The Paths of the Dead *possible spoilers*

[Kestrel Daystar]

Heyas everyone

I was contemplating choosing the path of Bodhi in the second/third chapter, purely because I have the Valen mod installed. I have already played through both the Shadow Thieves and Vampyrs Guild and know what both entail, but at the time, I had not downloaded and installed the Valen mod.

Now, I am wondering whether or not to play through with Bodhi and collect up Valen. I have a party of evil (Edwin, Korgan, Viconia) aswell as Jan so having her in my party shouldn't cause any alignment problems.

Now, what I was wondering was what does Valen bring to my party? Class, skills, conversations, quests? Are there any new NPCs added that will affect me with her in my troupe? I don’t mind being spoiled, so give as much info as you like.

Thanks alot

--Kestrel--

[Xen]

Definitly POWER. Skills and power. Her attributes get higher with levels and she has a Valen-specific fight, (Like Solaufein) and it's pretty hard.

[Ascendency-Down]

First of all, let me stress that I played the Valen-mod about a year ago, so my memory may be somewhat cloudy and newer versions could have added changes or improvements.

Valen is a chaotic evil fighter/thief-multiclass, a powerful combination on its own and especially useful since decent thieves are rare in BG2. At least in the version which I had installed she was a powergamer's wet dream - no exaggeration! Her strength is godlike, she's much faster than the other characters, drains levels when she hits with her claws, has grandmastery in daggers (her claws are considered as such) and has an insane regeneration rate. Did I mention that she's in general very hard to kill, because she transforms to gaseous form when severely injured? And all these powers increase with her progress in levels...

Well, sure she has some flaws which are supposed to compensate for her immense power. In broad daylight she's weak as a newborn kitten. Just doesn't matter much, since you only spend a fractional amount of the game running around outdoors. Furthermore she tends to be a bit uncontrollable every now and then... Sometimes she'll ignore your instructions in combat or start detecting traps when she feels like it. If you talk to her, you can advice her to cease her unruly demeanor.

She forces you to choose the evil or rather violent option in some quests. When she starts talking to another person, you usually can be assured that someone will die very soon... So better prepare to live with a very low reputation. If I remember correctly, she won't get along with all lawful good characters like Aerie, Keldorn and Mazzie, not sure about Anomen. Besides, she's almost completely silent. She has no banters with the other NPCs in your party and doesn't introduce a real quest of her own. Okay, sure, when she reaches a certain amount of experience points, some paladin-vampire hunters will show up to snuff out her unlife, but this little encounter is nothing to write home about.

To put it all in a nutshell I wouldn't recommend to use her, when you are playing without other mods which enhance the difficulty of the game (for example Tactics). At least don't let her use her level-draining claws if you don't want to reduce the rest of your party to simple cheerleaders of her carnage. Really, it's no fun at all to see supposedly tough enemies drop like flies to her level drain.

[ 12-29-2004, 12:28 AM: Message edited by: Ascendency-Down ]