» Wed Oct 05, 2011 7:47 pm How to get the spell: After you are a certain rank in House Telvanni or the Mages Guild (haven't decided what rank yet), you can talk to either Skink-in-Trees-Shade or Master Aryon, who will tell you that you've learned enough about the magical arts to be able to have a familiar. They will then give the player a scripted book that will teach the player the spell when he first reads it, and will contain information about what a familiar can do, as well as the choice of creatures the player can pick from. Alternatively, if you don’t like joining factions, you can find one copy of the book somewhere on Vvardenfell. Each familiar, as long as the player is carrying it (or it is in the same cell as the player) will grant him a small constant effect bonus ability, and will be able to perform various services for the player. In addition, as long as your familiar is alive, the player will have constant effect drain magicka 10 points, in addition to one other drawback for the more powerful familiars. A caster can have only one familiar at a time. I have the following choices below in mind:
Rat->Fortify Agility 5 pts.; Fortify sneak 5 pts.
--1/day: Can send rat out to find three magical berries of one of two types. The first type acts as a standard healing potion (heal 10pts/5sec); The second type gives the player Night-Eye 20points and Chameleon 15% for 60 seconds.
Magic Scrib->Shield 15 pts
1/day: Secretes three servings of one of two types of a special scrib jelly that, when eaten, will Either 1) Restore magicka 10pts/5sec. and cure the player of diseases; OR 2) Resist Magicka 30% for 60 seconds on self)
Flame Atronach (small)->Resist Fire (30%); Weakness to Frost (30%)
1/day: Give the player 5 portions of fire salts
1/day: Summons a Flame Atronach for 120 seconds.
Frost Atronach (small)->Resist Frost (30%); Weakness to Fire (30%); Drain Endurance 3 points
1/day: Give the player 5 portions of frost salts
1/day: Summons a Frost Atronach for 120 seconds.
Storm Atronach (small)->Resist Shock (30%); Drain Endurance 6 points
1/day: Give the player 5 portions of void salts
1/day: Summon a Storm Atronach for 120 seconds.
Nix Hound Pup->Fortify Speed 5 points; Sanctuary 10 pts
1/day: will "hunt" and come back with 5 portions of one of the types of meats available from vanilla creatures in Morrowind.
1/day: create 10 "diseased" arrows that Damage Endurance and Strength of a Target 5-10points when hit.
Raven->Fortify Personality 10 points; slowfall
1/day: can fetch 5 portions of any plant ingredient available outdoors.
1/day: Windwalk (Levitate 100 points for 20 seconds on self).
Mudcrab->Water Breathing; Fortify Endurance 5 points
1/day: can fetch 10 pearls for the player (this IS meant to be a way to make some easy money)
Scamp->Resist Normal Weapons 10%
1/day: Mehrunes Dagon Pact (Activated as power; Fortify Destruction 30 points, Fortify Willpower 30 points, Drain Endurance and Personality, 20 points for 120 on self)
1/day: Teleport the player to any shrine of Sheogorath
Ogrim (Tiny)->Fortify Strength 5 points
1/day: Acts as repair service (this still costs money)
1/day: Teleport the player to any shrine of Malacath
Netchling->Immunity to Poison
1/day: Create 5 arrows enchanted w/poison 10-20 points on strike
In thinking of these concepts, I tried to think of types of familiars that could be useful to mages of all types (hunter types, battlemages, pure mages, conjurers, nightblades, those who just want to make money, etc.) I also tried to use creatures that were mostly already in Morrowind in order to be lore-correct, and tried to think of ways to balance out some of the special abilities of familiars. (It’s possible to rise through the Mages Guild at pretty low level and summoning a storm atronach for 120 seconds without any drawbacks might be unbalancing). I am open to suggestions or any additions to this menu. I’m not that great with numbers, so I admit I probably do not have the most accurate idea of what’s balanced.
In addition, all the familiars, have the following abilities.
--Contribute power to your summon spells (Fortify Conjuration 30 points for 30 seconds)this is to give mages the opportunity to use high-level summon spells (i.e. summon golden saint) more successfully, which can be difficult even with 100 Conjuration Skill
--Contribute power to your enchantment skill ONCE A DAY (Fortify Enchant 1200 points for 3 seconds) this is to try and, without editing GMSTs, create a way for a player who wants to enchant his own stuff to do so successfully in a rp-like, relatively balanced way. Ideally, I would just like the player to be able to enchant ONE item once a day using this ability, but I’m not sure how I’d script that.
--Teleport the player to the Vivec mages guild and/or the player’s stronghold if he has built one
--(CE on the familiar only) Sanctuary 60 points, Resist Magicka 60%: Familiars cannot engage in combat, but because the player needs to have the familiar out in order to make use of certain of their abilities, this provides the familiar with some resilience. Nevertheless, your familiar can still die. If it does, you lose 20 points of health and magicka permanently. For this reason, if you know you’re going to be in a lot of combat, it’s best to keep your familiar in inventory by picking it up (though you can’t ask it to use any of its abilities when carrying it as an item).
--Ask it for advice-> this would be just for roleplaying and a minor tribute to BGII. You can ask your familiar for advice and, depending on where you are in the main quest, he might have something to say (though it may be influenced by his behavior as an animal/daedra).
I have not started any work on this mod yet, and it may be slowgoing because law school is currently in session. However, I wanted to see if this is a mod people would be interested in and open myself up to comments/suggestions since I’m not that good at figuring out what’s balanced, and what people may find useful abilities for familiars without unbalancing the game.
