Lycanthropes other than werewolves in BGII?

[ericp07]

Hello,

 

A quick look at the werecreatures in BGII suggests to me that the only lycanthropes in the game are werewolves (including greater) and wolfweres, their opposites. I'd like to know if there are any other creatures with the racial designation of lycanthrope. Also, if I want to add a non-joinable lycanthrope NPC based on a human or Elf, what is needed besides simply changing the race entry to LYCANTHROPE?

 

Thanks,

Eric

[devSin]

Other than the lone werewyvern in ToB, no.

 

What effect are you looking to achieve? You can change their race to LYCANTHROPE, but it doesn't convey any special abilities (they'll still need items and such to make them regenerate and have weapon immunities).

[ericp07]

Other than the lone werewyvern in ToB, no.

 

What effect are you looking to achieve? You can change their race to LYCANTHROPE, but it doesn't convey any special abilities (they'll still need items and such to make them regenerate and have weapon immunities).

 

OK, my question now should be: is it possible to set up other werecreatures besides lupines? I'd like to see if werebears, wererats, and weretigers/werepanthers can be put together, but also how to put together a werewolf. (Oh, I just realized that we're limited by the available in-game animations) I imagine both the humanoid and the werecreature are required, and I'm aware that we can script the change from one form to another by creating the new form, playing the animation effect, and doing a DestroySelf to get rid of the first form. So, I'd like to know what all is needed to add/modify in a .cre file to use a humanoid as one form of the lycanthrope. When I examine the werewolf .cre files in NI, it's not obvious to me what the key components are for my interest, but then I don't always know what to look for.

 

I do have two NPC villains in my mod who I want to be afflicted with lycanthropy, as this speaks to the theme (joinable NPC is interested primarily in opposing/eliminating a cult of evil lycanthropes in the region). So, of course I want to make sure they're set up properly, as well as to learn what the options are to expand this idea.

 

Some guidance would be appreciated, and if I need to be more specific, I'll do what I can

 

Thanks,

Eric

[Ipsy]

Using the werewolf/werewyvern scripts, you could probably set up were-whatevers, but based on animations, you'd be limited to were-panthers, leopards, bears, and rats, and the rats would look ridiculous.

 

The werewyvern script is:

IF
 See([PC])
 Global("Display","LOCALS",0)
THEN
 RESPONSE #100
SetGlobal("Display","LOCALS",1)
DisplayStringHead(Myself,72246) // 'Draconis has fallen! Lock down the enclave! They must not reach Lord Abazigal!'
Wait(1)
CreateVisualEffectObject("SPFLESHS",Myself)
SetName('Greater Werewyvern')
Polymorph(WYVERN_BIG)
Enemy()
END

 

I just copy-pasted this into my NPC's baf file:

IF
 See([PC])
 Global("Change","LOCALS",0)
THEN
 RESPONSE #100
SetGlobal("Change","LOCALS",1)
Wait(1)
CreateVisualEffectObject("SPFLESHS",Myself)
Polymorph(WYVERN_BIG)
END

 

and it seems to work.

 

Edit: Indeed, works perfectly. I had a giant wyvern in my party

[ericp07]

Using the werewolf/werewyvern scripts, you could probably set up were-whatevers, but based on animations, you'd be limited to were-panthers, leopards, bears, and rats, and the rats would look ridiculous.

 

The werewyvern script is:

IF
 See([PC])
 Global("Display","LOCALS",0)
THEN
 RESPONSE #100
SetGlobal("Display","LOCALS",1)
DisplayStringHead(Myself,72246) // 'Draconis has fallen! Lock down the enclave! They must not reach Lord Abazigal!'
Wait(1)
CreateVisualEffectObject("SPFLESHS",Myself)
SetName('Greater Werewyvern')
Polymorph(WYVERN_BIG)
Enemy()
END

 

I just copy-pasted this into my NPC's baf file:

IF
 See([PC])
 Global("Change","LOCALS",0)
THEN
 RESPONSE #100
SetGlobal("Change","LOCALS",1)
Wait(1)
CreateVisualEffectObject("SPFLESHS",Myself)
Polymorph(WYVERN_BIG)
END

 

and it seems to work.

 

Edit: Indeed, works perfectly. I had a giant wyvern in my party

 

I see. As a comparison, here's how I handle shapeshifting for a custom creature in my mod:

 

// Beast of Malar shapeshifts into Claw Slayer form for serious combat
IF
GlobalTimerExpired("EP#PantherAttack","LOCALS") //Timer runs out
Global("TimerStarted","LOCALS",1)
THEN
RESPONSE #100
SetGlobal("TimerStarted","LOCALS",2)
CreateVisualEffectObject("SPPOLYMP",Myself) //effect animation
CreateCreature("EP#MABCS",[-1.-1],0) //Slayer of Malar appears
DestroySelf() //Hunter of Malar removed
END

 

Would it be more efficient (or is there an advantage) to change my code to be more like the wyvern shapeshifting script, or should I leave it as-is? It appears to me that both methods yield the same result.

 

Thanks,

Eric

[devSin]

Uh, look at the examples provided with the game... there's nothing special about lycanthropes over any other creature.

 

Vanilla werewolves will have undroppable items to provide immunity to weapon enchantment (and rarely immunity to non-silver) and can possess an item to grant regeneration. Typically, they transform via a custom spell that chunks the current creature and replaces it entirely with the new creature (nothing about the old creature is preserved in the new one), although the ToB wyvern is just scripted to switch its animation and name.

 

You wouldn't take the polymorph route unless you didn't need anything in the CRE file to change (I'm guessing, though, that your different forms have different equipped items, and maybe different scripts or stats and abilities). So stick to your script (or create custom spells).

[ericp07]

Uh, look at the examples provided with the game... there's nothing special about lycanthropes over any other creature.

 

Vanilla werewolves will have undroppable items to provide immunity to weapon enchantment (and rarely immunity to non-silver) and can possess an item to grant regeneration. Typically, they transform via a custom spell that chunks the current creature and replaces it entirely with the new creature (nothing about the old creature is preserved in the new one), although the ToB wyvern is just scripted to switch its animation and name.

 

You wouldn't take the polymorph route unless you didn't need anything in the CRE file to change (I'm guessing, though, that your different forms have different equipped items, and maybe different scripts or stats and abilities). So stick to your script (or create custom spells).

 

Well and good, then. Yes, for my Beast of Malar, each form has different natural weapon damage values, and some other statistics are different as well. For that case, I'll leave it as-is; it tests perfectly in-game.

 

So, I'm still interested in experimenting with other lycanthropes...but if the only hybrid form that has an animation is the werewolf (and I suppose I could use the Rakshasa animation for a weretiger's hybrid form), that will forego some of the possibilities, but not if I just want to have a person change to animal form. I'll have to find out which animations would be suitable for this, and proceed accordingly.

 

Thanks,

Eric

[Ipsy]

Just looked it up - werewolf items are:

ringloup (for the Loup Garou/greater werewolf)

S1-12M2 (also used for Loup Garou; paw)

weregrdr (greater werewolf)

 

For regular werewolves:

immune1 (grants immunity to normal weapons)

S1-12 (paw)

 

The werewyvern uses:

ringwolf (grants regeneration effect)

werewyv (weapon)

 

Maybe it would be easier to directly copy an existing CRE file and tweak the animation/stats as appropriate.

[Daulmakan]

Planescape has wererats with their own animation.