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Vampire: the Blood Fiend

eyk003

By eyk003
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eyk003

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The following mod is an AMBITIOUS and COMPREHENSIVE overhaul of how Vampirism works in Skyrim. I have always disliked how Vampirism was handled (by Bethesda & most community modders) by giving the player some passive bonuses & some gimmicky spells. I wanted to design and create a mod that changed gameplay in compelling ways.

 

Without further ado, I present:

 

Vampire: the Blood Fiend

Blood Is Everything

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6c/Munch_vampire.jpg

(Artwork credited to Edvard Munch)

 

[Concept]

 

To vampires, blood is everything; the energy to move, think, act, as well as fuel for all vampiric powers.

Well-fed, a vampire can grow to become terrifying.

Without enough blood, the vampire grows weak and becomes vulnerable.

 

The more blood you drink, and more you use your vampiric abilities, the stronger you become.

If you become dangerous enough, you will be hunted.

As you become even more powerful, your hunters will organize, and grow in power and number.

You may decide to hide, and over time your hunters will begin to dwindle in numbers.

You may decide to destroy them entirely, and show them what it means to hunt the Blood Fiend.

 

The choice is yours, but remember:

 

Blood Is Everything.

 

 

 

[systems]

 

Blood Fiend will introduce two unique systems which interact with all aspects of the mod to produce an immersive, dynamic experience.

The first of these is the “Blood Pool” system. The second is “Vampire Infamy”. These two systems interact with player actions & decisions to influence and determine character progression as a vampire.

 

This section begins with an explanation of the “Blood Pool”, Blood Fiend’s core system.

Then, I discuss how the blood pool interacts with character progression.

After that, I introduce the “Vampire Infamy” system and explain how it affects gameplay.

 

Finally, I will explain how everything comes together coherently to form a single system.

 

 

 

THE BLOOD POOL

 

Once the player becomes a vampire, he no longer possesses health, stamina, or magicka.

 

Instead, players manage a single large resource pool called the “blood pool” which substitutes health, stamina, and magicka.

 

All events which previously drained health, stamina, and magicka now drains blood pool instead; this includes taking damage, power attacks, eagle eye, sprinting, & casting spells (so on and so forth).

 

Additionally, vampires possess special powers which also cost blood to cast, activate, or maintain.

Using these powers will never drain the player’s blood point below 1 (if the player attempts to use a power without enough blood point, the power will simply fail).

 

The blood pool also drains at a constant rate, simply to maintain the vampire's existence.

This is called base rate of blood consumption, or “base consumption” for short.

Base consumption will never drain the player’s blood point below 1.

 

If the player is exposed to sunlight, his blood pool drains even faster to counter-act the harmful effects of sunlight.

 

Waiting drains the blood pool as normal, while sleeping allows the vampire to fall into torpor, significantly reducing base consumption.

 

The player can replenish their blood pool through feeding.

 

The player will be able to feed on sleeping humanoid NPCs.

They will gain abilities that allow them to feed on NPCs who are awake under certain circumstances.

 

Any items which previously restored health, stamina, or magicka no longer affect the player.

Any attempts to heal the player through magic will have no effect.

 

In return, the player will eventually be able to find, buy, or create special blood potions for portable blood consumption.

These will be rare and costly.

 

 

 

BLOOD STARVATION & DEATH

 

When the player is down to his very last blood point, the player enters blood starvation.

 

In this state, the player is extremely vulnerable and will experience final death at the slightest damage.

Blood consumption stops, and the player is unable to take any action which requires blood points.

Any exposure to sunlight will result in the player’s death.

 

A blood starved vampire is instantly recognized by all as a monster and will be attacked-on-sight (weaker NPCs may flee).

 

The blood starved vampire retains all basic vampiric passive bonuses, as well as any passive milestone bonuses which he has not yet lost due to Vampirism skill regression.

 

Finally, a blood starved vampire receives a special feeding ability which, if used successfully, can restore a large number of blood points.

 

It is possible for the vampire to die without reaching blood starvation.

For example, the player has 20 blood points left, when a troll hits the player for 25 damage.

The player dies as a result.

However, a vampire cannot overspend his blood points and accidentally commit suicide.

