Introducing Gavin

[berelinde]

Gavin is a human cleric of Lathander. He will join your party just outside the Song of the Morning Temple in Beregost.

 

Alignment: NG

STR: 17

DEX: 11

CON: 16

INT: 10

WIS: 17

CHA: 12

Stat total: 83 (same as Viconia, one more than Branwen - considered limiting his DEX to 10, but I'd like him to be able to use slings, which would be prohibited to him if AoE were installed)

 

Gavin is a slightly awkward, generally inoffensive cleric of Lathander who just wants to help. He isn't going to be your tank, he is not going to flatten your enemies merely by being on the same gamescreen, nor does he wield powers beyond mortal ken. He's just a guy.

 

At this point, Gavin is still in the moderate stages of development. Banters are written and coded. Interjections and the quest are on deck. Friendtalks and lovetalks are outlined, but not written. So, we're looking at a long way to go, but not forever.

 

Yes, Gavin will be romanceable by any female of any race of good alignment and decent reputation (11 or better to start, 16 or better later on). Gavin will not romance assassins, bounty hunters or necromancers of any alignment.

 

Originally, I had planned to not go public with Gavin until he was done. On sober reflection, though, that might not be the best bet. Lots of people out there have ideas that are far better than mine. I'd like to hear from you.

 

Please note well: this mod would make the most sense as part of an installation that included BG1 NPC Project. I have no intention of requiring it, but I do not see why anyone would not want to install that, too.

 

What would you like to see in a cleric? What more do you want from Tutu. I welcome all opinions, although I cannot promise to make everyone happy.

[Gorilym]

He's just a guy.

 

Heh, I wouldn't really consider anyone with 17 STR & WIS "just a guy" - that's extraordinary strength and wisdom to me.

 

Anyway, I like the concept. Currently the only "good" cleric NPC options in Tutu are Finch and Yeslick, and the latter is both unavailable until fairly late and only a half-cleric. I'll be following your progress.

 

One question: will Gavin be arachnophobic?

[berelinde]

Well, he wanted to be a fighter, but didn't like the blood

[berelinde]

And he will be most resoundingly, most unequivocably arachnophobic.

[theacefes]

Interesting...I was recently pondering as to why not many people make cleric mods.

 

Good luck with this!

[berelinde]

I appreciate the well-wishes! Gavin will proceed. I think there is a definite need for mod NPCs in BG1 in general, and a need more mod clerics, in particular.

 

But I would like to solicit particular feedback. The kind that goes "I want a party member who does *this*... (fill in the blank, folks)" or "I'd like to see an NPC fill *this* role (elaborate, please).

 

This is your mod, folks. What will you do with it?

[Andyr]

By Cleric of Lathander, do you mean he will have the Priest of Lathander kit? Or will he be a trueclass Cleric?

[berelinde]

Hmmm. I usually run him as a kit, but I can see why you're asking. I don't usually run with DR, but I'd like to make him DR compatible.

 

Would it be inappropriate to kit him out with a cleric of Lathander kit?

[Lemernis]

The specialty priest kits of Talos, Helm, and Lathander are available with unmodded BG2, not sure what if anything Divine Remix does to them. But yeah given that it's available unmodded, especially, I'd make him a Priest of Lathander. Special Abilities: Casts Hold undead and Boon of Lathander. Might be fun to give him one more special ability. Something involving light or fire would seem fitting.

 

Here's a sort of interesting guide to the kit from Sorcerers Place: http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/priestlathander.php

 

I've never used thecleric of Lathander kit, so I don't know if the above description is what the kit gives the PC, or whether it's just canon lore based info from AD&D (source is Faiths and Avatars).

 

Anyway, I like the character concept very much. A good aligned cleric who's available right away is badly needed. I expect he'll get lots of play. We'll have to wait to see his banters obviously, but it certainly sounds like he has great potential to be an interesting personality.

 

Players will appreciate his relatively high Str. With his average-Joe Dex the gauntlets of dexterity will almost be must for him, but with them he'll be pretty formidable.

