I requesting this? Because Monty is perfect for the job.
BGII and ToB lacks any evil Thief, that's a fact and it has been requested by many.
Montaron is Neutral Evil. He's a Fighter/Thief, which in my opinion is better than a pure Thief and I believe, better than an Assassin.
A pure Thief eventually maxes out his thieving abilities and an Assassin, ironically, doesn't have enough until ToB.
Better THAC0 for backstabs (which he loves to do), good at melee and range, better HP, better armor (in case you need another tank), more proficiency points, both Fighter and Thief HLAs, plus Halfling bonuses.
Think of him as a more balanced, evil Coran.
His stats are not great but they can be given an upgrade.
In BG1 it's STR 16, DEX 17, CON 15, INT 12, WIS 13, CHA 9. Like Minsc, Viconia etc, his stats could be given a bump.
His DEX could go to 19 and his STR to 17 and CON to 16.
Plus, his personality is awesome, especially with the banter mod which name eludes me. His quotes are hilarious also.
His portrait could be given a facelift but that is not necessary.
Post edited by Archaos on
7
Comments
Personally, while playing evil I don't mind Montaron in my party. He's still thousand times more enjoyable character that Jan.
Monty is amazing, though, and I would be happy at his inclusion. My character might have to lessen her hatred of Harpers for killing her once travelling companions, though. XD
So, another one (or even more than one) will be greatly appreciated, especially Multi F/T. From my point of view, this build (fighter/thief multiclass) is especially good: you save two spots in your party simultaneously.
Moreover, the developers desided to introduce 3 new NPCs in BG1, so why not to introduce new NPCs in BG2?!
It will be magnificent to have Multi fighter-thief in BG2 as an NPC and even more magnificent to find that out soon, during playing in BG1 - so that you could go planning your party for BG2 EE during BG EE, for example, invest in those proficiencies of Montaron you like more - to use them not only in BG 1 but also in BG 2.
So, please, tell us about new NPCs in BG 2 ASAP))
I'm sadly confident it won't happen, though, because of contract limitations. They can add characters, but I think they can't change the ones that are already there in a so consistent way (in one Monty's a dead random character, in the other he's a joinable NPC!)
For example giving them Carsormyr, Keldorn's armor and Jan's special equipment. Finally, making Jan not the best thief in the game anymore.
Another companion they could add, instead of Monty, is Valen from the very popular mod. Even though she fits to the evil playthrough, she might be too gimicky compared to every other companion. She basically has two modes: overpowered and crap. Though, that's part of the challenge.
@bengoshi We don't really "need" another evil companion since with Dorn and hopefully the evil Thief, you will fill all the evil slots.
But, I would love to see a Chaotic Evil Sorcerer NPC since we would still have only one evil Mage (Edwin). Making him insane, similarly to Xzar, would make a nice constrast to Edwin. Maybe he has connections with Xzar and sent by the Zhentarim also.
Hell, just adding Xzar would be awesome in itself but I think he would be too redundant. Similarly to Nalia and Imoen where both of them do the same thing but Imoen does it better.
Or, the best of both worlds, turning Xzar into a Sorcerer. Monty and Xzar back in action? Count me in.
Also, statistically, we have:
7 good aligned ones.
6 Neutrals. 1 dies.
3 evil ones. Not counting Sarevok.
With the Enhanced Edition, we would be:
8 good ones (Rasaad)
7 neutrals. 1 dies. (Isn't Neera Chaotic Neutral or something?)
4 evil ones. (Dorn. 5 if they add an evil Thief.)
So we miss a couple. The evil thief is not guaranteed but logically very likely to be in.
I would prefer if we had another priest type and mage. Maybe a Cleric of Talos and a Sorcerer. Or just a Cleric/Mage multiclass. Like the counterpart to Aerie.
The goodies and neutrals have many options already.
In BG2 there're only 1 (!) thief that can progress through levels, while there're enough fighters and even mages and priests. There're even 2 druids...
So if you want to try any other class/kit (sorcerer etc) and use HLA for thief - you're entitled to have Jan. This situation is really disappointing, especially when it's your third or forth (and so on) play.
BG1 had two evil NPCs of each class almost:
2-3 main fighters (Kagain, Shar-Teel, Montaron)
2 Clerics (Tiax, Viconia)
2 Mages (Xzar, Edwin)
2 Thieves (Tiax, Montaron)
1 Bard (Eldoth)
Sure, in BG2 we traded quantity for quality as in more dialogue etc. But since we are adding new NPCs and we have another fighter added (Dorn) why shouldn't a couple more evil NPCs be added?
And for me, alignment is important. I don't want a Yoshimo clone. Meaning, pure thief and True Neutral. Or another goody mage.
There are three goody mages in BG2 (Imoen, Nalia, Aerie).
Neutrals will have three mages also. (Jan, Haer'Dalis, Neera)
An evil Sorcerer would add something different other than Edwin, which is the best mage.
1: 2:1 boy boy girl in the new NPCs. Everyone knows it's boy girl boy girl.
2: They want to include a same-sex romance for the ladies.
3: They need a primary thief.
4: People want more evil in their BG2.
5: All romances involve tall people races.
Result? I'm thinking Sexy Evil Lesbian Assassin girl, 50/50 it's an Elf or a Halfling.
1) ADDING material is NOT CHANGING material;
2) The limitations they have is more an artistic one (they don't want to s**** up the beauty of the original game) than a legal one (they have a lot of free hand in this).
And yes... we do need a proper evil thief.
And yes... Montaron would be great.
And yes... just resurrecting him wouldn't be VIOLATING the original game.
And Xzar, destroyer of worlds!
Edwin is better at everything than him. Well, maybe Xzar has a bit better physical stats?
As much as I love Xzar, I think that he is very redundant. Like Nalia.
Adding a Sorcerer NPC in BG2 would be perfect. Neera is already a Wild Mage and we have all shorts of mages like duals, multis, but no Sorcerer.
Edwin has more spells and more HP. Pretty much, this is all that matters to a mage. Maybe Dexterity too.
And Montaron is better as a Thief and Viconia better as a Cleric. At least Kagain and Shar-Teel are opposites and both have advantages and disadvantages. Kagain has pure durability with that huge HP. Shar-Teel has pure offense.
Personally, I would prefer if Xzar was the one that could summon Ghouls or undead, instead of Tiax. I mean, he is a necromancer. Edwin would have the amulet, Xzar the undead but unfortunately that's not the case.
Which means, that you would only get Montaron after that incident, when the corpse actually appears as an item.