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Any Chance of Adding in the Axed Ranger Kits?

MilesBeyondMilesBeyond Member Posts: 324
edited August 2012 in Archive (Feature Requests)
So there were two Ranger kits for BG2 that didn't make the final cut. They were restored, however, in the Unfinished Business mod. Here are the kits:

JUSTIFIER: Some expeditions are so demanding and some foes so dangerous that they require the attention of a highly trained specialist whose combat skills far exceed those of the typical ranger. Enter the Justifier, a master tactician whose military instincts, fighting versatility, and steely nerves places him in the first rank of elite warriors.

For a determined Justifier no job is too difficult, no enemy too formidable. Their proficiency with weapons gives them an edge in combat, though the smaller time devoted to magical training leaves them slightly lacking in that department.

They must be of Lawful Good alignmment.

Advantages:
- +10% to stealth ability
- +1 to speed factor and thac0 per 10 levels

Disadvantages:
- No access to Charm Animal ability
- Spell casting ability limited to:
Cure Light Wounds and Armour of Faith once each per day from level 8
Luck and Remove Fear once each per day from level 10
Draw Upon Holy Might once per day from level 12


FERALAN: What happens to children who wander in the wilderness and are never recovered? Or worse, those who are abandoned there? Many succumb to the dangers of the wild, but a fortunate few are taken in by animals, raised as a part of a lion`s brood, or a wolf`s litter. Cut off from civilization, they gradually take on the characteristics of the creatures who adopted them, forming some kind of unity with the spirit of the wild. In the process they become feralans, beings who combine the savagery of beasts with the intellect of man.

Due to their wild nature, Feralans may not be of Lawful alignment. As Rangers, they are limited to Good alignments.

Advantages:
- +10% to Stealth ability
- Gains +1 AC at first level, and a further bonus of +1 AC per 5 levels
- May go into a Feral Rage once per day per 10 levels. The enraged state lasts for 60 seconds, and grants a bonus of +2 to hit, damage, and AC, and immunity to charm, hold and fear, maze, imprisonment, stun and sleep. He also gains 15 temporary hit points
- May cast Call of the Wild once per day. This summons an animal companion who will fight for the caster for 3 rounds + 1 round/level. More powerful creatures are summoned at higher levels

Disadvantages:
- Becomes winded after Feral Rage. While he's winded he receives -2 to hit, -2 to damage and a +2 penalty to armor class.
- Limited to one proficiency point in Bastard Sword, Long Sword, Short Sword, Two - Handed Sword, Katana, Scimitar, Halberd, Flail and Crossbow
- May not wear any armour or use Large Shields
- Maximum Charisma is 2 points lower than a standard member of the race


The Justified is essentially a more combat-oriented Ranger, while the Feralan is some sort of bizarre Kensai-Berserker-Beastmaster hybrid.


I know they won't be adding mod content but this isn't really mod content so much as it's original content that didn't make the final release.

I have to admit that while the Feralan might be a nightmare to balance properly, the Justifier is a great addition and if we want to keep Rangers with the same number of kits as everyone else, wouldn't be a bad substitute for the Beastmaster.


Also, are there any plans to implement any other aspects of the Unfinished Business mod? A number of the components for it were elements that were present in the original BG2 files but that never manifested due to coding mismatches, etc

Comments

  • SilverstarSilverstar Member Posts: 2,207
    edited August 2012
    I'd guess if those kits do appear it will be as DLC. Which wouldn't be a bad thing imo. Not sure I'd play either, but the Feralan seems like an interesting class. Berserker ranger kinda :)
  • MilesBeyondMilesBeyond Member Posts: 324
    Yeah I've never played a Feralan but I might try a game as one. It seems like a really interesting class and I can't tell from looking at it if it would be horribly overpowered or just horrible
  • artificial_sunlightartificial_sunlight Member Posts: 601
    Haha, when I saw the title of the topic, I thougt WHAT Rangers don't even like axes :P
  • SceptenarSceptenar Member Posts: 606
    Those kits were cut in part because they aren't very good, do we really need to bring them back?
  • TanthalasTanthalas Member Posts: 6,738
    Hmm, my problem with those kits is that they don't really seem that unique. The Justifier seems like some kind of Ranger Paladin with its alignment restriction and access to Draw Upon Holy Might. The Feralan seems like some weird Kensai/Beserker hybrid. Not that the Beast Master is spectacular, I'd take the Justifier over the Beast Master any day.
  • TanthalasTanthalas Member Posts: 6,738
    And yes, when I entered the topic I was expecting some kind of specialized Axe-wielding Ranger kit.
  • BoasterBoaster Member Posts: 622
    Tanthalas said:

    Hmm, my problem with those kits is that they don't really seem that unique. The Justifier seems like some kind of Ranger Paladin with its alignment restriction and access to Draw Upon Holy Might. The Feralan seems like some weird Kensai/Beserker hybrid. Not that the Beast Master is spectacular, I'd take the Justifier over the Beast Master any day.

    Here he goes again. Liberally providing his opinion, without anything constructive to follow.
  • TanthalasTanthalas Member Posts: 6,738
    @Boaster

    My patience has limits.
  • MilesBeyondMilesBeyond Member Posts: 324
    Boaster said:

    Tanthalas said:

    Hmm, my problem with those kits is that they don't really seem that unique. The Justifier seems like some kind of Ranger Paladin with its alignment restriction and access to Draw Upon Holy Might. The Feralan seems like some weird Kensai/Beserker hybrid. Not that the Beast Master is spectacular, I'd take the Justifier over the Beast Master any day.

