The making of a good mod NPC
booinyoureyes
Member Posts: 6,164
Excuse the following wall of text, but I’ve been thinking about what I like in a mod NPC for a while now. I’ve always found the idea of making one to be really interesting. I enjoyed some different mod NPCs to various extents, and have tried many for short durations. Usually they don't catch my attention enough to keep them with me for extended runs, but I enjoyed Kelsey and Angelo quite a bit and played with them for a long time in some runs. (also currently using Xan mod, which I kinda enjoy)
There are a couple criteria that I’d personally like to see mod NPCs meet. I’m interested to see what others think about what makes a mod NPC interesting and what sort of character they would be interested in adding to their party and Baldur’s Gate experience.
So please come share what you like (or dislike) in mod NPCs. What do you think would add quality? What detracts from the playability of certain mods? What would improve the game in terms of characters?
Just a note: I don’t mean to bash any existing NPC mods or diminish the work of modders. I appreciate anyone who shares things for my enjoyment, even if I don’t like their work. Examples of what “not to do” are welcome in this discussion, but I’d like to refrain from bashing other people’s creations entirely, since this is a very subjective topic.
I’ll start with a couple of my preferences (placed in spoiler tags for ease-of-use ;p)
1. I think in terms of immersion it is very important for the character to be thematically consistent with existing Bioware NPCs. I mean this in terms of dialogue matching the original content, having the character not have interests or goals that seem out of place in Amn/Forgotten Realms and giving him goals that are realistic for a person in his position and an attitude and demeanor that is consistent with a medieval fantasy environment. I don’t really like the whole “my character is so super-special and unique and awesome” thing that usually happens with modd NPCs. Being unique is important to me, but there is a difference between standing out and having a huge neon sign saying “look at what the writer is trying to do/say! Isn’t it just awesome!”. I’m not saying it should be unambitious, just not too “try-hard” if you know what I mean.
For example (no disrespect to the creators of it) the Saerilith mod kind of took over my story when I installed it. I thought that the NPC stood out too much and that the author tried a bit too hard to make her seem “super-awesome-cool” at the expense of immersion.
2. Very important to me is that the character should have a good reason to travel with CHARNAME and his party. I think that it is often kind of weird how even original Bioware NPCs seem to have little reason to be willing to follow charname anywhere, and I mostly think this has to do with short friendship paths. This is one area in which I think the NPC sticking out a bit would be a good thing. Oftentimes the reasons why many NPCs are aligned with charname (not including the “canon” party or even all other characters, but a lot) have to do solely with alignment (ie Evil characters follow you because you are evil, Good because you are good. The Law-Chaos axis seems to be secondary). Nalia for example seems to have different goals that a Lawful Neutral priest of Helm would be expected to have, yet the game is limited in exhibiting this possible conflict of interests (not saying she should leave the party, but having some sort of dialogue about what a character wants out of adventuring with you is really nice). One way to do this would be an extensive friendship path that shows why the theoretical NPC would stick with your character on his journey to fight Irenicus or the Iron Throne or become a god, etc. I think BG1 actually did a better job with this than BG2, since Kivan, Xan, Branwen, etc were linked to the Iron Throne/Bandits/other bad guys and had reasons to ally with you.
So basically three reasons I can think of: The NPC hates Irenicus/the Iron Throne (or fights evil unconditionally), they want to benefit personally from the alliance (which would allow for some actual trade-off to be implemented ie share of the loot) or they form a bond with charname and his companions that is tighter than the dialogue from the vanilla game could show (friendship paths for the win!)
3. Friendship paths or mentor paths. Romance would be nice too, but not necessary. I always thought it was weird that in order to get a good insight into the NPCs you need to be bonking them. This is limiting for non-romanceable character. I mean in real life, I like many others have one love but many close friends. I think the in-game relationships should be similar. There are many things you would be comfortable sharing with or discussing with close friend (an traveling through dangerous locales fighting fierce monsters lends itself to forming deep bonds). I’d like to have a way for a mod NPC to exhibit this kind of camaraderie in ways that don’t make romantic relations necessary.
