Since I could not decide which character to import, instead of shooting for immortal god like power, I went with something far worse.

Meet Zach. The reluctant only slightly above average Bhaalspawn. He has traveled through Baldur's Gate. At creation, all of his stats were set at 9. After the books, he had 10/10/10/10/11/10. He is, with out a doubt, painfully average. In BG, his starting points went into quarterstaff and dagger. After finding a really nice dagger, he dedicated his life to the deadly art of pig-sticking.

In SoA, he is forced to wear light armors. Not strong enough for the heavy stuff. He started with 5 stars in daggers and I am still debating on having him dual weild, as he is just the average shmoe and most folks can't use both hands at once to save their life. He might take some lessons from his buddy Minsc, I have not decided yet.

Notable battles. Please note, I have his AI set to run away at the first sign of trouble [img]tongue.gif[/img]

He ran away from the Slaver Mob Ambush.

He ran away at high speed, with his trousers soaked at the sight of a Drow Priestess and her pet spider under the graveyard. Spiders are scary!

He ran away screaming for his Auntie Jaheira to save him at the very first sighting of vampires in the streets at night. He is scared of the dark, night fell, they were rushing to find an inn.

Seeing the Beastmaster in the Copper Coronet made him run away screaming.

Upon aquiring the Boots of Speed, his cowardice reached a whole new level.

So far, the only thing he has killed, the only battle he has taken part of, the only thing that made him fight for his own life...

Was Firkragg. Everybody got knocked out cold, everybody was beat up pretty badly, Keldorn was down to about 4 hit points. Firkragg was near death. Zach bravely pulled Pixie Prick from his boot and rushed in quickly and stabbed Firkragg right in his big red horny toe. He scored a critical and did an AMAZING 17 damage and got his first, and, so far, only kill. Mr. Big Red and Scary Himself.

Not to shabby for a level 10 fighter who has the morale of a stewed chicken. The whole party was around level 9 to 11.

He is Neutral Good. He is a lot of fun to play, watching his AI controlled actions is quite funny really, that script is a hoot. The moment something hostile shows up, he takes off running at full tilt in the boots of speed. I plan to place a few points in quarterstaves over time, and, possibly a few points in shortswords. He should have been called Brave Sir Robin of course, but, I really wanted to roleplay it a bit and give him a slightly more average name.

At the moment, he is totally shocked that Auntie Jaheira seems to be flirting with him.

The whole party.

Keldorn. Takes the lead.
Minsc. Keldorn's right hand man.
Jaheira. The Disrupter. And tank.
Anomen. Part time tank, part time healer.
Yoshimo. Rear archer, part time thief.
Zach. Usually found hiding behind the others. Sometimes gets a little to far ahead because of his foot speed, but, always, with out fail, runs backwards to hide behind others.

Playing with him has been a blast. I highly recommend playing a slightly above average character some time.

Hahahahaha!

That's awesome.

[img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

Very nicely written. There have been people who have played with average characters but they are far and few.

well, speaking as an average guy when I go fighting with my friends (one of them went to the time and trouble to make a great deal of weapons and shields out of pvc pipe and foam rubber) I always do better with two weapons (unless using the pole-axe (aka Halberd) I just can't seem to get the hang of the shield, but using two weapons, ie mace and sword, or shortsword and long I typically "kill" them alot more than they get me (when they're using either 2weapons, or a shield and weapon)

using this as a basis were I to make a character on a similar note, I would do the same (ie dual wield all the time)

[ 01-15-2003, 02:12 PM: Message edited by: Morgeruat ]

What was really hard was importing him. He is a plain brown bag fighter. I thought about taking a kit. Mostly, I thought about the Kensai kit and then the focus on daggers, but, then, my role playing sense bit me on the arse and I realized the average shmoe would never be trained as a Kensai. Or a Berserker or a Wizard Slayer for that matter.

As of right now, he has two kills to his name. He is Zach, Coward Extraordinair, Dragonslayer. The Shadow Dragon got Pixie Pricked. With him running away from any sign of danger, he is always the only one who is healthy enough to deliver the killing blow on something nasty.

I am debating right now what gloves to give him. The Gauntlets of Ogre Power or the Gauntlets of Dexterity. It's a really tough choice. Since he rarely melees, rarely like once in a blue moon, neither are a good choice, but, he could always use better AC or better THAC0 for when he does.

His current equipment.

