eyk003

Yes! I like that game quite a bit. I haven't played the pen and paper RPG, but I've read through the source books. VtM:B is probably the best vampire video game experience I've had. It's a big part of my inspiration for the mod's design. Glad someone noticed :]

Thanks, I'm putting a lot of effort into it because I just can't wait to play it myself.

The following mod is an AMBITIOUS and COMPREHENSIVE overhaul of how Vampirism works in Skyrim. I have always disliked how Vampirism was handled (by Bethesda & most community modders) by giving the player some passive bonuses & some gimmicky spells. I wanted to design and create a mod that changed gameplay in compelling ways. Without further ado, I present: Vampire: the Blood Fiend Blood Is Everything http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6c/Munch_vampire.jpg (Artwork credited to Edvard Munch) [Concept] To vampires, blood is everything; the energy to move, think, act, as well as fuel for all vampiric powers. Well-fed, a vampire can grow to become terrifying. Without enough blood, the vampire grows weak and becomes vulnerable. The more blood you drink, and more you use your vampiric abilities, the stronger you become. If you become dangerous enough, you will be hunted. As you become even more powerful, your hunters will organize, and grow in power and number. You may decide to hide, and over time your hunters will begin to dwindle in numbers. You may decide to destroy them entirely, and show them what it means to hunt the Blood Fiend. The choice is yours, but remember: Blood Is Everything. [systems] Blood Fiend will introduce two unique systems which interact with all aspects of the mod to produce an immersive, dynamic experience. The first of these is the “Blood Pool” system. The second is “Vampire Infamy”. These two systems interact with player actions & decisions to influence and determine character progression as a vampire. This section begins with an explanation of the “Blood Pool”, Blood Fiend’s core system. Then, I discuss how the blood pool interacts with character progression. After that, I introduce the “Vampire Infamy” system and explain how it affects gameplay. Finally, I will explain how everything comes together coherently to form a single system. THE BLOOD POOL Once the player becomes a vampire, he no longer possesses health, stamina, or magicka. Instead, players manage a single large resource pool called the “blood pool” which substitutes health, stamina, and magicka. All events which previously drained health, stamina, and magicka now drains blood pool instead; this includes taking damage, power attacks, eagle eye, sprinting, & casting spells (so on and so forth). Additionally, vampires possess special powers which also cost blood to cast, activate, or maintain. Using these powers will never drain the player’s blood point below 1 (if the player attempts to use a power without enough blood point, the power will simply fail). The blood pool also drains at a constant rate, simply to maintain the vampire's existence. This is called base rate of blood consumption, or “base consumption” for short. Base consumption will never drain the player’s blood point below 1. If the player is exposed to sunlight, his blood pool drains even faster to counter-act the harmful effects of sunlight. Waiting drains the blood pool as normal, while sleeping allows the vampire to fall into torpor, significantly reducing base consumption. The player can replenish their blood pool through feeding. The player will be able to feed on sleeping humanoid NPCs. They will gain abilities that allow them to feed on NPCs who are awake under certain circumstances. Any items which previously restored health, stamina, or magicka no longer affect the player. Any attempts to heal the player through magic will have no effect. In return, the player will eventually be able to find, buy, or create special blood potions for portable blood consumption. These will be rare and costly. BLOOD STARVATION & DEATH When the player is down to his very last blood point, the player enters blood starvation. In this state, the player is extremely vulnerable and will experience final death at the slightest damage. Blood consumption stops, and the player is unable to take any action which requires blood points. Any exposure to sunlight will result in the player’s death. A blood starved vampire is instantly recognized by all as a monster and will be attacked-on-sight (weaker NPCs may flee). The blood starved vampire retains all basic vampiric passive bonuses, as well as any passive milestone bonuses which he has not yet lost due to Vampirism skill regression. Finally, a blood starved vampire receives a special feeding ability which, if used successfully, can restore a large number of blood points. It is possible for the vampire to die without reaching blood starvation. For example, the player has 20 blood points left, when a troll hits the player for 25 damage. The player dies as a result. However, a vampire cannot overspend his blood points and accidentally commit suicide. If there are not enough blood points to cast/activate/maintain an ability, that ability will simply fail to occur. DYNAMIC CHARACTER PROGRESSION: VAMPIRISM SKILL TREE Upon becoming a vampire, the player gains the “Vampirism” skill tree. Henceforth, all character progression is tied to this skill tree. All other skills will increase with use as before, but will not contribute toward gaining levels. Each point of skill gain in Vampirism levels up the player which rewards the player with a larger blood pool and perk(s). Perks can be spent on normal skill trees, or on special Vampirism perks unlocked as the player progresses along the Vampirism skill tree. Vampiric powers grow stronger at milestones along the Vampirism skill tree. These bonuses are automatically rewarded to the player once they reach the appropriate level in the Vampirism skill tree, and do not require spending perk points. Additionally at each milestone, the base consumption speeds up. Like other skills, Vampirism increases with use. As a general rule, actions or events that drain the blood pool WHICH ARE NOT TIED TO OTHER SKILL INCREASES will contribute toward Vampirism. The player gains experience towards Vampirism simply by maintaining their vampiric existence (through base consumption). Taking damage also counts toward increasing Vampirism, as well as sprinting, but NOT power attacking, casting spells, or shield bashing (these all drain the blood pool but are tied to other skills). Feeding, as well as any special Vampiric abilities which are cast, activated, or maintained at the cost of blood all contribute toward Vampirism. HOWEVER, Vampirism WILL NOT INCREASE if the player's current blood pool is less than 50% of his maximum blood pool. If the player's blood pool falls below 25% of his max, he will begin to LOSE experience from Vampirism. If the player’s blood pool remains below 25% for too long, he will regress in Vampirism, losing the blood pool bonus as well as any milestone bonuses he has unlocked. However, perks already unlocked in the Vampirism skill tree will remain in place (they will be disabled if Vampirism falls below the required level). Players can regain levels in Vampirism, but regained levels will not reward perk points. VAMPIRE