I also really like the idea of mentor paths. Your character is very young in this game and is given huge responsibilities. Older and more experienced NPCs should have some valuable advice for a newbie adventurer that would help keep them alive. One of my favorite inter-NPC interactions are between Keldorn and Minsc. Keldorn takes Minsc under his wing and kind of teaches him some things, guiding him in how to direct his anger in constructive ways. He has similar interactions with Aerie and especially Anomen. This is awesome. Keldorn and in some ways Jaheira have some similar convos with the Bhaalspawn, but more along these lines would be welcome. If the character were to be experienced I would like for them to teach CHARNAME a thing or two about how they see things or how they go about surviving while fighting scary monsters in remote areas. Or just about life in general.
4. I’d like the NPC to fit into existing quests/conflicts. Most of the Bioware NPCs are linked to some major quest in the game. Keldorn is with the Cult, Nalia and the Keep, Mazzy and Amaunator Temple, Cernd and Trademeet, Edwin and Mae’var, Haer’Dalis with Planar Prions and Valygar with the sphere. It would be cool for a mod NPC to fit in with an existing quest that maybe does not have anyone currently linked to it.
Two that come to mind off the top of my head are the slaver storyline in the Copper Coronet and the Windspear Hills. Hendak was kind of cool, and a character (maybe a barbarian or skald) that was a slave you freed would be a worthy addition to the party. Having been a slave opens up a lot of interesting possibilities. They already have a reason to be indebted to charname and would also follow him to oppose Irenicus who, like Lehtinan, has a history with holding people against their will. This satisfies my #2 desire perfectly. Also it allows for some areas (like the guarded compound in the Temple district) to have more significance. The guarded compound seems to be almost easter-eggish due to its significance not being easily apparent. Having an NPC that wants to destroy the slaver ring gives you more of a reason to be there. Also would add some flavor to the random ecounters with slavers while traveling in-between areas.
Windspear Hills seems like a perfect opportunity to add either a druid (dryad community nearby) or a Paladin (Garren Windspear’s daughter/son perhaps?)
5. I’d like the NPC to have a class or race that adds something new to the game. This is not the most important for me but I like to have a character that fills a role that no current NPC does. For example, there is no barbarian in either game. BG2 lacks a traditional bard and a sorcerer. Only one of each shorty in the second game, and only two of each in the first. Only one half-orc and he is evil as hell. The elves in BG2 are all kind of exotic (Avariel and Drow). I’d like to see a good/neutral dwarf or half-orc or even an evil Ranger (don’t care if it is illegal)
6. Speaking of illegal things, I don’t mind illegal race and class combos… in fact I think they are cool (Mazzy the pseudo-paladin for example). I’d like to see a dwarven skald, an elven druid or a gnome sorcerer if they are done well and have good explanations. We already have a half-orc blackguard and an elven cleric/mage.
7. Unique NPC items or abilities add a lot of flavor to the game. Whether it is Keldorn’s family weapons or Tiax’s summon shadows ability, these things all make the characters more interesting. In BG2 everyone but Korgan and Imoen (off the top of my head) have an item, spell or ability that is unique to them and has to do with their background. I’d like to see a bard with their own cool instrument or a barbarian with his/her clan’s totem. These things can make for interesting dialogue or even questlines.
8. I actually like the idea of inter-NPC romances better than additional options for CHARNAME. I think it is odd how only the Bhaalspawn seems to get any romantic interest (Jaheira and Khalid kinda in the first game and some kinda/sorta/not really flirting between Haer’Dalis and Aerie the only exceptions). One thing I really liked about the Kelsey mod is that he could romance Imoen in ToB. This adds a lot of flavor and believability to the world that I think would benefit the game immensely. I wouldn’t want this to be the center of attention or distract from CHARNAME/the main story too much, but some dialogue along these lines would be kinda cool for me.
I’d like to see what others think. I’d also like to humbly invite some friends here who have expressed similar interests, notably @Quartz and @KidCarnival
There are a couple criteria that I’d personally like to see mod NPCs meet. I’m interested to see what others think about what makes a mod NPC interesting and what sort of character they would be interested in adding to their party and Baldur’s Gate experience.
