IWD NPC: character profiles

[Kulyok]

1) Nella.

Gender: female

Race: human

Alignment: true neutral

Class: fighter (possible dual-class: cleric or druid; alternate class: fighter/cleric, fighter/druid)

Biography: Born in Bryn Shander to the family of travelling merchants, Nella was shaping up to be a caravan guard, until one day, her parents brought her to Kuldahar.  There, she says, her real life started: Arundel, the Archdruid, recognized her healing skills.  With permission of her parents, which, she recalls, involved a hefty sum of gold, he took her away and started to train her in the druidic rites and spiritual traditions.  More often than not, however, she was sent off to various fighting missions.  The last one took her to Easthaven.



2) Korin.

Gender: male

Race: elf

Alignment: chaotic good

Class: ranger (alternate class: ranger/cleric)

Biography: Though he has spent several years in the vicinity of Easthaven, Korin originally hails from Evereska, an elven stronghold in the northern Faerun.  He does not look especially suited for the harsh, demanding trade of the ranger, and when asked about it directly, he confirms it, saying he hoped to dedicate himself to the finer arts.  There is a brittle edge to his words, soon to be replaced by a genuine smile: as he spent several years in exile, he is grateful for any company.  He speaks about helpful, unobtrusive folk of the Dale with much warmth in his voice, and is seemingly reluctant to leave the shores of Lac Dinneshere.



3) Teriel(Teri).

Gender: female

Race: half-elf

Alignment: chaotic neutral

Class: fighter/thief (alternate class: fighter/mage/thief, mage/thief, thief)

Biography: When asked about her past, Teri's eyes immediately sparkle, and she launches into a multitude of stories a careless listener may emerge from hours later, with a feeling that his head is about to burst.  A child of a happy union of two adventurers, she never imagined another career for herself, though the circumstances under which she arrived to Icewind Dale have probably been rough; she looks pale and thin.  Quickly irritated and quickly distracted, she seems happy to find herself in Easthaven: the corners of her lips go up at the mention of glory and gold, though her eyes narrow as she accesses the risks.



4) Severn.

Gender: male

Race: human

Alignment: neutral good

Class: bard (alternate class: fighter/mage, mage)
 
Biography: Severn comes from the vast farmsteads stretching along the Sword Coast.  Always ready to drop in an unexpected joke or to whistle a long-forgotten tune, he ruefully admits his lack of talents, and adds that as many before him, he came to the Spine of the World to seek inspiration.  He left Baldur's Gate a few months ago due to an embarrassing performance he promises to tell about some time.  Judging by the state of his attire, his money is running out, and Severn confirms this, saying he vowed to join the first adventuring company that would take him.  A wooden flute is his only worldly possession, but he looks to the future with optimism.



5) Holvir

Gender: male

Race: human

Alignment: lawful good

Class: paladin

Biography: A quiet, fair-spoken young man, he speaks little unless addressed directly.  When asked about his past, Holvir explains that he comes from the City of Splendors, having been summoned by his superior's old friend, Hrothgar.  A knight of the Order of the Knights of Holy Judgement, he has dedicated his whole life to Tyr at an early age, and has been made a full paladin a little more than a year ago.  He remains alert and looks ready to provide aid at all times, though his general conduct is a little aloof.

[jastey]

"Karin" is a woman's name in German.

Other than that, very promosing. Who are the romantic otpions??

[Kulyok]

Heh. You're not expecting me to tell you that right away, do you?

And, yes, that's a difficulty. Minsc and Erevain took time for me to adjust to; some other mod-introduced names have an unpleasant ring to them in Russian. But since Kelsey is a girl's name, as well, looks like Karin is in a good company!

[jcompton]

"Karin" is a woman's name in German.

It's sort of PPG tradition to have gender-bending names. Particularly in the K portion of the alphabet.

[jastey]

Long live tradition, then! I will silently pronounce it Kari'n, then it sounds male.

[Ashara]

Looks nice, but a bit too uniform from the racial perspective. Good luck, it will be great to have joinables in IWD1.

[jastey]

a bit too uniform from the racial perspective

Maybe, but my parties never were much different. If trying to have different (and especially different than H., E., H.-E.) races by all means, it easily leads to the "overused ideas" department.
I think the group is nicely chosen for some kind of homogeneity; therefore it might not please all players, but those who prefer this constellation the more. If that made any sense.

[the bigg]

Apart from the 'race variety' issue, there is also the 'class variety' problem, as players who prefeir magic over melee will have a party ill-suited for their playing style, and basically everybody but the most hardcore meleers will probably have to play a mage (notwithstanding the fact that high level spells aren't 'required' or great like in BG2, a bard still doesn't have enough spell slots to really act as the primary caster).

If these make sense story-wise, adding install options for Karin as Ranger/Cleric and Teri as Thief (duallable to Mage) should help IMHO.

[Kulyok]

Looks nice, but a bit too uniform from the racial perspective.

