Terran Vampires REVIVED

[WodGod]

I have never been a big fan of the main quest... in fact it's one of the things which has often bogged down my more free roaming style of play. Seeing the old version of this mod made me want to play again. Learning that it has been revived pleases me a great deal. I've enjoyed Vampire the Masquerade since 1997, and hope that this will further enhance my Oblivion experience. I eagerly await your next release.

[WarRatsG]

Is there anything specific you want to see that would "further enhance your your Oblivion experience"?

 

Also I never actually played Vampire the Masquerade :L

[eVo1994]

With advances in OBSE, there is little that can't be done by script any more. There's been hundreds of times I've seen someone post a request and everyone says it's impossible because of the game engine - only for some genius to pull it out of the hat from no-where.

 

What I'm trying to say is, even if the suggestion seems quite absurd, there is sometimes someone out there inventive enough to figure out how to make it. So just post them anyway :)

 

 

As for using Real life or Cyrodiil vampire lore, we are aiming to make a healthy mix of both. I've seen mods that follow real life lore as closely as possible, but we will likely use only the "Main" ideas for now.

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I feel I should explain some of the new mechanics in a way that will make sense to people who never used Terran Vampires before...

 

Blood Model: The key to a vampire's survival is the blood in his veins. It fuels his abilities, his powers, his existence. The blood is measured in units of Blood Power, with new vampires starting off at 50 blood power. Keeping your blood supply topped up will also give you temporary immunity to sunlight.

As the vampire develops he gains new powers, unlocked through the latent ability in the blood he absorbs. This is measured in Blood Potency, which is basically used as currency to buy the new powers.

In the Original Terran Vampires, you gained blood potency whenever you levelled up. This meant you only ended up with about 40% - 60% of all possible powers by level 50. In this remake, you convert high levels of Blood power for blood potency - Now the amount of powers you get is limited only to the amount of blood you can take.

 

Humanity: Of course, how you go about extracting blood affects a brand new system not seen before in any vampire mod. It is summed up briefly in my first post under Being a Nightmare, but I will go over it further.

 

Vampires are not quite human. Vampirism could be described as a disease, or a curse. It could also be described as a path to immortality. How you treat vampirism affects how vampirism treats you.

If you embrace it and leave your humanity in the grave, morals will not restrict you. If you want blood, you can take it from anyone. The bonuses here are obvious, you have more blood power to convert to blood potency. Also, your basic vampiric powers will improve, but your basic weakness increase too. Sunlight will hurt you more, and you will need to maintain higher levels of blood to resist it.

Fighting the curse will loosen it's hold on you. You will still be more powerful than the average human and with time can still reach immortality. Your basic vampiric powers will not be as powerful however, and the lack of blood will make it more difficult to gain the blood potency that is vital for your evolution. Your vampiric weaknesses will also fade as well. Sunlight will be easier to resist, and even when there isn't enough blood to avoid getting burnt, it's rays will not penetrate as deep.

 

Powers are grouped into the folliwing categories:

Beast Mastery

Extended Perception

Malleable Flesh

Mental Domination

Psychic Radiance

Shadow Affinity

Shroud of Illusion

Blood Magic

Elemental

Domination

Nature

Magicka

Vampyric Mobility

Vampyric Resilience

Vampyric Strength

Vampyric Will

Vampyric Reflex (BRAND NEW)

 

 

Can't wait for it. Could you go into details what you are able to upgrade in "Vampyric Reflex" ?

[WodGod]

I'm working on a reply for this, it may be a little long.

 

WodGod

[WarRatsG]

I'm working on a reply for this, it may be a little long.

 

WodGod

 

The more suggestions the better.

Can't wait for it. Could you go into details what you are able to upgrade in "Vampyric Reflex" ?

 

Basically time slows down depending on your level or Vampyric Reflex. Also your weapons move much faster, but the power costs quite a bit of blood.

Edited July 24, 2011 by WarRatsG

[WodGod]

I've decided to post in several small posts.

 

Post 1

 

Vampire the Masquerade could offer a great deal of subject material for ideas, though it is largely based in Modern times. They have (had) dark ages equivalent for their original game line. That product line is now called the Old World of Darkness as it is no longer supported.

 

As you have already mentioned that there were plans in the works for vampire clans with Necromancy based spells or abilities, I would like to see a Necromancy skill be developed. I don't know how easy it would be to make, but I would like to see it function somewhat similar to the primary magical skills, Restoration , Destruction, etc. It would have Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert and Master Levels just like other skills, probably starting at level 1, with certain races being more likely to have a small bonus (+5?), such as the Dark Elves.

 

Overview – The Necromancy field typically deals with death, the dying, and the undead.

It could offer cheaper Undead summoning.

Same level spells compared to Conjuration, but with a a lower mana cost, and longer duration.

 

Mana cost (Necromancy skill level)*(0.5)*(Conjuration spell mana cost to summon undead.)

Thus a spell that cost 20 mana to Summon Undead, would cost 10 Mana to summon with Necromancy

 

Duration (Necromancy skill level)*(1.25)*(Conjuration spell duration for summoned undead.)

