I like the idea of a guardian animal, but the thing is, wolves as companions are so overused in the fantasy literature it's not even funny. There are wolves in Jordan, Martin, Hobb and gods only know how many other lesser authors. How about say a spotted lion, bear or some other animal instead?

I went for a wolf, because it is a wolf in my novel, and I had planned for the main character to become a licantrop at later stages of the novel. I gues it wouldn't harm to change it. But I don't like the idea of bears and lions. Do you have other suggestions?

Well, just check which animals have avatars available and select any that you like. Wolf and Panther, I think, are the two top worst choices, becease everybody and his dog has a wolf or a connection to the wolves or can turn into a wolf, and Drizzt has a panther...

How about a rabid chicken

sorry I'll go now

It should probably lay Easter Eggs too

I think it is a great idea to Have a Guardian For Your Charater I was Wondering if The Creator of this mod Could Just Have the wolf as a Download aswell apart from the Original Mod Because When i Play D&D Pen and Paper I am Normaly A thief That has a Dog Or A wolf that my ranger friend Has trained for me to Watch my Back I Think that Just the wolf Or dog would be cool to play with but not take up a player slot Like a Familer Sorry for Spelling

Josh
comeau_josh@hotmail.com

There's a mod that allows you to have a dog of your own. It's called Every Mod and Dog.

P.S. Sharo is not supposed to be a familiar. He is as I have said - a guardian. Which means that he has a divine origin. And he doesn't even like the protagonist that much.

If you are taking suggestions on a diff. guardian. I have a few suggestions. Since Azure is a Druid so on a earthy/nature style how about a raptor(bird of prey) or like a polar bear, on the lines of the one that they used for a vodka add a long time ago. or if you are going on a fantasy stlye how about a unicorn or even a dragon?

Remember that it needs to be an animal that has ingame animations. While there are birds in the game, they cannot really be used on creatures, as they are more like a part of the scenery.

Polar bear doesn't make much sense so south in Faerun and Dragons are not really supposed to help anyone but their own ovesized ego. But the unicorn is a good idea. I think there was a discussion on unicorns here on the BWL, I'll have to check to make sure. But even if the animation is working, i am not sure if it has any stances different than NORMAL, since I haven't seen it myself.

I just checked the thread. The animation probably won't work. It's a shame, since I really liked that idea.

I don't mean to sound mean, but would it be possible to have the animal be an option during install? I hate animal companions, they get in the way, might take away an important kill from the "character information page", etc...

Basically I like everything about the NPC except the animal.

Sharo is an important part in Azure's storyline, IIRC, so unfortunately I don't think that will work.

Yeah, true enough.

Be nice if Sharo was mentioned in passing and as part of the SL without getting in the way in dungeons.

Mind you I'll probably play the mod at least once when it is released, I just have my prefrences.

It was the same thing I did not like about Krondor.

You needn't worry that Sharo will get between you and your kills. He ain't that good of a fighter. His primary task is keeping Azure alive, and he'll actually stick with it no matter what.

One more thing - if more people want this, I can always make a separate component, which makes Sharo a controled creature. That way you can choose whether to rush him into combat or let him stay aside and enjoy the show.

How good are Sharo's defensive abilities? Do you need to constantly baby-sit it/him/her or is it capable of staying alive after taking some serious points of damage ( a red dragon breath, for instance)?

If it is supposed to protect Azure, one expects it to have good defensive abilities for itself in the first place. A reasonable regeneration rate and perhaps some magic/fire/acid/electricity resistance come to mind.

Do bother to take a look at the ReadMe topic. Everything is explained there.

I assume that this reply was not aimed at my question, because I had read the readme file before and read it again just a minute ago, but didn't find any informaton about Sharo's defensive abilities. Perhaps it doesn't have any special defensive ability other than an ordinary wolf's, eh?

For now Sharo's only defensive ability is his healing skill, which allows him to cast healing spells at himself, Azure or even the protagonist, when need calls. He also has a suficient armor class, but I really don't want he to be too good of a fighter, since his sheer presence is a step towards ruining game balance to the point where the game would be too easy. So in the final version, he'll be capable of keeping himself alive, sometimes help Azure and almost never take the kill away from the player.

However I can also make several versions of Sharo, if there are specific requests demanding that he he has certain skills and action paterns. Each of them could be installed over the default Sharo version, which would be the one I choose to be most suitable.

When I decide to test the first pre-alpha version of Mansur, I will also install Azure and will give it a try as well.

A few more points which occur to my mind:

1- I prefer Sharo to be controllable (I like to see a green rather than a blue circle).

2- Will Sharo's powers progress? How long do you expect Sharo to stay alive? If his powers and abilities are fixed, he will be killed sooner or later as the game becomes more and more difficult chapter after chapter. At least, I like to see his hit points and saving throws to improve gradually and also I like to see his claws' enchantments to improve and be considered as +2 weapons at pre-spellhold stage, +3 in chapters 4 to 7, and +4 in TOB.

3- I agree with you that Sharo doesn't need to be a very good fighter. No need to give him good offensive abilities (other than improving the enchantment of his claws).

4- I would also like Sharo to be immune to level drain, because we are not able to see his character sheet and can't be sure if he is level drained (in the heat of the fight against vampires) or not.

I think making different installable versions of Sharo is also a good idea.

I like the idea about all defense/no offense. It seems to me that as a guardian, the wolf should just distract the enemy(s) until the rest of the party comes along and whacks them.

A low AC is great, but Sharo would need more then that to stay alive all the way to TOB. Sharo would need resistences to elements like cold, fire, etc. They should get better as well, as the party levels. Healing and buffing spells are a good idea. Maybe a few non-damage spells that will hold, confuse, web, blind, or cause nasty statuses in the enemy? (That way the wolf gets no kills, and makes it easier for your chars to kill.) Lastly, regen would be a welcome edition. Nothing uber like 20 hp/sec, just enough to regen a little between encounters.

And last but not least, since Sharo has no info page, maybe you could have a dialogue option that lets you see the stats?

EDIT: Forgot to stay on topic. My bad!

Maybe instead of a wolf, something like an elemental? Starts as a lesser and goes to a prince?

Let me get that straight - Sharo isn't supposed to make the killing easier for you, because as I've already mentioned his sheer presence is a step towards ruining game ballance.

I like the idea that players should be able to see Sharo's stats. I'll add an option to his dialogue.

As far as the nature of Sharo's being - I'm pretty confident that he will stay a wolf. Althogh I could make a avatar shifting script for people who doesn't like the 4-legged creaters. But that's one of the too many tasks I don't have the time to handle so far.