INFAMY The player will gain vampire infamy for vampiric acts. Vampire infamy will be tracked separately by region, and each region will center around a city and include the outlying wilderness areas. In almost all cases, vampire infamy is handled regionally. Vampiric infamy will increase in response to every vampiric act performed by the player. Vampiric acts include all forms of feeding and all unique activated vampiric powers. The more heinous, supernatural, and obvious vampiric acts yield greater vampire infamy. For example, feeding on a sleeping NPC yields less vampire infamy than drawing blood from an enemy during combat. All vampiric acts, even unseen ones, yield vampire infamy. This is to give weight to more of the decisions made by the player, and to reflect the fact that in reality, even a perfect crime leaves some traces. For example, you may sneak into a house at night and feed on sleeping farmer Bobathor. No one notices, and no one suspects vampires; however the subsequent morning, Bobathor’s friends and family notice that the once vigorous farmer is strangely fatigued and listless. A small amount of vampire infamy is created. Vampiric acts which have been witnessed yield exponentially greater vampire infamy. Again, the more obvious and terrifying the witnessed act, the more vampire infamy is created. Finally, vampiric acts committed within cities yield higher infamy than acts committed in the wilderness. HUNTERS If enough vampire infamy accrues, hunters will start to appear in cities and towns. Hunters will have special equipment and abilities to help destroy vampires, including enhanced abilities to detect the player’s vampiric nature. Once a hunter is spawned due to vampire infamy, that hunter is a static actor; meaning, if the system spawns 5 hunters and the player kills all of them, no other hunters will spawn until additional vampire infamy causes more to spawn. If left alone, they will remain until vampire infamy decays enough to despawn them, and remain if vampire infamy continues to rise. As vampiric infamy accrues ever higher, the hunters become more numerous and powerful. They will become better organized and patrol the roads of the region. If vampiric infamy reaches too high, the hunters will create a regional base of operation which will maintain a presence in the region. Once a base is established, vampire infamy’s rate of decay slows down; this effect is global and stacks if bases are established in multiple regions. Furthermore, the base will respawn hunters to replace ones that the player has killed. Finally, once a base is established, any infamy gained over maximum will spill over into neighboring regions. The regional base will disappear once vampire infamy reaches very low numbers, or until the player wipes out the base. Alternatively, the stealthy vampire may assassinate key personnel within the base. Successfully dismantling a regional base decreases vampire infamy in the region by a large amount. If the player targets only key personnel, the base will disband after several days. Hunters will cease to respawn at the base and will eventually disappear. HOW IT ALL FITS TOGETHER The blood pool and dynamic character progression ensures the following: the more the vampire feeds, the stronger he becomes. The stronger he becomes, the more blood is required to maintain his existence and fuel his growing powers (through faster base consumption and more costly abilities). If the player can consistently maintain a surplus of blood points, he will continue to get stronger. If the player runs a consistent deficit, he will grow weaker. At the same time, the vampire infamy system serves as a counter-force to the feeding mechanic; the more the player feeds and grows as a vampire, the greater the regional threat to his survival, the more blood must be expended for survival. The player can respond by fleeing the region for a time (letting regional infamy decay), going into torpor for a long period of time, or ignoring the mounting vampire infamy. Ignoring infamy will punish the player by creating a regional hunter base. The dynamics evolve and the stakes get higher. If the player continues to be careless with their vampire infamy, bases will be created in multiple regions, further complicating the situation for the player. In this way, Blood Fiend’s system seeks to give weight to the player’s decisions and playstyle as a vampire. The result, I hope, will be one of fun, immersion, and strategy. [Vampiric Powers] NOTE: Numbers in this section are arbitrary and will be changed after testing In this section, I discuss the specifics of the powers players will possess as a vampire. These include passive bonuses, active abilities, and toggled effects. They are organized into five categories, with 3 of the categories representing a different playstyle. All playstyles are open to the player to use at his discretion, and the only limiting factor is the blood pool. A vampire’s powers grow as he progresses along the Vampirism skill tree, and Vampirism perks will further allow the player to customize their vampiric powers. OVERVIEW Blessings of the Blood: basic passive bonuses applied to the vampire at all times, even while blood starved. Feeding: powers which allow the vampire additional options to refill their blood pool. Prowess: 1st of 3 playstyle categories; blood-fueled powers which augment the vampire’s physical abilities to superhuman levels. Finesse: 2nd of 3 playstyle categories; blood-fueled powers which help the vampire stalk their prey and avoid their hunters, as well as making the vampire more skillful. Domination: 3rd of 3 playstyle categories; blood-fueled powers which allow the vampire to bend and break the will of others. Some notes on vocabulary: Power (means cast like a shout, default: z) Cast (means cast like a spell; most likely charge/release) Projectile (shoots a projectile) Instant (it’s instant, but may require aiming) Self (affects self) Maintained (costs blood points per second as long as the effect is turned on, these will also be togglable) AoE (has an area of effect; paired with Self or Projectile) BLESSINGS OF THE BLOOD These are passive bonuses which are always active for the vampire. Unarmed/one-handed/two-handed attacks deal +6/+10/+12 damage Move speed increased by 5% Jump height increased by 5% Sneaking improved by 10% Waterbreathing Speechcraft +10 FEEDING These abilities allow the player to feed on humanoid NPCs and replenish his blood pool. All forms of feeding increases vampire infamy. Under the Blood Fiend system, vampires are not allowed to drink out of corpses. Default Feeding Blood cost: 0 Blood yield: medium Infamy yield: low Effects: Feed on a sleeping humanoid NPC Forced Feeding Blood cost: 0 Blood yield: varies, medium Infamy yield: high Range: close Power, Instant Effects: Feed on an active humanoid NPC, success rate determined by random chance weighted by level contest. Successful force feeding will initiate a short animation of the player biting the neck of a resisting humanoid NPC, and convert 50% of the target’s remaining health into blood points over 3 seconds. Victim is demoralized and paralyzed for 3 seconds after feeding. Forced Feeding is more likely to succeed on a target that is unaware of the player. Vampiric Prowess (see Prowess, below) also