Futile search for Blackguard-ness

[Tancred]

Alas, still the holy grail of kits, the Blackguard, remains out of my reach. I've been trying to get this kit to work for the better part of two months and again and again it hits the same snag; if you play a Blackguard properly, your Rep ends up pretty low, and then you fall and lose your abilites. Hmph.

So far the best bodge I can manage is to edit the effect files that result in the loss of ability and give them a 0% chance of working, but that just isn't satisfying because

- It then affects all other Paladins and Rangers too, and that feels clumsy
- The character still changes from 'Blackguard' to 'Fallen Paladin'.

Plus I've failed so far to be able to give the kit the ability to use the Temple of Talos stronghold rather than the Paladin stronghold (which would be pretty strange, let's face it).

Has anyone else heard of anyone who's managed to overcome these problems in the past?

[LennonCook]

Fudge it: make it a Cleric kit rather than a Paladin kit. It'd solve both problems
ON a more serious note, it may be possible to check the kit of a character aswell as the class of the character (I'd look myself, but the computer with all of my modding tools on it is out of action) - check the Cleric Stronghold dialogues, somewhere in there they'd have to check the kit, wouldn't they? Or are they allignment based? If you can check the kit, put in the acceptance for the Cleric of Talos stronghold a line that says "OR if they're a Blackgard" in the part which checks for a Cleric of Talos. Put into the Paladin acceptance dialogue "is NOT a blackguard" so that the don't get the Paladin stronghold.
As for the fallen-ness, it would also help to be able to check the kit: append BALDUR.BCS with a script to this effect:
IF
Player1's kit is Blackguard
ReputationLT(Player1,6)
THEN
ActionOverride(Player1,"RegainPaladinHood()")
END

[ 10-10-2003, 10:40 PM: Message edited by: LennonCook ]

[Firestormalpha]

Could you guys enlighten me? What exactly is a Blackguard supposed to be? An evil paladin of sorts? Is it an actuall class? Is there a site where it is described and do you have a link?

[Indemaijinj]

The Blackguard is a prestige class in D&D 3rd edition.

It was meant as a way to make demonic and evil fighters, clerics and fallen paladins.

They get some demonic spells and powers and must be of evil alignment.

[Tancred]

I'll give you an idea of what I had in mind. Basically, an Evil Paladin kit.

BLACKGUARD: The Blackguard epitomises evil. The quintessential Black Knight, this villain carries a reputation of the foulest sort that is very well deserved. Consorting with devils and dark deities; murder; torture; nothing is too evil or too base. The Blackguard is nothing short of a mortal fiend and is hated and feared by all. Some call these villains anti-paladins due to their completely evil nature.

Advantages:
- May Summon Fiendish Servant
(an innate Find Familiar, nabbed from the spell... but familiar gives no HP bonus)
- May use ‘Poison Weapon’ ability once per day every four levels
(Borrowed from the Assassin kit)
- May use Aura of Despair once per day every five levels
(custom spell. A weaker version of Greater Malison, only drops saves by -2 and is centred on the caster)
- Can cast ‘Detect Good’ once per level
(Kish's alignment correction Oversight Mod is necessary for this to really work)
- Uses neutral and evil clerical spells

Disadvantages:
- May not become more than 'specialised' in a weapon
- Rebukes Undead, cannot Turn them
- May not use Lay on Hands
- May not use Detect Evil
- May not use Protection from Evil
- Must be Evil

Most of this was based on the 3rd Ed Blackguard, but with a 2nd Ed touch - Aura of despair is analagous to the Aura of Courage 3rd Ed. Paladins get, but as 2nd Ed Paladins don't get a constant aura of courage but recieve Remove Fear, I thought an innate ability would work for the Blackguard.

He also has a few different High Level Abilities... I think I swopped Hardiness for Evasion (from the Thief pool) and War Cry for Summon Fallen Deva.

Note that I have all this working fine; the custom spells, the kits etc. Just the damn loss of abilities getting me every time.

[ 10-11-2003, 10:37 AM: Message edited by: Tancred ]

[Tancred]

Originally posted by LennonCook: Fudge it: make it a Cleric kit rather than a Paladin kit. It'd solve both problems ON a more serious note, it may be possible to check the kit of a character aswell as the class of the character (I'd look myself, but the computer with all of my modding tools on it is out of action) - check the Cleric Stronghold dialogues, somewhere in there they'd have to check the kit, wouldn't they? Or are they allignment based?

There is no kit check as far as I know... but then, thinking about it some more, that wouldn't matter. The cleric stronghold seems to check for class and alignment - so if I ask it to check for Paladins, I suppose it'd disqualify the other Paladin kits but not my Blackguard. Likewise the Paladin stronghold - I can put a (unnecessary until now) alignment check into it. Nice idea.

EDIT: Hmm. nope, didn't work.

[ 10-11-2003, 04:48 PM: Message edited by: Tancred ]

[LennonCook]

Allignment check won't work because Fallen Paladins are Neutral Evil, and can still get the stronghold. Your other option might be a bit more involved, but it would solve one problem from the coding sense and the other from a roleplaying sense: instead of making the blackguard a choosable kit, make it what a Paladin becomes when they fall.

[Tancred]

Originally posted by LennonCook: Allignment check won't work because Fallen Paladins are Neutral Evil, and can still get the stronghold. Your other option might be a bit more involved, but it would solve one problem from the coding sense and the other from a roleplaying sense: instead of making the blackguard a choosable kit, make it what a Paladin becomes when they fall.

Hmm... or make a specific Blackguard kit with a hefty REP penalty and everything else just comes with it. I tried that, but for some obscure reason the name of the kit kept reverting back to Fallen Paladin. I removed the entries in the dialog.tlk and replaced them with Blackguard, but it still kept changing every now and again. Weird.