Alternate NPC classes for IWD-in-BG2

[Kulyok]

Currently we've got the following classes, basic and alternate:

Holvir, paladin
Korin,  ranger, alternate class: multiclass cleric/ranger
Nella,  fighter, possible dual-class - cleric, druid, alternate class: multiclass fighter/cleric, multiclass fighter/druid
Severn, bard, alternate class: mage, multiclass fighter/mage
Teri,   multiclass fighter/thief, alternate class: thief, multiclass mage/thief, multiclass fighter/mage/thief

But Baldur's Gate 2 engine offers more opportunities. So, when IWD NPC for IWD in BG2 engine is available, what new opportunities do you want? Make Teri a swashbuckler/assassin? Make Holvir an Undead Hunter? Make Nella a Kensai, Korin an archer, Severn a sorcerer?

My (current) list of ideas(I groan every time I think of them, alas):

Holvir, paladin, alternate class: undead hunter, inquisitor, cavalier
Korin,  ranger, alternate class: multiclass cleric/ranger, stalker, beast master, archer
Nella,  fighter, possible dual-class - cleric, druid, alternate class: multiclass fighter/cleric, multiclass fighter/druid, berserker, wizard slayer, kensai(for all kits - possible dual-class - cleric, druid), monk
Severn, bard, alternate class: mage, multiclass fighter/mage, wild mage, sorcerer, skald, jester, blade
Teri,   multiclass fighter/thief, alternate class: thief, assassin, bounty hunter, swashbuckler, multiclass mage/thief, multiclass fighter/mage/thief

Mind that I'm not Nythrun, and constructing .cre files manually is very tedious(unfortunately!). So, please, offer other variants only if you'd like to play them(if you were playing IWD NPC via IWD-in-BG2).

[plainab]

Are you going to change the text to go along with the new class choices?
If so, I would deal with any of them.  If not, then assign them a kit that fits with the current dialog.

My ideas...
Holvir -- as an undead hunter he'd be most useful early in the vale of shadows, but I don't know if that's a good enough reason.
Korin -- should stay a standard ranger since he talks about not having been a ranger for too very long.  I suppose he wouldn't be too keen on having focused on kit specifics if he didn't have the basics down yet.
Nella -- please adjust her dialog and allow her to be an initiate druid rather than just a fighter...
Severn -- leave him alone. bard is just great for him. 
Teri -- she claims to be a swashbuckler and a rouge so why not make her a swashbuckler...

[Luridel]

Is there any chance of a fighter/druid multiclass for Nella? (I know it's technically not allowed due to her race, but regardless.)

[Kulyok]

Holvir -- as an undead hunter he'd be most useful early in the vale of shadows, but I don't know if that's a good enough reason.
Korin -- should stay a standard ranger since he talks about not having been a ranger for too very long.  I suppose he wouldn't be too keen on having focused on kit specifics if he didn't have the basics down yet.
Nella -- please adjust her dialog and allow her to be an initiate druid rather than just a fighter...
Severn -- leave him alone. bard is just great for him. 
Teri -- she claims to be a swashbuckler and a rouge so why not make her a swashbuckler...

I quite agree. I see Nella more than a monk, though, due to the fighting specifics of her tasks(ones she does for Arundel). Korin - I don't know about him; cleric fits him and so does(perhaps) a kit, since he spent a few years in the wildenrness.

But, yes, you are right: some, if not most, of these choices are here for convenience rather than story reasons. (Severn=bard, roleplaying-wise; not fighter-mage, not sorcerer). Same as it was with Xan: I was content with him being an enchanter(or maybe a sorcerer, sometimes), but I knew that different players wanted to try a few different options, so I was content to provide them.

Is there any chance of a fighter/druid multiclass for Nella? (I know it's technically not allowed due to her race, but regardless.)

Yes: she can be a human multiclass fighter/cleric or fighter/druid both in classic, IWD+HoW(+TotL) version, and in IWD-in-BG2 version, as shown above.

[plainab]

Well, you could always get permission to modify Level1NPCs and have it re-designed to allow modification of both your NPC's and DavidW's NPC's that will ship with his conversion. Players could then just use that to make any changes they want to be outside of the role playing aspects of your mod...  If you did that, you could just decide what kits if any fit the NPCs and leave it at that....

