Mod for NeJ3: Erevain Blacksheaf NPC Options

[Bill Bisco]

NOTE: MOD IS A WORK IN PROGRESS AND HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED.

CAUTION: SPOILERS BELOW!!


Contents

1. Introduction
2. Erevain Original Role
3. Erevain Expanded Role - Intro and Early Exit
4. Erevain Expanded Role - Expansion Contents
5. Original Erevain Points of Inspiration
6. Erevain Expansion Outline
7. Erevain Starting Mechanical Information
8. Erevain General Notes
9. Good Bioware NPC Banters
10. Neutral Bioware NPC Banters
11. Evil Bioware NPC Banters
12. NEJ NPC Banters
13. Crossmod NPC Banters
14. CHARNAME Banters
15. CHARNAME Player Initiated Banters
16. Event Banters
17. Interjections
18. CRE File Information
19. Infiltrator Kit Description
20. Erevain's Elven Plate +2 Description
21. Erevain's Broadsword +3 Description
22. Blacksheaf Family Amulet Description
23. Erevain's Body
24. Encounter 1: Guthic of Shargaas
25. Encounter 2: Yalatheniel of Evereska
26. Encounter 3: Guthic of Shargaas #2
27. Encounter 4: Yalatheniel of Evereska #2

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1. Introduction
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Erevain Blacksheaf is an NPC met in the original Icewind Dale as well as the Never Ending Journey Baldur's Gate 2 mod. This thread is to be used as a repository of notes and outlines for expanding the role of Erevain into a joinable NPC companion.

Erevain can be found in the Snowdrift Inn in

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2. Erevain Original Role
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Erevain's original stats can be found here. Erevain is the only elf in Easthaven and he speaks to you as a traveler who is delaying the Elven retreat to explore more of the world.

Erevain's fate is tragic as he went to Dragon's Eye ahead of the party on his own, trying to save a group of captured villagers but died alone in the attempt. He leaves behind a journal revealing that he was Xan's (NPC companion from BG1) cousin.

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3. Erevain Expanded Role - Intro and Early Exit
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Erevain will have an extra dialogue option upon meeting him that will allow you to recruit him into your party. Either he will be joinable immediately or you will need to wait until you have the quest to find the missing caravans before he will become joinable. If you're rude to him, he will not join you.

When Hrothgar tells you to talk to Pomhab to gather supplies, he will tell you that you can talk to Accalia in addition to speaking to Erevain to join the party. If you were rude to Erevain earlier, he'll give you a second chance to be nice to him and will be willing to join your party for Hrothgar's sake.

If for whatever reason CHARNAME does not recruit and keep Erevain long enough, he will meet his original fate: death inside Dragon's Eye. IF CHARNAME kicks out Erevain before visiting the Dragon's Eye, CHARNAME will have an opportunity to bring back Erevain into the party. If CHARNAME does not immediately bring him back into the party, Erevain will dejectedly head out on his own and will not be re-recruitable. However, after traveling to the Dragon's Eye dungeon, you will be able to kick Erevain out and be able to re-recruit him back in Kuldahar. The justification for this is that Erevain will have participated enough to have redeemed himself (saving captured villagers). More on that later.

Upon traveling inside Dragon's Eye dungeon a couple of checks are made. If Erevain is not in your party and was not removed from the party after Death (dead body on ground), then Erevain's corpse will appear in the Dragon's eye Dungeon with his journal noting his attempts to go it alone. Erevain's corpse will contain whatever items he had with him before his "death". I.e. if the party never talked to him, he'll have his original items on his corpse, if the party recruited him and stole all his items, he'll have a naked corpse except for a journal, and if the party gave him extra items before kicking him out again, his corpse will contain the extra items. Around his corpse should be some remains of Bombadier Beetles. He would have gone down fighting and died, presumably from their poison.

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4. Erevain Expanded Role - Expansion Contents
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CHARNAME Dialogues - 5 in BG2. 3 in ToB planned.

NPC Banters - Erevain with have at least 2 banters with every NeJ and Bioware NPC. At least 2 crossmod banters if a Xan NPC BG2 mod is installed. More than 2 banters for some NPCs are possible if inspiration comes. Possible crossmod banters with the Longer Road Irenicus NPC. At some point 1 additional banter at ToB is planned.

Event Banters - Erevain will speak up at all the appropriate events other NPCs are expected to (Travel to Kuldahar, Travel to Dragon's Eye, Tree of Life, Post Melissan, etc.)