Ring of Invisibility. For those moments when he really has to hide!
Pearly White Ioun Stone. His skin is most important, save it at all costs!
Ring of Regeneration. When running away, he usually has his back shot full of arrows or spells. He um, well, he takes a lot of damage at times and does nothing to stop anybody. At least with all these regeneration items, he heals quickly.
Shadow Dragon Armor.
Girdle of Fortitude.
Boots of Speed. So he can bravely run away away.
Cloak of Shielding.
Gloves. I can't decide.
Weapons. Several. Pixie Prick, Stilleto of De'Marchess, Elemental Staff of Air, Elemental Staff of Fire, soon to have the Staff of Rhynn.
Amulet of Poison Protection. Poison is scary icky stuff!

Something I plan to get very soon, but, will refuse to wear on him is the Ring of Gaxx. Liches are too scary, and, any ring worn by a lich must be even scarier.

He will never turn into the Slayer with the exception of the times I can't control it. Said monster is far to scary. Why, he would scare himself to death!

So much for being the Lord of Murder. Why, the very sight of blood makes him queasy.

Really funny story that actually happened. I was invading Bhodi's lair on a mission from the shadow thieves and right as we all were going into the main room, a vampire made a bee line right for Zach. With his AI set to run like the dickens, he took off lickety split from the gibbering keening undead nasty. He was actually running laps around the big gray beehive thing in the middle of the crypts, with the vampire hot on his heels. Keldorn came in hot pursuit, but, could not keep up with the speedy vampire nor his speedy prey. Under the AI control, Zach would not stop running and must have made at least five laps before I turned the lantern off and manuvered him to a spot so Keldorn could catch up and save his sorry skin. I guess you would have had to have seen it, but, it was so funny at the time I nearly died laughing.

I think using a two-handed sword is much more difficult than dualwielding (unless you dual something unrealistic, like two katanas or bastard swords).

lol. This is one of the better threads I've read on Ironworks. Very entertaining [img]smile.gif[/img]

Try SixofSpades' "Im a naughty boy" and "Im still a naughty boy" threads. Quite interesting, and nice ideas as well.

Even funnier than the post itself is the fact that Jaheira went from Khalid....to Zach! What a hoot! Boy, she can sure pick 'em, can't she? :D

Although in terms of "running away in face of the enemy," I must say that Zach is excellent.....but Viekang has him beaten by miles. ;)

I've heard of people running Nobleman parties (where the PC does nothing except talk to people, carry stuff, and tell his servants to kill things for him), but none of them were this funny. Keep up the good work!

I am inspired by this thread. I am going to try and make a some commoner kits for the fighter class.

You could have a farmer, a nobleman, a barmaid, any ideas?

That was the whole idea.

Jaheira turned from one coward that was dominated to a fresh one ready to dominate. :D

I mean for creative built in advantages for the class kits, and such. Perhaps the farmer can cast summon cow x3/day

The nobleman can create minor gems 2x/day (from his home) in order to hock them for gold.

Etc.

T

As Zach drifted off to sleep, he pondered the day's events.

They had gone to the Druid Grove, and, much to Jaheira's dismay, had found things less then ideal. Nature had been corrupted. An old aquaintance, Faldorn, a Shadow Druid, had somehow managed to find her way out of the Sword Coast area and spread her special brand of mayhem here. Trademeet had been brutally savaged by the animals of the wood. The land was wilted, the earth seemingly dead under his feet. It was summer, yet, the leaves on the trees in the Grove were already somewhat orange and faded. What ever Faldorn had done, Jaheira put an end to. She had challenged Faldorn in some pit seeking to put an end to what ever curse she had placed over the land. As it turned out, Faldorn was abusing nature in a way Zach could not understand, but, it seemed to upset Jaheira to no end.

Zach drifted off to sleep, still quite excited over watching two women having a cat fight, naked, in a pit.

Zach awoke, trying to clear the sleepy fuzz from his brain. It was just before dawn. He heard a strange voice saying "Don't move."

He opened his eyes and saw bandits, for what else could they be, standing around the camp. Minsc had fallen asleep at his post again no doubt. As he scanned, he saw something that totally unnerved him.

Jaheira stood, locked in the arms of one of the bandits. There was a small crude iron blade held to her throat. She struggled, only slightly, her eyes crossed and looking down. The others began to wake up.

Zach rose to his feet, holding his hands out. A most pecular feeling taking over.

"Take me instead." He offered. "I am the leader, and, worth a good bit more."

The bandits whispered among themselves, laughing, making crude jokes about the woman they held and what she was worth to them.

The others were fully awake now, the tension of the moment jolting them fully to their senses.

Zach agreed to do anything they wanted, offering himself, offering to put down his own weapons.

And suddenly the world turned gray.