A 60 second Summon Undead spell would last 75 seconds as a Necromancy spell.

 

It could offer lower level Undead summoning.

If a Summon Undead spell would normally require Journeyman level Conjuration to cast, it could be cast as a Novice necromancer with greater cost, but normal duration.

 

Example 1: [125 - (Necromancy skill level)]*Conjuration spell mana cost. Journeyman Conjuration Spell normally costs 24 mana, the equivalent Novice level Summon Undead spell would cost 30.

I realize this is worse at the end game than normal conjuration skills. This is intended. The advantage is being able to summon more powerful things early, but at a greater cost.

 

Example 2: A Conjuration Summon Undead Spell could be cast at one level lower in mastery, but it would have a “bleed” effect attached to the spell.

A Journeyman level Conjuration Summon Undead spell could be cast as a Novice level Necromancy spell, and have a damage fatigue effect for the duration of the spell.

A Novice Necromancy spell would have a fatigue bleed of 1 per second, Journeyman 2 / second, Expert 3 / Second,

Master 2 / second but with significantly enhanced duration (double?) for the same mana cost.

 

Other features would be needed, possible suggestions include "heal undead" or "fortify undead" spells to buff these Necromancy conjured Undead and normal undead NPCs. Should not work on normal conjuration based Summoned undead. Possibly a new night eye spell with a green or red tint? For flavor. Maybe conjured Armor ala Bound armor, but with a "bone" theme. Possibly be able to use these Summon Bone Armor on Undead minions summoned with Necromancy or normal NPC undead ? Perhaps find ways to do new things with necromantic alchemy components? These would be bone meal, Minotaur horn, ogre teeth, blood, and anything else that's a body part such as skin, heart, venom etc. Maybe "absorb spells" could be included with the Similar benefits listed above for the summon undead spells. Possibly lower benefits though.

 

Mana cost (Necromancy skill level)*(0.75)*(Restoration spell mana cost to "absorb" health, fatigue, mana, or attribute - but not skills)

Thus a spell that cost 20 mana to Absorb Health , would cost 15 Mana to cast with Necromancy

 

Duration (Necromancy skill level)*(1.10)*(Restoration spell mana cost to "absorb" health, fatigue, mana, or attribute - but not skills)

A 30 second Absorb Health spell would last 33 seconds as a Necromancy spell.

 

Effects for gaining more potent Absorb spells at lower levels should probably cost (Necromancy skill level)*(1.50)*(Absorb spell as mentioned above)

 

Also. I hate html board code.

Second post to come later

[WodGod]

Post 2

 

Novice - Penalty (all novice skills seem to have a penalty) - provide a small penalty to social interaction

 

The newly indoctrinated acolyte is less capable of controlling their darker impulses, and they have yet to discover how to hide the stain of negative energy. It could be governed by NPC responsibility.

It could lower current or maximum disposition by 1 – 10. Possibly Disposition/10. (Note this could result in already low Disposition NPCs attacking the PC.)

I almost recommend this penalty for anyone with the necromancy skill at all. Maybe it will have fewer negative effects as you increase in mastery, as evil people will respect you more.

 

High responsibility (above 60-80?) NPC shopkeepers might refuse to sell to the player (Note: this could be annoying when related to quests.)

Alternately they might refuse to sell items worth more than [(100/responsibility )*100] gold pieces. Less crippling, and most quest items are fairly inexpensive.

This should result in fences with responsibility below 30 selling most things up to 3000 gold.

 

Low responsibility (below 50) NPCs might require bribes to speak to you at all, as they may already be under scrutiny from the law.

The cost of the bribe could be PC Level/10 for NPCs below level 10

The cost of the bribe could be PC Level + [NPC level+(100-NPC morality) for NPCs above level 10.

A level 25 NPC with morality 20 might then require a bribe of 105 gold +PC level

 

These suggestions are arbitrary. I have a level 55 character with almost 300,000 gold.

 

Given that if you *want* necromancy you will level it quickly, having a penalty at all is more for flavor than anything

[WodGod]

Post 3

 

Benefits of higher level skill mastery perks for Journeyman Expert and Master might include adding alchemy uses to various bone pieces and body parts which already exist in game.

 

The first alchemy ability could be blank or empty, using a placeholder, to show how only more experienced necromancers would know how to use them properly. There might need to be some kind of check to determine if the player has the necromancy skill to decide weather or not to display the extra alchemy functions. Alternately, they may require the items to be used in a specific device to create the special potions, and have books or scrolls show recipes. That way it could remove the alchemy component from it altogether. Either way, I would like to see more uses for the Argonian heart.

 

Maybe add a feature allowing harvesting "human" hearts from Nord, Imperials etc at Expert level, which could be sold or traded to NPC's for special items (Welkynd stone?) or privileges (the right to feed for free for vampires?).

Maybe add a Khajit heart, Orc heart, and an Elf heart as well? A Vampire heart could be pretty cool.