So please come share what you like (or dislike) in mod NPCs. What do you think would add quality? What detracts from the playability of certain mods? What would improve the game in terms of characters?
Just a note: I don’t mean to bash any existing NPC mods or diminish the work of modders. I appreciate anyone who shares things for my enjoyment, even if I don’t like their work. Examples of what “not to do” are welcome in this discussion, but I’d like to refrain from bashing other people’s creations entirely, since this is a very subjective topic.
I’ll start with a couple of my preferences (placed in spoiler tags for ease-of-use ;p)
1. I think in terms of immersion it is very important for the character to be thematically consistent with existing Bioware NPCs. I mean this in terms of dialogue matching the original content, having the character not have interests or goals that seem out of place in Amn/Forgotten Realms and giving him goals that are realistic for a person in his position and an attitude and demeanor that is consistent with a medieval fantasy environment. I don’t really like the whole “my character is so super-special and unique and awesome” thing that usually happens with modd NPCs. Being unique is important to me, but there is a difference between standing out and having a huge neon sign saying “look at what the writer is trying to do/say! Isn’t it just awesome!”. I’m not saying it should be unambitious, just not too “try-hard” if you know what I mean.
For example (no disrespect to the creators of it) the Saerilith mod kind of took over my story when I installed it. I thought that the NPC stood out too much and that the author tried a bit too hard to make her seem “super-awesome-cool” at the expense of immersion.
2. Very important to me is that the character should have a good reason to travel with CHARNAME and his party. I think that it is often kind of weird how even original Bioware NPCs seem to have little reason to be willing to follow charname anywhere, and I mostly think this has to do with short friendship paths. This is one area in which I think the NPC sticking out a bit would be a good thing. Oftentimes the reasons why many NPCs are aligned with charname (not including the “canon” party or even all other characters, but a lot) have to do solely with alignment (ie Evil characters follow you because you are evil, Good because you are good. The Law-Chaos axis seems to be secondary). Nalia for example seems to have different goals that a Lawful Neutral priest of Helm would be expected to have, yet the game is limited in exhibiting this possible conflict of interests (not saying she should leave the party, but having some sort of dialogue about what a character wants out of adventuring with you is really nice). One way to do this would be an extensive friendship path that shows why the theoretical NPC would stick with your character on his journey to fight Irenicus or the Iron Throne or become a god, etc. I think BG1 actually did a better job with this than BG2, since Kivan, Xan, Branwen, etc were linked to the Iron Throne/Bandits/other bad guys and had reasons to ally with you.
So basically three reasons I can think of: The NPC hates Irenicus/the Iron Throne (or fights evil unconditionally), they want to benefit personally from the alliance (which would allow for some actual trade-off to be implemented ie share of the loot) or they form a bond with charname and his companions that is tighter than the dialogue from the vanilla game could show (friendship paths for the win!)
3. Friendship paths or mentor paths. Romance would be nice too, but not necessary. I always thought it was weird that in order to get a good insight into the NPCs you need to be bonking them. This is limiting for non-romanceable character. I mean in real life, I like many others have one love but many close friends. I think the in-game relationships should be similar. There are many things you would be comfortable sharing with or discussing with close friend (an traveling through dangerous locales fighting fierce monsters lends itself to forming deep bonds). I’d like to have a way for a mod NPC to exhibit this kind of camaraderie in ways that don’t make romantic relations necessary.
I also really like the idea of mentor paths. Your character is very young in this game and is given huge responsibilities. Older and more experienced NPCs should have some valuable advice for a newbie adventurer that would help keep them alive. One of my favorite inter-NPC interactions are between Keldorn and Minsc. Keldorn takes Minsc under his wing and kind of teaches him some things, guiding him in how to direct his anger in constructive ways. He has similar interactions with Aerie and especially Anomen. This is awesome. Keldorn and in some ways Jaheira have some similar convos with the Bhaalspawn, but more along these lines would be welcome. If the character were to be experienced I would like for them to teach CHARNAME a thing or two about how they see things or how they go about surviving while fighting scary monsters in remote areas. Or just about life in general.
