[WIP] Way of the Monk: Unarmed Overhaul

[Woverdude]

As anyone who's tried to play an Monk-style character knows, the game is just not built for Unarmed combat. I tried to rectify that with my Unarmed Warfare mod, but it was too much of a buggy workaround rather than a real overhaul. So I decided to build a new mod from scratch, taking much more time to plan and make bigger changes. Unarmed Warfare was something I put together in a few hours on the day the CK was released, but this I hope to be a real, worthy mod. NOTE: This post will be a bit long.

 

You can check out the blog post announcing the project here.

 

There are a number of main goals for this mod:

 

1. Unarmed skill

 

Now, as you may know, the CK does not allow the creation of new Actor Values. Thus, no new skills. At least ones that are called "Skills" by the game. While theoretically I could spend a great deal of time digging through the base code of the game, assembling an entirely new skill and getting help to add it to the skill screen, that would be a waste of time and would be altogether too much trouble. If, that is, I could even manage to do it, which I am not sure of. Instead, I am using a series of scripts and global variables to level, scale, and keep track of your progress.

 

2. Unarmored playstyle

 

Fitting with the classic Monk character, and to bring back a skill from Morrowind, I also want to add in Unarmored. The way I am doing this is through a group of perks, enchantments, and items that will be added through the game. If you think that I should add a new skill, go ahead and tell me, but please have a suggestion on how best to implement it.

 

3. Perks, enchantments, and items

 

So far, I do not have any models for hand weapons. I would greatly appreciate it if someone made a few, though. If you have the time and willingness, and I can depend on you to cooperate, then I will credit you for any models that you create. If you want to make some for me, please make ones that are not gloved weapons, but are rather fist weapons like this. The problem with weapons that are attached to gloves is finding a way to make them count as a piece of armor and a weapon at the same time. I am working on a way to do that, but so far I have not found a way.

 

Thanks to SinderionsBones, I have figured out how to ensure that Unarmored perks only work when the player is not wearing armor.

 

Below is a list of all of the perk, enchantment, items, etc. ideas that I have compiled. Some of them may not make it into the final mod due to balancing or technical issues. Feel free to suggest anything that you can think of.

 

 

PERKS

 

==========

 

Damage:

+ Punches do more damage (three perks, 25%, 50%, 75%,) (added) (10, 40, 60)

+ Punches damage enemy's Stamina (added)

+ Can do a power attack while sprinting that does double critical damage (or just more damage) (Added)

 

Unarmored:

+ Raises DamageResist when Unarmored (three perks, 20, 40, 60) (U+) (Added)

+ Speed increase (Unarmored)(Added)

+ (Suggestion anyone?)

+ Power Attacks cost 25% less stamina when not wearing armor

+ Enemy Unarmed attacks do a reduced damage amount (Unarmored)

 

Attacks:

+ Attacks are faster. (10%, 20%, 30%) (Added)

+ Attacks with Hand Weapons cause extra bleeding damage(Added)

+ Attacks with punches have a 10% chance of doing critical damage (Added)

 

ENCHANTMENTS

 

==========

 

+ Elemental damage on hit

+ Chance to paralyze

+ Chance to negate or reduce damage (Unarmored)

+ Chance to Disarm

+ Chance to stagger

+ Fortify Unarmed

+ Vulnerable to ranged attacks (Neg. Unarmored)

+ Resist melee attacks (Unarmored) (these two ^^ can go together)

+ Absorb Stamina

+ Absorb Health

+ Inflict bleeding (or poison damage) with Hand Weapons

+ Punches or Power attacks cause impact explosion, sending enemy flying

+ Melee Attacks do 20% more damage (Focus Crystals)

+ Ranged Attacks do 20% more damage (Focus Crystals)

+ Magic Attacks do 20% more damage (Focus Crystals)

+ 5 shock damage to melee attackers; players 10% vulnerable to shock damage

+ 5 frost damage to melee attackers; players 10% vulnerable to frost damage

+ 5 fire damage to melee attackers; players 10% vulnerable to fire damage

+ Chance to stagger your enemies

+ Chance to disarm your enemies

+ Soul trap

 

ITEMS

 

==========

 

+ Robes of the Way: Add DamageResist and Fortify Unarmed

+ Robes of Evasion: Chance to recuce incoming Damage

+ Robes of Escape: Chance to negate all incoming Damage

+ Electric Robes: 5 shock damage to melee attackers; players 10% vulnerable to shock damage

+ Freezing Robes: 5 frost damage to melee attackers; players 10% vulnerable to frost damage

+ Burning Robes: 5 fire damage to melee attackers; players 10% vulnerable to fire damage

+ Spiked Gauntlets: Use Stormcloak Officer Gauntlets as template. Fortify Unarmed enchantment

+ Focus Crystals: Crystals with appearance of Soul Gems. Allow you to Enchant them. Have their own Equip Slot.