increases the success rate of Forced Feeding. If target is dominated, Forced Feeding will always succeed. Blood Curse Blood cost: very low Blood yield: low Infamy yield: low Range: medium Duration: 10 seconds Cast, Instant Effects: When a target marked by the blood curse dies nearby, player gains blood points equal to a percentage of the target’s total health Blood Purge Blood cost: medium Blood yield: varies, high Infamy yield: high Range: medium Power, Projectile Effects: Fires a rather slow moving projectile. Forcibly pulls blood out of a willful target, will always drain 50% of remaining health and convert it to blood points (will stagger the target). Random chance weighted by player’s Vampirism skill level & target’s level to drain 100% of remaining health from a target and convert it to blood points (instant kill). If target is dominated (see Domination below), blood purge will always drain 100% health. PROWESS The first playstyle category, Prowess focuses on abilities that imbue the vampire with monstrous physicality. Using blood, the vampire can become stronger and faster than any mortal being can dream of. Vampiric Prowess Power, Self, Maintained/Toggled Effects: move speed increases by 10% (stacks with basic bonus) jump height increases by 150% (stacks with basic bonus) while sprinting, time slows down for everyone but the player 1.5x critical chance with physical attacks unarmed & melee power attacks have a chance to knockback target max carry weight increased by 30% +25% success rate for Forced Feeding while Vampiric Prowess is activated, all acts which produce vampire infamy yield 50% more infamy FINESSE The second playstyle category. Using blood, the vampire can become difficult to detect, allowing him to stalk his prey or escape from danger. The vampire can also consume blood to make himself more skillful. Aspect of Nightstalker Power, Self, Maintained/Toggled Effects: 60% invisibility and 60% muffle while the player is not moving 30% invisibility and 30% muffle while the player is sneaking or walking medium-range detect life if detected by enemies, the player can break detection by sneaking out of any LOS sneak movement speed increased by 20% Vampiric Finesse Power, Self, Maintained/Toggled Effects: Increases all skills that do not directly affect combat by +20 (lockpicking, pickpocketing, smithing, enchanting, alchemy, etc. EXCLUDES armor skills & sneak) DOMINATION The third playstyle category. Using blood, the vampire can bend and break the will of others. Hypnotize Blood cost: medium Infamy yield: low (medium if attempt fails) Range: close Power, Instant Duration: up to 24 hours Effects: Success chance depends on Vampirism skill level & target’s level. If successfully cast on a friendly NPC, disposition toward player increases substantially for up to 24 hours (will break if player attacks/steals from the friendly NPC). Failed attempts on friendly NPC does not count as a crime, but will yield higher vampire infamy. If successfully cast on a hostile NPC, calms the NPC for up to 24 hours. Hostile NPCs will break out of hypnosis if the player attacks or physically touches the NPC (lore explanation: Hypnotize is a weak mental attack, and even slight disturbances can break its effect). Targets that successfully resist a Hypnotize attempt is immune for 24 hours. Suppress Blood cost: medium+ Infamy yield: low+ (medium+ if attempt fails) Range: close Power, Instant Duration: 60 seconds Effects: Success chance depends on Vampirism skill level & target’s level. If successfully cast on an NPC, turns off all AI packages for the NPC for 60 seconds. Suppress will be broken if the NPC is attacked (lore explanation: Suppress isn’t strong enough to override self-preservation instincts). If attempt fails, target is immune to Suppress for 24 hours. Dominate Blood cost: high Infamy yield: high (very high if attempt fails) Range: medium Power, Instant Duration: 30 seconds Effects: Success chance depends on Vampirism skill level & target’s level. If successfully cast on an NPC, player gains complete dominance over the target for 60 seconds. Dominated NPCs will take follow/wait commands, open their inventory, share their possessions, and defend the player. Dominated NPCs will not resist Forced Feeding and Blood Purge attempts, and both powers will always work to maximum effect on dominated NPCs. They will submit themselves to any number of friendly fire from the player. If attempt fails, target is immune to Dominate for 24 hours. Enthrall Blood cost: very high Infamy yield: high (very high if attempt fails) Range: close Power, Instant, Maintained Duration: Permanent, or until player decides to end the effect Effects: Success chance depends on Vampirism skill level & target’s level. If successfully cast on a humanoid NPC, the NPC becomes a permanent companion to the player. The player may only have one thrall at the beginning, but climbing the Vampirism skill tree will unlock the ability to maintain multiple thralls. Enthralled NPCs gain small bonuses to their skills and abilities. Every thrall under the player’s command will increase base consumption by a small amount. Once a thrall is dismissed, he or she will immediately make their way home. Thralls whose level exceeds those of the player’s Vampirism skill level have a small chance of breaking Enthrall (weighted dice roll every hour). If commanded to wait, enthralled NPCs will wait for up to 3 days before the effect of Enthrall wears off. If enthrall attempt fails, the intended target is immune to Enthrall for 24 hours. [Milestone Bonuses & Vampirism Perks + Vampiric Weaknesses] The concept is that the milestone bonuses (every 5 levels in Vampirism skill and so on) will scale the player’s powers with his Vampirism level, and scale passive bonuses and active abilities. Vampirism perks are meant to further diversify the player’s gameplay options, by focusing on improving specific aspects of the playstyle categories. The most meta-gamey aspect of the mod. Weaknesses are meant to balance out the strengths, and will be added SoonTM. The details are WIP. [Production Schedule] Let’s be clear here, I have a long history with Bethesda games BUT I have minimal experience with actual modding. This is an extremely ambitious mod and I am aware of this, and I do have other priorities to take care of, so here’s the deal: I’m committed to working on this mod until I no longer can do it, at which point I will try and pass the mod on to a modder who is capable and is as enthusiastic about these ideas as I am. I’m also looking for partners who will help me with this project. If you are interested in becoming a partner, send me a PM and we’ll talk. My personal deadline for this project is August of 2012, and here is the production schedule: February 2012: Learn CK & Papyrus Scripting March 2012: Script the Blood Pool System April 2012: Script Vampiric Powers/Vampirism Skill Tree May 2012: Script Vampiric Infamy & Hunters June 2012: Test for Stability/Bugs July 2012: Test for Balance August 2012: Work on Cosmetics (new animations, spell effects, etc. lowest priority) RELEASE v 1.0 At August, I begin law school. If the mod is not ready for release by this time, I will release what works so far and shop around for modders who are capable and interested to take over.

