Was there ever an official explanation for the class discrepancies?

[Radyer]

Sorry if this thread has been made before. I'm a late gamer to KOTOR (only really had the PC with the power to play the game recently) and I haven't finished the game at all. Only finished Korriban and Kashykk.

Anyways I saw the mod where it changed the Jedi classes around for all the 3 jedis to what the mod maker considered more fitting but I didn't install it just to avoid a possible mod conflict but I've recently used KSE just to give master scoundrel's luck and the best sneak attack when playing with the Roleplay Padawan mod and that allowed me to think more of the classes for the default party members.

Suddenly all their classes didn't just seemed to be off, it was like they were literally actors working for a Sith producer who wants to sabotage the game and changed all their roles. I haven't finished any BioWare games but reading some of the past walkthroughs on their games notably Baldur's Gate 2's character list, I get the impression that Bioware tends to give anomalies to their recruitable npcs as far as character class optimization goes but in this game, it seems they did the reverse.

Carth: A Star-Pilot for the Republic who not only was able to communicate with all the surviving crew members of the Endar Spire with just "1" terminal but was 1 security door away from the Sith Patrol who just happens to "scout" the planet while at the same time able to haul all those equipments back to an abandoned apartment on Taris.

Sith producer: Nah, he'd be too weak as a starting character. Let's just turn him into a soldier and give him low stats at computer use and security and slap a gun on him. It's not like there are lots of computer terminals and you can bash on security doors anyway. (Forces player to sacrifice some int for soldiers, increase int for scouts and scoundrels thus increasing the chance of a fire fight which would increase the chance of the player dying.)

Mission Vao: Apparently any 14 year old twilek "scoundrel" can survive to explore the Undercity as long as she's a Wookie and yet she not only was "surprised" (*cough* lack of awareness *cough*) by Gammorean slave traders who were easier to kill than Rakghouls but she manages to get past a Rancor and she not only fails to persuade anyone in the game (didn't reach the Griff quest yet so don't know about that) and has claimed to be able to take care of herself with a blaster pointed at her face like some kind of "soldier" with abnormally high stealth and just got lucky to be trained in scoundrel skills.

Sith director: Nah, soldiers don't use stealth. Just make her a scoundrel and make sure she doesn't get enough stealth in her to get past the Rancor when you recruit her. *crosses fingers player equips her with her vibroblade*

Bastilla: A Jedi Sentinel who not only gets captured by the Vulkars but somehow manages to "overcome" a neural disruptor around her neck and beat Brejik in melee combat. Not only that but a Jedi Sentinel who doesn't act like a Sentinel all game but like a Guardian who just happens to have mastered a force power in Battle Meditation instead of lightsaber combat even though she was apparently there against Revan, has a double bladed lightsaber and pretty much does all "Guardian" related things in the game and has poor persuading power and doesn't dabble in the dark side plot-wise until her later Dark Side turn (though I haven't reached it) even though Sentinels were known to mix and match powers.

Sith producer: Nah, she was already such trouble as a Sentinel, making her into a Guardian would make the game too easy. With her battle meditation alone, she could skip all the other force tree so you can't make her great at lightsaber combat too otherwise she could single handedly beat the supposedly inferior to Revan, Darth Malak.

Juhani: A Jedi Guardian who just happens to defeat her master "due to a force power", meditates more than Bastilla and is apparently able to influence an entire area of Kath Hounds where other Jedis are present but just happens to lose to a 1-on-1 lightsaber fight and is constantly fighting for "balance". Sounds more like a Jedi Consular with the ability to force jump and who's stats is on par with a Jedi Guardian because of her innate species as a cat.

Sith producer: no...no...NO! Bastilla is already much trouble to the Sith as she is, we can't allow another jedi to possibly realize what their true potential is. Let's just keep her at controlling Kath hounds or else she could learn to control an army of Ewoks and bring the entire Sith fleet down.

Jolee: A Jedi Consular who is shown killing 4 Katarns "alone" in lightsaber combat who happens to not have the force power of "Dominate Mind" against the poachers even though he's not only a Consular but apparently a "smuggler" either which should guarantee his high persuasion but even when his friend is in trial, apparently he must rely on the main character to solve it even though there's no guarantee they would be able to especially when they don't have the same experience as him and here's the clincher: Apparently he "doesn't care" about balance and is more interested in letting events happen like some kind of Jedi Sentinel who has high wisdom and high strength due to living in the Shadowlands with Wookies and his own experience.

