how about an npc with some SERIOUS issues for once?

[Tredje]

We all know the drill - a race of backstabbing dark elves with a fondness for fornication and bloody rituals and little to no empathy, and then came Drizzt, and suddenly all the drow you see online are roughly the equivalent of the only gay in the village. Now, I know there are already a fair amount of drow npcs in Baldur's Gate II, more than there are halforcs at least, but that's not all there is to it.

There is a lot of whining in this game, a lot of angsting of tragic pasts and difficult paths, especially when it comes to romancing. But what if you found a man who treated you with a superficial desire to benefit from your power, with whom you never know and who, in the end, understands the meaning of true pain. So much that he feels an overwhelming desire to share, not so much with you, but with most everyone else, and frequently in an uncharacteristically emotional manner.

 

Enter Drizzolin Despana, the assassin and slightly less-than-honourable merchant.

 

(image source)

 

You meet him in the underdark, to no great surprise, where he is serving his house doing odd jobs and selling alcohol, among other things. If you are a man, he will treat you with the moderate disdain you are due, at least until you advance in rank, whereas if you are a woman he is likely to kiss up something mad, simply out of habit. He usually keeps his head down at first, but tries his best to gain favor, going so far as mild toadying if need be. He may even try and help you with the fake egg plot if you turn down Solafein.

Then, when his house falls, when he sees the chaos and destruction around him, becoming completely alone is a drow city, he is overcome with "fond feelings" for you (ie cowardice) and begs to join your party, for you to take him away from there, most anywhere away you could take him, bragging about his skills if needed. He is an assassin, bringing much needed thief-skills to the party, along with a skill that goes very well with his personality, that of backstabbing.

 

He is very silent as you face the dragon, voicing his surprise at your not-being-drow only after leaving the cave. He implies, at some point, that the dragon had good reason to kill him, which would account for his silence. Very good reason indeed.

 

If you are a man, he will treat you with caution and act towards the rest of the party as if they were monkeys, much in the tradition of his people, with the obvious exception of Viconia. Again, as mentioned, he will crawl before drow priestesses almost out of reflex. However, if you are a woman he will see an opening, a possibility, and he will start putting the moves on you with great persistance. Few conversations pass before he takes the shallow relationship to the bedchamber (or grass, or whatever is applicable).

He will avoid the elves as you leave the underdark, much like the other male that can join you, knowing full well the hatred they hold for him, perhaps even sharing a tale or two about him forcing fathers to rape their daughters and shoving the dead, dismembered bodyparts of their familymembers down their throats. It shouldn't be too hard to understand why he'd prefer not to be seen. And he's pretty good at not being seen.

 

After the third time or so that he's bedded you, the problem will arise.

Is it the strange climate, the constant sun and the chilling wind of the surface?

Is it the stressfulness of the travelling, adventuring lifestyle?

Is it homesickness?

He does not know. All he knows is this:

He just can't get it up anymore.

 

This is a fact that will change him. Not so much statwise, but he will be much more prone to talk to people, and he will do so in a much more hostile, annoyed manner, accusing everyone of being unfamiliar with the meaning of true pain. He will start drinking heavily, he will become increasingly tense, he will experiment, he will be forced to turn your "relationship" into something not entirely physical. And as he does so, he will become increasingly dependent on you, whereas he had before treated you like the lesser race you are, and might at some point snap and shout about not allowing you to ruin the "beautiful thing" that you two have together, and that it is just a phase, and that he "luvs u"

 

example npc conversations may include:

Drizzolin x Aerie - "My wings, my wings were cut off, oh gods! You know NOTHING of real pain. Shut your mouth, girl."

Drizzolin x Keldorn - "All high and mighty, are you? I bet the whores know you well enough! Paladin of the whorehouse, swinging his upright member like a mace of smiting, spreading his seed like chickenpox." - "What are you insinuating?" - "You mock me! I can see it in your eyes, when you think I'm not looking. I spit on your pity! Oloth plynn dos, fumbler of your brother's jewels!" - "I suggest we end this conversation before you say something you'll regret."

Drizzolin x Korgan - "Out of my way, dwarf, your allencompassing stench might cling to me, which would make it impossible to hide among any but those entirely robbed of their sense of smell." - "Callin me smelly, are ye, fairyboy? We can't all prance around in little outfits, combing our silvery locks and getting pretty for <mainchar> - some of us have to do some actual work."