I was determined to have something like this(two humans, two half-elves, an elf) from the start, but a poll in Gavin made me fully sure. *Everyone*(everyone but one person of today) played elves, half-elves and humans. And, of course, so do I.

And the most important reason of all: the characters themselves. I just can't think in terms of classes, races or alignments; it's "Okay, here is Neila. I know who she is, and I see her in Icewind Dale" - I see the character and it's more or less already a full package, race and all.

Good luck, it will be great to have joinables in IWD1.

I am having great fun writing them.

If these make sense story-wise, adding install options for Karin as Ranger/Cleric and Teri as Thief (duallable to Mage) should help IMHO.

I understand that class/variety is an important concern, and I would like this to be solved, as well - Dalekeeper or a similar program may not be enough.  An option at install(a-la Xan) may make sense, but it seems a little outdated now: I think that either Level 1 NPCs or a similar mod/similar code is a viable option.

[the bigg]

While L1NPC is the ultimate solution for 'experienced' people to fully customize NPCs, options a-la-Xan are easier to install and the available options might make more sense roleplay-wise than just hacking away with DK or L1NPC and resulting with non-sensical characters (for ex. you don't risk making Olga Holg a Necromancer or whatever).

EDIT: also, L1NPC would need a non-trivial rewrite to work in IWD, adding to the `difficulty' of porting that over.

[Kulyok]

I agree. I will see if I can do anything; perhaps a separate topic may be in order.

Holg is a proizvo... derivative from Helg, actually. You wouldn't believe it, but I just spotted the similarity.

[CORVIS TERRIBLE MOUNTAIN GOD]

These names are not good names.

Use better names.

[stnemele]

Just a question:

I was reading through the forum and was wondering, exactly, how much of this is done? (or in just general terms)

Just curious.

Either way, I like the idea! Now I have to dig through my piles of discs to find IWD....

[Kulyok]

These names are not good names.

Use better names.

I know someone who's already changed about between four and forty names of my characters(Let's say fourteen) already. So I've written to this distinguished expert. In private, because I'm shy.

(Though, while I am more of "Name me and so you shall break me" kind of person when it comes to names, Karin, Teri(this girl reveals her full name in time) and Neila I am rather fond of.)

I was reading through the forum and was wondering, exactly, how much of this is done? (or in just general terms)

If I was a Vorlon, I'd answer "Yes".

Wait, I already did.

I've yet to write player-initiated dialogue, and most of the content(except the interjections, which are more or less done) for Chapters 4++ and for both expansions.

And welcome to PPG, stnemele.

[stnemele]

Sweetness!

Thankees for the welcome

Yay for exorbitant amounts of writing! (a feeling that I know only too well)

[stnemele]

Okay, so now let's put this in the right place....

Thankees for the welcome!

Keep up the work. Having tons of writing to do is never fun, but gutting it out is always worth it. At least you won't have to make 19 versions of it to get it right...(or is that jumping the gun a bit?)

[Beetle]

Long live tradition, then! I will silently pronounce it Kari'n, then it sounds male.

That's a good solution because there's also a long tradition in science fiction and fantasy of adding apostrophes to names without any grammatical reason to do so. 

[stnemele]

Or you can plagiarize names from classic stories like Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Shakespeare, Terry Pratchett, etc.

Or you can just look up words in languages that no one really thinks of learning (like Swahili, Ancient Greek or Latin) and use those words. It's the best writer's cheat that I learned when short on names for useless (and important) characters

[theacefes]

Where are you that no one learns Latin?

[Evaine Dian]

I had Latin at school for 7 years and Latin lessons also included Ancient Greek.

Anyway, I'm glad you've decided to set up a new group. Good luck, Kulyok, this sounds awesome! 

[ElaineMc]

I don't actually own IWD.

Now, though, I'm strongly considering it-- NPCs rule!

[stnemele]

I am in a version of Cow country, USA.

I took Latin (the equivalent of one year, but split into two years in Middle School), but the rest of the schools around where I lived didn't offer it. We had no Greek at all (though the Latin teacher did speak it and offer to teach it in a club). As for me, I switched to Spanish as soon as I could because I find that to be a more useful language to know.

Maybe I was making a generality that wasn't true. I went to a private school, so I know that things there were different than public. Maybe the difference was that it may have been offered, but people didn't HAVE to take it.

[Kulyok]

Having tons of writing to do is never fun, but gutting it out is always worth it.

Never fun? Ha! Try coding(strictly coding, no writing) two NPC mods sometime, and you'll be writing like no tomorrow, and enjoying it like hell.

Seriously, if I viewed modding as a tedious job that must be finished at all costs, I wouldn't be doing it.

[redrake]

3 males and 2 females. You are asking players to use female characters for balance.

[Kulyok]

I am a Russian: by default, another female is my natural enemy. It took some time and quite a lot of difficulty to devise two female characters I was able to like.

Seriously, though, I think four males and two females can be pretty balanced. Don't you?