Quick question for those few people who follow this: PID-flirts, yes or no?
I've bookmarked your thread as I find her an interesting addition to a new campaign to start when she is finished but in answer to your question:
I'm not that interested in a romance path. There's already so many NPC's out there that are romance options. It's almost like an NPC mod can't be written without him or her being romanceable, but of course that shouldn't have to be.
I myself am much more interested in friendship paths. To name three favourites of mine: the Xan friendship mod, the Isra NPC for BG1 and the best written friendship path I know of: Amber NPC for BG2 (alas the mod got abandoned before the Enhanced Editions existed so it wasn't made compatible).
*edit: if you do decide on romance however, it's nice to be able to initiate talks with a 'love interest' instead of just being passive and whole dependent on when she starts talking. But please make it optional to start a romance and keep having her interesting talks if you decide to decline a romance, don't make her a mute party member after deciding to forsake love.
Banter previews. First, a serious one with Dynaheir:
Dynaheir: ...and so did the Archwizard Karsus attempt to wrest mastery of the Weave from the goddess Mystryl, and instigated the fall of Netheril's flying cities.
Dynaheir: Mystryl, having sacrificed herself to break the link betwixt herself and Karsus, reincarnated herself as the original Mystra to restore the Weave, but 'twas too late for Netheril. And thus did Karsus's folly lead to the destruction of an empire.
Aura: ...and Mystra's ultimatum came to pass, restricting the access of the Weave from the hands of mortal mages.
Dynaheir: Just so. T'would appear that you are already well acquainted with this part of ancient history.
Aura: The entire recorded history of Netheril's fall is stored within Lantan's archives. They are rarely disturbed, but... I've been there, and I've read them all.
Dynaheir: Indeed? Forgive my assumptions, but the 'tis unexpected to me. As I recall, the natives of Lantan place more trust within the sciences as opposed to arcana.
Aura: There is that, but world-changing events are a worthwhile lesson to everyone. Magic, just like science, has infinite potential, but trying to master it by force will only lead to disaster.
Dynaheir: Well said. I am glad to see that thou hast such perspective. In mine own experience, those with the greatest minds are oft those who make the greatest errors.
Aura: It's true. Even I've learned that through my experiences, usually the hard way. I've gone too far sometimes, and I always regret those moments.
Dynaheir: Heed my advice, Aura: learn from thy mistakes, but take care that thy regrets do not hinder thy potential. Much good can still come from thy talents. Shall we continue our lessons another time?
Aura: Yes. I'll be waiting.
And a lighter one with Imoen:
Imoen: Aah! Ghost!
Aura: Eep! Where, where?
Imoen: Ha ha! Gotcha!
Aura: Hah... nuts and bolts, Imoen! You almost scared the lights out of me!
Imoen: Did you see how high you jumped though? That was great! I didn't even know you could jump that high.
Aura: Well, that's because I had to catch my soul that was about to jump right out of my body! I may have a long life, but can you not try to knock a few decades off anyway?
Imoen: Yeah, yeah... hey, look over there. What's that?
Aura: What's what? I don't see anything...
Imoen: *Aaa-whoo-oo-oo-oooo!*
Aura: Aiiee! Oh, you're terrible!
And a fatherly one with Yeslick:
Yeslick: Stay close, lass. Ye can ne'er be certain of what beasts lurk in the dark.
Aura: I've explored plenty of dungeons before, Yeslick. I'll be okay.
Yeslick: Aye, I believe ye, but ye be a youngster nonetheless. As yer elder, this is me responsibility.
Aura: You're caring, Yeslick, I appreciate it. You're just like my father. He even helped me build this bow so that I could keep myself safe.
Yeslick: An' he was right to do so, I say. Every dwarf is raised to treasure one's family. Me own may be gone, but those values remain. Rest assured, lass, no harm will come to ye so long as I stand.
Merry Christmas, happy holidays, here's a present to all you loyal followers! A playtesting release for Aura-BG1. SoD-content is still in progress.
The existing content is currently not set in stone and may still undergo additions or changes, especially the rather clunky writing of the quest. But I hope you'll all have fun anyway.
First beta update. Fixes a few script bugs and alters a few lines of dialogue. There is no SoD content at the moment. I enabled the install option for those who want a clean transition for when she leaves the party.
This, along with a few other parts, are additions that can occur so long as Aura is around, whether she is in the party or not. This is mostly for Chaotic Good players like me that agree on taking advantages in war but would rather hurt as few people as possible with them.