I'm interested, minimal modding experience, I've spent many hours though planning out mod systems for Skyrim in the last few months. I definitely want to learn more about the modding process and I'd love to do it as part of a team. Let me know how we can get started!

cake! *_* Sorry for the lack of update. I initially looked at the 3rd party modding tools everyone was using before CK came out and decided I'd wait til CK. Now that it's out though, there's a lot to learn and explore. By next week I'll have an updated and cleaned up first post (or an entirely new thread up for ease of access and discussion), as well as a short update on how my CK/Papyrus learning is going. Also, did any of you guys see the clip of Vampire Feeding from Bethesda's own mod week? Holy s*** I hope they release it so we can use it >:0 TL;DR Yes I still fully intend to create a Vampire based mod, Yes it will take some time as I have to learn Papyrus and the CK during my free time, Yes I want the cake when I am done!

I remember that mod for Oblivion, where you could change to bat, wolf, or mist (actually there were a couple mods that did this, but so many of the vampirism mods for Oblivion were directly related to each other it's hard to tell who made what). The mod also added a fantastic sequence where you had an actual dream as you turned into a vampire. I did enjoy bat/wolf/mist transformations, at least the idea behind it. I remember I didn't have too much of an FPS hit from these transformations, either. But while playing I got the distinct impression that these were added mechanics that didn't belong in Cyrodil, and that's something I want to avoid if at all possible. Of course I appreciate it :] not all ideas are helpful, but since there's no way to tell in advance, I think in general any idea is worth expressing at least once. Also, there's no reason suggestions made on this thread won't inspire a different mod, such as the gluttonous beast variant--if I didn't get some very passionate requests for reversing the feeding mechanic, I wouldn't have been compelled to think of the idea in the first place. And yes to your earlier post--I don't want to be overly ambitious from the very start. I also want to avoid burdening myself with the pressures of having promised too much from the beginning. So here's a general issue I'm trying to work out. Let's say a vampire player likes to use conjuration, and is able to summon at least 1 creature to fight for him. Then he has a companion, so make that already means 2, Then let's say he uses vampire's servant and vampiric seduction within a short period of time. That's 4 things following the player at once, 5 if the player hits conjuration 100. Do you guys see any problems with this? Is it too many to make an impact, or overpowered? FPS concerns? Does this punish/reward conjuration oriented vampires unfairly? Discuss! & Happy Thanksgiving. -eyk

I think the finisher is a cool idea, I will definitely add it to the list of suggestions. I'll look into things like this once I get the base mod in a working and releasable state. I remember that my Oblivion was modded so vampires burn into a skeleton as they died. I hope someone makes it for Skyrim as well. Yes I will definitely find a way for the gluttonous vampires to keep track of their bloodpoints. I hope not even a spell, maybe a power. The less of a hassle the better, if I could figure out a way (or a helpful person would come by and work some ui magic), I'd love to have it be part of the interface.

Hi Chancellor, I've been meaning to reply to this post for a while now. I think you bring up some great suggestions and I'm eager to try them out once CS comes out. 1."-Vampiric Seduction: Possibly introduce the concept of a random % modifier that sits on top of the base stat checks for success. This way, players could be given a chance, albeit small, that they could take over the mind of a more powerful being. However, failure could likely result in death as the paralysis sets in." I love this idea. A random chance for big payoff adds a lot to the inherent thrill of Vampiric Seduction's risk vs reward. I imagine it will be something small, like a 5% chance that the power will just work regardless of the contested check, or alternatively a contested roll that always favor the player by about 5%. 2. "-Vision: What if vampire vision was not activated, but a passive ability? It could make the nights and darkness quite a bit brighter. But, during the day, everything is darkened and a slight edge blur introduced to further impose penalties for the vampire's aversion to the sunlight." The big problem I see with this suggestion is that Vampiric Sight doesn't just make things brighter, it blurs the edges, sharpens the center, and desaturates color. In other words, it's a huge, noticeable visual difference and I am against forcing vampire players to have to deal with this sight as a passive ability. 3. "-Food: Positive effects no longer apply to anyone with any stage of vampirism." Another great suggestion, I will definitely try to make this happen. If someone else comes up with a basic needs mod that I like, I will also see about making The Night Stalker and its variants compatible so that vampires no longer have to deal with basic needs. 4. "-Disguising: An introduction of some type of clothing that could disguise stage 4 vampires. Chance of NPCs still noticing with a combined check of available lighting and distance away from NPC." Something I've considered myself. If at all possible I'd love to have such a feature added in. Similar to the vampire hunter mechanic, the player will be disguised only as long as he does not come too close to a lawful NPC. However, please do not expect this feature until the core mod has been completed. It's also possible that someone else will create a faction-based apparel disguise mod, and if there is a good implementation of it in the future I'll see about making The Night Stalker compatible with it. -eyk

