The Few Lame (or merely overlooked) Kits

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I agree, and I don't get it either. It's true that the extra shapes themselves aren't all that powerful, but think of all the extra innate abilities that come with them (such as the Fire Salamander's ability to hock a fireball). Plus, the extra spells granted make him kind of a cool druid/mage, or at least the closest thing the game comes to it. Chromatic Orb is one of my favorite spells, and he also gets Web, Lightning Bolt, Improved Invisibility, Chaos and Chain Lightning, all great spells. The -2 to Strength and Constitution are irrelevant in comparison, because if you put a single-class druid anywhere near melee, then you aren't playing him right anyway (except for the Shapeshifter, of course).

 

Yes, I played a generic cleric all the way through and he became quite powerful. He summoned skeleton warriors that were really bad-ass, cast doom bolt(no save) and buffed up the whole party. And, hey, let's face it - Raise Dead is a powerful spell. He could raise dead during the combats to get party members back in the fight. That would HAVE to be frustrating to the bad guys... to see a fallen foe get back up with full HP....

weakness: no bows or swords
used: sling(seeking) and Flail of Ages

With the best armor and saves - he didn't die much.

Big plus - I didn't have to take Anomen! or try to force Viconia into a "good" party. So, I got Minsc and Keldorn, both...

He ended up affiliated with Lathandar... even though he didn't start out that way.

 

I think that if you are a vanilla cleric, your temple depends on your alingment. Like, if you are Good, then you have Lathander, Neutral Helm and Evil Talos. Or maybe it'll just depend on your reputation. Hafta try that out.

 

@ Eze

That's correct. That even works if you have a mod installed that offers different Cleric kits. If you aren't one of the 3 original kits, it goes off your alignment. The only difference is if you're a kit, the game makes a check and provides a slightly different dialogue.

 

The enchanter has killed the Slayer and has been officially retired. He is an elf so that will probably involve a garden and plenty of mulled wine.

Was fun being the one person for awhile though.

Maybe I will make a beast master and keep following that odd sounding drum...

 

Jester are'nt that bad. I was playing through with one when my hard drive was wiped.
Then I had to stop. *sniff*

 

In our multi-player game, Velcro's dwarven wizard slayer was the main characrater. It was great to combine the racial magic resistance with the powers of the kit. I played a Skald who usually sat back and sang until her blade or spells were needed. Our modus operandi was for the wizard slayer to rush in and pound on the most powerful caster while the rest of the party (Minsc, Jahiera, Aerie, and Imoen) took on other foes. When the casters were all neutralized, he'd turn and help Minsc pound what was left. Way fun.

 

I love the Avenger druid. Really, really, love it. It was the most fun of any character that I've played through the game with. There are items you can get to compensate for the STR and CON if you really want to, and the added spells are all great. Especially Chain Lightning, possibly the most useful spell in the game (area-effect, party friendly, a type of damage that virtually no creature is immune to) and highly suited to role-playing a druid anyway. What a force of nature!

 

@ Sprite

What are some good strategies you've used with the Avenger? Did you find yourself using the wildshapes much? And what were your favorite equipment choices?

 

I can't remember the name of the staff, but it's the one that adds +3 to armour class and casts barkskin on the user, and I keep it equipped all the time. Before getting it I wield The Root of the Problem, which you win in the druid grove. Before that, various scimitars, such as Belm. Dragon-scale armour of course as soon as he kills a dragon! Spells instead of range weapons, and yes, I use the shapeshift a lot. Often changing form in the middle of a battle. For example, attacking a mage, I'll dart in as a spider or a wyvern to poison him (which interrupts spellcasting until he can cure it) and then get out of melee to switch to natural-form and start casting offensive spells. The elemental shapes you get later on are unbelievable - the fire elemental especially does an amazing amount of damage and takes very little. Chromatic orb is my usual range-weapon of choice, since it's a spell that stays valuable throughout the game, gaining power with each level-up.

 

I was thinking about playing the Avenger and you guys make it sound very appealing.

I have one question though:

Do the Kit's arcane spells increase in times cast per day or are you stuck with one casting per day(for each spell) for the rest of the game?

 

Good question, I should have commented on that because I was wondering that too before I first took the kit. Actually, the arcane spells aren't a special ability as you'd probably think reading the kit description, you get them as a choice in your cleric spellbook, so you can choose Chromatic Orb instead of Cure Light Wounds for example. So every time you get more cleric spells, you can take more arcane spells instead. When you get level 5 cleric spells, you get the level 5 arcane spells and so on.

 

hehe do you imagine multiclass charachter barbarian/avenger?

 

Old post, but one of interest, so here goes:

Beastmaster
Nice and characterful but too feeble. The summoning capabilites max out at 12th level and they're the weakest ones in the game. (S)he can only use wooden weapons which is the main drawback: apart from mages they have the lousiest weapon selection in the game: a couple of reasonable clubs are available, but all the really good staves are cleric / druid weapons. Yet in spite of the weapons limitations the Beastmaster can wear any sort of armour. Where's the logic in that?

