[WIP] Aura, a gnome artificer NPC for BG2:EE
TheArtisan
Member Posts: 3,277
Aura's portrait was created by myself with assets from Creative Commons licensed stock images
Race: Gnome
Class: Artificer (Thief kit) alternate: illusionist/artificer, priestess/artificer
Alignment: Lawful Good
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 16
Constitution: 13
Intelligence: 19
Wisdom: 16
Charisma: 15
When asked about her past, AURA informs you that she was born Aurelia Minerva Evie Glimmershine of Anchoril, Lantan, the third daughter within a large gnomish family of two elder sisters, a younger brother, and twin baby siblings. From a young age, Aura displayed a natural talent in invention and craft and was inducted by her parents to the Sambaran College of Artificers. Quickly recognized as a prodigy by her tutors, she was recommended to the most prestigous and specialized academies of Lantan to be taught the nation's most respected disciplines. Aura's interest in magic, sparked by her brother's innate arcane talents, also drove her to learn the art of runecasting. After completing her studies and reaching adulthood, Aura left home with the blessing of her family to explore various lands and pursue knowledge in the outer world. During one such travel to the Far East, she was shipwrecked and struck with amnesia, awakening under the shelter of a priestess in Mikedono, one of the major islands of Kozakura. She remained in Kozakura, adapting to the foreign culture as her memories gradually returned over the years before her guardian's death led her to leave Kozakura and return to Faerûn. During her time in Athkatla she gained the goodwill of the Jansen family and became a guest in their household, where she has continued to practice her craft. Despite this, she is eager to be back on the road, where her talents can be put to practical use.
Aura can be befriended by any protagonist so long as the party's reputation exceeds 8. To begin a romance with Aura, the protagonist must fulfill the following prerequisites:
- Female
- Non-evil
- 12+ Intelligence
- 10+ Charisma
- 9+ Reputation
Whether or not Aura knows the protagonist from BG1 or SoD does not affect candidacy, although acknowledging a prior relationship initiates the romance upon first meeting - otherwise, romance is begun through showing interest in the initial friendship talks.
If the party reputation falls below 9, both friendship and romance dialogues are halted until reputation exceeds the threshold again.
Should neither Aura or Imoen be in a romance by Throne of Bhaal, they will initiate a semi-romantic dialogue branch with each other.
Regardless of whether or not Aura is in the party, the workshop is available as an area where magical items may be created or upgraded. In order to upgrade an item, the appropriate schematic must be found first. A few schematics are available from the start, while others must be discovered throughout Amn.
In Throne of Bhaal, the Pocket Plane acts as a substitute for the workshop.
The automaton is also able to be upgraded while in the workshop at the cost of resources, which may include gold, magical items, scrolls, or gems. Basic upgrades include the following:
- Augmented Blade - add an enchantment level to the automaton's attack
- Weapon of Impact - enhance the automaton's crushing weapon damage and stun chance
- Keen Edge - enhance the automaton's slashing weapon damage and critical chance
- Reinforced Plating - enhance the automaton's armor class and physical resistance
- Anti-Magic Shielding - enhance the automaton's saving throws and magic resistance
- Self-Repairing Thaumaturgy - enhance the automaton's hit points and regeneration rate
Additionally, special upgrades may be discovered and applied. These include the Teleport, Golem Haste, Golem Slow and Gas Cloud abilities, as well as others.
Soon after Aura joins the party, she will gain access to the Create Autocannon ability. With this ability, an artificer may attempt to create a Lantanese Autocannon in the targeted location. The success of the ability is dependent on the artificer's Set Traps skill. This autocannon will become active upon an enemy creature entering its range. The autocannon is immobile and attacks five times per round with fiery missiles dealing 1d3+1 damage per missile with a +6 enchantment. Automatons have a 5% chance per round of becoming charged, granting a +4 bonus to THAC0 and doubling their attacks per round for six seconds.
For each 15 points of Set Traps above 100 from the artificer, autocannons gain a +1 bonus to THAC0 and +5 bonus hit points. Once activated, autocannons last for two turns.
Aura begins with a single use of the ability per day, and does not gain more with levels. Instead, additional autocannons may be acquired at various stages of the game, allowing her to use the ability more often. A maximum of six uses per day is possible. While autocannons may not be upgraded in the same manner as automatons, certain items may modify them, from increasing their accuracy to changing their damage type.
Q: When will the mod be complete?
A: Ideally, mid-2019 (June or July). However, depending on circumstances it may be pushed to as late as October. I will strive to make sure an early version of the mod is released before next year though.
Q: Where can Aura be found?
A: In her workshop, an extension of the Jansen residence.
