[v1.66] Vienxay, a Elven Shadowmage NPC for BG:EE + SoD and EET
Skitia
Member Posts: 1,079
Introduction
Vienxay is an exiled shadowmage from the Elven homeland, Evermeet. Arrogant and pretentious, she takes her time away from her home bitterly, seeking revenge against her old mentor who framed her for the murder of an elf, or so she claims. Her talents in both thievery and magic promise utility and great skill at moving in and out unseen, but she will be slow to develop in either skillset.
She can be found outside of the Friendly Arm Inn, looking for mercenaries or adventurers to help her achieve revenge.
In Siege of Dragonspear, she can be found in the prison in Baldur's Gate. Enlisting her grants her freedom and her company.
Details
Race: Elf
Class: Shadowmage
Alignment: Neutral Evil
STR: 15
DEX: 17
CON: 10
INT: 18
WIS: 10
CHA: 11
Total: 81
Kit
SHADOWMAGE: Shadowmages are mage-thieves that can draw both on shadow magic and the weave, with the cunning and stealth of the shadowdancer and the mage's arsenal of spells.
While shadow magic is not the same as the shadow weave, many are drawn to it and can learn to use it. It's dark magic gives it poor public opinion, and most of its practicioners are non-good.
Advantages:
- + 15% Bonus to Hide in Shadows and Move Silently
- Slippery Mind: +1 bonus to saving throws
- May cast Shadow Jump once per day. Gains one use at level 5 and an additional use every 5 levels thereafter.
SHADOW JUMP: Manipulating shadow, the shadowmage teleports to the selected living creature, be it ally or enemy, unseen as per the invisiblity spell. For the next twelve seconds, they gain +2 to their backstab modifier and remain unseen until they make an attack.
Disadvantages:
- Alignment restricted to any non-lawful and non-good
- Backstab multiplier is one less than an unkitted Thief, cannot backstab until level 5.
- May only distribute 20 skill points per level (30 at level 1) among thieving skills
- Cannot Hide in Plain Sight.
- Cannot put points into Set Trap
- Hit Die: d5
Mod Content
– One new party member with a unique shadowdancer/mage multi-class.
– New spells and items
– 7 friendship talks with the PC in BG1, 6 in SoD
– Banters with every BG:EE and SoD NPC
– A questline in BG1.
– A romance with any elf, half-orc, human, or half-elf PC in Siege of Dragonspear.
– Crossmod content with Drake, Emily, Helga, Kale, and Recorder.
- Optional Music Soundtrack
Q&A
Q: Is this mod compatible with EET?
A: Yes. (If for some reason it is not, let me know.)
Q: Will you merge this mod with the other four in a single download?
A: Currently this is difficult for BG1, as the first three were heavily traified, and share some file names with the same number scaling. This means a lot of renaming would be required to get the mod to work. Thus I would rather spend time developing content for BG2 than configuring them in one file. It's not an explicit no, but definitely low priority at best. The BG2 parts of these mod however, will be an all in one file with convenience in mind.
Q: When will the BG2 content be released?
A: I'm in planning stages at the moment, and will start writing/coding officially on the 1st. I'll make a thread on that date in the BG2 mod section where you can follow progress. My estimated time of completion is in Spring.
If you have other questions, post below and I will respond swiftly.
Post edited by Skitia on
20
Comments
That's sooo nice of you! Thank you!
Planned changes for Version 1.1:
BG:EE(1)
1: Fixes for incorrect strings popping up in dialogue.
2: Spelling fixes.
3: Removal of Vienxay's wand crafting. It feels like a bit of an unnecessary extra. She's already a powerful combination of shadowdancer/mage and doesn't need too much extra oomph. This will instead be replaced with a more full length talk and a new spell ability in SoD. (Done)
4: Expanded Seventh Talk.
5: Fixing Vienxay's initial level one state.
6: Additional Interjections for story-important NPCs.
7: Revised final battle in her quest.
8: Revised A.I. for battle with shadow-weaver apprentice.
9: General bug fixes.
SoD: (1)
Content up through the end of chapter 7.
Vienxay will start in the Flaming Fist Headquarter's, in a cell. Yes, she got herself in trouble it seems.
She will gain a new spell either innately or in her spell book related to the shadow weave. There may be a bit more spells added when I work on her BG:2 entity to represent her brief immersion of the shadow weave and the PC's ability to ask her to draw on this darker magic or for her to avoid it altogether. Specifics are still to be determined.
Her chapter 7 content will include interjects and banters just like Kale.
Afterwards: Emily 1.1 update (Covers up to Chapter 8 of SoD).
