Are new classes permitted?

[zymurgy65]

I realise major skills for a class can be changed (the UOP replaced Athletics with Light Armor for the Guard class), so I've been planning to overhaul some of the NPC classes (e.g. Bandit Bowman - replace Blunt with Blade since all those encountered in Tamriel carry daggers, and I can just change the inventories of Boethia's chosen Dark Elf and Wood Elf).

 

What I was wondering is - can new classes be created? I'd like to give the Black Bow Bandits their own class to make them a hybrid melee/ranged combat class with Blunt, Block and Marksman. Is this permitted, or will I break the game?

[DrakeTheDragon]

Of course you can add new custom classes to the game to switch NPCs over to. There's a specific menu entry for classes in the CS and an entire category here on Nexus for mods that do that.

 

In how far changing an NPC's class will affect other parts of the game I can't really tell. There's sometimes more things bound to a class than what's in front of one's eyes, maybe even some scripts reference it to affect only NPCs having that class. But that's all stuff that can easily be checked for first in the CS and then re-introduced in your own mod changing the NPCs' classes later as well. For what it's worth, Factions are much more used for things like this, from Classes I have not heard it much so far, if at all.

[zymurgy65]

Thanks for the reply. I really appreciate the advice I've been receiving on the forums here. I'm new to modding, so I'm still feeling my way and learning by trial and (mostly!) error.

 

Just for the record, I changed Dar-ma's class from Sharpshooter(!) to Commoner and the "Shadow over Hackdirt" quest worked perfectly. I've also learned that modifying classes that include trainers messes up the training scripts, so that's a no-no.

 

Most of the classes I intend to change have auto-calc stats, so it shouldn't be a problem.

[cfh85]

just a suggestion. You could always create your own classes and add new NPCs that use them. For example, the Black Bow Bandits, you could augment their numbers with extra NPCs using your new classes. If you were to do that, and them place them in a cell you create, moving them into location via script, that would probably eliminate any conflicts (if you intend to release your mods or play using others)

[zymurgy65]

Interesting suggestion. I'll bear that in mind, thanks!

[Oblivionaddicted]

Yes you can create new classes.

 

If you absolutely want to change the vanilla game you will have to change the equipment/leveled listsitems of all the NPC's of the alterd class which will likely take a long time.

 

The other big issue is any mod that uses NPC's of the same class is likely to conflict/be incompatible with yours.

 

You'd better create new NPC's and give them your custom class to avoid any incompatibility with other mods.

[cfh85]

also, another fun suggestion, create custom classes and use a script to add them to the NPCs to reduce conflicts. I still personally think add extra NPCs is always the best option. Have you ever played (vanilla) Oblivion and thought "geezy pete, there is too many nasty people attacking me"?

[zymurgy65]

I finally got down to Rockmilk Cave to see what my revised Black Bow Bandits were doing, and the changes seem to have worked nicely. They were actually beating the Marauders they were fighting; the combination of ranged attacks and improved melee skills and weapons makes them much tougher.

Edited May 24, 2016 by zymurgy65