+ Great Crystal of the Snow Elves: Extra Unarmed Damage against Dwarven machines

+ Great Crystal of the Banisher: Unarmed attacks banishes thralls

+ Great Crystal of Moesring: 1.2 Unarmed damage against elves

+ Great Crystal of the Hunter: 1.2 Unarmed damage against beasts

+ Great Crystal of the Righteous: 1.2 Unarmed Damage against Undead

+ Great Crystal of the Cloak: 5 random-trype Elemental Damage to melee attackers.

+ Great Crystal of Fumbling: 5% chance to disarm your enemy

 

QUESTS

 

==========

 

+ Quest to aquire the different Great Focus Crystals. The focus crystals are on stands like those (perhaps sheltered in small, Nordic Buildings so that they are not lost) for traps in dungeons. The book that gives you the quest gives you hints as to their locations.

+ Quest to find the Pillars. Hints are given to their location in a book.

+ Initial short quest to find the Pillar of the Way. Player recieves letter from Monks, travels to the Pillars, is allowed to read books and use Pillars to manage their stats.

 

GENERAL IDEAS

 

==========

 

+ Unarmed Attacks against Constructs do 20% less damage (maybe)

+ Unarmed Skills books that reaise Unarmed level

+ Monks of the Way send a letter to Dovakhin inviting him/her to come see the Pillars and read their books. The monks are vowed to silence, but they will allow you to read some books that assign quests and detail the mod/features/lore.

+ Focus Crystals are a special sort of Soul gem that are filled with spells rather than souls.

+ The Great Crystals are unique Focus Crystals with powerful/interesting effects.

 

 

I need one more Unarmored perk idea. Suggestions, anyone?

 

Feel free to suggest any perk/item/enchantment ideas that you have, but be reasonable. Also, unless you are an animator, PLEASE DO NOT SUGGEST NEW ANIMATIONS. I don't mean to shout. :smile: I have, however, received a lot of similar requests, but have no modeling/animating/texturing ability of my own. I would be very glad to find someone who does and is willing to help, but I can not add such features on my own.

 

The reason for the three different categories is this: I want to have three "branches" from which players can choose from. The Damage branch has perks that relate to additional damage. The Attacks branch has perks that relate to how your attacks work. And the Unarmored branch has perks that relate to...well, you can guess. :smile: Total, there is the same amount of perks for Unarmored as there are for Unarmed, but there is some crossover between the two.

 

4. Pillars

 

Around the world of Skyrim will be added several Pillars. These Pillars will be like the Standing Stones and will give you perks that allow you to specialize your Unarmed fighting. There will also be the managing Pillars that allow you to manage your stats and perks, introduce you to the mod, and provide you with some Balls that allow you to manage your stats on-the-go.

 

 

Pillars of the Way:

Location: Across from the Guardian Stones

 

Managing Pillars

 

================

 

 

Pillar of the Way: Adds Overhaul and damagemulti perks to players. Short intro and description.

Progress on the Way: Lets player check their stats

Choice of the Way: Lets player choose new perks

Rewalk the Way: Lets player reset their perks

In between there is a table with a book that shows the different perks that the player can gain, and discusses the functions of the mod. There will also be a book that starts a quest to find the Pillars (along with giving some hints), and another that talks about Focus Crystals, and starts a quest to find the Great Focus Crystals (along with hints).

Underneath the table is a chest. In the chest will also be Balls (model of the Attunement Spheres) that have the same function as the Managing Pillars, but allow you to manage your stats on-the-go.

Around the pillars are three Monks of the Way in robes, with the Unarmed Combat Style.

 

Specializing Pillars

 

=================

 

Pillar of the Wise Monk:

 

 

 

Pillar of the Shadow Monk:

Location: the Shadow Stone

Adds perk that multiplies sneakattack damage by 6 for Unarmed Attacks.