Sith producer: Are you serious? Are you REALLY serious?! Why not just teleport the entire Jedi Council behind Malak and end the game right there. No, Jolee is an old man and everyone must know he is an old man. A weak pansy old man who must have low vitality so make him a Consular.

Canderous:Here's a Mandalorian who not only is good at melee but at ranged combat too like some kind of Mandalorian "Sentinel" but apparently has high persuade, able to detect and possibly remove mines because he's in the UnderCity and all his stories sound like Mandalorian Scout patrols and he happens to be second only to Mandalore at learning how to ride the Basilisks as if he has HIGH computer use.

Sith producer: No, no, no, no. He's already too good at everything, we can't afford him being able to serve as the intelligent member of the party. Besides, intelligent people shouldn't look like brutes. No, make sure he's just a soldier and make sure you don't add any other heavy weapons in-game just in case the increase of feats in the Soldier class allows him some loophole to become a durable high-skilled member from all the skill-raising feats.

T3M4: Ahlan Mahtale says that with "2000" credits, he could afford an entire army of "combat" droids to raze the entire Sandral Estate.

Now how much does T3M4 cost?

Then factor in this:
1. Janice Nall makes buggy droids (who she sells for cheap) UNLIKE T3M4
2. T3M4 is supposed to be the top of his class
3. The droid is supposed to get Davik into a "heavily-armed" Sith base (and the only non-Sith affiliated character on all of Taris for that matter)
4. T3M4 from what I gathered, serves no other purpose in-game other than for beep beep comments unlike in KOTOR2 but I only got that from some comments.

Now think about that. Does that sound like a weak pansy droid or a killing machine made to look like a trash can?

(Also remember that this droid predates R2D2 but is able to hold two weapons while also being a smaller target than regular combat droids and is compatible with all droid parts of his class)

Sith producers: No, no, no. The fact that T3M4 is pretty much the closest thing to a high skill-set character makes him invincible as he is. Make sure you make him as weak as possible and just make up for it with the droid parts but make sure the droid parts aren't only rarer but also more expensive at the shops but make sure he remains a pansy even later in the game despite those parts.

Haven't gotten the final member yet.

[RedHawke]

Originally Posted by Radyer

Haven't gotten the final member yet.

Well, then get to Tatooine, and get to the droid merchant shop asap.

[ShinDangaioh]

Actually there are two members missing.

Zaalbar the wookie(granted, he is forgetable)
HK-47

[R2-X2]

Wow, this really funny. Go on writing, please!

[Trench]

I enjoyed reading that . Keep it up!

[Darth Avlectus]

My, my. How observant you are. This should be interesting to read the continuation of.

I wonder what kinds of kickers you would get out of K2...though as a partial spoiler I'll ask you this: what kind of soldier (battle ready with no equal in combat), gets no unarmed specialist feats while all other classes do?

[Radyer]

Well I can't answer that cause I didn't know there were unarmed specialist feats in KOTOR

[Ogriv83]

someone really should make a mod to correct these issues. I recall one by simbacac but it hink it is long gone.

[Canderis]

Originally Posted by Ogriv83

someone really should make a mod to correct these issues. I recall one by simbacac but it hink it is long gone.

I think I will, what classes/updates do you reccommend for each member?

This sound right?
Carth- Scout
Mission- ?
Bastilla- Guardian
Juhani- Consular
Jolee- Sentinel
Canderous- class unchanged, stats changed
T3M4- Completely revamped

then feats tweaked and stats changed a bit?

[Ogriv83]

Originally Posted by Canderis

I think I will, what classes/updates do you reccommend for each member?

This sound right?
Carth- Scout
Mission- ?
Bastilla- Guardian
Juhani- Consular
Jolee- Sentinel
Canderous- class unchanged, stats changed
T3M4- Completely revamped

then feats tweaked and stats changed a bit?

Carth - I would have said soldier but i think Scout is good (see below)
Mission - Scoundrel
Castilla - Consular I always saw her being more force power oriantated
Juhani - Guardian more of a fighter in my eyes
Jolee - Definatly sentinal
Canderous - Soldier (more so than Carth and who wants two soldiers)
T3M4 - sounds good

Jst my two cents though

[MarkusNaslund]

Good read, I expect your review of KOTOR II as well