A different kind of follower mod
Entry posted by Lupine00
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Originally posted this in the DF forum, but it's not really about DF - I've updated it to be a standalone post.
In terms of the "boss follower" fantasy, this is my wish list for the vaguely possible.
I see the relationship with the follower structured into stages like this:
- PC leader
- Equal partners
- Follower as leader
- Indentured service
- Hardcore enslavement
A ladder you can move up and down, depending on factors that ultimately the player configures how they like.
Follower as leader is something I'd really like to have. Here are some ideas for how that stage might work:
The follower chooses target locations to explore, PC guides them there.
The follower doesn't control your gold, but does control your income.
There are troublesome living expenses.
In the mode I could implement (not saying there aren't others), the PC isn't actively fighting, they are a packhorse and healer.
On leaving a city, the follower records all the items the PC carries: those are the PC's stuff; her things that the follower knows she owns.
Anything else you come by belongs to the follower.
The follower gives you an outfit (you can customise what it looks like, as with whore armor) to adventure in.
It has a big carry capacity buff, a health bonus, and a magical protection effect. It isn't armor.
If you are unarmed (known healing spells are allowed) you get a speed boost from the outfit too.
If you do not wear it, the DF gets annoyed and reduces your cut of the loot substantially.
The follower handles the combat and the PC is just support. The follower says things like:
"Just run on ahead and check for traps. I'll be right behind you."
or
"Scout ahead for me and run back if you find anything."
The follower fights, and you loot the corpses. They scan your inventory periodically and records any new items seen.
You can consume potions, but you will be billed for them - they aren't yours.
You can wear armor you pick up, but see notes on the outfit.
The goal is to loot as much valuable stuff as you can, but if you drop anything that you picked up, its value comes out of your cut.
(Used/dropped item values have a configurable scale).
If you can grab a potion and use it before the follower scans you, well that's your win. Good luck.
Possibly, everything you pick up is tagged stolen. Probably an option.
If you are knocked down in combat, you will enter a perma-bleedout until the follower comes back to "rescue" you... Because you're a follower.
She might give you a potion (you'll be charged for it), or heal you. Otherwise you can't get any health back until you're standing again.
Rescues will always have some deduction attached.
If the follower goes down (whether you are standing or not), then you get a popup. You can choose to surrender through your defeat mod of choice, or accept DF defeat, in which case you go to SS or get an enslavement directly.
Back in town, the follower removes all items they own, and also takes the adventuring outfit the provided back.
They will give a (you can configure it) slooty outfit for you to wear in town; it's completely optional, but you may well not have anything else on you.
If they are unhappy with you, they might give a locking rubber suit instead 
The follower totals the value of looted items and calculates your percentage. Configurable, and maybe level adjustable, but probably a low amount, like 5 or 10% of the total. It will be lower still if you didn't wear the proper outfit.
Then any deductions are made:
- Outfit rental.
- Anything you consumed or dropped.
- Any help you had to ask for (can you remove this device?)
- Any food or drink you asked the follower for.
- Rescues.
You get what's left, or if there's nothing left, your debt increases.
When the follower takes items, totals up and gives you back anything she was "holding" for you, then you're in "rest" mode. The follower no longer follows. She goes to her home. You have to find her again to go adventuring. This doesn't make you free of the follower. If you adventure without her, there are consequences...
You have punitive living expenses. Inns priced like Realistic Inn Rental (200 gold for a night at the Winking Skeever, but only 50 for the Sleeping Giant).
You will have a quest to eat and drink certain items. Get them however you want. If you don't get them, you get a willpower-fatigue penalty.
Consumable items will have a target cost. They might be hard to find.
With Skooma Whore, instead of getting the items, you can consume skooma.
The more you use this feature, the more skooma will be needed to satisfy in future.
Food/drink items will be chosen to help satisfy any needs mod needs.
You will have a quest to sleep in a nice bed. If you sleep in a crappy bed you fail the quest end ... you guessed it ... get a willpower-fatigue penalty.
You can replace this with skooma too.
If you can complete the eat/drink/sleep quests, you can opt to do them again instead of adventuring. In this case you can get willpower-fatigue reductions, or with enough carousing, bonus skill points. You're totally free to just to this with skooma ... I'm sure there would be no problems as a result
If you can earn enough money, the follower may allow you to become a partner. If you get too deep in debt, then the follower will allow you to become her indentured servant. In that case you can't quit, and you must live with the follower. You won't get to control your gold any more, the follower will hold it, and ... but I don't have time to discuss that mode now. You can guess how it might be though. Definitely a maid outfit. Slavery is getting close.
