By "random" for chaos of battle, what do you mean? We randomly get one of the 4 bonuses? We can get all 4 but we have to be lucky? The spell sounds pretty strong otherwise, just like i imagine a real cleric spell!
You get one of the possible bonuses, but they are not equally weighted. Stuff that directly affects combat (e.g. armor class) gets weighted over others (e.g. saves).
As a more serious question, do the new kits start level 1 with a use of the every 5th or every 10th ability? Or both/neither?
Just like the existing kits, they'll have both abilities at level one and receive additional castings as they level. E.g. Tyr kits get a second Exaltation at level six, and at level 11 get a third Exaltation and a second Divine Favor.
Since IWD2 is in 3rd edition the game is much more open to the idea of clerics (regardless of their god/goddess) using a wide variety of weapons. The other games (BG2, BGEE, BG2EE, etc) make trying to give cleric kits access to a specific group of weapons (without giving the base class access to them) to be a big pain. As I understand it if you wanted to make it so that a priest of Tempus could use any axe in the game (without affecting the base cleric classes access to items) then you'd have to give it the equivalent of Use Any Item and then restrict it from the items you don't want it to have access to.
New kits are fun! Will we see them in BG & BG2? I thought everyone wanted Priestess of Aruil (sp?) kit though?
The problem with Aurilites is that they're hated in the north. It's unlikely Hrothgar or Arundel would approach them for help, and the conclusion in the Vale of Shadows would have to be entirely restructured.
I still think whether or not the Aurilites are hated in Icewind Dale at that period of time is debatable (They sure are in IWD2, though). As for Hrothgar or Arundel asking for help? It is up to the player to hide their allegiance or intent.
However, in another thread elminster already pointed out that Aurilites are not to raise arms agianst one another. So..
Killing Lysan with an Aurilite in player's party would be quite the Lore breaker (unless they introduce disgraced priests who would lose their divine power..). Having other options such as siding with Lysan will only break the linearity of the Icewind Dale storytelling as well as introducing inconsistency in the series (IWD 2).
Just mentioning this in case some people are still not convinced.
Would be nice to see a kit for Lorekeepers of Oghma, though!
Since IWD2 is in 3rd edition the game is much more open to the idea of clerics (regardless of their god/goddess) using a wide variety of weapons. The other games (BG2, BGEE, BG2EE, etc) make trying to give cleric kits access to a specific group of weapons (without giving the base class access to them) to be a big pain. As I understand it if you wanted to make it so that a priest of Tempus could use any axe in the game (without affecting the base cleric classes access to items) then you'd have to give it the equivalent of Use Any Item and then restrict it from the items you don't want it to have access to.
Or you could allow a weapon set for the base cleric and all its kits, and then individually disable it on all of them except the one you want to have access to it. The UAI thing wouldn't let you put proficiency points into it.
@CamDawg: Hypothetically speaking, what would a Priest of Shar kit look like? Would it be a defense-oriented class like the Dark Moon Monk?
Heh, put me on the spot. Give me five minutes with F&A and see what I can come up with.
I'd say Confusion as the 1/5, and there are two promising ideas in F&A that could make it go offense or defense. There's Armor of Darkness, which is like a combined Improved Invisibility+AC+damage reduction+Infravision+some spell protections. Offensively, there's Darkbolt, which behaves a little like Minute Meteors and does 2d4 cold to non-undead and holds undead and also causes silence. There's also Creature of Darkness which, despite the cool name, is basically a Wizard's Eye and very lame.
Personally I'd favor Darkbolt, as it could replace Vic's Flame Blade when she gets freed in BG2.
Cause Blindness? Summon Shadow? Innate Detect Illusion? Immunity to anti-magic zones (Shadow Weave)?
Again, for what I consider 'baseline' content, I want the new kits to blend in seamlessly with the existing ones. Blindness or Confusion would both work as the 1/5; innate thieving abilities or immunities don't really match the other clerical kits. If you want a larger departure, Divine Remix or any number of mods can provide it.
I should think that there are more than one type of priest for any given deity. F&A has some (isn't that a 3e sourcebook btw?) and "Warriors and Priests of the Realms" (a proper 2e sourcebook) details numerous kit for each deity. E.g. for Tempus there is the Gloryblood, who travels the land looking to join righteous battles (for which side, is not important) and the Battleforge, a priest who focuses more on helping prepare soldiers for battle than for joining and fighting himself.
For Shar, the FR wiki identifies a number of sects: Dark Justiciars, Dark Moon Monks, Nightcloaks, Beguilers, and Darkcloaks. Cam's Armor of Darkness and Darkbolt would seem appropriate for Dark Justiciars perhaps (they have to kill a priest of Selune to gain entrance to the order). The more mentally-focused spells that I use - Blindness, Sleep, Feeblemind - seem more for use by Darkcloaks. ("Unusual among other orders in the Church, Darkcloaks are actually a group of oracles and care-givers who tend to troubled souls who are emotionally damaged, often bringing the bliss of forgetfulness to soothe their pain.")
