LE Creating an Archer/Ranger Guild

[Notanon81]

I have a mod I'm still working on that allows for the upgrading of arrows and bolts (see http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/51899/? ), would love to incorporate it into something like this. With the guilds themselves, the one in Whiterun could be based in a basement level of the Drunken Huntsmen with an archery range, bunks, storage, supplies and fletching tables for upgrading arrows, the latter of which is something I want to eventually incorporate into my own mod instead of relying on the forge as is the case at present. Same with the fletchers in Solitude. Not sure about the rest of the cities and towns, maybe just outside them with an outdoor range and hut for supplies and fletching tables, or have them just outside for all (including Whiterun and Solitude). Main thing I'm wondering about is compatibility with other mods that expand or change towns and cities.

 

Another perk of being with the guild would be being able to upgrade the bows with gears and perhaps stronger string to make compound variants of the bows which allow the arrows to be loaded faster and fly at a greater speed (approximately 40-50% faster) with greater damage (equivalent to the speed increase, in keeping with momentum increases from the increased arrow speed), which would involve a radiant quest to <drumroll> obtain schematics from a dwemer ruin, as cliche as it might sound. This would allow for the guild to build their own better bows, though, as a further benefit of joining the guild, as it would be a tool of elite archers instead of common non-guild members.

 

Not sure if crossbows should be involved in any way, whatsover, might leave that for the Dawnguard only to give them something purely distinctive to their own faction. Perhaps though, if the player is a member of both, mutual benefits such as the incorporation of fire, frost and shock arrows into the guilds arrow upgrades and being able to upgrade the Dawnguard crossbows in a similar manner as the compound bows along with damage upgrades of the bolts would work. Would be nice to see a few more cross-factional benefits from being members of different guilds.

Edited March 30, 2014 by Notanon81

[faffman]

I'm loving the idea. Trainers would of course be implemented in the guild, right? Trainers for Sneak, Light armor, and obviously Archery. Alchemy and Smithing could fit too, and rangers are at times force to fend i melee combat, so a One-handed trainer should be there as well. If there are factions of the guild in each hold, the trainers should be spread out, maybe there could be several trainers of the same school (most likely Archery).

Edited March 30, 2014 by faffman

[twentynine29]

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mesfqssAaY1qduufx.jpg

[Notanon81]

Well, I've roughly sketched a floor plan for the guild building, and will have a go at creating it in the Creation Kit based off either the Riften fishery building or one of the longer farmhouses and place it in the docks area of Morthal coming off the exisiting walkway that practically leads straight into the water. Want to arrange it so that the indoor archery range and crafting tables are located on the ground floor with a vendor for supplies, and the upstairs section to include the bunks, kitchen and guild leaders office, or even swap them around depending on what can be done. The blacksmith will be close to or just outside the main entrance, so a forge and so forth won't really be necessary, but might use duplicated workbenches as place-holders for proper guild-exclusive crafting tables (one for arrow upgrades exclusively, the other for other guild-crafting purposes such as ranger armour and clothing). I already plan to incorporate my previously mentioned arrow refining mod into this as I want to have a proper place to carry out the upgrades without cluttering up the forge as it currently does.

 

Anyway, will have a play with the Creation Kit and see what I can come up with.

[LambLotion]

This is an awesome idea! Im currently working on revamping all the skill trees so they are all archer related, and this would be pretty cool to have for that play-through! If you want some help i may be able to, tho im not that good at modding either lol

[SkyrimTurtleZ]

Has this idea gone any further yet?

[pyrotx]

Sounds great, just be sure to include a lot open quest areas with heights for vantage points, interiors with the same but with rubble for stealth. One other thing you could do to make new bows that have unique gameplay is to make short-bows and longbows. This is actually very easy, all you have to do is increase each new bow's weapon speed individually and decrease the damage for short-bows, but do the opposite for longbows. You can even make the new bows exclusive guild crafting. Much better than just another model I think. The guild hall sounds nice, but you could also do a hall somewhere in the mountains, again I keep thinking of heights for archers, but the reach has some good scenery too. The only question I have are what exactly is the main story line, who do the rangers fight against, and how high level is it?

Edited November 1, 2015 by pyrotx

[Notanon81]

Has this idea gone any further yet?

 

Not really, I'm afraid. Had too much going on in real life and had to put some things on hold. Still want to explore the guild building in Morthal idea, though I've also been wanting to explore an idea using SKSE for upgrading the damage of arrows and bolts based on a fletching skill derived from the marksman and smithing skills, though I would require the creation of a custom fletching table which I am not skilled enough to do myself. I might just create the building itself first and use it as a base to build upon. That said, I might test my SKSE idea separately and incorporate it later on.

 

I like the idea of short-bows and longbows as well, particularly as quite a few mods like Requiem cater for them in their perk systems. As for the hall, I was tempted to have something to do with Angi's Camp in the hills south of Falkreath, perhaps having a couple of vendors there as well. Always just seemed like there was supposed to be a bit more happening with the whole thing, IMO. The reasoning with choosing Morthal is that the Dark Brotherhood have a presence in both Falkreath and Dawnstar, Companions in Whiterun, College of Winterhold in Winterhold, Thieves Guild in Riften, Bards College and Imperials in Solitude, and the Stormcloaks in Windhelm, and the Forsworn having a significant presence in Markarth, so Morthal just seems strangely left out apart from a relatively short vampire quest when you look at the other cities and major towns.

 

Anyway, I'd probably want to treat this mod as being akin to an independent DLC in that it wouldn't rely on Hearthfire, Dawnguard or Dragonborn to function. Nothing to stop add-on patches that allow for additional things related to those DLCs in question, but I would have the aim of having it function without requiring any of those DLCs.

 

In terms of factional relations, I would have them being completely independent of the Civil War and tolerant of other factions such as The Companions, Mages College and perhaps the Dawnguard and Vigilants of Stendarr, but would be wary of the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild and members of the Silver Hand and Forsworn. The main quest would involve corruption due to the actions of disciples of Peryite and perhaps the Thalmor conducting experiments on wildlife.

Edited November 28, 2015 by Notanon81