5 replies to this topic

[ilhami]

THE INTENTION of MAKING THIS KIT

When I was playing the first Baldur?s Gate, all characters in my party got missile weapons (bows or slings) and when they encounter enemies, they were using these missile weapons at the beginning of battle, and they were shooting as many times as possible before melee fight begins. Also, I used hit & run tactics many times.

However, this tactic is not useful at Baldur?s Gate 2. The reason of this situation is AD&D rules. A damage caused by a missile weapon can be close to one caused by a melee weapon at low levels, and also quite sufficient against weak opponents. On the other hand, damages by ranged attacks are not improved as much as melee attacks at higher levels. Even advantages of archer (ranger kit) could not satisfy me. Actually, the advantages of that kit provide no advantage. Archer kit breaks the imbalance a little, perhaps.

Another disadvantage of using bows at BG2 is ammo-shortage problem. If you want using bow mostly, then you need large amount of arrows, because arrows can be consumed away rapidly. However, going to shop for arrows again and again is just donkeywork. Also, magical arrows, which can be found as treasure or at shops for amazing prices, are too valuable for using and very expensive for buying, but we need them to make little stronger the weak ranged attack anyway. Although we can get Short Bow of Gesen, or Tansheron?s Short Bow +3 in SoA or Firetooth crossbows and (more importantly) Quivers/Cases/Bags of Plenty +1/+2 in ToB to rid of ammo-shortage problem, getting one of these good items is difficult and they can be obtained at late-game. In addition, being dependent to one of them is still dull.

So, I want play with an archer character, but I think that it was not endurable at default BG2 conditions. Modifying global BG2-AD&D rules would be really difficult for me, and may cause problems too. Then, I tried easier way, making a kit to use with Protagonist. I believe that this kit can be a good solution to remove the imbalances. Moreover, this kit is not for an only balanced and ordinary archer, but also it lets you get an excellent marksman, or it can be called a unique sharpshooter. Hmm, I wanted to call it with a unique name, too. And I said ?Keenmarker?.


KEENMARKER

Keenmarkers are unique rangers, who are specialized on bows and arrows. Their most time spends with training and education, for both fighting and wisdom. In addition, their experiences mostly rely on real hard life: tough battles and difficult conditions. Although Keenmarkers generally do not reveal themselves to other people in the realms, a Keenmarker uses his skills to aid goodness, so behaves kind to good people, and may become even more terrible than a deadly nightmare for evil. They are sharp arrows and unbreakable shields of goodness.


ADVANTAGES:

* Grand Master - Missile Weapons:
May put 5 points for Long Bow, Short Bow and Cross Bow proficiencies.

* Attack & Damage Bonus for Missile Weapons:
Until 8th level: +1 bonus for every 2 levels.
Between 9th-16th levels: +1 bonus for every level.
After 16th level: +1 bonus for every 2 levels.
(So, keenmarker gets +1 bonus at levels: 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34?)

* Swift-shooting:
-1 speed factor bonus for every 5 levels.

* Agile Hunter:
-1 AC bonus for every 6 levels.

* Hidden&Silent:
+20% stealth bonus at 3th level.

* Iron Will Discipline:
Immunity to fear and morale failure at 7th level.

* Sharp-shooting:
This feat is gained at 13th level, and it provides critical hit on natural 18, 19 and 20.

* Point-Target Shot:
Every 4 levels, gains the ability to make Point-Target Shot once per day.
(This is like Archer?s Called Shot ability, but it got some other features. Details can be seen in readme file).

* Arrow-crafting:
Keenmarker has the ability to make arrows. (Details can be seen in readme file).


DISADVANTAGES:

* Disadvantageous Melee Attack:
Gets -1 penalty to Melee Attack Roll for every 5 levels.

* Disadvantageous ?Save vs Spell?:
Gets -1 penalty to Save vs Spell for every 6 levels.

* Restricted Weapon Proficiency:
Keenmarker cannot put more than 1 point to Weapon Proficiencies other than Long Bow, Short Bow and Cross Bow.

* No Fighting Style Proficiency:
Keenmarker cannot put any point to Fighting Style Proficiencies other than Two Weapon Style.

* Armor Restriction:
May not wear armor greater than studded leather.

* Disabled Ability:
No Charm Ability.

* Disabled Dual Class:
Cannot get Dual-Class, or cannot be got as Dual-Class.

* Other details about disadvantages can be seen in readme file.


Thanks!


Download:  Keenmarker.rar   1.98MB   17427 downloads

Edited by ilhami, 15 February 2008 - 05:22 AM.

[vilkacis]

Sorry, but this seems broken as hell. Your bonus to hit and damage is much better than the archer/kensai's, and you're allowing him to wear armour and get an AC bonus as he levels? And that's before even considering the other advantages. Fear immunity? Arrows of slay humanoid?!

Frankly, I think it would look unbalanced even if you took away every advantage except the hit/damage bonus. That damage increase is just too damn high, and he's never going to miss.

Finally, it looks pretty strange to have a kit that does everything an existing one already does, except better. If you want to improve the archer kit, I think you'd be better off actually modifying the existing archer.



(I should add that all those portraits bloat the file considerably, and would be better off as a separate release. Also, don't make readmes in .doc format. Either .txt of .html is generally acceptable.)

[SConrad]

Personally, I like the idea a lot. The archer is by far my favorite kit for my PC, and I have also been annoyed with the disadvantages on higher levels.

I like what you've got going so far--but can agree with vilkacis' thoughts that it might be too good. Perhaps instead of giving +1 to both damage and to hit, maybe give +1 damage and +1 to hit interchangeably? This means that at level 2, the keenmaker gets +1 to damage, and at level 4, he gets +1 to hit, followed by +1 to damage on level 6.

Maybe it would also be worth looking into disabling all spellcasting, or at least decimate it somewhat.

I also think that it would be better to either improve the existing Archer kit, or make Keenmaker a fighter kit (so it can be used by neutral and evil characters, too). Having two kits in the same class that basically are about the same thing seems a little overkill.

Crafting arrows is simply awesome, although the number of arrows/bolts seems a bit excessive. I would drop all of the special arrows/bolts, if I were you, and maybe decrease the number of "normal" arrows to 40/day. The way I see it, this feat would mostly be used as a last resort--if the party is stuck in a dungeon and the archer runs out of arrows (oops!). I don't like the idea of it replacing the usual way of actually buying arrows--purchasing ammo despite low income in the beginning of the game and balancing the party's finances is one thing I like about the game.

In any case, I like the looks of this. Keep up the good work!

[Choo Choo]

While I agree that the idea of a GOOD archer (I love the archer kit, too, and I was sad to see it so underpowered) is lovely, I think the immunity to fear (and the arrows) are way overpowered.

[Zyraen]

Actually there's a simple solution for the weakness of Ranged Weapons.
Simply Patch all Ranged Weapons so that they take into Account Strength, it should help considerably.
If not, you can Patch all Ammunition to give a different base damage (say arrows could do 1d8 instead of 1d6, or do 1d6+2 instead of 1d6)

But that doesn't deal with the Class, does it? ^^;;

Personally, I think Missile Weapons are overpowered in BG2. I regularly use the "One Character with Boots of Speeed, everyone else shoots with infinite ammunition weapons" to kill most tough and single Characters.

Edited by Zyraen, 27 February 2008 - 01:30 AM.