Skie

[Ipsy]

Re: Skie's stats:

What if she gained a +2 to her wisdom after realizing that Eldoth had only intended to ransom her all along? Definitely a life-altering discovery. I don't think it would necessarily warrant an alignment change though.

 

It would probably be a good idea to give her a different voice anyway, given that BG2 has more extensive voicing than BG1. Failing that, the Female2 voice isn't bad, and might fit her. I think there's a couple good ones at Vox Populi and PPG's Diversions and Soundsets too.

 

Athkatla is the City of Coin, a city of merchants. Eldoth might travel there to first vanish, then find some innocent noble's or merchant's daughter. Given the city's reputation as a nexus of trade and culture, it would no doubt appeal to him.

 

Skie, now...Jaxsbudgie, I agree that her stepmother wouldn't want anything to do with her, and with both Entar and Eddard dead, would want the estate to herself anyway. So perhaps she'd just send Skie packing with a token amount of gold.

 

Safana would be an awesome swashbuckler She's practically a pirate already, and she is definitely suave and charming enough to fit the description. I don't think Coran needs a different class/kit though. I'm also not sure that Safana would decide to do away with the party. She wants luxury and treasure, so she might try and take more than her share of the party's earnings and split. Heck, Coran might do the same, and if they left right before Brynnlaw, it ties in with the vanilla game's content anyway

[Domi]

Skie reminds me of Qara in NWN2 in some ways, so I can see her becoming a sorceress. Say, exposure to Bhaal's child powers woke what far-away connection she had to magic, and she suddenly found herself able to cast cantrips and the like. Or she always was able to do things, but thought it was because she was so agile and clever. The magic could have scared and excited her. The only trouble I see with that is the relatively high level she would have to have to fit into BG2, but then again sorcery is an odd gift, and one occupation where I would accept the sudden elevation in power. Just my 2 cents on Skie here.

 

I find stats changing no big deal, if they are within reason and help with the actual character development. I think Wis increase as a result of the real world exposure makes sense. Will it open clerical path for her? cleric-thief can be pretty interesting.

[Aion]

I'm not too hot on the idea of raising Skie's stats, nor giving her "yet another mage/thief" class. Come on, there's already 3 mage/thieves in the vanilla game, plus a cleric/mage and conjurer mage. That's not even counting the PC. Just keep her a thief. I agree it's plausible she would've learned to fence at least a little. Her voice...just keep the original, even if it is unusual.

 

I do like the idea of her venturing into Amn while her stepmother owns the Baldur's Gate estate now. Skie and Eldoth mods could work together, or seperately. Quite frankly I don't like Eldoth too much, but I do like Skie. I find her an underappreciated character.

 

As for Safana, make her a swashbuckler (not Skie). She is indeed practically a pirate. Introduce her elsewhere in the game, and make the wolfwere person someone else, some bounty hunter or something...who could be acquainted with Safana, sure.

 

Coran...don't change a thing. Just build on what's already there.

[Guest stressfear]

I'd love to write a Skie mod, honestly, but you guys seem to have the right idea so far.

 

Don't change her class - thief is meant to be a sort of catch-all anyway. She doesn't really fit anywhere else, unless you drag in 3.0 npc classes.

 

As for me, I'd like to have a Skie romance. It'd remind me so much of high school it wouldn't be funny. Contributing to the delinquency of a cheerleader, but with swords in.

[Ipsy]

AFAIK, this is more brainstorming than planning out a mod. At least, that's what I was doing. If you want to write a Skie mod, feel free to use whatever I've dreamed up

 

About a Skie romance, though...dunno. She's so attached to Eldoth that it's not even funny. I think that if she realized what Eldoth was really like, she wouldn't really be comfortable growing that attached to someone. She certainly wouldn't be the same character as before.

 

More brainstorming on the subject:

- Skie would probably feel horribly betrayed. I think that she lacks the judgment and maturity to realize/acknowledge that she was wrong about Eldoth from the start, so it would seem like he just betrayed her.

- If Eldoth was found in the company of another noblewoman, Skie might blame it on her. Eldoth was so romantic and loving at first, so clearly Noblewoman X corrupted him.

- If Skie was made romanceable, she'd require considerable support and hand-holding, not unlike Aerie.

- If dumped by Eldoth, Skie might begin to consider herself undesirable. They were so in love at first, so obviously it was something to do with her.

 

Thoughts on NPC reactions to depressed Skie:

- Jaheira: something along the lines of "Pull yourself together, girl - there are better men than Eldoth."

- Haer'Dalis: "all things turn to entropy in their time, little [bird name/nickname]. Whether one mourns their loss or moves on - 'tis a simple test of one's resilience, and but a brief moment in time. Why weep over the inevitable?" The two probably don't get along.

- Yoshimo: "Ah, what's done is done. And now you can begin to make a name for yourself, yes?" Something about making the best of a bad situation.

- Viconia: "Feh. Surfacer females disgust me. If you are so distressed, find yourself another male." Thoroughly unsympathetic.

- Anomen: "The cur! It is not right that he should dishonor a lady so. My lady Skie, you need but say the word, and I shall strike him down for you." He doesn't really get that Skie loved (or thought she did) someone as unpleasant as Eldoth.

- Nalia: Compares Eldoth to Isaea, perhaps.

 

Don't really know about the others...

 

Blast, the more I think about this, the more it looks like the beginnings of a mod - pity I don't really have the time for it at the moment...

