[WIP] Volkihar Vampire Revamp

[XunAmarox]

Hm. Well, I decided I'd post about my ideas for this since I'm going to need some major motivation to actually go through with all of it since it'll be a pretty substantial undertaking... probably going to need a fair amount of help and voice actors and such too...

 

Anyways, the basic premise is to redesign the vampires in Skyrim to be more like the Volkihar from lore, add a huge amount of a quests, npc's, a sanctuary, dens, and redo the way vampirism works in general in the game and make vampires a more terrifying encounter. None of this will even start to be modded until the construction set comes out, mind you, and I'll probably need some help with anything that is heavily scripted... So if anyone wants to volunteer to help, that'd be nice...

 

Anywho, I guess I'll just dive right into it, and start out with the skill/vampirism changes I've written down thus far...

 

 

Volkihar Level 1

 

Health: +50

Stamina: +50

Magicka: +50

25% harder to detect while sneaking.

Destruction magic costs 25% less to cast.

Health regeneration boosted slightly.

Move speed increased slightly.

Unarmed Damage: +10

One handed damage: +20%

Two handed damage: +20%

Reduced fall damage.

Can breathe under water.

Increase jump height.

 

*

 

Volkihar Level 2

 

Health: +150

Stamina: +75

Magicka: +95

50% harder to detect while sneaking.

Destruction magic costs 35% less to cast.

Health regeneration boosted moderately.

Move speed increased moderately.

Unarmed Damage: +20

One handed damage: +25%

Two handed damage: +25%

Reduced fall damage.

Can breathe under water.

Increase jump height.

 

*

 

Volkihar Level 3

 

Health: +300

Stamina: +100

Magicka: +150

75% harder to detect while sneaking.

Destruction magic costs 45% less to cast.

Health regeneration boosted moderately.[unchanged]

Move speed increased moderately.[unchanged]

Unarmed Damage: +30

One handed damage: +30%

Two handed damage: +30%

Reduced fall damage.

Can breathe under water.

Increase jump height.

 

*

 

Volkihar Level 4

 

Health: +400

Stamina: +200

Magicka: +275

You move silently.

Destruction magic costs 55% less to cast.

Health regeneration boosted significantly.

Move speed increased significantly.

Damage taken reduced slightly.

Unarmed Damage: +35

One handed damage: +40%

Two handed damage: +40%

Reduced fall damage.

Can breathe under water.

Increase jump height.

 

*

 

Volkihar Level 5

 

Health: +500

Stamina: +300

Magicka: +375

You move silently.

Destruction magic costs 75% less to cast.

Health regeneration boosted significantly. [unchanged]

Move speed increased significantly. [unchanged]

Damage taken reduced moderately.

Unarmed Damage: +40

One handed damage: +60%

Two handed damage: +60%

Reduced fall damage.

Can breathe under water.

Increase jump height.

 

*

 

Volkihar Level 6

 

Health: +1000

Stamina: +600

Magicka: +800

You move silently.

Destruction magic costs 95% less to cast.

Health regeneration boosted insanely.

Move speed increased insanely.

Damage taken reduced heavily.

Unarmed Damage: +95

One handed damage: +90%

Two handed damage: +90%

Reduced fall damage.

Can breathe under water.

Increase jump height.

 

____

 

Vampire Speed

 

Increases move speed.

Increases attack speed.

Increases casting speed.

Slows time.

 

Hotkey: F?

 

*

Level 1

 

setav speedmult 150

Time: 30% slower

attack/cast: 33% faster

 

Level 2 (2-3)

 

setav speedmult 150

Time: 45% slower

attack/cast: 40% faster

 

Level 3 (4-5)

setav speedmult 200

Time: 75% slower

attack/cast: 50% faster

 

Level 4 (6)

setav speedmult 250

Time: 95% slower

attack/cast: 75% faster

__

 

Misc:

 

NPC dies after feeding on them twice in a row.

