I checked the other thread about creating a healer follower, but the most I learned from that is that it takes working with combat interrupt packages, but that's as far as I can understand. Reading the creation kit info about packages mostly skims the surface about most of the things I really want to learn to do.

Anyone know how to do it? If so, could you post some step by step instructions? I still havent gotten to that enlightened point where scripts/AI/dynamic modding makes sense.

baump

There are different ways to do it. The way I did it in my mod (Amazing Follower Tweaks) is I monitor the player when combat begins. There is an OnCombatStateChange event that I use. Every time the follower switches targets, they quickly check the PC stats and if they are low, I manually apply the animation, sound and healing to the player using scripts. I also manually damage the NPC's magicka reserve. I even display a message with the followers name indicating they just healed the Player.

Now... you could also scan the area for NPCs other than the player. Probably would have to make a seperate quest that you start/stop so that its aliases get filled with potential heal targets (Teammate, GetActorValuePercentatage Health < 0.25, etc...) I didn't bother with healing other NPCs since most of them have healing potions.

If you make your own NPC, you can attach you own scripts directly to their actor record. Or you could simply make a mini-quest to manage them (injected as an alias).

Thanks for replying, and it sounds like you built a mod that works, but every bit of information I've found on these forums is like telling me, "If you want to get past that wall, just use the energy ray gun to blast a hole through it." Problem is, I don't know how to fire the energy ray gun, and the manual is written for people who have had prior experience.

Maybe if I read through the CK info enough times it might start making sense, but right now, nothing's sinking in.

Sounds like you are still learning the basics. We were all there once.

Most people come here with specific questions after having tried several of the various tutorials on CreationKit dot com.

Healing just the player would be easier. You could do it with nothing more than packages on the Actor Record. However to heal the player AND other followers, you will need to learn about Quests and aliases. From there, there are two main approaches. You could do it with the Story Manager + quest containing aliases (to your NPC and other teammates nearby). The quest could force packages on your NPC containing procedures that reference the other aliases in the quest. This approach might avoid scripting all together, but your healer would be limited to healing when specific Story Manager events fire.

Or

You could make the quest always running and do it by attaching a script to the Quests NPC alias and handle it with papyrus scripting. Really just depends on what you are more comforatable with. I am more comfortable with scripting than the GUI, but it is less visual and presents a bigger learning curve.

The reason why so many people say "I did this in my mod" or "I have seen a mod that does this"... is because the best way to learn is by example. Find a mod that works, download it, open it up and see what the author did.

If you have specific questions, feel free to ask, but I think the pointers above should get you going.

It may prove worthwhile to take a look at these mods:

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/20787 (Cerwiden -SMART Healer- AI Configurable Companion by Mujuro)
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/18075 (Healer Companion - Natalie by ParallaxZero)

Personally, this is pretty much how I learn to use the CK. I find examples (vanilla or otherwise) and reverse engineer from there. Don't get me wrong though, the wiki is an invaluable resource.

What i wanted was to have a follower that cast healing spells on the player only when the player was below certain health thresholds.
I went down the route of modifying the PlayerFollower dialogue quest. However any mods which might modify this could cause conflicts.

I added a new Use Magic package (Healer specific) to a duplicated combat override package list. This duplicated list was then used in the DialogueFollower Quest.
I set up conditions on the new package so that only my new follower would be eligible to use this package. This was achieved by creating a new faction that only my created follower was in, and set the condition to check if the follower was in the faction. This prevents the package running with any other follower.
The biggest headache i had was actually trying to get the Healer Package to work. There is a lot of useful info on the wiki, unfortunately it does take some digging around.
A rather helpful package to look at is "WhiterunTempleCastHealingSpellSoldier" package. I duplicated this package, renamed it, and changed the following boxes:
Owner Quest - None
Package Template - None (This allowed me to edit the package)
Interrupt Override - Combat.

You can then change the Public Package Data via the Selected Package Data box's.

Bear in mind that if your follower will use damaging spells over healing spells unless your package is working correctly. Also if packages do not complete it can cause your follower to do nothing.

Thanks for the tips, I'll keep digging.

And thanks Antares Heilghast.