Interjections - Interjections at various points as inspiration comes. No preplanned number.

Romance - No planned romance. Erevain might potentially have some interjections hinting at jealousy. Update: 7/9/2015 Romance is possible. Focus is on finishing other dialogues first.

Flirts - The other NeJ NPCs do not have flirts so this is not planned. I might consider a simple dialogue to avoid that annoying message "X has nothing to say to you"

Player Initiated Dialogue - Update: 7/9/2015 - This is a highly desirable feature by several players, so this mod should include it. 5 PIDs for BG2 and 3 PIDs for ToB are planned

Encounters - 3 encounters are planned. These are 2 groups of NPCs hunting Erevain for some misdeed in his past that haunts him

Quests - No quests are currently planned. Traveling to Evereska to visit Erevain's homeland could be fun, but would require a lot detailed artwork and area creation.

Kit - Erevain will come with a custom kit not seen in another mod to date

Item Upgrades - Upgrades to Erevain's Sword and Armor will be available via Conlan's Smithy, Cromwell's, or Cespenar. It is intended that components missed in IWD may become available during BG2 and components missed during BG2 may become available during ToB.

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5. Original Erevain Points of Inspiration
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Originally Erevain was an explorer who avoided the Elven retreat twenty years ago to explore the world. He estimates that it will take all the elves a few hundred years to retreat to Evermeet. He plans on eventually joining his brethren there. Erevain does not like the cold and misses the weather of Evereska. He worships Corellon, referring to him in his original dialogue and later journal.

He has some regret in not joining Hrothgar's party because he believes they need protection. He thinks trying to reclaim the old elven lands would lead to darkness and war. He fondly recalls his cousin Xan, but does not want to feel that he's becoming like him (dismal and despairing).

He eventually is found dead within the Dragon's Eye Dungeon, most likely during a rescue attempt of the captured villagers: a reluctant and failed tragic hero.

These inspire us to ask a few questions:

1. Was a desire for travel his only reason he avoided the Retreat? 20 years is a long time, even for elves. Is he avoiding something or someone from his past? Has he purposefully traveled to the elfless inhospitable North to get far away from something? (It is a fair distance from Evereska to the Spine of the World).
2. How did he get into Dragon's Eye mostly undetected?
3. How has a single traveler managed to survive for 20 years so well?

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6. Expansion Outline
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Erevain is the tale of a potentially tragic hero of contradictions. He is cowardly, not offering to help sometimes when he know that he should yet brave (some would say foolhardy), risking life and limb for others in danger. He can be hopeless like his cousin Xan, yet also hopeful. He can be polite yet allow some of that Elven arrogance to set in.

Erevain's journey will be one of a person who while having some good qualities, also harbors some bad ones too (cowardice, rudeness, feeling of racial superiority). Throughout dialogues and his journey Erevain will become more homely, more rounded, more pleasant, and more hopeful. Our somewhat reluctant companion will become a full fledged and devoted friend by its end.

Erevain's backstory will be revealed that he belonged to multiple organizations in Evereska. The Swords, the Greycloaks, and the Vale Guardians of Evereska. In each case he had trouble keeping with each one as none of these organizations made a full use of his talents in Erevain's opinion. Eventually, Erevain found himself in a situation where he was required to defend Evereska from invaders (Orcs? Hobgoblins?). Erevain decided to go invisible to restrike again later. Unfortunately Erevain lost his nerve and instead ran away from battle. As a result several other elves were killed that he may have been able to aid. Erevain was heavily chastised by his superiors and rather than face the shame at home, he abandoned the Swords of Evereska and decided to journey far away, eventually arriving in the town of Easthaven after 20 years.

Erevain may give off some hints of regret, but it won't become clear until the later two encounters happen. In the first encounter a group of Hobgoblin, Goblin, Orc, Half-Orc, Ogrillon, Half-Ogre, and/or Bugbear Mercenaries as well as some undead servants. (decide details later) that will intercept the party in an Area location. The group will be led by Guthic of Shargaas, a Half-Orc Cleric/Assassin of the Orc God of darkness, night, stealth, thieves, and the undead. They will recognize Erevain in the party (or will know by the descriptions of his companions that he should be nearby them). The party members will question why Erevain has a bounty placed on him, but Erevain will refuse to let out much information to the consternation of the other party members. Guthic and his crew of assassins will allow CHARNAME to pay Erevain's bounty in gold. If the party does not have sufficient gold, Guthic will allow CHARNAME to pay him in equivalent value of magic items. If the player cannot or refuses to by an equivalent bounty, then combat begins.

