On Cernd's Class and Jaheira's Romance (Spoilers)

Aqua-chan · Post by **Aqua-chan** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:33 pm

Alas, my druids are giving me trouble.

First, let's address Cernd's dilemma. I've taken him along for the ride because I've never done so for an entire game in the past, and he's a great character NPC who often is overlooked because of the ridiculous restrictions on his class. I was pleasantly surprised when his Shapeshifting power was permanent (the "paw" weapon never expired), and as a Greater Werewolf (equipped with the right bracers, rings of protection, boots of speed) he can actually do quite a number on his opponents.

Recently, though, his shapeshifting has become timed once again, so I can no longer just leave him in his lycanthrope form 24/7. Is this how it's supposed to be? And what I had earlier was just some fluke or benefit from a mod? And now that this new limitation on his power has utterly slashed his invulnerability would I be better off ShadowKeeper-ing him as a different subclass, like maybe an Avenger or Totemic? I don't want to have to ditch him, but I simply can't imagine him actually surviving ToB as is.

Second, there is Jaheira. After spending a good half hour tinkering with variables in order to get Dermin to appear for the third time, I've finally gotten to the very end of the romance. Jah and my protagonist are fully commited (romance is set to 2), but it seems I'm stuck.

LT68: >rest - 'Hear my words while I have the nerve..'
LT70: >wake - 'Are we are ready to move on? ..'
'Terminsel' appears

I've gotten LT68 and did that, but I must have rested at least twenty times and wasted months in game days waiting for LT70. Is there a way I can CLUA this dialog timer to go off? I'm waiting to head to Suldenesselar (I haven't initiated chapter 7 yet) but I really wish to finish this and get that nifty thing "Terminsel" forks over.

Anomen never gave me this much trouble.

Thank you in advance.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:41 pm

The 24/7 claws is a bug (*cough* feature *cough*) in the game. As I recall, the Gibberings Three's BG Tweak Mod optionally "fixes" it by removing the thing, but like you, I think druids are woefully underpowered in the BG series. I don't know of any mods that reverse this, but you might want to check the Pocket Plane Group modlist (which encompasses a lot more than just theirs). I think there's one that makes druids more reasonable to play, but I'm not sure.

Aqua-chan · Post by **Aqua-chan** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:51 pm

fable wrote:The 24/7 claws is a bug (*cough* feature *cough*) in the game.

Why would anyone want to "fix" that? Just my luck the one time a glitch workds in my favor it goes and repairs itself.

I don't think I've ever known anyone to go through BG2/ToB as a Shapeshifter. I've done both Totemic and Avenger, but never are they powerful enough to be a front line fighter. The Avenger's forms are dissapointing at their best, and the Spirit Animals are maybe slightly better than typical summons, but nothing in compare to Planetars and such. I've always been really fond of druids, but they level up so slowly and would practically have to be multiclassed fighters in order to withstand any major attack.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 9:10 pm

Definitely check out this page. There are several druid-affecting mods, including one that offers what is labelled as a "shapeshifter upgrade." Good luck!

Crenshinibon · Post by **Crenshinibon** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 10:05 pm

The Avenger class isn't too fun to play in my opinion. True, you can use any type of dragonscale armor with any of the druids that can wear it, but I say the Shapeshifter is good enough as is. I've soloed Shadows of Amn with a Totemetic Druid and a Shapeshifter and I have to say that they're pretty powerful. The spirit animals gain the ability to level drain while the Greater Werewolf is very resistant to the elements as well as magic.

I know that the druid class can dual class to fighters but I am not sure if the Shapeshifter is able to after level fourteen. If that is possible a fighter that could turn into a Greater Werewolf would be powerful indeed.

Only forms granted by spells have a timer. Forms that are gained through classes do not have a time limit. You could potentially start the game, turn into a Werewolf after the opening dialog and go all the way to the end of ToB in that form. I have never encountered such a bug... well, I think an opposite of that where you are able to use your equipped weapons while shapeshifted. When you return to the natural form it's just there?

Aqua-chan · Post by **Aqua-chan** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 8:22 am

Thanks for the link, Fabulous. I checked out the Shapeshifter upgrade that you indicated, but it seemed to be the opposite problem there: waaay too powerful. That modified Shapeshifter at level 1 will be regenerating 1 hp/second, and I simply can't imagine that being balanced if one was to play TuTu.

Crenshinibon - While I understand that the Greater Werewolf itself is undisputably awesome, I'm supposing your Shapeshifter PC's core stats were a bit more hardy than Cernd's. In human form the guy does not have the best attributes (13STR/9DXT/13CON). His wisdom score is maxed out, sure, but as I'm playing through the game I notice he doesn't really get more of the "worthwhile" spells than Jaheira (wis 14) or Sir Anomen (16). So it seems his magic is the only thing that is keeping him around even though I already have two priest spellcasters in my party.

With no wearable armor it seems at the very best I could get his AC down to was 1 (-13 while GWW) with practically the best defensive equipment in the game. Not good for a second row fighter, especially when Jah and Ano are at AC-10 and AC-8 respectively. Even while wielding his staff (which I think may be one of the more impressive NPC-exclusive items) he's still not doing enough damage to really be considered a decent mage defender. As I prefer playing by the Core D&D rules all I can envision in his future in ToB is bleak: Hey, somebody go revive the tree hugger!

Oh, and I am still looking for an answer to my Jaheira woes.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 9:09 am

Aqua-chan, there were other druid kit mods on that same page I linked to.

Don't forget to check them out, as well!

Aqua-chan · Post by **Aqua-chan** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 10:23 am

fable wrote:Aqua-chan, there were other druid kit mods on that same page I linked to. Don't forget to check them out, as well!

Oh, I did. At this point in the game there would be little point to applying anything now, but on my next runthrough of SoA I'll take a more thorough look at them and maybe will even post what kind of results I wound up with here.

I have since hacked Cernd into a Totemic and have given him 4 Spirit Summons (though I think at his current level he should only have 2). Luckily I still had the Red Dragon plate on hand, so as I descend into the final battle he'll at least be able to take a hit.