NPCs that learn to shout

[henshu]

For my mod I want some NPCs to learn to shout at the appropriate time. I read that they need to have the "Allow Shouting" perk in order to use them, so I put some shouts in their spell list and have a script set up to give them the perk when the right conditions occur. The little weirdos are using the shouts without the perk. I don't want to have to set up a script to give them each their shout spells, because there are 160 of them and I wanted them to have individualized shout lists depending on their skill sets.

160 NPCs suddenly able to shout probably sounds ridiculous. This is an easter egg that I'm trying to put into my mod which would be difficult for the player to trigger accidentally. I'd like to keep it... but if I can't come up with a solution to it it may have to be scrapped. Does anyone know another way to do this?

[GermAntibody]

I wish I had an answer for you. This sounds interesting! You cracked me up with "the little weirdos".

What sort of mod is it? Is it an overhaul, a quest, a land? This post seems almost too vague to get the help it needs. What are the conditions you laid out for them to be temporarily awarded the perk, or did I understand that incorrectly?

[henshu]

Sorry for the delayed response, I've been focused on working on this mods trailer lately. (Also I'm not very good at this forum I guess, thought it would email me if I had a reply)

 

 

I've been keeping vague about the project so far, but.. I'll try to give you a summary.

It's an alternative civil war mod. Instead of handing the jagged crown over to one of the existing armies, you keep it. You start out with a small group of malcontents who are siding with you, and they help you build an army. I decided that instead of having the generic nameless soldiers that the vanilla game has, your soldiers would be recruited from a pool of 160 new named characters. Since they're here fighting for you, I wanted you to care a little more when they die. Which soldiers end up in your forts depends on who you make friends with in that hold.

You can also recruit existing followers, and if you recruit someone who is a trainer then all of your troops learn new skills. For this easter egg, if you recruit a Greybeard or someone who is a speechcraft trainer I want the troops to learn how to shout. My soldiers have four different combat styles, and I gave each of those templates appropriate shouts. The training script then adds the Allow Shouting perk to all soldiers when you have recruited someone who meets the requirements.

 

In my current test playthrough I haven't recruited any Greybeards or speechcraft trainers, but everyone shouts all the time. It's really entertaining, but not realistic.

 

 

[i've posted a few screenshots to steam. That's a new NPC on the throne in Whiterun, loyal to the player.]

 

[Finished the trailer, posted here: http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/2106034-wip-dragonking/]

Edited September 14, 2014 by henshu

[DrNewcenstein]

Conditions on a spell or magic effect refine when and how that spell or effect will be "true". While some of these are assumed (i.e. for Shouts, it is assumed the Shouter has the AllowShouting Perk, so the Condition HasPerk AllowShouting = 1 is never set in the Conditions for a Shout), you should be able to specify Conditions that must be met in order for your people to Shout.

 

I've just gone through one of my own mods where certain followers can use certain Shouts, and specified Conditions relating to who is affected by them (to prevent fights breaking out from late hits). The Conditions I set state that if the NPC hit by the Shout is not InCombat, and is not in CurrentFollowerFaction, then the effect is "true". Once my followers exit combat, if they're hit by friendly fire late hits that come from the back row (Cyclone or Ice Storm), the hit doesn't register.

 

 

For your bunch of loonies, I'd suggest giving them the Shout and the Perk in their base Spell/Perk List, and then setting up the Training as a Quest or other task that can be assigned to NPCs, such as passing some sort of token object between the Trainer and the Trainee, and setting the Condition in the AllowShouting Perk that states this task must be completed or the token object must be in their inventory. As long as the Condition is not met, they shouldn't Shout.

[henshu]

These sound like fantastic suggestions, thank you for the information. I'll post again after I've had the time to try this out.