If there are not enough blood points to cast/activate/maintain an ability, that ability will simply fail to occur.

 

 

 

DYNAMIC CHARACTER PROGRESSION: VAMPIRISM SKILL TREE

 

Upon becoming a vampire, the player gains the “Vampirism” skill tree.

Henceforth, all character progression is tied to this skill tree.

 

All other skills will increase with use as before, but will not contribute toward gaining levels.

 

Each point of skill gain in Vampirism levels up the player which rewards the player with a larger blood pool and perk(s).

Perks can be spent on normal skill trees, or on special Vampirism perks unlocked as the player progresses along the Vampirism skill tree.

 

Vampiric powers grow stronger at milestones along the Vampirism skill tree.

These bonuses are automatically rewarded to the player once they reach the appropriate level in the Vampirism skill tree, and do not require spending perk points.

 

Additionally at each milestone, the base consumption speeds up.

 

Like other skills, Vampirism increases with use.

 

As a general rule, actions or events that drain the blood pool WHICH ARE NOT TIED TO OTHER SKILL INCREASES will contribute toward Vampirism.

 

The player gains experience towards Vampirism simply by maintaining their vampiric existence (through base consumption).

 

Taking damage also counts toward increasing Vampirism, as well as sprinting, but NOT power attacking, casting spells, or shield bashing (these all drain the blood pool but are tied to other skills).

 

Feeding, as well as any special Vampiric abilities which are cast, activated, or maintained at the cost of blood all contribute toward Vampirism.

 

HOWEVER, Vampirism WILL NOT INCREASE if the player's current blood pool is less than 50% of his maximum blood pool.

 

If the player's blood pool falls below 25% of his max, he will begin to LOSE experience from Vampirism.

 

If the player’s blood pool remains below 25% for too long, he will regress in Vampirism, losing the blood pool bonus as well as any milestone bonuses he has unlocked.

However, perks already unlocked in the Vampirism skill tree will remain in place (they will be disabled if Vampirism falls below the required level).

 

Players can regain levels in Vampirism, but regained levels will not reward perk points.

 

 

 

VAMPIRE INFAMY

 

The player will gain vampire infamy for vampiric acts.

 

Vampire infamy will be tracked separately by region, and each region will center around a city and include the outlying wilderness areas.

In almost all cases, vampire infamy is handled regionally.

 

Vampiric infamy will increase in response to every vampiric act performed by the player.

 

Vampiric acts include all forms of feeding and all unique activated vampiric powers.

The more heinous, supernatural, and obvious vampiric acts yield greater vampire infamy.

 

For example, feeding on a sleeping NPC yields less vampire infamy than drawing blood from an enemy during combat.

 

All vampiric acts, even unseen ones, yield vampire infamy.

This is to give weight to more of the decisions made by the player, and to reflect the fact that in reality, even a perfect crime leaves some traces.

 

For example, you may sneak into a house at night and feed on sleeping farmer Bobathor.

No one notices, and no one suspects vampires; however the subsequent morning, Bobathor’s friends and family notice that the once vigorous farmer is strangely fatigued and listless.

A small amount of vampire infamy is created.

 

Vampiric acts which have been witnessed yield exponentially greater vampire infamy.

Again, the more obvious and terrifying the witnessed act, the more vampire infamy is created.

 

Finally, vampiric acts committed within cities yield higher infamy than acts committed in the wilderness.

 

 

 

HUNTERS

 

If enough vampire infamy accrues, hunters will start to appear in cities and towns.

Hunters will have special equipment and abilities to help destroy vampires, including enhanced abilities to detect the player’s vampiric nature.

 

Once a hunter is spawned due to vampire infamy, that hunter is a static actor; meaning, if the system spawns 5 hunters and the player kills all of them, no other hunters will spawn until additional vampire infamy causes more to spawn.

If left alone, they will remain until vampire infamy decays enough to despawn them, and remain if vampire infamy continues to rise.

 

As vampiric infamy accrues ever higher, the hunters become more numerous and powerful.

They will become better organized and patrol the roads of the region.

If vampiric infamy reaches too high, the hunters will create a regional base of operation which will maintain a presence in the region.