 

NPC Vampires set to various Volkihar levels. This will increase difficulty of vampire encounters significantly. This will probably make it near impossible vs the higher ones without sneak attacks. It'll probably take an equal or higher level of vampirism to beat a strong vampire (realistic if you're into vampire fiction). And if you aren't a vampire, well... vampire encounters will be terrifying. I hope you saved beforehand!

 

Human Form:

-normal appearance

-treated as human by npc's

-slight health/stamina/magicka buffs

 

Vampire Form:

-pale skin

-vibrant glowing eyes (same color as original or red)

-enable vampire abilities

-equivilant to level 4 vanilla vampirism (all npc's hostile)

-set on fire and take massive fire damage from sun

 

Just a note on these Volkihar levels... they will be exponentially harder to get, and harder to maintain as they progress higher. I'm thinking the later levels will require something like 1000 or more feedings, and require like 5-10 a day to maintain or something, but I'll probably also have it so you can use some sort of Soul Trap-esque spell on a human npc before you kill it and it'll leave them barely alive so you can feed on them so you aren't limited to just sleeping npc's.

 

 

Right... Moving onto my quest line I've laid out... Keep in mind, the following will be super heavy spoilers for anyone that intends to actually play it at some point, and will likely ruin it for you. But if you don't care about being spoiled and want to see how I'm thinking of doing it, then go ahead and read on...

 

 

Received after first feeding after becoming a vampire from a courier:

**

 

We know.

 

-Volkihar

 

_________

 

Just East of [town] lies a well that only vampire eyes can see. Find it, and you will have taken the first step.

 

___

 

Inside, after some skeletons and maybe drauger, there's an altar with a word of power. Vol. [Vol - ki - har]

 

With night eye, there's a book on top of the altar.

 

__

************

if leaves without getting book, wait 24 hrs, deliver letter with courrier:

-

We are disappointed. You went, but you did not SEE.

 

Return to the altar beneath [town]. Look upon it not as a <wo/man>, but as an immortal. As a vampire.

***************

___

 

Congratulations, our new <brother/sister> in darkness. You have completed the first step to becoming Volkihar.

 

But you are still yet just a fledgling.

 

You have learned the first of the three words of power that make one Volkihar. And with it, you will find you have gained new power.

 

The next time you feed, you will not become weaker, but STRONGER. And as long as you continue to feed, your blood will no longer boil in the harsh light of the sun, as you retake you original form. Your skin will take back its original coloration, and you will appear as you once did.

 

You will have a new power. Vampire Form, with which you will be able to take your form as a vampire. In this form, you will have Human Form, to camoflauge yourself as you once were, and you will no longer be hurt by the sun or treated as an enemy by all, but the cost is great. You will give up nearly all of your powers while in this weakened human form.

 

Once you feed and gain your new abilities, you will be ready for your next task.

 

__

***after feeding and getting abilities***

courier-

 

Good, good. Yes, you are learning the ways of darkness.

 

You will notice now that as you feed, your strength will slowly but steadily increase, as you reach new tiers of power within your dark gift.

 

However, your gained power will also decrease over time. You can easily retain enough power to maintain a human form, however... you must be vigilant in your feeding and taking the lifeforce of others into yourself to truly increase your power.

 

But be careful! If you feed more than once, your prey will die. You may have already discovered this.

 

As a vampire, you must learn the correct amount of blood to take while feeding. Your prey requires about a day for their bodies to restore their lost vitality so that they may be fed upon again without death.

 

Do you wish to descend further into darkness? If so, there is a <dungeon thingy> called <place name>, at the bottom of which you will find yet another Volkihar word of power. Complete this test, and find your new instructions and you will be ready for for your last task before you will be welcomed into our Sanctuary as our <brother/sister>.

 

___

 

two more tasks here which I haven't came up with yet... then you're instructed or left a map of where to find the Volkihar Sanctuary and you're extended an invitation to come join them

__

 

As you place your hand on the floor of ice, your Volkihar power awakens inside of you and you feel as if you could simply pass right through it.