Q: Are there quests available?
A: Yes. Two major quests and two minor quests in SoA, one major quest in ToB. Note that the minor quests do not require Aura's presence, but some of the items are only useful for her, or need to be brought to her first.
Q: How mature is the general contents of the mod?
A: The mod's writing is overall suitable for all audiences, with no explicit sexual content or overly coarse language. Psychologically, the writing may potentially get a little dark at places, but nothing worse than a T.
Q: How mature is the romantic content of the mod?
A: Again, nothing explicit. If anything, the romance will be more generally suitable than the rest of the writing.
Q: Will Aura get along with the rest of the party?
A: Yes, very much so. Aura's a sweetheart that tries to make peace with anyone who's not an enemy, so even the evil party members will tolerate her at worst. The only one who is actively malicious to her is Dorn, but it won't escalate to conflict. She is leery of Wilson, though.
Q: Are there specific party members worth taking along with Aura?
A: Yes. She'll have extensive timer-based dialogues with Aerie and Yoshimo, not to mention the potential romance with Imoen in Throne of Bhaal. Additionally, Aerie, Yoshimo, Jan, Imoen, Valygar and Neera each gain unique bonuses (not necessarily items) should they be in the party long enough. Also, Wilson is worth taking for the conflict alone.
Q: If I break up with Aura in Throne of Bhaal, will she still start a romance with Imoen?
A: No. You must break up with her in Shadows of Amn.
Q: Will there be flirts?
A: Yes.
Q: How will the romance conflicts work?
A: Romance conflicts will be unique to the NPC. Each individual NPC will conflict at a certain stage of their respective romance.
Q: Will she have a Bodhi-abduction event?
A: No. Something will happen, but it's not what you'll expect.
Q: Will she have multiple epilogues?
A: Yes. Romance and quest resolutions will factor into the resultant epilogue.
Q: Will Aura's chosen class during installation affect dialogue?
A: There will be differences in certain dialogues should Aura be installed as a mage/artificer or cleric/artificer, but nothing major.
Q: Will the mod be EET-compatible on release?
A: Yes. I have that ability now. I am awesome.
Q: Will there be crossmod on release?
A: Confirmed with my own NPC mods (Sirene, Pai'Na, and every future NPC) and Lava Del'Vortel's (Yvette, Foundling, Quayle, Skie, Verr'Sza). Aura will also have comments and interjections for Colours of Infinity, Southern Edge and Ooze’s Lounge.
Post edited by TheArtisan on
11
Comments
And I love the title colour in that post!
Is there any additional dialogue specifically for (female) gnomes planned? I'm thinking a Cleric/Illusionist might be in my future if so.
Oh, out of curiosity, what's her position on turnips?
Ambivalence. She’s more partial towards radishes, personally.
Bonus trivia: she’s a vegetarian.
Also, there is a special event for the Mage stronghold.
I... well, I'm not going to say no, but I will just say that I've been kind of isolated from the NPC modding group, as sparse as it is, and am not that open with communicating in general so this hasn't been particularly high on my priority list. I especially want to make sure the mod has some semblance of being ready first so I don't have crossmod just sitting there for months before I finally get something out there. I'm just going to give a half-answer here and say 'maybe'.
Awesome
This is at the very top of my priority list.
On another note I wish I could get her a more rounded soundset. For some reason I can’t stop imagining an RP-accent.
Maybe you might want to consider only writing it for ToB? The last part of the Trilogy doesn't feel like the right place for burgeoning romance to me, and all the other mods I mentioned somehow situate their Imoen romanced in ToB already. For variety's sake, wouldn't it be nice if this were to be a consistent relationship, maybe starting from SoD on? It would give a nice motivation for her to stick around in BG2 and surely make for interesting character development. Just my two pence.
Let me put things this way: the possibility of a proper relationship will only take place in ToB, but the undertones are present before that.
the funny thing about that is i was actually planning on doing an all female party and everyone haveing a romance. charname/sarah auren/nalia imoen/aerie. alot of love there.
Maybe I'm not remembering it correctly, but this is kind of the feeling I got in the TOB part of Jaheira's romance, most of the major trouble with the Harpers is dealt with and you can kind of just focus on being together.
Really looking forward to this mod when it's done.
ToB should have been larger in scope to support a realistic romance and not just a fling.
Also, from my point of view at least and like I have mentioned previously, a lot of the hard work has been done already. And to me the romance chats that do happen are enough, given everything that happens in the game. Of course, most of my BG2 runs are so modded as to be unrecognisable.
@AionZ Recently started a playthrough of Aura in BG1. Absolutely loving her so far, and am now even more excited for the BG2 version.