@ T.G. Maestro: I'll be sure to check out your version of Valen. I'm in agreement with you on the unbalanced items of Valen. That would be a welcome change.
I'm really a lot more interested in developing a story for Valen and more dialog than anything else any changes in class, .ect will be driven by that.
As for the "romance" (note quotes) I envision for Valen: it will only encompass about 1% of the total dialog I have planned for her. It's not critical to the story and may not be what everyone seems to expect.
But for all the romance haters, I've decided to make it an optional subcomponent of the mod. I've voiced my opinions on the romance issue in the appropriate thread- I wont rehash it here.
As for the question of, "Why not make this a separate character?": I considered it but so much of my preliminary story notes is geared very specifically to her- transplanting it into a new character didn't seem to work. I think it would just feel like a Valen rip-off (vampire working for Bodhi who joins the party and gets left behind). It made more sense to make my first of what I hope to be many projects on the module that inspired me to learn the craft of modding.
On a different note, Maestro, I hope you don't take offense to this but I found your post a little condescending.
I won't interfere in your plans
feel free to do your thing nonetheless
Again, no offense intended- but short of sneaking onto the Air Force base that I'll be stationed at, finding my house and stealing my laptop, I don't see how you *can* interfere with my plans to make a Valen mod. But, I thank you for your enouragement (such as it is).
The second quote, seems to imply that I was asking permission from somebody to do this mod. Please understand (and this goes for everyone), I didn't start this thread to ask for anybody's permission- I already have that from the only person that matters- the original author, Wes Weimer.
Back in September 03, Wes responded quickly and politely to my request to alter the mod and he even generously offered to make it a part of the existing Valen mod and host it on his site. He has already provided me with all the guidelines I need with regards to expanding the mod.
So for all of you who seem to feel you are the guardians of the integrity of the Valen mod, get over yourselves. If the original author doesn't have a problem with what I do, since I'm sure he will be proofreading it- neither should any of you.
This is the first mod I have attempted to make and I am happy to do it because I love the game. And yet, most of the response to this has been of the "Why bother?" and "There's no way this can possibly be any good." variety. Trust me, given the time and effort I am about to put into this, I don't want to hear it. If you are so conviced it will suck, don't play it- noone's forcing you.
It's almost as if you are trying to talk me out of creating something new, with the rationale that any change in something you enjoy can only be for the worse. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense since all of you enjoy Baldur's Gate (at least I would hope so) , and this is a forum dedicated to
modding the game.