Lykainon

After writing my reply to Slyde in the other thread I kinda figured that whether or not I'll get around to making this kit, I clearly should be made and I might as well share some of my ideas on the subject. I probably won't start coding anything just yet since I'm (trying to be) working on Cason but, hey, maybe thinking about something else will increase my inspiration on the subject, who knows?

Anyhow, these are my thoughts on the matter. I know very little about how item-crafting is done in D&D and since so much else is altered in BG, I don't really aim to emulate it but if anyone knows stuff about it that might fit into this, feel free to tell.

First of all, I think it would be most fitting as a bard kit. It might seem kinda strange seeing as it doesn't have a whole lot to do with music but I think basing it on bards offer some other interesting pros. A bard is a pretty lousy fighter with high lore (is it possible to change the amount of lore a kit gains per level? If so, the Crafter should be the motherfrakkin king of identifying) and no thief-skills beside pick-pocketing which seems good. The bard song button would most likely be disabled unless someone comes up with a really cool version of singing that fits a crafter. Spellcasting would either be disabled or heavily specialized (see the paragraph below).

Now... a question for people more skilled at coding then me. Is it possible for a spellcaster to only be able to memorize a very limited number of spells? It seems reasonless but I've never looked into custom kits much so I'm not sure. If so, that might be the best way to go about with the actual casting. A crafter would then be able to find written recipes (my not-quite-fancy name for crafter scrolls), learn them and then craft stuff through spellcasting.

Related to the above is the question on whether or not crafters are magic-users. It's an easy way to explain how the create really fancy stuff in a fantasy-setting but on the other hand it would be nice to separate them from the gazillion kinds of magicians that already exists. Thoughts?

One of the few things I do know about D&D crafting is that you need both physical components and (I think) sacrificing a bit of XP to build stuff. This is something I'd like to keep for a BG crafter. Since buying stuff for everything you're going to craft would be goddamn annoying, it'll probably just drain a bit of gold. The XP sacrifices wouldn't be very heavy most of the time (maybe a couple of hundred XP for a minor item and a few thousand for a somewhat powerful one).

As for what the crafter (most likely a temporary name by the way...) actually would be able to, well, craft... I'm not entirely sure. First of all I'd like to throw in a bit of alchemy. I've always thought that it's a little annoying that the Create Potion HLA or whatever it's called doesn't become available until a lot of the potions you can make doesn't matter much to the gameplay. So potions for healing and other boosts would probably be among the first things a crafter could do.  After that it would be reasonable to have some fighting-related stuff since a nerfed bard isn't much good in a fight. I don't have any concrete ideas yet but stuff similar to Jan's Bruiser Mates  and the pantaloon-bazooka-what's-its-name (i.e. projectile weapons with neat effects) usable only by the crafter could probably be nice.

Another thing that could increase a crafter's usefulness in combat would be the ability to create some sort of pseudo-familiars that can fight his fights for him so to speak. I'm not sure what those would be like (although golems come to mind). If that living-chain-creature mentioned elsewhere is released it would be tempting to have them as an alternative.

Then, of course, there are "normal" magic items like magic weapons, armors, rings, etc. that everyone can use (or sell). While I'm having a hard time coming up with a good in-game reason, these should probably be one-off abilities (or very costly ones) or a party with a crafter in it would raise the Shadow Thieves/Bohdi's Guild money in about three minutes.  

There could also be items that need actual components to be made, similar to those put together by Cromwell and Caspenar. Either a crafter of sufficient level could make the same items as them (free of charge! Yay!) or additional magic items in need of assembling could be put into the game.

The kit should probably have it's own HLA list full of epic items they can make.

Ehm... I'm sure I've thought of more stuff as well but I can't think of it right now. I'll probably add to this idea-list later. Until then... gimmie, gimmie, gimmie feedback.

In an attempt to avoid a repuation for taking topic after topic off topic with various inane observations and, specifically, even more inane pseudo-drawings, I hereby start this topic as a home for the strange stuff I waste valuable time on.

Since I have delusions of grandure and something of a god-complex, there are of course some rules regarding this thread.

1) We do not talk about LLLL.

2) We do not expect to fight great art at LLLL. Or good art. Or, well, art.

3) By reading this, you are agreeing to Lykainon's rightful rulership of the world and will fight for that cause when properly summoned.

4) We do not talk about Lykainon's sanity (or lack there of). Unless it's the basis of a really funny joke.

