15 replies to this topic

[solaas]

I've been working on a New NPC (writing mainly) who I think will be a nice addition to the SoA Pantheon. His name is Dryden and he's a Chaotic Neutral Cleric. One of my inspirations was the attempt to tie certain tertiary characters in the game togther with one character.

Dryden is the illegitimate son of Saerk and Yasmine (invented character) a priestess of Talos. His father does not know of his existence and his mother abused him so badly that he continuously ran away. When he was 10, he was encountered by chance by Horace, a priest of Amaunator, and was taken to the temple of Amaunator near the Umar Hills. What Horace discovered is that Yasmine had cast spells on Dryden, permanently binding him to Talos. In an attempt to protect the boy and ease his pain, Horace erased most of Dryden's memories and renamed him, claiming him as his son.

Dryden lived for many years with the priests and priestesses of Amaunator, but found something was keeping him from fully embracing the faith. Dryden and Horace managed to escape the the carnage wreaked by the Shade Lord, but Horace was fatally wounded and died right after warning Dryden never to go back to Athkatla. When Horace died, his memory spells began breaking down and Dryden started to remember bits and pieces of his past, notably that Horace was not his father and that his parents live in Athkatla.

When the game starts Dryden can be found living in the Umar Cave. He acts as a priest of Imnesvale and will be intimately involved in the Shade Lord quest. The people of Imnesvale appreciate his services but believe him to be at least partially insane.

His personality is very intense. He is constantly battling between the teachings of Amaunator and his binding to Talos. This has caused his Chaotic Neutral alignment. During the course of the game, he will confront his father, his mother, and come to grips with his past and determine a future. It will be up to the PC to determine whether he will ultimately follow Talos or Amaunator. This will make his alignment CE or CG.

Dryden prefers to express himself in actions rather than words. When he does speak, he often says the wrong thing accidentally which puts many people off. However, when he has clarity and can choose his words carefully, he is very good at expressing himself. He is awkward socially because he has spent so many years alone in Imnesvale after the destruction of the temple. With a little encouragement from the PC, though, he will gain confidence and express himself clearly. He isn't given to joking or clever language, but his heart is earnest and his intentions are good (or evil as the case may be.)

If anyone is interested in learning more or if you would like to help me with this mod, I'd be happy to hear from you. I have no Modding programming experience, but I imagine I'll learn if I have to.

Thanks for reading!

[Caedwyr]

A small problem. Amuanator is a dead god, and has no clerics since there is no god to fuel their spells.

[solaas]

Amaunator is dead, but relics of him still exist. This will be a problem for Dryden and is part of his quest to deal with his dead god. It's interesting because in the Unseeing Eye quest, the diseased priests call on Amaunator to end their suffering. Makes you wonder how dead he is? ;-) I'm still working out how to resolve this. I might end up having Dryden convert to Lathander or something. Details, details.

I'm having trouble finding the timeline for Amaunator. Does anyone have any idea how long he has been dead?

[Caedwyr]

From what I've been able to find, Amuanator was kicked out into the astral plane ~1000 years after the fall of Netheril (~-300 DR) The BG games take place around 1367-68DR, so Amuanator should have been dead for some time. I imagine there could have been a few avatars left lying around, but other than them there really isn't anyone around to grant spells.

From what I remember, the diseased ones hatred for their god is what sustained the avatar and prevented it from fading. That being was an avatar and not the actual god himself.

[Deathsangel]

Depends on how you think the cosmology works. Amuanator is perhaps dead, but if one believes enough the dead god gets some power back (this is one of the possible explanations why some gods die, out of lack of believe).

What one can say perhaps that Amuanator is dead in the way that there are to little believers left. That explains why he can be called back sometimes if one tries hard. I think one needs a god to maintain an avatar at all to be honest.

[Andyr]

Some 3E sources say that Lathander is actually Amaunator reincarnated.

Although Lathander is NG (so a CG Cleric would be ok), Amaunator was LN, so would not have had a CG Cleric.

[NiGHTMARE]

Yeah, in both 3E & 2E a Cleric of Amaunator would have to be either LG, LN or LE. After all, Amaunator was the god of law as well as the sun.

Also, Amaunator hated Shar almost as much as Selune does, so if this fellow's in your party it'd be bye bye Viconia . The god and his priests also despised Thieves, so I doubt Dryden would be particularly fond of Yoshimo, Jan, Nalia or Imoen either.

[solaas]

Thanks so much for your help, everybody!

Perhaps it would be best if, in the end, Dryden dedicates himself to Lathander. He was never a very good cleric of Amaunator anyway (because of his ties to chaos.) I think this would round out the story nicely. That way he can tolerate the thief NPCs.

