Crowdsourcing subrace interactions: BG

[DavidW]

In IWD2, subraces come to life because NPCs respond to a creature's subrace. Ideally I'd like to do the same for subraces in the other games, but it's quite a large task and only partially plays to my modding strengths. So I'm hoping to crowdsource it. This thread is for suggestions for NPC responses to the main character's subrace in Baldur's Gate (let's leave Siege of Dragonspear out for now).

A few guidelines:

1) I don't need code. English-language descriptions are fine.

2) I do need specificity. "Shopkeepers in Baldur's gate should react badly to Tieflings" is not useful. 'SHOPKN01 should respond to a Tiefling at block 4' is useful.

3) If you want to suggest actual text, that's fine, but I'm happy to have suggestions like 'he should say something bigoted' too.

4) Responses should be limited - no more than a one-line comment and a one-line response by CHARNAME. If you want to suggest a way in which being a Tiefling leads to a zany quest, that's out of scope.

5) I am keen to keep the level of responses at least approximately constant across the subraces. Obviously it's easy to see ways in which a duergar or tiefling character is going to get a reaction, and to some degree that's cool, but I don't want the exotic subraces to get all the love.

6) I have no idea when I will have time to implement any of this! It's an experiment, both to see if I get good suggestions and to see what the coding looks like. Don't be offended if it takes ages for me to do it, and don't contribute if you're going to be offended.

7) Thank you! 

[RoyalProtector]

Not an interaction, but this general idea could add to the immersion of being a different race:

Biographies could be tweaked, at least in the cases of races that instill suspicion. Duergar and Tieflings (perhaps Deep Gnomes too). I can envision that the first part of the biographies mentioning something along the lines of "Gorion protected you despite the suspicion of the rest of people in the Keep at first, but over time people learned to accept you". Perhaps even in positives senses, such as with Aasimar since they have a tendency to be good/likable/trustworthy/inspiring. BG2 doesn't mention races in the first place, so it only really applies to the BG biography defaults.

To be fair, the default biographies make no mention of the moral character of your charname (with the sole exception, I believe, of blackguards, added by Beamdog), so maybe it's out of place. This is just what I would do for my enjoyment, tailoring biographies is one of my rituals for serious playthroughs (I even do this for kits that are substantially different from the base class).

As for interactions, I can't really remember a single race-based interaction in BGEE, so I don't have anything to say on this for now...

Cheers. Sorry if this isn't useful or desired, since it's generic, but I don't know if tweaking biographies isn't contemplated.

Edited March 22 by RoyalProtector

[hulkamania]

• A funny bit would be to emphasize Nashkel's backwater nature by having an NPC or two there react with wonder or bewilderment to the more exotic races.
  
  The innkeeper or shopkeeper upon encountering a duergar or svirfneblin: "Master gnome/dwarf, are you well? Your face looks ashen." The PC could reply with some generic." I am fine, thank you. The climate here doesn't agree with me" and end the conversation. Or they could reply with "I am duergar/svirfneblin." at which point the NPC would say, "I am sorry to hear that. The nearest apothecary is in Beregost, but the Temple of Helm can cure any ailment if you have the coin."
   
• A Naskelite NPC could refer to gnomish characters as halflings, perhaps even referencing Gullykin as their likely point of origin.
   
• The initial encounter with Bardolan could be racheted up a little in hostility if the PC is half-orc or tiefling: "But I warn you, half orc, tensions run high right now and I will be keeping a close eye on you." or, in the case of the tiefling (which he likely has no vocabulary for): "But be warned, tensions run high right now and I don't like the look of you."
  
  (I think in general there are a lot of missed opportunities for extra hostility towards half orcs. I remember during my first half orc playthrough being vaguely disappointed that I didn't cause more of a stir throughout the game.)

 

[hulkamania]

Noober (and Nüber and Neeber for that matter) would be a great vector for subrace interactions. Just give him a couple goofy observations or importunate questions for each subrace. 

"If you're a gnome/halfing/dwarf, where's your pointy hat?"

"You look like a statue from the temple!" (aasimar)

"Are you an orc/elf on your mom or your dad's side?"

[RoyalProtector]

16 hours ago, hulkamania said:

The innkeeper or shopkeeper upon encountering a duergar or svirfneblin: "Master gnome/dwarf, are you well? Your face looks ashen." The PC could reply with some generic." I am fine, thank you. The climate here doesn't agree with me" and end the conversation. Or they could reply with "I am duergar/svirfneblin." at which point the NPC would say, "I am sorry to hear that. The nearest apothecary is in Beregost, but the Temple of Helm can cure any ailment if you have the coin."

This whole bit is rather hilarious.