Paladin Mod
The Hand of Arkay

Release 1.1
by Pimpskinny



A soul is formed in a void of time
An infant who drifts without body nor mind
Only with birth may it learn and progress
Then make room for others at the time of its death

But true death is a gift that evades some of those
Who fall victim to hardship or malevolent foes
And so some remain trapped in a body undead
Or snared to a prison if as vampires fed

The God of Mortals weeps for such things
For not only the suffering of souls that it brings
But also the gift that is taken away
From others in the void who cry out to see day

Balance He seeks between birth and death
Between exhaling your last and then drawing first breath
And so therefore these souls who are trapped in a bind
Shall thus be unshackled by a hand that is kind

That Hand shall be mortal, of a soul who is born
But pledged to a God, with a grave duty sworn
To confront the undead and lay them to rest
And do battle with vampires to ensure they are blessed

Such burden a curse, but such power a gift
For this Hand shall not be alone and adrift
The eyes of a God shall watch them and wait
Intervention shall come if their path remains straight

Deeds will be counted and great power bestowed
To the Hand that is steady, to whom honor is owed
And when at long last this Hand finds its end
Their soul upon death as a God shall ascend

- Of Birth and Death, Author Unknown

=========
Description
=========

Upon completion of the most honorable outcome of the vanilla quest The Order of the Virtuous Blood, you will soon find a book that initiates the Paladin Mod, which sets you on the path to serve Arkay, granting you powers befitting a Paladin and rewarding good deeds along the way. The Order of the Virtuous Blood has two possible outcomes. You need to achieve the one that results in the true vampire being slain.

I also use this mod as an excuse to make the Speechcraft skill more useful, and to make it more fun to level-up the very-very-slow Restoration skill. The powers immediately granted are detailed below, along with an explanation of what good deeds can grant you.

There is a "Paladin" class available at character generation that suits this mod well, but it is not required. You can start this mod with an existing character if you like, but just know that the "correct" outcome of the quest Order of the Virtuous Blood must have been achieved if you've already done that quest.


========
Download
========

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=41095


===========
Initial Powers
===========


Intimidate
Lesser Power (touch)
=============
This is similar to Oblivion's "Demoralize" spell, but it's not magic. Rather, it's speech. When you "cast" this on a hostile NPC, your Speechcraft skill and the difference in Level between you and your target will determine how much their Confidence drops, and therefore determines how much health they can lose before running away from their opponent. With a high Speechcraft skill, this can be a significant advantage.

Timing is key. The effect lasts only ten seconds, after which their Confidence returns to its normal level. And each time you "cast" it on the same target, the negative effect on their Confidence diminishes more and more each time, so spamming it doesn't help much. Using this power on a valid hostile target levels up your Speechcraft skill (thank you, OBSE!).

Screenshot: http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f101/iwatson/intimidate.jpg


Battle Cry
Lesser Power (Self - Area of Effect)
======================
Just as you can intimidate opponents, you can also inspire your allies. Your rallying cry has a large area of effect. Any friendly NPC (not including you) within earshot who is in combat will receive bonuses to their Confidence, Health, and Armor that last for 30 seconds. The magnitude of these bonuses is determined by your Speechcraft skill. Using this power on a valid friendly target who is in combat will level up your Speechcraft skill.

Screenshots: http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f101/iwatson/rally_self.jpg, http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f101/iwatson/rally_other.jpg


Pray
Lesser Power (self)
============
A role-playing alternative to casting restore health spells on yourself. The healing received depends on your Restoration skill. It also might grant additional bonuses. These bonuses come more often according to the quantity of your good deeds. Praying levels up your Restoration skill.

Screenshots: http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f101/iwatson/pray_no_weap.jpg, http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f101/iwatson/pray_weap.jpg


Lay On Hands
Greater Power (touch)
=============
Once per day you may heal another person or creature of injuries, disease, poison, and all other debilitations. If cast on a friendly target who is injured, performing this act is a good deed and will make karmic returns to yourself more likely, and also level up your Restoration skill.


Lay to Rest
Lesser Power (touch)
=============
Use this power on a "dead" undead creature, and you will release their tortured soul to be at peace. Performing this act is a good deed and will make karmic returns to yourself more likely. Using this power levels up your Restoration skill.

Screenshot: http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f101/iwatson/lay_to_rest.jpg


Redeem Vampire
Lesser Power (touch)
=============
Use this power on a dead vampire, and you will ensure their soul has a safe journey without danger of being snared by Molag Bal, the father of Vampires. Performing this act is a good deed and will make karmic returns to yourself more likely. Using this power levels up your Restoration skill.

Screenshot: http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f101/iwatson/redeem.jpg


=======================
Karmic Returns and Good Deeds
=======================

The powers Lay On Hands, Lay To Rest, and Redeem Vampire are considered good deeds. The more times they are performed, the more likely it is that you will receive benefits in return. A primary aspect of Paladin Mod is the mysterious nature of the Divine. The motivations of the Divines cannot be understood and therefore cannot be predicted or controlled. And so I don't want to spoil it by saying too much up front about such karmic returns in detail. I think it's much more fun to just play as a Paladin and enjoy the surprises that come with it.