So just as a bonus to everyone that's been keeping up with the thread, and everyone who has participated in a discussion of The Night Stalker mod, here is something I'm going to throw out here as a test idea. The following is a detailed proposal for a variant for The Night Stalker mod, which reverses the feeding mechanism so that drinking blood makes the vampire stronger and abstaining from blood makes the vampire weaker. I was inspired by the debate in the thread about vampires and feeding and came up with the following plan to create a variant playstyle. The Gluttonous Beast vampirism shares many similarities with The Night Stalker, but some very significant differences in playstyle beyond simply reversing the stages of Vampirism. As a disclaimer, let me say that I will dedicate all of my resources to finishing the base The Night Stalker mod. Once the original vision of The Night Stalker has been completed, I will see about adjusting the mod to offer the following variant: The Gluttonous Beast (The Night Stalker Variant) [TGB00] Some vampires practice restraint and straddle the line between humanity and monstrosity. Some fall deeper into the hunger than others. They take pleasure in the kill, and the more they feed the deeper they fall into the jaws of the gluttonous beast. What: a variant of The Night Stalker overhaul for players who want to reverse the vanilla feeding mechanic while retaining some of the core changes of The Night Stalker Mod 1-[The Gluttonous Beast] [TGB00] 2-[Lore] [TGB01] 3-[Gameplay Changes Overview] [TGB02] 4-[Changes Explained] [TGB03] Feeding [tgb03feed] Blood Points & Vampirism Stages [tgb03bloodpoint] More Monster Than Man [tgb03monster] Blood Harvest & Vampire Infamy [tgb03bloodVI] Lore [TGB01] Tamrielic vampires come in many varieties (source: Immortal Blood, Skyrim & Oblivion). They range greatly in powers, skills, and habitats. Yet the different varieties of vampires seem to be related, and it follows that some are more related than others. The Sanguinare Vampiris causes a strange mutation in some of its victims; these cousins of Skyrim’s vampires suffer a ravenous hunger for blood. Stranger still, they grow more monstrous as they fulfill the hunger that pervades their being. Yet the more they feed, the more the hunger grows; for the glutonnous beasts, the feast will never end, and their hunger chases these wretched monsters for all of their existence. Gameplay Changes Overview [TGB02] For base attributes and abilities, please refer to The Night Stalker Overview of Changes (ctrl + f [TNS02]) The gluttonous beasts are different from the night stalkers in the following ways: 1. feeding on blood makes vampirism progress 2. abstaining from feeding makes vampirism regress 3. gluttonous vampires can feed during combat by using the power of Blood Harvest (1/3 as effective as feeding on sleeping NPCs) 4. gluttonous vampires gain progressively stronger health, stamina, and magicka regeneration bonuses at stages 2, 3, & 4 5. gluttonous vampires must expend blood to use Embrace of Shadows, Vampire’s Servant (magicka & stamina cost is removed from this ability, and the ability is reverted to being a power, but can still be used multiple times a day), & Vampiric Seduction 6. gluttonous vampires can regress in vampirism through excessive use of powers that require the use of blood (3 times per stage) 7. gluttonous vampires are feared and hated at stage 1 and stage 4 (can interact with society at stage 2 & 3) 8. gluttonous beasts retain stage 4 sun & fire weaknesses no matter what stage of vampirism they are in 9. gluttonous vampires loses a blood point every 6 hours (regresses in vampirism stage every 18 hours instead of 24) New Abilities Passive Parasitic Regeneration: Health, stamina, and magicka regenerates 10/20/30% faster, applies to stage 2+ vampires. Active Powers Blood Harvest: short-range, targetted ability calls forth a weakened enemy’s blood to the vampire, violently draining the blood from the target. If successful, kills the target and awards the vampire 1 blood point. Can only be used on humanoid NPCs who have been disabled or are at less than 10% health. Can be resisted (level based contest with a random change modifier slightly favoring the vampire). Can be used multiple times a day. Successfully using this power accrues a small amount of vampire infamy. Changed from Night Stalker Vampire’s Servant: no longer a spell-like ability, reverted to being a power (does not require free hands to cast). Changes Explained [TGB03] Two principles guided the design of The Gluttonous Beast variant of The Night Stalkers vampirism overhaul: A gluttonous vampire grows stronger as it feeds, weaker as it starves. More feeding options and blood becomes a valuable and micromanageable resource. A gluttonous vampire is more monstrous than the night stalker: vampiric advantages and disadvantages are both amplified Feeding [tgb03feed] For gluttons, feeding works on a different principle. The gluttonous vampire grows in power as he feeds, reaching the height of