The Night Stalker

[eyk003]

So just as a bonus to everyone that's been keeping up with the thread, and everyone who has participated in a discussion of The Night Stalker mod, here is something I'm going to throw out here as a test idea.

 

The following is a detailed proposal for a variant for The Night Stalker mod, which reverses the feeding mechanism so that drinking blood makes the vampire stronger and abstaining from blood makes the vampire weaker.

 

I was inspired by the debate in the thread about vampires and feeding and came up with the following plan to create a variant playstyle. The Gluttonous Beast vampirism shares many similarities with The Night Stalker, but some very significant differences in playstyle beyond simply reversing the stages of Vampirism.

 

As a disclaimer, let me say that I will dedicate all of my resources to finishing the base The Night Stalker mod. Once the original vision of The Night Stalker has been completed, I will see about adjusting the mod to offer the following variant:

 

The Gluttonous Beast

(The Night Stalker Variant)

[TGB00]

 

Some vampires practice restraint and straddle the line between humanity and monstrosity. Some fall deeper into the hunger than others. They take pleasure in the kill, and the more they feed the deeper they fall into the jaws of the gluttonous beast.

 

What: a variant of The Night Stalker overhaul for players who want to reverse the vanilla feeding mechanic while retaining some of the core changes of The Night Stalker Mod

 

1-[The Gluttonous Beast] [TGB00]

 

2-[Lore] [TGB01]

 

3-[Gameplay Changes Overview] [TGB02]

 

4-[Changes Explained] [TGB03]

 

Feeding [tgb03feed]

Blood Points & Vampirism Stages [tgb03bloodpoint]

More Monster Than Man [tgb03monster]

Blood Harvest & Vampire Infamy [tgb03bloodVI]

 

Lore

[TGB01]

 

Tamrielic vampires come in many varieties (source: Immortal Blood, Skyrim & Oblivion). They range greatly in powers, skills, and habitats. Yet the different varieties of vampires seem to be related, and it follows that some are more related than others. The Sanguinare Vampiris causes a strange mutation in some of its victims; these cousins of Skyrim’s vampires suffer a ravenous hunger for blood. Stranger still, they grow more monstrous as they fulfill the hunger that pervades their being.

 

Yet the more they feed, the more the hunger grows; for the glutonnous beasts, the feast will never end, and their hunger chases these wretched monsters for all of their existence.

 

Gameplay Changes Overview

[TGB02]

 

For base attributes and abilities, please refer to The Night Stalker Overview of Changes (ctrl + f [TNS02])

 

The gluttonous beasts are different from the night stalkers in the following ways:

 

1. feeding on blood makes vampirism progress

2. abstaining from feeding makes vampirism regress

3. gluttonous vampires can feed during combat by using the power of Blood Harvest (1/3 as effective as feeding on sleeping NPCs)

4. gluttonous vampires gain progressively stronger health, stamina, and magicka regeneration bonuses at stages 2, 3, & 4

5. gluttonous vampires must expend blood to use Embrace of Shadows, Vampire’s Servant (magicka & stamina cost is removed from this ability, and the ability is reverted to being a power, but can still be used multiple times a day), & Vampiric Seduction

6. gluttonous vampires can regress in vampirism through excessive use of powers that require the use of blood (3 times per stage)

7. gluttonous vampires are feared and hated at stage 1 and stage 4 (can interact with society at stage 2 & 3)

8. gluttonous beasts retain stage 4 sun & fire weaknesses no matter what stage of vampirism they are in

9. gluttonous vampires loses a blood point every 6 hours (regresses in vampirism stage every 18 hours instead of 24)

 

New Abilities

 

Passive

 

Parasitic Regeneration: Health, stamina, and magicka regenerates 10/20/30% faster, applies to stage 2+ vampires.

