New Toon!, share your development character ideas Options

[Renee]

I think there is a thread somewhere around here about our Oblivion characters once they are already extant. The New Toon thread, however, is going to be about developing a character, or 'toon', as it were. I usually keep the process of developing new ones to myself. I might ask others what this new one's name should be, or something basic like this, but I want this thread to be more interactive.

I'm developing a Druid idea. Going to be a 'he'. I have a very vague idea of making a Breton male druid who lives almost entirely outside of civilization. I know nothing of the druids though. I know nothing of their history, other than the stereotype in DnD, in which they remain close to nature. My new toon will stick to this stereotype. He will be somewhat like glargg's Wild Elf character, methinks.

I want to explore the possibility of all those cool weapons found in other games (like quarterstaffs and pole weapons, perhaps, maybe even blowguns and slingshots! ) for my druid guy. I know there's gotta be some mods out there like this. I've already got some sort of spear mod in my games, but the only way to access it is to visit the basement of the Skingrad FG. My druid aint going that far.

That's as far as I've gotten. I never could make a druid in the vanilla game, because it doesn't support the sort of nature scene I've been visualizing in my head for years. The only peaceful creatures are deer and butterflies. So on PC, the doors have opened. MMM adds tons of peaceful (and not-so-peaceful) creatures. Witchcraft makes a lot of hostile creatures (like wolves) into passive animal acquaintances. That sort of thing.

I am going to do some reading on druids this weekend, no doubt. This should be fun!

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Aug 22 2014, 11:04 PM

[gpstr]

Hey all... nice to see you, thanks for the responses.

I tried four different starts with Elenin last night - the beginning of the game plus three variations on TUStartingOptions, and none of them clicked. The only things I got were that I'm not interested in taking her through the MQ and I think she's going to have dark hair, high, thin dark brows and green/gold eyes.

@Lopov - I actually hesitated on thief for her when I was running through that list because it was most likely, or at least least unlikely. It was a real hesitation - not a sarcastic one. The idea of an Altmer thief is sort of appealing, if for no other reason than that the idea of someone that tall sneaking into a house is sort of amusing. But I already have an Orc thief going currently, so even that wouldn't be much of a novelty. Still though...

@SubRosa - first, just Hi. It's been a while.

I read your response this morning, and I have to say - the bound armor idea is nibbling at me. When I took her through the tutorial last night, she tried both armors and neither one clicked, just as she tried all the weapons and none of them clicked. The first alternate start was so I could try her out in clothes with a claymore, but that was too reminiscent of Jibran, and Dawn, and sort of Belladonna (though she's clothes and a bow, but still). But the idea of just clothes at least had a bit more appeal than either type of armor. I then tried it with a war axe, but that didn't click either. I considered doing a battle axe, but that's Lemdel (my male Altmer barbarian). And one of the problems with just clothes is that they either have to be heavily enchanted, which is a bit too easy in the long run, or the character has to be a notably talented and somewhat eccentric fighter (or a mage), and I don't really see her as either one. But bound stuff...

I did a character like that in Morrowind (in which it was actually gamebreakingly easy) and poked around in it a bit in Oblivion, but I haven't done a dedicated one. It'd take a bit of modding to do it right - the spell effects are just too expensive to cast for very long until later in the game, when killing stuff is easy pretty much no matter how they do it. I've always thought it'd work better if the effect "grew" with skill increases, so that instead of being limited on the number of things summoned and the duration of the summons, the character would be limited on the quality of the things (I think you did a bit of that in Witchcraft, IIRC). And then I got to thinking - if I modded it... she could be able to summon not just armor and a weapon, but some of the painfully over-the-top armor and weapons I never get a chance to use otherwise - some of the stuff like Nico's Dreadweave or Tyrael that's all spikes and blades and frills and trim, that I could never envision any actual character ever actually wearing without feeling at least a bit foolish.

I can almost envision her transforming from a simple Altmer lass into a hulking, gargantuan, Shrike-like assemblage of steel and razor wire, then rending flesh, then simply transforming back. I sort of like that idea.

I'm not sure how to balance it with the progression of items. I really don't want to start her off just being able to summon a dagger and a helm and for 10 or 15 seconds at a time. That's the wrong way to limit the power of the thing. She needs to be able to summon a full suit of armor and a full fledged weapon from the beginning, even if they're rusty iron (or the equivalent). But then I can't really do the whole hulking brute bit, or at least nowhere near as well. But maybe that'd give her something to work toward. And it sort of conflicts with the only insights I did get into her - I found I preferred her with dark eyes and brows and hair - it gave her a bit of an edge. I'm thinking to really pull off the transformation into a hulking brute thing, she needs no edge at all. She needs to look about as threatening as Ardaline.

But then again, maybe that bit of an edgy look would work - people would have the impression that she was more dangerous than they would've otherwise thought, but won't know why - there's just something about her eyes...

We'll see...

[SubRosa]

I can almost envision her transforming from a simple Altmer lass into a hulking, gargantuan, Shrike-like assemblage of steel and razor wire, then rending flesh, then simply transforming back. I sort of like that idea.

Can I get her phone number? I think I am in love...

I'm not sure how to balance it with the progression of items. I really don't want to start her off just being able to summon a dagger and a helm and for 10 or 15 seconds at a time. That's the wrong way to limit the power of the thing. She needs to be able to summon a full suit of armor and a full fledged weapon from the beginning, even if they're rusty iron (or the equivalent). But then I can't really do the whole hulking brute bit, or at least nowhere near as well. But maybe that'd give her something to work toward. And it sort of conflicts with the only insights I did get into her - I found I preferred her with dark eyes and brows and hair - it gave her a bit of an edge. I'm thinking to really pull off the transformation into a hulking brute thing, she needs no edge at all. She needs to look about as threatening as Ardaline.

I never liked the way each separate piece of bound armor was a different spell. By the time you summon an entire suit, the fight is over. That is why when I made the bound witch armor for Witchcraft I did it all in one spell. That is really the only way to go. Just make the armor and weapons of varying levels of power to go with what level you are currently at. I love the idea of modding the more fantastic gear to use as bound armor and weapons. I never liked the daedric stuff that much either. So a long time ago I took the Ice Morrigan Armor (I can't find a link to the original mod by jojo), and used it as a replacer for the bound weapons and armor in my game. The Silverlight Armor would be good for that too.