Luminous AI: Enhanced NPC AI in Balzu

Balzu uses a number of techniques to improve the AI in Oblivion. Some of these techniques are new, but for the most part they simply build on existing AI mechanics or reintroduce mechanics which were available in previous Elder Scrolls games.

Compatibility: Note that these changes require a significant amount of scripting which largely duplicates portions of a collection of mods including Kuertee's Clothing Matters, Strategy Master's Persuasion Overhaul, Talkie Toaster's Companion Share & Recruit, Reneer's Guard Overhaul, and other mods. Although these mods have been used as a source of inspiration for the AI overhaul in Balzu, the code is entirely my own and all faults and omissions rest entirely at my door. It is not clear at this stage of development how compatible or incompatible these mods will be with Balzu.

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Dialogue Options

The first thing that many players will notice are the expanded range of dialogue options. In Morrowind, NPCs could be queried on a wide range of topics: religious affiliation, ethnic background, occupation, local landmarks, where to find goods and services in their community, etc. All of this is conspicuously lacking in Oblivion, where such content is restricted to a single dialogue option that draws a random selection from a shared pool of standard responses.

In Balzu, these options will be restored, and players will be able to ask any NPC about a wide range of topics about which that NPC could reasonably be expected to have an opinion. These additional dialogue options are intended to add detail and color to your experience with NPCs and are not intended to add complexity to your ability to complete a quest. While conversing with an NPC about his friends and family or eliciting commentary on topical subjects may provide the player with insight into the underlying themes and structure of the Balzu universe and the personality of the actor, players should not feel compelled to 'drill down' every dialogue tree to its completion. Much of this dialogue, like the placement of trees and rocks in the exterior landscape, has been added to build immersion and interest and can safely be ignored or indulged in at leisure. (Of course, if you are having difficulty locating a destination or completing a quest, stopping to talk to a couple of the locals may be just the thing you need to help you along.)

Dialog: Note that Balzu will be unvoiced at release.

Immersive Persuasion

The second thing that players will notice is a completely revamped persuasion system. The vanilla system has been completely removed (no more 'rotating disc' mini-game) and replaced with a series of dialogue options. Players will now be able to select from one of eleven different persuasion techniques (Amuse, Beg, Beseech, Boast, Bribe, Flatter, Gift, Intimidate, Lie, Seduce, and Taunt) when conversing with NPCs. These techniques will be context sensitive, to a certain degree, so not all options will be available at all times. For example, you will only be able to beseech the aid of a local lord in completing a quest while that particular quest is running or lie to NPCs in specific contexts when they ask you specific questions (such as when impersonating a guard).

A player's facility with a particular technique will vary depending upon the strengths and weaknesses of their character, the personality of the NPC, and the objective of the player. While it is still possible to use persuasion merely to raise or lower the disposition of the NPC, often, the player will want to obtain a specific objective (acquire information, intimdate a witness to a crime, bribe a guard to look the other way, infiltrate a meeting attended by members of a secret society, etc.). In these cases, a speech test is required (not unlike the speech tests in Fallout 3). Choosing the right technique for a particular request from a particular individual could spell the difference between success and failure. The only constants you can count on are that Speechcraft will be crucial to all persuasion techniques except for the Bribe technique, which is based on Mercantile.

Some additional details follow:

Amuse: Amusing an actor through clever wordplay, humor, bad puns and gentle teasing is a fundamental form of persuasion that everyone uses from time to time. It is easy to execute and carries little risk, so it is popular with people who are less confident in their speaking ability and less audacious in making claims. While less effective than the other techniques, it is a good technique for people who do not have a strong Speechcraft skill and/or a low Personality because the risk of lowering an NPC's disposition through making a bad joke is relatively small.
Beg: Begging is a kind of reverse bribery in which the player asks an NPC for money, food, lodgings, or other accommodations. It is useful for many players when they are just starting out if they find themselves unable to pay for lodgings or supplies and for stealthy characters who just want to make an easy score. Be forewarned that begging is hard and will quickly earn your character a reputation for being a wastrel. You can reverse the effects of begging on your reputation with specific NPC's by giving them gifts later, once you find a way to earn your keep.
Beseeching Aid: Players may beseech an NPC for assistance in the completion of a quest objective. The success of your appeal depends largely on your ability to persuade an NPC that it is in his or her best interest, or a matter of duty or honor, to grant your request. Appeals are context-sensitive (like Lying) so the types of appeals available to you will depend on your active quests. In addition, you may tailor your appeal to the NPC by playing upon specific traits, like their sense of duty, greed, or vanity. If your appeal falls on deaf ears, you may attempt to raise an NPC's disposition toward you in some other fashion before attempting again.
Boasting: Boasting is an attempt to raise an NPC's disposition toward you by enumerating your various accomplishments. Boasting depends primarily on your Speechcraft skill and Personality, but your fame (or infamy) also plays a large role. Note that it is harder to impress another swordsman with your own skill in Blade if they also have a high score. In all likelihood, they have performed similar feats themselves. Always try to match your boast to whatever area you think another actor will be most impressed by.
Bribery: Bribery works much like Vanilla bribery, and depends primarily on your Mercantile skill. In Balzu, however, some NPCs are more and some less susceptible to bribes. Very responsible actors are still less likely to take a bribe, but actors with very low responsibility may also be indifferent to your attempts to bribe your way out of a tight corner.
Flattery: Flattery is the art of indirectly improving an NPC's opinion of yourself by improving their opinion of themselves. It is not a hard technique to employ, but failing repeatedly at it will give you a reputation for being a courtier and people will start to like and trust you less.
Gifting: Gifting, or the art of giving gifts, is an easy but expensive way to improve your relations with other actors. The degree of your success depends largely on the value of the gifts that you give and the social status of the NPC you are giving the gift to. Giving a begger a loaf of bread will win you an immediate, appreciable boost in disposition. Giving a lord a pewter vase will in all likelihood be interpreted as an insult. Always try to match the gift to the actor receiving it. In addition to generic gifts, which are based on the value of the object, many NPCs have secret vices, such as food, tobacco, alcohol, expensive clothing, rare books, etc. If you can uncover an actor's secret vice and award them with an appropriate gift, you will find your chances of persuading them significantly increased.
Intimidation: Intimidation is used to frighten an NPC into doing something for you, such as divulging confidential information, granting you access to a restricted area, or neglecting to report a crime. Not all intimidation is goal-oriented, however; it may be in your interest to intimidate actors in an unfriendly neighbourhood so that they leave you alone, for example.
Lying: Lying, like Appeals, are largely context sensitive and take the form of speech tests. At appropriate points in your conversation with an NPC (such as when attempting to infiltrate an enemy faction), you will be required to pass a test in order to convince your interlocutor that what you are saying is true, or that you are who you say you are. Being caught in a lie can have drastic consequences if you are dealing with hostile parties.
Seduction: Seduction can be a powerful means of persuasion in the right hands when used on the right person, but is somewhat limited in scope (in other words: it won't work on people of the wrong orientation) and tends to earn your character a nasty reputation if you go overboard. Most seduction takes the form of mild flirtation and teasing and doesn't have to lead to overt acts to be effective.
Taunting: Taunting is used to lower an actor's disposition toward your character and incite an attack. This is primarily used to initiate combat against an enemy in a public place in such a way that crime and bounty may be avoided or to cause a distraction. Intelligence plays a large role in your effectiveness as an antagonist.

In addition to these techniques, Balzu will also implement a new skill called Entertaining. Entertaining involves various sorts of activities like telling jokes and stories, singing, playing a lute, juggling, tumbling, and performing stage magic. Entertaining is unusual in that it influences every one around you, not just a single NPC, so it is not necessary to engage an NPC in conversation before performing this action. If you are skilled in the art of entertaining, you may be able to convince publicans to pay you a wage for entertaining their patrons.

Multiple Disposition Indexes

At the heart of Balzu's persuasion system is a collection of disposition indexes: Friendship, Trust, Respect, Attraction, and Fear. (Fear is a special index in that it acts as a counter-weight to the other indexes: the more you raise Fear, the more you lower the other indexes.) These indexes replace vanilla's single disposition index with an array of indexes which can be used to influence NPCs in different ways. The names of these indexes are mostly self-explanatory and are used to intuitively determine the outcome of speech tests occasioned by persuasion attempts. Players are no longer limited to a single, bland, generic disposition check, but may try their luck on any of the five indexes by using an appropriate type of persuasion.

For example, let's say your character is in dialogue with a local footpad and is trying to retrieve information about the whereabouts of a wanted criminal. Depending on your character, you may try to Intimidate the thug, occasioning a speech test against his Fear index. If his Fear index is low (he is not afraid of you), your attempt will fail and you will not receive the information. Depending on the specific result of the speech test, however, his Fear index may go up or down even if you failed to intimidate him the first time. If you came close to succeeding, his Fear index may have gone up, making a subsequent attempt to intimidate him easier, ensuring that, with enough intimidation, he will eventually 'crack'. If you failed miserably, his Fear index may actually go down, simulating his appraisal that your threats are hollow and that you will not follow through with them. Different players may try different techniques with the footpad. Attractive females may attempt to retrieve the information by flirting with him; wealthy merchants may attempt to bribe him; and pious priests may appeal to his religious sensibilities. Any or all of these techniques may work depending on the player's character, the personality of the thief, and the result of the speech test.