 

Active Powers

 

Blood Harvest: short-range, targetted ability calls forth a weakened enemy’s blood to the vampire, violently draining the blood from the target. If successful, kills the target and awards the vampire 1 blood point. Can only be used on humanoid NPCs who have been disabled or are at less than 10% health. Can be resisted (level based contest with a random change modifier slightly favoring the vampire). Can be used multiple times a day. Successfully using this power accrues a small amount of vampire infamy.

 

Changed from Night Stalker

 

Vampire’s Servant: no longer a spell-like ability, reverted to being a power (does not require free hands to cast).

 

Changes Explained

[TGB03]

 

Two principles guided the design of The Gluttonous Beast variant of The Night Stalkers vampirism overhaul:

 

• 
   
  
• A gluttonous vampire grows stronger as it feeds, weaker as it starves. More feeding options and blood becomes a valuable and micromanageable resource.
  
• A gluttonous vampire is more monstrous than the night stalker: vampiric advantages and disadvantages are both amplified
  

 

Feeding

[tgb03feed]

 

For gluttons, feeding works on a different principle. The gluttonous vampire grows in power as he feeds, reaching the height of his vampiric abilities only when he is fully gorged on the blood of his prey.

 

Gluttonous vampires can feed on sleeping victims and this will progress vampirism by 1 stage, or 3 blood points.

 

Gluttonous vampires can also feed on NPCs using the Blood Harvest power. Blood Harvest will allow gluttons to finish off a weakened foe and gain a single blood point by tearing the blood from the victim’s veins.

 

Gluttonous vampires will accrue an invisible rating called Blood Points as they feed.

 

Blood Points & Vampirism Stages

[tgb03bloodpoint]

 

Blood point rating will range from 1~12, and as the vampire gains and loses blood points, he or she progresses and regresses in their vampirism stages.

 

Blood point rating 0~3: Stage 1 Vampirism

Blood point rating 4~6: Stage 2 Vampirism

Blood point rating 7~9: Stage 3 Vampirism

Blood point rating 10~12: Stage 4 Vampirism

 

The glutton’s vampiric body consumes a single blood point every 6 in-game hours. As gluttonous vampires suffer from a ravenous hunger, they must continue to feed in order to avoid the maddening, weakening pain of blood starvation.

 

In addition, blood points fuel the glutton’s vampiric powers. Embrace of Shadows, Vampiric Servant, and Vampiric Seduction all consume a single blood point per use, but does not require

 

As soon as the vampire’s blood point rating reaches an appropriate range, the vampire regresses or progresses in vampirism stage accordingly, losing and gaining bonuses on the fly.

 

The intent with the feeding and blood point system is that the gluttons’ expanded feeding options and the ability to power up more easily is balanced with the fact that the glutton’s vampirism is more dynamic in its progression and regression. Rather than the slower-paced management of vampirism stages, the glutton’s blood point management is fast-paced and dynamic. During the course of a single dungeon run, the gluttonous vampire may likely progress and regress in vampirism stages more than once as they use vampiric abilities and feed on their opponents.

 

In order to retain the stealthy aspect of Skyrim’s vampires and reward the more tedious process of sneaking up to a sleepingn victim, feeding on a sleeping victim will award the glutton 3 blood points as opposed to the 1 blood point gained from Blood Harvest.

 

More Monster than Man

[tgb03monster]

 

An important design philosophy governing changes made in The Gluttonous Beast is to create a gameplay experience of a vampire more monster than man in comparison to the night stalkers.

 

The gluttonous vampire gain additional benefits from being blood-gorged, in the form of Parasitic Regeneration, which awards progressively increasing regeneration benefits to all three vital statistics (health, stamina & magicka) as they advance in vampirism stages.

 

The gluttonous vampire also benefits from the fact that they can use certain vampiric abilities multiple times a day, but they expend blood points each time they do so. Fully gorged, the gluttonous vampire can use the Embrace of Shadows ability three times in rapid succession; however, the third use of the ability will regress the vampire to stage 3 vampirism until further feeding.

 

To balance Parasitic Renegeration & the ability to use vampire powers an unlimited number of times a day provided the vampire keeps well fed, the gluttonous vampire suffers from more exagerrated vampiric weaknesses.