4. I’d like the NPC to fit into existing quests/conflicts. Most of the Bioware NPCs are linked to some major quest in the game. Keldorn is with the Cult, Nalia and the Keep, Mazzy and Amaunator Temple, Cernd and Trademeet, Edwin and Mae’var, Haer’Dalis with Planar Prions and Valygar with the sphere. It would be cool for a mod NPC to fit in with an existing quest that maybe does not have anyone currently linked to it.
Two that come to mind off the top of my head are the slaver storyline in the Copper Coronet and the Windspear Hills. Hendak was kind of cool, and a character (maybe a barbarian or skald) that was a slave you freed would be a worthy addition to the party. Having been a slave opens up a lot of interesting possibilities. They already have a reason to be indebted to charname and would also follow him to oppose Irenicus who, like Lehtinan, has a history with holding people against their will. This satisfies my #2 desire perfectly. Also it allows for some areas (like the guarded compound in the Temple district) to have more significance. The guarded compound seems to be almost easter-eggish due to its significance not being easily apparent. Having an NPC that wants to destroy the slaver ring gives you more of a reason to be there. Also would add some flavor to the random ecounters with slavers while traveling in-between areas.
Windspear Hills seems like a perfect opportunity to add either a druid (dryad community nearby) or a Paladin (Garren Windspear’s daughter/son perhaps?)
5. I’d like the NPC to have a class or race that adds something new to the game. This is not the most important for me but I like to have a character that fills a role that no current NPC does. For example, there is no barbarian in either game. BG2 lacks a traditional bard and a sorcerer. Only one of each shorty in the second game, and only two of each in the first. Only one half-orc and he is evil as hell. The elves in BG2 are all kind of exotic (Avariel and Drow). I’d like to see a good/neutral dwarf or half-orc or even an evil Ranger (don’t care if it is illegal)
6. Speaking of illegal things, I don’t mind illegal race and class combos… in fact I think they are cool (Mazzy the pseudo-paladin for example). I’d like to see a dwarven skald, an elven druid or a gnome sorcerer if they are done well and have good explanations. We already have a half-orc blackguard and an elven cleric/mage.
7. Unique NPC items or abilities add a lot of flavor to the game. Whether it is Keldorn’s family weapons or Tiax’s summon shadows ability, these things all make the characters more interesting. In BG2 everyone but Korgan and Imoen (off the top of my head) have an item, spell or ability that is unique to them and has to do with their background. I’d like to see a bard with their own cool instrument or a barbarian with his/her clan’s totem. These things can make for interesting dialogue or even questlines.
8. I actually like the idea of inter-NPC romances better than additional options for CHARNAME. I think it is odd how only the Bhaalspawn seems to get any romantic interest (Jaheira and Khalid kinda in the first game and some kinda/sorta/not really flirting between Haer’Dalis and Aerie the only exceptions). One thing I really liked about the Kelsey mod is that he could romance Imoen in ToB. This adds a lot of flavor and believability to the world that I think would benefit the game immensely. I wouldn’t want this to be the center of attention or distract from CHARNAME/the main story too much, but some dialogue along these lines would be kinda cool for me.
I’d like to see what others think. I’d also like to humbly invite some friends here who have expressed similar interests, notably @Quartz and @KidCarnival
Post edited by booinyoureyes on
14
Comments
I have posted various versions of the "mentor path" concept in the past, and it is still something I would love to see in BG1. Many of the existing NPCs qualify as mentors for someone as young and sheltered as charname and it could add a lot flavor to otherwise often overlooked NPCs (Xan being a prime example; he's a scholar, neutral and apparently not very popular, according to the favorite mage poll).
NPC relationships other than romance are a close second, as I also outlined in previous discussions about NPC mods. I want friendships, friendly rivalries and different tones in them. Not all friendships are alike, after all. I want an NPC who gets obsessed and a fanatic follower of the bhaalspawn; possessive, no-one else should be allowed to bask in charname's light. I want an NPC who remains skeptical about charname's divine heritage and sticks around "to see for him/herself"; questions charname in an insightful way and discusses philosophy. I want a drinking buddy who just wants to have fun and isn't damaged in any way.