As a side note, this is something I'll be carrying into BG2 content. I intend for Aura to be a character that you can interact with both in and out of party. Obviously there'll be more for in-party stuff like friendship and romance but when it comes to BG2 then not all quests will depend on her presence. This doesn't really work for BG1 due to how broad the scope of the setting is, but since the various camps in SoD and Athkatla in BG2 function as a 'hub' of sorts it's feasible there.
1: "She now seeks an adversary now" in her biography could use a "now" removing.
2: Her infinite potions for free is overpowered as anything. Sitting on the Friendly Arm map resting and spamming potions of Magic Blocking x5 gives enough to handle any mage encounter and generates around 78,750 GP after a week of doing nothing but resting, with permanent haste, potions of extra healing otherwise not available in BG1, enough potions of invisibility to keep your entire party hidden at all times, and free runes (which CHARNAME is happy to share for even more infinite, free, level scaling magical scrolls) and the Burst Orbs she generates on top of that.
Either she should have the chance to fail and cause the player to lose resources, she should expend party resources to produce something (potentially even something random out of the list rather than specific items), or both, particularly given her flavour presumably is not "someone who is fabulously wealthy and does not ever need to adventure because she can print money risk free whenever she likes".
3: Her alchemical traps appear to kill her whenever she uses them, with a self-cast acid spray for 30+ damage on a successful save. Given that they aren't party friendly she also has a good chance of setting them off on herself the moment she casts them to boot. Happy to list my current mods if it's helpful.
Also, no opinion either way on PID flirts being included, but please count this as a vote not to make them creepy *shuddering hair touching*, inappropriately early "hi nice to meet you let me violate your personal space right now", or involve licking someone's fresh blood from your fingers when they're wounded.
1: "She now seeks an adversary now" in her biography could use a "now" removing.
Will fix.
2: Her infinite potions for free is overpowered as anything. Sitting on the Friendly Arm map resting and spamming potions of Magic Blocking x5 gives enough to handle any mage encounter and generates around 78,750 GP after a week of doing nothing but resting, with permanent haste, potions of extra healing otherwise not available in BG1, enough potions of invisibility to keep your entire party hidden at all times, and free runes (which CHARNAME is happy to share for even more infinite, free, level scaling magical scrolls) and the Burst Orbs she generates on top of that.
I am going to implement something to prevent gold stacking abuse, but I may not be able to cover everything. The rest button is the most overpowered mechanic in the game and balancing around it is such a messy affair that the only advice I can really offer in response is, "don't do it". Not to say that I'll do absolutely nothing.
Edit: Yeah I am just going to make the potions unsellable and remove Potions of Magic Blocking from the list entirely. Regarding the other potion types I either don't think they're overly powerful or they come at such a high level that it's reasonable.
3: Her alchemical traps appear to kill her whenever she uses them, with a self-cast acid spray for 30+ damage on a successful save. Given that they aren't party friendly she also has a good chance of setting them off on herself the moment she casts them to boot. Happy to list my current mods if it's helpful.
Cannot reproduce. The traps work as intended in my install. The cast distance is longer than the trigger radius so casting it at max range shouldn't cause it to be set off. There is also no 'Acid Breath' spell involved in any of the traps so I couldn't tell you where that comes from.
Cannot reproduce. The traps work as intended in my install. The cast distance is longer than the trigger radius so casting it at max range shouldn't cause it to be set off. There is also no 'Acid Breath' spell involved in any of the traps so I couldn't tell you where that comes from.
Alrighty, I'll try a clean install without Tweaks/DSotC at a later and see if that clears it up. It might be the extra spells the latter adds mucking me up.
I’m revamping the alchemy system. Found a useful action command that will allow me to do it via store (and thus add costs to the potions and explosives in an easier way) without allowing for buying 100 items at once. The potions are also getting reworked to have unique effects. This is going to add to the workload by a lot.
It is no longer possible to make both potions and explosives during the same session.
Stores refresh their stock every time the spell is cast.
Alchemy in a city is 25% cheaper than in the wild or in a dungeon.
This is not the final iteration as there's still things about the new system I'm not happy with, but it should be somewhat more balanced yet more rewarding as well.
Aura-SoD is now available for beta version 0.2. I haven't written enough banters to add them in yet, but everything else is finished. If you can deal with the lack of banter (personally I feel it's unnoticeable in SoD) this version should be perfectly playable.
Beware of bugs, junk code that I forgot to erase, and total game-breakers.
@RVNS There should be no more installation errors in v0.3.
v0.3 adds banter to SoD and fixes several bugs. I actually recommend doing a full uninstall of the previous version before installing this version though.
