2 quick BG1 / Tutu questions

[SixOfSpades]

I'm finally playing BG1+ ToSC again, plain: No Tutu, BaldurDash, cheat codes, or even patches. But that's not the issue, what I'm wondering is:

 

1) I want to know everything about Brage's character file: Class, level, stats, alignment, proficiencies, the whole deal. He'd make one hell of an interesting recruitable Fighter->Cleric NPC, but I need some specifics if I'm going to be consistent. (Don't worry, he's going to be as different from Anomen as I can manage.)

 

2) I also don't have Gatekeeper, but than it's been so long since I used it that I don't even think the program can read CRE files. Does it? Or do you find it more convenient to convert everything to Tutu, and use Shadowkeeper to get everything?

[Andyr]

I don't think GateKeeper can do CREs, but yeh, it's been ages. You might want to try NearInfinity instead.

 

As for Brage, I don't have them offhand, but in the event that they're nonsensical (e.g. all 9's like some of the BG2 ones) you could always change them.

[Kish]

I don't think GateKeeper can do CREs, but yeh, it's been ages. You might want to try NearInfinity instead.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sword Coast Keeper.

[Domi]

Ashford city used to host Brage NPC for Bg2 forum, iirc it was Hendryk and Amazing Maurice. Ashford City seems to be down though, so I assume that the mod died as well...

[SixOfSpades]

Oh, I don't expect my mods to ever actually see the light of day, but when I design something, I still want it to be good. So not to slight Ashford City or any of their mods or modders, but I'm designing the crap out of this guy.

 

Sword Coast Keeper = Gold. Thanks, Kish! Although I do find the results rather disappointing: Level 7 Fighter, stats of 18(83) / 11 / 17 / 12 / 8 / 13. If I Dual him right there, as his experience in the Temple of Helm would certainly suggest, can you say "carbon copy of Anomen?" Looks like I'm going to have to tweak his stats and levels.

 

The weird thing is, according to SCK, Brage doesn't even wield the Cursed sword in the first place; he's swinging an unenchanted 2-hander while the Cursed one is just sitting in his quickslot.

[Andyr]

Hendryk, being a Gibberling, is around here quite a lot so he might be a useful person to bounce ideas off it you are in need of some.

 

You could always not dualclass him into a Cleric of Helm - though I don't know what I'd suggest instead. Is it stated in BG1 he worships Helm, or was taking him there just because they were the local justice? Other options for a deity might include Hoar (vengeance, against the guy that gave him the sword) or Ilmater (suffering and penitence for the harm he caused).

[SixOfSpades]

While Brage does indeed plan to wreak vengeance on the man who sold him the weapon (who I've decided, at least for now, was Jafir), he's undergoing a huge swing toward pacifism and nonviolence when you save him, so Hoar would not be in character. Ilmater would be much closer, and Brage has certainly suffered, but his dialogue during his salvation seems to indicate a pretty clear bias toward Helm and no one else....although I've have to play it again to make sure. Besides, Brage seems like (and, indeed, was) Neutral to begin with (although an alignment change would certainly be understandable under these circumstances), and leader of an organization aimed at guarding things, so LN Helm seems just a shade more appropriate than LG Ilmater.

 

I'll see if I can find Hendryk and direct him this-a-way.

 

Here's what I jotted down the other night (Don't worry about all the "Macken" stuff, that's a new quest):

 

 

Brage: LN Human Berserker->Cleric. Commander Brage was Captain of the Guard in Nashkel until he acquired the Cursed Sword of Berserking, which caused him to go on a rampage, killing his wife and children and several members of his own garrison before running off into the wilds, where he roamed for weeks, killing pretty much anything that crossed his path, before the PC and party encountered him, and calmed him down long enough to take him to Nashkel--where Nalin, the town's Priest of Helm, cleansed the spell that bound Brage to his cursed weapon. Brage, now a broken man, laid himself open before Helm for judgement and penitence.

In BG2, Brage is located in Forest of Macken 2, near where the party first enters the area. He approaches and initiates conversation: He recognizes the PC from a year ago, and still owes him a debt for helping him turn his life around. Brage had heard about the Ogre raid and came to see what he could do, and after seeing what he was up against, the answer is "not much." At least not by himself, but he's eager to help the PC out in anything that needs doing--although he won't be pleased if the PC abandons the quest uncompleted. If the PC doesn't want Brage in the party, he will wait where you met him. Upon returning to Macken 1 after completing the quest, Brage is there too--if you still don't want to recruit him, he will journey to the Temple of Helm in Athkatla (the Bridge District one, a detail that Brage does not mention because he's unaware that there's more than one), although it takes him a few days to get there.

 

Brage's stats should be identical to what they were in BG1, but since those are disappointingly similar to Anomen's stats, he is now 16/18/16/9/13/12. He Dualed from Berserker at Level 14, but is only Cleric Level 3 or 4 when you recruit him. (The Forest of Macken is inaccessible until Chapter 3, so he won't be way ahead of the field in terms of EXP.) His gear is simple: Splint Mail, Helmet, Staff+1, 2 Healing Potions, a Sling, and 40 Bullets. His proficiencies are Staff+ and Two-Handed Weapon+, with another in Sling if he's Level 4.

