The Valen mod

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sure she starts off with low hp but she gets higher quickly. the only beef i have with her is that for some of the quest she MAKES you take the evil route (i.e she gives avalons eggs to the demon, even when she doesnt have them in her inv and she makes you fight drizzt). but other than that without a doubt she is the best thief in the game (excluding the possbility of the a single class protagionist thief). plus the level drain from her claws is an excellent addition making hard fights a little easier. the drawback is of course keeping her alive because she cant be resurrected (grr).

[ August 15, 2003, 11:10: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

 

Actually that was one of the things I liked best about the mod. It was nice to have a character who actually took a little initiative.

As understatements go that one really takes the cake. Valen is the undisputed Queen of Cheese. She turns the toughest bosses in the game into walks in the park. If I remember correctly her claws eventually reach 4 levels drained PER HIT. Good grief, dragons are lucky to last ten seconds against her.

 

IMHO the Valen mod is just plain cheating. She's just too powerful.

In my opinion a character mod is cheating if:
- the character is more powerful than the other NPCs (exception being sorcerers and just plain powerful classes)
- the character is better than you (as a protagionist) could make him.

 

Yeah Valen is by far cheddar. Hell for most fights if I felt so inclined I could run up, hit, and run away before a blow could land on her. Not to mention her regeneration and Fighter/Thief class. It's quite pathetic how overpowered someone could make a mod. I was really looking forward to taking a vampire through the game but she just takes all the fun out of it.

 

Maybe some enterprising modder could "fix" her so that she's a lot weaker. Maybe a Valen several levels below everyone else would make her fit into things better. Or maybe she should gain XP slower than everyone else as a penalty for her greater abilities - that way when the rest of the party are pushing 30th level she's still stuck at 15th.

The Valen mod is the only NPC mod I've not tried yet because when you have a massively overpowered character in a game it just takes away all the fun.

 

It's not her level that gives her power. I took her in a 6 person party but didn't use anyone for any form of fighting other than her. It's her claws and her regeneration that make her strong. She doesn't need levels. Even at lvl 11/13 (something like that) she was soloing all of Underdark while my other 5 people watched. Kind of sad actually, I didn't even have to do anything, just walk her into piles of baddies and to hell they go.

 

she is no more powerfull tahn a blade is in ToB. the kicker with her if i remember correctly is her claws can only get to +2 which SEVERELY limits her in ToB. however you are right about the Underdark, she does take some fun away by being cheesy. I dont have SK but im gonna get it and lower her level drain to a max of 1 level that should bring some balance.

As for the regeneration, its vital to her considering that she needs it to survive becuase she cant be resurrected, to me that is far from cheese. she can be easily be dispatched with high level spells and breath weapons.

 

Valen's Claws can level drain, meaning she can basically kill anyone in the game, even supposedly unkillable oens.

 

Maybe she can't actually hit every opponent. But I think the level drain still works. So after 10 hits maximum (which could be done in 1 round with improved haste), every creature is dead (and I don't think there are level 40 creatures).

And besides, the 'cannot be resurrected'-disadvantage is bull****. First of all, if you play on higher than normal difficulty (I think) your characters can die permanently as well. Second: if Valen isn't going to die, how is this a disadvantage? Third: if she dies, all you have to do is reload.

What I don't get is that this mod is so 'famous' (I don't know a better word). I mean, would you guys try out my new character mod (doesn't exist, just a matter of speaking)?
Name: God
Race: God
Class: Fighter/Mage/Thief (with priest spells)
Advantages:
- Instead of hands has +30 blades that instantkill on hit at the end of each arm
- Natural AC and THAC0 start at 0 and decrease by 10 every level up
- Gets to use all priest spells at the same levels a cleric/druid would get them
- Always improved hasted
- Innate ability insta-kill every enemy 10 times a day per 3 levels
- At each level up gets +1 to all stats
- Invulnerable to damage
Disadvantages:
- Can't be resurrected
- Can't use weapons
- Can't use armor

OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit , but really, can someone explain to mewhy this clearly overpowered mod is so much talked about and used?

 

1) It offers a decent RPG experience...mainly because she picks fights with everyone.
2) It's well-written and basically bug free.
3) The codes used is good examples for newbies.
4) Other mods by the guy (Solaufein) is very famous...

 

OK, those are pretty good reasons, but I still think it might have been better if she would have been less powerful.

 

well for one thing other than the level drain, (which im gonan lower now to only 1 level) there is nnot much that would seperate her from any otehr dual class fighter/thief. in theory a protagoinist could then use the axe of unyielding (which gives regeneration her other big advantage). and as for the every difficulty after normal only humans can be resurrected if i am correct (which at one point was a 1st or 2nd edition rule).

 

To be fair this guy has included an option to give the majority of creatures immunity to level drain. I'm not installing Valen though - think it might ruin things.

 

Yes, the mod also gives nearly every priest non-joinable NPC a script to turn hostile when Valen is near, and they go berserk with casting Sun Rays and all other anti-undead spells.

Ever tried to take Valen to Temple of Lathander? My friend did, and it was FUN! (and by this point you all know what I mean with FUN?)

Oh also, you will fight Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TM) and Dr. Van Helsing! Now that sounds like REAL FUN!

 

Buffy can die. I like Van Helsing though. Not that they at all fit into the D&D environment.

Honestly though it's possible through reloads and such to play the game without deaths. I'm getting good enough that I rarely have to reload with a 6 man party because of deaths. Certain fights like Draconis are really my only banes left. Not that the game isn't hard still mind you and I only play on core. Takes a lot of work.

 

"Maybe some enterprising modder could "fix" her so that she's a lot weaker."

There is a Valen expansion mod being done by another person, to fix Valen, add extra options and expand the character a bit.

You can find more info here. http://forums.spellholdstudios.net/index.php?s=2bbe378123306c1ddf67e242a5bfbb3d&showforum=198

 

i know this thread has been dead for quite a while but i have to ask what stats she comes with...

/beppogg