Zach stared down in horror as an arrow protruded from his chest. An unfamiliar unknown rage began boiling inside of him. The average person would have died on the spot, and, Zach was the average sort of fellow in every way, except one. He was a Bhaalspawn. All eyes locked on to him, some in amazement, others in fear, some in complete horror.

The rage boiled over.

With a savage inhuman roar that would probably have scared him senseless under most circumstances, Zach leaped forward. The bandits began to scatter and Jaheira shook her way free. His companions watched in amazement as Zach slew the first he could reach, then the second, and, finally, a third. By then they had overcome their own surprise and moved into the fray.

In seconds, it was over. His rage still boiling, he reached up and yanked the arrow out of his own chest. He stared at the bloody point for a moment, his eyes burning with the most unusual glow. His rage slowly subsided, the world took on colour again.

As he stared at the point of the arrow, then down at the bodies, and, then at the blood on his own hands, a look of horror dawned on his own face. He gave a long pleading look at Jahiera, seeking some sort of comfort.

Things were fully back to normal when Zach fainted in horror.

LOL! http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/no...ons/icon27.gif

/ovation at the background/

Wonderfully written again, Butterfingers. Keep it coming! [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

Hah! Lol. Very good writings Butterfingers. I hope wasn't laughing too loud.. [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

LOL! Funny stuff! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

<font color="cyan">Good to see people still play for RP rather than just beating the game....</font>

Beautiful. Ah, love does the strangest things to people... sounds like Zach about tripled his number of kills there! Poor boy...

You said a while back you were trying to figure out where to put proficiency points. I was surprised that Zach hadn't yet glommed onto the fact that many of the warriors he's seen strap these big wood and metal boards on their arms in battle that, when an especially vicious attack is imminent, they use to... cower behind! Well, of course Keldorn and Jaheria would no doubt patiently explain the strategic benefits of being able to block incoming attacks to more efficiently deliver your own, but Zach would ignore everything except the cower factor. He would naturally demand the biggest such "shield" he could carry, and spend pretty much all of his adventuring expertise in maximizing his ability to cower behind his newfound best battle buddy, learning to use it to hide from those annoying missles people keep shooting at him while he's fleeing (read: ** in Sword and Shield style). With his low strength he may not be able to use the big tower shields, but he should at least be able to equip a small shield, and there's some very nice enchanted ones that he'd love for their superior cowering potential.

Next, our little pigsticker might notice that he spends lots of time running away. He's already discovered the boots of haste, which maximize his ability to do so as quickly as possible. He might realize that if he wants to do anything with his pigsticker while running away, it might be a good idea to... just throw it! Pigstick without even getting close to those scary baddies! I'm sure Zach's buddies would be more than happy to round up some throwing daggers of various types for him. (He probably won't go through them very fast, so ammo isn't a huge consideration, but with his 10 strength watch the weight. Too bad he hates poison; those are pretty decent.) His ultimate returning thrown-pigsticker item won't be available until the Underdark (you have no arcane spellcaster to start the Limited Wish quest which could make one available earlier). Also, you may need to make sure you have the latest Baldurdash patches to ensure that you can equip a throwing weapon with a shield.

Lastly, as to the gauntlet question, I think it's no contest: once Zach tries on the Gauntlets of Dexterity, he will be absolutely overjoyed at his superior ability to cower away from melee and missle attacks of all sorts. As a side benefit, he will find his accuracy as a ranged pigsticker noticeably improved. Leave the Gauntlets of Ogre Power to one of the tanks, who will take advantage of its THACO and damage bonuses more often.

Keep it up!

Playing a more realistic character sounds like fun!

there actually is the boomerang dagger. does nice damage and can be thrown.
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2D4 damage on a throwing dagger is insane. a nice +2 weapon too.

Well, I have him using quarterstaves and daggers, so, since he switches between the two, using a shield is kinda out of the question. He has Grandmastery in daggers, a point or two in staves, and I think one star in both single handed style and two handed weapon style. Crap, I honestly can't remember if I put a star in short swords yet, but, he does keep the short sword that casts Mirror Image handy for tight spots.

Yes, I do plan to get Firetooth.

He can only carry like 80 pounds or so, so I try to keep his load as light as possible.

Keldorn ended up with the Guantlets of Dexterity, Jaheira with the Gauntlets of Ogre Power. I have tried having Anomen dual wielding in this game, so, no shields for him either. His AC totally bites at the moment. He might get the GoD but then Keldorn would suffer. Oh well, Armor of Faith eases the blows a bit, for now. Anomen at least has the Red Dragon Scale armor. Jaheira is the main tank. She has her clubs and the Shield of Harmony, IIRC, her AC at the moment is -10 or 11.

