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New Character Concept: Karathi

shawneshawne Member Posts: 3,239
edited November 2014 in BGII:EE Mods
Just something I've been thinking about, not even sure if it's technically feasible:

image

Karathi, Lawful Evil Githyanki Fighter

SoA: Though ice-cold and disdainful of CHARNAME (and of non-githyanki in general), Karathi asks to join the group for her own mysterious reasons. Over time, you discover that the Lich Queen Vlaakith has tasked Karathi with a specific mission; she failed, and her prized Silver Sword was shattered as a result. Karathi's SoA quest involves finding the three fragments of her broken blade and reassembling it with the help of Cromwell.

ToB: With her Silver Sword restored, Karathi leads the party to her original target - her own son Viran, who has betrayed the Lich Queen by pursuing the teachings of Zerthimon. Only by killing him can Karathi regain the Lich Queen's favor and return to the Astral Plane. But Viran is not without allies of his own...

Soundset: Taken from the FR video game "Demon Stone", I think this clip would allow for both the standard selection quotes and the occasional voiced sentence or two for banter. (She would banter with CHARNAME and other party members via telepathy, of course.)

Comments

  • Rylorn23Rylorn23 Member Posts: 77
    I really like your NPC idea. She looks great. It would also be good, if she was something like a "swordmage" (fighter/mage), who can wield her own silver sword as a longsword. Many of the swordmages are Eladrins, Genasi and Githyanki/Githzerai.

    http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Swordmage

    There are not many evil NPC characters in BG2. And I can really imagine, how she join forces with my PC Blackguard and in exchange, he will help her in the quest. Also, she stay with the Charname in the TOB, until Amelissan is defeated.

    As for the githyanki paperdoll, I would give her female elf model, because she looks like an elf to me. Also the githyanki paperdoll in the game is male. :P
  • shawneshawne Member Posts: 3,239
    Ideally, I'd want to keep her design as simple as possible, to allow her to fit in with the existing NPCs; maybe a special ability or two relating to githyanki mental abilities, but nothing more complicated than that.

    If I recall NWN2 correctly, Silver Swords are meant to be two-handed, but Team Evil already has Dorn and Sarevok in that mode, so a longsword might actually be the better choice here.

    I'd probably go with the githyanki paperdoll anyway - suspension of disbelief, etc. I've tried using EE Keeper to set a random party member's race/appearance to Githyanki, but the race didn't show up on the character screen and the paper doll window in the inventory screen was empty, so I'm not really sure what to do with that.

    The idea I have for the Viran confrontation in ToB is probably the most challenging in terms of coding and such, and I don't even know if it's possible: he uses his mind powers to manifest specific enemies depending on the NPCs in your party. So for example, if you have Minsc, he summons an evil Dynaheir; Aerie has to face Kalah; Rasaad is confronted with Gamaz; Edwin has to compete with Szass Tam himself; if it's any way feasible, I'd want Sarevok to face a mirror image of CHARNAME (maybe by importing the version that starts ToB?). Only Karathi can strike the final blow, and then only with the Silver Sword.
  • CrevsDaakCrevsDaak Member Posts: 7,155
    edited November 2014
    You could steal off the Githyanki animations from PS:T, they work in the EE.
    shawne said:

    I've tried using EE Keeper to set a random party member's race/appearance to Githyanki, but the race didn't show up on the character screen and the paper doll window in the inventory screen was empty, so I'm not really sure what to do with that.

    You only have to patch the file racetext.2da, a WeiDU code like this one should do:
    APPEND racetext.2da "GITHYANKI   152        7C#1       -1         7C#2       	  -1"
    UNLESS "GITHANYAKI"

    COPY_EXISTING racetext.2da override
      REPLACE_TEXTUALLY 7C#1 "Githyanki"
      REAPLCE_TEXTUALLY 7C#2 "GITHANYANKI"
    BUT_ONLY
    shawne said:

    The idea I have for the Viran confrontation in ToB is probably the most challenging in terms of coding and such, and I don't even know if it's possible: he uses his mind powers to manifest specific enemies depending on the NPCs in your party. So for example, if you have Minsc, he summons an evil Dynaheir; Aerie has to face Kalah; Rasaad is confronted with Gamaz; Edwin has to compete with Szass Tam himself; if it's any way feasible, I'd want Sarevok to face a mirror image of CHARNAME (maybe by importing the version that starts ToB?).