But I will say that as your good deeds accumulate, you will gain http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f101/iwatson/guiding_light.jpg befitting a Paladin. Undead and Daedric creatures (including Dremora) will have significant reason to fear you. Also, praying will bring additional and unpredictable benefits. And last but not least, it will also become more likely that, when things are most dire, you will receive assistance in the form of divine intervention. This is never guaranteed, is actually rare, and comes in different forms.

As you become a seasoned and powerful Hand of Arkay, it will become undeniable that you are favored and protected by a Divine.

Screenshot: http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f101/iwatson/pally_custom_icons.jpg

Note: "Good deeds" only refers to the actions above that come with this mod, and have nothing to do with your Fame value. I made this decision because you can sometimes earn Fame points in vanilla Oblivion by doing horrible things to innocent people.


==========
Requirements
==========

• http://obse.silverlock.org/ v0020 or later. Paladin Mod will not load without it. And please remember to launch Oblivion with the OBSE Launcher.
  
• http://www.7-zip.org/. You will need this to open the downloaded archive.

============
Version History
============

• 1.1:
  - Battle Cry and Intimidate will be added to the Player's Lesser Powers immediately instead of waiting for the completion of Order of the Virtuous Blood.
  - Fixed bug wherein using Battle Cry could result in friendly NPC's equipping rings with missing meshes.
  - Fixed bug wherein using Battle Cry could result in the Player being credited with stolen items.
  
  
• 1.0: Initial Release.

====================
Known Issues and Conflicts
====================

• If you used version 1.0, the Items Stolen stat on your Player's stat screen might be falsely inflated. If you need or want to set this to 0, go into the console, type "ModPCMiscStat 28 -X" (without typing the quotes), with X being the current number of Items Stolen, and press enter.

======
Credits
======

• Even lone modders like me don't really make a mod alone. These are the nice people who have helped me so far ...
  
• Creative Input and Technical Help: QQuix (big time), MatH, brucevayne, TheNiceOne, JRoush, saebel, Five Alpha Reductase, bg2408, Sozerius, DragoonWraith, tejon.
  
• Resources Generously Shared: The http://obse.silverlock.org/ for making OBSE, and http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=26196 for the script functions making custom spell icons possible.
  
• Tools Used: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=11536 by ElminsterAU, The Oblivion Construction Set, Notepad, and Adobe Photoshop Elements (with the DDS file plug-in).

Awesome! My Silver Khajiit Paladin thanks you!

Congrats on the relz! :foodndrink:

My nord warrior is leaning to take up the call of Arkay! :toughninja:

Thanks, y'all, hope you enjoy! I'm also currently playing a Nord warrior who is about to be drafted by Arkay. I predict he'll have mixed feelings about it

If this is as good as your Druid mod, I will have to try it. Congratulations!

Thanks!

Will upload a patch fixing a couple bugs with Battle Cry and granting that spell and Intimidate immediately instead of later.

The patch to version 1.1 is uploaded to the Nexus.

1.1:
- Battle Cry and Intimidate will be added to the Player's Lesser Powers immediately instead of waiting for the completion of Order of the Virtuous Blood.
- Fixed bug wherein using Battle Cry could result in friendly NPC's equipping rings with missing meshes.
- Fixed bug wherein using Battle Cry could result in the Player being credited with stolen items.

- Battle Cry and Intimidate will be added to the Player's Lesser Powers immediately instead of waiting for the completion of Order of the Virtuous Blood.

While I thank you for the update, that feature doesn't seem right. I am roleplaying a Nord who will soon become a paladin. He will visit the revamped temple of Arkay in Cheydinhal (from Losing My Religion mod), and get inspired. Later, he will complete the order of virtuous blood quest to become a devotee of Arkay (that's when this mod should kick in, including its powers). I don't like the idea of having the powers available if I install the mod. One should be able to earn them to get a feeling of progression! Request you to consider

Valid point. But I guess I don't really consider Intimidate and Battle Cry to necessarily be powers that could only come from a divine gift like Lay On Hands, Lay To Rest, or Redeem Vampire.

I actually considered making a completely separate mod for Intimidate and Battle Cry just for the purpose of making Speechcraft more useful. But because they seem to fit a Paladin, I threw them in with Paladin Mod.

But I'll consider it, because like you I think that just adding spells immediately is a little clunky.

This mod looks like fun, thanks for making it

I have to wonder though, if it's installed together with Mysterious Bears Epic Necromancy will they mutually annihilate?

I should include in the ReadMe that Paladin Mod is morally opposed to "evil" mods like that one by Mysterious Mr. Bear. Therefore, if Paladin Mod detects any such mods, I've utilized a secret OBSE command to format your hard drive in an act of righteous vengeance.