his vampiric abilities only when he is fully gorged on the blood of his prey. Gluttonous vampires can feed on sleeping victims and this will progress vampirism by 1 stage, or 3 blood points. Gluttonous vampires can also feed on NPCs using the Blood Harvest power. Blood Harvest will allow gluttons to finish off a weakened foe and gain a single blood point by tearing the blood from the victim’s veins. Gluttonous vampires will accrue an invisible rating called Blood Points as they feed. Blood Points & Vampirism Stages [tgb03bloodpoint] Blood point rating will range from 1~12, and as the vampire gains and loses blood points, he or she progresses and regresses in their vampirism stages. Blood point rating 0~3: Stage 1 Vampirism Blood point rating 4~6: Stage 2 Vampirism Blood point rating 7~9: Stage 3 Vampirism Blood point rating 10~12: Stage 4 Vampirism The glutton’s vampiric body consumes a single blood point every 6 in-game hours. As gluttonous vampires suffer from a ravenous hunger, they must continue to feed in order to avoid the maddening, weakening pain of blood starvation. In addition, blood points fuel the glutton’s vampiric powers. Embrace of Shadows, Vampiric Servant, and Vampiric Seduction all consume a single blood point per use, but does not require As soon as the vampire’s blood point rating reaches an appropriate range, the vampire regresses or progresses in vampirism stage accordingly, losing and gaining bonuses on the fly. The intent with the feeding and blood point system is that the gluttons’ expanded feeding options and the ability to power up more easily is balanced with the fact that the glutton’s vampirism is more dynamic in its progression and regression. Rather than the slower-paced management of vampirism stages, the glutton’s blood point management is fast-paced and dynamic. During the course of a single dungeon run, the gluttonous vampire may likely progress and regress in vampirism stages more than once as they use vampiric abilities and feed on their opponents. In order to retain the stealthy aspect of Skyrim’s vampires and reward the more tedious process of sneaking up to a sleepingn victim, feeding on a sleeping victim will award the glutton 3 blood points as opposed to the 1 blood point gained from Blood Harvest. More Monster than Man [tgb03monster] An important design philosophy governing changes made in The Gluttonous Beast is to create a gameplay experience of a vampire more monster than man in comparison to the night stalkers. The gluttonous vampire gain additional benefits from being blood-gorged, in the form of Parasitic Regeneration, which awards progressively increasing regeneration benefits to all three vital statistics (health, stamina & magicka) as they advance in vampirism stages. The gluttonous vampire also benefits from the fact that they can use certain vampiric abilities multiple times a day, but they expend blood points each time they do so. Fully gorged, the gluttonous vampire can use the Embrace of Shadows ability three times in rapid succession; however, the third use of the ability will regress the vampire to stage 3 vampirism until further feeding. To balance Parasitic Renegeration & the ability to use vampire powers an unlimited number of times a day provided the vampire keeps well fed, the gluttonous vampire suffers from more exagerrated vampiric weaknesses. Sunlight weakness & fire weakness are both locked at stage 4 intensity for the gluttonous vampire. This means that the gluttonous vampire remains just as vulnerable to sun light and weakness at stage 1 as he does at stage 4. Another important part of The Gluttonous Beast system is that a gluttonous vampire is feared and hated by the general populace at stage 1 as well as stage 4. The gluttonous beasts suffering from extreme hunger are no longer able to hide their unholy thirst and reveal their monstrous nature. At his strongest at stage 4, a blood-gorged vampire is filled with too much unholy energy to hide his vampirism. This adds another dimension of blood as resource management, and combined with the slightly faster blood drain (1 stage/24 hours for the night stalker, 1 stage/18 hours for the gluttonous beast) helps to add to the sense of enhanced alienation from human society. Blood Harvest & Vampire Infamy [tgb03bloodVI] Successful use of Blood Harvest, even outside of the view of witnesses and even against unlawful NPCs accrue a small amount of regional vampire infamy. Death by Blood Harvest is noticeably unnatural. Any traveler or hunter may suspect vampire activity in an area when coming upon a bandit whose corpse is drained of blood with no sign of where the blood went to. To balance out the fact that a gluttonous vampire will be doing a lot of feeding through Blood harvest, the amount of vampire infamy gained for Blood Harvest will be a fraction of succesfully feeding on a sleeping victim without witnesses. Using Blood Harvest in front of lawful witnesses will accrue a large amount of vampire infamy. Thanks for reading as usual and please, discuss. -eyk