ERROR locating resource for 'CHAIN3' Resource [C02DRAKJ.DLG] not found in KEY file: [./chitin.key] ERROR: preprocessing APPEND_EARLY [Aura_BG1/dialogue/SoD/c02auraj.d]: Failure("resource [C02DRAKJ.DLG] not found for 'CHAIN3'") Stopping installation because of error. Stopping installation because of error.
ERROR Installing [Aura Glimmershine NPC -> Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition + Siege of Dragonspear], rolling back to previous state Unable to Unlink [Aura_BG1/backup/1/OTHER.1]: Unix.Unix_error(1, "unlink", "Aura_BG1/backup/1/OTHER.1") [Aura_BG1/backup/1/UNSETSTR.1] SET_STRING uninstall info not found Will uninstall 897 files for [AURA_BG1/SETUP-AURA_BG1.TP2] component 1. Uninstalled 897 files for [AURA_BG1/SETUP-AURA_BG1.TP2] component 1. Unable to Unlink [Aura_BG1/backup/1/READLN.1]: Unix.Unix_error(20, "unlink", "Aura_BG1/backup/1/READLN.1") Unable to Unlink [Aura_BG1/backup/1/READLN.1.TEXT]: Unix.Unix_error(20, "unlink", "Aura_BG1/backup/1/READLN.1.TEXT") ERROR: Failure("resource [C02DRAKJ.DLG] not found for 'CHAIN3'") PLEASE email the file SETUP-AURA_BG1.DEBUG to Artemius_I Using Language [English] [English] has 1 top-level TRA files [Aura_BG1/translations/english/setup.tra] has 20 translation strings
Comments
I'm not that interested in a romance path. There's already so many NPC's out there that are romance options. It's almost like an NPC mod can't be written without him or her being romanceable, but of course that shouldn't have to be.
I myself am much more interested in friendship paths. To name three favourites of mine: the Xan friendship mod, the Isra NPC for BG1 and the best written friendship path I know of: Amber NPC for BG2 (alas the mod got abandoned before the Enhanced Editions existed so it wasn't made compatible).
Dynaheir: Mystryl, having sacrificed herself to break the link betwixt herself and Karsus, reincarnated herself as the original Mystra to restore the Weave, but 'twas too late for Netheril. And thus did Karsus's folly lead to the destruction of an empire.
Aura: ...and Mystra's ultimatum came to pass, restricting the access of the Weave from the hands of mortal mages.
Dynaheir: Just so. T'would appear that you are already well acquainted with this part of ancient history.
Aura: The entire recorded history of Netheril's fall is stored within Lantan's archives. They are rarely disturbed, but... I've been there, and I've read them all.
Dynaheir: Indeed? Forgive my assumptions, but the 'tis unexpected to me. As I recall, the natives of Lantan place more trust within the sciences as opposed to arcana.
Aura: There is that, but world-changing events are a worthwhile lesson to everyone. Magic, just like science, has infinite potential, but trying to master it by force will only lead to disaster.
Dynaheir: Well said. I am glad to see that thou hast such perspective. In mine own experience, those with the greatest minds are oft those who make the greatest errors.
Aura: It's true. Even I've learned that through my experiences, usually the hard way. I've gone too far sometimes, and I always regret those moments.
Dynaheir: Heed my advice, Aura: learn from thy mistakes, but take care that thy regrets do not hinder thy potential. Much good can still come from thy talents. Shall we continue our lessons another time?
Aura: Yes. I'll be waiting.
And a lighter one with Imoen:
Aura: Eep! Where, where?
Imoen: Ha ha! Gotcha!
Aura: Hah... nuts and bolts, Imoen! You almost scared the lights out of me!
Imoen: Did you see how high you jumped though? That was great! I didn't even know you could jump that high.
Aura: Well, that's because I had to catch my soul that was about to jump right out of my body! I may have a long life, but can you not try to knock a few decades off anyway?
Imoen: Yeah, yeah... hey, look over there. What's that?
Aura: What's what? I don't see anything...
Imoen: *Aaa-whoo-oo-oo-oooo!*
Aura: Aiiee! Oh, you're terrible!
And a fatherly one with Yeslick:
Aura: I've explored plenty of dungeons before, Yeslick. I'll be okay.
Yeslick: Aye, I believe ye, but ye be a youngster nonetheless. As yer elder, this is me responsibility.
Aura: You're caring, Yeslick, I appreciate it. You're just like my father. He even helped me build this bow so that I could keep myself safe.
Yeslick: An' he was right to do so, I say. Every dwarf is raised to treasure one's family. Me own may be gone, but those values remain. Rest assured, lass, no harm will come to ye so long as I stand.
The existing content is currently not set in stone and may still undergo additions or changes, especially the rather clunky writing of the quest. But I hope you'll all have fun anyway.