Adds perk that fortifies Sneak by 10 when Unarmored.

 

Pillar of the Elemental Monk:

Location: Hill crest north-east of Sleeping Tree Camp

Adds perk that does 5 Shock, fire, or frost damage upon Unarmed Attacks. Adds Ball that lets players switch between magic types (Booleans). Could also do random effect of the three (check Wabbajack effect for that).

Adds perk that adds 30 MagicResist when ArmorRating is 0.

 

Note: Have Global Variable that is equal to 1, 2, or 3. When you choose an element, it sets the Variable to one of those numbers. The perk checks the value of the Variable. Depending on what number it is, it will apply a different combat hit spell.

 

Pillar of the Storm Monk:

Location:

Adds perk that reduces Stamina use for Unarmed Attacks.

Adds perk that adds 30 DamageResist when ArmorRating is 0.

 

Pillar of the Whirlwind Monk:

Location: Reachwind Eyrie

Adds perk that increases attack speed for Unarmed attacks by 10%

Adds perk that adds small (5%) chance that incoming damage is negated when unarmored.

 

 

I also want to add Pillars that have to do with Light Armor and Heavy Armor, but I'm not sure what bonuses I could give. If you have some ideas, please share.

 

Also, if you have an idea for the location of one of these pillars, please share it with me.

 

5. Focus Crystals

 

Because you will be using your fists, you are going to lose at least one Equip slot (two for onehanded people). To get around that, I am going to add an Equip Slot for items called Focus Crystals. The idea is that they are magical crystals like soul gems in which you can add spells rather than souls. You are going to be able to find them in the world or buy them. You can enchant empty ones with new enchantments, or find/buy ones that already have enchantments. Since there is going to be a whole bunch of new enchantments, you will be able to add (nearly) all of them to these crystals.

 

There will also be some Great Crystals: unique crystals that can be found around the world in special places (like the pillars). You will be able to get a quest to find them all by reading a book that is at the Managing Pillars.

 

For now I will just use the Soul Gem models. I would love it, however, if someone could do a retexture to make them look more colorful. This would make them visually distinctive from Soul Gems and give them the appearance of magic.

 

6. Enemies

 

I am also going to add a new Unarmed-focused Combat Style, and create enemies that fight like a Monk. A variant of all the normal enemies (Bandits, Forsworn, etc.) will also be added that fight Unarmed and Unarmored. So, don't be surprised to find that your enemies are fighting the way you are!

[Woverdude]

There are two things that I am stuck on:

 

Number one:

 

The Leveling Script.

 

Now, I am not an expert scripter by any means. So, please be easy on me. :smile: I'm sure that one of you will be able to read this and notice instantly how to fix it, but I have spent hours working on this to no avail.

 

I wrote the following script:

 

 

Scriptname UnarmedDamageScaleScript extends MagicEffect

{Scales Unarmed Damage over time and use.}

 

GlobalVariable Property Use auto

GlobalVariable Property Mod auto

GlobalVariable Property Level auto

GlobalVariable Property PointsAvailable auto

GlobalVariable Property PointsEarned auto

GlobalVariable Property PointsSpent auto

 

Event OnEffectStart(Actor akTarget, Actor akCaster)

Use.SetValue(Use.GetValue()+Mod.Getvalue())

if Use.GetValue() >= 100

Use.SetValue(Use.GetValue() - 100)

Level.Setvalue(Level.Getvalue()+1)

Debug.Notification("Your Unarmed level has been raised to" + Level.GetValue())

Mod.SetValue(Mod.GetValueInt() - 0.01)

PointsAvailable.SetValue(Level.GetValue()/5 - PointsSpent.GetValue())

PointsEarned.SetValue(PointsSpent.GetValue() + PointsAvailable.GetValue())

endif

EndEvent

 

 

 

Then, I created a Magic Effect that runs the Script. The Magic Effect is then put into a Spell. The Spell is used in a Perk Entry Point that applies it as a combat hit spell.