As for a mage, not really needed, not just yet. Keldorn has the Holy Avenger, and, most mages are TOAST once I sic Keldorn on them.

Minsc has been taken out of front like contact and is now a dedicated archer, with some of his points going into halbreds and short bows. He is using long bows for now (Elven Court Bow... The one from the Keep) but we are already running into a problem with Minsc shouting "I need a bigger sword!"

great story!! very funny indeed. [img]smile.gif[/img]

a small suggestion however, since he is kinda weak, i would suggest cloak of displacement or boots of ethealness ( i think that is what its called) since he is a dagger ranged character, that would be great although having the braces of dex and tugan bow would improve him alot :D

another thing, does he have enough strength to carry a long sword? if he does, the i would suggest for you to get him the ras+2 sword. once a day, you can summon the sword to fight by your side, good for escape tactics since the sword cant be killed and a good distraction. horn of valhalla and spider figurine khilix is also good. in tob there is a figuring that you can become a nice high level figher with a plus 2 weapon. i forgot what that is though.

since i have a character who was a mage from bg1, i know alot also from running away :D

[ 01-17-2003, 12:58 AM: Message edited by: Harkoliar ]

Yeah, but, he aint no archer. He is just a common shmoe. Besides, Keldorn needs those Bracers pretty badly. And I do have the Tugian Bow. I plan to use it on Minsc for certain occasions.

Sorry folks, you can tell me to do anything, but, I have no plans to change Zach's set course of destiny. He was never intended to power game. Suggestions met within the focus of his intended character are welcome, the rest will have to be um, brushed aside.

you must mean the statue you get from that funny though evil merchant. i cant remember the name either, havent played ToB in a while. Personally i like SoA better.

Butterfingers, ask Dundee to dig up one of his old posts--it was on a thread involving designing one's own custom items. What Dundee came up with was a tale about a Dwarf who was sorely pained by the fact that his son was the town coward. So, what he did was forge a suit of Chain Mail that not only provided excellent protection to the wearer, but once per day its hidden enchantment could be activated, which did the following:
- Cast Simulacrum
- Cast Improved Invisibility on the wearer
- Cast Morale Failure: Panic on the wearer
- Cast Morale Failure: Berserk on the Simulacrum

As a result, the boy found himself commended for his bravery, even though he had actually been on the other side of town, cowering behind his grandmother's outhouse. :D

As the ship left the harbour, heading off to Brynlaw, Zach's thoughts drifted back to his comfortable lavish castle. Yes, he, the common human, a man only made special by his blood, had risen to become a Noble. A violent wave of dizziness over took him, this was going to be a long trip. He wished longingly for his night light back in his room at the Keep. The cabin was dark, musty, and smelled like pee.

The Keep towered before him, looking somewhat run down, battered, and less then the grand structure it had been. The walls had been bombarded with stones, probably from catapults, although his overactive imagination pictured an army of giants invading the castle. Nalia would be waiting for him and his crew.

They had made their way in through a secret passage. Nalia had been left outside, for her own safety. With out thinking about it, he had reached out and grabbed Keldorn's hand, and the big man had responded by snatching his hand away, slapping him in the back of the head, and telling him to grow a spine. It was dark, and, it was spooky, a combination that Zach disliked a great deal. There were cobwebs, a sure sign of his most feared of enemies, spiders. When Jaheira had placed a hand on his shoulder to steady him, he had nearly jumped out of his skin. Anomen was boasting about a time when he had invaded some castle, singlehandedly routing the invaders and slaying 40 ogres, or some such story. Zach was not impressed. By the looks of it, Anomen was just as terrified as he was, only he hid it much better.

After finding a rather helpful servant, slaying several trolls, and finding an old forge and a flail head for a powerful artifact, they had gone outside to try and open the gate. They had the unpleasant task of killing the dogs to make stew, so they could lure away the guardians under the Keep.

After opening the gate, several soldiers had rushed in to join the battle. Zach mostly stayed out of the way. More trolls and a scary looking snake man type creature had attacked. Zach knew the Keep was crawling with even more of these sorts of foes.

After stewing the dogmeat and taking a bit of a rest in the kitchen, they had made their way upstairs, and, after much fighting and fumbling, had found a key and the captain of the guard, who promptly attacked them. They rescued Nalia's Aunt, who Anomen claimed, was a real haughty pain in the ass. Also, they had found the final flail head, locked securely in a hidden room full of golems. Zach had had a brilliant idea of how to defeat them, one born of cowardice, that the group had agreed on. Don't fight them at all. Anomen had cast Sanctuary on himself, and, protected by his faith, he had gone in and recovered several impressive weapons.