Ah, a truly self sacrificing act on the part of Paladin Mod

Hehehe. That mod looks sweet, btw.

How about associate these with levels of speechcraft skill? I.e., if one reaches speechcraft =25, one gets battlecry. One reaches journeyman level, the perk is intimidation in combat.

This prevents a lowly lvl 1 thug from intimidating a seasoned highwayman!

PS: I use Progress to lower the rate of speechcraft skill gain, to prevent me from becoming a skilled orator too quickly. It is the easiest skill to spam!

Hmmm I like that idea. I might just do that.

With the way I scripted Intimidate, a lowly lvl 1 thug will have a very tough time intimidating a seasoned highwayman. But a lowly lvl 1 highwayman? Not such a tough time. Hehe. For each level your target is above you, the effect of Intimidate reduces measurably. And a target 10 levels or more above you is immune. But with a high Speechcraft skill, you can still have a meaningful effect on enemies above your level, because in my opinion there needed to be a reason for Speechcraft.

You think Speechcraft levels fast? I've found it to be the slowest skill I have aside of Restoration. And I make a habit of training it with every NPC I talk to in the course of bartering and questing, and I frequently talk to random NPCs just to train it up. But maybe OOO slowed it down for me, I don't know.

Maybe it is my compulsive nature to talk to everybody, and beginning that conversation by first increasing his/her disposition to the max possible.

You might want to try Progress. Yes, OOO slows down leveling of speechcraft, but with Progress, you can slow/speed it up to your liking. It also gives the settings used in OOO if you want to keep those.

I would second linking those Speechcraft powers to high Speechcraft. That way, those characters which aren't skilled in such things don't end up with them.

I'll probably release an update soon that grants Intimidate at Speechcraft level 25, and Battle Cry at Speechcraft level 50, each with their own skill level-up type messages, and independent of the granting of powers from Arkay.

Edit: Dangit, I just got the idea for a "Taunt" skill - To force an enemy to attack you instead of your buddy. That would be very paladinny and a great addition to my speech stuff. I hate getting ideas for your mod when you think you were done. Hehe.

... if anyone has ideas for a fourth Speechcraft skill, please let me know. That would allow the Player to earn a Speechcraft-related skill at 25, 50, 75, and 100. That would make it nice and tidy.

How about a calm-effect? Talking your enemy into dropping his weapon so to speak, for a short time.

:clap: This is good - gave me a slightly different idea for a Master of Speechcraft power: "Sway" (or maybe "Influence"). Basically a charm/command spell only for NPCs that are hostile toward you. It increases your target's disposition toward you. You can keep casting it (stacking it) until they like you more than their aggression rating, and then they will defend you. Duration would be determined by level difference between you and your target. And I came up with this for Taunt ...

Taunt
Lesser Power
Touch

Taunting a target who is not hostile toward you will result in them having a reduced disposition toward you. The reduction in their disposition depends on the difference in level between you and them, and your Speechcraft skill. NPCs who are higher in level than you will be less and less susceptible to your taunts. If their disposition toward you drops below their aggression level, they will attack you. Some NPCs are not aggressive at all, and will therefore never attack you no matter how much they hate you.

If you successfully taunt your target into attacking you, the duration they attack you before turning back to their original target depends on the difference in level between you and them, your Speechcraft skill, and how many times you’ve taunted them already. Each time you taunt an NPC away from another target, it has less of an effect on them.

Hey, just wanted to say thanks for this mod. I'm really enjoying it so far, and I love being able to actually pray at the wayshrines and chapels. Very cool.

The taunt idea sounds great. I added http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=30568 into my load order as well, and I'm running into a lot more vampires nowadays. Some of them aren't very aggressive and I got into a fair bit of trouble for "murdering" one of them near a guard. Oh well.

For what it's worth, I haven't found the intimidate power to be overpowered as it is. My speechcraft skill svcks and I haven't successfully intimidated anyone yet. But if you want to go with perks, that's cool too. I think it should be an apprentice-level perk, my 2 cents.

Yea, with a low Speechcraft skill you're still going to have to cut your enemy's health down really low before they run away. I think vanilla typically gives hostile NPCs a Confidence Rating of 95, which means that they have to lose 95% of their total health before they run away. With a number like that, you hardly ever see a hostile NPC run away because your last attack against them will take their health from above 5% to 0. Intimidate with a low Speechcraft skill isn't going to improve on that by much. But keep training up Speechcraft and you will notice a difference

I agree with you on it being an Apprentice perk. I think I like this progression:

Apprentice: Intimidate
Journeyman: Taunt
Expert: Battle Cry
Master: Sway

Sounds great! Am enjoying playing my new paladin character using this mod aswell as some other "paladinmods", it's a fresh take on the game from me after always playing nightblade-type characters in TES games.

Can't the NPC confidence and health relation be made non-linear, i.e., At full health, confidence is 95. At half health, confidence is reduced to 30 (or another low number)?