» Thu Aug 11, 2011 12:36 pm As of now, I have very little experience in the construction set, though I am willing to learn through tutorials on the CS wiki, trial and error, and using Vilja and Neeshka and other companion mods as inspiration and script ideas. Right now I'm just trying to start from the beginning, even before I actually set anything up- I want to bounce ideas with the community and see if there is interest in my mod and if there are any opinions and suggestions that anyone would like to offer me. I want to see if people actually want this released and if it isn't just going to be a personal project.
That said, here are my goals with my companion mod.
1. It is my opinion that there's a depressing lack of well-developed male companion characters. Human ones, anyway. The companion will be story-focused, with a distinct personality, well-developed and realistic, just like Vilja.
2. While I want this character to appeal to all types of people, given my current ideas for him, I doubt he will be. I have a feeling he is likely to appeal mostly to female gamers, especially given the kind of personality and characteristics I want him to have.
3. There's a few things I think that the modding world DOESN'T need more of, and that's companions who are able to fight. If I wanted a good fighter along my side in my adventures, I would just pick another mod out there. What I want to achieve with my companion mod is something very, very different. I want him to be focused on story, character development, and personality - and he will have very little benefit in the actual combat in-game.
What I've got in my mind right now is this.
Kai, worshipper of Stendarr, is a very scrawny little man. He is incapable of self-defense and, after hearing of your many exploits, seeks you out timidly. He has a debilitating speech impediment, and stutters and flubs his way around when he tries to get anything useful out. But, what does become apparent is that he has quite a big problem that he's trying to escape from. While he won't say exactly what his problem is, he begs you for protection.
If you wish to take him in your travels, he is only truly useful as an in-combat healer. He is a remarkably gifted healer. The problem is, he refuses to actually fight anything. The pacifist doesn't even carry a weapon on him, even if you give him one he won't use it. Even so, his healing skills are beyond helpful in tight situations... if he would just learn to stop occasionally healing your humanoid opponents as well. Kai's behaviors can be reproached by the player, and many an argument could be sparked based on conflicting worldview. The character will posess a very detailed morality, in which the player can argue about. Perhaps the player's own viewpoints would be affected by Kai... or the player can affect Kai's viewpoints.
Basically, the only gameplay benefits the companion would add is healing in-combat- but he will also sometimes heal a humanoid target of the player due to his beliefs on morality. (He will not heal creatures, Daedra, etc- only humanoids.) Hopefully this function of his AI will be balanced so he doesn't end up keeping your opponent alive, and his AI will be designed to place healing priorities on the player. Save for this, he is a character designed to NOT attack. He never will deal damage to any living creature. Also, as part of his character, he cannot heal himself, and relies on protection from the player.
His plot- well, I shy away from posting all my ideas as they would spoil this companion's quests. But, ah well. I am not sure when this is going to get finished, even less when it will be released. So, here is the character in detail for those who may be interested in looking at what I'm hoping to accomplish in the future.
Spoiler
Kai was once a bloodthirsty assassin, a member of the Dark Brotherhood. However, he was eventually captured by the Imperial Watch and sentenced to death. Kai's father, a noble man and without blemish in the law, sacrificed his life to break his son out of prison and allow him to escape with a new life... but he bears many secrets with him. Since that day, he tried to turn his life around, devoting his life to the worship of Stendarr, God of Mercy. However, the Dark Brotherhood now chases him as a target, seeking to assassinate him, for he bears many secrets of their organization.
The player is designed to become aware of this later on in Kai's questline, as the Dark Brotherhood chases him and the player must confront them. If the player IS a member of the Dark Brotherhood, I'm hoping for things to get a little more complicated here story-wise. They can choose to become Kai's enemy, and kill him, or choose to defend him against the others, thought his might make conflicts in the Dark Brotherhood questline as well- so I might have to do a lot of thinking about how to make this work seamlessly. Plus, I'm unsure as to the lore accuracy of it too, so opinions here will be appreciated.
Personality wise, he is shy, meek, and quiet. He places little value on his own life, but places infinite value on other humanoid lives. Kai lives every moment of his life by following a moral code he had swore upon with his own blood after leaving the Dark Brotherhood: never kill. Strangely, he also believes that everyone deserves to die. In his eyes, mercy is that very concept: getting what you don't deserve. Thus, he lives his live by giving everyone what they "don't deserve" in his eyes. He received such mercy in his life, and so he extends it to others without question.
He has taken up the healing arts, but he cannot heal himself. For him, controlling and channeling his magicka to focus on healing abilities is purely defined by his will. Through sheer willpower, he places a heavy emphasis on saving someone else's life for he sees value in their survival as living things. However, he places no value on himself and his own life, so his magicka is unable to channel into his own body for healing purposes due to the value he subconsciously places on his own life.
Kai was once a bloodthirsty assassin, a member of the Dark Brotherhood. However, he was eventually captured by the Imperial Watch and sentenced to death. Kai's father, a noble man and without blemish in the law, sacrificed his life to break his son out of prison and allow him to escape with a new life... but he bears many secrets with him. Since that day, he tried to turn his life around, devoting his life to the worship of Stendarr, God of Mercy. However, the Dark Brotherhood now chases him as a target, seeking to assassinate him, for he bears many secrets of their organization.
The player is designed to become aware of this later on in Kai's questline, as the Dark Brotherhood chases him and the player must confront them. If the player IS a member of the Dark Brotherhood, I'm hoping for things to get a little more complicated here story-wise. They can choose to become Kai's enemy, and kill him, or choose to defend him against the others, thought his might make conflicts in the Dark Brotherhood questline as well- so I might have to do a lot of thinking about how to make this work seamlessly. Plus, I'm unsure as to the lore accuracy of it too, so opinions here will be appreciated.
Personality wise, he is shy, meek, and quiet. He places little value on his own life, but places infinite value on other humanoid lives. Kai lives every moment of his life by following a moral code he had swore upon with his own blood after leaving the Dark Brotherhood: never kill. Strangely, he also believes that everyone deserves to die. In his eyes, mercy is that very concept: getting what you don't deserve. Thus, he lives his live by giving everyone what they "don't deserve" in his eyes. He received such mercy in his life, and so he extends it to others without question.
He has taken up the healing arts, but he cannot heal himself. For him, controlling and channeling his magicka to focus on healing abilities is purely defined by his will. Through sheer willpower, he places a heavy emphasis on saving someone else's life for he sees value in their survival as living things. However, he places no value on himself and his own life, so his magicka is unable to channel into his own body for healing purposes due to the value he subconsciously places on his own life.
I'd love for thoughts and opinions, and perhaps ideas and suggestions for how I can best kick this project off if there is any interest in it. Any starter tutorials anyone can link my way would be great too as I'll add them to my list of resources to go through when I'm ready to begin creating it. Right now I'm just in the storywriting/dialog stage for the character's dialog and quest chain.