 

At master merchants might sell very high cost clothing (comparable to ebony or daedric in cost) with no armor value, but with better enchantment values.

These items might even offer a hidden Disposition bonus equal to +1 point per 1000 gold piece cost of the base item.

This would occur because people generally respond better to you depending on what you wear.

This should be hard coded into the item, to prevent it from changing if modified by enchantments.

Care would need to be taken to reduce the value multiplier for enchanting them, otherwise when they are sold, the smallest piece could be worth outrageous amounts.

On the reverse side, in vanilla Oblivion the highest merchant gold I have seen was approximately 2500, which is below the cost of some of the base normal pieces.

 

Maybe allow access to special spells with multiple similar effects.

I was always disappointed that I could not have a spell with Fortified or Restored multiple attributes simultaneously.

At Journeymen you could have access to spell combinations with two spells, Expert three spells, Master 4 spells.

You could have the system check if you already have access to the base spell functions.

 

A spell which restored on "physical" attributes SASE (Strength, Agility, Speed, and Endurance) would check that could already cast a restore or fortify for each ability

the same as if checking if you have access to it for spell making purposes... then the spell could be sold by a merchant.

A similar spell might be made for mental attributes - Willpower, Intelligence, Luck, Personality.

 

The spells might fortify in increments of 10, for 30 seconds each.

Fortify 20 for 60 seconds, 30 for 90 seconds, up to 100 for 300 seconds.

Combinations could be made for different choices.

Maybe you only want Strength and Endurance, or Intelligence and Luck, etc.

Ideally they would only be allowed to players with the necromancy skill,

as it requires dark secrets to circumvent the rules which govern magic, created by the Nine.

 

Similar spells could allow for the conjuration of multiple creatures at the same time.

I'm not sure how good an idea it is, as it could overtax some people's processors,

or the games ability to process combat AI.

 

These ideas, are all generally based around a necromancy theme.

Maybe not all Vampire types should have access to the skill.

Maybe just one clan, and you have to do quests if you are from another clan to get access to them.

Maybe not all features will be available to outsiders.

I may have more ideas in a while regarding other features.

Edited July 24, 2011 by WodGod

[WodGod]

Post 4

 

You already seem to have some ideas towards increasing vampiric speed.

One way to implement it would be to find a way to temporarily trick the system into believing a weapon has a lower weight.

I think that would allow the weapon to swing faster. Not sure how to modify spells though.

 

To modify strength, maybe there could be some type of gloves only worn by vampires which would increase hand to hand damage.

I'm loathe to see it affect weapons, but if it were allowed there should be a system implemented that causes the weapons to degrade or become damaged very quickly.

Possibly one that requires significant effort to repair a weapon if it is reduced to 0 durability.

 

It might be interesting to have a power which modifies disposition that lasts a reasonable amount of game time (think days) which doesn't have a negative effect upon wearing off. Not all people realize they were charmed by vampires. Give them an Intelligence - 50 chance to realize they were charmed. If they fail the check, they do not receive the extra decrease for having been charmed. Maybe include a mechanic that if it brings their disposition high enough, they will select a random item from their inventory to give to you as a gift. It should probably be flagged not to include keys in that.

The only problem I can see with that, is the computer having to track the use of this power. Maybe only allow it to affect one NPC at a time?

And if ended early, to be used on another NPC, it has normal negative charm consequences.

 

I'd like to see feeding from animals implemented. Either from corpses or tamed animals.

It should be less effective than human blood. Maybe include a bit of subtitle text about how it tastes like, mud or something.

 

Maybe have an effect that causes damage inside churches?

Or perhaps only when attempting to gain blessings from specific members of the Nine.

Maybe different Gods have different penalties for the undead.

 

Maybe access to the summon bear spell the nature spriggan has for an animal shaman clan?

You could then also summon mountain lions, rats and wolves.

It seems like rats would be the easiest and most basic, then wolves, and they are both tied to vampire mythology

 

I enjoyed seeing different stat bonuses for different clans in Morrowind.

It would also be nice to see effects allowed for stats above 100.

Some skills or attributes do nothing if raised above 100, so having them increased as a vampire would be meaningless.

 

If the necromancy skill is implemented, I would like to see multiple paths allowed.

one for a death warden (like a priest who eases passage into the next realm)

one for the typical evil necromancer

one for the ancestral guardian

one for the undead killer

 

I think I will hold off posting a bit, and give everyone a chance to read this stuff and respond.

Edited July 24, 2011 by WodGod

[WodGod]

Side note. It would be awesome if there were a way to implement a weapon (or feature to explain vampiric strength) which allows a door to be automatically unlocked when struck by a weapon. Basically unlock Very hard Lock on strike, to explain bashing a lock in. It should probably be treated as both a theft and a lock pick for crime purposes, and possibly have a noise factor for drawing attention from guards. Maybe make the noise "louder" based on the difficulty of the lock. Breaking a very easy lock would likely draw less attention than a very hard one. Perhaps make the cost for the crime more based on the quality of the lock as well.