 

Somewhere in all of those codes and forms is an error. Because when I test it out, the Global variables do not get modified. Please help. :-(

 

Number two:

 

Making an item both a weapon and a piece of armor

 

So, in order to have spiked gauntlets, I need to either make an item that is both a piece of armor and a weapon at the same time, or find some workaround. I want it to be a weapon so that it can use contact Enchantments, but I want it to be a piece of armor so that it adds to the Armor Rating and uses an armor slot. I know that in GECK you could do that easily because there was a nifty little menu for it. Can anyone help me either find a way to do that or find a good workaround?

Edited March 22, 2012 by Woverdude

[Woverdude]

Bump.

 

 

Sorry for bumping like this, but I think I posted this during the wrong time of day yesterday and it got buried under all of the other new posts. :smile:

Edited March 23, 2012 by Woverdude

[ALittleBird]

Way of the Monk... haha, I like the name a lot. I'd really like that, playing an unarmed character in Oblivion right now, and I really think the developers made the wrong move removing the unarmed skills and such. Well, maybe we all whine about it now and din't ever play with it in "the old days". Maybe. I'd still like this, though :P

[Woverdude]

Thanks. :smile:

 

I too loved playing an Unarmed character. One of the first things I wanted with Skyrim was to play a monk-style character, but I just couldn't find a way. Hopefully this mod will get rid of that emptiness. :smile:

[jonniezombietronic]

So this is basically a copy and paste of some PMs between me and Woverdude

 

Me:

I have an idea but i'm not sure if it would work.

So first: Can you edit a sword so that once it's equipped you can see it but you still punch?

 

If this is possible then what if the sword looked like this.

http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/1002-1-1323703730.jpg

From the JaySus sword pack.

 

or

http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/12892-5-1331731413.jpg

From the Weapons of the Third Era

 

Could something like that work? Because there are a fair few swords with hand guards like that.

 

Woverdude:

Yes, in fact I can. And that's exactly the type of weapon that I want (without the sword blade of course). I wonder if I could get JaySus to make a version that just covers the hand...

 

I'm going to go test this idea out. I'll take screenshots and let you see them.

 

Actually, I tested it out and it didn't work... Now I remember that I had this problem with my Unarmed Warfare mod. I have no idea what it is that determines where on the body the sword goes, but by simply changing the attack animation from OneHanded to Unarmed, instead of having the sword on the hand when it swung a punch, the sword stayed belted in its sheath. Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I think that the person who made the game model would have to do something to make it appear on the hand.

[Woverdude]

Yeah, simply taking a sword model and giving it the Unarmed animation doesn't keep the sword in the hand when you punch. Instead, the sword stays in the sheath. I think there's something in the actual model file that tells the CK where to place the model on the body. I'm not sure, though. Does anyone know?

 

Oh, btw, Mod Diary #2 for Way of the Monk has been posted on the dev blog: My link

[fg109]

I'm sure that one of you will be able to read this and notice instantly how to fix it, but I have spent hours working on this to no avail.I wrote the following script:

Scriptname UnarmedDamageScaleScript extends MagicEffect

{Scales Unarmed Damage over time and use.}

 

GlobalVariable Property Use auto

GlobalVariable Property Mod auto

GlobalVariable Property Level auto

GlobalVariable Property PointsAvailable auto

GlobalVariable Property PointsEarned auto

GlobalVariable Property PointsSpent auto

 

Event OnEffectStart(Actor akTarget, Actor akCaster)

Use.SetValue(Use.GetValue()+Mod.Getvalue())

if Use.GetValue() >= 100

Use.SetValue(Use.GetValue() - 100)

Level.Setvalue(Level.Getvalue()+1)

Debug.Notification("Your Unarmed level has been raised to" + Level.GetValue())

Mod.SetValue(Mod.GetValueInt() - 0.01)

PointsAvailable.SetValue(Level.GetValue()/5 - PointsSpent.GetValue())

PointsEarned.SetValue(PointsSpent.GetValue() + PointsAvailable.GetValue())

endif

EndEvent

Then, I created a Magic Effect that runs the Script. The Magic Effect is then put into a Spell. The Spell is used in a Perk Entry Point that applies it as a combat hit spell. Somewhere in all of those codes and forms is an error. Because when I test it out, the Global variables do not get modified.

 

The first thing I would try is to change the script to 'extends ActiveMagicEffect'. Just to make sure, you did assign your global variables to the properties, right?

 

If that doesn't help, I would add debug messages to let me know the current values of all the global variables, so I know which ones are working and which aren't.