Aura-SoD Preview #1: Aura gets a cat. Sort of plot-relevant.
This, along with a few other parts, are additions that can occur so long as Aura is around, whether she is in the party or not. This is mostly for Chaotic Good players like me that agree on taking advantages in war but would rather hurt as few people as possible with them.
1: "She now seeks an adversary now" in her biography could use a "now" removing.
2: Her infinite potions for free is overpowered as anything. Sitting on the Friendly Arm map resting and spamming potions of Magic Blocking x5 gives enough to handle any mage encounter and generates around 78,750 GP after a week of doing nothing but resting, with permanent haste, potions of extra healing otherwise not available in BG1, enough potions of invisibility to keep your entire party hidden at all times, and free runes (which CHARNAME is happy to share for even more infinite, free, level scaling magical scrolls) and the Burst Orbs she generates on top of that.
Either she should have the chance to fail and cause the player to lose resources, she should expend party resources to produce something (potentially even something random out of the list rather than specific items), or both, particularly given her flavour presumably is not "someone who is fabulously wealthy and does not ever need to adventure because she can print money risk free whenever she likes".
3: Her alchemical traps appear to kill her whenever she uses them, with a self-cast acid spray for 30+ damage on a successful save. Given that they aren't party friendly she also has a good chance of setting them off on herself the moment she casts them to boot. Happy to list my current mods if it's helpful.
Also, no opinion either way on PID flirts being included, but please count this as a vote not to make them creepy *shuddering hair touching*, inappropriately early "hi nice to meet you let me violate your personal space right now", or involve licking someone's fresh blood from your fingers when they're wounded.
Will fix.
I am going to implement something to prevent gold stacking abuse, but I may not be able to cover everything. The rest button is the most overpowered mechanic in the game and balancing around it is such a messy affair that the only advice I can really offer in response is, "don't do it". Not to say that I'll do absolutely nothing.
Edit: Yeah I am just going to make the potions unsellable and remove Potions of Magic Blocking from the list entirely. Regarding the other potion types I either don't think they're overly powerful or they come at such a high level that it's reasonable.
Cannot reproduce. The traps work as intended in my install. The cast distance is longer than the trigger radius so casting it at max range shouldn't cause it to be set off. There is also no 'Acid Breath' spell involved in any of the traps so I couldn't tell you where that comes from.
Changes:
- Potions are now unique and cost gold to make.
- It is no longer possible to make both potions and explosives during the same session.
- Stores refresh their stock every time the spell is cast.
- Alchemy in a city is 25% cheaper than in the wild or in a dungeon.
This is not the final iteration as there's still things about the new system I'm not happy with, but it should be somewhat more balanced yet more rewarding as well.Beware of bugs, junk code that I forgot to erase, and total game-breakers.
edit: the download page is still .1 not .2
Please post the debug notes here.
v0.3 adds banter to SoD and fixes several bugs. I actually recommend doing a full uninstall of the previous version before installing this version though.
ERROR locating resource for 'CHAIN3'
Resource [C02DRAKJ.DLG] not found in KEY file:
[./chitin.key]
ERROR: preprocessing APPEND_EARLY [Aura_BG1/dialogue/SoD/c02auraj.d]: Failure("resource [C02DRAKJ.DLG] not found for 'CHAIN3'")
Stopping installation because of error.
Stopping installation because of error.
ERROR Installing [Aura Glimmershine NPC -> Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition + Siege of Dragonspear], rolling back to previous state
Unable to Unlink [Aura_BG1/backup/1/OTHER.1]: Unix.Unix_error(1, "unlink", "Aura_BG1/backup/1/OTHER.1")
[Aura_BG1/backup/1/UNSETSTR.1] SET_STRING uninstall info not found
Will uninstall 897 files for [AURA_BG1/SETUP-AURA_BG1.TP2] component 1.
Uninstalled 897 files for [AURA_BG1/SETUP-AURA_BG1.TP2] component 1.
Unable to Unlink [Aura_BG1/backup/1/READLN.1]: Unix.Unix_error(20, "unlink", "Aura_BG1/backup/1/READLN.1")
Unable to Unlink [Aura_BG1/backup/1/READLN.1.TEXT]: Unix.Unix_error(20, "unlink", "Aura_BG1/backup/1/READLN.1.TEXT")
ERROR: Failure("resource [C02DRAKJ.DLG] not found for 'CHAIN3'")
PLEASE email the file SETUP-AURA_BG1.DEBUG to Artemius_I
Using Language [English]
[English] has 1 top-level TRA files
[Aura_BG1/translations/english/setup.tra] has 20 translation strings