Suggestion/idea/potential project: Speechcraft mod.

[Nullified]

This is a potential project, though it could be seen as a suggestion or simply an idea, too. The concept is to add a lot more versatility and use to speechcraft. If this kind of mod is actually possible, it could be the basis for a good amount of new character builds. This would be a full overhaul of any existing speech checks as well as an implementation in overall gameplay. A rather big project I think, but also quite worthwhile.

 

Part of the fun is that it could be mixed with submission/slavery and death alternative mods to further increase versatility.

 

A mod that focuses on talking your way out of a harsh situation, be it by negotiation, intimidation or distraction. The first noticeable addition would be a personality tab in character creation, which would give you a higher success chance when complimenting, intimidating or bartering, depending on your chosen personality. In this tab, you're able to select a combination of personality traits and a value between 1 and 5 with limited points to spend in them. These traits are:

 

• Charisma (helps with negotiating)
• Toughness (helps with intimidation)
• Intellect (helps with distraction)
• Luck (increases your chance to successfully pass a speech check)

 

Speech checks could range from easy to hard and some of them could require a certain amount of charisma, toughness or intellect. Additionally, your other stats could increase your success chance too, for example, a hardened warrior is more intimidating than, say, an enchanter and an illusion mage or a stealthy character would more easily be able to distract their way through a hostile area. Ultimately, even your affiliation with certain guilds could be of help. Bandits may be more inclined to let you pass if you are a member of the thieves guild, while sorcerers may respect your affiliation with the mages guild.

 

As an example here, your hero snuck into a bandit's lair and is caught. Rather than instantly hostile bandits, they approach you and start a dialogue with certain speech checks.

 

"Hold on a moment, what have we got here? Got a little lost, did you?"

 

As a response you get these choices:

 

1. "Why? Thought this was a bandit lair. Not going to have a chat with a fellow bandit?"
2. "Sorry, I didn't realize this area was occupied..."
3. "Don't be an idiot now. I can take on the lot of you with both hands behind my back."
4. "Delvin Mallory suggested you may require my services, you're not wasting my time, are you?"

 

If you're very successful, you could "join" them, making them temporary non hostile, potentially with a randomly generated small quest, or simply be granted safe passage. On an average attempt you could be asked to pay a sum or you could be given a brief time to "get the hell out of here", or a failed attempt could result in an attack or who knows, capture, slavery... Plenty of options here. If you're of major importance to a hold or guild, you could be held for a ransom.

 

Of course, different enemies require a different approach. Let's say you were caught in a vampire hideout. Your chance of successful passage is increased if you are a vampire yourself. As a human, you may have to offer some of your blood. Or you may have to capture some "dinner" for the vampires, in which case you will get paid a small amount of gold for your efforts.

 

Ultimately the purpose of such a mod would be to implement speech into actual builds, rather than adding a minor bit of convenience in a few select circumstances.

 

 

I think this gives a good idea of what I want to achieve in such a mod. Obviously dialogue lines could be changed to match existing lines. Either way, I'm looking for feedback and some useful advice. I don't mind to build a mod like this myself and at the very least I can write the dialogue, but as of right now I don't have full knowledge and could certainly use at least some help with the coding and whatever is needed besides the dialogue writing.