[Kulyok]

I'd be happy to let L1NPC modify them, but I'd rather someone else took control over L1NPCs, someone who'd have the time and perfect skill to maintain it. (Naturally, L1NPC is free to modify all my NPCs with my blessing; I already posted there with Xan and Tiax stats a while ago). Nythrun was a guardian angel; too bad she's not around much these days. I truly hope she is well.

[Terminater5]

Severn may be a tough call - as a true-class BG2 bard, he'd likely be much weaker than in the IWD engine.  I personally am partial to Skalds in BG2, though I don't know if Skald (or any bard kit) would make much sense from a roleplaying standpoint for Severn.  Not sure if it's realistic or practical to create a custom BG2 kit that has some or all of the IWD bard songs?  Or alternately (and more simply), perhaps make the option/hack to give bards a more aggressive schedule of mage spells upon leveling up (and perhaps a handful of "innate" spells thrown in for variety), to compensate for the limited usefulness of their BG2 bardic abilities?

[Kulyok]

I think that roleplaying-wise Severn is really a jester(at least, that's how I see him) - not useless, but probably not as useful as, say, a fighter/mage. He works as a skald, too - a bard who doesn't have much experience in battle, but doesn't shy from it.

I don't do custom kits, but, yeah, an agressive levelling is possible - I recall that BG2 Tweaks has just such a component, and BG2 Tweaks should be compatible with IWD-in-BG2 conversion(We're talking about playing IWD in BG2 engine now).

[Jarno Mikkola]

My (current) list of ideas(I groan every time I think of them, alas)...

Well the list seems OK, if done... or more like, way too long IHMO, so I would remove few of the options, so the characters could be more like they are supposed to be... and to give room for other NPCs as well.

On the coding side, you should be able to make the characters to be level 0 chars with what ever class, and then make the .tp2 give them their real class/kit, with the COPY_EXISTING & WRITE_LONG 0x0244 *value from the list from the link.

Severn may be a tough call - as a true-class BG2 bard, he'd likely be much weaker than in the IWD engine... Not sure if it's realistic or practical to create a custom BG2 kit that has some or all of the IWD bard songs? 

Well, there is this mod that gives the BG2 the IwD's kinda songs. So as the mod should work like all the other WeiDU mods whith what ever Total Convertion IE variation, it should work with the WD-in-BG2 too. PS, I haven't tried this mod though.

[Terminater5]

Severn may be a tough call - as a true-class BG2 bard, he'd likely be much weaker than in the IWD engine... Not sure if it's realistic or practical to create a custom BG2 kit that has some or all of the IWD bard songs? 

Well, there is this mod that gives the BG2 the IwD's kinda songs. So as the mod should work like all the other WeiDU mods whith what ever Total Convertion IE variation, it should work with the WD-in-BG2 too. PS, I haven't tried this mod though.

Sweet, I think I'm going to give that a test drive.  Thanks!

[DavidW]

Severn may be a tough call - as a true-class BG2 bard, he'd likely be much weaker than in the IWD engine.  I personally am partial to Skalds in BG2, though I don't know if Skald (or any bard kit) would make much sense from a roleplaying standpoint for Severn.  Not sure if it's realistic or practical to create a custom BG2 kit that has some or all of the IWD bard songs?  Or alternately (and more simply), perhaps make the option/hack to give bards a more aggressive schedule of mage spells upon leveling up (and perhaps a handful of "innate" spells thrown in for variety), to compensate for the limited usefulness of their BG2 bardic abilities?

The IWD-in-BG2 converter gives bards their IWD song abilities and spell progression as standard.

[Kulyok]

Cool! IWD Bard songs are nifty. Please, tell us about Jesters and Improved Bard Song HLA. Which way do they work in IWD-in-BG2 conversion? Like in BG2, or differently?

[DavidW]

I didn't touch bard kits - only the unkitted bard gets the new spells.

I'm not really sure what to do about HLAs in IWD, so for the moment they're unchanged.

[yarpen]

Maybe we can create some specific kits for them?

[Kulyok]

I'm absolutely fine with it, yes - if you want a component in your mod which gives them special kits(like L1NPCs mod) you have my full blessing, permission and so on. You make great icons, by the way.

I am not including custom kits into the mod itself, because I will not be able to maintain a kit mod/react to bug reports for custom kits, so I'm for keeping it separate.