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Requirements
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Oblivion script Extender (OBSE) v0020 or later
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Paladin Mod will not load without it.
Link:
http://obse.silverlock.org/
- And please remember to launch Oblivion with the OBSE Launcher.

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7-zip
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You need this to open the archive (7-zip is free).
Link:
http://www.7-zip.org/


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Description
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Upon completion of the most honorable outcome of the vanilla quest The Order of the Virtuous Blood, you will soon find a book that initiates the Paladin Mod, which sets you on the path to serve Arkay, granting you powers befitting a Paladin and rewarding good deeds along the way. The Order of the Virtuous Blood has two possible outcomes. You need to achieve the one that results in the true vampire being slain.

I also use this mod as an excuse to make the Speechcraft skill more useful, and to make it more fun to level-up the very-very-slow Restoration skill. The powers granted are detailed below, along with an explanation of what good deeds can grant you. The Speechcraft-related skills are granted separate from the Paladin skills as you level up your Speechcraft skill.

There is a "Paladin" class available at character generation that suits this mod well, but it is not required. You can start this mod with an existing character if you like, but just know that the "correct" outcome of the quest Order of the Virtuous Blood must have been achieved if you've already done that quest.


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Speechcraft Powers
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Taunt
Lesser Power (touch)
Requires Speechcraft skill of 25
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Using this power on a target that is already hostile toward you, yet not in combat with you, will cause them to start combat with you instead of their current target. If used on a friendly target, their disposition toward you will drop. If "cast" repeatedly on a friendly target, they might eventually start combat with you if their aggression is not low enough to make them naturally non hostile. Using this power on a target that is not in combat with you or not already hostile toward you will level up your Speechcraft skill.

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Intimidate
Lesser Power (touch)
Requires Speechcraft skill of 50
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This is similar to Oblivion's "Demoralize" spell, but it's not magic. Rather, it's speech. When you "cast" this on a hostile NPC, your Speechcraft skill and the difference in Level between you and your target will determine how much their Confidence drops, and therefore determines how much health they can lose before running away from their opponent. With a high Speechcraft skill, this can be a significant advantage.

Timing is key. The effect lasts only ten seconds, after which their Confidence returns to its normal level. And each time you "cast" it on the same target, the negative effect on their Confidence diminishes more and more each time, so spamming it doesn't help much. Using this power on a valid hostile target levels up your Speechcraft skill.

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Battle Cry
Lesser Power (Self - Area of Effect)
Requires Speechcraft skill of 75
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Just as you can intimidate opponents, you can also inspire your allies. Your rallying cry has a large area of effect. Any friendly NPC (not including you) within earshot who is in combat will receive bonuses to their Confidence, Health, and Armor that last for 30 seconds. The magnitude of these bonuses is determined by your Speechcraft skill. Using this power on a valid friendly target who is in combat will level up your Speechcraft skill.


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Initial Powers
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Pray
Lesser Power (self)
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A role-playing alternative to casting restore health spells on yourself. The healing received depends on your Restoration skill. It also might grant additional bonuses. These bonuses come more often according to the quantity of your good deeds. Praying levels up your Restoration skill.

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Lay On Hands
Greater Power (touch)
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Once per day you may heal another person or creature of injuries, disease, poison, and all other debilitations. If cast on a friendly target who is injured, performing this act is a good deed and will make karmic returns to yourself more likely, and also level up your Restoration skill.

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Lay to Rest
Lesser Power (touch)
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Use this power on a "dead" undead creature, and you will release their tortured soul to be at peace. Performing this act is a good deed and will make karmic returns to yourself more likely. Using this power levels up your Restoration skill.

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Redeem Vampire
Lesser Power (touch)
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Use this power on a dead vampire, and you will ensure their soul has a safe journey without danger of being snared by Molag Bal, the father of Vampires. Performing this act is a good deed and will make karmic returns to yourself more likely. Using this power levels up your Restoration skill.


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Karmic Returns and Good Deeds
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The powers Lay On Hands, Lay To Rest, and Redeem Vampire are considered good deeds. The more times they are performed, the more likely it is that you will receive benefits in return. A primary aspect of Paladin Mod is the mysterious nature of the Divine. The motivations of the Divines cannot be understood and therefore cannot be predicted or controlled. And so I don't want to spoil it by saying too much up front about such karmic returns in detail. I think it's much more fun to just play as a Paladin and enjoy the surprises that come with it.

But I will say that as your good deeds accumulate, you will gain additional powers befitting a Paladin. Undead and Daedric creatures (including Dremora) will have significant reason to fear you. Also, praying will bring additional and unpredictable benefits. And last but not least, it will also become more likely that, when things are most dire, you will receive assistance in the form of divine intervention. This is never guaranteed, is actually rare, and comes in different forms.