 

Sunlight weakness & fire weakness are both locked at stage 4 intensity for the gluttonous vampire. This means that the gluttonous vampire remains just as vulnerable to sun light and weakness at stage 1 as he does at stage 4.

 

Another important part of The Gluttonous Beast system is that a gluttonous vampire is feared and hated by the general populace at stage 1 as well as stage 4. The gluttonous beasts suffering from extreme hunger are no longer able to hide their unholy thirst and reveal their monstrous nature. At his strongest at stage 4, a blood-gorged vampire is filled with too much unholy energy to hide his vampirism. This adds another dimension of blood as resource management, and combined with the slightly faster blood drain (1 stage/24 hours for the night stalker, 1 stage/18 hours for the gluttonous beast) helps to add to the sense of enhanced alienation from human society.

 

Blood Harvest & Vampire Infamy

[tgb03bloodVI]

 

Successful use of Blood Harvest, even outside of the view of witnesses and even against unlawful NPCs accrue a small amount of regional vampire infamy. Death by Blood Harvest is noticeably unnatural. Any traveler or hunter may suspect vampire activity in an area when coming upon a bandit whose corpse is drained of blood with no sign of where the blood went to. To balance out the fact that a gluttonous vampire will be doing a lot of feeding through Blood harvest, the amount of vampire infamy gained for Blood Harvest will be a fraction of succesfully feeding on a sleeping victim without witnesses.

 

Using Blood Harvest in front of lawful witnesses will accrue a large amount of vampire infamy.

 

Thanks for reading as usual and please, discuss.

 

-eyk

Edited November 23, 2011 by eyk003

[eyk003]

Love it so far, Eyk.

 

I'll have to admit, I was very much in favor of making vampires grow stronger as they fed instead of vice versa, but after reading your post, I can certainly appreciate the effort to keep it in line with the original intent of vampires in this game.

 

Either way, here are a few other suggested modifications that could possibly fit into your change set without dramatically altering your vision:

 

-Vampiric Seduction: Possibly introduce the concept of a random % modifier that sits on top of the base stat checks for success. This way, players could be given a chance, albeit small, that they could take over the mind of a more powerful being. However, failure could likely result in death as the paralysis sets in.

 

-Jump speed/run speed: Slight increases as your traverse up the tiers of vampirism. i.e. T1: 5%, T2: 10%, etc. Numbers here are arbitrary, I'd leave it up to you to find appropriate/noticable modifiers.

 

-Vision: What if vampire vision was not activated, but a passive ability? It could make the nights and darkness quite a bit brighter. But, during the day, everything is darkened and a slight edge blur introduced to further impose penalties for the vampire's aversion to the sunlight.

 

-Food: Positive effects no longer apply to anyone with any stage of vampirism.

 

-Disguising: An introduction of some type of clothing that could disguise stage 4 vampires. Chance of NPCs still noticing with a combined check of available lighting and distance away from NPC.

 

Hi Chancellor,

 

I've been meaning to reply to this post for a while now. I think you bring up some great suggestions and I'm eager to try them out once CS comes out.

 

1."-Vampiric Seduction: Possibly introduce the concept of a random % modifier that sits on top of the base stat checks for success. This way, players could be given a chance, albeit small, that they could take over the mind of a more powerful being. However, failure could likely result in death as the paralysis sets in."

 

I love this idea. A random chance for big payoff adds a lot to the inherent thrill of Vampiric Seduction's risk vs reward. I imagine it will be something small, like a 5% chance that the power will just work regardless of the contested check, or alternatively a contested roll that always favor the player by about 5%.

 

2. "-Vision: What if vampire vision was not activated, but a passive ability? It could make the nights and darkness quite a bit brighter. But, during the day, everything is darkened and a slight edge blur introduced to further impose penalties for the vampire's aversion to the sunlight."

 

The big problem I see with this suggestion is that Vampiric Sight doesn't just make things brighter, it blurs the edges, sharpens the center, and desaturates color. In other words, it's a huge, noticeable visual difference and I am against forcing vampire players to have to deal with this sight as a passive ability.

