LE [Idea] True Zahkrii Do Dovahkiin

[imperistan]

Welp, most of us should know about this bit of unfinished content from Dragonborn. And those of us who looked into it likely know about this topic, where quite a few people did some work on it.

 

And while I think what they put out was great, the actual gameplay with the sword isn't very different from any other sword in the game, which is what drove me to my idea for the sword, which I think may have been the original intention.

 

Anywhoo, on to the meat and taters. Basically my idea builds off the idea that shouting unlocks the sword's power. However, rather than it being a matter of one shout simply enhancing the sword's damage (which is what the remnants in the CK seem to point to, from the way I understood it), what if all of your shouts enhanced the weapon in different ways? You shout, and then the sword gains a temporary, one-use effect that builds off of the effects of the original shout.

 

The already built-in glow of the sword could quite easily serve as an indicator that a shout has enhanced the sword. Perhaps, depending on the shout, the color could change. All in all, I can only imagine that actually setting up the framework for making the sword work this way wouldn't be that hard to build, for those that know how to do it (Not me, unfortunately, though if someone tells me that its relatively easy to learn, that may change. But then again, I have no idea what all would go into making this work as I envision it)

 

But, the question is what would make this take on the sword interesting. And that naturally leads to what kind of effects you might see from the shouts. I've already taken the liberty of brainstorming some Zahkrii effects (to coin a term) for all the vanilla shouts (Most of which should be able to utilize vanilla magic effects already in-game):

 

Animal Allegiance: Green Glow, damage stamina. Reason being that gaining the allegiance of animals would give you the power to take away their strongest attribute, their stamina. The most devastating animal attacks consume the most stamina, after all.

 

Aura Whisper: Purple glow, soul trap. You can see the souls of others, now you can take them for your own, provided you have the soul gem to use it.

 

Elemental Fury: White Glow. Gain the normal effects of Elemental Fury, but now every enemy you strike loses attack speed for the duration of the shout.

 

Battle Fury: Teal glow, unique effect. This one, along with elemental fury, were tough to figure out. But, alas, I have come up with a wonderful idea. Like elemental fury, you and your allies gain the normal effects, but now every strike everyone of your allies and yourself makes causes your enemy to lose attack speed for the duration of the shout.

 

Become Ethereal: Blue glow, several possibilities here. One is to allow the sword to be used normally against enemies while in ethereal form. May or may not be possible. Another is to make your first strike out of ethereal form restore x points of health and stamina.

 

Bend Will: Orange Glow. Two possibilities here. One is to cause the sword to cause your enemy to fight for you for a short amount of time at the cost of that enemies stats while under the effects (because he's fighting the turn), basically giving you one and half turned enemies for one. The other, the next enemy you strike will take double damage from the enemy you used the shout on.

 

Call Dragon: Red glow, Same as the latter effect for Bend Will. Another idea is that if you strike Odahviing with the sword, you'll either heal him or buff his stats, depending on how low his health is.

 

Call of Valor: Blue Glow, Another one that can use the latter effect of Bend Will. Another possibility is a rally effect if you strike it on an ally. Might be possible to combine the two.

 

Clear Skies: White glow, One idea, two methods. One easy, another rather difficult. The easy one is to cause a random effect of weather on the target. Shock damage for a storm. Fire for a sunny day, frost for snow, etc. The hard one, is to make the effect that occurs actually dependent on the weather conditions in the area. Presumably the entire effect could be disabled for indoors, as why would you use clear skies indoors anyway.

 

Cyclone: White glow, Two possibilities, again, one easy, another hard. Easy one is a freebie stagger/push effect for the next target struck. The harder, increase attack speed and critical chance for three hits, but make damage and possibility of stagger or push vary wildly. It could either strike for massive damage and send them flying, or barely do anything. Such is the chaos of a cyclone.

 

Disarm: Blue glow, One easy, one hard. Easy, freebie disarm for another opponent. Hard, capture the edge of your enemies fallen weapon and use it against your enemy. If multiple opponents are struck, the edge is chosen at random. Would be interesting and could either be very powerful or a bad idea altogether. Is it worth it to disarm the group of bandits if you know one of them only has an iron dagger? Might be worth it to disarm that draugr overlord, but what if the Zahkrii is already the better weapon?

