[WIP] Proficiencies and Multi-Interest Skill Books

[Ophryon]

As a tangent to my PreWar Book Titles mod, I am working on an idea involving Skill Books, but have stalled a bit, and it would be useful to bounce ideas around with anyone interested.

 

I would like to make skill books apply to different skills, based on the interests of the character. For example, "Guns and Bullets" makes you aim better, but should also teach you how to maintain (repair) your gun. "Dean's Electronics" is useful for a repairman, but should also help computer hackers and energy weapon users. A book about "Lying" should help you get better prices when trading. The "Stealth" manual could include a chapter on bypassing locks, etc. etc.

 

I also like the character theme of such perks such as "Gun Nut", "Thief", and "Daddy's Girl" which raise pairs of skills at a time; however, I don't use them because I don't like maxing out my skills that way. I would like to retain the thematic flavor of these dual-skill perks, while applying them to other things like skill books. The "Gunsmith" for example (my renaming of the "Gun Nut") could benefit in both Small Guns and Repair by reading "Guns and Bullets".

 

I am creating dual-skill perks for all the combinations of skills. My idea is to call these "Proficiencies" and have your character start with one or more (perhaps based on intelligence?) which must include a tag skill. Then, when you read a skill book, you can apply the effects differently based on your Proficiencies. I would delete the +5/+5 type perks like Gun Nut, and replace them with the ability to level up one of your proficiencies or learn a new one.

 

I am a big fan of the Book Perks and Alternate Start Roleplayers mod and intend this idea to blend with both. Alternate Start already uses the term Proficiencies for selecting tag skills. I would just add another step that lets you choose from my list based on your chosen tag skills. Likewise, the Book Perks mod controls which books you can read based on your interests (as determined by skill levels) and gives points towards earning perks. I would make it so you can always read books related to your proficiencies, and a higher level proficiency could let you apply multiple points towards different book perks. (Permission will be sought from those modders once this idea is more solid.)

 

What do you think? If this works well, I intend to apply it to the idea of "non-fiction" books for my PreWar Book Titles mod, for iconic books like The Art of War, Grey's Anatomy, etc. (which is where the whole idea started).

 

Below is the list of Proficiencies. I still need a good concept or name for some of the combinations. Feel free to help fill in the blanks, or suggest changes.

 

ARMS DEALER: Barter / Big Guns

Barter / Energy Weapons

Barter / Explosives

LOCKSMITH: Barter / Lockpick

APOTHECARY: Barter / Medicine

PROSPECTOR: Barter / Melee Weapons

TINKER: Barter / Repair

DATA MINER: Barter / Science

MERCENARY: Barter / Small Guns

SMUGGLER: Barter / Sneak

SCOUNDREL: Barter / Speech

RUFFIAN: Barter / Unarmed

 

HEAVY GUNNER: Big Guns / Energy Weapons

BLASTMASTER: Big Guns / Explosives

Big Guns / Lockpick

Big Guns / Medicine (Gunner that relies on combat drugs, need a good name)

SHOCK TROOPER: Big Guns / Melee Weapons

Big Guns / Repair (Obviously a weapons tech, but need a better name)

TECHNICIAN: Big Guns / Science

SOLDIER: Big Guns / Small Guns

BUSHWHACKER: Big Guns / Sneak

INTIMIDATOR: Big Guns / Speech

BODY BUILDER: Big Guns / Unarmed

 

Energy Weapons / Explosives

Energy Weapons / Lockpick

SURGEON: Energy Weapons / Medicine

KNIGHT: Energy Weapons / Melee Weapons

ELECTRICIAN: Energy Weapons / Repair

PHYSICIST: Energy Weapons / Science

SHARPSHOOTER: Energy Weapons / Small Guns

Energy Weapons / Sneak

SPACE HERO: Energy Weapons / Speech (character emulates Captain Cosmos)

Energy Weapons / Unarmed

 

SAFECRACKER: Explosives / Lockpick

CHEMIST: Explosives / Medicine

MARAUDER: Explosives / Melee Weapons

MUNITIONS EXPERT: Explosives / Repair

BREACHER: Explosives / Science

TACTICIAN: Explosives / Small Guns

GUERILLA: Explosives / Sneak

REVOLUTIONARY: Explosives / Speech

GRENADIER: Explosives / Unarmed

 