Being tied to existing quests - very welcome, and something I did with my NPC suggestions back in @Shandyr's topic. Argh, the baby beholder, is found in the maze under Spellhold, likely summoned by an escaped inmate. Kanamar, the chorister of Ilmater, is on a spiritual journey and tied to the Neb quest in both BG1 and BG2. @Eudaemonium and I also had a bit of brainstorming about a halfling gladiator NPC who would be tied to the slavers/Copper Coronet quest. There are enough quests and locations in both games to introduce an NPC and instantly have bonus points for fitting in the setting. In BG1, Gullykin is such a place - I always felt the area was unfinished. No real reward for a tedious quest, not many people to talk to, not much to see. A young halfling wanting to become an adventurer would fit, or a seasoned adventurer who arrived injured and was nursed back to health there; now ready to go out kill monsters again.
What bothers me about friendship/romance mods for existing NPCs is similar to what booinyoureyes says about NPC mods in general. It's playing someone else's vision of a character. I don't have a problem with that if it is a new character - it's all up to writer and can by definition not be "out of character". With the original NPCs... there's always a chance you imagine the NPC different from the writer, so it's counterproductive to install a mod that adds more content for them. I therefore strongly prefer new characters; they'll be fresh, they'll be exactly the way they are meant to be, they can't be out of character or be the opposite of what I imagined them to be based on existing content.
I probably have more to say later; for now, I keep the wall of text somewhat short.
For example, shadowdancer powers could have a unique history behind it and something I've noticed that I find very intriguing is half orcs and dwarves have a mage model despite not having mages. One could easily make a dwarf or half-orc dragon disciple and say he got his odd powers due to being related to a dragon. Perhaps even one of the dragons to show up in the series.
Just tossing ideas out, also if I can say one thing? Dialogue for the PC should be kept vague unless theres multiple ways to say the same thing. Making dialogue too specific can cause someone really immersed in their character to suddenly hit a road block in their mind. This is just a suggestion, but its something I've noticed some dialogue writers have a hard time with. Vague dialogue simply reflects intent, not personality, and thus its not hard to fit whoever we want into it.
Edit:If you do go down the path of a unusual race for caster you could also give them a unique familiar.
There is no perfect way to play that, since some people may have mouthy charnames, but I'd definitely rather err on the side of caution in these instances.
Argh - http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/355218/#Comment_355218
Kanamar - http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/356167/#Comment_356167
The kit is by now even more modified, and Pecca has it on his to-do list. Once the Ilmater specific divine bard kit - working title "Atoner" - exists, I'll consider writing some dialogue and annoy a modder to make an NPC more seriously.
Hedi Wyvernsong - http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/21036/your-ideas-on-new-npcs/p5
I now think, after playing BG2 some more, her story would fit better to Trademeet, with all the nobles and rich merchants, and a bigger tavern. Other than that, I think it's the one NPC I'd wish into existance if it worked that way, since she fills the most gaps with race, class and party role combination.
I really don't think you should immersion; I have a NPC mod idea, and it's mainly something that just breaks immersion of the game, a living 'Karach' trapped on Watcher's Keep.
Argh is unparalleled brilliance and the only instance in which I would like an NPC to be very unique!
I like breaking with stereotypes - Kivan being grumpy and having low charisma instead of being Legolas, Montaron being a sociopath (or NWN, Xanos being an intellectual, arrogant half-orc) - and for that, a stereotype has to be known in the first place. I don't know what stereotypes about tieflings exist, at least no counterpart to "dwarves love to drink and use axes and hammers" or "halflings are social, happy go lucky rogues". I can't say if Haer'Dalis is a "typical tiefling" or the opposite and therefore, he can't break out of a stereotype.
Another reason for that: It's a narrow path between making an NPC interesting and unique, and making the story about the NPC. Writers are used to write all their characters, including the main character. It's easy to forget the story is about charname and the NPC is just a sidekick once you're "on fire" writing your idea. Someone who takes the time to write an NPC mod is obviously very invested in the idea, and some forget where the spotlight should be. If you can fall back on known lore, you save a lot explaining about how the NPC is reaaaaally unique and special because he/she is a half-planetar/quarter-wererat/quarter-sirine, but not like all the other half-planetar/quarter-wererat/quarter-sirines. You can introduce an NPC as "this is a dwarf, and that's his/her personality" - and the player can decide how much, if at all, it goes against dwarf stereotypes, without reading 20 banters about dwarf lore to get it.
