Need Non-Combat Follower Type Ideas

[unknownhero2827]

I'm making a mod with generic followers, and am trying to think of non-combat and support types that can benefit the player in a good enough way to be somewhat useful (out of combat). I only want to implement lawful types, so nothing like fences or slaves, or vampire cattle. I also want to stray away from mobile vendor types (so less guys who sell this, and guys who sell that). I don't want purely trainer types either.

 

 

Some I've come up with are:

 

Steward (Aka Servant just fancier name)

- Provides food and drink

 

Porter (Aka Blacksmith)

- Repairs, duh.

- Maybe sells arms and armour (might not include this feature)

 

 

I've also thought of, but am not sure about:

 

Priest

- Can bless player with long lasting buffs

 

Apothecary

- Buys and sells potions

 

 

That's basically all I've got. I can't get into too deep of stuff, like a healer, as that would take scripting beyond my current abilities, and would just complicate things I think.

 

 

 

 

[glowplug]

I like the sound of this, how about a Tailor?
They carry a base selection of quality clothing.
An Enchanter - maybe the Tailor could do this.

I don't think the healer is over complicated, you could have the Priest double up on this.

I've just done some pseudo code to check and it just depends on how far you want to take it.

The healer could...

• work out which healing spell is required
• if they don't need it the healer says (random selection) something like "That's good, I like it, a lot"
• have a talk option
• have certain inventory options

If you want me to do some scripting for this then just message me.

Putting the code here would be off topic.

[unknownhero2827]

1st and foremost, thanks for replying.

 

With a bit of thought, I think a tailor and enchanter might work. I have previously thought of including them, but wasn't sure.

 

 

 

Tailor == Yes. A tailor would be nice for roleplaying purposes. I could see myself having hoods and robes, or upper class clothing made for my character and companions. There aren't "that" many clothing items in Oblivion, and If I only include middle and upper class clothing, and robes, and shoes, it wouldn't be much work to include all that.

 

However, if the tailor creates clothing, the blacksmith/porter should probably make arms and armour, which I'm not looking forward to making happen, but it won't be too difficult. I'd only be allowing iron to fine-steel weapons, and fur to steel armour. I might include the higher level item later, but that's a lot more than I want to work on right now.

 

 

Enchanter == Maybe. If by that you mean recharging; I think actual enchanting should be kept to the Mages Guild. Recharging I think could work. However, as I want non-combat types, I'm not sure how to convey that an Enchanter is passive, considering that if he enchants, he probably knows magic. I do have a separate list of combat types, but I don't want combat specific magic types (in the first release at least), in order to lighten the workload.

 

As for the tailor doing the enchanting, I'd like to try and keep specializations separated amongst NPC types, to increase the value of each NPC type. Also, I do plan on these followers to be payed regularly as contractors, and giving tailors the ability to recharge weapons would increase their wages past blacksmiths. An enchanter I'd want to be a top tier contractor.

 

 

Healer == I've thought a lot about having a healer. I'd most likely call them Clerics, Priests (given they aren't used for enchanting), or Doctors/Surgeons, to emphasize that they are passive non-combat types (Healer works, too, but it doesn't sound like a profession). If I do include them, they'd most likely just heal the player and player party, and maybe provide restorative type potions.

 

 

 

Ty for the offer. I will definitely need scripting help in the future. For now just basic ideas for NPCs will do. After the 1st release, more depth can be added.

[kastano]

Recently i made a lawerNPC to get rid of bounty

[unknownhero2827]

Recently i made a lawerNPC to get rid of bounty

 

I like that idea. I was just thinking of something like that yesterday, except by a priest hearing confession. Except you would still pay the full bounty, just to the chapel. But I thought it might be kind of weird and give the Priest too many roles. Though I still like the idea of confession. To top it off I don't think I want to include a priest initially anyway since most Oblivion priests are Restoration mages.

 

Anyway, I like the lawyer idea much better. How might it work though? Perhaps by paying a reduced bounty to the lawyer (Removing bounties for free would feel too exploitative to me)? I would be satisfied with that. I would need some scripting help with that though. And maybe one other function for the lawyer would be nice. Maybe reduced jail time or something. I'm not really sure how Oblivion jail work to be honest. My characters are always lawful, or discreet criminals.

Edited July 26, 2014 by unknownhero2827

[kastano]

i just copied and pasted the scripts from the result box (in the dialogue topic) from the thieves guild npc (TGinfo armand christof etc)-putted my own dialogue - i dont know how jailtime is calculated (ithink crime is hardcoded)- perhaps when you are in jail the lawer could visit you and reduse the pcbounty value if thats is the variable that affects jailtime

[AshPoet]

What about a Herbalist follower? His inventory should restock ingredients (except man-made stuff like bread and sweetrolls, monster trophies like horns and teeth and so on) over time, just as if he is collecting them "on the run" while following you. He should be able to cast basic cure disease/cure poison/minor heal spells, but focus on collecting ingredients. Some basic potions as well, but no fancy stuff. I don't think it is possible to have him harvest the plants you pass by though.

[unknownhero2827]

That's a good idea too Ash Poet. I'll add that to my list.

[ElderScrollsFan001]

A Bard

[unknownhero2827]

A Bard

 

Thought about it. But what would they do? Give buffs? I haven't seen a mod yet that adds bards like in Skyrim that sing or play instruments..