Bhaalson Remodel 15
Added 2024-07-02 16:39:36 +0000 UTCHere is the next chapter of Bhaa
Comments
I Did play BG1, and BG2. the only thing I am taking from the novels is the there again/gone again tensions between Jaheira and Khalid. I want to show their relationship as the good but imperfect marriage that most are without going total smear campaign as the books did on Khalid while also making Jaheira a simp. As for the ambush - levels aren't everything. Gorion had basically let himself go, and was old besides, without any way to offset either negative status trait. Also see what happened to Jaheira and Khalid with the curse on them. Bags of holding and expansion charms. These are easily the single most broken thing any magic school can come up with. Right up there with teleportation/portals. I wanted people to have access to Item boxes, but also to downgrade their usefulness. This way, I did. I never really understood the level systems of the original game. I mean, at one point my Warrior could fight Fircraag on my own let alone some of the other dragons. Even the blue dragon, but then I would get bodied by the monk guy near the end of the expansion. Whut? Also, thief traps and things like that could be so grossly overpowered it wasn't even funny with some of the mods. Nor have I ever played D&D. I never said anywhere I would use the rulebooks of the Forgotten Realms or what have you. I am using the Asian Manhwa Gamer's logic more than anything else. I will try to be consistent in terms of how I use levels, the spells, and the various counterbalances, but that is made even harder by the fact I can't update this story as often as I would like. You do make a good point though. I need to have my characters use their magic or priestly spells more effectively. I can't let myself as the writer get stuck in a rut of only using a few spells all the time.
vimesenthusiast
2024-07-13 20:32:22 +0000 UTCI'm gonna try hard to not go 'actually...' but I do apologize if I come across as annoying. I played AD&D (also known as Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition) for almost 5 years, then 3rd edition all the way to 4th edition, and then 4th edition all the way to 5th. I looked at the 5th edition rules and went back to 3rd edition, thank you very much... anyway: I get the impression you never actually played Baldur's Gate and are writing this based on the novels or perhaps Dungeons and Dragons Online. I mean, if Gorion was level 24+ there is just no way he was anything less than a god walking among mortals, and the ambush where he dies should have been a hilariously easy fight for him. Bardic and wizardly spells are pretty terrifying when they go up in levels so yeah... there's no way the Gorion on this story could get killed by Sarevok unless the big guy brought along a couple of dark gods and at least five or six Great Wyrm dragons. Having said all that... the reason I am mostly sure you've never actually played tabletop D&D is because you seem to operate on videogame logic ONLY. In the tabletop, there are plenty of magical storage items that allow the owner to pull out exactly what they want whenever they want. For example. a whole nine different Bags of Holdings, unimaginatively called Bag of Holding I, Bag of Holding II, Bag of Holding III... Bag of Holding IX and everything in between, costing as little as 5000 gold or as much as 70000 gold, and able to hold anything between 50lb to 2000lb. And all of them allow you to instantly reach in and pull out whatever you're reaching in for, instantly and unerringly, so nobody should even blink at seeing Harry pull things that he wants whenever he wants. They'd just assume he has a Bag of Holding. There's also backpacks, ammo containers, quivers and potion pouches that also allow you to do the same, so yeah... the item box isn't that big a thing. The thing is, you probably never played tabletop, and the computer can't do mindreading so obviously it was impossible to properly represent a Bag of Holding or any other magical container in the videogames. I personally like the Handy Haversack. To quote: A magical backpack of this sort appears quite ordinary—well-made and well-used. It is of finely tanned leather, and the straps have brass hardware and buckles. There are two side pouches, each of which appears large enough to hold about a quart of material, but each is similar to a bag of holding and will actually contain material equal to as much as two cubic feet in volume or 20 pounds in weight. The large central portion of the pack can contain up to eight cubic feet or 80 pounds of material. The pack has an even greater power: When the wearer reaches into it for a specific item, that item will always be on top. Thus, no digging around and fumbling is ever necessary to find what the haversack