Started a new character with a new race Options

[ghastley]

I like to play any new NPC's I'm planning to add to my mods as characters, to get an idea of their quirks and stuff. So I created a Nocturnal race.

Nocturnal has a night-eye lesser power like a Khajiit. Low strength, and agility, but high Magicka, or she'd have no offense at all! She takes sun damage at a lower rate than a vampire, but unlike them, has no way to turn it off. I gave her white (Order) eyes for contrast.

My character is born under the Thief, of course, and I gave her the Skeleton key as starter equipment so she doesn't raise Security or Alteration. High Sneak, and having really dark skin (darker than shown in the picture of the outfit), and a black outfit, makes her hard to see. That also makes for poor screen-shots.

She's currently doing the Mages Guild Recommendation quests, as access to spell-making will be useful. I considered giving her a way to do that without joining a mortal's guild, but decided it was too much effort, and the quests were a useful test. She's been caught out by the dawn a couple of times, but she can let herself into any building quickly enough not to get too badly hurt. Fast travel needs planning, but she's at the stage where she hasn't found most places yet.

She's still picking up her arsenal of spells as she goes around the Mages Guild chapters. Since the game gave her Flare and Absorb Health, and summon skeleton, she's used those so far, but will consider Illusion spells when she gets them.

I know I may have to reconsider the sun damage, but so far I haven't found any quest that she wants to do, that is prevented by it. I'll keep going until I hit a road-block with that, and figure out something when it happens.

Her cape is still being worked on. The sides between the arms and the body are proving almost impossible to weight to the standard skeleton, and may will require extra bones. She's currently using a makeshift one with those sections removed, which doesn't look quite right, but isn't too glaring an anomaly.

The sun damage thing may also mean I need to make her immune to Vampirism, but I'll just keep taking the Mandrake rather than build it in. I haven't played a Vampire character for long, so can anyone who has point me at the quests where the sun damage makes it difficult?

This post has been edited by ghastley: Jun 14 2013, 02:14 PM

[ghastley]

The problem with her cape is getting the part between her arm and her torso/thighs to collapse properly. I'm spending all my time trying to adjust the bone weights. Too much arm makes the cape slice across her body when she drops her arm, too little makes parts stick out to the side.

That's one reason for reducing the front. I don't want the same issues with that part as well. The outfit may evolve into something more like the Skyrim version under the cape. The cape will also likely add the hair slot, as some hair options poke through the hood. That means adding some hair to the mesh, so that putting it on doesn't make her bald. It could use a jeweled clasp at the throat, too.

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At present, she's reached Master Thief, and just has the Ultimate Heist left to do in the TG quest line. However, she doesn't want to risk getting in a fight with Evangeline Beanique, as she already had to get reinstated into the Mages Guild after Fathis Aren attacked her when she entered his tower. So she's currently looking for Chameleon gear (and may have to enchant copies of her own outfit to do so.) That means raising her stats so she can cast the spell, and raising her level, so that she can find decent rings. She doesn't wear armour, so the cuirass options aren't for her.

She's been shopping by making sprints across town while frantically casting a healing spell. She tried breaking into shops and waiting for the merchant to arrive, but they often turn up before they do business, and kick her out into the sunshine. I'd originally intended for her to steal everything she needs, but some items are rare in the wild. Repair hammers, for example, do drop from some Marauders, and chests in their hideouts, but not enough. You may be wondering why she needs repair hammers if she doesn't use armor or weapons, but she does use a dagger (for the backstab bonus) and she needs to raise her Endurance for the health points. Block practice with a summoned skelly and her dagger helps, and Armorer goes with it, or she keeps needing new daggers.

Mostly, her offense is magical, using destruction spells at range, and absorb health up close. She needs gold to pay for those spells, even if she makes her own, and so she needs to sell things. She uses the TG fences a lot for selling things, even if they're not stolen, as they buy a wider range of goods.

It's a fun build, though. Having to watch the clock is a different way to play. She can escape into dungeons to avoid the sun, but she can't escape from dungeons to the outside world without checking the time o day.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Jun 18 2013, 12:46 AM