23 réponses à ce sujet

[Balthazzord]

Personally i find the most compelling part of dragonfable the companions, their stories, personalities and niches etc. Combining this with options in the game i wish i could have taken for my main character, i came to the descision that i could more easily create a companion with his own back story to my likings instead of creating a massive amount of content to work with my main character.

So here goes, i will give a brief overview of Balthus and if there is interest i will share more information and give the fleshed out version (just didn't want to give a mass of information that people may not want to hear).

As a child he lived in the seaside village of Val Chevin, on twelth birthday raiders from Fereldan attack, killing his parents and kidnaping his childhood sweetheart, Ashala.
He runs to the main route to the capital to run into a nobleman who takes him back to Val Royeaux.
The child is raised as his own and trained as a chevalier. Later in life, about the age of twenty he is escorting the nobles wife to Jader.
On the way they are attacked by bandits, after Balthus defeats them, the leader turns out to be Ashala.
This leaves Balthus to kill his mother figure to give them time to flee together, across the border to Fereldan.
This enrages the lord who sends bounty hunters to find and kill them both.
Lives in Brancilian Forest for nine years and raises a daughter. Bounty hunters find them and rape and kill his wife and daughter infront of him. This causes a demon to reach out to him. He gains power from it but becomes an abomination.
He leaves to the circle tower and disguises his blood magic to get the opportunity to secrety go into the forbidden library section. Learning of dark ritials and spells, anything to gain power. He stumbles across a book stating that it is not possible to alter time with magic, but he also reads of how time was said to pass differently in the golden city of the maker, and with the knowledge that the supposed Tevinter Imperium were able to reach it he becomes obsessed with becoming powerful enough to do this.
When sharing this proposal with the pride demon he has formed a bond with it says it would be able to offer him more power if he were to bring him another demon for each mortal sin.
He was also instructed to seek out the Grey Warden as their path will bring Balthus what he requires.

So that is the overview of his history, he comes to the player as a blood mage, arcane warrior. He needs to trick a rage demon, a sloth demon and a desire demon into his mind. And also find a means to focus this power to hopefully replicate the Tevinter Ritual to get to the black city, all on a hope that it will allow him to be reunited with his family.
Balthus is an character that believes in going to any means to achieve his goals, which will generally be something to make him more powerful. He has little regard for morals , could probably be thought of as a Sten who reguards power gain instead of honor.

I have compiled a great deal more information on this and am currently toying with the construction set and reading tutorials etc. I am not familiar with the Dragon Age Toolset, infact i find it quite difficult as i am use to using the Oblivion toolset, which i seem to find massivly simpler and more effective. But anyways, this was just to get the word out and see if anyone wishes to contribute. I will probably need help multiple times.

Also if anyone was able to rejig the revenant armour to make it playable i would be epically greatful.

[Lotion Soronarr]

A chavalier and a mage? who kills his mother figure ...why exactly?

His village gets destroyed, he runs away only to have his wife and child raped and killed?

Also, isn't the Arcane Warrior a hidden specialization that fluff-wise, is lost? The PC in the game learned it from that elven soul-suck thingy. How does Balthus know of it?

Ehm...honest oppinopon? Seems..over the top.

Modifié par Lotion Soronnar, 08 janvier 2010 - 02:12 .

[Balthazzord]

The chevaliers are Orlesian Knights, the arcane warrior was specifically for the reason of letting him retain the ability to fight melee after exhausting himself. Where as its not as simple to give a warrior blood/dark magic abilities. I am thinking of the fact of just giving him the first ability of the arcane warrior tree in some form or another, as long as its all balanced.

The killing of the mother figure was because it was the only way of salvaging his last ties to childhood and his happy times previously, without doing this he would have been caught by guards and killed much sooner.

Obviously he did not realise after all the time that he was being hunted, but after all he did kill a nobles wife.



