LE PLAYER (Self) Arm Amputations - for More Unique Characters and Challen

[OnceNefarious]

I mean, Skyrim is a land of warriors, right? How come the most you see anyone with is a couple of scars? :ermm:

Wouldn't it be cool if your warrior character had lost an arm in battle in his/her past and actually had to adapt to one-arm fighting?

I'm not just talking about a missing arm for cosmetic purposes like this mod idea:

http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/694015-missing-left-arm-mod/

I'm talking about adding realism and challenge to the game by being able to have a character who actually, realistically, is missing a hand or arm.

 

The mod could keep the player from equipping a weapon, shield or ring to whichever arm was affected.

Fighting would happen as if you simply didn't have anything equipped in that hand, and any actions delivered with the nonexistent missing hand will deal no damage.

Archery and two-handed weapons would become out of the question.

So you would have to think carefully about how to survive with permanently limited battle abilities.

 

I think it would be really cool and immersive and add realism and challenge to the game.

 

I not a modder, so I don't know if this would be perhaps more complicated to do than I'm making it seem. Perhaps that's why, as far as I've seen from searching, no one's done this mod yet--EVEN THOUGH IT WOULD BE SO AWESOME. (There was a similar mod for Morrowind, I know: http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=5833)

If either are true (too complicated or already done), then okay...please let me know.

[niceguy]

I guess it would be possible to create armor pieces that make part of the body invisible since it sometimes happens due to bugs. Do this deliberetly and attach a script that will disallow use of the invisible arms hand, even for dual casting of magic. For lost legs I suggest some kind of peg leg system. I guess it is possible to create visually, maybe with an added "cannot run" script to go with it.

 

In the old PnP era I created an ranger NPC that had lost a leg and got it replaced with an artifical one made of wood, metal and leather. She could not run but was not hindered much by this due to living in a swamp and traveled mostly in a small boat anyway. Dwemer replacement limbs anyone?

[Strokend]

Archery and two-handed weapons would become out of the question.

Well, I don't know. Maybe once their one-handed weapons skill gets great enough, they can start to hold two-handed weapons with their one hand; "I've grown strong enough through my use of weapons to wield this."

 

*Archery would be possible through the use of a combined telekinetic spell (you would HAVE to spend a set amount of mana per arrow fired off), or a rather clumsily reloaded crossbow (maybe their belt has a hook to rest the crossbow on while grabbing another bolt for minimal clumsiness).

 

There could be prosthetic arms (ONLY made by mages for the sake of arms) to allow some limited use of that arm; the rate of use depended on the type of arm. An iron arm would be good for use with a blocking item, but little else; a silver or gold arm good for spells; or a wooden arm for use of weapons. A flesh arm could be used for all, but at the cost of constant mana drain.

 

Lost legs could be replaced with prosthetics (The cheapest of which is an unenchanted peg-leg)--without the wearing of a prosthetic, the player will either have a very clunky, slow hopping movement, shimmy movement, or would even have to crawl around to get where they want. Wearing a common-grade prosthetic would remove the debuff, replacing it instead with a debuff to simply disable running, and slowing down sprinting and making it a "hasty limp" animation. Mage-crafted prosthetics should come with some form of durability, or their own form of limitations (sprinting costs additional stamina, or a "flesh" type mage-made prosthetic would drain mana constantly to allow it to work properly), but there could even be Dwemer-grade prosthetics with no drawbacks--maybe even come with buffs.

 

*To otherwise cope with a lost leg(s), there could be a form of PUSHED rickshaw the player uses to get around. Using one would clearly disable jumping, but they could hire somebody to push it for them; perhaps asking their follower to. During combat, the follower would, of course, stop pushing, meaning that the player has to either fight, or control the rickshaw themselves. Non-amputated players could ride in rickshaws just for the fun of it, and even use it as a seated sniping point. Losing and arm would hinder use of the rickshaw without a mage prosthetic.

 

Prosthetics would only be available at special locations, and removing or adding it would have to be done there, with the exception of "peg" types. Their could be a 'Joint' peg that allows typical walking by bending when lifted forward, and locking straight when going downards or slightly backwards, but this would still have some slow penalty to it, and, thought it would allow for jumping, it would still be limited.

[OnceNefarious]

Hmmmm, well...I don't think the point should be to make the game easier (with aids for the amputee) after making it harder (making them an amputee in the first place).

 

If I want to have an amputee, I want to have them with realistic amputee limitations; otherwise I wouldn't want an amputee.

