Ghoulification

[Maxios]

My idea is when you hit 1000 rads, there's a fifty-fifty chance that instead of dying, you become a ghoul.

Effects of being a Ghoul:

-1 Charisma.

+1 Endurance.

Radiation heals you.

You can buy a house in the Underworld

Feral Ghouls don't attack you

You can't enter Tenpenny Tower (unless you've already completed the corresponding quest in either Roy's favor or peacefully).

 

Additional features:

A perk you can take at level five that make ensures that when you hit 1000 rads, you become a ghoul.

Edited March 6, 2012 by Maxios

[tnu]

that seems like a really nice take on the whole thing.

[Phrozin]

There is this. Looks like it covers everything but Tenpenny Tower.

[tnu]

Yeah I was thinking abotu that one too. though the Perk isnt' ththere.

[psycros]

The perk you talked about could use a little tweaking IMO. A 50/50 chance of becoming a ghoul instead of dying? How about improving that one and adding a few more to really make things interesting, heh heh..

 

* Perk, selectable at level 8 - Ghoulkin: Either the Wasteland has played havoc with your DNA or there was a ghoul somewhere in the family tree. When applying radiation debuffs, the first 499 rads you absorb are not counted; i.e. 500 rads for you is like one rad for anyone else. Required for Were-Ghoul! perk. (Game mechanic: maximum displayed rads are increased to 1500 for those who take Ghoulkin perk. It might also make sense to have the character's torso become ghoul-skinned, showing how their "core" is changing.)

 

* Perk, selectable at level 11 - Were-Ghoul!: If you accumulate 1000 rads or more and stay that way for 12 hours, you become a ghoul. Gain +1 END and -1 CHR, +10 to speech and barter with ghouls and +2 HP each time you increase rad level. Feral ghouls will no longer attack on sight but will fight back if attacked by you. If your rads are reduced to under 500 and remain there for 12 hours the process will reverse (i.e you revert to a ghoulkin). Warning: if you accumulate too many rads, the results may be unpredictable. Prerequisite: Ghoulkin perk. Required for Super-Ghoul! perk. (Game mechanic: it would be cool if the change was visualized as it kicked in. Say you hit 1000 rads and you start to go ghoul. Four hours later your hair starts turning white and you get a message about "feeling odd". Four hours after that your face and hands turns ghoulified and another warning appears. After twelve hours total the rest of your body turns ghoulish and you gain all the ghoul bonuses and penalties.)

 

* Perk: Super-Ghoul!: You're went beyond being a were-ghoul..and there's no going back (or is there..?). Your rad count reached extreme levels and your strange biology got even stranger. You have all the benefits and drawbacks of both Ghoulkin and Were-Ghoul and permanently gain +1 END, +5 rad resistance and +5 unarmed. Your successful unarmed attacks do 2-4 rad damage to the target. Also, feral ghouls will come to your aid if you are attacked by non-ghouls! Any ferals you attack in or out of combat will attack you in return but other ferals will not assist (i.e. "link"). Prerequisites: Were-Ghoul! perk, reaching 1500 rad count and just getting lucky :P (Game mechanic: the first time the player hits 1500 rads, a hidden rad counter is initiated. While the character's normal rad level remains at 1500, any excess rad exposure is added to this secondary counter. Each time this count increases by 200 points, there is a 10% chance of the character becoming a super-ghoul. If the character's main rad count goes back below 1500, the secondary counter is reset to zero.

 

 

Other ideas:

 

There could be a fairly high level quest to undo getting ghoulified. Perhaps the player can pick up the trail of a scientist who was trying to make humans more resistant to radiation but instead turned a couple of subjects into intelligent ghouls. Fortunately he figured out that he could reverse the process in non-ferals, but the materials needed are rare since they can only be made with pre-war tech. Once the antidote is created it only stays potent for an hour or two unless refrigerated. These limits would insure that even if the player completes the quest he won't be able to cure every ghoul in the Wasteland..but it would be cool if there was an NPC ghoul or follower nearby that you could cure as an optional part of the quest (if they were still alive), or you could lock the cure in a special fridge and inform a doctor from either Rivet City or the Enclave of its location. If you had become a were-ghoul or super-ghoul you could instead choose to take the cure yourself, since there's no telling when a new batch might get created (if ever). This would replace your Were-Ghoul! and Super-Ghoul! perks with a new one:

 

* Perk - More Human than Human: You are no longer a ghoul but you aren't truly human, either - you are something new. You retain your Ghoulkin benefits, gain +1 END, +3 to speech with both humans and ghouls and heal 2 HP each time you take radiation damage. You instinctively know that radiation can no longer kill you. (Game mechanic: rads -1000 upon gaining perk. If character's rad level reaches 1500 he gives off a tremendous burst of energy kind of like a glowing one's rad burst. The effect that will render all nearby beings - organic or robotic - unconscious/inoperative for 20 seconds. It will also reduce the character's rad level to 500.)

[greenknightfury]

Ok.....your twist of the perk into a perk tree is awesome!! Also very reminiscent of Oblivion's vampire transformation. Loving these ideas totally...I already have a mod that sets me glowing like a friggin glowing one when over 200 rads lol not even sure what it is but imagining being a ghoul while glowing like that is awesome.

[psycros]

Ok.....your twist of the perk into a perk tree is awesome!! Also very reminiscent of Oblivion's vampire transformation. Loving these ideas totally...I already have a mod that sets me glowing like a friggin glowing one when over 200 rads lol not even sure what it is but imagining being a ghoul while glowing like that is awesome.

 

Now that you mention it I think I was subconsciously influenced by Oblivion vamps. Maybe some of that scripting could even be ported or just serve as an example.