Solution to Kivan, his Spear, and his Pips in Halberd for BG:EE?

[jastey]

Kivan in BG:EE no longer has pips in spear but comes with two pips for halberds. For legacy reasons his quest gives him a spear as a reward for EE, also.

There is two obvious solutions if we want to keep the original content:

-change Kivan's pips in BG:EE and EET from halberd to spear.

-change the item to use halberd proficiency instead. (kudos to jmerry for the idea.)

I'm fine with either - or both. I would make it an optional component and would be happy if someone provides the required tp2 code / changed item.

[Caedwyr]

While the spear is cool, there are a lot of decent halberds available early on in BG1, so that might be the better fit.

[Isewein]

A spear seems much more fitting for him, in terms of flavour. Elves of Shilmista are not known to fight with halberds, and it is an unwieldy weapon for a hunter anyway. It's a question of game design whether balance should be prioritised over coherence. Personally, I think that the logic of "there's a lot of halberds in BG:EE, so Kivan should be proficient with them" which seems to have led to the EE change, or even alternatively "Kivan's halberd miraculously looks like a spear" is a bit circular.

Edited December 17, 2020 by Isewein

[Caedwyr]

Yeah, and I agree that spears are much more thematically appropriate for his character.  I'd probably actually choose the "give him Spear proficiency" option if it was available.

[a.greene]

I agree, replacing Kivan's proficiency with halberds for proficiency with spears would be most appropriate in my opinion.

[Anton]

I'd go with giving him spears. Spears are not a proficiency a Charname would ever take (because they are not as strong as the other stuff) so it's nice that there is at least someone who is using them.

[jastey]

I'll integrate it if someone provides the needed code (as this is not my field of expertise.)

[Angel]

1 hour ago, jastey said:

I'll integrate it if someone provides the needed code (as this is not my field of expertise.)

Mm, this pretty much is my expertise.    I'll see what I can do, it shouldn't be too hard.

[jastey]

@Angel thanks in advance! (I assume you are aware that this has only to be compatible with EE.)

[Angel]

45 minutes ago, jastey said:

@Angel thanks in advance! (I assume you are aware that this has only to be compatible with EE.)

Not a problem.  I can write it in such a way that it will work with anything except vanilla BG1 (where this isn't an issue anyway).

[Isewein]

Isn't this all the code needed?

[Angel]

7 minutes ago, Isewein said:

Isn't this all the code needed?

Technically, yes.  But you'll also want to change his starting weapon, and do a few other minor tweaks to make it all work smoothly.

Pull request made.  https://github.com/Gibberlings3/BG1NPC/pull/79

[jastey]

@Angel awesome! Thank you, I'll take a look at it when I'll have the time.

[Angel]

6 minutes ago, jastey said:

@Angel awesome! Thank you, I'll take a look at it when I'll have the time.

No rush.  This was pretty quick and dirty, if you want me to refine it a bit more let me know.  Currently the second option doesn't change the spear's description and turns it into something of a spear/halberd hybrid.  I can make it change it into a full halberd with a little more effort.