His past is simple. He was bred for pit fighting. His mother was a great orc warrior and his father a human. He was saved by a group of wandering adventurers who, having freed him, left him at the mercies of the world. In BG1 I planned to have him go through a quest to find out what the necklace he wore ment, it being the only thing he has of his father's. Eventually he'd find someone after rescuing said person from goblins and find out it was a holy symbol, but not just a normal one. It turns out his father was a paladin of all things. Slightly shaken up by this, he continues on.
In BG2 he'd have actually found his father and hunts him down with your aid to a pit fighting ring. Upon finding him he founds out his mother is dead and his father fell from paladinhood long ago. At this point one of two things can happen. If you're evil and treated him just as an evil person should he will swear vengeance on all slavers and swear he will become stronger, stronger then any pit fighter, in order to protect those he cares about as well as himself. He also swears vengeance on his father's god, who he believes abandoned his father when he needed him most. He would gain a powerful unique weapon for this, having broken and thrown away his necklace. His father would die with a smile on his face, saying "Good...Don't let the world break you, son, break the world instead..."
However if you're good and encouraged him to better himself he'd tell his father that the world is not so horrible, that those weak need protecting and that his values as a paladin had meaning. His alignment would change and his necklace would be upgraded and his fathers last words would be "At least I left one good thing behind as my legacy...my son..."
The other idea I had was a neutral good elf cleric of some unknown god of death, who, as a child, got lost and stuck in a tomb where he found a library full of stories of glory and bravery of this god's worshipers. Despite no one having heard of this god he gains power from it and has embarked on a journey to find out more about him.
His quests would begin when he finds out about a temple dedicated to his god, but upon arrival finds it filled with fiends. After fighting through it they find a cleric who simply calls him "the grand fool!" and attacks. Afterwards the elven cleric has no idea what went on exactly, and is more then slightly shaken by this encounter.
In BG2 he would meet with CHARNAME again, looking for companions for his own journey yet again. In this he might speak of Illmator and how he can relate to the god of suffering due to his own struggles.
Then his quest begins, yet again having found a temple said to be dedicated to his god. He finds it infested by fiends yet again. Upon reaching the bottom of it he finds a priest who explains everything, how there is a powerful demon prince able to grand divine powers to people, a demon trickster prince, who likes to take those who would do good, convince them they are, and ruin everything they are.
It turns out this demon trickster prince was the one granting him his powers, and that chant? It helped send souls to his demon master. Its CHARNAME's job to decide what to do next, does he encourage the cleric to become a worshiper of the demon who he follows, or fight said demon, knowing he would lose his powers and have to live with the knowledge of what he has done?
Much like the bandit, this would change his alignment depending on what you do, the good news is if he stays good Illmator grants him power and he feels the strength to carry on.
Of course I don't expect you to make a mod based on either of these guys and I strongly apologize for the wall of text but this was as good of an excuse as any to share my ideas and I certainly love to do so. I do like the idea of a companion who you can change the alignment of, either corrupting them or redeeming them. I honestly find not enough games have both those things, usually only one or the other. Now having typed all this and realized I forgot to pause my BG2 game I will go see how much everyone is complaining about not doing anything.
For example, one thing I'd like to see is a more light-hearted paladin who does mind letting loose and cracking wise. Yet in that case there would be a limit: he wouldn't poke fun at good deities or be unnecessarily cruel or "90s superhero comic book edgy". He/she's still a Lawful Good paladin after all.
I think trying to break the mold, but not trying to be the *exact opposite* is probably the goal.
You gave me a lot to think about though. And everyone else here. Thanks a lot guys! This is easily one of the most important aspects when it comes to a NPC, and it's often overlooked. The trouble I'm having is with BG1:EE specifically. Do I give the characters a lot of dialog, assuming that players will have the NPC mod? Or do I go for the more vanilla feel of barely any interactions? I'd actually really love to get some opinions on this front.
