If you could create any NPC...

[Maxamus]

Heres an Idea for another NPC type

He's like just as old as you were when you left Gorian (a teenager basically)

He's just a warrior, but has special magic abilite (magic missle and chronic orb in his special abilites)

As he grows in level, his PC interactiosn become strange and more evil, and his abilites grow. At a certain level or part of the game, you find out he's the spawn of a demon lord (maybe even thr one you meet in the underdark) he doesn't betray though, but sense your bhallistic nature.

So he trys to turn you and slowly his skills increase. Turns out he was sucking your power away. So heres the stats:

Pros: Get a kick ass tank/ mage support

You get special abilites he unveals
Protection from evil (other demons and shit won't dare touch the son of a demon lord)

Occasional protection from toehr things (magic, fire, stuff you'd see in hell ya know)

Cons:

Will eventually betray you

Your skills increase, but other things, like hit points and weapos proficenices decrease

Attracts more evil attention.

Goes beserk at random, seemly safe, times.

[drewal]

Yoshimo Spoiler below
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I like the idea. To have a major force come along with you, parallel your rise, but betray you in the end. The Yoshimo betrayal is one of the best parts of playing the game through the first time. But a new betrayal mod would add a lot of depth. The NPC could stay loyal all through SOA and TOB. Only betraying you at the final point.

[Willard]

I have a problem. I want to make the Elminster/ any other mage dude mod for the two apprentices, but I don't know how to make a mod. Could someone help me on a step-by-step level? I'm sorry, but I'm just not good at computers. It took a month to figure out the whole shadowkeeper deal, and I bet it will take longer to figure out the basics of creating a mod.
[img]graemlins/lightning.gif[/img]

[drewal]

For making MODs, I would start with two websites: teambg.com and forgottenwars.net

Dowload all the necessary programs first, so when you are going through a tutorial, you can open up whatever you need. I just started working on basic NPC stuff a few weeks ago, so someone jump in and correct anything I saw that is inaccurate.

Tools you'll need:
WinBiff
EffMaker
Infinity Engine Explorer Pro (not standard)
Near Infinity
Shadowkeeper (which it seems you have)
WeiDu (get it later)

There are some other programs that convert sound files, make animation files, etc.

Get all the programs, and go through tutorials on the other web sites I mentioned.

Major Basics:
1. What is a .bif?
WinBiff extracts individual files from Biff files.
In English: many of the files you will want to edit are "zipped" up into Biff files (.bif). Instead of dumping a thousand spells and item and monster files, etc, into folders, the individual files are compacted into a master file. So to edit the file, you must use WinBiff to extract the individual file out of the .bif file.

2. Start by editing items with IEEP. Don't start by creating new items. Just start by editing existing ones. There is a good tutorial on FOrgotten Wars on how to create items. Just follow the basic steps to edit an item. Change one thing with the item, then get it into the game (by putting it in the override folder) and test it. Build from there.

3. Don't worry about how complex everything seems.

Once you mastered the basics (which I haven't yet), you should download WeiDu, and start using it.

[Willard]

Thanks Drewal! I will start on that as soon as I can. [img]graemlins/lamb.gif[/img]

[Sazerac]

Originally posted by drewal: Excellent Sazerac. I look forward to it. If you choose to script an Anomen conflict, the conflict could be given some added depth by scripting a fist fight between the two characters. Anomen sneers, flings his weapon to the ground, and charges Pace. Pace sidesteps Anomen's charge. You hear the whistle of metal through air as Anomen's gaunleted fist flies by Pace's unshaven mug. Pace slips a foot behind Anomen's ankle, and sends him toppling to the ground. FISTICUFFS ENSUE

Thanks, drewal! It sounds like a great idea. [img]smile.gif[/img] The Anomen interaction is the toughest one as it's going to have to end in a choice between the two. Being that Pace is a smart-alec, it shouldn't be too hard to set Anomen off. I have to be careful, there, though, since both of them do end up with "good" alignments, even though Anomen is Lawful and Pace is Chaotic.

Pace is coming along little by little. Basically he's a good guy but he has a mouth on him like no tomorrow...not as bad as Jan as far as running on without a point, but just your basic smarta$$ that is constantly getting himself and everyone else around him in trouble with his off-the-cuff comments.

