Dragon Riders of Skyrim - An Eragon/Inheritance Based Mod

[92abcdefgh]

Actually, my idea of using mages wasn't so much that they would be able to attack from dragon-back as they would be able to support the dragon in flight. Mid-air healing and buffing would allow a ridden dragon to last much longer than a normal one, and they would have to, since I don't see any dragon letting you ride it into combat unless you're going to be of some use. And let's be honest: the dragon is going to be doing most of the damage.

 

As for meele-orientated riders (as well as, perhaps, the player), I have an idea. I'm reading the last Inheritance book now (please no spoilers:)) and Eragon is clearly a very dangerous opponent even without his dragon. The bond would need to affect the rider as well as the dragon, as much of Skyrim's action takes place indoors, underground, and other places your dragon will not be able to support you.

 

For mages, this could mean giving them larger reserves of magicka, since the dragons don't appear to use conventional magic and thus could be used as living reservoirs of untapped power, since all living things gather magicka, so far as I know.

 

I like the idea of storing power in jewels, by the way. I could fit into the lore quite well. Soul gems already hold magical energy in the form of souls, so creating a gem with which you can directly store and retrieve magicka is not such a leap. Perhaps it's a magical application the dragon cult developed, perhaps a secret Parthunaxx knows, perhaps it's something one of your mage recruits could invent, or something you could invent if you're a master enchanter.

 

I have an idea for how it might work. It will probably require complex scripting, but here's the general idea: A piece of apparel, say a belt, or a necklace, or a ring, can be used to store magicka. You would be able to store all your magicka in it, and them equipping it would buff your magicka by that same amount. You could repeat the process, building up the reserve until a certain limit is reached. This would give you a vast reserve of magicka when you equipped the item, bur here's the complex, script-heavy bit: Every point of magicka you expend would reduce the buff by the same amount, so you're effectively spending the stored power instead of your own. Eventually it would dwindle to nothing, and you would be left with only what you could store naturally. There would need to be scripts to stop you storing magicka in items you're already wearing, or course, since you'd just be adding the item's power to itself, effectively cheating.

 

For warriors, the dragon could use his own t'hum to buff them in the way you can do that to yourself, making them stronger and faster than they could ever be on their own. This could be extremely useful if, say, you ever find yourself outmatched in an aerial battle with other dragons. You could use Storm Call to bring the whole battle to the ground, where the nimble, lethal warriors would quickly outmanoeuvre and slaughter the enemy dragons. In addition, these men could act as the 'special forces' of your order, venturing with you into places your dragons cannot go, relying on the t'hum of their dragons and the enchantments of their fellows to prevail. Magic can make even the clumsiest barbarian invisible and silent. Some of these people might even choose to dismount their dragon to fight while it supports them from the air, and you could use Dragonrend to send individual enemies down for slaughter.

 

Finally, over time, the dragons could teach their riders to Shout, though it would be a slow process and they would never be as strong as you, so they would need to be competent and powerful to begin with. I think it would be an interesting aspect of the mod if the riders don't just come out of nowhere. Maybe a few could have families, some of who might even come to live in your stronghold, perhaps they could have personal quests that flesh out their backstories. There should be proper relationships with the dragons too. It would be nice to watch your bond with Odavhing change from chilly respect to genuine kinship.

 

I guess I just assume that your dragon would be Odavhing, but I don't see any reason you should go hunting for an egg and trying to trick a young dragon into thinking you're it's mummy or something (that would definitely come back to bite you). Besides, do dragons actually lay eggs? They're immortal, they all seem to be male, and they've apparently existed since the dawn of time. Winning over existing dragons would be more interesting than stealing infants.

[Syonryoken]

Lol I laugh at people who question the possibility of a dragon mount. This is freakin TES we are talking about here. People were making Fallout with Morrowind before Fallout existed. Theres a freakin animation for mounting already in the game, their fight/flight animations are already in the game. This is child's play to a myriad of our top modders. The thing is, theres tons of hurdles Bethesda has already jumped for us in this installment of TES. Thats why I am so excited for the CS to come out. I mean all the crazy top mods in Oblivion seem like things I could do easily given the tools already placed into Skyrim's engine. Now that we have Skyrim + a larger modding community due to its popularity, this game will seriously become whatever you want to be by ten fold. January cant come soon enough. Thats my Christmas gift. Edited December 7, 2011 by Syonryoken

[92abcdefgh]

Oh, there's no doubt it will be done. People cleverer than me will do it, but the question is, what will we do with the dragons? This has the chance to be so much more than a fancy horse.

[Galacticat42]

@92

Well this thread is pretty much about the 'fancy horse' with a tidbit of background quests/factions.

 

If you want to see the dragon overhaul taking place go check out my mod in my sig. On top of that we've already agreed that the two mods will be compatible if possible.

[Qustav]

The animations are already there and you can even test how it looks like from dragon perspective with the TC console command. Horse controls are a good start, however the inclination and weapon controls are what concerns me as they might make maneuvering a bit awkward. You should also be able to fly in a straight line and aim the dragons head in a wide cone area (just try walking infront of any dragon and you'll get breathed on even if you're not right in front of it). This makes performing those sweeping breath attacks possible for us to do.

Something like a/d-steer left/right, w/s-steer downward/upward, space- ascend/takeoff, crouch- descend/land, sprint-toggle hover, and mouse controls head orientation and breath/claw attacks. Hover ascend/descend could be done with w/s also. If the player would be able to use his/her skills also the controls for breath and claw attacks would need some rethinking.

