Pawn Companion - Affinity System and Pawn Quests

Pawn Companion is built around the main pawn's affinity value and presents through an imitation of the native game's text and quest messaging style (above-head and screen text, banners, waypoints). It uses two dialogue buttons that change purpose depending on the pawn's current interaction state. This allows for interactions like quest accepting, postponing, declining, cancellation, status-reads, etc. Most systems apply to the main pawn exclusively.

Quests and Affinity

There are around 40 tailored pawn-led mini-quests, many of which have branching paths or multiple destinations. There are hundreds of sub-quests besides in the form of a dynamic bounty and culling quest system. They range from errands and travel requests to bounties, timed hunts, town raids, and more personal companion moments at higher affinity tiers. These quests are tied to the pawn’s affinity value, so the available proposals and emotional tone change as the relationship develops. There are six tiers: Indifferent (0-199), Acquainted (200-399), Trusted (400-599), Bonded (600-799), Devoted (800-949), Beloved (950-1000).

The affinity curve is player-configurable through the Companion Depth setting in the debug menu. It includes three presets: Journey, capped at Trusted, limits the mod to a more grounded traveling tone. Bond, capped at Bonded, allows a closer but non-romantic bond, and Devoted allows the full affinity arc, including the most intimate and romantic-leaning content. Certain higher-tiered quests have a foundation of intimacy, so Journey and Bond exclude them.

Quests can move affinity in both directions. Accepting and completing pawn requests improves affinity, while declining, abandoning, failing, or letting proposals expire can reduce it. Mod quests and proposals are gated by native quests. There won't be a Bakbattahl visit request or scene before you've canonically reached Bakbattahl, for instance, and all quests are gated to at least Seat of the Sovran or In Dragon's Wake completion among further requirements.

Read the sections below if you would like a better understanding of the mod.

Systems

• []Although quests propose ambiently, the two custom buttons act as different ways of inviting pawn content between quests. One button is for culling-based rumors, and the other is for more personal prompts like errands. If no eligible proposal is available, your pawn will inform you of that. This is chance-based in order to simulate autonomy on your pawn's behalf; the mod has no harsh quest availability restrictions.

  Interaction with the pawn's dialogue menu is always necessary to change the quest state from proposed to active, as well as other state changes. Quests cannot proceed without player input. Some examples of button states below:[/]

  • []Some quests can require status-checkups, like bounties. Although some bounties have confirmed locations, others have to be searched for. During this state, a button will prompt a response similar to below, dependent on player location and bounty type. The location itself is fixed, so the proposal's directional hint can suffice. Further hints are optional if you need reorientation. [/]
    • []Quests are visually announced and tracked through quest banners styled to match the game's. These appear and update on quest acceptance, completion, failure, status checks, bounty kills, etc. Examples below:[/]
      • [] Rift Expeditions are a unique type of culling quest wherein interaction with a new riftstone is required. Upon interaction, time accelerates, riftstone/world effects play, and the player gains access to new staged areas. Some of these quests involve reaching unused or unreachable terrain in the game. The experience is meant to emulate traveling through the rift to solve a problem in a different Arisen's reality. These are somewhat linear, and chests with unique loot are included in some of them. There are 10 expeditions in total.[/]