FORAGER: Lockpick / Medicine

CUTTHROAT: Lockpick / Melee Weapons

SALVAGER: Lockpick / Repair

HACKER: Lockpick / Science

BOUNTY HUNTER: Lockpick / Small Guns

THIEF: Lockpick / Sneak

INVESTIGATOR: Lockpick / Speech

THUG: Lockpick / Unarmed

 

GLADIATOR: Medicine / Melee Weapons

Medicine / Repair

SCIENTIST: Medicine / Science

MEDIC: Medicine / Small Guns

JUNKIE: Medicine / Sneak

PSYCHIATRIST: Medicine / Speech

ATHLETE: Medicine / Unarmed

 

BLACKSMITH Melee Weapons / Repair

Melee Weapons / Science

DUELIST: Melee Weapons / Small Guns

ASSASSIN: Melee Weapons / Sneak

SWASHBUCKLER: Melee Weapons / Speech

MARTIAL ARTIST: Melee Weapons / Unarmed

 

INVENTOR: Repair / Science

GUNSMITH: Repair / Small Guns

SCOUT: Repair / Sneak

Repair / Speech

IMPROVISER: Repair / Unarmed

 

Science / Small Guns

DELVER: Science / Sneak

SCRIBE: Science / Speech

CYBERNETICIST: Science / Unarmed

 

HUNTER: Small Guns / Sneak

GUNSLINGER: Small Guns / Speech

GUNKATA MASTER: Small Guns / Unarmed

 

SPY: Sneak / Speech

NINJA: Sneak / Unarmed

 

PREACHER: Speech / Unarmed

[Khet]

One thing to note, since you mention my Alternate Start - Roleplayers mod. I no longer have a 'proficiencies' option. Before, the Proficiencies were the TAG skills. Now, that TAG skills are assigned by your chosen Profession and Class. (The terms I use now are Profession and Class, and Talents [sPECIAL] though Talents my change pretty soon to something... better)

 

Now, let me get this straight first. You're proposing that instead of choosing perks like Gun Nut and Daddy's Girl/Boy (both of which raise TWO skills) instead you choose a perk that DOESN'T raise two skills, but instead allows you to gain in two different skills when reading certain skill-books. Correct?

 

Sounds like it would work out rather well to me... however, I'm not positive about adding these "proficiencies" as perks. For someone like me who uses a mod that adds more Perks, the list is already very long, and this would make it even longer. Perhaps there's a better way to approach the situation?

[BadPenney]

Deleting vanilla perks in your mod sounds like it would cause compatibility problems for many and CTDs for any player who has chosen those perks. Likely someone would need to start a new character to use your mod and dump that character if they decide not to use your mod after a while.

[Cipscis]

The vanilla perks that should no longer be used should be unchecked as playable rather than deleted - this will prevent them from being selected while the mod is active but will not remove them if they've already been selected. Otherwise they could just be "converted" into the new perks.

 

One thing that I always think about (although I don't like it) is whether or not the effect given by a perk is independent of when it is taken. For example, perks like "Gun Nut" fit into this category as the overall effect that they have on the player is independent of when they were selected. However, perks like "Educated" and "Comprehension" (assuming the player doesn't save skill books) do not because they give different overall benefits depending on when they were selected.

 

Personally, although I don't like it at all, I find myself always trying to play efficiently. For example, I save skill books until I've taken "Comprehension" and I choose "Educated" as early as possible. This time dependence makes the perks feel unbalanced to me, which I find detracts from my roleplaying experience.

 

Anyway, I'm always interested in mods that aim to improve roleplaying experience - especially those that remove choices that can potentially lead to "power-gaming" (for example, just about any levelling mod for Oblivion - I hate that system). I was wondering if you plan on making the effects of these perks somehow independent of when they're selected?

 

The ways that I can think of doing this both involve taking control away from the player - either prevent them from deciding when the proficiency might be selected or by preventing them from deciding which proficiency to select. For example, after reading a certain number of books a proficiency might be assigned to the player depending on their actor values (or tag skills) at that time.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Cipscis