suggestion: relocate Coran to FAI

[Lemernis]

Make Cloakwood Areas Available Before Completing the Bandit Camp

 

This component will allow you to travel to the Cloakwood forest from a nearby area prior to completing the Bandit Camp. This will allow you to explore, complete Cloakwood quests, and pick up Cloakwood NPCs earlier in the game. The component has two options: open up the first area only (with the lodge and Aldeth Sashenstar) or open up all four wilderness areas, leaving just the mines themselves inaccessible until after the Bandit Camp.

 

 

Since it is Kelddath who gave Coran the quest, maybe relocate Coran in Beregost?

 

Although why the governor of Beregost would be concerned about wyverns in a wild, notoriously dangerous forest some 120 miles to the north, well off the Trade Way, doesn't make much sense. BG2 Tweak Pack (and BG1 NPC Project) might consider revising that. Make Coran available at the Friendly Arm Inn. He still wants help hunting wyverns. But it is Galena Mirrorshade who is Coran's questgiver. She wants their heads for her potions, and will pay handsomely for them. Coran knows they're far too dangerous to take on by himself.

[Miloch]

I can't recall offhand, but does Keldath mention exactly where the wyvern head needs to come from? If not, why not just add a random wyvern off in the wilds east, north or south of the Temple? The BG1 NPC folks would probably object to it as "new content" but it's a lot safer and more sensible than opening Cloakwood earlier than it should be opened. Though frankly, I'd probably just do without Coran until later too. If you need a thief, you've got Imoen or Safana, Montaron is a F/T too and there's any number of good fighters. But it's always good to have options too.

[Lemernis]

That's true. If the wyvern is a problem for caravans along the Trade Way, say between Beregost and Nashkel, then it'd be of interest to Kelddath. Beregost is all about caravan trade, at least in Forgotten Realms canon.

 

I know it's adding new content, but if Galena is the one who pays for the wyvern heads because she uses them in potions then they could be added in some places people don't expect. Just a couple here and there. Coran can say he's heard there've been some sighted down around the Cloud Peaks. I'd like to see them in caves to the south, but that's just me.

 

Re: making him available earlier than chapter 4: At least back when the game was new for folks I remember lots of folks liked to use Coran in tandem with Kivan, they're a devastating archer duo.

 

In the vanilla game Coran doesn't have much to offer as a thief, since his skill points in Pick Locks and Find Traps are so low. Of course Shadowkeeper easily remedies that, as well as L1NPCs. But anyway, he's a fun character. Sometimes you want a good archer in the group. And now there's a friendship mod for him that's entertaining.

[Domi]

One problem with that is that it strips the first Cloakwood area from one more encounter 9while adding a sidequest where there are already a few). Cloackwood 1 is notoriously empty as is. Also, I think that a few of our dialogues mention that Coran is met on the bridge in Cloakwood.

[Lemernis]

So if he was moved those dialogues could be changed accordingly, right? That shouldn't be hard to do...

 

Anyway, it's rather awkward to travel through Cloakwood prior to chapter 4. If you place Coran at FAI he could still ask to hunt wyverns and Coran's quest could still be given by Kelddath. In canon the wyvern cave in Cloakwood is in fact only about 30 miles from the Trade Way, so it's plausible that they could be flying regularly from their den to that trade artery to prey on caravans between Beregost and Baldur's Gate.

 

For reference sake, here's Coran's dialogue:

 

CORAN: It's refreshing to find other people in this wood. My name is Coran: thief and archer! I've been alone in the wilderness for far too long. I wouldn't mind returning to the big city but I have yet to collect my bounty. I'd share the reward with the lot of you, if you would help hasten the hunt. You interested in hearing more?

 

CHAR NAME: Yes, tell us more.

 

CORAN: Good, I'm glad you're smart enough to recognize opportunity when it comes knocking. The deal is this: I've been hired out by the mayor of Beregost to hunt down a great winged dragon that's been plaguing the caravan routes. He's offered 2,000 gold for its head. Now before you get cold feet, let me allay your fears. The only descriptions of the beast have always mentioned its deadly barbed tail. From what I know about dragons they don't have barbs on their tails: that's something unique to wyverns. So all we have to do is find this wyvern's nest and kill it. Our only worries are if it has friends over for dinner! So what is your decision, yea or nay?