Keep it coming, im just trying to see if this is viable, i mean i am interested as it suits me for personal prefference. I am just testing reception of the community.

Thank you

[Lotion Soronarr]

I dont' get it.



So that noble was like his father...the noble aised him as his own, and this was something liek his mother. He was escorting her (along with some soldiers)...wouldn't that make him, like, the person in charge of her protection..or at least a very influental voice there?



And his former love was the leader of the bandits...and neither wants to kill the others.



Sooo..why didn't they just order their men to stop fighting!

I really don't see any reason for him to kill his "mother".

[Balthazzord]

Yes the noble raised him since the attack on his village, therefore leaving his wife, the noblewoman as somewhat of a mother figure to him.



Balthus was leading the group, but at the end of the battle he is the only soldier left (was only a small party of guards three or four) and the noblewoman.

The bandits are masked, being a bandit you wouldn't necessarily want to be easily identifiable.

After the bandits are defeated he goes after the leader and before he is about to deal the killing blow he unmaskes her. Que the emotional descision;

Kill the bandit leader, ashala the only tie to his child hood and memories of a somewhat more meaningful and happy time.

Or kill the noblewoman who will almost without hesitation tell the guards or her husband about this, thus causing search parties to know where they are heading, what they look like, having all this information delivered to them. And quickly, as it may have been a couple of days or weeks before the bodies of the attack were found.



I did state at the start that i was giving the cut down version of his back story, as i am more then happy to keep this conversation going, but only is your objectives are purely constructive. If you are trying to find good in this concept and help me work out the kinks then by all means continue, but if you are purely here to slate my ideas then i don't feel your input is needed.



Thank you

[Lotion Soronarr]

You're telling me he couldn't have just let her go, or talked it over with his "father" or "mother"?

His most rational decision is to simply kill her?



And how would the search parties know where they are heading?

[Balthazzord]

Ashala is fairly notorious in the region,(not know by her actual name but by her group of bandits), always on the run from the law, there is not enough time to travel back to speak with the nobleman and he would more then likely have her arrested. He would see it as the greater good, telling Balthus that it was necessary and the descision to go with her would ruin his life etc.

The killing of the noble woman is down to somewhat a game of emotional ping pong that happens at the time of the incident, the two parties throwing reasons at him on who to kill or let live and he is force to act irrationally.

Its all part of the character depth, hes made a descision, perhaps not the correct one , but he must deal with its consequences.

The nobleman being angry with Balthus and sending assassins after him gives a good basis for how his wife dies, and therefore the meeting with the demon.



As for where they are heading, Jader is the closest town on the border to Fereldan, and with their being a war between the two empires at this time, to sneak across the border to escape Orlesian guards is the logical thing to do. The noblewoman telling the guards what direction they went and what they both looked like would slim their chances of escaping effectivly.



Keep it coming, i mean i have alot of the story fairly fleshed out, your just helping to check that.



As far as progress goes, i have created the character, almost got all the follower scripts working and i am about 70% of the way through creating the cinematic attack when you first encounter him.

I am on a learning curve to get to grips with this CS !

[SuperJeezus]

I think it's something to roll with. definitely worth seeing where it takes you.

[Balthazzord]

Thank you, nice to get a more posetive comment



Have recently reformatted both computers so have transferred the files (alteast i thing i have got them all off) from the laptop to the desktop. So shortly i will carry on with the first encounter, i will probably add a youtube video off it when im done.

I also need to create a nice head morph, i am currently using a kain - loghain head replacer just because it is somewhat in the direction i want.



Thank you

[SuperJeezus]

is it possible to give him 'story abilities' for stat ups when he gains those demons? that might be good. although it shouldn't increase too much. he needs to be rounded, as I'm sure you already know.

[Lotion Soronarr]

One question tough - how can he be both a mage and a chavalier. A chavalier is a warrior. And mages show visible signs of magical abiltiy from young age? So wuldn't the noble send him to a tower if he had magical inclination?

