SSE Vampire Overhaul Idea, 2019

[medievalman86]

This idea is the result of playing with a few different overhauls, and thinking about ideas to make various aspects better.

Big picture: Reworks Vampire, Vampire Lord to treat vampire lord not as a "on/off transformation" but as a progression. As Daedric Smithing is to Smithing tree, so are vampire abilities to vampire tree.

Contracting vampirism.

• If acquired during a play through, there is a base chance of acquiring it, and then perhaps there are various things that increase the chance... so its never 100% chance of infection, but never 0% either.
• When contracted, it mimics the frostfall/hypothermia event, in that instead of just waiting three days, you collapse when you awake you awake in a coffin, in a vampire lair, etc.. the same way in frostfall you wake up in an inn.
• If you do an alternate start, instead of starting out with it you essentially made a request of a vampire to turn you, and then as time progresses the chance of the vampire turning you the next time you sleep goes up... might start 15% the first time you sleep in a bed, 45% the next day, etc.. so you do infact get infected, and early on. When this happens, the frostfall thing happens... you went to sleep in an inn for example, but were whisked away to a vampire lair and turned by a master vampire
• Perhaps you request from Mo-lag himself, as a result you get thrown in coldharbour, and after a bloody cut scene you are sent back..maybe you have to find a shrine of molag, to commune and ask the favor.

Feeding Vampire:

• When you have a companion that is a vampire, he or she feeds every-time you feed, or default attack for them is to essentially to pounce on you- same way they seem to do in the movies.. only if the target has certain tags or keywords though.... so only playable races <Humans, elves, fur-balls, lizards> It would be super awkward to see a vampire trying to pounce on a spider... if playable race then feed attack, else melee or range.
• Feed has 2 options: Feed(feed) and feed(kill) Feed(feed) is, depending on factors like spell ideas mentioned below not meant to kill a NPC. perhaps there is always a chance you lose control but... feed(kill) is meant to kill. the option to make blood potion remains the same. Sneak is not required, but perhaps there is a different activation key for it?
• Perhaps failure to feed, at first doesnt affect you, but at some point begins to make you a lot weaker... ~ 50% health, etc...

Spells(all Mana or stamina based):

• Vampire related spells should have either a mana cost, or a stamina cost, some scaling function paralyzing one target might be 10% of your mana, paralyzing 5 might be 50% not base, or perhaps the same way spells and spell schools work already... novice, adept, master etc...
• There are too many vampire spells out there in overhauls, that seem to have less to do with being a vampire, and more to do with just being a mage... I would stick it to a "drain 1 life --- > aoe drain life" the effect would be more channeled, as in eso with the stream of blood
• Paralysis, Charm/mesmerize. Charm of mesmerize is what you use to speak to an inhabitant behind a owned door so they invite you in. Entering without invitation has negative consequences, but not necessarily stake through he heart level either. Paralysis is an aggression thing so you can force feed, mesmerize is a non aggression tag thing which allows you to feed. Simple, easy to understand names and descriptions
• Invisibility, should have less to do with light levels, and more to do with time of day. perhaps it cost more mana to do during daylight
• bats - doesn't necessarily need to be a flying thing, but perhaps like riding a horse but 1) faster, 2) falling speed is greatly reduced. So you can still use bats to get across a room or over an obstacle, or to that chest you cant reach any other way, but its a "state of being" vs "one time event"
• Slow Time: as name implies... perhaps is tiered, so novice level is 5 seconds, and by the time you unlock master vampire perk its 20 seconds..
• Predator Vision: perhaps you can modify it in a menu option so that "only feedable targets" show up?
• Drain(Single target) --> channeled spell, similar perhaps to how feeding in ESO is "channeled".
• Drain(multi-target) --> same as single
• ​turn 2 vamp ---> target must be alive, perhaps there are some ways where doing this isnt always an aggressive thing, single target though

Perks:

• Vampire Master, other vampires are not aggressive to you at all, unless you attack them first
• Dusk walker Night time hours start a little earlier, end a little later
• Molags Servant maximum of once every _____ hours, days? when at 10% health or less, transform into the old vampire lord form for a brief time, get some extra health or something..

 

Leveling:

• as hinted at early, you level the way you level smithing or destruction... vampire spells fall under vampire skill tree, not illusion or destruction anymore. In theory a new vampire could cast a master level spell earlier, but it would cost him or her all their mana/stamina, the same way I can cast some spells now that are a step or 2 above me, but it empties mana.
• when you do the harkon / dawn-guard stuff, this functions the same way that book from Transmundane? does... when he offers you the gift, you dont get lord form, as that is done away with but you do get + 20 levels in the vampire skill tree. He infuses you with royal blood..

Companion:

• when your companion is a vampire, you can direct them to feed on a target, the same way you can direct them to attack, or search, open, etc..
• default attack vs playable races is feed, but usual melee/range/caster attack vs dogs, spiders, dragons, etc.
• well auto mesmerize a nearby npc or auto paralyze, depending on what feed option you use.

Crime:

• the chance of incurring a bounty while feeding on a mesmerized or feed(feed) target is greatly reduced... perhaps the more folk in a certain radius increases the chance, but across the board- the chance of getting a bounty is reduced greatly for mesmerized...

Skill Tree(remember, we are doing away with vampire lord form):

Vampire Skill tree is only visible during night time hours, and replaces the vamp lord.

Branches:

1) Novice - Master branch. Can advance to next rank every 20 levels. 0-20,20-40,40-60, etc.

2) a buff(s) branches off of each rank (so when you unlock adept, you can then put a point or two into __.

perk is unlocked every mid point between every N--> M.... so at 10, at 30, at 50, etc...

Sample Use Case: USE: starting game as vampire:

Joe starts a new game using alternate life mod. Selects "I requested of Lord__ to be made a vampire" I am _____ in falkreth or whiterun, etc". Joe then sleeps, starts game.. as ingame day passes, each time he sleeps the chance that Lord ___ snatches him during the night increase to 100%(perhaps when you sleep on the 3rd ingame day is when 100% is reached). When joe awakes, he awakes from a coffin. Perhaps some dialogue with Lord ____ .S

Sample 24 hour day:

During daylight hours, you suffer debuffs, still maintain some buffs, and can not activate your vampire spells(unless indoors maybe?).

During Night time hours some debuffs(fire damage, etc) but other debuffs are gone, other buffs are better. Where as in vanilla, pressing "Z" would activate vampire lord transformation, perhaps there is some sort of visual, but you still look human, etc the vampire skill line, all spells (presently unlocked) are available

Compatibility:

• This is an overhaul, so other vampire mods like better vampires or sacrosanct would be out

Edited May 18, 2019 by medievalman86