That actually looks interesting...is this another zombie apocalypse game, however? because dead island was a single player nightmare, in my opinion.

hehe...I agree completely..and as for Sarevok's intimidation factor...wasn't that part of his training as a Deathbringer? And his level of confidence borders insanity, which would intimidate just about anyone. Power to back him up? DEFINITALY makes him more intimidating, but he's like my step father...only a hundred times worse. Big. Scary calm. Confident. Chuckles at the weirdest times, making you constantly think "Oh God...he's planning something...and it's going to hurt me..."

 

The Deathbringer thing was invented by a mod. At base, the Deathbringer Assault is just an extra-flashy crit. And there's no confidence there. Just an act thereof, clinging desperately to the power he had before Charname killed him. But that power is a mirage and he knows it. Sarevok is nothing but a schoolyard bully finally laid low by one of the people he picked on, now still trying to drape himself in the fear and power he once had. But I don't buy it, and neither do most of the Bioware NPCs.

...Sarevok had the Deathbringer Assault in Vanilla. That wasn't a mod addition. The way I always saw it is pretty much just a "Brutal Finish", for example, seeing an opening and taking extra effort to drive his sword up through them and dropping them off his sword. The flash I just figured was like the "screen shake" effect, to make it look cool and make you aware something happened and drop your attention to the text box.

Just like you said, a fancy crit. The JOURNAL ENTRIES were added.

Excerpt from Sarevok's vanilla biography:

 

He studied the art of intimidation, the cruelest and most brutal styles of combat, in order to become a Deathbringer that could paralyze an opponent in melee through fear alone...as well as sometimes killing the most powerful of opponents in a single, massive blow.

Thank you, that's what I was looking for

Pardon the interjection...But I had to say as another Sarevok fan that I think it's an interesting and invigorating idea. I never get enough of his character, and the thought of having his opinions, commentary, and personality throughout SoA is unbelievably exciting! If you ever need dialogue or need ideas, etc. PLEASE send me a message, I'd love to give all the support I can for your mod, if this is still in progress, I noticed this post is almost 6 months old.

@Nightwoe: I personally maintain a firm difference between mods that explicitly break established facts of the games, and mods that simply add to them. I don't play Ascension or The Longer Road, for example, and I wouldn't play this mod for the same reason. If you enjoy that kind of thing, more power to you, but I think the question of what this mod idea actually adds beyond fan squee is one worth asking.

And again, I have full respect for that. You could call me an NPC whore...for in the days of old when I didn't know what modding was, when I played in the confines of my room for hours on end, listening to every NPC's interjections and interactions, I molded detailed psychological profiles on many of the characters. Sarevok is one that FASCINATED me...as did Keldorn, Viconia, and Jaheira....but I digress. The point is, I enjoy deepening character interactions and revealing more psychological reflections. "Fan Squee" seems to me a cruel manner of saying "I think you're not really basing this on plausibility of the game" Which yes, you are right, the concept is bending rules to the near breaking point, but it's already been done, and honestly, I think this more plausible then some other NPC mods I've seen...the ones that break the fourth wall more then a little in efforts to be humorous. I don't play those types of mods, but I don't disgruntle those who enjoy them. As you say, power to them.

I suppose it also comes down to, (at least in my opinion) how well the mod is thought out and how it shapes out in the end.

Use @gmail.com instead of @hotmail.com - it's valid. Hotmail may be no longer working, yep.

 

On-topic, I'm rather unsure the idea of Sarevok in SoA will come to be, however: it's been, what, over eight months since the first post? I'd say that once the first enthusiasm wanes, chances of the mod actually appearing are rather slim. Then again, some of us may live to see Aklon released; or even Keto ToB, maybe. 

Off-Topic, but...

I still weep for no ToB Ajantis

You're running off nothing more than "Wouldn't it be cool if Sarevok was in BG2?!", and that is a very poor foundation for a mod

 

 

It's the best reason ever! Wouldn't it be cool to have Xan in BG2? Wouldn't it be cool to romance Haer'Dalis? Wouldn't it be cool to play PS:T in widescreen mode? 