Drizzolin x Anomen - "Where is my shield?! This is the cursed dark elf's work, I know it! Where are you, Drizzlif!" - "It's Drizzolin, and I sold it." - "You SOLD my SHIELD?! It was a family heirloom, you cur! Where did you sell it?" - "A wandering peddler. I presume we shall not see it again for some time." - "<mainchar>! Emergency meeting!" (alright, a bit off-topic, but still)

 

When you reach Bodhi he will leave you, seemingly having become a vampire, but as you reach her lair you more or less find him in her bed going:

"Bodhi, baby, did you take care of the disturb... oh. Oh! Thanks for saving me <mainchar>, mrimmd'ssinss, my mind is free of her spell at last! I am forever in your debt."

 

He will eventually rid himself of his "problem" during a certain event during the earlier stages of Throne of Bhaal, involving numerous deaths

To quote a certain maskmaker:

"I get hard BECAUSE of all the blood and guts"

 

Drizzolin was partially inspired by Alabama Man

 

Also, Drizzt is not amused

[Icendoan]

Wow. Nice amount of personality and dialogue info.

 

Now, more down-to-BG2 facts, what stats has he got and so on.

 

And you can code yourself, isn't that hard and there are a number of good tutorials around, I recommend the one by theacefes, who wrote a very solid way of getting your NPC into a game.

 

Icen

[BigRob]

Interesting idea, a character who has a breakdown during the course of the game itself (and from the sound of it for reasons he won't explain at all). And a drow who more or less fits the type of the standard drow who's still as dodgy as Saemon Havarin even when he thinks (or is pretending desperately) that he loves you. Stats and things would be interesting, as Icendoan said.

 

The tutorials should be a real help getting you started, and there's plenty of knowledgeable and friendly people about who can help you with the tough spots of coding (just don't forget the traditional chocolate cake offering, lest you be devoured).

 

Good luck to you!

[Icendoan]

It is a little tricky to get the Cake over the internet first time, but you get the hang of it pretty easily. This is actually the origin of the phrase 'The Cake Is A Lie' because you get ungrateful people who expect code and help without offering cake. >_>

 

I like coffee and walnut cakes

 

Icen

[Guest Guest]

Wow, he's like, a real drow. Someone this nasty would be a change of pace for sure. Go for it.

[Sister Vigilante]

That dialogue with Keldorn has a certain eerie power.

[Icendoan]

I would enjoy playing with this mod.

 

Please, please, read the tutorials and make this idea a reality!

 

Icen

[Hide and Seek]

Very interesting conversations (poor Aerie, she'll likely never get over that comment), and with good possibilities for arguements.

 

My one question.. does he dare to insult Sarevok?

[muffin-tacos]

I like it!! Go for it. I think a lot of people will like to play a character that has some back bone for once. I suspect this NPC will be a love or hate NPC. Either you love him or you hate him.

 

My advice to you is don't give up on the coding. It takes a little time to get used to, but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it. Once you finish this mod, all the hassle of the coding will be so worth it when you see the shocked expressions on everybody's faces!

[Icendoan]

I like it!! Go for it. I think a lot of people will like to play a character that has some back bone for once. I suspect this NPC will be a love or hate NPC. Either you love him or you hate him.

 

Like Marmite! Does Drizzolin like marmite, I wonder. Or is he a vegemite person?

My advice to you is don't give up on the coding. It takes a little time to get used to, but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it. Once you finish this mod, all the hassle of the coding will be so worth it when you see the shocked expressions on everybody's faces!

 

Seconded. Dialogue and scripting is easier than it sounds, there is just quite a bit of it to do.

 

And you always have awesome people on these forums to come back and if it doesn't work they will help you

 

Good luck!

 

Icen

[muffin-tacos]

I like it!! Go for it. I think a lot of people will like to play a character that has some back bone for once. I suspect this NPC will be a love or hate NPC. Either you love him or you hate him.

 

Like Marmite! Does Drizzolin like marmite, I wonder. Or is he a vegemite person?

 

If drows have marmite in the Underdark... And blech! I've never been one to like marmite. It's just too.... irksome for me. But I think I'm going to like Drizzolin a lot more than I like marmite.

[Lemernis]

Wow. Nice amount of personality and dialogue info.

 

Now, more down-to-BG2 facts, what stats has he got and so on.

 

And you can code yourself, isn't that hard and there are a number of good tutorials around, I recommend the one by theacefes, who wrote a very solid way of getting your NPC into a game.

 

Icen

 

Icen, can you give the link to this please? I'm thinking about having a go at a NPC of my own.

 

To the OP: This looks like a great character! You have a lot of work ahead of you, but it would no doubt be a very popular mod if you can figure out how to code it.

[Icendoan]

Sure, I will try and dig it out.

 

It is a very good tutorial which explains how to do things very well imo.

 

Took me an age to find it xD

 

Here it is! http://forums.gibberlings3.net/lofiversion....php?t5886.html

 

Icen