    Here he goes again. Liberally providing his opinion, without anything constructive to follow.
    What the hell, man? The only dude around here not being constructive is you
  • SilverstarSilverstar Member Posts: 2,207
    Whether or not those kits are good or bad is subject of opinion really. If the kits were close to complete originally then adding them post-release wouldn't be too much of a hassle and could even be helpful as a small source of revenue if they put them up as DLC for a couple bucks. Personally I'm not fussed whether or not they appear but giving people more choices isn't a bad thing.
  • SilenceSilence Member Posts: 437
    edited August 2012
    I had no idea; thank you posting this. I like the kits in concept but feel they need tweaking.

    The Justifier bonus to attack + speed factor comes at an odd and infrequent schedule. So it's a mild change. The kit also doesn't appear to have much of a disadvantage as the kit-specific abilities it gets are better than the ranger spells it loses.

    The Feralan has a lot of powers but a lot of rules - very nonstandard ranger. He's also a roving target despite his AC bonus.

    What I loved about the BG kits was they were streamlined and simple concepts that overlapped as little as possible (the one exception being the Berserker/Barbarian).
  • BoasterBoaster Member Posts: 622
    edited August 2012
    Tanthalas said:

    @Boaster

    My patience has limits.

    Cool story, brah.

    Boaster said:

    Tanthalas said:

    Hmm, my problem with those kits is that they don't really seem that unique. The Justifier seems like some kind of Ranger Paladin with its alignment restriction and access to Draw Upon Holy Might. The Feralan seems like some weird Kensai/Beserker hybrid. Not that the Beast Master is spectacular, I'd take the Justifier over the Beast Master any day.

    Here he goes again. Liberally providing his opinion, without anything constructive to follow.
    What the hell, man? The only dude around here not being constructive is you
    Let's agree to disagree. :)
    And in the meantime, feel free to look at other posts I participate in.
  • QuartzQuartz Member Posts: 3,853
    edited August 2012
    I too thought of some sort of Ranger Axe kit. Hah, wow, fail on my part.

    Those sound interesting although they could probably use some tweaking. But again, sounds cool!
    Boaster said:

    Let's agree to disagree. :)
    And in the meantime, feel free to look at other posts I participate in.

    Yeah, most of your other posts are pretty good, so I don't really understand why exactly you are acting like a tool in this thread. I guess your username is catching up to you.
  • MedillenMedillen Member Posts: 632
    Interestingly enough there is mention of feralkan in this code

    http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/2781/bg2-kit-stuff-always-with-the-bugs-0813#latest

    bug report and fixes.

    Maybe they restored the kit. Or maybe they were replaced by archer which seems to be absent from the code :)
  • TanthalasTanthalas Member Posts: 6,738
    @Medillen

    I'm not 100% sure, but, like you already said, I think that code just uses Feralan instead of Archer.

    I wonder if they replaced the Feralan with Archer at some point during the development of BG2.
  • MedillenMedillen Member Posts: 632
    @Tanthalas either that or I just discovered a huuuuge new info that shoudn't havemade past the NDA xD Occam's razor dictactes the former, unfortunately ^^
  • MilesBeyondMilesBeyond Member Posts: 324
    It also seems to use "Beastfriend" instead of Avenger. I've never even heard of that kit lol
  • Son_of_ImoenSon_of_Imoen Member Posts: 1,806
    edited August 2012
    A Feralan was one of my ideas for a new Tutu playthrough when BGEE was announced. I put the Feralan idea on hold, but it would certainly be nice if it became available for BGEE, though unless the idea gets polished, it be more like a mod-thing than vanilla-BGEE stuff, to my opinion. Actually, my plan for that playthrough was quite kit-heavy (PC (Feralan), Minsc (Berserker), Branwen (Battleguard of Tempus), Safana (Gypsy), Quayle (T/Ill.), Dynaheir (Conjurer)). I'm really looking forward to sometime probably in 2013, when a lot of mods will be updated and combatible hopefully, and we can try out a BGEE level1-NPC's mod:

    http://www.gibberlings3.net/level1npcs/ (of course, for above party to work, i'd not only need a Feralan kit in BGEE, but for Divine Remix and Song and Silence to get a BGEE edition as well).
  • BoasterBoaster Member Posts: 622
    Quartz said:

    I too thought of some sort of Ranger Axe kit. Hah, wow, fail on my part.

    Those sound interesting although they could probably use some tweaking. But again, sounds cool!

    Boaster said:

    Let's agree to disagree. :)
    And in the meantime, feel free to look at other posts I participate in.

    Yeah, most of your other posts are pretty good, so I don't really understand why exactly you are acting like a tool in this thread. I guess your username is catching up to you.
    Oh, it just goes back to some kit ideas I put forward. Tanthalas was always willing to give criticism, but with nothing constructive to follow.

    It's like... saying to an artist, "That painting isn't very good." Continually this was, and is, the case, as he makes no suggestions of his own. Such as, "If you add a tree here and add a pond here, it would improve the painting." But instead, it's just simply "That painting isn't very good." This is an abstract concept on how he has behaved in regards to kits.
  • CorianderCoriander Member Posts: 1,667
    @Boaster I think he was suggesting that the ranger kits have more unique abilities. I don't think this is the right venue for a grudge match.
  • BoasterBoaster Member Posts: 622
    It's not a grudge match. Just a friendly reminder.
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