 

Wouldn't it be cool to meet Sarevok in a cage in Irenicus's dungeon? Face Bodhi with him? Have him intimidate Aran Linvail? See through Saemon Havarian? Be fooled by Jan's little pranks? Face Harpers at Jaheira's side? Gods, yes.

 

(Heh. I can just picture him proposing killing Imoen at Spellhold, since the girl is a Bhaalspawn and PC's rival. Well, it really depends on the writer, but as long as the writing's good, possibilities are endless).

Wouldn't it be cool if Khalid was in BG2? Wouldn't it be cool if druids were re-balanced? Wouldn't it be cool to have an un-nerfed Thaco table?

hehe...I agree completely..and as for Sarevok's intimidation factor...wasn't that part of his training as a Deathbringer? And his level of confidence borders insanity, which would intimidate just about anyone. Power to back him up? DEFINITALY makes him more intimidating, but he's like my step father...only a hundred times worse. Big. Scary calm. Confident. Chuckles at the weirdest times, making you constantly think "Oh God...he's planning something...and it's going to hurt me..."

Domi did something like this - she's still got several dialogues somewhere, try searching for "The Midnight Visitor". I'd like physical presence, though - dreams are only 1% of the time you spend in the party, after all, and I'd like Sarevok to be next to my PC for the 99% of it.

I'd love to see that too. Sarevok along for the ride, I mean. Even though the idea of him there would be borderlining a "plot-breaker", (I mean, it really wouldn't make ANY sense that Sarevok shows up in the dungeon...unless...OH OH OH, I JUST GOT an IDEA)

Ok, so, WHAT IF... granted we are running against the game's ending movie with Sarevok turning to dust...WHAT IF Irenicus sent Bodhi to retrieve his body in the interest of his body being the perfect vessel for tests of re-administering the divine spark that no longer exists in his body? Or even in the hopes of finding scraps of the spark within him? ALSO, this would give Sarevok his own motive to find Irenicus...the same as the PC has the option of expressing in the opening conversations with Imoen. So...Irenicus resurrects him, but finds him to be useless just before the attack upon his compound. So Sarevok decides to follow you in hopes of re-attaining the spark of Bhaal? OR perhaps he doesn't make this decision right away, but instead, upon escape of the dungeon, Sarevok has had time to think it through, and intelligently decides that you as the PC have already proven more then resourceful...both in his own undoing on the sword coast AND in escaping the dungeon without his help. Sarevok would be stupid to not realize that he no longer has all the resources he once had at his finger tips.

Well, that's just a spontaneous idea.

On top of that, it would give at least minor dialogue at some point in commentary during Bodhi's conversations...perhaps when she first appears to you and "tests" your strength in the vampire lair? A teasing remark to reveal some information to Sarevok about what exactly happened to him?

@Nightwoe: I love your ideas! Maybe do the first idea where Sarevok is deemed useless by Irenicus and decides along the way that joining the PC after they escape the dungeon would be a good idea. Just a thought!!

I feel that would befit his character...he is most definitely a man of strategy, but he has to plan ahead...I don't think he's nearly as good at thinking on his toes, like a skilled rogue would be. 

Well, like I said, this is just a sample. And really, after what Sarevok put <CHARNAME> through, he or she wouldn't really be happy to see them. And it's the first talk in Irenicus' dungeon. <CHARNAME> is under a lot of stress right then.

And It's the only way I could think of to make it somewhat readable. I'm out of practice with this.

...side note...but I could see certain evil aligned characters that would still be reveling in his defeat. Though, I suppose you're right about the stress.

Actually, that could be a kind of awesome mod idea. Dreaming of Sarevok. Conversations you wish you could have had with him. He wouldn't need to be there taking up a party spot, but he would get to interact with the PC.

THAT IDEA.

SO...how would you go about initiating these dreams? The only way I would think is that they're scripted to trigger after certain events...but what if you wanted to start them on command?

