LE Argonian Immersion Project

[genespears]

Argonian Immersion Project (AIP)

Though I’ve played through Skyrim dozens of times, I’ve never bothered to play as an Argonian. Why bother? They’re basically just scaly, unattractive humanoids, with minor differences in racial abilities. There are some nice mods out there that change their appearance, but they haven’t been enough to tempt me to do a play-through.

This is unfortunate, since they could potentially be an interesting race – survivors of the Tamriel Mesozoic era to the present – potentially sharing a much longer history with the dragons, surrounded by now-dominant, mammalian, upstart races, living in an icy hostile environment that is not well-suited to a cold-blooded reptile, a history of enslavement by, and rebellion against the Dunmer, despised by the Stormcloaks (except for those who secretly peruse The Lusty Argonian Maid in the privacy of their bedrooms) and the butt of Khajiit jokes (except for Inigo), though, to be fair the latter was more a feature of “Oblivion”.

The goal of the Argonian Immersion Project (AIP hereafter) would be to change all that – to give them unique qualities and abilities, a deeper, richer history, a larger presence in Skyrim, different weapons and armor and a greater variety of interactions with the other races of Skyrim. The central feature of the AIP would be combat. Let’s face it, playing Skyrim is about staying alive – fighting hostile fauna, avaricious bandits, cruel and cunning necromancers, disenfranchised Forsworn and countless others. A fighting skill unique to Argonians would be a great way to entice players to do an Argonian playthrough.

NEXT UP: Argonian Tail-Fighting

DISCLAIMER: Though an avid user of mods, I know next to nothing about making them or creating new animations. Unless the AIP generates interest among the Nexus modding community, especially animators, it will come to naught.

 

[genespears]

Argonian Immersion Project (AIP) II – Tail Fighting

Many reptiles (especially gators and crocs, but many larger lizards, too) use their big, muscular tails in self-defense or to subdue prey. Argonians should do the same. It would be a unique form of unarmed combat that should be powerful enough to be a viable combat skill – equivalent to the damage inflicted by weapons, unlike the somewhat under-powered, default, unarmed combat. The reach of an unarmed attack should also be extended, maybe even to the reach of a 2-handed weapon.

Anyone willing to take this part of the AIP on should have some serious animation skills. (In fact, I’m not even sure this key feature of the AIP is even possible to animate.) In my mind’s eye, I can see two ways Tail Fighting could work. 1) The Argonian could do a complete 360 when doing a power-left or power-right unarmed attack – tail smacking the opponent before them, and continue spinning on around back to face-to-face. 2) The Argonian could do a quick 90 turn, left or right, so their side was towards the opponent, then quickly return to face-to-face. The tail would act in a “crack-the-whip” manner, smacking the opponent, but the Argonian would not spin on around.

A power-forward and power-back attack are a little harder for me to envision. Power-forward could be an over-the-head-of-the-Argonian attack. The Argonian would crouch, almost like in the sneak position, and arc the tail directly over his/her head, whacking the opponent on the top of their head, while remaining face-to-face. The power-back attack could be for attacking an opponent behind you, animated like the power-forward, but coming down hard behind.

In addition to the animation, some thought would have to be given to fitting Tail Fighting into the skill tree. I use SPERG, and unarmed is included in the pickpocket skill tree. Even at a low skill level, tail attacks should do a fair amount of damage and stagger the opponent. Since they’re power attacks, your stamina would deplete pretty quickly at low levels, so the number of attacks will be limited – they need to be pretty devastating. Successful attacks should give experience points to the skill tree. At mid-levels, I think some rag-doll perks would be fun, and at higher levels, more perks so that multiple opponents get whacked around and rag-dolled at the highest levels.

Finally, I think a really nice touch would be if the Argonian tail was a bit more lively even in an idle pose, though it does gently wave a bit in the base game. Maybe a little more life in the tip of the tail - twitching and flipping around a bit while standing at rest.

NEXT UP: AIP - Running and Swimming

 

[mydiso]

Is this possible?

Give an Argonian a chameleon tongue that can hit, or have a chance to disarm by grabbing the weapon with the sticky part, or maybe even do a grab-pull knockdown.

I got this idea while reading a Facebook post talking about a kind of lizard that shoots blood from it's eyes. Which would be another cool thing, if it could just be a stun, with the blood over the face/eyes of the opponent, so it's actually like a blinding maneuver.

Burying oneself in the sand would be good for sandy regions like Elsweyr, if it could facilitate sneak attack, in an opponents path before they see you. Also, a predator-like see-through chameleon stealth to make actually getting into position more possible.

Edited July 29, 2018 by mydiso