    You can easily do that--it would only require lots of scripting blocks. I can help you if you do need my help (only on this and probably on december or later). My recommendation for the mirror of CHARNAME is using a modified copy of Simulacrum that doesn't get it's level drain (SCS uses this when you face Irenicus in Spellhold), I'm not 100% _how_ it works, but it's not very difficult.
    shawne said:

    Only Karathi can strike the final blow, and then only with the Silver Sword.

    That wouldn't be too difficult… Add a block in the script so he equips an item that makes him immune to everything but silver blades (yes, that actually can be done), and don't forget to mark the Silver Sword as silver (because it's not a relevant flag and it isn't very used, so it might not have it on).
  • DreadKhanDreadKhan Member Posts: 3,857
    Note, Githyanki serving their Queen have a 'level limit'... you would get your soul eaten before ToB iirc.

    She could go renegade though when she realizes she'll be killed despite being a loyal and powerful servant.
  • shawneshawne Member Posts: 3,239
    @CrevsDaak: I'll put together the content/dialogue before working on the coding (and the idea of lifting a sprite from PS:T is very intriguing!), so it'll definitely be after December - will keep you in mind when I get to that part. :)
    DreadKhan said:

    Note, Githyanki serving their Queen have a 'level limit'... you would get your soul eaten before ToB iirc.

    She could go renegade though when she realizes she'll be killed despite being a loyal and powerful servant.

    On the contrary, I think the way to go here is to portray Karathi as someone who wants to be devoured by the Lich Queen - like all githyanki, she sees it as a sacred duty. But Vlaakith won't allow her to return to the Astral Plane until Viran is dead.

    It's my way of addressing the major fault in Hexxat's character arc: Karathi's "death wish" is limited to a very specific set of circumstances. She must die at the hands of her queen, and she'll fight with wholehearted determination to make sure that day comes.

    SoA Silver Sword locations: Sahuagin City (gives the player a reason to actually go there), the Underdark, Suldanessellar.

    I'll gladly take suggestions for Viran's manifestations. Here's what I've got so far:

    Imoen: Bodhi
    Minsc: Dynaheir
    Aerie: Kalah
    Nalia: TorGal
    Keldorn: The Unseeing Eye
    Valygar: Lavok
    Mazzy: Gort
    Jaheira: Khalid
    Anomen: Saerk
    Cernd: Ahsdale
    Sarevok: CHARNAME
    Viconia: Matron Mother deVir
    Edwin: Szass Tam
    Rasaad: Gamaz
    Dorn: Simmeon
  • DreadKhanDreadKhan Member Posts: 3,857
    Well, not a bad explanation. You might consider some biggish ambushes of Gith, maybe even a Red Dragon or two... they are very allied, and Gith are VERY vengeful towards any members that have gone at all renegade. The attacks might not even hsve the strict sanction of their Queen, they are very chaotic evil. Karathi could reasonably fight them, since they'd be trying to just kill her, not allow her the preferred fate. 2 or 3 raids would be neat, one early after she joins, and 1 after finding the first and 2nd piece. Would be a big mod though cool.

    Note, Silver Swords are basicly artifacts, they aren't all simply vorpal. Don't go overboard, but something thst'd fit in with ToB would be reasonable.

    Maybe after victoriously repairing the Silver Sword, she gets visited by a sending from the Lichqueen, ordering her to return after finishing up the Bhaslspawn business? Just tossing some ideas in for you. The Queen could even mention that she knows of another upgrade for this specific Silver Sword, and she could assign Kathia to find it before returning... made available pretty late ToB, as a reason to continue traveling?

    Haer Dallis could fight the Warden... yikes, watch out for SCS version! ;)
    Jan could fight his rival, the scumbag, or a Turnip Golem. Use Earth Elemental sprite, or the clay golem one.
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