11 réponses à ce sujet

[rjshae]

Hello. I was thinking that it shouldn't be too difficult to implement an invisible servant creature, per the D&D spell. The invisible man creature used for Mordenkainen's sword could serve as a model. All that needs to be added is a way to disable it from participating in combat, remove all damage capability from the invisible hands, and allow the play to open the creature's inventory. However, it is not clear what use it would be in NWN2. Any inventory that you give the creature to lug around would just get dropped when it is unsummoned. What do you think?

Thanks.

[dunniteowl]

Personally, as a longtime PnP player, I have found a lot of use for the Unseen Servant in game. That said, the cRPG format, without chairs that move, cutlery that can be picked up and thrown, switches and levers on the other side of a room that can be activated or candles/torches/lights that can be blown out or lit, the Unseen Servant isn't of too much use. And that's sad, because, I used the Unseen Servant to drop jugs and jars on the heads of combatants, slide chairs in the way of charging opponents, pull rugs out from under unsuspecting enemies and a "turn out the lights" command is always worth a guffaw or two while you make your getaway.



As a new player, starting off with a wizard, I had to make do with a host of what might be considered "useless" spells for combat, plus my measly one Magic Missile or Sleep spell. So I really looked into the spell descriptions and chose Unseen Servant as my next spell, because I could see all sorts of ingenious uses for it, even in combat, considering it couldn't actually fight or wield a weapon.

There's nothing quite so funny as having little stones thrown at the opponents from behind as they get ready to battle your little group. A little bush wagging here and there to indicate there might be others nearby and all you have to do is shout, "Leave off! We have you surrounded! Lay down your weapons now and you can live to see another day."

Ahh, good times. Unseen Servant, along with the Light Spell (as per AD&D 1st edition) were extremely useful in dungeon crawls and as well as around the campfire. I always hated having to hold my book with my hands and the light from the fire is generally too fickle to read by.

dno

(who thinks that some scripting geniuses should look at this and give it due consideration.)

[ArtEChoke]

Opening/closing doors, triggering traps

[rjshae]

Hmm, yeah, now that I think about it... maybe the unseen servant can function like a magic bag that only removes the weight when it is active? I.e. have a container in your inventory called "invisible servant". When the servant is summoned, the weight of the container drops to zero. It goes back to full weight when the unseen servant is unsummoned (or destroyed).

Maybe it could just plain get in the way during combat? For example, by blocking a door opening. It could also carry a torch perhaps.

Modifié par rjshae, 05 octobre 2010 - 08:41 .

[Banshe]

Can't you use the Mordenkainen guy, give him a custom faction friendly to everyone, remove his combat scripts and his sword?



And implement everything that DNO mentioned of course.

[rjshae]

Banshe wrote...

Can't you use the Mordenkainen guy, give him a custom faction friendly to everyone, remove his combat scripts and his sword?

Yes, that's kind of what I was implying in the original post. I was also thinking that the invisible hands it uses could be changed to cause no combat damage. But really it was more a question of why would one bother... other than for color?

[dunniteowl]

Color, in the right places, can really make a difference in the experience of the player. Just a thought.

[rjshae]

That's true.

In re-reading the description for "unseen servant", it's described as a shapeless force with a Str of 2. Probably not too useful for hauling stuff around. Perhaps it should be implemented more as a type of remote touch than as a henchman? I.e. use an item to target a door/container and have it opened, target a low-level trap and have a chance to trigger it, target a distant object (of up to 20 lbs.) and retrieve it, or target a creature and have it temporarily distracted? That could be useful in certain circumstances...

Probably could implement it as a charged item with one touch per use.

Modifié par rjshae, 06 octobre 2010 - 10:47 .

[rjshae]

Got it working now, more or less. For the doors it was relatively easy to get them to open and close themselves. Retrieving items (weighing 20 pounds or less) was also relatively simple. The hiccup came when I tried to get placeables to interact with themselves. I ended up temporarily creating an "unseen servant" creature that would do the interaction then get deleted. But I guess that adds a little flavor, since the player may accidentally mouse over the "unseen servant" and see it's name box.



Most of the work involved trying to find suitable visual effects. Shrug. Anyway, thanks for the feedback. The item seems like it will be entertaining to use.

[Banshe]

Cool. Perhaps you can put it on the vault. There is a script for possession of npcs (related to the Intellect Devourer). If you put that with this, you have a haunted house.

[dunniteowl]

Wow, a haunted house! Just in time for Hallowe'en! Perfect!

dno

[Dann-J]

I've often wished you could have some sort of servant that runs around picking up items after a battle, so you can sort through them later for the good stuff. It gets tedious having to go to each pile individually. An innate 'bag of holding' would overcome any strength deficiencies the servant might have.