[Memnoch]

Today's news. I know this stuff can get kind of long, but there is some interesting info here. I hope people are reading this (some of it anyway)

Today's info is about Imoen and Familiars.

Dave Gaider (Senior Designer)
Imoen’s background and Bhaalspawn’s dissolving death: Well, I'll say this much. Imoen's story goes into a lot more detail if you take her with you into the expansion. And your concern over #1 as well as many more unanswered questions will, indeed, be resolved.

As for the issue of Imoen not 'dissolving' upon her death, I only have one question. Where does it say that all Bhaalspawn dissolve physically when they die? Once you found out Imoen was a Bhaalspawn, did she start dissolving upon her death then? Who dissolved that you know of? The PC and Sarevok. Hmmm... the essence was very strong with both of them. It probably isn't so strong with Imoen, though. And if a physical body still exists, it makes sense that the soul could be called back to it. Exactly what happens to Bhaalspawn souls has not yet been fully divulged, after all.

And it was said even back in Bg1 that Bhaal's essence affects his children in many different ways. (something you may see for yourselves in more detail in the expansion)

Players would have asked themselves upon seeing the death screen in BG1 for the umpteenth time "Why do I dissolve?" Answer: You're a Bhaalspawn. Hard to escape that kind of thinking when nothing to the contrary has really been presented to the player, I suppose.

Spurious storytelling. Tsk. It'll be the downfall of mankind.

Familiar suggestions: Alright, here's a chance for you all who like familiars to suggest something.

If we were going to upgrade the existing familiars in some way for the expansion, what would you like to see done? Keep in mind that familiars can and should be useful...but not overly powerful. If you have any thoughts on abilities or something of the like, we'd be happy to hear your input.

Okay, some good suggestions. A few responses and/or clarifications:

1) Whatever is done to the familiars, it has to be done to the existing familiars. We are not going to be adding new ones...we are looking at making the existing familiars stronger in the expansion part of the story.

2) While familiars do have inventory slots like any creature, accessing and manipulating the equipment in those slots is problematic since there's no inventory screen for them. We can't tell a familiar to 'equip' an item. The most we can do is have them give the player what's in their inventory...which we already do for those familiars that pick pockets. Creatures can be instructed to use equipment in their inventory, but only through scripting...the player wouldn't have any control over it (which is not helpful for a familiar). Alternatively, we could have equipment that is meant solely for a familiar...in the way that when you 'give' them this piece of equipment, it gives them a new special ability or raises their HP, AC or something similar.

Another thing we can do as far as familiars go is simply 'give' them new abilities and/or powers upon the player, say, achieving a certain level or perhaps finding a special spell. What, exactly, those abilities or upgrades would be is the question.

3) New dialogue is certainly a possibility, although we can't go overboard. I like the idea of them 'piping' up occasionally like Lilarcor...although I'm thinking maybe it should be restricted to them making their normal sounds occasionally rather than actually speaking. Some people find that annoying. As for other things that could be added to the dialogue, what kinds of things do you think they should say? The slapping of the imps and petting of the dragons seemed popular...more interactions like that are certainly possible if you've any ideas.

Giving familiars more HPs as the PC levels up: Well, the problem with doing things repeatedly to the familiar lies in the way it will be implemented. A familiar taken out of inventory is a creature on the screen...very easy to cast a spell (an invisible spell of the kind we use to add abilities and such) on it then. Problem is...what if the familiar is still in inventory? When that's the case, it's an item...can't cast a spell on it, then.

We could mark the familiar as eligible for a spell upon level up, and then cast it on the familiar the next time it was taken out of the backpack...I can see that. I just wouldn't want to overdo it, as forcing Player 1 to cast a 0-speed invisible spell might interrupt something he's doing.

A script could be made that watches for when a player reaches a particular level and then puts an item in their inventory, yes. This is actually one way we were thinking of...'swap out' the old familiar when its in inventory for a new familiar item (which bonus abilities and such).

We could conceivably make the familiar into a container. I would not want to, however...like I responded before, a cat or a faerie dragon is hardly the equivalent of a packhorse.

More dialogue for the familiars: A shoe-in? Exactly what, then, would you be talking to your familiar about? It already talks about its health and offers pithy advice...I'm not about to re-write that dialogue just because. And if new dialogue is going to be added, some ideas would be helpful.

Well, the capability of a familiar (never mind a party member) to recognize when someone is doing something contrary to their alignment is pretty limited. I could foresee them commenting when their master is at low/high reputation, though.

Familiars randomly talking: That's something to consider. I don't know about the plausibility of getting dialogue actually recorded for familiars...and it would take a pretty extensive set of comments for people not to get tired of them piping up. But it's not impossible.

Random familiar talking being telepathic and able to be turned off via dialogue: That's true, come to think of it. Just add a line in the dialogue and a global would be set...no more comments. Like I said earlier, though, chances of getting recorded comments for familiars not overly likely.
But hmmm...maybe not actual recorded comments but colored telepathic comments over your head.

'(Your familiar is currently asleep and dreaming of a giant, succulent dinner...)'

'(Hey! Watch where you stick that thing! It's not like there's a lot of room in here!)'

'(HELL-OOO! Lonely familiar talkin' here!)'

'(I love you so! purrrrrr)'

Or I dunno. Maybe that would get lame real quick. Might also be more trouble than it's worth...I mean, the familiar hasn't talked all this time only to pipe up for the duration of the expansion? (And no, we would not add the ability into BG2 itself).

Giving the familiars limited spell casting abilities: This could be done. What spells would be appropriate, do you think?

Having a familiar holding inventory items: I do not foresee turning the familiar into a mule of any sort. These are small animals we're talking about...I'm sure the bag of holding, gem cases, scroll cases, key rings and what-not will more than suffice for equipment storage purposes.

Feeding the familiar to level them up: Good idea. The item that levels them up could be a magical food of some kind (hey, maybe those tree of life nuts from Suldanessalar, hey?). I could also add feeding the familiar into the regular dialogue...could be a way of healing them without having to both resting or casting spells on them (and just assume the character has 'food').

Assigning level up points to the familiar: Hmmmm. Without making it too complex, I could imagine the familiar initiating a dialogue with the player when it is ready to 'level up'...it could always ask its master what it should 'work on' and the player could be given a set of powers as choices. That way he could specify what direction the familiar takes.

I don't think that you could specifically control where their points went or anything, though. But in order for them to be useful at all, any gained abilities would have to be pretty high rank...but I'd say them gaining only one ability (like Find Traps or Detect Illusions...if those are possible) would be very feasible for thief stuff.

Familiars going wacky if petrified and then turned back to flesh: I'm pretty sure the programmers are working on this. Personally, if this was a problem I'd sooner just make the familiars immune to petrifaction.

Giving the familiar stoneskin spell: Stoneskin is a good idea. So, I'm thinking, would some kind of combination of invisibility/sanctuary. Giving the familiar the options of becoming more offensive, having more thief abilities or being a better scout...very, very possible.

Well, if we do upgrade the familiars, I've got some good stuff to go on, here. I've gotta go, but I'll be back in a little while to digest any more ideas people have.

Thanks, all!



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Memnoch - Custodian of the Order of the Holy Flame

[This message has been edited by Memnoch (edited 03-11-2001).]