[MOD PREVIEW] The Fallen Light (SoD spoilers)
TheArtisan
Member Posts: 3,277
This is an in-progress quest/NPC-mod which will add Caelar Argent, the antagonist of Siege of Dragonspear, as a joinable party member.
Advantages:
– +1 to maximum Wisdom and Charisma.
– +3 to hit and damage against demons and devils.
– May cast the priest spell Bless as an innate ability once per day. Gains one use at level 1 and an additional use every 10 levels thereafter.
– May cast the priest spell Cure Critical Wounds as an ability three times a day starting at level 10.
– May cast Shining Bolt once per day starting at level 12. Gains an additional use every 10 levels thereafter.
SHINING BOLT: This unique ability allows the user to hurl a bolt of divine energy at an enemy once per day, dealing them 5d6 points of magic damage. Undead creatures and fiends are particularly susceptible to the bolt's effects, suffering double damage when they are struck. The target's Magic Resistance, if any, does not affect this ability.
– May choose Summon Deva as a High Level Ability.
Disadvantages:
– Receives a -20% penalty to all experience gained.
– Must be an aasimar.
– Alignment restricted to good.
Overview
- The quest will begin once the PC reaches 1,000,000 experience (with options for a reduced or removed requirement).
- The plot assumes that Caelar allied herself with the PC and survived the events of Avernus. If installed on EET, content will be disabled if another path was taken for the sake of continuity.
- Caelar will converse with the PC frequently, and I hope for a very diverse range of dialogue options. The PC can be sympathetic, judgmental, or sadistic as they please. Remember that Caelar is no mindless thrall, though, and will react appropriately. She is with the PC by choice, so taunting her too much may have... violent results.
- She will likely be... different to her portrayal in SoD. Hopefully not to the point of complete OOCness, but there will be more depth into Caelar as a person that separates her from the Shining Lady persona (which she has personally abandoned). While she is a force of good, she is not the most pleasant person to be around. Don't expect her to be full of remorse or shower the PC with gratitude. Caelar is a stubborn, defensive and prideful woman, at least on the exterior, and full of cynicism due to the the awful things that she has been through.
- Aside from Caelar, this mod will explore the backgrounds of characters such as Aun Argent, Hephernaan, Thrix, Caelar's parents (deceased) and various crusaders.
- Caelar will always join a non-evil PC with a reputation greater than 8. An evil PC with 15+ reputation and 17+ Charisma can persuade her to join.
- Caelar retains her SoD level of 15 and all her equipment. She is likely to be stronger than anyone else in your party, which is why the quest has an experience requirement. Her -20% experience reduction serves as a sort of counterbalance.
- If the PC's reputation drops too low, she will leave.
- Caelar will not accept Dorn or Hexxat in the party.
- Caelar will not remain with a PC who works with Bodhi.
- If the PC attacks the Order of the Radiant Heart or the Temple of Lathander, even as part of the Talos stronghold quest, she will turn against them!
- There is no plans for romance, at least for now.
- There will be no corruption path. Sorry.
Champion of the Aster (Fighter)
CHAMPION OF THE ASTER: Followers of Lathander that are born with the blood of the Upper Planes train to become Champions of the Aster and are granted divine powers directly from the Morninglord to spread light and destroy evil throughout the Realms.Advantages:
– +1 to maximum Wisdom and Charisma.
– +3 to hit and damage against demons and devils.
– May cast the priest spell Bless as an innate ability once per day. Gains one use at level 1 and an additional use every 10 levels thereafter.
– May cast the priest spell Cure Critical Wounds as an ability three times a day starting at level 10.
– May cast Shining Bolt once per day starting at level 12. Gains an additional use every 10 levels thereafter.
SHINING BOLT: This unique ability allows the user to hurl a bolt of divine energy at an enemy once per day, dealing them 5d6 points of magic damage. Undead creatures and fiends are particularly susceptible to the bolt's effects, suffering double damage when they are struck. The target's Magic Resistance, if any, does not affect this ability.
– May choose Summon Deva as a High Level Ability.
Disadvantages:
– Receives a -20% penalty to all experience gained.
– Must be an aasimar.
– Alignment restricted to good.
Post edited by TheArtisan on
28
Comments
Am I right to assume that this is a Caelar NPC/Quest mod? If so, is it for the good path only or will there be an evil path as well? Romance? Follow-up quests? Will this have EET support? What about Skie, can we save her? So many questions..
I'm afraid I can't answer any of those questions at the moment except the first. Yes, she will be a permanent NPC with quests. As for the rest, that's still up in the air.
I can say for certain however, that at the moment at least this'll have nothing to do with Skie. She'll be mentioned in dialogue occasionally, but that's it.
Yeah, I know. In my defense I believe I had exported all of Caelar's audio files and items into BG2 before anyone else made a thread on it... I did pause all work both to get Sirene BG2 done and to see how active they'd be but it doesn't look like they've been around for a while...
@ThacoBell and everyone else:
By 'stronghold quest' I meant the quests that lead to gaining the stronghold. I won't say exactly which at the moment but Paladin is not one of them.
Please consider EET compatibility
https://videopress.com/v/MlpqXrrO
I was working on a similar project but stopped working on it. Mostly because of time and the need for change IRL.
I'm hyped someone doing a Caelar NPC mod.
If you want I can provide some of my work (Mostly banter text? or NPC audio)
Hello! It's nice to see you back. I hope you aren't bothered that I've essentially taken over your project from scratch. If you're interested in contributing any sort of content I'll be happy to look at it. I have imported over the relevant SoD content (items, graphics, sounds) already.
I will send you the text I wroted for the banter.
1. No evil Caelar for the moment. I realize people will probably hate me for this but after pondering it for several days worth there are several reasons as to why I just can't see it working out. I'll elaborate in the future if I have to and I may change my mind but for now it's not going to be an option. Sorry.
2. No romance... yet. There's potential there but focusing on it now will crowd out my primary ideas for Caelar's development and it's a headache I'd rather not get into at the moment. That said it will certainly be possible for the Bhaalspawn to try anyways.
18/17/16 are high physical stats but hardly unfair compared to, say, Korgan's. She also has a crippling disadvantage at the start when recruited to balance out her high stats, level and powerful gear.
PS That said, I don't see high STR as an issue, because the game has STR belt and gauntlets in Chapter 2, making the innate stat value more or less obsolete. If I had to worry, it'd the aesthetic appeal (my brain translates "high STR + high CON" into "brutish hulk") instead of balance.
Project's still alive. No ETA though, I apologize. Both because I'm really bad at living up to deadlines (I believe Sirene-BG2 was released four months later than I estimated it to) and because, as a reason for the former, the thing just seems to get bigger and bigger. The mod originally was supposed to be just a medium-scale party member with a chance to talk to Caelar and argue on her side of the story, but now it's looking more like a quest mod with a party member tied to it all. Which means it'll take a really long time.
If anyone reading doesn't mind being spoiled a little, I may as well reveal some plot points that will appear in the mod, which I'll be writing my own interpretation of.