really cool info, thanks for taking the time to write out this guide (I can see you put a lot of time and effort into it!) :]

A quick question to the community, I know that as of now, people are modding basic features of the game through TESedit and FO/SMM. If I am interested in creating mods for Skyrim (which I am), is it worth investing my time in learning the finer details of TESedit and FO/SMM, or will my knowledge of these programs become largely redundant when the Creation Kit is released? Thanks in advance, -eyk

Hi Ewan, thanks for taking the time to give your critique. Certainly, there's no reason for you to apologize :] You bring up some excellent points, and at the same time you seem to be confused about some of the changes I plan to implement. No worries, the original proposal is long, and I don't blame anyone for not taking the time to take a careful look through them. 1. "Really, a Vampire craves blood; needs it, wants it. A Vampire should NOT get more powerful by not drinking blood. It should get weaker. That only makes sense and is possibly the biggest failing on Beth's part; and on yours if you keep it." I do not blame you for saying this. As I mentioned before, I felt exactly the same way about Oblivion vampirism in the past. At the same time, this is simply an assumption on your part. As I've explained in the post, my interpretation of Bethesda's vision is not about vampires who get stronger or weaker, but about vampires who become more human as they drink blood, less human as they go without. I think this carries some interesting thematic consequences. It creates tension. We crave power as human beings, and we crave the warmth and benefit of belonging to a human society, yet the vampire must choose carefully--how does the vampire balance the desire for demonic power, with the desire to drink blood and return once again to the arms of humanity? That is up to the player. I'm sure that there will be many excellent mods which reverse this principle. I salute them, and you can bet I'll try them out. I'll probably even enjoy it. For me though, the vanilla mechanic is more than a challenging design obstacle, but an opportunity to explore a vampire lore that is not better or worse, but simply different. I think we can agree that variety is good for everybody. 2. "Modified Vampire Drain, Vampire Servant, Embrace of Shadows, and a new Vampire Seduction ability. (3 of which are once a day powers) Unless I'm missing something really obvious all I can see is that you've hiked up the bad things about being a Vampire and then also bashed down some of the good things." Here's what you missed: referring back to the OP, Vampire's Servant is no longer a once-a-day power but a repeatable ability with a high magicka/stamina cost. Vampiric Seduction is no longer once-a-day either--as long as you do not currently own an enthralled being, you are able to use it multiple times throughout the day. Embrace of Shadows is the only ability that remains as a once-a-day power, but its utility has been expanded. I wouldn't say it is stronger or weaker, just different. Vampiric Drain has been significantly improved, especially through the dual-cast overcharge mechanic which introduces a stagger effect and (at stage 4), a healing rate of 30+ HP/second. Locking out healing from Restoration is not intended to punish the vampire player but to encourage the use of the newly buffed Vampiric Drain. I won't get into a discussion about what vampires should be, since that is a subjective and pointless debate. The vampire is simply a fictional creation and has been many things throughout its place in human society, from the ancient demon lilitu, to Bram Stoker's Dracula, all the way to World of Darkness, Hellsing, Twilight, and other plethora of modern vampire literature, each with a unique vision of the vampire. I simply don't think there's anything a vampire has to be. The vampire is only what you want it to be, no more and no less. -eyk PS I'll try and respond to some of the other comments and suggestions when I can find the time.