Other than that, I actually appear to have all the bases covered so far in my plans and writing that I have cooked up for my NPC. A very satisfying feeling, to be sure. Of course I'm still fleshing a lot of things out.
Here's my question: what did you always want to talk about or bitch about to your romance interest, but were prevented from doing so/didn't get to do so enough? I find this more a problem with BG2, where every romance option seems to have the same dialogs about Irenicus, Imoen, Khalid and Dyna, etc etc, but it's still an issue in BG1. What comes to mind as things you want to bring up but don't usually get a chance to?
Great question!
I would be leery of writing a romance for BG1 in general, though, since it's too easy to end up with a complete mess by the time you get to BG2. Taking a character from one game to the other already complicates things a *lot*; adding in an already started romance just makes it worse. @KidCarnival - I'm not really sure I understand this complaint, actually. Romances don't require traditional, happily-ever-after endings; you don't need 2.5 kids and a house somewhere to be in a relationship. There are on-and-off couples in the Realms like Elminster and the Simbul, who are kind of insanely powerful with tons of enemies. There are political marriages between evil aligned people. (High Blade of Mulmaster and the Red Wizard Dmitra Flass comes to mind.) Not everyone settles into obscurity or even settles at all.
When it comes to the Bioware romances, Aerie's might be too domestic for many PCs, I'd agree, but Jaheira's epilogue where you're both off doing your own thing half the time seems pretty appropriate.
I mean, usually I play a good-hearted NPC who deeply cares about the person he/she is romancing. If they are hurting, then naturally, I want to be the shoulder to cry on. I want to be there to make them feel better. That's what we all want to do for our loved-ones, isn't it?
But it would be nice if the said loved-one returned the favor once in a while. Especially after, you know...
Ahem. Excuse me. I got way too excited. ^_^;;
Tears are inevitable.
Or maybe that was the horror genre... I get them confused sometimes. (See also: Berserk.)
Which isn't to say that an NPC should be all about angst, but I don't agree with the backlash against angst generated in the wake of certain NPCs who shall not be named.
On a related note, NPCs that feel like displaced college kids instead of actual Faerunians... bit of a pet peeve for me.
I felt this about Neera. She always HAVE to be ironic and "funny" and speak all the time, despite the fact she has nothing interesting to say at all
The NPC ideas I came up with and who include romances are all nomadic types - the dwarven skald, the dwarven barbarian, the half-orc druid. They'd be consistent to say "not the type for long term relationships, live in the now and make the best of it", with an inbuild theme to enjoy things while they last, genuinely be sad if these things are over, but get over it.
Frankly, I mostly said they'd get a romance for race X and gender Y because that would fill a gap or two. These NPCs would still be interesting enough if not romanced. The romances were more a nod to shorty players, with a "oh well, there are no female bards, female dwarves, female frontliners, good aligned bards... let's throw in a romance not included yet to tick off one more box".
When I wrote Hedi Wyvernsong, nothing was known about Hexxat. With her, it's not THAT limiting to also have a good aligned f/f romance. It's probably still a pretty narrow target area to limit it to shorties (and half orcs, in some cases - I think a poll a while ago said female gnomes, female dwarves and female half-orcs are the least played races).
And that's the point. That the romance is a bonus, but not the reason these NPCs (at least as concepts) exist. It's not their main feature; their main feature is a backstory that fits in the setting, a personal quest to add some content and most of all, an interesting class/race combo that isn't covered by original NPCs.
Even with the best of intentions, a romance will heavily depend on the taste of a player. It's a much bigger hit and miss thing than a non-romance NPC. That's my "needs of the many outweight the needs of the few" thinking again. A lot more people can get on board with a statement like "I'd really like a different frontliner this time" than "I'd really like a different romance this time". Many are quite attached to a romance option and build their parties around that NPC. "I'll romance Viconia, so I don't need a cleric this time, but I need a mage, a tank, an archer..." - so I rather install an NPC mod labeled "ARCHER" than one labeled "ROMANCABLE archer" because that's the function I'm looking for.
But that's just me, others may want all the romance options they can get. I just think it appeals to a wider audience to add romance options for the groups that currently have very limited or no options, while making these NPCs solid non-romance companions with alignment and class, too.