As you become a seasoned and powerful Hand of Arkay, it will become undeniable that you are favored and protected by a Divine.

Note: "Good deeds" only refers to the actions above that come with this mod, and have nothing to do with your Fame value. I made this decision because you can sometimes earn Fame points in vanilla Oblivion by doing horrible things to innocent people.


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Install
=======

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Manual or BAIN
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1. Copy the all the contents of the "Paladin Mod.7z" archive to your Oblivion\Data folder. If you've never installed this mod before, then nothing will be overwritten.

2. Start Oblivion Launcher, click 'Data Files', place a checkmark beside the Paladin.esp file. Or activate it with OBMM, Wrye Bash, or whatever your preferred mod manager is.

3. Or if you use BAIN, the archive is structured to be BAIN-friendly.

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Omod
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1. Activate the "Paladin Mod.omod" in OBMM.

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Patching
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1. To update the mod with a patch, install the main file FIRST, then copy all the contents of the patch archive into your Oblivion\Data folder. Overwrite.

2. If you used version 1.0, see the Known Issues section below for a way to correct a bug associated with the 1.0 version of Battle Cry.


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Uninstall
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Important!
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1. Before uninstalling Paladin Mod, you should load up your saved game, enter the console (by typing ~), and type and enter the following: startquest aaDeletePaladinMod. This will remove any active affects on you to ensure your character is "clean" before uninstalling the mod.

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Manual or BAIN
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1. Uncheck the Paladin.esp.

2. Delete the following files and folders from your Oblivion\Data folder:
- Paladin.esp
- OBSE\Plugins\PaladinModCustomSpellIcons.dll
- Meshes\PaladinMod\ (delete entire folder)
- Sound\FX\PaladinMod\ (delete entire folder)
- Textures\PaladinMod\ (delete entire folder)
- Textures\Menus\Icons\PaladinMod\ (delete entire folder)

3. Or if you use BAIN, deactivate and delete it using BAIN.

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Omod
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1. Deactivate "Paladin Mod.omod" in OBMM.


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Known Issues
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1. If you used version 1.0, the Items Stolen stat on your Player's stat screen might be falsely inflated. If you need or want to set this to 0, go into the console, type "ModPCMiscStat 28 -X" (without typing the quotes), with X being the current number of Items Stolen, and press enter.

2. There is a minor conflict with the mod See You Sleep. You should disable See You Sleep when you get the Paladin Quest initial stage that says you are tired. After you have the special book (which occurs soon afterward), you may re-enable See You Sleep permanently.


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Version History
===============

1.4:
- Stopped "Deed is counted" messages after all abilities have been granted and quest is complete.
- Stopped speechcraft lesser powers from automatically being granted to Player.

1.3:
- Slightly increased power of light spell so it's a better substitute for a torch.
- Added message to Lay On Hands, Redeem Vampire, and Lay To Rest showing that the "deed is counted."
- Updated ReadMe to note minor conflict with the mod See You Sleep.
- Added hidden quest to check how many good deed "points" the character currently has. Enter the console and enter "startquest aaPaladinCount" to see how many.

1.2:
- Re-worked Intimidate and Battle Cry scripts.
- Added the lesser power Taunt.
- Added hidden quest to grant Speechcraft-related skills as the Player levels up Speechcraft.
- Exempted Undead Blades from Lay to Rest.
- Renamed Intimidate and Battle Cry to "Speechcraft: X"
- Changed Lay to Rest to read "Lay dead Undead to rest" for clarity.
- Added measure to remove ghost effects from redeemed vampires and their copies.

1.1:
- Battle Cry and Intimidate will be added to the Player's Lesser Powers immediately instead of waiting for the completion of Order of the Virtuous Blood.
- Fixed bug wherein using Battle Cry could result in friendly NPC's equipping rings with missing meshes.
- Fixed bug wherein using Battle Cry could result in the Player being credited with stolen items.

1.0: Initial Release.


======================
Recommended Other Mods
======================

Turn Undead as School Of Restoration
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This mod will changes the Oblivion Turn Undead spells to be in the Restoration school. Seems to make sense, and also facilitates playing a Paladin.
Link:
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=15874


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Credits
=======

Even lone modders like me don't really make a mod alone.

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Creative Input and Technical Help
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QQuix (big time), MatH, brucevayne, TheNiceOne, JRoush, saebel, Five Alpha Reductase, bg2408, Sozerius, DragoonWraith, tejon.

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Resources Generously Shared
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The OBSE Team for making OBSE, and Statttis for the script functions making custom spell icons possible.

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Tools Used
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TES4Edit by ElminsterAU, The Oblivion Construction Set, Notepad, and Adobe Photoshop Elements (with the DDS file plug-in).


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Licensing/Legal
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Please contact me before-hand if you want to release anything in this mod. And make sure you know that not everything in this mod was made by me.