5) We talk about LLLL non-stop to everyone around us.

Eh, that should be enough.

Anyhow, now for the reason I created this thread.

WARNING: This picture will make little to no sense if you haven't read Fanart Challange 47. Go do that.

 WeRLegionfight.png   169.96K   325 downloads

I'm attempting to write NPC banters for the very first time and have, naturally, come upon some problems. The code is pretty much just cut'n'pasted from a tutorial (not to mentioned checked against said tutorial a million times) and seems more or less identical to various banter codes I've seen around the forums but apparently there's some difference since they are working and mine isn't.
When I try to install the mod (which worked perfectly before) I get a parsing error at line 10 ("~Cason, take your...") when WeiDu tries to compile the file. Since I know the error messages aren't always accurate I've checked the entire file lots and lots of times but I can't seem to find the problem. When I disabled the first block of code I got the same error regarding line 27 which is the same line in the second block. Thus, I hope someone else (hopefully someone who bests my two weeks of modding experience) has an idea.

BEGIN FtCasonB

//Viconia Banter
CHAIN
IF ~InParty(?FtCason?)
InParty(?Viconia?)
!ActuallyInCombat
Global(?CasVicTalk?,?GLOBAL?,0)
THEN BVICONI CasVic1
~Cason, take your eyes of me. Now.~
DO ~SetGlobal(CasVicTalk?,?GLOBAL?,1)
== FtCasonB ~Ah, and what would happen if I didn't? Would you... punish me perhaps?~
== BVICONI ~Most certainly, male. You would not enjoy it. I know things that would make even a drow crumble in pain and you, rivvin, is no drow.~
= ~I can't deny that but I assure you, I can most certainly take a beating or two for a...eh, greater good, gal.~
= BVICONI ~You dare calling me 'gal'? I am drow, not some tavern wench. You better...~
= ~What? You go around calling everyone and their ugly uncle 'male'. I get that you could get confused in the dark but here on the surface we are quite sure about our gender. And others' as well...~
= BVICONI ~Learn to keep your words and eyes to yourself or make sure you never turn your back on me again, male.~
= ~I wouldn't dream of it, woman.~
EXIT

CHAIN
IF ~InParty(?FtCason?)
InParty(?Viconia?)
!ActuallyInCombat
Global(?CasVicTalk?,?GLOBAL?,1)
THEN FtCasonB CasVic2
~I'm curious about something, Viconia.~
DO ~SetGlobal(CasVicTalk?,?GLOBAL?,2)
== BVICONI ~I am not suprised. It astonish me that you can grasp which end of the sword to hold, rivvin.~
== FtCasonB ~Lovely. Anyway, you doesn't seem to appreciate the... directness of my compliments about your lovely curves.~
= BVICONI ~Now that, you have fully grasped.~
= ~But from what I've heard about the drow, your kind doesn't have much finesse when it comes to matters of the intimate nature.~
= BVICONI ~It is quite simple, Cason. You are not drow and even if you were, it is not a male's place to initiate discussions about these matters as you call them.~
= ~Ah, but I'm no girl (although that's a thought worth thinking about at night) so how am I supposed to express my appreciation for your physique?~
= BVICONI ~That is easy, male. You will not. Now be quiet and let us proceed to more important things.~
EXIT

I'm not sure whether I need to add BVICONI to every line or just the first but I've tried it both ways and it hasn't affected this problem.

EDIT: If you want to skip a rather long discussion about pirates, parrots and banters and check out Cason right away, go here.

Since my computer hates me (or maybe it's just tough love...), I lost what I'd written so far on my last idea (and taught me a lesson about back-up copies for the 100th time). While it wasn't that much it, along with my declining interest in the whole shapeshifting-bit, kinda ruined my motivation for that idea. Anyhow, I'm still interested in learning how to mod so I started thinking about another idea which leads me to the topic of today's discussion...

I think pirates are kinda sweet (and I refuse to reveal whether Johnny Depp in awesome makeup have anything to do with that) and since BG2 already has a pirate town I figured a joinable pirate NPC would fit right in. However, few things are more frustrating then spending time on something and then realizing it's been done before. Thus I'm wondering whether there is any pirate mod out there? Granted, even if one exists it doesn't mean I can't do mine (or try at least... ) but taking a look at it would probably be a good idea.

So... are there any? (Of course, some general opinions on the idea would be nice as well and if people are interested, I could share some of my thoughts on the subject.)