 

Also, I think this line needs to be changed:

 

Mod.SetValue(Mod.GetValueInt() - 0.01)

 

I know you're trying to use it so that it makes it take longer 'level up' the higher you go. But 'GetValueInt()' is supposed to return an integer. I am not sure whether floats will be rounded up or down, but either way, it's not what you want. For example, if your Mod value is currently 0.99, and you level up, what happens?

 

Mod.GetValueInt() will give you either 1.0 or 0.0 and then you subtract 0.01 from that, giving you 0.99 or -0.01.

[Jakisthe]

Very cool! I love martial art type fighting styles...even if my absolute favorite, capoeria, would be flat out impossible to implement :P

 

As far as perks go, how about these for suggestions? Not to steal thunder; I just think they'd be fun.

 

1. [2 ranks]-Ringbearer-Wear 2/4 rings at once, but cannot use any weapons at all-20/50

2. [2 ranks]-Elemental Chi-Can punch with magic hands by doing directional power attacks. At lvl 2, these punches do elemental damage according to the type of magic equipt-30/60

3. [1 rank]-Deftness-If any arrow comes within 2 ft to the side of the player, time slows by 2 seconds and the arrow is added to the inventory as though it was grabbed from the air-40

4. [2 ranks]-Equal Grounds-Blocking power/normal attacks at the exact moment of contact disarms the enemy if they were using an external weapon-55/75

5. [1 rank]-Dragon Punch-An unarmed backwards power attack now does the "fus" shout-70

6. [1 rank]-Paralyzing Palm-Forward power attack has a 50% chance to paralyze non blocking opponents for 5 seconds.-100

 

NOTE: these might actually be impossible :whistling:

 

[Woverdude]

I'm sure that one of you will be able to read this and notice instantly how to fix it, but I have spent hours working on this to no avail.I wrote the following script:

Scriptname UnarmedDamageScaleScript extends MagicEffect

{Scales Unarmed Damage over time and use.}

 

GlobalVariable Property Use auto

GlobalVariable Property Mod auto

GlobalVariable Property Level auto

GlobalVariable Property PointsAvailable auto

GlobalVariable Property PointsEarned auto

GlobalVariable Property PointsSpent auto

 

Event OnEffectStart(Actor akTarget, Actor akCaster)

Use.SetValue(Use.GetValue()+Mod.Getvalue())

if Use.GetValue() >= 100

Use.SetValue(Use.GetValue() - 100)

Level.Setvalue(Level.Getvalue()+1)

Debug.Notification("Your Unarmed level has been raised to" + Level.GetValue())

Mod.SetValue(Mod.GetValueInt() - 0.01)

PointsAvailable.SetValue(Level.GetValue()/5 - PointsSpent.GetValue())

PointsEarned.SetValue(PointsSpent.GetValue() + PointsAvailable.GetValue())

endif

EndEvent

Then, I created a Magic Effect that runs the Script. The Magic Effect is then put into a Spell. The Spell is used in a Perk Entry Point that applies it as a combat hit spell. Somewhere in all of those codes and forms is an error. Because when I test it out, the Global variables do not get modified.

 

The first thing I would try is to change the script to 'extends ActiveMagicEffect'. Just to make sure, you did assign your global variables to the properties, right?

 

If that doesn't help, I would add debug messages to let me know the current values of all the global variables, so I know which ones are working and which aren't.

 

Also, I think this line needs to be changed:

 

Mod.SetValue(Mod.GetValueInt() - 0.01)

 

I know you're trying to use it so that it makes it take longer 'level up' the higher you go. But 'GetValueInt()' is supposed to return an integer. I am not sure whether floats will be rounded up or down, but either way, it's not what you want. For example, if your Mod value is currently 0.99, and you level up, what happens?

 

Mod.GetValueInt() will give you either 1.0 or 0.0 and then you subtract 0.01 from that, giving you 0.99 or -0.01.

 

 

Alright, so I fixed the script, but it still isn't working. I have a Magic Effect with the Effect Archetype of 'Script' that is Fire and Forget on Contact, and then a spell that has that effect. Then, I have a perk that uses an entry point to apply the spell as a combat hit spell. I'm thinking that there might be nothing wrong with the script, but something wrong with the way I am applying it. Can you think of some better way to apply the script or to do what it is that I am trying to to?