So, who's Gavin?

[berelinde]

Gavin Morrow is a Neutral Good Cleric of Lathander.

 

He was born in Ulgoth's Beard, and is 28. For the last 9 years, he has been serving the Song of the Morning Temple in Beregost. Although he has done a fair amount of travelling on temple business, and has been toughened by a life of hard work and devotion, he never really thought of himself as an adventurer. Everything changes sooner or later, though. He has been through a bit of a rough spot, lately, and thinks he would do well in the company of like-minded individuals, going out into the world and doing some good.

 

Gavin will join your party outside the Song of the Morning Temple in Beregost. He starts out with fairly standard cleric gear, a few family momentos, and a dislike of bandits. Gavin will want to know if your party is a force of goodness. Don't lie to Gavin. It isn't nice.

 

Gavin is not the most ambitious man on Faerun. Nor is he necessarily the bravest. He wishes he were, but he suffers from a good imagination.

 

Gavin has 2-5 banters with every BioWare NPC. There is no cross-mod content for Finch, Indira or Mur'Neth, though. One thing at a time.

 

Gavin will be failry talkative throughout your journey, but I have no plans to include anything at this time for Durlag's Tower.

 

He has definite ideas about right and wrong. He will not stay with a party whose reputation drops below 8.

 

He will have a small quest.

 

In trying to keep the flavor of the BG1 NPC Project, Gavin will have a custom soundset, but he will not be otherwise voiced.

 

Gavin will be romanceable by any good-aligned female of any race, but he is rather choosy. He will not romance assassins, bounty hunters, or necromancers of any alignment. Reputation matters. A reputation of 11 or better is required to start, 15 or better to continue. He is looking for something rather special, and some qualities attract him more than others. He likes his women to be mature, so certain dialog options are going to annoy him. He will not tolerate outright cruelty. There will be no romance conflict, per se, but he is not going to put up with multiple concurrent relationships indefinitely. Under certain circumstances, it will be possible to restart a relationship with him, as long as he did not break things off because he was offended.

 

There will be a friendship path for good or neutral player characters of either sex. Gavin will not be terribly talkative in an evil party.

 

So... which NPCs does Gavin have really good banters with? Well, I hope none of them are *bad*, but everyone is different. Some people are bound to like some more than others, and there is little I can do about that. Gavin has a particular affection for Dynaheir, Minsc, Ajantis, Imoen, Alora, Branwen, Xan, and Khalid. He does not like Montaron, Xzar, Edwin, Shar-Teel, Safana, or Coran much, but that does not mean he won't have entertaining banters with them. At least I hope they are entertaining. He would rather keep his opinions about Jaheira to himself. He's seen what she can do with that scimitar.

 

So... what's done so far? His banters are written and coded, and his PIDs are done. His quests and interjections are underway. His friendship talks and lovetalks are outlined.

 

So... what's left to do? Well, I have to finish writing his quest and interjections, and I have to write his friendship talks and lovetalks. Apart from that, we're ready to go!

 

Oh, and I need a portrait.

 

I've tried. Oh, how I've tried, but I just can't find a good portrait. I've been to every portrait site on the 'net, and have downloaded all the NWN stuff. I've tried pulling stuff off the 'net and doing stuff to it with a really decent photo-editing program, but I just can't get the hang of using a mouse to draw. All I've managed to do so far is make my boyfriend laugh.

 

So, if you think you've got something, here's a bit more about Gavin's appearance: he's human. He is no fresh-faced youth, but he isn't ancient, either. His looks are fairly average. He is not ugly, but he has a rather beaky nose. Facial expression is important. He should have what your mother would refer to as a "kind face."

 

Edit: Hey! This is my 500th post. Kinda funny.

[berelinde]

In case it isn't clear, Gavin is in no way associated with the BG1 NPC project, but I would like him to blend with it well enough, if both were installed.

[berelinde]

Gavin now has a face.

 

It isn't perfect, and it might change, but at least it's a face.

[Gorilym]

A bit photorealistic perhaps, but a good portrait IMHO nonetheless.

[berelinde]

Thanks. I've been wrestling with photoediting software, but I'm learning as I go (just like everything else).

[Lemernis]

Nice work!

 

There seems to be a "baldurizing" technique for taking a photo and making it look like a BG painted portrait, all of which is way over my (sporadic Photoshop 5.0 LE) head. Deviant and Rabain seem to have mastered it. Perhaps they can take what you have done and make it look less photo-like. Or walk you through how to do, etc.

[EiriktheScald]

Nice work!

 

There seems to be a "baldurizing" technique for taking a photo and making it look like a BG painted portrait, all of which is way over my (sporadic Photoshop 5.0 LE) head. Deviant and Rabain seem to have mastered it. Perhaps they can take what you have done and make it look less photo-like. Or walk you through how to do, etc.

 

The technique I've seen requires you to "paint" over the photograph on separate layers of low opacity. This where your drawing skills will really shine Berelinde; you can view the tutorial here Portrait Tutorial

[berelinde]

Thanks for the link! I'll give it a shot. What the heck. A new skill is always useful.

[Andyr]

I can't see the portrait...

 

That sounds generally good, although I'd caution against having too high a reputation requirement. Depending on how people play through the game, it is entirely possible they'll have been going for ages without having done enough quests to achieve a reputation of 15. Kind of like they're a really good person, but haven't been given enough opportunities to show it.

[Lemernis]

See berlinde's avatar "Gavin, for Tutu."

[berelinde]

Andyr--

 

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll make sure the 15 is required late enough for anyone who plays reasonably within their alignment will be in no danger of missing it.

 

Eirik--

 

That link you sent me is fabulous. I'm only on the first layer, and it already looks a lot better. It seems the technique is very similar to soft pastels! Maybe I'll get comfortable enough with it to retry a certain skjald...

 

Thanks for that

[berelinde]

Well, the good news is that the first attempt definitely looks baldurized. The bad news is that it looks like a baldurized Severus Snape. Not the effect I wanted. So it's back to square one, and this time pay more attention to preserving the trace of a smile. I'm not going to post the original result, unless someone really wants a portrait of Severus Snape

[jastey]

I don't know Severus Snape, but I definitely like the portrait you use as your avatar. Nice work! I like it that you used Faramir, although it's good it doesn't resemble Faramir not that much any more. Er, if you get what I mean.

Although for using in the game I hope you'll succeed in baldurizing, as I like to have all portraits in one style while playing.

[berelinde]

Yeah, I used Faramir because I liked the nose and the armor, but it is going to look very different indeed if I can't learn to draw!

 

Alan Rickman played Severus Snape. Looked all right, but hardly appropriate for a benevolent cleric.

[berelinde]

Current avatar is the baldurized portrait. I'm still not thrilled. He looks like he needs a tan. But it's all right to go on with.

 

Changes from the original screenshot:

got rid of the beard

changed the hair color (one strand at a time)

changed the eye color (one pixel at a time using brown, grey, and green)

changed the color of the shirt

modified the armor

changed the background

changed the eyebrow color (one hair at a time)

painted over everything and put some of the shadows back

 

I'll probably add more highlights and shadows in the face and neck, but that's enough for today.