 

Once a base is established, vampire infamy’s rate of decay slows down; this effect is global and stacks if bases are established in multiple regions.

Furthermore, the base will respawn hunters to replace ones that the player has killed.

Finally, once a base is established, any infamy gained over maximum will spill over into neighboring regions.

 

The regional base will disappear once vampire infamy reaches very low numbers, or until the player wipes out the base.

Alternatively, the stealthy vampire may assassinate key personnel within the base.

 

Successfully dismantling a regional base decreases vampire infamy in the region by a large amount.

If the player targets only key personnel, the base will disband after several days.

Hunters will cease to respawn at the base and will eventually disappear.

 

 

 

HOW IT ALL FITS TOGETHER

 

The blood pool and dynamic character progression ensures the following: the more the vampire feeds, the stronger he becomes.

The stronger he becomes, the more blood is required to maintain his existence and fuel his growing powers (through faster base consumption and more costly abilities).

If the player can consistently maintain a surplus of blood points, he will continue to get stronger.

If the player runs a consistent deficit, he will grow weaker.

 

At the same time, the vampire infamy system serves as a counter-force to the feeding mechanic; the more the player feeds and grows as a vampire, the greater the regional threat to his survival, the more blood must be expended for survival.

 

The player can respond by fleeing the region for a time (letting regional infamy decay), going into torpor for a long period of time, or ignoring the mounting vampire infamy.

 

Ignoring infamy will punish the player by creating a regional hunter base.

The dynamics evolve and the stakes get higher.

If the player continues to be careless with their vampire infamy, bases will be created in multiple regions, further complicating the situation for the player.

 

In this way, Blood Fiend’s system seeks to give weight to the player’s decisions and playstyle as a vampire.

The result, I hope, will be one of fun, immersion, and strategy.

 

 

 

 

[Vampiric Powers]

 

NOTE: Numbers in this section are arbitrary and will be changed after testing

 

In this section, I discuss the specifics of the powers players will possess as a vampire.

These include passive bonuses, active abilities, and toggled effects.

They are organized into five categories, with 3 of the categories representing a different playstyle.

All playstyles are open to the player to use at his discretion, and the only limiting factor is the blood pool.

 

A vampire’s powers grow as he progresses along the Vampirism skill tree, and Vampirism perks will further allow the player to customize their vampiric powers.

 

 

 

OVERVIEW

 

Blessings of the Blood: basic passive bonuses applied to the vampire at all times, even while blood starved.

 

Feeding: powers which allow the vampire additional options to refill their blood pool.

 

Prowess: 1st of 3 playstyle categories; blood-fueled powers which augment the vampire’s physical abilities to superhuman levels.

 

Finesse: 2nd of 3 playstyle categories; blood-fueled powers which help the vampire stalk their prey and avoid their hunters, as well as making the vampire more skillful.

 

Domination: 3rd of 3 playstyle categories; blood-fueled powers which allow the vampire to bend and break the will of others.

 

Some notes on vocabulary:

 

Power (means cast like a shout, default: z)

Cast (means cast like a spell; most likely charge/release)

Projectile (shoots a projectile)

Instant (it’s instant, but may require aiming)

Self (affects self)

Maintained (costs blood points per second as long as the effect is turned on, these will also be togglable)

AoE (has an area of effect; paired with Self or Projectile)

 

 

 

BLESSINGS OF THE BLOOD

 

These are passive bonuses which are always active for the vampire.

 


  •  
  • Unarmed/one-handed/two-handed attacks deal +6/+10/+12 damage
  • Move speed increased by 5%
  • Jump height increased by 5%
  • Sneaking improved by 10%
  • Waterbreathing
  • Speechcraft +10

 

 

 

FEEDING

 

These abilities allow the player to feed on humanoid NPCs and replenish his blood pool.

All forms of feeding increases vampire infamy.

Under the Blood Fiend system, vampires are not allowed to drink out of corpses.