The goal of implementing this system is to increase immersion and to provide true role-playing opportunities when dealing with NPCs. A secondary goal is to introduce variety in your dealings with NPCs. Since the five new disposition indexes replace the single vanilla disposition index, an NPC's general disposition toward your character will be represented by the average of the five indexes. (The individual disposition indexes are 'unrolled' during speech tests but the overall disposition still governs an NPC's general attitude toward the player.) Not only does this make it harder to raise an NPC's overall disposition toward your character (since raising a single index by five points will only raise your overall average by 1 point), but it also makes it impossible to 'max out' an NPC's disposition: since Fear acts as a counter-weight, it limits the maximum possible range of an NPC's disposition to a number less than 100. (Though this may be exceeded by magical means.) An NPC's facial expressions and choice of words will reflect their opinion of the player.

Attraction: Attraction represents how attracted an actor is to the player. A high Attraction score is necessary for forming romantic relationships and liasons and for successful Seduction attempts. Seduction, Flattery, Boasting, and occasionally other persuasion techniques play a part in shaping an NPC's attraction toward a player.
Fear: Fear represents how afraid an actor is of the player. The higher an NPC's Fear index is toward a player, the lower his or her other indexes will be. Fear is raised (or lowered) through attempts at Intimidation (though sometimes failures in other persuasion attempts will affect an NPC's Fear of the player as well).
Friendship: Friendship represents how much an actor likes the player and considers them a friend. Friendship is the easiest index to manipulate: players may influence an NPC's Friendship index by flattering, amusing, and giving gifts. Lying, intimidation, taunting, bribing, begging and to a lesser extend boasting can all negatively impact the Friendship index. Beseeching aid is perfectly acceptable when the need arises, and attempts at Seduction have a tendency to change the relationship from one of friendship to one of romantic interest.
Respect: Respect represents how much an actor respects the player as an individual. Actors are more likely to come to the aid of characters they respect, are more willing to become traveling companions, and are more likely to form romantic attachments to them. Note that it is possible to be friends with a person you don't respect.
Trust: Trust represents how much an actor trusts the player and feels able to count on the player to act in predictable ways. Trust is essential for forming lasting relationships and plays a large part in the morale of companions and love interests. Trust can be earned by accepting and completing quests and grows naturally over time if a player behaves in a consistently reliable manner. Actors who have a low Trust index toward a player are hard to lie to, boast to, or flatter.

NPC Character Traits

Vanilla NPCs have a short list of character traits: Aggression, Confidence, Energy, and Responsibility. Balzu expands on these traits by providing several new ones: Chastity, Compassion, Greed, Levity, Piety, Suspicion and Vanity. Together, these traits provide NPCs with a more or less well-rounded personality. In vanilla Oblivion, these traits are used to determine things like the likelihood that an NPC will enter and stay in combat, commit or report a crime, etc. The additional traits provided in Balzu perform similar functions. For example, an NPC who is very modest will not respond well to overt acts of seduction and may respond to a player's indecent state of undress by calling the guards. Likewise, a vain NPC may be easy to flatter or taunt, a suspicious NPC hard to lie to, and a greedy NPC easy to bribe. These traits also help to determine other responses outside of dialogue. For example, a compassionate NPC may spontaneously offer to heal an injured or diseased player, or provide them with a potion.

Chastity: Chastity represents an NPC's sexual mores and expression. An actor with a low Chastity score will respond positively toward a player in a state of undress and be more receptive to sexual advances. Chaste actors are more likely to call the guards if the player is indecently exposed and are harder to Seduce.
Compassion: Compassion represents an NPC's willingness to aid others. An NPC with a high Compassion score will be more likely to supply the player with lodgings, supplies, money, healing or another form of assistance in response to an attempt to persuade through Begging or Beseeching aid.
Greed: Greed represents an NPC's susceptibility to Bribery and the appeal of Gifts.
Levity: Levity represents an NPC's sense of humor. Actors with a low Levity score are difficult to amuse and respond more strongly to failed attempts. Actors with a high Levity are easily influenced through attempts to Amuse or Entertain.
Piety: Piety represents an NPC's religious conviction. Players who engage in acts of piety, like pilgrimages, charitable donations, the foundation of churches or hospitals, slaying demons, etc., will be looked upon more kindly by actors with a high Piety score. Players who desecrate churches, slander the Gods, and behave in otherwise 'irreligious' fashions will be looked down upon. Actors with a low Piety score will have different reactions mirroring the Responsibility/Fame/Infamy mechanic in vanilla Oblivion.
Suspicion: Suspicion represents an NPC's skepticism and distrust of other people. Suspicious actors are harder to Flatter, Boast and Lie to and are less susceptible to other forms of persuasion as well (Seduction, Beseeching aid, Gifting, and Begging).
Vanity: Vanity represents an NPC's narcissistic tendencies and susceptibility to Flattery and Taunting. Vain actors tend to be easy to provoke or curry favor with but are much harder to Boast to.