Personally, I think Viconia seems best suited to be a Darkcloak. Though of course reasonable minds can disagree - and roleplay differently!
As for the Shadow Weave, the wiki says Shar has an order of sorcerers who get their power from it. Would make a cool sorcerer kit!
The F&A I have is 2e; it's possible there's a 3e version, too. Each faith has various categories and orders which allow for service. Broadly we have clerics (what we have in the game), crusaders, druids, monks, mystics, and shamans. When I think of Tyr or Torm, I'm usually thinking of paladins (crusaders) long before clerics. For Shar in particular, only the Nightcloaks and Dark Justicars are mentioned (with the latter being a subset of the former); either the 2e F&A doesn't cover the rest or they're in a different source book or they're a 3e thing. Most of the organization is on a local scale, organized around cells, and interested primarily in the accumulation of power so there's a lot of variation.
As for Vic being a Darkcloak--she's never struck me as a terribly compassionate type. Granted, the description of Nightcloaks are a little more bloodthirsty than I think of Viconia, too, so it's not necessarily a match either.
Well, Viconia brags to you about murdering surfacers, though they aren't very nice folk. Deserve to die though, hard to say. But yeah, Viconia is totally comfortable murdering if she is confident she can get away with it. She is assuredly not compassionate or empathic.
I would say in ToB she could potentially end up following the 'nicer' orders of Shar, but previously she does sound like a Nightcloak.
Well, Viconia brags to you about murdering surfacers, though they aren't very nice folk. Deserve to die though, hard to say. But yeah, Viconia is totally comfortable murdering if she is confident she can get away with it. She is assuredly not compassionate or empathic.
Keep in mind that when Viconia says things like that she's trying to keep you from getting too close. As mentioned, she's got trust issues.
Of course she didn't shed any tears for those people, but she wouldn't murder anyone for no reason. She largely wants to be left alone.
comfortable murdering if she is confident she can get away with it.
I think that's the operative quote. She clearly did not murder wantonly, and she is clearly comfortable interacting with surfacers in ways that benefit both sides - as evidenced by her accompanying Charname, and I believe in the story about how she accepts shelter from some kindly farmers (without murdering them!)
She's NE and not stupid, so obviously she's not going to be as openly brutal as Shar-Teel, but she is very clesr about being quite comfortable killing people quite brutally without it being necessary. Thats pretty wanton, just not stupidly so. Besides, Shar's Church is a pretty subtle bunch, even the less subtle members are quite different from the other big Evil faiths, ie Bane, Talos, later Cyric. Her faith is very, very big on secrecy, and getting away with murder is pretty much Shar's thing. Afaik, truly open conflict with Shar's followers is rare outside her rivalry with Selune.
Viconia iirc brags about murdering a family after they mistreat her. Vengeance can slither into neutrality, but not good. *shrug* She is not a compassionate or understanding person. Redeemable apparently, but not for most of BG1+2.
I think that's the operative quote. She clearly did not murder wantonly, and she is clearly comfortable interacting with surfacers in ways that benefit both sides - as evidenced by her accompanying Charname, and I believe in the story about how she accepts shelter from some kindly farmers (without murdering them!)
I might be misremembering, but doesn't she reveal in BG2 that she did kill those farmers in the end? And from the way she describes it, it's clear she relishes the memory - IIRC, she kills the son first, then positions the body in such a way that it lures the father into a trap. Granted, she did this after they basically buried her alive... but compassion didn't play any part in that scenario.
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However, in another thread elminster already pointed out that Aurilites are not to raise arms agianst one another. So..
Just mentioning this in case some people are still not convinced.
Would be nice to see a kit for Lorekeepers of Oghma, though!
As for the axe question--there are a lot of ways to do this, but we're sticking with the normal cleric weapon availability for both kits.
Personally I'd favor Darkbolt, as it could replace Vic's Flame Blade when she gets freed in BG2.
As for Vic being a Darkcloak--she's never struck me as a terribly compassionate type. Granted, the description of Nightcloaks are a little more bloodthirsty than I think of Viconia, too, so it's not necessarily a match either. No racial restrictions on either.
I would say in ToB she could potentially end up following the 'nicer' orders of Shar, but previously she does sound like a Nightcloak.
Of course she didn't shed any tears for those people, but she wouldn't murder anyone for no reason. She largely wants to be left alone.
Viconia iirc brags about murdering a family after they mistreat her. Vengeance can slither into neutrality, but not good. *shrug* She is not a compassionate or understanding person. Redeemable apparently, but not for most of BG1+2.