 

CHAR NAME: Yea.

 

CORAN: Very well then. We shouldn't tarry any longer; let's collect the heads of those soon-to-be-sorry wyverns.

 

But if you're making him available at FAI then edit the timer for Coran's quest so that he doesn't leave the party if the quest isn't completed by whatever time it's set for. Make it an infinite amount of time. And then eliminate the feature that makes Cloakwood available prior to chapter 4.

[Lemernis]

I would edit the end of the dialogue, though:

 

CORAN: Very well then. We shouldn't tarry any longer; let's collect the heads of those soon-to-be-sorry wyverns. I suspect the nest lies somewhere in the dense forests of this region, probably easily within a half day's flight from the Trade Way.

 

CHAR NAME: Alright, but know that I have matters of my own to attend to first.

 

CORAN: As long as we are steadily collecting treasure and begin the wyvern hunt at a suitable time I am content.

 

CHAR NAME: Welcome aboard Coran.

[Domi]

So if he was moved those dialogues could be changed accordingly, right? That shouldn't be hard to do...

 

The BG1NPC Project is closed for anything but bugfixing. Plus the dialogues had to be changed subject to a player installing an optional component from another mod. As a trend it is unacceptable, since it will potentially result in the never to be finished project in attempts to satisfy every single player's whims.

[Lemernis]

Okay, understand.

[Miloch]

Of course, that doesn't prevent another mod from doing it. I believe the same "open Cloakwood" component is available both in Tweaks and BG1 NPC, though Tweaks isn't really open to new content either (not, at least, until if and when Cam gets around to approve and add it). Maybe it's time Lemernis tried his hand at IE modding though...

 

[Edit: Also, it seems this is being worked on anyway, so maybe now's the time to get your voice in, though the changes seem more technical than functional (as should be the case for BG1 NPC).]

[Lemernis]

Miloch I've tried, and I'm afraid I can't code my way out of a wet paper bag.

 

I remember someone here last year tyring to explain coding dialogue to me in terms of the character's subjective states and I was like, uh, wha? You mean you can't just create a dialogue tree like in NWN?

 

Anyway, I would do a lot if I had a simple systematic approach to follow that I was pretty certain not to screw up. I'd still like to make a simple NPC mod for a half-orc cleric-thief I dreamed up, for example. And if only I could wrap my brain around how to do it I would.

 

Anyhoo, I'll express my opinion at the link you provided, thanks!

[Icendoan]

Sure, you can create dialogue trees in DLTCEP and then use WeiDU to assign them, but it will be harder to tweak it later on.

 

Icen

[Miloch]

Miloch I've tried, and I'm afraid I can't code my way out of a wet paper bag.

Neither can I, though that doesn't stop me from trying, or at least from pinching other people's code.

[Lemernis]

Well, I will say that if I had access to a simple NPC mod's code (no quest, no romance), and I could take that code and simply replace existing dialogue and .cre file with my own content, then I would jump on that.

 

As far as I know, there 's a paucity of good aligned thief NPCs in BG2. The NPC I want to make is a LG cleric of Chauntea.

 

The biggest challenge with NPCs that I see is finding good voice actors. I have playtested the character design, and I'm confident that players would enjoy this character. Really good voice acting would cinch it. As I suggested at SHS I would probably post on acting school websites to see if I could find a volunteer for that (something a student can list among his acting experience).

 

Anyway, apologies for getting way off-topic here. But PM me if you can bring me into the modding fold to work on such a BG2 NPC project. Like I said, if I can just take a mod that is already written and plug my own content into it then I won't have to bother anyone else. (Or at least it keeps coding assistance from others to a minimum). Otherwise I don't think I could offer much other than ideas. But you guys all have a long list of great ideas that will never be realized already.

[Miloch]

Well, I will say that if I had access to a simple NPC mod's code (no quest, no romance), and I could take that code and simply replace existing dialogue and .cre file with my own content, then I would jump on that.

Well, I don't do much with NPC modding, but I believe that is indeed what some of the tutorials recommend.