dreicunan

As this is my first post on these forums (anywhere on there forums, not just in the Chloe section), let me just say hello to everyone who happens along and reads this. A special hello to Lucy and the rest of the Chloe Romance project team.

I've downloaded the latest version of the mod and been playing around with it, and as time has passed I just can't get over the feeling that Chloe's weapon set doesn't really reflect the spirit of the character. I don't mean to say that her personality just wouldn't dual wield, but the weapons she has just don't seem right.

One issue I had right off the bat was her short sword. She got it as a gift from Lathander? A kensai does seek to perfect their relationship with a weapon; a kensai also needs to be very athletic. Athleticism and self-perfection are two things which do fall under Lathander's porfolio, granted, but I just don't see her as being that close to Lathander in the first place. Nuetral Nuetral does fall within the range of his worshipers, but you go out of your way as you were describing her to point out that no one should confuse her with being altruistic. Altruism is one of the things Lathander's church encourages. Furthermore, even if at one time she had performed Lathander a service, why would he reward her with a short-sword? His favored weapon is a mace, and even discounting that a sun-blade would have made more sense as a gift. A nice amulet the protects her from heat based damage and/or blindness would have made more sense. Akadi and Lathander are neither allies nor enemies, so there is no connection there either. I really tried to find a justification for the weapon that I could buy, but I just can't see one that holds water.

Now a much bigger problem I have with her weapon set-up is that she is wielding a scimitar and a short sword. She is a Kensai. A kensai devotes themselves to the mastery of just one weapon. In fact, the original kensai class was forbidden to wield magic versions of their chosen weapon, because that was considered cheating. Furthermore, they were limited to just their chosen variety of weapon. They only received half-experience if they used a different weapon to defeat someone. So the idea of a Kensai running around dual-wielding different weapons just doesn't seem right.

As I looked over the pictures offered up for her, both the original and the alternates, I also noticed a theme: when pictured with a weapon, she has one sword. The exact variety varies from picture to picture, but it is just one sword that is clearly visible. Now if you look very closely at the original picture for here, it appears that she has a hilt in her right hand, but still I think that the single blade fits a kensai concept better. A side note is the neither of her weapons match the blade in her picture.

The caveat to all this is that she isn't a pure kensai. She is a Yr'kai Kensai. They might prefer weapons that can be dual-wielded, but regardless I think that she should still be dual-wielding the same weapon. In a Forgotten realms game, I would strongly suggest NOT having her use two scimitars, as a certain dark elf ranger pretty much has that copy-righted. In fact, the more I look at that sword from the original picture for her, the more I think that she should be specialized in 2-handed weapons. Granted that would probably mean raising her strength up to 16 to make it realistic for her to wield a 2-handed sword the way she would, but I think that would be reasonable, especially given how buff her arms look in that picture. A claymore would seem to be right up her ally. Actually, if you think I have a point but like those curvy scimitars, you might consider a chinese war sword. It was wielded two-handed and it's size would seem to mesh with Chloe quite well. In case you are unfamiliar with the weapon, here is a link:
http://www.swords-n-...m/cs-88cws.html

One other thing I would point out is that Chloe's original picture show's her wearing bracers. Now, I think this would be a good opportunity to give her a piece of unique equipment that can't be removed. It would also help to distinguish her from your run of the mill Kensai a bit more. What these special bracers should do I don't know, but I think that having her wield just the one special weapon (that auto upgrades as time goes on, I like that idea) and then giving her the bracer would be a fair trade for her.

Now, lest I be called a negative nelly, let me also say that I am otherwise rather impressed with the mod. Chloe's commentary on events is refreshing, and she does it a great deal, which I find quite impressive. It is clear that a great deal of attention was paid to the role playing aspect of the character.