 

Dismay, red glow. This one was easy, banish anything effect for the next enemy struck. Possibly only if they're being affected by the shout (IE, running away), and definitely with a chance of failure. Good tactical deceision. Make the enemies minions flee, then banish him, possibly taking his minions with him. Could also help for banishing that pesky minion or ally that just won't die.

 

Dragon Aspect, Multi-color glow (Trying to mimic the look of the shout itself). This one was tough. My idea is to grant the sword a powerful Chaos (ie, random fire, frost, or shock damage) enchantment for 5 minutes that stacks with other shout effects. Dragon Aspect as it is is already very powerful, so I think it would be best to not go overboard with the enhancement

 

Dragonrend, Deep blue glow. This one was easy, do extra damage to dragons.

 

Drain Vitality, purple glow. Two ideas. One is reanimation on strike with a stat drain for the player, the idea being that instead of keeping the stats from the shout, you use them to give yourself a thrall. Another is a freebie paralyze, the idea being that you already drained the life from them, now ruin them completely.

 

Fire/Frost breath, red/light teal glow. Put these together because they're basically the same. The effect would be a simple fire/frost enchant for 5 minutes, again, stacking with other Zahkrii effects.

 

Ice Breath, light teal glow. Another hard one. Only idea I really have is to make it so the sword doesn't break the paralysis of ice form. Perhaps for as many hits as the number of words you used.

 

Kyne's Peace, blue glow. Gives the sword the same ability as the shout, except now it works on almost everything.

 

Marked for Death, purple glow. Either an Absorb or Damage health effect. Used by assassin's right? Now the sword can assist.

 

Slow Time, blue glow. A tricky one. One possibility is a large attack speed buff, the idea being that your enemies slow down, but your sword goes even faster. Another is to apply a slow effect on 1, 2, or 3 enemies you strike, that lasts past the shouts effects. Should effectively freeze them while the shout is active, and keep them slowed down after the shout.

 

Soul Tear, purple glow. Should do the opposite of Drain Vitality. Grants the sword a moderate drain stat enchant for a minute, possibly with an extra soul trap.

 

Storm Call, white glow. Like the Breath shouts, but for shock damage.

 

Summon Durneviir, purple glow. Same as Odahviing.

 

Throw Voice, white glow. This one should be fun. Silence. When all else fails against a mage, taunt nothing, and as he laughs, silence his magic.

 

Unrelenting Force, blue glow. This, much like the shout itself, should be the workhorse. Simple damage buff for the sword, possibly with an increase chance of stagger.

 

Whirlwind Sprint, white glow. For 30 seconds, every hit increases your movement speed by a set amount based on how many words you used.

 

Phantom Form, blue glow. While not in the game, per say, presuming someone expanded on the shout, using it could apply an effect the sword that will send the next enemy struck into an ethereal form.

 

 

Now, of course, certain things will need to be done to keep it all balanced, and there should be some way of canceling the effect on the sword (possibly by missing? Could make it interesting). All the effects should scale based on how many words of the shout you used. Only knowing one word of Dragon Aspect shouldn't grant you a 75pt Chaos enchant (hypothetical number), but knowing all 3 words should definitely give you strongest enchant possible while still being balanced.

 

Sadly, though, I don't know much about scripting (as my one attempt was just borrowing a script from someone else and just plugging in what I needed where he told me to) so this is pretty much beyond my skill to create. It would also require a unique Zahkrii sword (of which there has been two attempts, both of which are mostly okay). If this idea ever picks up steam with people, I could be compelled to create my own. Either way, I put this idea here so that even if I don't end up creating it (i probably won't) at least its here for someone else to run with.

Edited April 8, 2014 by imperistan

[chanchan05]

Well, looks like someone already started:

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50004/?

[Catman030]

Many of these suggestions are impossible due to ck limitations. A shout cant enchant a weapon and cause damage simultaneously. Trust me, I've tried for a long time to do this on my version.

[lofgren]

Many of these suggestions are impossible due to ck limitations. A shout cant enchant a weapon and cause damage simultaneously. Trust me, I've tried for a long time to do this on my version.

Of course it can. That's relatively simple scripting. A handful of lines or even less depending on some factors.

[Relativelybest]

Well, looks like someone already started:

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50004/?

 

Ah, not the textures I would have picked, but I guess that's my fault for getting distracted before finishing the design.

 

Still kinda amazed it got made.