Then Vienxay 1.2, Kale 1.2 up to chapter 9, etc.
Future Planned Mods Update:
Helga, the Chaotic Good Cleric of Haela Brightaxe: This mod is about 15% complete. In terms of length and scope it should be similar in scope to the others, with friendship content (No romance). She is my first foray into making kits, which was a lot easier than expected.
Recorder the Lawful Good Lorekeeper/Bard Kit is about 20% complete, with her personal quest just about completed. She is designed to be a more content heavy mod, with self-created flute sounds, and an experiment with a relationship system to the likes of games like dragon age, with your closeness shifted by the choices you make in your conversations and the game itself which contribute if you can romance her in SoD, what they say, what you can say, gifts, if they leave the party, etc. If I like how it works out I may use it for all of my mods in BG2, as a way to really represent their different thoughts and opinions of the things you do.
The BG:EE 1 portion of the update is done at least so once I have access it really should be just collecting the files together in one place and making sure they compile correctly.
Vienxay is now updated to 1.1
In Siege of Dragonspear, you can find Vienxay in the Flaming Fist Headquarters, in a cell in the north wing. You'll have to talk to Fritz to free her after a conversation with Vienxay. The update only covers chapter 7, and future updates will bridge the rest of the game. Updates from here will be focused almost entirely on SoD, I've no planned updates beyond bug-fixing/cross-mod content.
There was a bit of a delay on this update. This was due to working on Recorder/Helga mods, being sick/working on Recorder's flute music and the NPCS BG2 music themes.
Changelog:
03/24/2019 v1.1:
-First addition of Sod content covering to the end of Chapter 7. This includes interjects, a single P.I.D. Talk, a few banters, and more. There is no planned quest (Emily will have the only ongoing quest for Dragonspear).
-Revised Talk 5 and expanded talk 7.
-Revised Final Battle with Vienxay's Apprentice. The difficulty is relatively the same.
-Additional Talk with Xzar and Rasaad.
-Additional Interjects added across the main storyline, sometimes dependent on player dialogue selection.
-Bug/Grammar/Spelling fixes.
-Fixed incorrect lines occurring for certain dialogue.
-Added "Is it compatible with EET?" Q and A under general questions. (A = Yes), and updates Siege of Dragonspear question.
-Added a Flute song that appears during Recorder's and Vienxay's banter. Note Recorder is not yet released.
Added a new spell: Shadowbolt:
(Illusion)
Level: 4
Range: 40
Duration: Instant
Casting Time: 2
Area of Effect: 1 Creature
Creature
Saving Throw: Spell for Half
This Shadow Weave spell is similar to magic missile. Shadowbolt creates up to 11 cold, airy missiles, which dart from the wizard to the intended target.
Each missile does 1d6+1 magic cold damage. At 7th level this is seven missiles, at eigth this is eight, ninth this is nine, tenth this is ten, up to eleven at level eleven.
While potentially more powerful, unlike magic missile, each bolt can be saved against for half damage, has less range, longer and interruptible casting time, and is ineffective against cold immune creatures.
More such character unique spells will be added in BG:2 for my five NPCs.
-Special thanks to @kyudosha and @Brokenkatana for giving feedback!
-replace with because when player will encounter error during installation, weidu will display a link to forum where he actually receive help. Currently, weidu will show only you nick which won't help at all.
- please remove 'backup' folder from mod archive because it can cause problems
- please abandon 7z archive type and use standard zip in order to not force players to download and install 3rd party tools
This should all be adjusted now, 7z is a bit better at compressing but I've no issue with regular zips and I edited out the author name to point to the website. Thanks for the feedback.
Edit: In the future, I am probably going to add a small event condition via a talk for her shadowbolt spell rather than applying it at start. I.E: one of the following: Viconia must be in the party, Vienxay must sacrifice a point of wisdom, or if Vienxay is still evil, the PC can convince her to simply worship Shar and lose a point of reputation. I'll have to amend her Mystra mentioning voice lines, but it shouldn't be too much work.
1.2 Additions:
*Vienxay's Theme: This is already finished. It was originally Kale's, but when I set it to a full orchestra, I liked the attitude of the music and found it fit her personality, so assigned it to her and gave Kale a new one.
*Content through chapter 10 of SoD.
*4 of 6 planned Talks.
*All Banters
*1 Crossmod banter with ishi. I've more or less pushed other crossmoding writing post 1.3 so I can focus on the main content.
*She should now properly transition through chapter 11
*Vienxay's "Quest" is a deliberation of whether she should tap into the shadow weave for the benefit of the party and starts after her third talk. It can potentially impact a romance attempt, her stats, and Viconia can play a part if she is in the party.
