Protector: Another new ranger kit, Primarily for Valygar but also available for PC Options

[Sikret]

Here is the idea for another new ranger kit. Please comment before I implement it.

PROTECTOR: Protectors are dedicated defenders of people and nature. They usually take residence close to people who are in need of help, but they are also always prepared to travel when the cause is fighting evil. While being great warriors, they can also learn and cast more spells than other rangers. Protectors have such a strong affinity with mother nature that they never wear
armors greater than the studded leather. This self-imposed limitation has been compensated with mental and physical abilities. A protector sacrifices a portion of his own health and stamina to start learning the special protective methods and abilities of his kit.


Advantages:
- +1 bonus to Armor class for every 6 levels.
- Can memorize 2 additional spells per spell level.
- Has access to two special 3rd level spells (Great Berries & Mental Equilibrium).
- Gains "Cure Serious Wounds" at levels 7, 11 and 15.
- Gains "Mass Cure" at levels 10 and 16.
- Gains "Racial Combat" at level 19.


Disadvantages:
- May not wear armor greater than studded leather
- Incurs a -1 penalty to constitution
- Cannot dual class
- Requires 10 Intelligence and Charisma.

Racial Combat:

Using this powerful innate ability allows the protector to be prepared for fighting a special race of his or her choice. The ability will grant very useful bonuses against enemies of the selected race, but will also make the protector subject to penalties against other races. The effects (bonuses and penalties alike) won't be dispellable and will remain active for 2 turns.

I plan to change Valygar's kit to this new one. Of course, I will have to modify his katana and replace its poison effect with something more suitable. Valygar is too nice to be a backstabber.

This post has been edited by Sikret: Dec 17 2008, 08:02 AM

[Raven]

Power-wise it does not contend with Vagrant IMO but this may not be an issue. It would be nice for some more varied disadvantages - if I think of anything I'll let you know.

[Sikret]

Power-wise it does not contend with Vagrant IMO but this may not be an issue.

Yes, Vagrant has more offensive abilities and can be considered (in general) more powerful; however, as you mentioned, this is not an issue. We can't expect all kits to be equal in power and their abilities.

As a general note, to assess any kit's power (or balance issue), we have two possible ways to do it: We either assess the kit in the vanilla game or we assess it with the assumption that IA is installed.

In the first case, I believe that no kit can really be overpowered, because we have the ridiculously overpowered "Wild Mage" in the vanilla game as a base for comparison. No kit can really be marked as "overpowered" as long as it is weaker than the wild mage. For example, some players may still think that vagrant is an overpowered kit. I believe that's because those players have been accustomed to see ridiculously powerful mages and sorcerers in the vanilla game. They keep comparing vagrant with other ranger kits instead of comparing it with all other kits of all classes. This is an important point.

In IA, fortunately, the mages' laughable overpoweredness is controlled and rebalanced and we can think of other classes and their kits with a clearer mind and in a clearer atmosphere. Hence, it's best to assess IA's kits with the assumption that IA is installed.

As you once mentioned, the difficult challenges introduced by IA is an important factor which should be taken into consideration. With that consideration in mind, neither vagrant nor this new protector kit can be marked as overpowered. I know that you agree with these points, Raven, as you have played the entire game with vagrant kit and didn't report anything indicating that it was overpowered.

So, probably you may wonder whether the new "Protector" kit is a bit too weak, eh? Well, that's one reason for which I sent the kit's description here and asked for comments.

However, I'd like to repeat again that different kits don't necessarily have to be equal in power. Each kit has its own different abilities and it's not sometimes even possible to say which sort of abilities are more useful during the game as it all depends on the situation. A Portector's Mass Cure may save my skin in the game in a specific situation when my protagonist is near death; whereas, a swanmay may be of little use in the same situation.