I would be heavily against this. Sarevok died at the end of BG1 and his body turned to dust as his essence merged with Bhaal's. The same reason why Charname can't be resurrected. This is established fact. The only reason Irenicus is interested in Charname and Imoen is because of their divine sparks. Khalid, Jaheira, Minsc, and Dynaheir were simply collateral damage. Not to mention that Jaheira, Minsc, Imoen, and probably Keldorn would attack him on sight.

 

Personally, I think this is a really bad idea. You're running off nothing more than "Wouldn't it be cool if Sarevok was in BG2?!", and that is a very poor foundation for a mod, especially as you yourself admit that the reasoning could be generously described as a stretch.

I sense you as a strong factual realist and strong hearted fan. I respect this, but even if it "Wouldn't it be cool if..." is the only reason, after playing through the same game so many thousands of times, why not explore avenues of such ideas? True, it is AGAINST facts of the game, but isn't that, at least partially, what modding is about? A spark of creativity, a drive to make it real? There are always different types of fans, and their is no way possible for every mod to appease every fan...but if someone wants to make a mod to follow a creative spark, that doesn't mean everyone has to download and use it.

Again, I respect your point of view, and I don't wish to come off in any way offensive to your opinion.

I know I come off as a complete noob to all of this, but I've been part of creative gaming groups for a very long time. If nothing else, then I suppose all this would be good for is an interesting fan fiction.

But to elaberate...charname CAN be resurrected, however the reason this is not plausible in game is because upon death you lose the taint...the divine spark. Which would make the game's very point to DRIVE the PC forward useless. The only real obstacle is the turning to dust, returning the taint. It is never explained, however, how Imoen is the soul exception to this rule. She can die over and over, yet she retains the taint, which makes no sense at all. An oversight on the developers part, I'm afraid.

In ToB, you kill many Bhaal spawn, but their bodies don't eviscerate upon death. Another oversight on the developers.

Throwing in a random half-dolphin half-devil - I'm a bit confused as to exactly what she is, and dolphin makes as much sense as any -

o.o...

The images in my head...

...for some weird reason...I want to draw this...

Let's re-define awesomeness for a moment...excitement for creating my first mod, and of course, I'm going to make mistakes. Please don't begrudge me said mistakes.

 

 

All I see here are experienced players and even modders jumping in on what is a potentially cool NPC concept and trying to make sure it *stays* a cool concept. I would more be offended if my idea was completely ignored.

 

Try to avoid paying too much attention to the tone of posts and pick out the constructive parts of them. People just want to help after all.

Okay, before I got online today, I made sure I was in an *ecstatic* mood...sooooooooo....

FIRST...thank you for ALL the comments. My defensiveness gets in my way, kind of like Anomen, really. *shrug*

Let us try another approach to this draft *claps hands together*

Everyone who has posted thus far, I want you to follow me and close your eyes a moment...Give me a post telling me...in ALL your experience...in all your fantasies...after everything that's been said...give me what you envision when you see this mod at it's *maximum* potential. Tell me what you like, what you want to see, what you imagine this mod would be like at its absolute best. This is YOUR vision...I gave you mine, and all of you are holding a hand right now, so play them face up on the table, let all the cards show. Show what you got!

Bear in mind, though, that Haer'Dalis is likely to see through her immediately, and Keldorn is also likely to go "Your sob story is nice. I'm also pretty sure it's embellished if not entirely made up and excuses precisely nothing about your behavior."

 

Honestly, you're coming across as far too enamored of how special and awesome your NPC is for your own or the NPC mod's good.

Hmm..interesting...though there is no love born for this characer through many NPCs. Many NPCs do NOT like her. At all. In all reality, she's meant to be a good evil aligned party character. But perhaps I am over embellishing her. *shrug* we shall see with time. Keldorn immediately despises her behavior, Haer'Dalis sees her similar to how he saw Yoshimo.\, but with much more certainty. Haer'Dalis is a character I have a difficult time with, which is why I will seek out the romance writer when the time comes to get all the information I need to write accurately.