 

Riding a dragon might be the highlight of this mod, but the rest, such as quests and areas will be what will take the most time making. Also the real fun starts when someone makes the other areas of tamriel open and we'll have the whole continent to explore on the sky!

[Yuurt]

Tis why I don't see the need, use, or possibility of a character using his own combat moves and bows and spells on dragonback. You theoretically could use archery or projectile spells by making dragon head control and attack autonomous, but it's not plausible while flying, and it's tedious to switch controls and gameplay whenever you land (I'd still use the dragon's Thu'ums and jaw attacks.

Also @92abcdefgh, I thought the idea was to use existing Dragonborn, one of each race? It only makes sense as you can't just give a normal person your abilities. Take combat; blood of enemy combatants can definitely get in your own blood during melee combat, so does that make a third of the foes you duel contain Dragonblood? No, not really.

[92abcdefgh]

Have you read the whole thread? This is going to get a bit confusing if not. Earlier on, the idea was mooted that we could somehow 'create' other dragonborn to act as dragon riders in the new faction. Many methods were put forward, including drinking dragon blood and absorbing portions of their souls, but it all seemed like a somewhat shaky premise, since the main character was born this way. There was also the idea of finding others, since it is mentioned that multiple dragonborn can exist at one time. If any do exist, however, no one, even they themselves know, and the only known way to awaken their latent abilities is to kill a dragon in front of them and see what happens. Not the most practical solution.

 

I first waded into the discussion suggesting that riders weren't needed at all. The dragons are fully sentient after all, and I couldn't see the rider being very useful.

 

Then I suggested that the riders might be mages, people who were already experienced and powerful, who could gain the respect of a dragon and then ride it into combat, buffing and healing it so no foe could best them. This would be necessary if your order was going to act as a sort of dragon 'police force' keeping control of the other dragons, which seems a more humane solution that just killing them all like the Blades did.

 

As for why i suggested the order could act as a police force for the dragons once Alduin's gone.... well, the faction has to do something, doesn't it?

Edited December 7, 2011 by 92abcdefgh

[Qustav]

The idea of there being existing dragonborn isn't any more plausible than sharing blood. Remember that a dragonborn is a person chosen by Akatosh himself to be his champion in times of great need. Although there could be several in the same time period, the last know dragonborn was Martin Septim and that was 200 years ago. The thought of 10 or so dragonborns suddenly appearing at the same time is just ridiculous lorewise. Sharing blood wouldn't mean anything either, as it's the soul of a dragon that gives a dragonborn the abilities they possess. The most plausible solution would be for the a rider's and a dragon's souls to be somehow linked (as is in the inheritance series). The benefits of said link for the rider resemble those that a "normal" dragonborn is naturally equipped with, though to a lesser degree, and for the dragon a more stable mindset for one (skyrim dragons are power hungry beings by default; this might also go with Paarthurnax spreading the way of the voice and to some extend could go with the inheritance lore?).

An added benefit for the rider (although it wont affect gameplay in any way) would be the immortality of the linked dragon leaking to the rider (inheritance anyone?). This would also give the aldmeri dominion a reason to be mad at the riders and add some juice to the quests?

Edited December 7, 2011 by Qustav

[Barlas]

I am going to point out what I believe will be relatively easy for this mod to be done, based on Oblivion's Construction Set.

 

The actual riding of the dragon (EASY):

 

Totally possible, with no need of adding new animations. There is a riding dragon animation already, you just need to make a dragon act like a horse. Also attach the no clip command to it, so you can fly.

 

Making of the new faction (EASY):

 

Totally possible and most likely easiest part of the entire mod. You just create a new faction and add the dragons and npc's you choose to be a part of it to your custom faction.

 

Thinking of a storyline (MEDIUM):

 

The basic story you are conveying is the Dragonborn making some sort of pact with the dragons to form an alliance. A possibility for some story, is to make a reason why dragons don't want to harm the races of Nirn. For example, say they like to have conversations with others and would like to teach Nirn race's dragon language, and that some just enjoy burning down villages.

 

This of course, would also make a new faction, the Nirn race's that entirely hate the dragon and dragonborn. Think Oblivion's Necromancers vs Mage's Guild. It is a similar kind of hatred.

 

You could also pick a side, and have it affect villages and small settlements by either destroying them entirely, or having some dragon protecting them.

 

Making of this alliance base (MEDIUM):

 

You need to think of a place with a lot of flyable area and perches. I would think a mountain settlement of some sort. Maybe a mountain in the north protected by a dragon that constantly shouts dragon language that forges a barrier around it, so only people with knowledge of the dragon's tongue can enter?

 

Making the actual quests (HARD):

 

I believe making the actual quests would be the hardest part honestly. That, and thinking of voice actors (if any, I would gladly help) for various npc's. The new engine quest system for Skyrim might make this difficult for it might not be the same as Oblivion.

 

 

My opinion. Do not steal.

[Yuurt]

@92abcdefgh Yes I did read the whole thread, and in my post I was trying to advocate for multiple Dragonborn over blood sharing, though Qustav makes a good point against it. I guess linking npcs and dragons could work if the characters were fleshed out and had rich backstories, though this definitely does very blatantly turn to Inheritance lore (not like it's a bad thing).