Feel free to give me your opinions on this: If the PC chooses to help Dryden accept his goodness, the romance will progress as normal. If the PC has him turn evil, would it be best to end the romance there or should it continue in an eeeeviiil way?

Thanks again!

[solaas]

The way I've got it working right now is that Dryden's 3 quests run on short timers. Once you do the first one, the second one will be quick and that will run into the third one. Once you rest three times, you will have to help him choose right away. I wanted to try some other elements for ToB -- perhaps allowing the mark of Chaos to be removed completely or him making his own sacrifice to Talos to expand his powers.

Thanks for your help, Domi. (BTW: you are one hell of a writer!)

[khay]

Nice idea, it`s good to see Amaunator getting attention.

Saerk as in Saerk Farrahd? Will there be any interaction between the two? What about Anomen and Dryden, I`m guessing there needs to be a certain relationship between the two (whether good or bad) since Anomen`s really pissed because of his sister`s death. Also some interaction between Dryden and Cor (Anomen`s father) would be a good idea, mayhaps related to the fact that it`s the first time Dryden hears someone talking about his father in years.

Maybe he could alter Anomen`s quest a little bit, perhaps he`s not really into killing his own father -- or if he would be, it would most certainly lead him on the path of evil.

Although if he doesn`t know who his father is you can ignore my comments and suggestions.

One more thing, though: Viconia. Just as Keldorn, she`d get into heaps of conflict with Dryden regarding the hatred between their deities and definitely get to fight one against the other.

[solaas]

Thank you for your excellent questions!

--------SPOILERS------------


Two of Dryden's main quests deal with his parentage. The first one is about his father. When he confronts Saerk, the man will completely disavow him and claim that he has bastards all over Amn. He will throw the party out. The quest continues for his mother, though.

Anomen and Dryden will have many dialogues (probably the most out of all of the other NPCs.) How it resolves itself depends on whether the PC helps Dryden go CG or CE. If he goes CE, well he and Anomen will eventually fight. If he goes CG, Anomen and Dryden will resolve their differences and become good friends, learning much from each other. After all, they do have a lot in common. How the romantic rivalry works out also depends on Dryden and Anomen's alignment. As far as Anomen killing Saerk is concerned, Dryden will express his disapproval, but he never knew the man and what he does know doesn't please him. Whether Anomen kills Saerk before Dryden has a chance to confront him will not effect the quest.

As far as deities are concerned, yes, Viconia will not get along with Dryden AT ALL. Keldorn and Dryden will conflict over Law vs. Chaos. He will have the best initial friendship with Jaheira and Valygar.

One thing I want to add about this character, his romance will be unique in that if you abuse him, he won't care. He'll take it as banter and throw it back at the PC. What this means is, it will be very difficult to NOT romance him. There will come a point where you can tell him to stop flirting. Or you can romance another character instead. That will get the message across. Up until that point, though, he will be very persistent.

[khay]

Ooooh most interesting. Melikes. Do you plan on making a full-scaled romance, ie. one which includes both SoA and ToB plus the epilogues?

What about Mazzy? She`s very paladin-like, I suppose some interesting discussions can pop up between the two; also adding the fact that Mazzy`s beloved was 'murderized' by the Shade Lord, I guess it would end up in more sympathy than anything else, maybe she could back up Dryden`s ideas when he`s having a conflict with Keldorn.

All in all it`s a very interesting character, definitely one that I look forward to. I`m in the same situation as you are, no modding experience, but planning a character, who is.. let`s say different than anyone else. I wish you best of luck and you might find me asking annoying questions and giving stupid suggestions without being asked.

[solaas]

Don't be silly -- I very much appreciate your help and questions. It helps keep me focused and gives me some new ideas.

The only problem Mazzy and Dryden will have is she's lawful and he's chaotic. She will take on a mentor role with him but will ultimately have to admit that she can't change his views. The two will be friends, though.

I do plan a full scale romance that will continue through ToB with an epilogue. I'm still considering who Dryden will romance if the PC is male. I'm thinking Nalia. If the PC is female but turns him down, he won't romance anyone else. No sloppy seconds here!

Thanks again for your comments.

[NiGHTMARE]

Lathander was one of Bhaal's main enemies, so it should prove interesting to hear Dryden's opinions on the various events of the Bhaalspawn saga. Lathander is also enemies with Shar, so be sure to have plenty of arguments between Dryden & Viconia .

BTW over at the Pocket Plane group, there's a Surayah NPC being worked on. You might want to get in touch with it's author, Bons, as personally I think the banter between Saerk's legitimate daughter and his bastard offspring could turn out to be quite interesting too .