Suggestions for the coming release Options

[forthenature]

I’ve run through this game twice in the recent one and a half month. It is admirable that even I’ve played the mod so many times, it’s still attractive. I am very appreciate with the changes of the recent releases. I’m so glad that this mod is still under updating and I am quite looking forward for the next release. So here are my personal suggestions for it.
1.Relief the constraint on whether the protagonist is a necromancer.
The single factor that affects the difficulty and game experience of the mod most is whether the protagonist is a necromancer. I should admit that the adventure and item designed for necromancer is very fantastic and the battle with the Old Ones is one of my favourite. However, after so many tries I would like to start the game with other roles. Unfortunately, the game difficulty could be quite different, especially in the battle with the Great Wyrm. One way to do this is to make Memory of the Apprenti and Amulet of Hades available for all characters, or other wizard should have counter abilities against Greater Silence. As a trade off, necromancer should be nerfed. RVE is a bit too powerful for a necro that in late game you nearly need no other healing method.
2.Make cleric more powerful.
Just as I said, with RVE you nearly don’t need a healer in your party. And what makes things worse is that in the recent release druid over compete cleric from nearly all dimensions: stoneskin, new items and new kits, and more useful HLAs. So to maximize party fighting power, there is no room for a cleric. But cleric is one of my favourite role in the game(and also in other PRGs), so I would like it to be buffed in the next release. I think a single class cleric should be as the same attractive as Jaheira.
3.Make ranged weapons a choice.
Damage dealt by ranged weapons can be lower than melee weapons instead of no damage.
4.Make paladin more powerful.
Comparing to other warrior roles(ranger, barbarian, champion of arvoreen, risk breaker), paladin is far less attractive. It should be buffed a bit.
5.Nalia should be buffed
She should at least have access to the 9th level spells. And her first class and low wisdom make her not a good party member. But she is one of my favourite character.

These suggestions are ordered. And I do hope the first two to come true. I think they will be beneficial for further development of this mod.

[SparrowJacek]

After tinkering with a cleric for a little bit, here's a few additional Ideas.

We won't be tackling other protagonists than Druids/Shamans right now, maybe only toning down Vagrants, but this has a very low priority. Right now I'm focused mostly on rebalancing the existing aspects/spells/abilities of Clerics (many smaller changes) and Thieves (a complete rework of Stealth and some changes to other thieving skills) and Critto, when he has some time, is implementing and testing the new Druid Stronghold.

3. Make some clerical buffs non-dispellable. Say for example improved protection from evil (same bonuses, same duration but non-dispellable).

There's actually a change similar to what you propose, that I want to make

4. Give the cleric access to spell trigger & spell sequencer, as it's a way to get the spells off faster without giving access to Alacricity.

Fun fact - our first version of reworked Avenger had these spells. We will see how some other changes work and if Clerics are still underwhelming, then this might be a nice idea, though we still want to make classes as distinct as possible. Yes, I know that they tend to become more and more melee oriented, but there are different ways of making characters useful in H2H combat, I hope you will be able to see and feel that with new Cleric/Thief upgrades.

Blessed Bracers should probably be usable by a cleric as well.

No objections, Clerics would benefit from this and all Cleric multi/dual classes suffer greatly from being able to use only crushing weapons, so it shouldn't upset the balance.

Do you also have the shaman changes in the release? I have been hoping to do a run with that for a while now.

Yes, we do have this class finished, so you can see for yourself if it's any useful and fun to play.

- protagonist evil shaman
- Hexxat swashbuckler
- Viconia improved cleric
- Korgan, berzerker

Maybe something like
- Dorn, black guard or undead hunter
- Edwin, conjurer

If I manage to make all the changes to Thieves, then I would love to see your Hexxat changed to an Assassin