Similar to the Spell Widget we introduced a while back, I think it would be awesome if we could look into doing something similar as a standardized widget to emulate request classes. While we don't currently have custom scripting open, this would at least give a generalized way for PC's to achieve some of the similar things scripting was used to request, without tagging the effects on to requested items and such. Once set by a DM, the widget would be able to do things like:

-Modulate AB and APR(up or down)
-Give feat(s) by inputting the correct constant value
-Modulate base Saves(up or down based on character level)
-(If we have nwnx_cool)Modulate Caster Level
-Remove # of Spellslots/Spells per Day
-Remove X Charges of X feats


Between the spell widget and a template widget like this, we could virtually recreate any PrC or custom class someone would want to play. Once a player makes a request for what PrC they want represented, how many levels of vanilla class are representing whatever PrC, they could calculate and decide with the DMs what adjustments should be made via the widget.

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I don't want to get into the balance nightmares of trying to design a custom class for every single class emulation request, to be totally honest. While this is mechanically possible, it's a giant headache, and a bit of a nightmare to actually go through and do. I would sooner let plyers use what's in te game to emulate builds and work from them from there with RP.

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Davion Telemos - Monk of the Four Winds
Korthan Isharnos - Dragon Shaman of Thunder Spirit Zamasham

Leave it to Tormak to see the brainfreeze in every bowl of ice cream. ; P

Joking aside, this wouldn't be something to be requested or necessary for every class emulation request. And ideally, once approved, they could be opened up to other PC's. Once someone requests a Mystic Theurge emulation, that becomes the thing if someone wanted to get a Mystic Theurge. People probably won't be requesting every underwater-basketweaving class we have in PnP. They'll be requesting the few that are cool enough to warrant some sort of mechanical dealy, like Theurge, Red Wizard of Thay, Stormlord, etc. It's not something that's a necessity for many of our approvals. But likewise, there are a few of our approvals that are just hard as hell to emulate with the vanilla stuff, like those mentioned.

Besides, if someone is requesting a mechanical implication of a class/PrC that is too gratuitous or complicated for us, the DM's still have that singular tool in their box that's solved many an issue.

"No."

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Here's the thing though: I don't want to approve a mechanical mystic theurge. I don't want to approve a PC with 25 caster levels in both Cleric and Wizard. That is a disaster.

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Davion Telemos - Monk of the Four Winds
Korthan Isharnos - Dragon Shaman of Thunder Spirit Zamasham

Honestly, I changed the class I was gonna mention for an example like 4 times before posting because I didn't want the focus to shift to a particular extraordinary example. Point is, I only meant to give an example of something that was different enough to warrant one in my mind. Not like Duelist, because the first thing would be "just take a dex-based Fight/WM"(which I would actually agree with other using an emulation widget). But you get my point.

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While the possibility of this happening is already almost possible, there's a reason we don't do it - it's an uncontrollable sandbox.

We are still playing a game bound to rules and balance, and we should do our best to maintain the integrity of the game that was built before us, while going forward.

While it might be interesting to explore character concepts and what's possibly expandable in the engine so that everyone can use it, it's simply a bad idea to balance everyone individually and have everyone be their own special character. Sorry, but if I have a say, this is pretty much never happening. Too much custom work/math and it's unmaintainable.

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a.k.a. Audrey Zinata

No more uncontrollable than when we actually had custom scripting for each player. Though the main reason we've moved away from that I thought was the time it takes to do something for an individual player vs doing something for the whole playerbase. Something like this would have been a compromise. Once the widget is made, it's something every player has an equal opportunity to attain and putting it ingame just means a DM setting it up. (I wanna mention again, the intent was never "every player requests their own custom class" no more than it's currently required or expected that every player requests their own custom armor/weapon, even though the option is available to them). There'd still be balance discussion, but there's balance discussion for every request outside of an RP item. And it would be very easy to suggest hard limits on the parameters within it (I.E. no more than +X AB from modulation, etc).

It's the dev's/dm's call either way because they're be the ones that would have to work with it. But it stikes me as odd how you guys would feel like it would be so outside your wheelhouse to balance something like this, when it would actually be a lot easier to balance than a lot of the custom spells and abilities you slogged through years before. There's only a set number of things you can ask for with it, versus the literally... anything you could ask for with our old custom stuff. I am a firm believer that the longer we go without some sort of approximation to what we used to be able to attain, the more we're kinda cheating our newer generations of players from the customization a lot of us older players till reap the benefits of. Maybe this isn't the answer, but if not, I begin to wonder what is if "maintaining" is such a high priority for us.

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Giving out custom classes is much different than one ability. This is not the answer, and saying the same thing over and over isn't the solution either.

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Davion Telemos - Monk of the Four Winds
Korthan Isharnos - Dragon Shaman of Thunder Spirit Zamasham