 

[Proceed]

 

**

This will put the player in Volkihar Sanctuary

 

The player will find hordes of skeletons and drauger patrolling, but non-hostile towards the player and essential.

 

At the end of a few cooridors and chambers and whatnot, open big doors to Volkihar Inner Sanctum. Lots of fancy dwelmer architecture.

 

Greeted when you enter by a vampire npc Galatea.

 

___

We've been expecting you Dragonborn.

 

Oh yes, we knew. It is why you were given the honor of becoming a true Volkihar, and not left as others like some weak pathetic lonely creature we could scarcely even call vampire.

 

We have accepted you into our Sanctuary. You are now Volkinar.

 

You may call this place home when you tire of your adventures on the surface. You will always be welcome here. And as immortals... "forever" is a /very/ long time. Though, I suspect your adventures are far from over...

 

Feel free to take a look around. I'll come get you if we have anything for you to do.

 

Oh... here, take this. Be sure to read it. It may very well save your life...

 

__

player given book "Volkinar Tenets"

 

1. Do not approach the High King or High Queen without a summons. You will be assumed an assassin and suffer the true death without fail.

 

2. Never kill your Volkinar brethren unless instructed to do so by your Master, or your Master's Master. To do so will invoke the wraith of the Volkinar.

 

2. Never betray the Volkinar or its secrets. To do so will invoke the wraith of the Volkinar.

 

3. Never disobey or refuse to carry out an order from your Master or your Master's Master. To do so will invoke the wraith of the Volkinar.

 

4. Do not urinate in the <?> room. To do so will invoke the wraith of the Volkinar.

 

__

******

King <Vlad Tepes?> sitting on throne.

Queen <Mina Tepes?> sitting on throne next to him.

 

-if you try to talk to them you'll be set on fire and take like 50,000 health damage, tgm/tim disabled if they were on

*******

__

When the player enters the room with the high king/queen, an entourage with about 5 heavily armored scary looking vampires comes marching in surrounding a really well dressed female vampire in the middle who is complaining about something or other to the high king/queen

 

blah blah.... either the king or queen ends up saying something like "Well, how about you take them?" *points to you* "They're the Dragonborn of Legend." blah blah, something like "Would that be good enough to deal with these menial affairs" or some such...

 

___

 

Player sent to Ophelia's Volkihar Den to serve Master Volkihar Ophelia as her Nightstalker.

 

This will lead into several dark brotherhood/companion-like quests where you go somewhere and kill some stuff, or assassinate someone, or do some kind of dirty work. Then in the end, it may result in you getting your own den, or taking over Ophelia's, or something or other...

 

 

So, uh... yeah. You can give your comments and ideas on this stuff now and whatnot, or volunteer to help and stuff if you think you can, or just show your support.

[boomnuke35]

I like the Idea of this mod it give becoming a vampire more meaning but the thing that confuses me is the human and vampire form like how will that really work? If you stated it up there and I missed I'm sorry I didnt mean to.

[XunAmarox]

I like the Idea of this mod it give becoming a vampire more meaning but the thing that confuses me is the human and vampire form like how will that really work? If you stated it up there and I missed I'm sorry I didnt mean to.

 

Kinda like beast form, except you'd toggle it on/off. I think probably use that black snaky smoke effect you get when you crouch with Ebony Mail (Daedric Artifact, not Ebony Armor) for the change itself. Basically... it'd just change your skin tone & eye color by changing your race, and when you changed races you'd get the racial buffs.

 

As for the race you transform into, a script to keep track of your vampirism level would have to be in there and that's the race you'd turn into. In other words, there would be 6 or 7 "Vampire" races (one for each Volkihar stage, and one for non-volkihar maybe). Come to think of it, 6-7 * every race in the game will be a real pain to do... but that's how it'll probably be done. Maybe I could avoid having that many races by just having some kind of script to just add/remove the active powers and skills depending on your current level of vampirism... yeah, that'd probably be better.