I would count on this kind of change happening. I personally hope to implement something like this, but I won't be discussing it on the forums until I've had a few trial runs with the Creation Kit and smaller, more modular changes. I'm sure this is the case for many serious modders right now :] it's a great idea

Hi Dav22pd, thanks for your suggestion. I've played Oblivion with Terran Vampires mod extensively. It was one of my favorite vampirism overhaul, and I think it'd be a great learning experience to work with these guys. My vision with The Night Stalker vampirism overhaul is a little bit different, however. I was once one of those people who 120% did not understand Bethesda's decision to make vampires stronger as they went longer without blood. But now, I have changed my mind and it's important for me to respect Bethesda's original lore & gameplay vision of vampires. I won't say I'm not a big fan of World of Darkness lore (Vampire: The Masquerade & Vampire: The Requiem), or that I wasn't creaming my pants over Hellsing when the anime first came out. I did both those things, and in Oblivion I was looking to make those fantasies a reality. But with this mod I'm attempting to fully flesh out Bethesda's vision of vampires rather than completely restructuring it. If WarRatsG or Galejro shares this vision with me, it would be an honor for me to work with them. Otherwise though, I'd be perfectly happy with Skyrim's gamers having a choice of playstyles through multiple mods :] -eyk

Thanks everyone for the feedback. And I love a discussion. Here are my responses & comments to what's been said so far: 1. LunaWolv & a couple others were involved in a discussion about the state of sneak in Skyrim and whether vampires should have a relatively more powerful sneak attack. To comment I don't currently plan on tweaking vampire sneak attack damage. This is for two reasons. One, as it was mentioned, vanilla Skyrim already allows you to get ridiculous sneak damage bonuses provided you invest into the skill tree. Two, and most importantly, I have a comprehensive vision of Skyrim's balance overhaul, one that is not centered on extreme realism or total hack n' slash. Among the things I want to address with this much larger and more ambitious project is to rebalance combat, including how sneak damage multiplier is handled. Since I fully mean for The Night Stalker to be a mod used alongside the balance overhaul, I'd like to leave those sorts of changes to my bigger project. At the same time, I want to make minimal changes to The Night Stalker's numbers-tweaking so that it's balanced alongside any number of different mod environments. Quite simply, I'd like The Night Stalker to be compatible with any number of mods (balance-wise), so I'd rather not tweak the numbers of something like sneak damage bonus. BUT I am not against it. Certainly there have been some good arguments for and against the change. 2. LunaWolv asked about higher jumping I'll consider it. I'm sure mechanically, this is easy to achieve. But I want to make sure that every change I make is meaningful and not frivolous, and that means focusing on the core features already outlined. I do love it when vampires can jump high though! 3. Eragonlordex asked about feeding on NPCs that are awake. I've thought about this question long and hard. I even dedicated a small section to "Feeding" in the original draft of the proposal. For now, I've decided against allowing players to feed on NPCs that are awake. It's not for lore or immersion reason--it's perfectly reasonable lore-wise that a vampire can overpower an unwilling victim to feed. The reason that I want to avoid easy feeding is that I want to reinforce the player's existence as a vampire. Feeding should always involve risk. Having said that, Vampire's Seduction is designed to provide an alternative way for vampires to feed. Thralls, or NPC victims of Vampiric Seduction, will allow the player to feed on them, whether sleeping or not. I am open to the possibility of allowing vampire players to sneak up on an unaware NPC and using the "pickpocket" command to feed. For now I'd like to stay away from this as sneaking-difficulty mods would screw up the intended gameplay difficulty of this change, and I want to keep this mod as stand-alone and compatible with other balance changes as possible. 4. Eragonlordex asked about claws Claws are really cool. I'll give you that. But I won't promise this mod will add claws to the vampire, for mainly the reason stated above: I am working out a comprehensive Skyrim balance overhaul, and I just don't know yet how to handle something like claws. How much damage will it do? How fast will it swing? How much stamina should be spent using its power attacks? Should its power attacks have unique effects? By the way, I'm not against the idea at all. Just that until I have a better idea of the exact changes I want to make to Skyrim's gameplay, I won't be able to tell you if and how I will implement such a feature. -eyk