Better Companions Guild

[Deadarmour ●]

Companions Guild

Situation:
Disappointed that you found out they were werewolves on the SECOND quest?
Barely got to know Kodlak?
Didn't care when Skjor died?
Confused as to why you can't get the lower members to follow you when you are the same rank as them?

Solution:
You help out a companion, you gain their trust and them as a potential follower.

After the starter quests of Vilkas letting you hit him and giving Aela her shield from Eorlund...
Skjor hands out quests.


1. Ria
Quest to kill bandits around the back of Whiterun (north-west side). Now she can really "show you the ropes", as your first task is to follow her and go bandit beating.
She could tell you about the different weapon types along the way:
"Maces are slow, but hit hard; you need to use proper timing so as not to expose yourself after an attack. Swords are quick, and are capable of cutting an opponent to ribbons before they can counter-attack. Axes, are good for more than just chopping down trees; Yssgramor, the founder of the companions drove the Elves from Skyrim and Solstheim with his."
"What about daggers?"
"What are you crazy? Go waving a little dagger around near a cave troll and see how that works out! *laugh* Only chance you'd have would be to stab it in the back when it wasn't looking, but that's not particularly honourable".
Kill bandits, quest complete.
"Hey, I think you have a knack for this. If you ever need me to help you out, I've got your back."
Gain as potential follower.


2. Athis
Quest to go retrieve a caravan's stolen cargo from a bandit cave (somewhere close to Whiterun).
Talks to you about tactics on the way:
"When nearing your destination, scout out the area. You want to know what you're up against before you jump in and get yourself killed"
"Take out the weakest first. You don't want them pestering you while you're facing a tough enemy in a long, arduous battle"
"If you have someone with you, try to flank the enemy; but be careful about throwing wild power attacks, lest they move out the way and you accidentally bonk your friend on the noggin."
"Don't get overwhelmed. If you're in trouble and surrounded, retreat back to a narrow space like a doorway and fight them off, one at a time.
Bandits killed, cargo obtained, quest complete
"Not bad, friend. If you want me to lend you a hand in future, you have but to ask."
Gain as a potential follower.


3. Torvar
Quest to rescue aristocrat's daughter from necromantic sacrifice.
"This rich guy's daughter, I hear she's quite the looker"
"Die! You ugly son of a horker!"
"All this dead stuff creeps me out. Not just regular dead bodies, but when they're walking around... Moaning..."
"This one time, Njada said I was so bad at fighting I couldn't hit myself if I tried. I sure showed her; three times! I could tell she was impressed by the look in her eyes. Well, one of them anyway." (Make one of Njada's eyes grey on the side of the scars)
Kill necromancers, free Orcish woman from cage
"*hushed tone* She was supposed to be hot! I'd need to down at least 6 bottles of Honningbrew to *cough* Ahem."
Quest complete
"Not bad, not bad. Hey, if you ever get a quest to rescue a fair maiden from her virginity, just let me know. *laugh*"
Gain as potential follower


4.Njada
Quest to kill the troll east of Whiterun, past the twin towers over the river/near the waterfall (where the the two dead stormcloaks are; also links the explanation as to why you were sent).
"You better be as good as Athis says you are, I don't want to have to carry your sorry ass back to the Jorrvaskr."
"Trolls can be killed in one of two ways; fire, and beating so hard they don't want to come back. Unfortunately, I'm not a damned dragon, so it looks like we'll have to do it the brutal way."
"Doesn't look so tough. In fact, are you sure that's not your mother?"
Troll killed, quest complete
"Well, I guess you're okay. Listen, if you need me to help bash some skulls again, I'm in."
Gain as potential follower

Then you get the quest to get the fragment of Wuthrad with Farkas and be a fully fledged member of the Companions (why would they entrust such an important task to a new initiate before?).
Note* Farkas should be wearing wolf armour because of the Silver hand quote during that quest "he's wearing the armour, he dies".

Kodlak should be in the main hall of the Jorrvaskr for most of the day, instead of being hidden underground and rarely seen.

Hopefully someone else thinks this is a good idea, I've been thinking about it for quite some time.

[Deandra ●]

Is this a mod you've built? Or are you still working on it?

[Deadarmour ●]

It's a mod suggestion/request. I'm not sure I could do it myself, but it's something I've always wanted for the game.

[Deandra ●]

I'll be honest, the best way to get a mod to happen is to make it yourself, especially if it's something ambitious. If you have questions about specific things, the people here are always willing to answer, and there are a lot of folks who have volunteered to do voice acting.

[Deadarmour ●]

I'll be honest, the best way to get a mod to happen is to make it yourself, especially if it's something ambitious. If you have questions about specific things, the people here are always willing to answer, and there are a lot of folks who have volunteered to do voice acting.

Yeah I think you're right.

Cool, that'll be a nice resource for when the time comes

This is what I have done so far:

Gave Kodlak eat, train, hang around and sleeping patterns. No longer will he be a hermit, cooped up in his bedroom all day. He actually joins the rest of the companions in their activities, and even has conversations with them! (Due to him being stuck in his room all day, I'd never even heard these before).