 

Default Feeding

Blood cost: 0

Blood yield: medium

Infamy yield: low

Effects:


  •  
  • Feed on a sleeping humanoid NPC

 

Forced Feeding

Blood cost: 0

Blood yield: varies, medium

Infamy yield: high

Range: close

Power, Instant

Effects:


  •  
  • Feed on an active humanoid NPC, success rate determined by random chance weighted by level contest.
  • Successful force feeding will initiate a short animation of the player biting the neck of a resisting humanoid NPC, and convert 50% of the target’s remaining health into blood points over 3 seconds.
  • Victim is demoralized and paralyzed for 3 seconds after feeding.
  • Forced Feeding is more likely to succeed on a target that is unaware of the player.
  • Vampiric Prowess (see Prowess, below) also increases the success rate of Forced Feeding.
  • If target is dominated, Forced Feeding will always succeed.

 

Blood Curse

Blood cost: very low

Blood yield: low

Infamy yield: low

Range: medium

Duration: 10 seconds

Cast, Instant

Effects:

 


  •  
  • When a target marked by the blood curse dies nearby, player gains blood points equal to a percentage of the target’s total health

 

Blood Purge

Blood cost: medium

Blood yield: varies, high

Infamy yield: high

Range: medium

Power, Projectile

Effects:

 


  •  
  • Fires a rather slow moving projectile.
  • Forcibly pulls blood out of a willful target, will always drain 50% of remaining health and convert it to blood points (will stagger the target).
  • Random chance weighted by player’s Vampirism skill level & target’s level to drain 100% of remaining health from a target and convert it to blood points (instant kill).
  • If target is dominated (see Domination below), blood purge will always drain 100% health.

 

 

 

PROWESS

 

The first playstyle category, Prowess focuses on abilities that imbue the vampire with monstrous physicality.

Using blood, the vampire can become stronger and faster than any mortal being can dream of.

 

Vampiric Prowess

Power, Self, Maintained/Toggled

Effects:

 


  •  
  • move speed increases by 10% (stacks with basic bonus)
  • jump height increases by 150% (stacks with basic bonus)
  • while sprinting, time slows down for everyone but the player
  • 1.5x critical chance with physical attacks
  • unarmed & melee power attacks have a chance to knockback target
  • max carry weight increased by 30%
  • +25% success rate for Forced Feeding
  • while Vampiric Prowess is activated, all acts which produce vampire infamy yield 50% more infamy

 

 

 

FINESSE

 

The second playstyle category.

Using blood, the vampire can become difficult to detect, allowing him to stalk his prey or escape from danger.

The vampire can also consume blood to make himself more skillful.

 

Aspect of Nightstalker

Power, Self, Maintained/Toggled

Effects:

 


  •  
  • 60% invisibility and 60% muffle while the player is not moving
  • 30% invisibility and 30% muffle while the player is sneaking or walking
  • medium-range detect life
  • if detected by enemies, the player can break detection by sneaking out of any LOS
  • sneak movement speed increased by 20%

 

Vampiric Finesse

Power, Self, Maintained/Toggled

Effects:

 


  •  
  • Increases all skills that do not directly affect combat by +20 (lockpicking, pickpocketing, smithing, enchanting, alchemy, etc. EXCLUDES armor skills & sneak)

 

 

 

DOMINATION

 

The third playstyle category. Using blood, the vampire can bend and break the will of others.

 

Hypnotize

Blood cost: medium

Infamy yield: low (medium if attempt fails)

Range: close

Power, Instant

Duration: up to 24 hours

Effects:

 


  •  
  • Success chance depends on Vampirism skill level & target’s level.
  • If successfully cast on a friendly NPC, disposition toward player increases substantially for up to 24 hours (will break if player attacks/steals from the friendly NPC).
  • Failed attempts on friendly NPC does not count as a crime, but will yield higher vampire infamy.
  • If successfully cast on a hostile NPC, calms the NPC for up to 24 hours.
  • Hostile NPCs will break out of hypnosis if the player attacks or physically touches the NPC (lore explanation: Hypnotize is a weak mental attack, and even slight disturbances can break its effect).
  • Targets that successfully resist a Hypnotize attempt is immune for 24 hours.

