Im tired of the Oblivion workout plan that every NPC seems to be hitting. They are just "too" buff. I propose a change for Skyrim. Lets mix and match each NPC to suit their background/story. It's understandable that guards/fighters should be in adequate shape but peasants/bystanders/different shop keepers should have a more varied look. Different weight/height can really make for a more immersive world.

This can affect the player as well. If he/she does not keep themselves in shape, a skill that could be based off athletics, they get a little chubby. Food could also play a role in this as eating butt loads of mutton a day should surely have some side effect...

Even better yet, have each NPCs appearance reflect their athletics skill or whatever skill should be governing said fitness.

I want to play as a fat Nord Barbarian with mutton chops and a comb over.
I say yes.

Yeah, Yay and nay because i'm a fan of diversity.

A badass Nord or Orc barbarian should be ripped like a Roman Legion soldier, but the town drunk should have a beer belly.

It wouldn't happen, because they would have to modify each piece of clothing and armor to fit every new body type and it would increase the workload by a lot.

That would be my dream if this new Graphics Engine would allow you to do that, change the Height or the Body Type outside of a mod. Sadly it probably won't happen so if thats the case then I wouldn't mind it being more like Oblivion although give the female characters better body types.

Ummm no because in Oblivion, TalkieToaster did this exact thing and the clothing/armor matched perfectly. It's all based off the skeleton models. :rolleyes:

Pretty much this. Voted yay and nay.

Sounds good to me! Although post above points out the technical stuff I never consider in my infinite ignorance Would be nice though.

;)

i understand what your saying but im just not sure about that right now (Lumberg sips coffee)

Really? Well my bad I thought armors had to be designed to fit a specific body or it couldn't work.


Edit: Why do people quote themselves?

not realy, they could edit the body mesh to allow a similar system to the way faces worked, they could then apply overlays on the body to make it look more muscular/fat/hairy

It just seemed weird...seeing literally every man/elf with a cut 6 pack...haha

wasnt it an 8 pack?

How much more data would it take to do that for every NPC. If it can be done properly then they should try to do it in Skryim.

good thread. I'm sure everyone is with you there AmpolX.

My only fears are again resources and the target platform limitations. Unless they come up some genius solution and the system has a morph system involved, (yep theoretically facegen for bodies ) Body types will complicate the character and outfit system that is already pretty complex. still very possible imo. More features like this though make the game less detailed in other areas. Its totally dependent on better optimization this time around

Yeah I understand that. And i'm more than certain that production is probably too far along to implement this but hey, it never hurts to try. I'm sure Data wouldn't be a big issue. Maybe to not as "extreme" as I worded it in the OP (excited and a little hyped up on coffee) but even a small feature would be cool.

I like the idea of having different bodies, but I don't want my character's body to change during play.
I want to shape a body for my character much in the same way as I create my character's head, and have it stay that way.

The buff-ness should be automatically generated proportional to the character's strength stat.
Perhaps fatness should be proportional to how much fast travel is used combined with how much scrib jelly the character shovels into his face.

Even a minimal difference in bodies would be good. Maybe dpending on race or class.

It would add a lot to the level of customization available and I would love to see this in the game, however I think that adding variety in quests, armor, weapons, landscapes, and enemies should come first. It wouldn't be worth it if you could make your character fat or skinny, but there are only 5 creatures to fight and only 10 side quests as well as 5 sets of armor and 5 weapons, know what I mean?

This is a tremendous idea! More diversity to the people! No longer would I be forced to play as a 9000000 kilometer tall Nord (I'm only 5 foot 7.5 inches)!

I would at least like different bodies for different races. After all, the wright and height settings just can't handle it all. But if every NPC could have a different body to cover the lifestyle of them, that would really be the hammer. I want chubby innkeepers with a beer belly, muscular smiths, skinny and rugged beggars! Now that would be a real character revolution in TES games!

I want to wrestle with a mud crap with my fat nordic battle-mage. lol.