 

Quests: Nothing specifically for Brage yet, though he does have a 'Redemption' ceremony and an interjection in the Return of Jafir, as follows:

1) Shortly (VERY shortly) before Brage reaches Level 15, a messenger locates Brage and delivers a letter--Brage's cousin has died, childless, meaning Brage is now the head of the extended family (with a clan name that I'm hoping someone more familiar with canon FR lore than I can provide), and the ancestral sword has been brought to Athkatla, where the family had heard Brage was staying. Brage is anxious to take up the ceremonial blade and continue the tradition of keeping a clan (such as it is, there are precious few of them left) chieftain, and so wants to get to the Bridge District of Athkatla with all due haste. In Delosar's Inn, he has a happy re-uniting with his old friend Bardolan from Nashkel. Bardolan has been speaking with the local Priest of Helm, and has made the necessary arrangements. Cut to the Bridge District Temple of Helm, where High Watcher Oisig bids Brage kneel and open his soul before Helm's gaze. Oisig recieves the sword from Bardolan, and questions Brage about its origins and history. (The sword was forged by the Dwarves of Orothiar, and gifted to Andrew, patriarch of Brage's family, as a partial reward for helping the Dwarves survive a famine and a Hobgoblin invasion in the same year. Some suspect the weapon was the twin of the sword known as Spider's Bane, but his has never been proven.) Oisig asks if the sword has a name, recieves the answer "Hilgarth," and with the blessing of Helm, renames the weapon the "Watcher's Wrath." It is now a +4 Two-Handed Sword, only usable by Brage, with its original enchantments of a -2 AC bonus and +1D6 damage to Chaotic targets now enhanced by immunity to Confusion and Morale Failure, plus a bonus 1/2 attack per round. Brage then resanctifies his vows to Helm, and recieves a small EXP boost, which should probably be enough to get him to Level 15 and reactivate his Berserker half. His buried proficiencies reawaken: Two-Handed Sword+++++, Two-Handed Weapon++, and also a Staff+ that is overlapped by his Cleric proficiencies. Hilgarth is the ONLY sword that Brage can use.

2) In the unlikely event that Brage is in the party when they meet Jafir in the Crooked Crane, Brage will remember having seen the fellow before, and it's on the tip of his tongue, but he can't remember just where--funny, you'd think Mages that run around turning themselves into tigers would be more noticable. At the party's second encounter with Jafir, a particular turn of phrase on Jafir's part reminds Brage of where he'd seen Jafir (under another name) before: He was the fellow who sold Brage the Cursed Berserking Sword, the bastard who destroyed Brage's life and family as well. Brage turns into a river of curses, and basically taps an entire keg of whoopass.

 

Personality: Brage is around 40 years old and has, emotionally, seen the world, and is much worse for wear. He's no wise man, but he's experienced a lot and been through the wringer over it all: Love, marriage, a home, a family, honor, all that torn away, insanity, salvation, vagrancy, and eventually redemption as well. In late SoA and ToB, he will romance Jaheira if she isn't otherwise involved: The duties of clan-chief include carrying on the family line, and he and Jaheira have a lot in common, most significantly the sudden loss of a spouse. He hasn't been made stoic or heartless by all he's been through (certainly not as emotionally bleak as Valygar), but he has forgotten how to really laugh. Brage is very concerned with justice, but he's not driven to go out and punish the guilty: He feels a debt to be as merciful (when he can) to his enemies as the PC was once merciful to him. He is a deep believer in traditions and family honor, and holds there is no greater crime than oath-breaking.

 

Measures have been taken, and must continue to be taken, to keep Brage from becoming a substitute Keldorn or Anomen (especially Anomen). However, continuity from BG1 is important as well. Therefore, Brage has lots of Fighter levels before he Duals, is a Berserker where Anomen might become a Priest of Helm, has high Dexterity, is biased toward 2-handed weapons where Anomen wears a Shield, romances a fellow party member instead of the PC, etc. But Brage is still a very Lawful Fighter->Cleric who worships Helm and wields a mean 2-handed sword (he wouldn't be so taken with the Berserking Sword if it wasn't his class of weapon, after all).

[Domi]

Besides, Brage seems like (and, indeed, was) Neutral to begin with (although an alignment change would certainly be understandable under these circumstances), and leader of an organization aimed at guarding things, so LN Helm seems just a shade more appropriate than LG Ilmater

 

Heh, and I was just going to pinch in and say how much I liked the idea of the Ilmaater being his new god, and how interesting it would be to explore any other god *but* Helm (Kelevemor, Tyr, Tempus, etc). Looks like you have everything in hand though. Good luck!

[SixOfSpades]

Don't worry, there's still a chance he's not "hardwired" into a worship of Helm, and thus could be follow Ilmater instead; although that would require dumping everything to do with his sword, etc. But even if Helm is the way to go with him, I've got another NPC in the works who does worship Ilmater, and trying to romance a pacifist while waging what is essentially a war over the power of a god of murder promises to be delightfully thorny.

 

BTW, Hendryk says that most of the previous Brage mod was really run by The Amazing Maurice, and centered on the sword rather than the man; but I'm going to see if we can get a hold of TAM and see if the two ideas of the man's personality can be resolved somewhat.

[Andyr]

I am intrigued, did you pick the name (Jafir) and place for the source of the sword randomly or is it intentionally the name of the guy I invented for Kalah's expansion in UB? It does sound like something he might do.

 

(I'm trying not to post spoilers for that quest in case people haven't played it)

 

If so, did you realise that that component wasn't actually cut BioWare content but only my own speculations? I don't mind you building on Jafir at all, I was just curious.

[SixOfSpades]

I've actually been toying with the idea of a Fighter who gives up his weapon and takes up a monastic life for some time now (I watched Crouching Tiger again recently), but it was only when I finally reinstalled BG1 and played through Brage's redemption did the realization slap me in the face. So yes, Jafir is indeed based on your Jafir. I don't have any truly specific ideas for the Return of Jafir, but don't worry, I've already thought of a way around the possible continuity error that would arise as a result of taking a certain path through the existing UB Jafir quest.

[Andyr]

Where there's a will, there's a way...

 

Good luck with it.