In the second encounter, a band of Elven Warriors led by a captain of the Swords of Evereska will intercept the party. Yalatheniel (their leader), will reveal Erevain's abandonment of duties. Erevain will apologize and have the option of trying to reason with Yalatheniel, but Yalatheniel will not let Erevain be captured or held to trial as that would risk him being pardoned: Erevain must pay for the death of his Elven comrades. This is a tactical battle with Yalatheniel and his minions casting multiple area spells to disable and destroy the party. Yalatheniel is intended to be a high level Fighter/Mage/Cleric with Fighter, Mage, and Cleric companions.

After the battle, it will become more clear to Erevain's companions the remorse over his previous actions. Even though by this time Erevain will have helped saved villagers from Dragon's Eye (and helped others potentially), it's not enough for him to feel redeemed in his heart. However, near the climax of BG2 where the elven city of Suldanessellar is being attacked, his spirit truly shines through. Suddenly all of Erevain's good qualities outshine the bad ones and he's able to redeem himself by helping this Elven city from destruction. Afterwards, a Greycloak will be present at Suldanessellar who will confirm Erevain's heroics. CHARNAME will have an option to say goodbye to Erevain to visit his home and never see him again, or he can press for Erevain to stay and aid him through the quests in Throne of Bhaal.

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7. Erevain Starting Mechanical Information
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Commentary: Original Erevain was a Fighter with a custom broadsword weapon. We want to keep that, but also make him worthwhile to pick up as an NPC companion. At the point in time where he'll be picked up, the party may lack or partially lack 1 or two things. A Mage if the player character keeps Imoen as a Charming Rogue or a Thief if the player character converts Imoen to a Mage. As such, our recommendation is for Erevain to be a Fighter/Mage/Thief. This will enable him to fulfill both potentially missing party roles (Mage or Thief) while retaining his original class (Fighter). Why not just a Mage/Thief? Imoen is already basically a Mage Thief with the Charming Rogue Kit and the extra Thac0, weapon proficiencies, and Specialization matter in most routine battles. I don't want to cheat in weapon specialization or extra hp. This will make Erevain useful, but he won't be able to dominate every position within the party: His advancement will be slower, but every level he will gain something sigificant (Figher: more Thac0, Mage: More spells, Thief: More points and 1 new special ability) so he won't be a total drag either. Erevain is intended to wear his Elven Plate Mail +2 for life so that he can fight, cast spells, and use thieving skills at any point desired and not feel that his capabilities are being wasted. Some players do not like triple multiclass characters because of the relatively slower progression (total xp is divided amongst all classes by 3). It's also probably more tolerable to have a slower progression PC than an NPC. To counteract this, Erevain starts with a special family amulet that will boost his experience gain, but at a price. Erevain's sword will need to be changed from a broadsword to a longsword in order to take advantage of backstabbing bonuses. Otherwise it requires modding the allowable thief weapons to backstab which is outside of the scope of this mod.



Name: Erevain Blacksheaf
Race: Elf
Class: Fighter/Mage/Infiltrator (Thief)
Starting XP: Equivalent to Dar
Starting Level: Appropriate Level for Starting XP amount

Str: 18/50
Dex: 18
Con: 12
Int: 17
Wis: 15
Cha: 11

Total attribute points: 91 (same as Dar and 1 less than Imoen).

Weapon Proficiencies:
Long Sword: 2
Single Weapon Style: 2
Longbow: 2


Starting Mage Spells: (Note: What's a good metric for starting NPC spells?)

Level 1:
Identify
Magic Missile
Shocking Grasp
??

Level 2:
Strength
Invisibility
Knock
Luck
??

Level 3:
Non-Detection
Detect Invisibility
??

Level 4:
Non-Detection
Detect Invisibility
Stoneskin

Starting Thief Allocations:

(Focus on Find/Remove Traps)

Starting Equipment:
Elven Plate Mail +2 (to be able to use thieving skills and Mage spells while armored).
Erevain's Broadsword +3
Blacksheaf Family Amulet
+1 Longbow
100 arrows
15 gold

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8. Erevain General Notes
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Infiltrator Kit:

Commentary: Infiltrator is inspired by a kit from the Complete Book of Elves designed for Fighter/Mage/Thieves. The original kit involved bonuses to nonweapon proficiencies, extra non-weapon proficiencies and a special ability to appear as different races. A lot of these aren't valid for Infinity Engine Games or would take an enormous amount of work to implement (appearing as other races). As such the mechanics will be different. In order to make the kit and Erevain NPC competitive, the point of balance taken is from the Charming Rogue Kit. The roleplaying inspiration and justification for this kit was the fact that the original Erevain got into Dragon's Eye past the original guards and crossed over mountains alone. Seemingly, he is able to get into places that others would have trouble getting into.