*Changing Vienxay's unique Shadowbolt spell to only given to her if the player encourages her to tap into the shadow weave.
*Bug fixes.
As for my unreleased mods:
Helga: Helga's BG:EE content is complete save her banters and interjects. Once I've written her SoD chapter 8 introduction I'll allow beta testing at request.
Recorder: Recorder is less progressed, with her quests complete but not her talks, banters, or interjections, though her SoD intro is already written.
I'll add that to bugs to fix before releasing 1.2
I've finished all of my character theme music now. Their volumes will be softened a bit before being included into their respective mods, but this will probably be the final versions for each of them. These will all be optional installations except for Recorder. They each have two versions, a default and a secondary that plays in specific situations.
This is good news for me as the technology to make it is a bit expensive, though if you can't tell, I really like making orchestral music so don't mind eating the cost.
Emily's is already shared on her page, this is the list of the others:
Vienxay: Originally a full orchestra, but it was too distracting, so went with a string orchestra.
Default and https://picosong.com/w8DsX/ and "Light/Joyous" Version: https://picosong.com/w8t7v/
Kale: Kale's current 1.2 version music is slightly different from the below, which will be his 1.3 version.
Default: https://picosong.com/w8Dwr/ and "Dark": https://picosong.com/w8DwE/
Helga: Went with something march-ish/soldierly. I will probably be tweaking the solo trumpet a thousand times before release.
Default: https://picosong.com/w8D3y/ and "Dark": https://picosong.com/w8D3h/
Recorder: Uses a largo-speed version of the flute melody in the Throne of Bhaal Theme. The Harp at the end sounds like NWN home interior music, but oh well.
Default https://picosong.com/w8Dnd/ and Harp Harmony only: https://picosong.com/w8DFC/
Bonus: This was Recorder's old theme, but it was too Far Eastern. Rather than let it waste I plan to use it for a Recorder/Aura Crossmod Banter, pending approval, in which Recorder will play this song to Aura. https://picosong.com/w8DFT/ .
As for Vienxay 1.2:
All 4 talks are done for this release, so only banters/interjects and her "quest" regarding shadow weave spell usage remains.
I also really appreciate the idea of an evil character from a stereotypically good background. Never liked D&D's determinism in that regard. From a look at the dialogue, I like that your writing is direct and on point. Many NPC mods are so literary that they stand out too much from the game; your style is refreshing compared to those. Still, I wouldn't mind a few longer or more elaborate banters. Seems like she'd have a lot more to talk about with Xan or an Elven Charname, for one. Evermeet really is the stuff of legends, after all, and I don't think we've ever met a character from there before rather than the many Elves wishing to go there.
When I have Vienxay's 1.3 and the complete work done, I'll give it a comb and add some more race specific responses and remarks. I could probably do more with banters too, though I loath writing banters for the BG1 NPCs as there is so little to work with and you have to assume a little bit with those characters.
Update stuff!
I am so late on this release. The good news is I'm working on all five of my NPC's interjections at the same time so I don't have to re-play through any one chapter. The dialogue for the quest is mostly done, it just needs to be scripted, and there are only a few banters left. I also hurt my hand so couldn't type much for a few days without feeling pain.
After this I'll work on Emily's 1.2, then a WIP release for Helga that will have unfinished SoD content and finished BG1 content. Then I will finish the SoD portions for all four of them before releasing Recorder.
Hm, I think by now the BG1 NPC Project is basically considered canon, so I would just base my characterisation on their writing, if I were you.
Hope you feel better soon!
Although I have seemed to have drifted away from properly finishing it for release. Eh so much work I suppose.
I desired to create a whole Drow dungeon / cave complex https://www.deviantart.com/withinamnesia/gallery/58263651/Cave-Complex-01 to rescue the rest of her party yet I ran out of steam to motivate myself to finish that part. I figured that perhaps I could just scale back the scope and release Osprey without the rescue mission (maybe finish that part later).
I was wondering the scope of the operation to get a properly fleshed out Non-Player Character for Baldur's Gate. I can create the .cre file, original high quality items although the dialog and quest / journal linking I have not tackled yet. It seems I am weak in that part.
When I added more personal item content to Xan https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/73654/n-p-c-item-pack-xans-new-groove-version-1-0-release/p1 I kind of dodged the who dialog / quest / journal part entirely and focused on what I was good at. It kind of bugs myself that I have an incomplete skill set in an area that I have invested so much work into; eh iterate, iterate, iterate!