[berelinde]

Blast, the more I think about this, the more it looks like the beginnings of a mod - pity I don't really have the time for it at the moment...

I could have said the same thing.

 

But I think Skie might prove more resillient than you think. The first breakup is always the worst, but there's no cure like the interest of an attractive guy to help a girl get over it. Seriously. Sure, she might need a bit of handholding at first, but once she understands that the PC is not only gorgeous and a lot sexier than Eldoth, she'll come around.

 

The fact that Eldoth never stopped trying to wheedle his way into Skie's bed has convinced me that her relationship with him wasn't sexual. Which leads me to believe that she had at least a tiny bit of self respect. That makes recovery easier.

[Miloch]

Yeah, any relationship with Skie would have to depend on Eldoth being out of the picture. And probably the PC taking a "conciliatory" role that turns into something rather more. A little crying on someone's shoulder is only a short step away from jumping into someone's bed. Fairly typical in my experience other folks' relationships I've seen.

 

If Eldoth's still in the picture, it might create a love triangle, and no doubt a bizarre one at that to be sure. Maybe there's something in that for folks who fancy that sort of thing, but there's probably enough of that already in the vanilla game, nevermind other mods.

 

To quote a recent post by MTS, I say we make her bisexual. That is all the rage these days.

[PetrusOctavianus]

I know that BG1 NPC was a massive undertaking. It burned out most of the people involved, at least where BG1 is concerned. Others left the community for one reason or another.

 

Well, FWIW it certainly is one of my favourite mods for any game. Damned fine piece of modding!

It and Sword Coast Strategems make BG1 massively replayable.

[Guest Iavasechui]

Wow I'm extremely interested in the possibility of a mod like this. I did a playthrough with Garick, Eldoth and Skie a while back and I really would love to have the three of them playable again in BG2. I was rather disappointed that none of them were available in BG2. I don't know the first think about modding, though I am rather interested in learning.

[Rana]

Heh funny, here I was thinking I was the only one that ever gave Skie a second thought. I'd brainstormed some ideas, let me just rattle off a few:

 

* Skie would already be with Eldoth when you meet him in his "moved" location. In this proposed mod, he's already "rescued" her and she is completely infatuated with him, ignorant to the consequences of what their actions will cause her father to do.

* If you have Skie and Eldoth in your party, Flaming Fist Mercenary groups and later Bounty Hunter groups would attack you, sent by Etnar to retrieve her. She'll be in denial over it at first but will gradually realize that innocent people are dieing due to her irresponsible actions of running away with Eldoth.

* Skie always struck me as being highly prone to outside influence. This opinion was further supported by her being True Neutral, as if saying she could go either way depending on what factors influenced her life.

* During a play I made her an Acrobat because I felt that it best suited her character description and seemed to fit better than a standard Thief, even though Thief is supposed to be the catch-all. This play also had Garrick as a Chorister and Eldoth as a Gypsy, though I never attempted using all 3 of them at once.

* Considered ratcheting up the abuse emotional factor of Eldoth and Skie's relationship considerably, especially after her father is killed.

* I liked the idea of her having progressing banters with Garrick that would develop into Garrick into trying to win her over from Eldoth, eventually coming down to a duel between the two.

* On the above, this would expand Garrick's character, with him having new banters with female members of the party, asking them for "girl advice" and possibly composing a romantic ballad for Skie that's actually good.

* I also toyed with the idea of her having progressing banters with Shar-Teel that would convince her that Eldoth had ruined her life, culminating with Skie killing Eldoth, hardening her personality somewhat in the process and changing her alignment to Chaotic Neutral.

* I'd also like to give the player the option to betray Eldoth to the Flaming Fist when he goes to collect his ransom for Skie. Instead of collecting the ransom, you'd be given the option to knock him out and haul him over to the Flaming Fist compound. Doing this would cause Skie to be taken in by the Flaming Fist also so she could be returned to her father. Skie may or may not return to you later depending on how you've helped develop her personality or if she'd fallen in love with Garrick, though this time it'll be with her father's blessing. Obviously this would have to be done before Etnar is killed.

 

Who knows if something like this would ever see the light of day, but it's fun to brainstorm.

[Miloch]

Heh funny, here I was thinking I was the only one that ever gave Skie a second thought. I'd brainstormed some ideas, let me just rattle off a few:

You have my approval. Make it so.

[Thimblerig]

Er, is there any way to tell Skie that her brother Eddard (from Kagain's caravan quest) is dead?

 

I've been reading through her dialogue files in Infinity Explorer, but if it's there, I can't find it...

[AstroBryGuy]

Yes. If you bring Eddard's pin back to the Silvershield estate and meet with Lady SIlvershield (with Skie in the party), Skie has a reaction to finding out Eddard is dead.

[Thimblerig]

Thanks

 

(Should have been looking through Brilla!)

[Thimblerig]

 

 

Yes. If you bring Eddard's pin back to the Silvershield estate and meet with Lady SIlvershield (with Skie in the party), Skie has a reaction to finding out Eddard is dead.

 

Aaaand my next question:

 

If, as part of another mod, I write some dialogue where you can tell her directly about her brother's death (without recruiting her) - is that going to step on you guys' toes?

 

I was planning on using PartyHasItem("X#SILSH") and Kagain's caravan quest var as potential triggers for the conversation, along with the one from Unfinished Business. I've been trying to keep it as consistent as possible with what's already in the NPC Project, and can PM you a copy of the rough draft if you want to look it over.

 

Yes? No? Need to think about it?