contains. Heward's handy haversack and whatever it contains gain a +2 bonus to all saving throws. Not cheap tho, costing 30000 gold coins. But yes, it exists. Speaking of which, my all-time favorite item is the Hat of Disguise. To quote: This normal-appearing hat contains a powerful enchantment that allows its wearer to alter his appearance as follows: Height: +/-25% of actual height Weight: +/-50% of actual weight Sex: Male or female Hair: Any color Eyes: Any color Complexion: Any color Facial features: Highly mutable Thus, the wearer could appear as a comely elf woman, a half-orc, or possibly even a gnome. If the hat is removed, the disguise is instantly dispelled. The headgear can be used over and over. Note that the hat can be changed (as part of a disguise) to appear as a comb, ribbon, head band, fillet, cap, coif, hood, helmet, etc. Cost 50gp Oh my, a whole 50 gold coins! Treasure of treasures, no way could anyone ever afford this item that costs as much as 1/2 a longsword! Seriously, the only reason it wasn't in the game is because, similarly to how a Handy Haversack or a bag of holding can divine your intent and give you whatever you're reaching into it for, implementing an item that lets a player transform into basically whatever they want, in a computer game, is simply impossible. ...even though I think they could have maybe just given it the ability to go back to your character creation screen in Dungeons and Dragons Online, but that's just how I would have done it. Anyway... the most important observation I want to make is about Jaheira's spell list and class features. As I am by now fully convinced that you never played tabletop, I understand you cannot possibly know this but... Jaheira can shapeshift. At 7th level the druids gains the ability to shape change. Change into a bird once a day. Change into a reptile once a day. Change into a mammal once a day. The size and shape assumed by the druid can vary from that of a bullfrog or small bird to that of a black bear. The druid can assume the forms of normal creatures only. So when she was going underwater, she could have transformed into an otter or a dolphin or hell, a frog or a penguin... tho it is arguable that Jaheira probably has never seen a penguin, tho it would be funny if she had. Anyway, since this power gives such a breadth of choice, it probably wasn't included in the original BG because of the same reason as the Hat of Disguise or Handy Haversack weren't included. Its just too much to code in. And most important of all, Jaheira can cast a 4th level spell, so please don't skip on Reincarnation. Its hilarious. I mean, its a 4th level spell for druids and a 6th level spell for wizards and sure, it is accessible earlier for druids than the clerics Resurrection but... well... you'll see. Basically it reincarnates the target into a new body (thus skipping the 'oh the brain is destroyed' problem that cleric spells have). But the thing is, it creates a new body of a random race. Results can be fucking hilarious. Hell, just for the lulz have the party find a scroll of Reincarnation, read it and go "nope, just let me die." This is how it works. You roll a hundred-sided dice (factually two 10-sided dice, really, one for units and one for dozens), then compare the result to this table. Double zeroes means '100'. 01-05 Bugbear 06-11 Dwarf 12-18 Elf 19-23 Gnoll 24-28 Gnome 29-33 Goblin 34-40 Half-elf 41-47 Halfling 48-54 Half-Ogre 55-59 Hobgobling 60-73 Human 74-79 Kobold 80-85 Orc 86-90 Ogre 91-95 Ogre Mage (which always baffled me because how would be an ogre mage teach you the ogre mage spells. I always thought it should just make you a more handsome/taller ogre, really.) 96-00 Troll I've seen some tables that include things like 'bear' and 'centaur' as well but that's just asking for troubles at the table.
Christian E. Y.
2024-07-13 11:05:11 +0000 UTCIt has not been dropped. The Active Skill Turn Undead spread through the party in this chapter. Jaheira's Forest Meld is like the Hide In Shadows - can't be learned by other classes. Viconia had no such to share. Nor did Alora. Cleave also is not available for most of the party because it has a strength requirement. Although I think you might be onto something. It has been a few chapters since the characters sat and talked about the abilities of Harry's AAS.
vimesenthusiast
2024-07-07 19:12:42 +0000 UTCGreat update I love seeing a new chapter of this story. It seems like the skill sharing ability of Harry’s gamer system has been dropped. I know that the party got the backstab ability from Imoen, cleave and woodcraft from Minsc and shield bash from Khalid. By we haven’t seen anything from Jaheira, Alora and now Viconia as well. Is this just something that hasn’t been mentioned yet or just forgotten?
Christopher Jones
2024-07-04 21:18:07 +0000 UTC