Not to mention that a child with magical ability is very difficult to hide - especially if you want to give it formal training in anything.

[Balthazzord]

I had planned for one spell per demon he gains,



Rage-> Gained from Uldred, a strong fire blast similar to the high dragons attack, but after this he is sent into a melee rage, his magic (strength) increases slightly but defence decreases. For 30 seconds or so?



Sloth-> From the sloth demon in the fade in the tower. (Almost aprehensive to get the chance to trick two demons in the same mission but it seems an easier option) Transformes to the form of your enemy, at most i think it would be scan enemy type e.g dragon, darkspawn etc, shapeshift character to a set model for this group. This stops enemies attacking you but may cause your allies to loose track of which one you are and attack you. By shapeshifting based on group not actual creature i can stop a copy transformation into a giant enemy like a high dragon, but instead something that the enemy wouldn't attack. I know there is quite some extensive scripting into shapeshift mods so that will be where i start.



Desire-> If you choose to send Balthus into the fade in Redcliff. Paralyses an enemy for 30 seconds, this is because they are heavily infatuated. It gives balthus the spell might effect for the duration but if the enemy sustains any damage the link between Balthus is severed, stunning balthus for 10 seconds. ( Good combo to use force field on the enemy )



Pride-> This is gained if you manage to capture the pride demon connected to Balthus (his quest related) I have not thought about this much as pride demons are just pretty much kick ass, i toyed with the idea of a revival type ability as only one more of those is in game. But that doesn't really relate to the nature of the demon as the other three do. Any ideas?



And secondally he was not a mage from birth, blood magic is suppose to be directly derrived from demons, i am thinking of making it so he can only have blood magic active to use magic. It is the demon that posesses him that gives him the magical ability.

Because i know its only mages in the traditional sense that can enter that fade on will, but other elves and humans enter the fade when they are asleep. Balthus goes into the fade when he gets knocked unconscious, after having a great emotional blow. This is what draws the pride demon to him.

Please keep it coming,



Thank you

[SuperJeezus]

Rage should take a percentage of mana, if that's possible, if not, then it should take larger than normal amount to cast.

Pride should be a passive ability of some sort, get creative?

(By the way, please insert 'In my opinion' in front of all statements.

[Lotion Soronarr]

ERm..that's not how it works. You're either a mage or not.



Blood magic comes from demons, but only mages can use it. A non-mage cannot use blood magic, or any magic for that matter, IIRC.



But hey - your character. You are free to do with him what you want.

[Balthazzord]

Yes that was something i was unsure about, but from what i understand, magic is a natural phenomina, like gravity. Some can mold and react with it, these are mages but it does not always manifest itself at the same point for everyone.



I had though of something like; upon becoming unconscious he entered the fade, as do all races other then dwarves when they sleep (so i imagine when they are not consciously in controle of their body). Because of the horrific actions he has just whitnessed it sends kind of a ripple through the fabric of magic.

This draws the attention of the pride demon as it mistakes this rippling as a powerful mage using magic.



And yes sorry, most of my statements are purely my perspective on lore and information given in game and on the wiki. I have tried not to go against anything that the game has set, but add slight deviations to 'lore hazey' areas.



As with the blood magic, i understood that it was only mages that can use it, but i didn't find anywhere stating that it is strickly for mages. The way i see it is that magic is all around you, but only mages can interact with it, but the demon simply gives means for him to interact with. Blood magic is thought of as dark and powerful, the demon is also powering Balthus to reach his own goals, increasing his threshold closer to a mages to be able to deal with magic.





Yes with the abilities i will try to balance them as well as possible, i was just running over an ability i felt best summed up the emotion of each demon. Still not sure what sums up the pride demon though.

I have also looked on the wiki at codexes etc to try fit what i want from my character into lore as much as possible, hence the thanks to Lotion Soronnar for the criticism ( which i hope to be constructive from their point of view ) as it helps me to build on the plot.