The infiltrator will gain the ability to cast various spells as special abilities. These spells are inspired by what an "Infiltrator" should be able to do. Some of these supplement or effectively replace Thief abilities (ex. Knock, Invisibility) and this is on purpose. The side effect of these abilities will mean that at level up the Infiltrator will only get 15 thieving points per level. The intention is to get a rotation in order to gain one special ability per level and that the special abilities while useful will not completely overshadow a vanilla thief or alternate Thief Kit via lower points per level.

Events:
Erevain will meet Guthic of Shargaas and then Yalatheniel sometime before completing IWD. Sometime in SoA or ToB, Erevain will meet an Undead Guthic who is more powerful and fight him again. We should consider the possibility of fighting a revenant Yalatheniel in ToB.

Blacksheaf Amulet:
If Erevain dies and the party has his amulet, at some point the party should meet Yalatheniel or some other elf who wants to retrieve the amulet back. They may fight the party if they will not willingly give the item back ala Githyanki. The elves will be "Collectors" from the Complete Book of Elves or some better sounding name organization to return stolen elven artifacts.

Xan may alternatively accept to take the amulet at which point the collectors will not bother the party.

Xan:
Xan will not believe that Erevain is actually alive at first. There will be some initial hostility between them.

Perhaps Yalatheniel was corrupt from the start and that Erevain was meant to believe that he disgraced himself when in reality it was his mentor Yalatheniel who was behind his comrade's killings. Erevain was able to hide and haste away to his safety, but was deeply shamed.


Yalatheniel wants to replace Lord Dursair
Yalatheniel hired Guthic of Shargaas

Should Erevain start out with a Cloak and Boots of Elvenkind designed for him? Perhaps reduce thieving skills to 10 per level?

Assassin within Dragon's Eye aiming for Erevain? Perhaps he should have a scroll on him?

Journey back to Evereska should be dealt with in Epilogues. Romances should follow two paths or at least have two outcomes, one with an Elf <CHARNAME> and another with a non-elf <CHARNAME>. Presumably an elf-elf romance will go better since Erevain is cut from traditional elf outlooks. However, will the fact that Bhaal being a human turned god have an effect on the Elven purity of the elf-elf romance?

Mod should eventually be converted to IWD, IWD in BG2, IWDEE, and BG2EE.

If kicked out too early or never taken, Erevain should leave a corpse in Dragon's Eye. The PC should be free to grab the corpse and cast raise dead / resurrection on it and return Erevain from the dead and have the opportunity to have a dialogue option show up at the bottom when visiting a Priest and pay gold to return Erevain from the dead as well.

In BG2, in the Athkatla graveyard, there should be a caravan or an elven mourner who has Erevain Blacksheaf's bones. The bones would be available immediately or they would have to complete a quest or encounter to get it. After doing so, the player could cast ressurection (not raise dead) or have a dialogue option pop up for a priest in order to pay gold to resurrect Erevain.

The dialogue and undead state of Guthic and Yalatheniel will differ depending on whether Erevain was acquired during IWD or BG2 and whether or not they died in the previous battle with CHARNAME and Erevain. Guthic and Yalatheniel should attack the party if they hold Erevain's body. They want it. Their dialogue with the party should be similarly affected.

Erevain's sword should have multiple upgrades. With a Scroll of Improved Haste, the Sword should become +4 and of Speed (+1 APR). Other options could be of Translocation? (cast Dimension door) Phasing? (Etherealness?) Acidic (acid damage?). By ToB Erevain should be able to add 2 upgrades of choice for an Speed Acidic Sword or something. Perhaps this is too complicated, and we insist that it's one or the other and eventually both. First upgrade makes sword = +4. Second upgrade makes sword = +5

This post has been edited by Bill Bisco: Aug 16 2015, 08:44 AM

[Vlad]

Well, back in 2003, the name was actually literal.

HoW and TotL have always been on the list, but since everything takes a lot of time, I'd say no for now. As you understand it would require writing a tremendous amount of new content including dialogues, banters, interjections and to incorporate the new story in the main NeJ plot. I'm open for suggestions anyway.