The response on my last topic was... less then overwhelming. Now, I don't blame anyone for that (new guy posting a NPC idea? I bet you've never seen that one before...) but some response to this one would be really great. Pretty please?

Well... hello. I'm the new guy.

My initial idea for this NPC was just some guy who shapeshifted all the time (similar to the little girl at Spellhold). I thought it would be an interesting thing to work with and after making sure the technical stuff wouldn't be overly hard (as I'm very new to modding) I started adding some flesh and bone to the gimmick.
I've already mentioned him in a thread over att PPG but since that was pretty much just for dealing with the technical part of his shapeshifting, I figured another thread was in order for the actual NPC. As for why I posted it here instead of at PPG, it seems as if SHS's Mod Ideas forum is a little bit more active then their counterpart.

Anyhow... everything below is pretty much open to change and I'd be glad to hear what people have to say about it, both positive and negative. As I mentioned, I'm very new to modding so I don't even know how to do half the stuff on my list but I'm learning as I go which so far has worked... well, decent, but I'm hoping I'll pick up the pace soon.

Name: Samae (SAH-may)
Race: Tiefling
Class: Bard (without spell casting in an attempt to balance things. If you want an in-game reason, consider why learning magic while you're basically a one man wild magic zone is probably not a good idea.)
Alignment: True Neutral (leaning towards Chaotic Neutral but as a tiefling bard, Samae really doesn't need more reasons to be compared to Haer'dalis.)

Stats:
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 14
Constitution: 11
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 11
Charisma: 15
(Although because of his... problem, he'll spend a lot of time with fairly different stats.)

Personality:
Samae's most distinctive feature at first glance (besides the whole shapeshifting bit) is his cynicism and taste for sarcasm. Still, he's a fairly friendly guy and can be both kind and loyal if the need arises. Due to the fact that he's on the run he has grown a little distrustful, especially of authorities, and he's a little on the edge around most wizards at first.
Although not noticeable most of the time, he can have some anger issues and if he's scared and/or pressured he can get pretty angry (which will have some interesting effects during his quest).
Finally, his constant shapeshifting has given him something of an identity crisis and while he occasionally shifts into himself, he knows it doesn't last and while he doesn't like to talk about it, he's pretty upset about that.

Bio:
When asked about his past, SAMAE gets an odd expression in his eyes, tendrils, fore-legs or whatever else serves to express his emotions at the moment, before starting to tell his tale. Despite his planar ancestry he grew up as the rather ordinary son of a rather ordinary woman in Athkatla. Unlike most tieflings Samae didn't have any obviously demonic characteristics that could make him an outsider. His interest in music and stories made him an excellent apprentice of a local bard and for many years it seemed as he would live a happy, if ordinary, life. That could have came true if not for Calisho Taran, a powerful wild mage, who ambushed and captured the young tiefling. The mage had discovered that Samae had a natural ability to channel magical energies, similar to that of a sorcerer, and for almost a year Samae was held captured and experimented on by Calisho. Eventually the illegal experiments were discovered by the Cowled Wizards who captured Calisho and would have taken Samae as well if not for their suprised reaction to his abilities which allowed him to flee. Leaving the city unnoticed would prove a harder task though and Samae was forced to stay hidden at all times. Eventually he met Jako who offered him protection in exchange for his services as a one man freak show.

What I actually have done so far:
- Created .cre's and initial dialogue for Samae and his "manager" Jako.
- Created a prototype version of a spell that transforms the user into a randomly choosen creature (so far only including ten creatures, I'm aiming for at least twenty or so).
- Begun scripting the initial meeting where Jako (for a little bit of cash) invites the party to a show which consists of Samae changing into various creatures. Afterwards the PC can talk to, and possibly recruit, Samae which upsets Jako. You'll probably have to either fight him or bribe him.
- Been given a script that, properly modified, should cast the custom spell at Samae every two minutes or so but doesn't.

What I plan on doing fairly soon:
- Get the script mentioned above working.
- Finish the initial meeting and recruitment stuff.
- Build a small-ish quest tied to the Cowled Wizard's interest in Samae. (Yes, I know they are already involved in a lot of quests but they really seems like the ones who'd be interested in someone with Samae's abilities).

What I hope to be doing in a more-or-less distant future:
- Add banter with both the PC and other NPCs. Especially Haer'dalis whom Samae doesn't think very highly of.
- Expand the spell with more creatures to turn into.
- Other stuff that I'll think of later.