If you leave the current hold without the follower, the follower will be annoyed, and will demand a large fee (you can take as debt) to work with you again.
You can't get rid of the follower though. There's no option to part ways once they are leader. You asked to work for them, and they assume you will do it until they want to stop.
While in this deal, no other follower will join you, and all major vendors will refuse to buy items from you "You couldn't have got those yourself. I'm not buying stolen goods." (There will be some vendors you can sell to, but they will be few and dispersed, khajit for example).
You can ask the follower to hire others, but they will reduce your cut. You can ask the follower to get rid of them, but it's up to her.
You can ask to stay with the follower instead of using an inn. The follower will charge you rent.
You will get a bed and a chest to use. The bed will meet requirements for the sleep quest.
The follower will say "Put anything you like in that chest. Trust me. I won't steal any of it, and it will be safe here."
This is largely true. However, if the follower is angered, all bets are off.
The follower will not feed you. Instead they will expect you to cook for them. There will be a shopping quest.
Fail to cook and there will be a financial penalty. You'll still have your own eat and drink quests too.
Go adventuring by yourself and find all your stuff is gone. "I didn't think you were coming back so I threw that useless clutter out of my house."
You can still take deals, but debt mechanics are completely different - follower is paying you, if you collect enough stuff.
Punishment with debt is more worrying because you have less ability to clear it. You're only getting 5 or 10% of a loot haul, and you have to rely on flaky Skyrim NPC AI to fight (the follower will be buffed in this scenario, so shouldn't be stupidly unfair) though you can heal them to help, if you can afford to buy the spell. (The follower will sell it to you for debt).
The buy price of regular clothes should probably be highly inflated, so if you buy some you'll feel the expense.
(Could be a quest to buy nice clothes).
So there are some ideas. But I don't know if I'll do that sort of thing... It's on my mind.
Speaking of how the follower takes over the NPC interactions sometimes...
Some, commonly used settings, such as hiring a room at an inn, or trading in a shop could be constructed as scenes. The follower and the vendor would run the scene - the PC would watch. What scenes fired would be determined by prior interactions with the follower. A lot of actions would be implicit. If the follower wants to go to an inn, they already know what they want to do there. Once you're in rest mode, the follower might be walking around Whiterun on a patrol path, playing various appropriate scenes as they bump into people.
At Belethors:
"I have a consignment for you Belethor."
"Let me see what you have."
"Ah. Some of these items are pretty badly damaged."
"Sorry about that. My ditzy assistant sometimes picks up junk. I won't charge you for that stuff."
At the temple with Danica:
"Good to see you <followername>. The temple needs the help of people like you so we can care for the wounded."
"Yes. I know there isn't much I can do, but take this gold."
"Thankyou so much."
"Not a problem."
"I hope you can show that selfish follower of yours some good behavior. She just comes in here, prays and walks out again."
"That girl isn't so smart, you need to make allowances for her. It's not her fault."
In Dragonsreach with Irileth:
"I hope you had a successful trip. Did you clear out some of those bandits?"
"I did. You won't have to worry about <place> for a while."
"How's that follower you hired to carry your bags working out?"
"She can't manage much, but little by little I'm teaching her to do more and work harder."
"Ah... Young people now expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter."
"I know what you mean. Too many of them are good for nothing but drinking skooma and whoring."
Other situations might begin with the follower handing off:
"Go and book a room for me."
or
"Go and get us both ales."
Sometimes the "BWitch" type approach can work. I use it myself, but it really just amounts to seeing "Your follower speaks for you," before the dialog comes up.
There would, of course, be ways to leave service, up until you're indentured. To leave indenture you have to earn your way out.
If you're fully enslaved, there's no concept of a debt. Rather than a buy-out mechanic, I think it should be time and quest based.
So to leave enslavement, you have to stay a slave for a minimum period, or complete a leave slavery quest.
The quest would be the choice of a couple of conditions at each stage, with maybe five to seven stages.
I have some ideas for stages - fetch quests, visit quests, set collecting quests, stuff with sex, etc. SL Sex Slaves (Mia's Lair) had some mechanisms that might be inspirational - though they weren't for leaving slavery.
I can imagine that repeated slavery occurrences might start to require exit quests with long-term consequences, like the potion from Volkar in SLSS or the DF weird potion.
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