 

If you want him to be slightly more in the Finch and Hubelpot vein of a less than uber character, you might consider lowering his Str a bit... to, say,15, and seeing how magic can compensate. Then he gets no damage bonus on successful hits. But he can use buffing combinations of Draw Upon Holy Might and either Holy Power or Righteous Magic to boost his stats for melee.

[BigRob]

Looks interesting. From a stat point of view he is quite powerful, with maximum CON HP bonus and near to max STR and WIS, but he's not up there with the most powerful NPCs. Keeping the DEX so low is a good concession to those generally high stats, and it will help to even him out, since there's only one set of Gauntlets of Dexterity and you might want those on someone else.

 

 

The slightly pacifist angle seems like good ground for some banters and It will be interesting to see some more of his background. Being able to go all the way into BGII, will his romance be quite a slow one?

[berelinde]

His stats are still open to debate. If it looks like he's just too strong to make sense, I would have no objection to knocking it back, but I was also taking his initial lack of available buffage into account. He would be available early on, so it is conceivable he'd be joining at first level.

 

Also, to be quite frank, avoiding encumbrance was a factor. With a dex that low, he's going to have to go the weapon-and-shield route. Also, his dex will necessitate wearing decent armor, which is heavy. Once he's cast his spells, he'd probably be best as a meleer. That strength bonus would make him more useful.

 

I think I might see if I can make a poll. I'd like people to be able to register their opinions on whether he should have a 14, 15, 16, or 17 strength.

 

Yeah, he's not exactly the fearless leader, and some NPCs have plenty to say to him about it, especially those that aren't particularly tolerant anyway. Shar-Teel has a go at him for his arachnophobia, and Viconia isn't impressed.

 

The romance at this point keeps pace with the existing BG1 NPC project romances. I don't want people to be bored ("Ho, hum, here we are, about to face off against Sarevok, and this cleric here won't even give us a kiss.") As Kulyok has demonstrated with her masterful handling of a romance throughout a long saga, there are many possibilities for a romance over such a lengthy time.

 

But one thing at a time! Let's see how Gavin goes over in Tutu.

[berelinde]

Register your opinion of the most appropriate strength for Gavin.

[Andyr]

If you made him a kitted Priest of Lathander then installing DR will automatically add the DR version of the kit to him; you don't need to do anything else.

[Lemernis]

Still drinking my morning coffee, I clicked 'view results' not quite processing that I committed to a 'null vote' by doing that, oops.

 

If you want him to be more of an ordinary person then you could give him 14 Str and raise his Dex to 13. Then you can write him from the perspective of someone relatively normal who is surrounded by a group of world class adventurers, and whose contributions must come by way of wisdom, faith, and magic.

 

Alternatively you could raise his Dex to 16 and lower his Str to something like 13. Then he has decent AC for melee but no spectacular bonuses from Str even when buffed (though they will still be respectable).

 

But really, when you get down to it, the average player out there (many of whom have no compunction about min-maxing) is going to be more inclined to use Gavin if you keep with 16 or 17 Str. According to canon lore the Song of the Morning priests tend potato and herb gardens. Maybe he lugs huge sacks of potatoes around all day. So his being a farmy type could explain the high Str.

 

I would enjoy the challenge of playing him in any of these ways, but I think you'll see him getting the most use if Str is 16-17, so that would be my vote.

 

***

 

Edit: I will add, though, that with Str 17 and Dex 18 from gauntlets, he will be rather powerful. As a pure cleric he doesn't get the warrior class attacks per round and THACO bonues, so he won't be chuncking enemies left and right. But if the concept is to have him be more of a normal person, functioning primarily a healer and wise counselor, then you may want to playtest him with more modest stats (if you haven't already of course).

[Smoketest]

I like the idea of a trueclass good-aligned cleric. At higher levels their turn undead chunks more undead than a party of whirlwinders. I'm fond of attracting huge groups of shadows/undead to my fighters and then having Anomen march over with Turn Undead active. When the next round begins, all undead instantly explode. It's great. He even chunks liches (those properly flagged as undead).

 

Too bad this is a Tutu mod, but I wish you success nonetheless.