I find your comment strange and with strong bite, seeing as I put no details on her relationships with the other NPCs yet.

Let's re-define awesomeness for a moment...excitement for creating my first mod, and of course, I'm going to make mistakes. Please don't begrudge me said mistakes.

You tell us. You're the one who wants to make the mod. Therefore, it's entirely up to you. People have offered their thought and criticisms, but we can not and will not write your mod for you or decide what it will be about.

I'm not asking you to write it, hun, I want a little different side of input. I told you what I envisioned. Some have said "cool concept". but I've yet to see any aspect found "cool" in concept from responses. What is it that is liked? what is it that others are seeing? You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but regardless, I pose the question. I leave it in your hands...though it ultimately will be molded from my own. My visions are my own. I know that now more then ever.

To me, Tsujatha was a REMARKABLE piece of work. Amazing, beautiful, well done. The concept and design, unique and DEEP. You can skim through his content, or dive into it. The dialogue was perfectly done. Not too long, not too short, just the right number of dialogues, very well voiced.

Thank you for reminding me of what I care about, Tempest. You're right. Now, I feel a clear mission. It no longer matters. Fulfillment and art. Social structure be forgotten, to dust with doubt.

Well, Haer'dalis's colorful background is more alluded to than actually present, and given his bardic inclinations, it's entirely possible that he's making most of it up. And he doesn't have much of any special abilities, other than a nice extra proficiency or two. Sigil is definitely a bit exotic, and that Doomguard philosophy is alien enough, but he's comparatively tame about it. Haer'dalis isn't planning to topple the Lady of Pain or anything of the sort, after all.

 

But yeah, alu-fiend is definitely still a large step down from full-blooded fiend, and might be workable. However, if you think that tieflings are overdone... well, the only difference between an alu-fiend and a tiefling is one generation, so I'd be curious about why one type of fiend-blooded creature is acceptable and the other isn't.

Here now, see...that's kind of what I want to go with in this mod, she doesn't TELL a lot of these things, and she doesn't spend every dialogue raging "I WILL TOPPLE ASMODEUS BLAHBLAHBLAH" no...she is subtle...manipulative...and importantly, secretive. she reveals bits and pieces here and there, but like I said before, think Viconia. How she hardly speaks of any of her past, yet she ALLUDES to it consistently. Same with Haer'Dalis (along with his fantastical tellings, of course, heh). She never tells anyone who her father is, never tells anything of her half-sister, and only mentions her full length plans to a willing PC much later on. Caoco focuses on the PC with persuasion attempts. That's the only thing I might go overboard on, but that's what friends with copies are for, *titter*

I've played a lot of mods. I remember Solofeign or however that's spelled, as well as an escapade of others. I hold the Tsujatha mod as a memorial to quality, and I hope to follow that standard.

OH, and about the tiefling thing, eh...it's a lengthy story I really don't want to get into. It's not about the heritage or any technical aspects, it's about a personal situation and coming from experiences best left in the closet. Let's just say Half-Fiend is new to me. Tiefling is not.

Naw, you didn't offend me or anything. I was frustrated, but I know you all mean well. And you are all right, I over embellished the character. I do want to explain myself a little, though...I love original thoughts and characters, I get bored with characters who are like "Yeah, I came from this town, My mommy was this, my daddy was this, I love tacos, this is my god, I worship him, I think this and I think that..." And I'm sitting over here going "SHUTUUUUP!!!! You're so BORRRRRRRIIIIIIING!!!" The main reason I wanted to make Caoco is that I want MORE originality, MORE strange, borderline characters that have weird, twisted backgrounds, I want some MORBIDITY and fire. I was planning to make Caoco a sick bitch all together, a character that would befit a truly evil aligned party, a party where the main character wants to see the ruthless followers that would truly follow in the wake of the ascending Lord Of Murder.