 

And anyways, basically it'll just be like you look like you were pre-vamp in Human-form but you'd have some small buffs in your vampire human form, since you are still a vampire, just concealing your true nature with some sort of magic that limits your powers. Then when you use vampire form you'd get the pale skin and glowy eyes and fangs and all of the abilities, and you'd be hostile to all npc's. Kinda like being human (yet still immune to diseases as a werewolf) and then you transform (beast form) and then you get all sorts of buffs and everyone is hostile to you.

 

A lot like that.

 

I hope that was clear!

Edited November 28, 2011 by XunAmarox

[uruku7]

Just a thought, Templars of Stendarr could hunt you. Or maybe some new faction. Also, in stead of a "we know." letter like the DB, maybe something that seems harmless, like a party invite?

[XunAmarox]

Just a thought, Templars of Stendarr could hunt you. Or maybe some new faction.

 

Possibly. But being hunted isn't too fun. Maybe if they say that they're hunting them, but in play it's the vampires that do the hunting of the templars in retaliation and what have you...

 

Also, in stead of a "we know." letter like the DB, maybe something that seems harmless, like a party invite?

 

Well, I guess that's an idea... But according to lore, the Volkihar don't leave their dens (beneath frozen haunted lakes) except to feed. Not quite the type to have parties, I'm afraid... I actually envision them a lot like the Dark Brotherhood... you probably noticed a lot of similarities.

Edited November 28, 2011 by XunAmarox

[mattclem0]

What about wings for gliding or not possible? Just imaginig jumping off a cliff face in the dark of night landing on some poor unsuspecting npc muhaha bit like van helsing or something?

[XunAmarox]

What about wings for gliding or not possible? Just imaginig jumping off a cliff face in the dark of night landing on some poor unsuspecting npc muhaha bit like van helsing or something?

 

That's definitely out of the realm of my abilities, but if someone else could do it, then sure. Having wings and horns as some kind of second transformation or something for vampires, where you could fly, could be really cool.

[Deleted1767731User]

I think it's way too overpowered for the player. It's almost like taking +15 levels just by becoming a vampire and +240 levels at the top. Since you're changing all the vampires in the game, they can be made more terrifying even with smaller Volkihar bonuses just by changing what stats they start at without bonuses.

 

Speaking of vampire fiction, it's pretty much constant that it's the old and experienced vampires that are the most powerful and can frequently regain their strength with only a bit of blood. Conversely, there is seldom any suggestion that a fledgling can become a match for them quickly just by going on a binge. What would be neat is if the bonuses were proportional instead, say +20% H/S/M for a fledgling and +250%/+150%/+200% for a top-tier vampire. Or something like that. They get damage reduction and regeneration on top of that, anyway, so it's already pretty damn high. That way they're not overpowered at low levels and yet keep growing with you at higher levels.

 

Idea: Make Vampirism a skill that you advance by biting necks (or doing other vampiric things), starting at 1. Have the number of feedings required to advance the skill be X times the current skill level. That gives quadratic scaling:

V05: 10X ; V15: 105X; V30: 435X ; V50: 1225X, V75: 2775X ; V100: 4950X

For example, if X = 2, it would take 9900 feedings to get to 100 Vampirism.

 

The Volkihar levels can be the usual "boost perks" every Skyrim skill gets, but ones that are scripted to be automatically gained at certain Vampirism levels, so that they're unavoidable. The way complicated perks worked in previous Bethesda games was that they added a Spell Effect, which could apply bonuses conditionally on global variables. That means the Volkihar bonuses can be made easily deactivated or toned down, e.g., if a script determines that you're starving. That also means that there can be Vampiric perks in addition to basic Volkihar boosts. Specialization of Vampiric abilities would be interesting, rather than just scaling everything together.

Edited November 28, 2011 by Guest

[boomnuke35]

Make it that every level drinking blood enhances you more. Like at level1 blood will enhance a good but not huge anount but at the highest level blood will enhance you greatly.

[XunAmarox]

Make it that every level drinking blood enhances you more. Like at level1 blood will enhance a good but not huge anount but at the highest level blood will enhance you greatly.

 

I'm guessing you didn't read the skills...