 

3. "-Food: Positive effects no longer apply to anyone with any stage of vampirism."

 

Another great suggestion, I will definitely try to make this happen.

 

If someone else comes up with a basic needs mod that I like, I will also see about making The Night Stalker and its variants compatible so that vampires no longer have to deal with basic needs.

 

4. "-Disguising: An introduction of some type of clothing that could disguise stage 4 vampires. Chance of NPCs still noticing with a combined check of available lighting and distance away from NPC."

 

Something I've considered myself. If at all possible I'd love to have such a feature added in. Similar to the vampire hunter mechanic, the player will be disguised only as long as he does not come too close to a lawful NPC. However, please do not expect this feature until the core mod has been completed.

 

It's also possible that someone else will create a faction-based apparel disguise mod, and if there is a good implementation of it in the future I'll see about making The Night Stalker compatible with it.

 

-eyk

[thatperson14]

ive been following the thread since it popped up. good ideas and i cant wait to see your mod when its done.

 

one thing I could suggest if possible would be just to add a finisher related to vampires. its something small, but it keeps you engaged and reminds you of your characters nature when you're in combat. small thing, but i think it would add a lot.

 

shift key isn't working well right now hah. your ideas are good, i can't wait to see the mod when you get to it.

[Edlennion]

Sounds awesome!

 

I love the idea of the gluttenous beast especially, but they both sound like huge improvements over the vanilla vampires.

 

Your plan sounds so good and thought through, I've given kudos already, so I hope this mod happens!

[elricshan]

the glothin vampire can they get a spell that will make an smal message pop out and tell them how much blood potency they have? that way the player can plan his/hers travels and combat.

[davi22pd]

maybe after u make the nightstalker vampire and the glutton beast u can create two factions with relatives quest and maybe the two factions fights eachother

[eyk003]

ive been following the thread since it popped up. good ideas and i cant wait to see your mod when its done.

 

one thing I could suggest if possible would be just to add a finisher related to vampires. its something small, but it keeps you engaged and reminds you of your characters nature when you're in combat. small thing, but i think it would add a lot.

 

shift key isn't working well right now hah. your ideas are good, i can't wait to see the mod when you get to it.

 

I think the finisher is a cool idea, I will definitely add it to the list of suggestions. I'll look into things like this once I get the base mod in a working and releasable state. I remember that my Oblivion was modded so vampires burn into a skeleton as they died. I hope someone makes it for Skyrim as well.

 

the glothin vampire can they get a spell that will make an smal message pop out and tell them how much blood potency they have? that way the player can plan his/hers travels and combat.

 

Yes I will definitely find a way for the gluttonous vampires to keep track of their bloodpoints. I hope not even a spell, maybe a power. The less of a hassle the better, if I could figure out a way (or a helpful person would come by and work some ui magic), I'd love to have it be part of the interface.

 

maybe after u make the nightstalker vampire and the glutton beast u can create two factions with relatives quest and maybe the two factions fights eachother

 

That's the dream brother. Meanwhile I'm going to make the two mods separate and mutually exclusive. After all the cool features have been worked in over time, I'll think about a comprehensive packaging.

 

[elricshan]

now i am thinking of the curse of hiricine mod to oblivion. where it was one main mod and many expansion mods, is it somthing like that? one main and then expanding your domain to become the greatest vampire mod to skyrim? :D

and will you add coffins so we can sleep in? maybe special coffins you cand boy and that is the only thing that can make a vampire well rested?.

[Darksun45230]

and will you add coffins so we can sleep in? maybe special coffins you cand boy and that is the only thing that can make a vampire well rested?.

I think you're getting your Lores mixed up friend. Vampires don't need coffins to sleep in Tamriel.

[elricshan]

I think you're getting your Lores mixed up friend. Vampires don't need coffins to sleep in Tamriel.

 

so no turning to mist or bat? :P