Changed Torvar's armour to banded iron because of his heavy armour skill; also equipped a Battle axe due to conversation with Athis about weapons "you know I like hammers and axes".

Changed Ria's armour to iron because of her heavy armour skill; also equipped greatsword due to two conversations with Vilkas about her using a greatsword.

Changed Njada's armour to scaled (it's not her first day there; shouldn't have starting equipment) and made her eye blind on the side of the scars (I have some quest dialogue planned which mentions this).

Changed Farkas' armour to wolf because of silver hand dialogue "He's wearing the armour, he dies!". Made him slightly bigger and maximum weight "Kodlak says I have the strength of Ysgramor".

Changed Athis' armour to iron/hide mix because of his skills, made him dual wield skyforge daggers because of conversations with Farkas/Torvar about using small blades "ten little cuts" etc (this was a little more complicated than just putting them in his inventory- had to change his fighting style and allow dark elves to use weapons in either hand, but it's working great).

Gave Aella a draugur bow to match her armour.

Notes* In a new game, Farkas' wolf armour and skyforged greatsword revert to Steel armour and iron greatsword after he turns into a werewolf. I have seen a fix to this around, but I don't know how to do it myself yet.
However, if you have done that quest, then you can activate this mod again and he will still wear the wolf armour (just deactivate mod, load game, quit, then activate mod, then load game again).

Next, I'm going to try to get the bard up and playing, wish me luck

[Deandra ●]

Sounds terrific!

[Deadarmour ●]

Update:

Gave Kodlak an ebony warhammer because he was unarmed/it matches his colour scheme/suits him/no-one else in the guild uses warhammers (I would give him a skyforged one, but they don't exist).

Updated Wuthrad to be more powerful (around legendary ebony level), with a faster attack speed and a shock enchant (30 for 1 second) that actually damages Elves:
Altmer
Bosmer
Dunmer
Falmer
Orsimer

I tried to make it 1handed so it could be used with Ysgramor's shield, and I could; though not with a one handed animation (though it could be used with shield out, skill for 1handed and be counted as 1handed).

Updated Nord Hero armour to be more powerful (ebony level) and have the same upgrade requirements as steel plate.

[philfredobob ●]

Wow , this sounds great !!
keep up the good work !

[Deadarmour ●]

Update]

Created Skyforged steel mace and warhammer which you can buy from Eorlund, and they are temperable (gave Kodlak Skyforged warhammer instead of ebony one). Also fixed Skyforge steel dagger so it can now be upgraded.

Gave Skjor a fuller, slightly darker head of hair (make the relationship between him and Aela a bit more believable ;D 20 year age difference seems a bit much; he looks about 45 now).

Made Torvar ginger (suits him better, but for some reason he can't have it with the exact same hairstyle or it bugs out).

Eorlund now wears blacksmithing clothes.

Made wolf armour the same strength as steel plate.

Made Nord Hero weapons same strength as Ebony, and fixed the bow so it can now be upgraded.

I have Jon Battle-born hanging around the Jorrvaskr Hall every day from 5pm till 12, now I've just got to get him dancing around and singing like a trained monkey.

[Deadarmour ●]

Update]
BIG BREAKTHROUGH!

Got the companions to actually use the training facilities in the courtyard, instead of sitting down and eating all day like a bunch of fat, lazy pigs

In other news, spent yesterday putting a pet dog in the Jorrvaskr which can act as a follower, but so far he can only be hired and dismissed once and then he becomes untalkable. Anyone ever made a fully working pet dog?
He walks around barking and everyone calls him a stupid dog, it's great

Still trying to get Jon to be a bard. Quite difficult; though I see some other people have had success on the internet, the explanations as to how are not concise and it's causing me problems.

[yodah ●]

This is sounding like a great mod! When I build my PC and when this is done, I will definitely download it.

[rpbraley868 ●]

I too will download this, it sounds great! Keep up the good work

[Deadarmour ●]

Thanks guys
I want to make the Companions guild what it always should have been.

I have them training with the dummies on shifts in rotating groups over a weekly schedule... it's cool haha ;D
Archery is working perfect
Only problem so far is using the melee dummies; they attack from too far out and slash at thin air unless charging atm. I'll probably get it sorted out soon ;P

[yodah ●]

Just an idea, if this goes well enough, you could try revamping some of the other guilds. I felt that they all were much more lackluster than the other games. It was like, join, do one quest, become high ranking member, do one more quest, become guild leader.

[Deadarmour ●]

Just an idea, if this goes well enough, you could try revamping some of the other guilds. I felt that they all were much more lackluster than the other games. It was like, join, do one quest, become high ranking member, do one more quest, become guild leader.

Yeah, I feel your pain haha
Perhaps, but this is already mega ambitious so I just wanna focus all my thoughts on this one for the time being
Maybe in future I might, but I've still got to learn EVERYTHING about making quests before I am done with this one haha ;D

Update]
Got them attacking the melee dummies properly! Awesome

[Deadarmour ●]

Update]

Got everyone in the guild to have a mandatory dinner time in the Jorrvaskr at 8-12 (might shorten this so they can have a dance/party afterwards with the bard- which I now think I know exactly what to do).
They each have their own chair they sit in every time around the big table, and talk to each other across the room while sat down eating.

