[MOD REQUEST] Stealth Overhaul

[dinsdalepiranha]

So let me just preface by saying that I'm not a dev/modder, and I have no idea exactly what is possible; bear that in mind if any of the following sound ridiculous.

With Elden Ring adding stealth elements, I've been thinking it might be a good angle for a different kind of 'hardcore' mod, related to enemy aggro distance and conditions. Imagine a mod that makes enemy AI react at least SOMEWHAT more like human characters would, in certain situations. Examples:

- Enemies react to sound. They detect/aggro more quickly/at a longer distance on a character that's clunking around in heavy armor, as opposed to wearing something lighter. Also, smacking your weapon off walls or an enemy's shield has potential to put nearby mobs in 'search mode' [whatever you'd call the condition where they've got their weapon out, but haven't actually seen you yet], particularly if they're posted up right around the corner, even if you're not in their line of sight.

- So they react to loud noises and also flashing lights. This means you will need to be more careful about when you throw out magic/explosives, or a big flashy weapon art like Gravitas, etc. Basically if you wanna do a pure magic build, stealth is gonna be tougher to pull off. [except maybe with the 'Night'/Invisible sorceries]

- In order for this to not break a lot of encounters, maybe there could be certain "volume levels" [aggro distance triggered by attacking something] associated with different weapons/attacks [i.e. a backstab is nearly silent, and a fully charged R2 is quite loud]. This could also be applied to weapon types [attacking with daggers/bows is much quieter/shorter aggro distance than greatswords/heavy crossbows]. This would make it possible [i think] to play an assassin/thief build with daggers/thrusting swords and actually have a tangible advantage when it comes to sneaking up on enemies. Maybe the Assassin's Approach incantation could be altered to silence weapons as well as footsteps, to allow heavier strength builds to take advantage of this to some extent as well.

-Once a mob sees you, you can't de-aggro them by turning a corner or finding the nearest tall grass and crouching for like five seconds. [if someone shot me in the back with an arrow and it somehow didn't kill me, I don't think I'd just forget about it the moment the perpetrator was out of sight.]

- As an added level of difficulty, maybe if a mob comes across the body of his comrade that you just ganked five seconds ago, he's put into a permanent 'search' condition. "You killed my best friend! We've been guarding this hallway for as long as I can remember, and now he's gone. I WILL FIND YOU, and I WILL MAKE YOU PAY."

- Certain other situations could trigger mobs. Say for instance, the Ancestral Followers in the Siofra/Nokron region, they seem very connected with the wildlife in the area. Maybe killing a deer or goat has a certain % chance of aggroing every Follower within a certain range regardless of line of sight, and the % increases with their proximity to you when it happens. It just seems to make sense lore-wise that these guys would be coming after the person that's systematically slaughtering their herds for arrow-crafting material.

Once again, I'm not sure how much of this is possible, but I feel like it has the potential to change the whole dynamic of the game and force players to be more careful and actually utilize stealth more intelligently. It'll also add a new level of stress to trying to get through area with tough mobs when you play a low-level/light armor character. Anyway, if any of this sounds feasible/anyone wants to take on a project like this, I don't require credit, just let me know that you're making it, cuz I'd LOVE to try something like this.Thanks!

Edited April 14, 2022 by dinsdalepiranha