Necromancy 101 - The Spawning Undead Script Demonstration
by Carcerian
(or, "The Sword of Kas : How I spent my summer vacation as a naughty vampire god...")
A script library to allow for some undead (those listed in PnP books as possessing the "Spawn" ability) and specially tagged magic weapons to create spawned undead upon slaying a creature. Names are changed to mix undead type and base creature while the portrait is copied from slain creature. If the spawn is not human or demi-human, then the creatures original appearance is used with special visual effects added for incorporeal undead. Undead spawned by the PC or a controlled undead creature (PC summoned or controlled) will join the player as multiple temporary henchmen, while commoners merchants defenders, and other friendlies slain by hostiles become hostile themselves.
Spawned undead wont create spawns themselves, only normal and summoned undead will (and a PC armed with the proper magic weapons).
Also included (but not required) are war-cries with special undead lines.
Affected undead include zombies, ghouls, ghasts, wights, wraiths, spectres, shadows, mohrgs and vampires.
Demo includes 3 undead spawning weapons for pc use (The Sword of Kas, Arc of Darkness and Tyrantfog Staff), as well as a few items to summon spawning undead.
Installation
Designers: Import the Erf and go!
If you are incorporating into existing scripts, either insert this line at the beginning of your creature ondeath
if (UndeadCheck(GetLastKiller())) return;
or use the UndeadCheck() to intercept your existing treasure/death script (see demo for sample usage). Undead spawns are defenders with summon/henchman scripts nw_ch_ac*. (optional) Under Faction Editor set Defenders / PC attitude to 100 for well behaved undead, or leave as is for the more realistic possibility of conflict, depending on Difficulty settings and other factors.
Players: Extract override files and load Demo Module, and save your character with the spawning weapons for later use. The override version will work for standard single-player mode, (with the bonus effects of more verbally active combatants, and a higher henchman limit.), simply load and enjoy neverwinter with your new undead army!
Planned Additions:
Incorporeal effect applied to wriths/shadows/spectres.
Palemaster spawning when creature is slain by level 10+ arm, as per PnP rules
Custom limit to default to total controlled undead HD vs "death class" levels, ie Palemaster, death domain cleric or necromancer specialist wizard levels...
All comments welcome!
If you enjoy this demo or find it useful then please vote!
I had a report from one of my players that having Necromancy 101 in the override folder introduced AI problems when playing other modules. These included creatures wandering around when they weren't supposed to, and failing to execute scripted actions such as ActionJumpToLocation. The issues went away when the override folder was cleared out.
Posted by gs-Gamespy at 2008-04-22 00:09:02 Voted 10.00 on 04/22/08
Posted by Brutalicus at 2008-04-18 09:41:54 Voted 9.75 on 04/18/08
I haven't tested it out yet but you deserve a high score for the effort. I've always loved having minions & this breathes new life to nwn. The ehthereal effect on non standard undead types is a nice touch as well. It remeinds me of the original baldurs gate when there weren't limits to summoning undead. I miss clogging the halls with skeletons while I launch spells over their heads. At any rate well done! =P _________________________
Posted by Jaysyn at 2008-04-14 17:43:11 Voted 9.00 on 04/08/08
Changing the spawn's OnDeath script seemed to do the trick. _________________________ -=Jaysyn=-
Posted by DM Heatstroke at 2008-04-14 12:58:28 Voted 9.00
That fixed my issue with the Pale Master summons, thanks.
It's still not using any names given with the SetName function & when the spawn henchmen die, they don't vanish, they just sit there forever. _________________________ Heatstroke
Ive tested with Palemaster Summoned Wraith, it works fine unmodified. To incoperate into your mod with J's AI, tre this line at the beginning of your creature ondeath scripts:
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at 2010-06-25 01:03:06