The party meets him, as in the regular game, during the Xzar/Montaron quest in the Harper's Guild. After the conclusion of the quest (when Xzar dies), he approaches and offers to join the group because Berinvar decided he'd be better off in the field (in other words, Berinvar is tired of him giving away Harper secrets; Pace is the one that tips your characters off about the Harper pins being the secret to getting to the 2nd floor). The romance, if a female chooses to play it, will require a bit of tactful handling; something that Pace completely lacks. (Comments from him like "Aw, thanks, that's sweet...I knew when I met you that you'd be a cheap date!", for instance, will have to be sharply dealt with to teach him better manners and respect. It will be worth it in the long run, though, as Pace doesn't have the same hangups as most of the other BG2 NPC's do. Consider it to be the "comedy" romance mod.

I'm also working on full interactions between Pace and all the other NPC's in the game, including an extended hilarious interchange with Jan on something along the lines of "Who's on first?", and with Edwin as "Edwina". Interestingly enough, as I'm scripting his conversation with Jaheira, I'm finding him to be more respectful of her and her more tolerant of him, as they're both Harpers and he actually is looking up to her as an elder member.

Anyway, if anyone is interested in the mod, let me know. I'm really just making it for my own pleasure and just to see if I can do it, but if anyone is interested in me going public with it, I would be glad to do that as well.

Cheers,
-Sazerac

[drewal]

I like the idea, because it integrates with already existing pieces of the BGII storyline - like I hope to do with the insane half-orc from the Sythsillian army. I think you should take it public.

[drewal]

The bio for one of the modpcs I'm developing:

The Ib

The Ib's body rots before your very eyes. But even with his physical form wasting away, the Ib radiates power.

Like a chracter in a nightmare bedtime story told to naughty - children, the Ib was once human.

Before his dread destiny was forged in colusion with fell powers from the planes, he was a young, handsome man from the Dalelands. He was the son of a prominent merchant, and had a bright future in trade. He had a face. He had a name. Though the Ib would not deign to tell you of it, and laughs at the inquiry.

The Ib does tell you, with sardonic tone, of how he struck his deal - though you sense he glosses over great swaths of information. The offer came to the Ib at night, in the form of a dream. The apparition that came to the Ib promised power, in exchange for something.

"Something," the Ib hisses, "not easily obtained."

Reborn, as the Ib, he was imbued with an understanding of the necromantic arts. Possession of the famed Necronomicon was part and parcel of the deal. And, through perusing its pages, the Ib expanded his knowledge of death.

During long nights bent over the blacknes of an open grave, the Ib directed diseased hirelings in the excavation of corpses. Even as his ties to the world of the living were strained, he explored the world of the dead.

You have grown accustomed to his voice, hollow as it is. But you will never be able to stare into his horrid visage. But he stays with you, and you understand the baragin.

With power comes a price.

[Willard]

Originally posted by Jerr Conner: quote: Originally posted by Willard: Hm. I have an idea!!!! Okay, here it is: A Zhentarim dude IMPRISONS Elminster with a special imprisonment spell that can only be dispelled by one thing. A sibling of Elminster has to drink a potion, but it is not the easiest potion to find. Potion of dispelling It dispells any abjuration spell within a two hundred foot radius. Made by cromwell, with a Zhentarim's blood, a Freedom scroll, a lock of the sibling's hair, and a brine potion. The whole of the Apprentice's quest is to find the items and give them to Cromwell, who will make the potion for you. Then the next part of the quest is to find the sibling, and to have him drink the potion where Elminster was imprisoned. Is this okay? Edit: Typo alert

Xar can do it![/QUOTE]Xzar dies, Jerr Conner. Since this is a quest for a certain group, (I'm not spoiling it any more than that) Xzar cannot do it because he has certain relations with that group and that makes him the exact opposite of what I need.

Edit- I need ideas. I won't shed anything on the plot, I just need to think of a name for a truly evil person. I also need a hit dice base for a spell I am creating. I automatically kills any creature under a certain hit die, and creatures over that get 9d7 davage (saving throw at -3) Can you guys help me?

[ 07-03-2002, 09:45 PM: Message edited by: Willard ]

[SixOfSpades]

Well, Willard, I named my Evil PC Fenris Melkior, that seemed to have a pretty evil ring to my ear. Or Marleth Slade.

I don't think I can come up with suggestions for the lethality of your spell without knowing what level it is, or if it's Area Of Effect, like Death Spell. Or did you want Infinity Explorer code? I'm no help there.

(I'm pathetic: Even though my computer isn't capable of running ANY games in the BG series, or even downloading Infinity Explorer, I'm designing a MOD. My question is: I'm planning to bring back the Helm of Opposite Alignment, which will drastically alter the conversations of any NPC capable of wearing it. Can the game tell if a character's wearing the Helm, and use that to control which conversations an NPC will initiate/respond to?)