Thank you

[Lotion Soronarr]

HMmm.....If you really want to get into the Lore specific, you'd probably have to ask the G-man.





AFAIK, mages always start showing signs of magic very early, and those signs are almost impossible to hide. Heck, even Isolde, a powerful noble in a isolated castle, couldn't manage to keep it hidden.



Don't know if being knocked out unconcius while witnessing something terrible has any effect in the fade. Havn't found anything in the Lore to support it, but then again, nothing that specificly forbids it. But if such an action were to draw demons, then we'd be seeing a lot more demon-powered half-mages running around.



The best advice I can give you is to not try and make your character special/unique. Unless done really well, it send Mary Sue vibes

[Balthazzord]

Yes but as far as i know, mages are those who can manipulate magic, hence it becomes obvious they are mages.

What im suggesting is the character interacts with magic, but is not able to shape it in any way. I mean theres nothing to say that is not possible. Like he feels its effects and it feels him, but thats as far as it goes. I don't see why its simply a case of completely controles magic, or doesn't have anything to do with it.



Like i said, i suppose you could say that i am not sticking to lore, but i am simply being logical as to possibilities. I mean i wouldn't want anything that contradicts lore. I am just expanding on grey areas.



And i know that you visit the fade in your sleep, but essentially your body is not conscious. That is why i have said he visits the fade when he becomes knocked unconscious. There is not necessarily any information saying this happens, but there is not any that forbids it, and it is a logical reasoning.



Demons are drawn by magic, thats why they will posess mages by choice (as apposed to corpses etc that they are more forced into). What im suggesting is that the demon is drawn to him by the event causing a magical distortion type effect. The type that is usually seen when a strong mage tries to cast a spell.

After the demon realises he is not a mage he is obviously intreagued. Hence the posession.



Yes i realise how difficult it is to make a character well, let alone unique and well. But still its my time, and in the end it doesn't really matter how people recieve it. It would be nice if its appreciated, it may be recieved badly and revamped to be better or just disapper.

Essentially it is content that people would not have if i did not make it, if they don't like it they don't download. If like me they find it fills a gap that their player couldn't then good. All the better to get some praise for the project.



Thank you

[SuperJeezus]

Also, shouldn't it be a rage demon that reaches out? maybe a particularly ambitious one that knows how he can gain the others.

[Balthazzord]

I figured on the heirachy of demons, pride would be the one with the great ambitions. From reading codexes, desire and pride seem to be the only ones to kind of 'see the bigger picture', with the desire demons seeing a smaller bigger picture.

[Balthazzord]

Right, unfortunatly i have had a setback. I had created the opening cutscene, script to introduce it, basic character functionality and some of the dialogue. I recently reformatted my computer though and when i transfered the files to a storage device it seems they were corrupted.

I am however back at work on have created the morph i think best sums the character, and have started the cutscene again. Hopefully with my retained knowledge i will be able to improve and make more dynamic on the work i have lost.

I will probably post the cutscene when i am finished with it.

[Dark_Ansem]

I am curious about animations. Does an Abomination (or an Arcana Horror) have the animation for using recovery items, or casting more complex spells than fireball?

[Balthazzord]

He is not an abomination in the aesthetics that an arcane horror or the mutant type abominations are. He is in the sense that Uldred is, he is ''posessed'' by a pride demon so is able to retain his human form.

I have been able to start my opening cutscene again as i have only just finished college exams, so hopefully will have something basic ready soonish.

[Balthazzord]

He is not an abomination in the aesthetics that an arcane horror or the mutant type abominations are. He is in the sense that Uldred is, he is ''posessed'' by a pride demon so is able to retain his human form.

I have been able to start my opening cutscene again as i have only just finished college exams, so hopefully will have something basic ready soonish.

[Dark_Ansem]

double post. but I understand. or like Flemeth.