Gnomes and Half-Ogres 0.11 file

This mod adds two new races to Oblivion: Gnomes and Half-ogres.

The Half-ogres are ideal for players who want all the brute force they can get, and don't care much for magic or stealth. They can also be an easy race for inexperienced players who want an easy start. Half-ogres are also extremely tall, towering even over other tall races, such as high elves.

The Gnomes on the other hand are neither especially skilled in combat, magic or stealth, and are rather adept at using alchemy, mercantile and illusion, which ensures that playing them will be a very different experience than playing most other races.>br>
For combat, however, all gnomes start the game with a strong half-ogre companion to aid them in battle (He meets up with you once you leave the imperial prison). They are also very short, about 60% of the size of an imperial. All of these aspects make gnomes perfect for the player who wants to try out a different playstyle.

More in-depth Race descriptions:

Gnomes
The gnomes in my mod are based on the gnomes from the computergame Arcanum (a great game by the way). They are not similar to other cosmetically similar races such as hobbits in other than appearance. These gnomes are not at all light hearted or lazy in any way. Gnomes are hard-working and well known for their skills in crafting (Armorer 5).

Gnomes are highly intelligent (Int 50) as well as charismatic (Per 50, speechcraft 5) and often utilize this ability to become wealthy in trade and commerce (Mercantile 10).

This craving for building up an ever-growing wealth often makes outsiders believe they are motivated by greed. In fact, the reason most gnomes strive to become wealthy and powerful is that they are a cowardly race (Wil 30), and have a strong need to feel secure. This is also the reason why most wealthy gnomes have a half-ogre bodyguard to protect them.

Physically gnomes are very weak compared to humans (Str 20), because of their small stature, although they are remarkably hardy for their size (End 40). They are quite agile (Agi 40), but because of their short legs they are not very fast (Speed 30).

The most remarkable gnomish physical feature, except for their size is their huge, fleshy noses. The size of the gnomish nose may account somewhat for a gnome's sense of smell, which is extremely precise and exacting. The gnomish sense of smell explains why they often have great success as chemists and perfume-makers (Alchemy 15).

Though gnomes don't like to admit it, they are quite closely related to leprechauns. This causes gnomes to have an innate, supernatural luck (Luc 60) as well as some magical aptitude (Illusion 10), though no upstanding gnome would use these abilities in other than the most extreme of situations.

Half-ogres:
No one knows how half-ogres can exist. The circumstances of a half-ogre's birth are difficult to imagine. Although it is conceivable that an ogre bull might violate a human female captive, everything we know about ogres tells us that it must be quite unusual for the victim to survive such an encounter, and equally unusual for the woman not to die giving birth.

Considering this, it is remarkable how many half-ogres serve gnomes as personal bodyguards. One can understand why gnomes choose half-ogres as bodyguards. They are extremely strong and hardy (Str 60/End 60), and so weak-willed that they will never doubt following a direct order (Wil 30).

One can see why a half-ogre would want to work for a gnome as well. They are uncharismatic and stupid (Per 25, Int 25), and need someone to take care of them if they want to survive in civilized society. Though half-ogres are strong and hardy, the huge bulk of their body reduces their agility (Agi 30), and makes them slow compared to their size (Spd 40).

Known issues:
If you use a "skip-intro"-mod when starting a new game as a gnome, you will not be able to hire a half-ogre companion. You have to complete the entire dungeon for the script to work properly.

The gnome-model is too small to get its head above water while swimming. I like to explain this bug with gnomes being horrible swimmers, but if this bug becomes an annoyance you can in most cases get a breath of air if jumping while swimming near the water surface.

Another bug caused by the gnomes' small stature is that he can look inside models if he goes too close to them and looks up. This can be exploited since it makes it possible to look through walls, but for players who want to play clean this usually doesn't happen unless you are consciously trying to exploit the mod.

Notes
This is the first mod I have released ever, and it is an early beta release, so you can expect to find a few bugs. If you find any, please post them in the 'comments' box, and I will attempt to fix the problem.

Special thanks to
MrUniq for the half-ogre companion-scripts.