You could make a much better Beastmaster, IMO, by rebalancing the kit (if anybody has made a similar mod, let me know):

• Can use spears as well (or maybe all druid weapons and bows).
• Gains Conjure Animals at 14th level (now that's a GOOD summoning ability).
• High powered charm animal (-2 save).
• Cannot wear armour heavier than studded leather.

Wizard Slayer
This should be a good kit - the bonuses are good but not overwhelming. What kills the class is the inability to use potions, especially healing potions.

Single class Cleric
You'd be mad to play a "vanilla" cleric when you can play a kit - they all have significant bonuses with no drawbacks. Clerics Of Lathander have good abilites against undead, but at high levels you'd be wanting to blast vampires into oblivion with your undead turning rather than holding them. Clerics of Helm have excellent special abilities as do Clerics of Talos if you're inclined towards evil. I guess that the main problem with Clerics is that they don't hit hard enough often enough. Another problem is the slightly lame Cleric strongholds. If your alignment is CN, you're still invited to join the Temple of Helm - how does that work? Also, the "correct" solutions for the stronghold quests are only suitable for certain alignments. The Helm solutions only fit LN while the Talos ones really don't fit LE.

Vanilla Paladin, Druid and Bard
The kits are all better. Enough said. Why would you play a plain Paladin when the Cavalier gets immunity to fear and poison?

Totemic Druid
An extremely interesting kit - druids are fun to play. The problem is that their abilites max out too early because the spirit animals don't become more powerful. Eventually, they're almost ineffective. Spirit Lion vs. Elder Orb?

Avenger Druid
I had more fun playing this kit than in any other game of BG2. It's a very characterful kit - you represent the vengeful side of nature - and has very interesting abilites, not to mention one of the best spellbooks in the game. I guess that most people balk at the strength and constitution penalties.

Jester
Personally speaking, this class looks more enjoyable than either a Skald or Blade and has some excellent tactical possibilites. Cast invisibility, mingle with monsters, start singing, wait until they've all dead or severely injured, mop up. Spice the song with greater malison and it becomes really deadly. Even better, it improves as you level up. I guess that the ultimate problem with any bard class is that, with the arguable exception of the blade, they are very inefective in combat. Nevertheless, the Jester's song is quite a potent weapon, and I intend to give this kit a go one day (question: does the Jester's song bypass magic resistance?).

Various specialist mages
The problem with many of the specializations is that you lose access to too many useful spells. Take the Enchanter as an example. It offers the opportunity of a more subtle style of play, gaining unwilling allies and bending them to your will rather than blasting them out of existence. However, you lose access to the evocation school, the meat and drink of the mage character. Enchantment spells are all or nothing: you either fall completely under my domination or else you escape it completely and high level creatures make their saves more often than not. At least they still get damaged when they fail their save against a delayed blast fireball. Also no spell sequencers. Bummer!

Barbarian
Reasonable character class for someone new to the game or whose style of play tends towards the unsubtle. However, there are two reasons why I personally would never play a Barbarian character. Firstly, they're just not as good as the Beserker kit - barbarian rage is weaker than beserk rage and you have to sacrifice the ability to wear heavy armour for those extra 2HP per level. Immunity to backstab is OK, but it's not something that happens to you very often. Secondly, playing a Barbarian doesn't feel right. You were raised from a very young age in a library. How in the world did you become a Barbarian? Admittedly, the same objection applies to the Beserker kit - leave the rages to Minsc and Korgan.

 

@ Chris Williams

In response to your question whether the Jesters song is in any way hindered by the MR of an opponent: No!

My Jesters are quite capable of getting to the Drow and Golems all the time, when their saving throws fail - which is often enough to make a difference.
And its funny to see a huge Adamantide Golem drop to his knees, unconscious.

 

@ Chris Williams

Not true on all counts. The Barbarian rage IS better than the Berserker rage, they get natural damage resistance, more hitpoints, faster movement, and the "plate mail" factor is a moot issue. As I stated above:

As for the role playing issue, this is logical as well. You don't have to have been raised in a mountain tribe to be a barbarian. You just need to be in touch with your animal instincts. It's perfectly logical to think the Bhaal taint always kept you more in touch with your animal side, causing you to unleash a superhuman fury in battles that your tutors could never quite understand or control. They could've taught you to harness that rage, giving you the ability to unleash it at will. Your natural hardiness and love for the wilderness makes you a natural fit for this role, as you always felt drawn out of Candlekeep because you never felt you fit in with the "civilized" folk.

 

Wouldn't the Berserker portray that more accurately and logically than a barbarian?

A barbarian is technically a wild, untamed warrior of the wilds.

The berserker kit would be a better representation of the Bhaal taint than the barbarian.

 

Probably, but what I'm saying is it's still possible and reasonable from a roleplaying perspective. It all boils down to preference, either way anyway.

 

Hey, it's never made clear at what age you came to Candlekeep -- for all we know, you could have born to a barbarian mother, and raised with her and your tribe for half your life already anyway....

 

Or you would have learned how to be a barbarian!

There gotta be a section of "Barbarian for Dummies", by Volo in Gorion's library!