Got them training with the dummies and archery pads 100% and on shifts in rotating groups over a weekly schedule
I thought it'd be cool if this schedule was written down on a big chalkboard asset in-game which would be under the back porch between support beams (where the barrels with a bowl of carrots on top are on the right hand side). Farkas could have a random chance to go up to it and say "which day is it again?"

[GoatLiver ●]

Notes* In a new game, Farkas' wolf armour and skyforged greatsword revert to Steel armour and iron greatsword after he turns into a werewolf. I have seen a fix to this around, but I don't know how to do it myself yet.
However, if you have done that quest, then you can activate this mod again and he will still wear the wolf armour (just deactivate mod, load game, quit, then activate mod, then load game again).

Next, I'm going to try to get the bard up and playing, wish me luck

Not sure exactly what you have done, but you need to change his outfit rather than just adding the wolf armor to his inventory. You can either edit his default outfit (which will effect anyone wearing that outfit) or create a new one from scratch. If this is what you have done then I don't know why it would revert back to the original one, if not give it a try and it should stay as wolf armor after he changes.

Anyway sounding good so far!

[Deandra ●]

If you want, I can make you that chalk board.

[rpbraley868 ●]

I have a suggestion, can you make it that before you get each "Main" quest you have to complete a few radiant quests? Sort of like a " Hey I got a job for you, but i need to make sure your ready first, go see Aela and do a few of the jobs she has". And then have like a "Companion Jobs - 0/3" for the quest or something like that.

In my opinion that would make the whole guild experience better, making it feel more fleshed out and longer.

[Deadarmour ●]

Didn't get much done today cus friends came round

Not sure exactly what you have done, but you need to change his outfit rather than just adding the wolf armor to his inventory. You can either edit his default outfit (which will effect anyone wearing that outfit) or create a new one from scratch. If this is what you have done then I don't know why it would revert back to the original one, if not give it a try and it should stay as wolf armor after he changes.

Anyway sounding good so far!

Hmm, I'll look into it; I heard something before about someone doing it and having to make the armour from scratch, but I wasn't sure how to do it. Atm I just chose the armour out of the list.

If you want, I can make you that chalk board.

If you would that'd be awesome

I'm not sure if it might be a little too austentatious, but this is what I had in mind for the chalk board:

I have a suggestion, can you make it that before you get each "Main" quest you have to complete a few radiant quests? Sort of like a " Hey I got a job for you, but i need to make sure your ready first, go see Aela and do a few of the jobs she has". And then have like a "Companion Jobs - 0/3" for the quest or something like that.

In my opinion that would make the whole guild experience better, making it feel more fleshed out and longer.

Yeah, I want to draw the experience out and make it epic haha ;D I think that's a good idea too.

I had an idea this morning:
After the main questline has ended, and you have retrieved all the werewolf totems etc.
You recieve a missive from an archelogist in the north about a newly uncovered tomb that bears significance to the companions.
You go there and there's a lot of traps and draugur, uncover some tablet or something that starts a small but epic questline through various dungeons ultimately leading to Ysgramor's real burial place along with the original companions.
Epic fight against ghost Ysgramor and hordes of draugur to prove your worth.

The Reward:
Ysgramor's badass armour
Would need someone to model that and everything though... maybe I could convince that guy who made the sabretooth armour if lucky

[Deandra ●]

Sorry, but what you've drawn is WAY beyond my skill level. I'm just going to assume you're way more skilled at this than I am

[Deadarmour ●]

Sorry, but what you've drawn is WAY beyond my skill level. I'm just going to assume you're way more skilled at this than I am

Probably not haha ;D

No problem, perhaps I can talk to/convince some old friends from Uni to help me out ;P Thanks anyway

I think modelling the base mesh wouldn't be so hard, cus you could just cut and paste Ysgramor's head from the statue model, and the rest is just simple shapes more or less.
However, doing the high poly mesh and then baking it on top with normal maps to make it look nice would be much more difficult, and require ZBrush etc. Then you've got the texturing as well ;P Specular would be easy.

[rpbraley868 ●]

In terms of the board, perhaps you could just do a bulletin board, and have a paper that the player can read and have that show the times for training and such. You could add into the companions schedule to go over and stare at the board every morning or something

[Deandra ●]

Meh, I can do a chalk board, just not the chalk board deadarmour wants.

[Deadarmour ●]

In terms of the board, perhaps you could just do a bulletin board, and have a paper that the player can read and have that show the times for training and such. You could add into the companions schedule to go over and stare at the board every morning or something

Yeah, I was planning to make Farkas have to look at it quite often ;D
"What day is it again?"
"Which group am I in?"

I dunno, I kinda want it to be immediately visual and like "in" the world; even just a regular blackboard without all the fancy stuff would do

Meh, I can do a chalk board, just not the chalk board deadarmour wants.

Awesome! gimme gimme gimme! (although, I actually made a mistake with the schedule timing, can I send you another picture?)