One of the consequences of my complete lack of modding experience is that NPCs don’t always work as intended. Some things you can write around, but not stuff that is essential to their character. Typically, the Creation Kit is such that even a novice can figure shit out. Want someone to cast a spell? Just tab over to the SpellList section and add your magic of choice.

The problem is, that doesn’t work for support spells, and doesn’t always work for bound weapons. As a result, Rumarin and Valgus, two of the more prominent followers, never really acted in the way their stories would indicate.

Thankfully, with an assist from Vidalia – who pointed me to Natalie the Healer, and Madcat221 who made me realize bound swords are actually normal weapons + textures, I learned a few things:

1) Support spells can be added via AI packages – the same used to sandbox or sit down in a chair, you just have to make them override combat.
2) Bound weapons can be added to an NPC’s inventory(in the alias so they can’t be stolen) and used in place of spells.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgh0VBVgy8M

So Valgus and Rumarin will function more or less as they are intended, although there are a few things that still need to be ironed out (Rumarin’s combat audio is also a little tinny in the video, Jay’s getting a new mic so it should rectify that – maybe not for v3.03, but v3.04 for sure).

Rumarin will still occasionally use an invisible blade, no idea why, and Valgus won’t use up any magicka. He’ll use the HealOther spell if you’re within range and if your health is less than 40%, so he won’t spam the motherfucker or anything like that. As I mentioned previously, he’ll also have combat dialogue that better suits his character, but I’m not sure if it’ll make the next version.