[Cerek]

Originally posted by Rockstar: Isn't using dead NPC's against the whole honourable roleplayer way? And Cerek. I believe that if Black Isle had made BG with the rules you state then the armour and rings would be different or the enemies and battles you encounter would be different to suit the change. It is all about full circle balance. Take a link out of this full circle balance and then imbalance flies everywhere and we get people gloating about how great they solo when they don't even follow the rules of the game...

Having the storyline changed so that they weren't killed would avoid that problem - but would create others. Specifically, Aerie is used as a "replacement witch" for Minsc and the romance with Jaheira could never exist if Khalid wasn't killed.

I only mentioned Dynaheir because I felt she was a MUCH better mage than Edwin in BG1.

I liked Kivan fairly well, though his stats were kinda sucky. I would also like to see Ajantis, Yeslick and the female cleric (that you have to "rescue") available. I never cared for Monteran and his partner to begin with. Xan has a cool sword, but he is terribly wimpy otherwise. Garrick would be a nice addition and he already shows up in BG2 - just not as a joinable NPC.

As for the rings and armor, there is NOTHING "dishonorable" OR "unbalancing" about the changes made by Ease-Of-Use. Like I said, I saw PLENTY of members here bragging about having an AC of -15 or better looooong before Ease-Of-Use ever came along - so there were plenty of ways to abuse the original BG2 system if one put thier mind to it.

Even with Ease-Of-Use, I've never had an AC better than -10 (which was the max allowed in PnP), so I see nothing dishonourable or unbalanced about it.