Anyway how did you solve the dialog / more intimate / personal / quest / journal elements of a new N.P.C. for Baldur's Gate? I was mucking around with other people's N.P.C. mods but I never really picked up much it seems. I cannot really shake the sporadic urges to work on Baldur's Gate it seems.
-5 Candlekeep (reworked) N.P.C.s I have worked on but have not finished (Osprey being the most closest to done)
-5 Skitia Original N.P.C.s with some being released so far.
(Although the Candlekeep party project is so old that a few teams of people have come and gone over the years with a prototype left, sadly the older modders are now inactive and their versions never left vaporware stage)
You first want to figure out their personality. Emily and Vienxay are both characters I've played before in a RPing environment on NWN, so I knew exactly how they sounded, while the other three are completely made for BG. They are almost inverses, Emily was a naïve, but cheerful arcane archer who loved to paint, fletch and write romantic stories had a reverence for Sune, but terrible luck in love because she tended to be shallow in her choices, appearance first over what was inside. She was a goodhearted noble but didn't mesh with the aristocrat environment, so leaving home fit her. Her BG version takes an essence of this, mostly just the personality, she is slightly less romantic and naïve in this incarnation.
Vienxay was always very aristocratic. Very nose up, very self-important. Vienxay was always a shadowdancer, though in her original incarnation she was not a mage and was technically closer to a "Kensai"/Shadowdancer. I gave her magic in BG2 though as it fit her arrogant nature better. Arguably she was never really very evil, just very rude, so giving her a few strokes of shadow mage background completed the picture.
If you can describe your characters like this, then you have the essence captured and you can start imagining how they might talk to the PC, what they might have been doing (Their story exists before the PC comes in, and a personal quest can be created from that). Journal stuff is just using AddJournalEntry, and pointing it to your tra file unless you want to write the entire string in the dialogue file (It's messy, so I recommend not doing that).
I guess I can use this post to add an update part?
Vienxay's 1.2 is almost done. I just need to finish the chapter interjects and banters now, and add in another P.I.D. talk. I'm currently side-stepping and working on Emily's quest while I'm here on chapter 10, after that all of the NPC quests are done (Kale's quest is finished!).
I just finished her quest and the first thing that came to my mind was to come here and say a Thank you for providing me (and us forum users) with this opportunity to play this mod.
I'm a big fan of elven lore in general and especially elves from the Forgotten Realms setting, I have read the novels related to elves like Elfshadow, Elfsong, the Last Mythal and the one I can consider like an "elven bible": Elvermeet: Island of Elves.
That's why I enjoyed so much all the dialogues and descriptions Vienxay manifests in her sayings, it seems to be that all her quotes are related to what I've read about elven lore and Evermeet.
So, thank you for bringing us Vienxay! And even if I'm not sure I can be of any help, if someday you want to talk to a big fan of elven lore about any Npc you are writing or about something else, just send a message!
Finally updated to 1.2. This is a pretty heavy update and covers most of SoD compared to only chapter 7 from before, while containing feedback adjustments as well.
6/4/2019: v1.2:
-Fixed Vienxay having the incorrect versions of spells.
-Gave Vienxay a conflict conversation with Baeloth. Having them all in the party is still possible with the right conditions.
-Adjustments of spelling/grammar.
-Made the location of Vienxay's master more clear in her quest.
-Added music to play during her talks.
SoD:
-Content through the end of Chapter 10.
-4 Additional Talks.
-Full set of Banters for all SoD NPCs/Skitia NPCs.
-Crossmod with Ishi
-Many interjections
-Conflict with Baeloth/Minor conflict with Viconia. Having them all in the party is still possible with the right conditions.
-A minor personal quest. This can only be started/completed in chapter 9.
-Shadowbolt no longer has a save.
-Vienxay no longer starts with Shadowbolt, this is determined by the outcome of her personal quest.
-Additional P.I.D. Content: New talks, and Vienxay can now be asked about more custom NPCs.
-Set up Vienxay's movement across chapters.
Next:
Emily v1.2
WIP Release of my 4th NPC.
Just a question, can I install this 1.2 update over my 1.1 version without messing with my current playthrough?
I haven't played through my own entire mod yet beyond testing, and I hope to once I'm done with all five for BG:EE and SoD.
I've enough of the work done that theoretically, I could finish Vienxay/Emily on a good weekend (Kale would take a little longer) given I'm almost at the end of SoD, but I want to get some space between updates and work on my last two NPCs as well.
This should contain all of her SoD content. Any future updates will pertain to Crossmod, bug-fixing, or user requested adjustments.