11 réponses à ce sujet

[ColorsFade]

 I was wondering how you folks went about creating your party-recruitable NPC's? 

I started to create one in the Toolset, by creating a blueprint, but realized that was too wide open for me and I would be prone to creating stat/skill combinations that were invalid (because I am not a guru with rules; I need a game engine to limit me).

So I decided to run my module and create a new character instead, and remember all the things I chose (stats, diety, etc.) and *then* create that same character as a blueprint with the Toolset. 

Is that how most of you are doing it, or is there a better way?

Thanks as always!

[Lugaid of the Red Stripes]

Just copy a blueprint, like one of the standard companions, and modify it.

[Kaldor Silverwand]

Always copy a blueprint, never create them from scratch. You are likely to encounter several bugs if you try to create from scratch.

I created all of my recruitable NPC's in King's Festival in this fashion.

Regards

[rjshae]

Perhaps try the InCharacter plug-in.

[Dann-J]

I create my companions as playable characters using the game interface (and a simple character creating module I built) then I use a utility called BIC2UTC to turn the exported character into something the toolset will import. That way I can ensure that the companion is a completely legal character.

[ColorsFade]

Yeah, in the tutorial I was reading they mentioned the Companion Scripts right off the bat,so I added those.

I've always had a love/hate relationship with companions. I love meeting the companions in a game like Baldur's Gate II and seeing what kind of personality they have and what sort of quests are associated with them, but there's almost always something about a companion that irks me and makes me want to create my own (for instance, almost every Paladin companion I've ever encountered has been a total disappointment, if not in terms of personality, then in terms of stats).

I enjoy games like Icewind Dale because I can create my own party, but then they lack all the flair and depth of recruitable NPC's and the quests that come with them.

But, since I'm creating this campaign, I get to have the best of both worlds :-)

For the most part, the companions I will be creating are going to be characters I'd normally create for my own party (and I may even borrow some names from my past parties). The difference is that I'm going to be creating a lot more of them. I plan on having a lot of recruitable NPC's in this campaign, each with a story/quest that should be worth embarking on.

There should be at least one of every major class if the player wishes to have a certain type of class in their party. Some classes will be represented more than once, for quest reasons or pure flavor.

[kamal_]

It might be a better idea from a timesaving perspective to have the companions by personality/type:

Bill is a melee oriented guy devoted to his church. And then let the player choose whether he's a Paladin or a good aligned fighter. Bob is an arcane caster that makes deals with bad guys (wizard/sorceror/warlock).

You can also join an npc at level 1 and then give them experience to match the pc. This lets the player level them up to suit themselves. I did this in my first campaign, giving some companions stats suitable for multiple classes that would fit their personality. A fighter who was devoted to his deity, with enough wisdom (and a weapon focus in a blunt weapon) that taking cleric levels and being a combat focused cleric made sense. That lets the player decide just what role in the party the companion served, while preserving their quest since the quest revolved around personality.

Lots of companions will make for lots of work.

[ColorsFade]

I do want to allow players to multiclass companions how they see fit, and some NPC's are going to have stats that will lean in favor of certain combinations (I always appreciated that Imoen had good enough stats to be multiclass to a Wizard, because there were usually better rogues to be had).

I have thought about all the NPC's being level 1 when they are met, and allowing the PC to level them up as they see fit. I'm leaning very heavily toward that idea. The first NPC I created - you meet them at level 1 anyway. But many of the others won't come until later, and I want to give the player as much flexibility as possible to shape the NPC's how they see fit.

re: "Lots of work" - this whole project is going to be lots of work :-) Its' a big story. It's been sitting in my brain, in one form or another, for a long time. The NWN2 toolset seems like the right medium to tell it. I really don't care how long it takes or what I have to do to make it happen. I've always been a persistent and diligent worker.

Learning the toolset is the key. Once I know how to do something, then the next time I have to do that thing again, it's quick and easy. I feel fairly productive with it already.

[rjshae]

Something I've thought about doing is starting my campaign by letting the player build a party of two characters; basically the PC and a cohort. That provides some assurance to the player that the class of their PC will be counterbalanced; if they choose a wizard, then they can make their cohort a fighter, &c. The remainder of the party can then be recruited from a set of characters without concern for providing a well-rounded party. The recruits will likewise be smaller in number, allowing me to focus on a reduced set of interactions.

[Dann-J]

Allowing players free range to multiclass companions is a double-edged sword. Freedom of choice is great, but it makes it so much harder to give a companion a specific personality if you have to avoid any mention of their class.

There is a script function that sets a flag on a companion that allows unrestricted level up (I believe there's also a campaign setting that does the same). I experimented with it while planning my next module, since there are dual-classed companions that I wanted to be able to level up in both of their classes.

I decided to give them their own custom level up event scripts that change their level up package depending on whether they're at an odd or even level, so that they level up in each class alternately. Otherwise players could have added a third or even fourth class if they wanted, which would have been out of character for those specific companions.


When not allowing unrestricted level up, companions can only level up according to their current level up package. It would be relatively easy to give the player a choice via a companion's first conversation as to what class you want them to be (by setting their level up package), then design the rest of their conversation to use conversation tokens that automatically determine their class. "So tell me, <firstname>, why did you choose to become a <class>?", for example.

Modifié par DannJ, 26 février 2013 - 10:05 .

[ColorsFade]

DannJ wrote...
I decided to give them their own custom level up event scripts that change their level up package depending on whether they're at an odd or even level, so that they level up in each class alternately. Otherwise players could have added a third or even fourth class if they wanted, which would have been out of character for those specific companions.


When not allowing unrestricted level up, companions can only level up according to their current level up package. It would be relatively easy to give the player a choice via a companion's first conversation as to what class you want them to be (by setting their level up package), then design the rest of their conversation to use conversation tokens that automatically determine their class. "So tell me, <firstname>, why did you choose to become a <class>?", for example.

I like some of those ideas Dan. 

Total free-form is too much freedom for me. I want to give the NPC's as much character as I can, and their classes will be part of their identity. But I do want *some* flexibility for *some* NPC's. Again, I will beat the old Baldur's Gate II drum a lot on this, but I had the most fun with those NPC's. Some, like Aerie, were already usefully dual-classed. Others, like Imoen, had potential (in BG1) if you so desired, but you could have kept her a Rogue until the end. 

And a character like Minsc, for instance, it would make sense to me, because of his stats and personality, for him to take some fighter levels for things like, say, Weapon Spec. But a guy like Bishop, also a Ranger, from NWN2, is more set on stone and should remain that way. He's an archer specialist. But I could see a situation in this game where I might want to create a character who has stats setup for something down the road like an Arcane Archer.... And maybe his quest is about finding his identity... 

So, the way I am seeing things right now, some characters are going to be more attached to their class, and others might have some more freedom to go in different directions. And I think that will be fun for the player. 

Above all, I'm trying to write a campaign that *I* want to play and replay over and over. And NPC's, for me, help with replay value