Balthazar had an army of mercenaries. And as he's living in a monestary, an army of monks, too.

Yes, and considering how all newbies favor the martial artist monks, his monastery should actually be overcrowded with level 1 n0...
ERhm... ^^

Then they need to be stronger. I like the scenario though, very Martial Artist, which is appropriate. I had problems with him the very first time I played through. But most of the other's of the five were much harder. As stated above, Ilasera was a joke, mainly used to give those who started new chars for ToB some starter gear.

Those abilities are good (in my opinion, anyway) suggestions, but none of the actual numbers are 'set in stone' as it were, all mods should be reviewed by a broad range of people before they can be considered 'balanced.' But I can tell you one thing right now: Balthazar & Monks should be of at least comparable difficulty to the Ravager & Bone Blades.

I'm against the "powerful followers" angle both because it's been done before with other Bhaalspawn and because it's frankly rather lame: It's the Bhaalspawn who's supposed to be all special and powerful, and not because they have some special charisma that makes powerful people want to fight for them. Abazigal isn't respected because he's got Iycanth with all those pet eyeballs, he's respected because he's a friggin' Draconic Kensai/Mage who casts Hardiness and Imprisonment. I also like his ratio of followers: Sure, his mate and his offspring might be willing to put their lives on the line to defend their home and their leader, but I doubt that Balthazar's precious mercenaries would be that zealous.
I'm against the trap scenario because the only people in Amkethran who could do that would be Esamon and/or his Smugglers, who wouldn't exactly be motivated to help out Balthazar or the monastery, nor would Balthazar be likely to trust them (or any Thieves, or even Bards) to assist in his defense.


Using it does not equal giving in to it. Strictly speaking, to "not use" it means to die instantly, since it's your soul and it's (half of) the reason you're alive in the first place. As long as you don't actually murder someone for the sake of murdering them, as long as you don't embrace such truly Bhaal-like traits as using the Slayer form, as long as you're not Evil, then you can use whatever divine heritage you've got--in a Good way, and to achieve Good ends. Thus, Balthazar can scrape the bottom of the barrel when he's kicking the PC's ass, as long as he really intends to follow through with his plan (which we have no reason to doubt).


You know, I can't tell if you're being honest or sarcastic there. [img]tongue.gif[/img] Technically, the only infinite supply belongs to Sendai--although why it's Duergar and Orogs instead of Drow I don't know. If anyone's fanatical and heedless of each others' lives, it's Drow....although doubtless their slaves are willing to throw themselves at the party, because that would be a lot less painful than living under the Drow.
I don't mind Yaga-Shura's henchmen, because it's a major plot event that he's assembled an army. But more importantly, he himself is a decent fight--the only time he's a pushover is his Unimproved, post-Nyalee version. Pre-Nyalee he's easily the strongest of the Five.
I don't mind Sendai's henchmen, because someone like Sendai (backed up by the prophecy) would easily draw the vast majority of Drow to her banner. And, again, she by herself is a decent fight.
I do mind Balthazar's army, because, as I mentioned, it is far more powerful than he is. Well, the Mercenaries anyway, the Monks are pretty much just roadkill.

[ 07-16-2005, 10:16 PM: Message edited by: SixOfSpades ]

Six, you should know by now... It's almost my motto. When in doubt, choose sarcasm.

Six, you're spouting rubbish and you know it. [img]tongue.gif[/img] I understand that you believe another band of powerful followers is rubbish, but I think Balthazar actually has the best revenue so far to actually have a band of powerful followers. Gromnir? Nope. Yaga-Shura? He's got an army, so he doesn't need it. Sendai? Hello-oo - of course not! Abazigal? Ridiculous, the man's a [as you yourself so happened to say] "Draconite Kensai/Mage"!



"Using it does not equal giving in to it"? That's a really poor excuse, Six. "Oh I'm sorry Obi-Wan Kenobi, but I accidently tried to choke you!" - "~gurgle~" But of course that does not mean I'm succumbing to the Dark Side!!"

Frankly speaking, you're not speaking from Balthazar's viewpoint at all!! Would Balthazar resort to violence, simply because "in the end, he has real good intentions"? Of course not! It would jeopardise his plan to rid Faerun of Bhaal's essence once and for all. For all Balthazar knows, the power that's released because of your death will overcome him.
The essence of Bhaal may be in every one of his siblings, but is it not true that the essence is awakened by your actions, by what the PC does? The ability to control your powers, your Slayer Change, your Pocket Plane: all comes through more and more experience with your soul, with using the powers that came with Bhaal's essence.

Balthazar must have felt that with the thinning of the essence, it became harder and harder for him to control himself. To not resort to violence and murder, not to give in to the dark taint that came with his soul. Other than Sendai, Abazigal, Gromnir and Yaga-Shura; they are more than willing to slaughter entire cities in order to please their bloodlust.

I mean: Balthazar is a monk! He hid himself away from the world, in a monestary in a little desert town called Amkethran. He has hired dozens of mercenaries to protect himself from possible dangers, all to prevent his plan from failing.

In short: I disagree. But I hope to continue a healthy (and lengthy) discussion. Forgive me for being (overly?) rude, but shall we imagine that we were just having a heated real-life argument? ;)

Hm... Wait a second. I don't know how I feel about him having the opinion that one can use their heritage in a good way. Don't you remember the "How many bodies?" speech? He even gives that to you if have a 20 Rep and acknowledges that people are singing your praises from the mountaintops.

Something to think about.

I always thought that speech was meant to stir a little self-reflection in the PC. Although people are singing praises and are hailing you in as the world's number one hero, you still have blood on your hands. The blood of many.

Wasn't his plan to eliminate all the Bhaalspawn and commit a ritual suicide once he was the last so that the essence would be eliminated for ever?

And that´s what he needs the mercs for; to eliminate the bhaalies.