Another thing that gets me is that I see A LOT of good aligned characters. no one makes evil characters, there are so few of them. For some time, I've sat back and looked at the romance mods and frowned at the lack of true evil-aligned content. I wish there was an evil aligned romance character for BG1 or just BG2 that looked with wonder and awe at the blood lust and violent nature of the PC. Something in vanilla that got under my skin quiet a bit with Anomen, mister dis-functional goody-two-shoes that served as the ONLY female protagonist choice, which you could control to make him good or neutral. If you wanted to play for evil, you were alone, while on the other hand, male protagonists got the choice of good, neutral, AND evil for romance options. Viconia is a great character, so is Aerie, and so is Jaheira. Anomen was good too, but his whining and uncertainty was enough to chafe until you couldn't take it anymore.

I wanted Caoco to break the mold and offer something even darker then Viconia, because I know I can't write a male character, as much as I would love to make the character that has some dark silhouette in the back of my mind.

But I'm ebbing off. I'm going to re-write Caoco and see what I can come up with. If I can't make her work, then I'm just going to scrap her altogether. I refuse to write a mod with mediocre results.

Cool, yeah, her alignment could be anything, since she's been on her own for so long, and has very specific interests. Did she live in one area in Faerun for long, or has she moved about much? Ever met any of the better-known personalities of the Realms? Has she any interest in the Blood War? Maybe worked for any of the Dark Eight or the Lords of the Nine? Been to any other planes besides Baator and the Prime Material Plane?

In her interest to find as much power and tools granting power, she has wandered all over Faerun, she never stayed in one place long. Most recently she came from Icewind Dale...which she's pretty vocal about how much she HATED it. She despises the cold, as befits a devil born on Phlegethos. As for greater people of the Prime material, she does research before spending resources to approach anyone. She did some research on Elminster, but she dismissed him as a possibility for numerous reasons. That's pretty much all, (so far that I've come up with). The Blood War is part of the reason she left the Nine Hells, because her father was keen on throwing her into the middle of it. Though her blood-lust reveled at the thought of the incredible level of carnage, her ambition against her "family" pulled her head out of that haze. She never worked for any of the eight or the lords, BUT that might change, I need a way of building up her strength of arms besides the wandering of Faerun. Besides a brief escapade in the Abyss, (which lasted only days because of Tanar'ri swarming her immediatly after sensing she was Baatezu) she hasn't been anywhere outside the Hells and the prime material, but she plans on it after finding all she can on the prime.

AND as for fiendish abilites, I'm still chewing over that possibility. I don't want to over power her, but I was thinking I wanted her to have a fear aura and a unique ability to instant kill low level enemies that have been incapacitated with a sleep or command spell with her razor-like heels ONCE PER DAY.

I have no idea how to code that, though, lol. But that's just a thought. ALSO, the fear aura would affect only low levels, like I said, I don't want to over power her

Hmm, let me see, *flips through Monster Manual* Erinyes...Armor Class: 23 (+5 Dex, +8 natural) probably flip that around and nerf the natural bonus and scale the dex bonus to base score.

(By the way, she is half Erinyes, half unknown devil.)

I am thinking I want to give her a flaming composite bow, though. hmm...True seeing caster level 14th...constant, THAT'S op. perhaps a hybrid give like 3 times/day...but the skills list is more geared towards a rogue if made into a character instead of a monster.

Damage reduction 5/good, darkvision, immunity to fire and poison, resistance to acid 10 and cold 10, immune to darkness, spell resistance 20, true seeing.

skipped the irrelevant stuff. Considering nerfing these to apply to a half-breed, I'm still not sure what I want to do. I'm not giving her magic resistance of any kind, however, or the fire and acid immunity. Resistance to fire 10 or 20, perhaps.

If she's from Baator, shouldn't her AL be LE, not CE? Is there a specific reason why she'd be chaotic?

Yes. She wasn't raised in Baator, she was there for a short time. She's kind of an outcast by birth. Her time in Baator was enough to fuel rage and desire for power, but she doesn't really understand the structure of the Nine Hells. That's why her wisdom is so low. I think I'm going to drop her intelligence as well, but probably only by one or two points, I want her to be intelligent enough to make sense of her scheming and manipulation tactics. She has spent years wandering Faerun at the point she reaches the Sword Coast.

