Quayle can't use his mace *Not an issue*
moody_mage
Member Posts: 2,054
This is barely worth mentioning and may have already been fixed as I suspect it would take exactly two seconds to resolve.
Bug: Quayle is proficient in Mace, yet lacks the strength to equip one.
Fix: change his proficiency to another clerical melee weapon which his low strength allows for (club/quarterstaff).
I don't have BG installed to test myself but I seem to recall having this issue with BGTutu installed. Also confirmed in the Play it Hardcore guide;
http://playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate:_NPC_Rundown#Quayle
Bug: Quayle is proficient in Mace, yet lacks the strength to equip one.
Fix: change his proficiency to another clerical melee weapon which his low strength allows for (club/quarterstaff).
I don't have BG installed to test myself but I seem to recall having this issue with BGTutu installed. Also confirmed in the Play it Hardcore guide;
http://playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate:_NPC_Rundown#Quayle
Post edited by Tanthalas on
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Comments
On another related note, gnome NPCs got shafted so badly in BG1 I made a minimod for it, but it never really progressed further than allowing them some changes so they could wield their weapons (and has largely been subsumed by mods like BG1 NPC and Level 1 NPCs).
Like Jaheira in BG2 also has some spells normally forbidden to Druids (maybe because she's a Harper).
Kagain has 20 Con, Coran 20 Dex, Minsc's stats are not Ranger legal...
That said, I'm not against fixing Quayle.
But some small things beside the norm just make some characters more interesting.
what do you mean with gnomes getting crappy stats?
In BG1 classic Quayle functions well. It is the BG2 engine that causes problems, but that's something
the original developers couldn't know beforehand.
A lot of NPCs, not only Gnomes, have really bad stats to counterbalance some of their strengths.
The Gnomes, too, especially Quayle is pretty strong in some regards.
Quayle can't even cast his clerical spells without a chance of them failing - as someone previously said this puts him as a slow levelling Illusionist. In what way is he strong compared to any of the other arcane magic users of any other race?
He is useless in all aspects and in exceeding in uselessness only by Garrick (who can actually given the right circumstances be pretty good as long as he is only expected to provide support).
Because of that, he's actually a pretty capable caster. He's not going to excel in the arcane nor in the divine but can do both admirably in the same character.
Honestly he'd be fine if they simply switched his weapon proficiency to quarterstaff.
I've never used him for much as he never gelled with my group. If I wanted a gnome in my BG1 group it would be Tiax all the way (he does rule all after all).
Sure, but these numbers don't tell much really.
Quayle has indeed crappy stats, and despite of this he is a good caster.
I'd say, that together with Edwin he's actually the best caster in BG1.
And Edwin is, ironically, second last on your list.
edit:
Reading your first post above though, I appreciate your efforts to mod Quayle.
I don't want to argue here, just pointing out that stats alone don't make or break an ADnD character.
Imagine a sorceror character with all stats lower than 10. He's still immensely powerful, because to a sorceror, stats are not that important compared to the power of his spells.
Quayle at least, needs to memorize his Spells, but Intelligence is his only strong point, so no problem there.
He just doesn't get bonus priest spells from high Wisdom, but he has the most spellslots (maybe together with Edwin) of any NPC in BG1 anyway. And he's only 1 or 2 levels short of the respective pure class.
When it comes to stats, Garrick is the worst NPC in BG1. He only has a single, solitary stat that gives ANY bonuses, +2 dexterity. Tiax, Khalid, Xan, Branwen and Xzar also have 16 dexterity but Tiax, Khalid and Branwen have bonuses to HP per level from constitution and Xan and Xzar are both really good mages with 17 intellect.
Quayle manages to be a pretty capable mage and still has +1 dex modifier and +3 saving throws vs. Wand and Spell.
That list also has Yeslick really low, but Yeslick + Gauntlets of Dex + 2nd level mage spell "Strength" has the most overall positive bonuses to stats of any character in BG1.
I guess my point is stats don't tell the whole story. Quayle still manages to be worthwhile while Garrick can't do a single thing right.
I'd vote for better Small Folk stats, but I've already been shot down for heinous acts in that regard, so...
Or as Quayle would put it: "Oh yeah?! Well I've got more smarts in my little finger than you've got in your little finger! No... wait a minute."
- Quayle
Let's speak hypothetical XP cap. Solo clerics max at level 8. Multi-classed clerics max at level 7.
http://playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate:_Progression_Charts#Cleric
From levels, Quayle only loses 1 level 3 spell and 1 level 4 spell compared to Branwen and Viconia.
(Every other cleric is either multi- or dual-classed. Faldorn is actually the best divine spellcaster in terms of raw spells by the end of Baldur's Gate 1 as she is tied for highest wisdom and druids end at level 10.)
Now let's talk stats.
http://playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate:_Races_and_Stats#Wisdom
Quayle loses out on 2 level 1 spells and a level 2 spell compared to Viconia, and another 2nd level spell compared to Branwen and Yeslick.
At max, he's short a grand total of 6 divine spells when compared to Branwen. He's still got 9 divine spells (3/3/2/1) by cap. (He's short a lot compared to Faldorn, including 2 level 5 spells. But no one seems to think of her when talking divine spell casters, including myself. I need to rectify that.)
However, he's still got access to 14 arcane spells (5/4/3/2 by level). If you want to send his spells per day off the charts, you can rig him up with Ring of Wizardry AND Ring of Holiness AND Amulet of Meta-Spell Influence for a grand total of 10 extra spells. No other NPC can do that. That gives him 33 spells per day. 34, if you consider his free invisibility once a day as a spell.
Faldorn has 24 total spells by level cap + Ring of Holiness and Edwin has 25 with a ring of wizardy. (I think. Kind of fuzzy about the details on how Edwin's amulet works off the top of my head.)
Pretty hard to argue that is "bad." Plus, he's got better saving throws than any other mage or cleric you can get due being a gnome.
Do his stats shine out? No, not particularly. They are still passable in their own right, and just the mere fact he's a cleric/illusionist makes him good.
Not that I'd recommend it, but if you want him to tank you can do that. While his AC isn't going to be as good as a cleric rolling around in a full plate, it's still decent with Robes of the Archmagi + gauntlets of Dex (or better than Robes, just throwing Ghost Armor on yourself), and unlike other clerics he can cast Blur + Mirror Image + Protection from Normal Missiles + Minor Globe of Invulnerability on himself. He can still get good strength through use of Strength. He'll have low HP but it isn't like any of the other clerics save Yeslick are much better.
He's perfectly capable hanging in the back chucking rocks. He's actually better at that than Edwin or Dynaheir because he'll have better Thac0 with ranged weapons.
@sandmanCCL You always make the best posts man.
Shoot, I really like your points here on Quayle. Cleric/Illusionist really is just beast. Yeah, I always had fun giving him both the Ring of Holiness and Ring of Wizardry ... it's kinda epic!
I also appreciate your mention of Faldorn.
It opened my eyes to a lot of cool little things you can do in the game. I learned to appreciate just about every NPC. When I was a kid, I got caught up in the stats race too so I missed out on how awesome Tiax and Khalid could be, among others. With a little know-how, it's pretty easy to make the entire saga your b**** even on the hardest difficulty.