 

Suppress

Blood cost: medium+

Infamy yield: low+ (medium+ if attempt fails)

Range: close

Power, Instant

Duration: 60 seconds

Effects:

 


  •  
  • Success chance depends on Vampirism skill level & target’s level.
  • If successfully cast on an NPC, turns off all AI packages for the NPC for 60 seconds.
  • Suppress will be broken if the NPC is attacked (lore explanation: Suppress isn’t strong enough to override self-preservation instincts).
  • If attempt fails, target is immune to Suppress for 24 hours.

 

Dominate

Blood cost: high

Infamy yield: high (very high if attempt fails)

Range: medium

Power, Instant

Duration: 30 seconds

Effects:

 


  •  
  • Success chance depends on Vampirism skill level & target’s level.
  • If successfully cast on an NPC, player gains complete dominance over the target for 60 seconds.
  • Dominated NPCs will take follow/wait commands, open their inventory, share their possessions, and defend the player.
  • Dominated NPCs will not resist Forced Feeding and Blood Purge attempts, and both powers will always work to maximum effect on dominated NPCs.
  • They will submit themselves to any number of friendly fire from the player.
  • If attempt fails, target is immune to Dominate for 24 hours.

 

Enthrall

Blood cost: very high

Infamy yield: high (very high if attempt fails)

Range: close

Power, Instant, Maintained

Duration: Permanent, or until player decides to end the effect

Effects:

 


  •  
  • Success chance depends on Vampirism skill level & target’s level.
  • If successfully cast on a humanoid NPC, the NPC becomes a permanent companion to the player.
  • The player may only have one thrall at the beginning, but climbing the Vampirism skill tree will unlock the ability to maintain multiple thralls.
  • Enthralled NPCs gain small bonuses to their skills and abilities.
  • Every thrall under the player’s command will increase base consumption by a small amount.
  • Once a thrall is dismissed, he or she will immediately make their way home.
  • Thralls whose level exceeds those of the player’s Vampirism skill level have a small chance of breaking Enthrall (weighted dice roll every hour).
  • If commanded to wait, enthralled NPCs will wait for up to 3 days before the effect of Enthrall wears off.
  • If enthrall attempt fails, the intended target is immune to Enthrall for 24 hours.

 

 

 

 

[Milestone Bonuses & Vampirism Perks + Vampiric Weaknesses]

 

The concept is that the milestone bonuses (every 5 levels in Vampirism skill and so on) will scale the player’s powers with his Vampirism level, and scale passive bonuses and active abilities.

 

Vampirism perks are meant to further diversify the player’s gameplay options, by focusing on improving specific aspects of the playstyle categories. The most meta-gamey aspect of the mod.

 

Weaknesses are meant to balance out the strengths, and will be added SoonTM.

 

The details are WIP.

 

 

 

 

[Production Schedule]

 

Let’s be clear here, I have a long history with Bethesda games BUT I have minimal experience with actual modding. This is an extremely ambitious mod and I am aware of this, and I do have other priorities to take care of, so here’s the deal:

 

I’m committed to working on this mod until I no longer can do it, at which point I will try and pass the mod on to a modder who is capable and is as enthusiastic about these ideas as I am.

 

I’m also looking for partners who will help me with this project. If you are interested in becoming a partner, send me a PM and we’ll talk.

 

My personal deadline for this project is August of 2012, and here is the production schedule:

 


  •  
  • February 2012: Learn CK & Papyrus Scripting
  • March 2012: Script the Blood Pool System
  • April 2012: Script Vampiric Powers/Vampirism Skill Tree
  • May 2012: Script Vampiric Infamy & Hunters
  • June 2012: Test for Stability/Bugs
  • July 2012: Test for Balance
  • August 2012: Work on Cosmetics (new animations, spell effects, etc. lowest priority)
  • RELEASE v 1.0

 

At August, I begin law school. If the mod is not ready for release by this time, I will release what works so far and shop around for modders who are capable and interested to take over.

Edited by eyk003
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eyk003 Apprentice

eyk003

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Someone is a fan of Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines... :whistling:

 

Yes! I like that game quite a bit.

 

I haven't played the pen and paper RPG, but I've read through the source books. VtM:B is probably the best vampire video game experience I've had. It's a big part of my inspiration for the mod's design. Glad someone noticed :]

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