Is that an efficient enough reasoning to change an inherent alignment, do you think?

It's a cool character concept but I'm afraid she may come off as a bit *too* special and unique for BG2. Players dislike a character that steals the show from them, even if they have flaming bows.

That's exactly what I was afraid of, and why I wanted to suppress some of that devilish heritage. And I also want to add that I have no intention of stealing the light from the main character. Think more of Viconia. That's pretty much the presence I want Caoco to have. I havn't decided whether or not to run a romance track. Here's part of the idea behind the mod...Caoco is going to try to bring out the PCs bloody side (romance or not) in hopes of bringing them to full potential...and sway them to take their heritage by the horns. If the PC resists too much, she'll leave. As soon as Caoco learns that PC can take her fathers place, (or comes to theorize it) she realizes if she can gain favor with PC, she could be granted the power she needs, and perhaps even an army of the abyss. An unrealistic hope, but her aspirations are just as unrealistic.

That would be ridiculously overpowered. Please bring this idea back down to earth. Don't strap an extra set of booster rockets to it.

I agree completely. I'm keeping her basic...Fire Resistance 10 (MAYBE 20 as per an Erinyes' magic resistance would be), low level fear aura (level maximum not decided), low level instant kill once per day, (low level as in kobolds, orcs, etc.) WITH conditional of a sleep or command spell (if scriptable).

MAYBE a true sight spell. That's a BIG maybe, though Keldorn has 3/day per his kit, (or maybe that increased per level to a maximum of 3/day, can't remember). Like I said before, I don't want her overpowered and I don't want her abilities to stage up the PC.

[quote] I'm just wondering if you did a romance how would you envision it? Her corrupting the PC or her and an evil PC just terrorizing Faerun together. Also would this romance be accessible for anyone or only for males/females of a certain alignment? [quote]

Mmm... another portion I'm chewing over carefully...what I have envisioned so far is perhaps two tracks...One where the she "corrupts" the PC per say, succeeding in ushering the new herald of murder, and one where the PC convinces Caoco to forget the Nine Hells and continue wandering Faerun with PC, sharing in the bloodied travels. Mmm...Iffy, still mulling the possibilities over. 

If the romance goes through, then it will be for Male PCs of AT LEAST Neatral Evil...could expand to TN, but so far I can't come up with a decent reason why it would. Caoco will not join a Paladin. As soon as she approaches the party and feels the Paladins aura, she will leave. Might go the same way with Helm clerics.

Another thought process I have is her drive to corrupt...Mmm...she will attempt to corrupt good aligned characters, but she won't romance them. She respects strength and equal bloodlust. She would find Orc and Human warriors most appealing, moderate interest in Elves, little interest in halflings and dwarves.

[quote]Being a full fiend, as she is, she should have even more powerful powers than those I suggested![quote]

To be honest, I'm not sure what she would be considered. she's half Erinyes, half unknown devil. What that makes her, I'm not sure. I might just label her Half-Fiend and let it be.

ALSO, I forgot to mention, a...well...sort of a friendship track for the female PC. Applicable to evil aligned female PCs only. the contents, however, I'm keeping top secret. SHH!

Apologies if this comes across as rude but please do some research on Haer'Dalis. Then go look at the other successful NPC mods that are even a little other worldly (Fade, Amber...I probably forgot some). Then come back and look at your idea. What makes your idea too special isn't the individual aspects of Caoco, which all sound neat - it's the combination of all of them. By all means, make the mod however you want (just make it and get it off paper, honestly). But be prepared for criticism, harsh responses, and even mockery when players start feeling like their CHARNAME is a co-star living in the shadow of your NPC.

Apology not needed, I wouldn't have posted if I didn't want criticism. Like I said, I didn't want to sound defensive, I just didn't understand where you were coming from. I will heed your advice and do more research. I'm still a bit confused on the fear, because I feel that without an outcome, it is near impossible to gauge if the concept goes overboard or not. But of course, I gave you what I had, and you all responded in kind, and I thank you for that.