Preferences and Vices

NPCs will also have preferences and vices. Preferences are essentially character traits that they like to see in other people. They are often the same characteristics that they demonstrate themselves. Burly fighters, for example, admire strength and endurance, and cantankerous old wizards like to have intelligent conversations. Players who demonstrate an NPC's preferences are more likely to win trust, respect, and friendship from that NPC.

Vices are essentially kryptonite to NPCs. If a player can discover an NPC's particular vice, they may win an instant disposition boost by supplying them with the object of their affection. Some vices are easy to determine: there's a good chance that buying a drunkard an ale in a tavern will win you a few points of disposition. It may not be so obvious, however, that the local priest has an fondness for tobacco unless you get to know him very well or discover this information from someone who does.

Piety and Impiety

Vanilla Oblivion has one additional mechanic for influencing dispostion: Fame and Infamy. These mechanics are fully operational in Balzu, but Balzu also employs a secondary mechanic: Piety and Impiety. Pious acts are righteous acts, acts that affirm and uphold the religous views of the broader community. Slaying a dangerous beast may win you some Fame in Balzu, but it won't win you any Piety. Slaying a demon will win you both.

Impious acts are sacrilegious acts, acts that denounce and desecrate the religious views of the community. Murdering a merchant may win you some Infamy in Balzu, but it won't earn you any Impiety. Desecrating a church will.

Piety and Impiety help to differentiate the player's social status as they become more powerful and earn reknown. A high Fame will no longer be enough to join an order of knights: the player will also have to demonstrate their piety by performing rites, undergoing pilgrimages, and vanquishing evil spirits. Likewise, common criminals will hardly attract the attention of infernal powers. In order to win the favor of these demonic beings, you may need to demonstrate your committment by spilling blood on alters, destroying sacred relics, and performing unspeakable rites.

Piety and Impiety also influence your relation to the higher and lower powers. Priests who demonstrate great piety may find favor with their gods and find themselves receiving aid and assistance at opportune moments. Diabolists who commit great heresies may suddenly find themselves in possession of dark tomes, shadowy familiars, and uncanny luck.

Companions and Factions

Factions and companions are two other areas of Balzu that will see some significant change.

Faction membership will likely be harder for most players to acquire, more restrictive, and more immersive. Some factions, especially occult circles, will provide the player with unique benefits that cannot be acquired elsewhere. These may include unique fighting techniques, spells, equipment, locations, patrons, etc. Members with divided allegiences (for example, players who join more than one guild) may find themselves cast out and may even win the enmity of their former guild.

Companions will also come in a wider array of types, each suited to different purposes. 'Classical' companions, or adventuring partners, may still be acquired by winning the trust, respect, and friendship of capable NPCs. Because Balzu uses a custom disposition mechanic, players may have to employ different techniques with different companions to win their allegiance and maintain their loyalty.

If true traveling companions are hard to come by, players with money may always hire retainers: companions who work for pay and who will stay with the player as long as the player continues to pay them. Retainers are generally more limited than adventuring companions, and will generally only perform a single task as defined in their verbal contract with the player. Guards, doctors, alchemists, porters, and armorers may all be found and acquired for a fee.

Magic-users may also have the option of acquiring familiars, and any character may acquire a pet, either by purchasing one (such as a guard dog) or by obtaining one through a quest. Familiars and pets are creature companions and offer various sorts of advantages and limitations when compared to normal NPC companions.

Romantic partners are also a possibility: Balzu offers the player many ways to win the affections of a suitable partner and develop a long-lasting, harmonious relationship. Romantic companions may come from any source: average NPCs encountered during daily routines in town, fellow guild members, travelling companions, and hired retainers may all become potential partners through an adroit use of the immersive role-playing sytem.

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Last updated July 22, 2011