 

So the idea of them not being able to wield two-handed weapons, not being able to use a bow, etc., is okay with me. It's actually appealing! Because, again, it would add challenge to the game. In the end, if I want a rugged player who has to adapt to survive, the fun and realism comes in with ME having to adapt, not having an app that adapts for me. In the real world, an amputee would not be able to draw a bow. She/he would have to find an alternative. And if prosthetics were available, no point in bothering with an amputation anyway, right? :happy:

 

Besides, I would ultimately--if any modder will ever look at this post--want the mod to be simple enough that it wouldn't take a whole ton of time and trouble.

 

Make the arm not there. Make it not work. That's all I want. I'll figure out the rest. :biggrin:

 

Kinda like my Imperial who wears Forsworn Armor everywhere even when I have Frostfall enabled. Figuring out how to keep her alive and well with her impractical, scanty choice of armor while trekking through the snowfields of Skyrim is the fun part. :cool:

Edited February 13, 2013 by OnceNefarious

[brokefoot]

Not a bad idea. Hell, the Fallout series always had dismemberment for the limbs - you just died because of it :D

It would be very time consuming, though, because each body mesh and all applicable armor/clothing would need to add those dismemberments. The availability of partitions is already there, in both the CK and Nifskope, but you'd have to implement them to the actual mesh files. Still, the idea is very cool. I think it would just be cool, though if there was more dismemberment all together in Skyrim. It's silly how you can ONLY lose your head - and not an arm or leg. Even if the result was death....

[Deleted1308005User]

People always have to "Go over" with the ideas?
Original request:
> Armor that makes your arm disappear/ look like amputated

Results in:

> Complete system changes about making it valid playing style
> Massive overhauls that allows you to live on without arm

I too, would LOVE to get Peg Leg.
Not because I want to make my right/left leg immune to damage due to it.. not being there.
But because of the RP value of it.
Slam -% movement speed on it if you want, I'd just want the peg leg.

As for the amputated arms and such, player itself is able to use "common sense" when using them. I don't think those need any sort of complex systems to work properly.
Of course, if those are added to NPC's, then it'd require some work.

But yeah, amputated leg/peg leg, amputated arm and maybe even amputated fingers?
Fingers wouldn't be so troublesome, but you'd still remember all your bad deeds.
:biggrin:

[Strokend]

Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear. The prosthetics would be trade-off parts: yes, it does undo the difficulties caused by the missing part, but it conversely adds a new difficulty.

I worked on the assumption that these would be for people who got amputated during play, not at the start of it. If you want to see my further explanation on it, check the spoiler

So you're adventuring through a dungeon, far from any towns, when suddenly a bandit lops off your arm. You've been using two handed weapons this whole time, so you can't very well continue through the dungeon by swapping to a dagger you have no idea how to use.

Instead, you set a sword and health spell to your only favorites slots, and do your best to get out alive, running for the town. You might encounter some simple wolves on your way, learning to use one-handed weapons with some better ease.

Once you finally reach town, you learn that the only thing you can afford is a bent branch that's only good for holding a shield. Or perhaps that's the only thing available, since you're the only customer who wanted to fix the problem.

Let's go by that second possibility: You buy that bent branch, get it harnessed onto your body, and head out with a shield and sword. You come back into town later, and a courier approaches:

"Dear [Playername],

When you came to me to get a replacement on your arm, I was honestly surprised. In this land of barbaric Nords, when you lose your arm, you deal with the loss by learning to use your other arm. But you came from other lands, as do others who reside here, and have made me wonder, how can we undo these losses?

If you would be willing to visit me in [City], or my colleagues in any of the other cities, along with some research funds, we may be able to find better solutions than merely letting you use your shield again.

Hoping to see you soon,

[NPCName]"

 

And so, you fund research for the upgraded prosthetics, paying just to UNLOCK stronger choices. It's like going into town to use the forge: Sure, you can craft some basic gear, but if you want to craft stronger gear you gotta go to the merchant to get the stronger stuff. You pay to get it and make your life easier.

 

It could be played that their research is sent to you so that you can build them yourself, but I still like the idea that you have to pay to research it and to buy it.

 

 

[AlduinWorldEater]

Dwemer replacement limbs anyone?

 

^Win. I love this idea.

 

I'm with the whole mod concept, don't get me wrong, that just stood out to me.

 

Personally, it'd be something that kinda hits home for me. I'm not an amputee; my right hand was injured badly a couple years back in a freak accident. I've had to readjust, had to learn to use the hand all over again, and I still have the occasional pain here or there. It's not an amputation, sure, but it's the idea of going through something like that in-game. I really like it.

[Deleted1308005User]

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/11784
This has some sort of "replacement" arm, looks quite good.

[Strokend]

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/11784

This has some sort of "replacement" arm, looks quite good.

 

 

The problem is going straight to prosthetics, which opposes the goal of actually having to cope with a lost limb for a while.