Back downstairs, at the forge, the legendary Flail of Ages was reforged, and, prompty given to Anomen. Wielding the flail, and, another hammer called the Kneecapper, Anomen presented a grand sight. The short stocky man actually looked the part of the fierce warrior priest. While the group had been reforging the flail, Yoshimo had been nosing about and had returned with a dagger that he claimed had a rather highly enchanted nature, more so then his own personal katana, and, he stashed it away in his boot. Zach was not worried. His own dagger collection was impressive. He had seen it, it was enchanted judging by the slight glow, but, it was nothing special. His own dagger, Pixie Prick, was a mighty weapon indeed, putting many a foe down on the floor snoring with but merely a poke. Not that he poked many people of course, but, there were desperate times that called for desperate measures.

After finding their way deep into the Keep, they had killed a troll named Torgal. With the Keep freed, they had returned and reported the deed to Nalia.

Nalia had beaten around the bush a good bit, and Zach had guessed what she was getting at, and, mentioned it outloud. A marriage of sorts, to have him take over as the local lord. At the very mention of the words, Nalia had started stuttering and Jaheira had popped him a painful blow on the back of his head with her club. As it turned out, marriage was not needed, only for him to become a figurehead of sorts. Keldorn had snorted loudly, and, the others had laughed a good bit at the idea of Zach becoming Lord Zach. But as it turned out, it was a good thing.

Zach's total lack of bloodlust or violence had proven valuable. He was a fair Lord, already well loved by his subjects a few weeks later. The "Coward King" as he had been called at first, was replaced with the "Loved Lord". When one of his own guards had been brought before him, to be executed for some crime, Zach could not bear to see the man's blood spilled. He had questioned him why he would do such an act, he found the man's wife had been deathly ill. Zach reconsidered, and, found that he would have done the same thing. An unfair death had been avoided, and, two lives had been saved. Even Keldorn, stern noble Keldorn, had been impressed. Zach had promoted Anomen to his head Man at Arms, and, the young squire had spent much of his time when he was at the Keep training the many new guards.

However, it was the little things that had set him apart, and, brought many snickers and sideways looks from his servants. He had ordered that the Keep be well lit at all times, spare no expense on the oil. It was well known that their Lord was scared of his own shadow, and, even more terrified of the dark. He was the only Lord in the history of the Keep that demanded a night light for his personal room, always well stocked and lit, burning brightly by his bed. He had even brought two old retired guards back into the watch with full pay, their sole duty to go about stomping and squishing out any sign of an invasion of spiders or otherwise creepy crawly things. The old men, with out a doubt, were quite pleased to have such a job, for old age often meant slipping into poverty.

The Keep had prospered, and Nalia had stayed to act as an advisor along with Major Domo. It was she that ran much of the Keep's daily activities, and, at Zach's request, turned the Keep into a resource for the poor. A school had been opened, a cleric had even set up shop in exchange for healing those that had no coin to offer in payment. The dungeon had been turned into a rather impressive library. Zach had missed his childhood home a great deal. The population had exploded, as many moved to the area seeking a kind and gentle hand to aid them in their miserable lives. Word had spread quickly of a kind Lord who had gone so far as to buy out his peasants debts from a viscious trader and then handed the deeds to their own property back to them. Taxes were rather low, but, inspite of the lack of funds coming in, the Keep had prospered greatly with the huge influx of new people moving to the lands and setting up homesteads. Zach had achieved the common man's dream, he had rose to power and had proven to be a great Lord, with his common views guiding his kingdom, the common man had been looked out for, and, many were becoming wealthy from his rather bold and daring ventures. Life, no doubt, was shaping up and looking good.

Zach smiled, as he lay in his bunk, feeling rather pleased with himself. As Khalid had said so often, "Gorion would be proud of your actions!" All he needed now was his sister, Imoen, she, no doubt, would be proud as well and he longed to rescue her and bring her back to the safety of his Keep. He sincerely hoped after her rescue, he could retire from the adventuring life and put all this behind him.

LOL: Lovely writing, kinda jealous that my RP experience is limited to dipping into CRPG at weekends and scouring forums for solutions to my (often insurmountable) difficulties!

bump! to let others read the thread.. im still waiting for the underdark. :D

Underdark eh?

Zach just got there a while ago. I probably have not given him the time he deserves, as I have been working on my Enchanter a good bit.

Soon, very soon.