Henchmen
From NWN1 Custom Content Guide
Contents |
[edit] Introduction
The Summon Familiar feat is availabe to wizards and sorcerers. Animal Companions are available to druids (1st level) and rangers (6th level). Familiars and companions can be summoned once per day.
[edit] Adding a custom familiar
The following steps need to be performed to add a new familiar to NWN
- Add a new column to hen_familiar.2da after row 19.
- Create 40 templates of your familiar, their resref matching the instructions given in the BASEREF column hen_familiar.2da. You should assign the dialog file x2_associate.dlg to your familiar, if you want to make use of the advanced familiar features that come with HotU. Otherwise you can use the NWN default familiar dialogfile called nw_g_fam.dlg.
[edit] Some Design notes on creating familiars
Please note that familiars are not supposed to take lots of beating in combat. They should be designed to help a weak caster character over the first few levels, after that, they should have minimal impact on combat. Familiars that offer certain abilities the player does not possess (i.e. the ability to open locks), should be weaker than familiars that offer limited combat abilities. A familiar should only have monster-class levels (i.e. Animals).
[edit] Example on adding a winter wolf as a familiar
- Make a level 2 animal based on the winter wolf (Familiars are always level of wizard/sorcerer + 1). Remember not to overpower the animal, because the level of the familiar DOES factor when the game scales encounters up. Compare the other familiar levels to judge what would be a decent level for stats and abilities.
- Add the dialog to the familiar.
- Make 40 more templates from that first one, each level increasing the familiar's levels and adding more abilities and such.
- Export them as .UTC into your /nwn/override/
- Add the lines to hen_familiar.2da
- Create the custom TalkTable entries for your familiar
- ...more to come
