Mmm...finally, a long area of discussion in MY area of expertise :P Two things right off the bat though: -I am trying to keep it away from simple stat shifts, much to MMs chagrin, and actually open new doors of gameplay -Most of these are side, or at best, diagonal-grades. Very few straight up; that was by design. Avoiding power creep is one of my main focuses, and I don't want players to feel handicapped because they don't have such an such perk. Remember, it's not like the vanilla game, where less perks in one tree means more in another. Everyone is a vampire. Let's get cracking! "1. Lust for Power: Upon reaching starving, you have 10/15/20/25/30 seconds to satiate yourself, or you’ll turn into the vampire lord for 5/4/3/2/1 minutes. 0/20/40/60/80" Akumu: Does this suggest the lord transformation will not be an anytime use ability like DG vanilla? I'm hoping that's not the case. If it's just another(sort of immersive?) way to add in the vampire lord, while it still being an toggable power, then it still doesn't sound like a good perk tree ability to me. If it's the latter I think it should be added but not as a perk. Kind of like the Tales of Lycanthropy mod moon based transformation but a vampire adaptation, meaning you go berserk because of the hunger not from the moon. It makes you transform after a certain time(every 1-2 hours?), until you get off of the starvation level. "Power Bites" may can help towards getting satiated and prevent starvation. After all a vampire lord is the last stage of evolution and shouldn't be as hard to get a blood fix but should have a greater thirst than the "lesser" vampires to maintain control over such power. Pixie: Dunno if I understand this one. You use a perk to penalize yourself and force a change? Not sure it even makes sense as the change only lasts a couple minutes when starving instead of till you feed? I think it would make more sense if BSR just forced you when starving to go Lord form and hated until you feed and this perk would just maybe reduce the mana cost on Sumo Mortalis to help you hold off these affects? Me: This one, besides being an alternate way to get lord (which is to say, yes, you can use it normally), is two fold: a) to present an additional wrinkle to starvation, with all the power and weaknesses that come with it, and b) to provide an element of risk for those who partake in the skill tree. Again, I am loath to introduce things which are pure power upgrades, else it begins to eclipse the other balance in the game and the mod. I wanted this initial perk to be something which all players would have to accept in their path to greater power (along with a few added negatives). Not to mention, depending on how I balance the acquisition of using lord in the first place, considering this is free, it may very well be a good thing to begin with. "2. Vitiate: Regression is now automatic should you meet the requirements." Akumu: another perk that doesn't fit the concept of the perk tree. While the starter abilities are usually smaller compared to the later perks, this just doesn't help you "grow" at all. 1) this could be added as a regular concept and stop the current wait period required to actually regress. 2)add an extra effect to it. Since Vitiate also means to spoil or taint, adding in the vampire lords(for the transformed state) Poison Talons could fit well here or a Drain effect if not poison. This minor change still gives that sense of growth. note: I think the vampire should remain the opposite of a werewolf(more magic based) so the claws should not become too overpowered but good enough once perked as that would completely destroy the point in being a werewolf for those that still want that as an option while using this mod. Pixie: Another perk point spent to penalize yourself. Dont like this one. Me: Yep, this one is a straight up bad one, no bonuses here. What IS important to note is that it opens a much, MUCH quicker path to Transcendence. This one is meant to be "optional", in that someone who just wanted the consummate evolution of the ability would have to give up control...or wait like everyone else. What's more, it's not so much a starter perk...just the one which I labeled "2" because I was lazy :P "3. Transcendence: Vampire perk points can now be used as normal perk points." Akumu: I really do not like this idea as it unbalances, what I think, is the basic design of Skyrim. You fight and become stronger with what you use. While the idea of mixing and matching your perk points with the vanilla game tree(armor, weapon type, enchantments, etc) with the strengths you acquire by using skills, for me it changes when you add in a tree specifically for vampires/werewolves. Those are huge game changes compared to staying mortal(especially when modded). When I'm a vampire I find myself using a lot more vampire abilities(Dark sacrifice, Drain magic, etc) than regular magic which doesn't raise my destruction skill or any other. This shows how vampires and its evolution are not on equal grounds with anything a mere mortal can do. With this mod you can be a powerful vampire and never need to pick up a sword or train the normal combat abilities, especially in DG. Vampires and the abilities a mortal can practice are very much separate and I think this should remain as such. However, Transcendence can mean to go beyond. So maybe allow the regular vampire to use the Bat Form ability of the vampire lord or make it an aura that phases you partially into the soul claim, which decreases physical/magical damage by a percentage. Just some ideas playing off the name given. Pixie: Seems very unbalancing in this state, I mean you are already going to be getting perk points for your normal leveling then this stacks on a bunch more? Not sure I have any ideas how to make this better. Me: Don't just think of this as the perk by itself, think of it as an ends after all the other perks. If, for instance, you go the vitiate route asap, you need to have drained an additional 3670% blood damage from guys ( percents drained before activating the perk tree don't count in this regard), and have killed at least 45 people...and then, one more perk point in use for vanilla skyrim would require you to kill 25 more people, etc (all while ignoring the rest of the vampire tree). This is, of course, in addition to the negatives from vitiate. If you forgo vitiate entirely, then it's even harder to reach. At that point, you'll have at least 70 in the skill, which requires a whopping 15575% drained total, and 100 people killed to even activate the perk. Then, for use in vanilla, you'll need to kill 35 people for every additional perk dot while, again, ignoring the rest of the vampire tree. Frankly, looking at some of those numbers, might even be a good thing to turn it down a notch >.< "4. Umbral: Draining light from the area now restores 50% as much magica as it did before, in exchange for +20/30 to destruction, and sneak for 2 minutes." Akumu: I'm a bit confused by this perk. What ability does this relate to, as I don't think I ever used it or very often. Also it restores 50% more magica in exchange for +20/30 destruction and sneak for 2 minutes? It says in exchange so are you taking a hit to these skills or is it a gain and you lose magicka? I'm not sure about this perk so I can't really say I agree or disagree, however I'll still give an alternative for extra ideas. Pixie: Like this one quite a bit, especially the bonus to stealth which makes sense as you have made the area darker. The problem I have is that it seems to work on very few lights in the game right now. Still this is a solid perk. Me: This one might be too specialized, but I wanted it to play on the hiding in the darkness ability of the vampires...that they'd take the light away, and use it to power themselves in some manner. You recieve less mana from a successful drain light hit (right now, you regen some - you'll regen half as much), but in return, it gives you the potential to play to your strengths more instead of a perfect zero sum game that is it's use and immediate regen. Want a buff? Then you'll have to not only spent mana, but hit a target and cover a bit the world in darkness. Plus, it should also work well with the auto-embrace thing we tried our hand at. Possible changes are either having it extend it's power to darken in some way,since it's...well, named umbral, or to make drain light an AoE (which requires less targeting). I don't really know how frequently people use DL atm, so that might be a thing... [TO BE CONTINUED]
