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About this mod
Terrifying vampiric beasts that resemble macabre bat-human hybrids, freezing their victims with fear with their mere presence, salivating with thirst for blood and death. Get your crossbow ready, vampire hunter, because you're going to need it!
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
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Translations
- German
- Donations
- This mod is a compilation of my Gargoyle Overhaul (LE/SE-AE) and Werebats (LE/SE-AE) mods. If you use these 2 mods, by downloading this new file you will be able to delete these 2 esps, thus saving space in your load order;
- Obviously you should not use this mod together with the 2 mentioned above, since they are already compiled in this new file, and using them at the same time will double the amount of these creatures in your game, in addition to other possible problems;
- If you use, like and value my work, please consider giving an endorsement. I've worked hard for years to offer you the best of me for free, and the only thing I ask in return is this gesture, which increases my relevance and engagement on Nexus, and motivates me to continue;
- I do not inspect or have any influence over translations of my mods (including those linked directly on my pages), nor do I have any power over patches or add-ons made to my content. So, before using any unofficial add-ons for my mods, make sure they conform to the latest version of my official release, and never use these if they don't. The same applies to Xbox ports;
- In addition to the Nexus, you can also find me on:
- Do you have any doubt? Read my Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).
Terrifying vampiric beasts that resemble macabre bat-human hybrids, freezing their victims with fear with their mere presence, salivating with thirst for blood and death. Get your crossbow ready, vampire hunter, because you're going to need it!
From Gargoyle Overhaul mod description:
"While generally in the TES universe, gargoyles are simply humanoid-looking statues with bestial traits, animated via magic, usually with protective functions, the specific type added by the Dawnguard expansion, and the only one to officially appear in the game, has some particular features. Especially connected to vampires, this type is animated by these factions with techniques that allow them to switch from the petrified appearance of when in a dormant state, to an organic-like appearance when active in combat, returning to stone form after fulfilling their protective function. This transformation to an (apparently) organic form is only temporary, as when they die they return to their previous state as proved by their loot consisting of ore and gems. Of course however, like almost everything else in the Dawnguard expansion, they were done in a sloppy way, with lots of plotholes, and lots of untapped potentials. This mode aims to fix that.
How Gargoyles are implemented in the vanilla game? - They appear in various forms, inside castles, forts and ruins inhabited by vampires, and randomly accompanying them in outdoor night events across the map. When inside, they are often in the form of statues, which explode to reveal a newly formed second layer of skin similar to an organic creature, when the statue "becomes alive" to fulfill its protective function. If their action is successful, they tend to return to petrified form until needed again, while some remain in their alert/active state. Any and all existing Gargoyle statues can theoretically be turned into an active golem;
From Gargoyle Overhaul mod description:
"While generally in the TES universe, gargoyles are simply humanoid-looking statues with bestial traits, animated via magic, usually with protective functions, the specific type added by the Dawnguard expansion, and the only one to officially appear in the game, has some particular features. Especially connected to vampires, this type is animated by these factions with techniques that allow them to switch from the petrified appearance of when in a dormant state, to an organic-like appearance when active in combat, returning to stone form after fulfilling their protective function. This transformation to an (apparently) organic form is only temporary, as when they die they return to their previous state as proved by their loot consisting of ore and gems. Of course however, like almost everything else in the Dawnguard expansion, they were done in a sloppy way, with lots of plotholes, and lots of untapped potentials. This mode aims to fix that.
How Gargoyles are implemented in the vanilla game? - They appear in various forms, inside castles, forts and ruins inhabited by vampires, and randomly accompanying them in outdoor night events across the map. When inside, they are often in the form of statues, which explode to reveal a newly formed second layer of skin similar to an organic creature, when the statue "becomes alive" to fulfill its protective function. If their action is successful, they tend to return to petrified form until needed again, while some remain in their alert/active state. Any and all existing Gargoyle statues can theoretically be turned into an active golem;
What are the problems with them? - Although much better implemented than other problematic creatures like Hawks, Magic Anomalies or Werebears, Gargoyles still have problems related to abilities and characteristics, besides, minor details can be improved making all the difference in the experience of facing Gargoyles in your game;"
From Werebats mod description:
"Vampires especially addicted to the art of bloodthirsty hunting may find themselves worshipping Hircine in their relentless quest to heighten the thrill of tearing their prey apart. Normally, vampire blood does not allow the development of lycanthropy (a term that, in common, unscientific jargon, includes not only Werewolves, but all transformations of beastmen), but exceptions exist, and Werebats are one of them, transformed into beastmen by Hircine himself, despite previously being vampires. However, it is worth noting that they were generally not especially strong vampires, without particularly dominant forms of vampirism, just an immense thirst for hunting and blood.
They seem to choose to live and worship Hircine inside dark caves covered in blood and bones, with rustic altars made in honor of the Prince, strange sculptures of animal and human remains, simulating the imposing figure of Hircine. It is still clear that they retain the vampiric condition, due to their use of blood magic, even when transformed: they can absorb life with their sharp wing strikes and sonic screams. Furthermore, they have an aversion to fire and light. We can consider, according to some scholars, the Werebat as the perfect hybrid between a lycanthrope and a vampire.
As mentioned, they usually live in caves in remote places, and you will usually always find an Alpha leading a small clan. They are reclusive, and it is also important to clarify that the people of Tamriel generally have very little contact with actual Werebats, and when they do encounter Giant Bats, due to their relatively humanoid features and large size, most people believe them to be a type of vampire, and commonly specifically a Werebat. This is completely wrong, and not only is a Giant Bat not a type of vampire, but also the undead variant of the Giant Bat, tainted with vampirism by real vampires, cannot be considered a Werebat, just a Vampire Giant Bat. Due to the simple fact that they are not a sentient race transformed into a beastman, calling Werebat to a Giant Bat or to an undead Giant Bat is wrong and makes no sense. Confusion in this regard, however, is common among some academics and laypeople in general.
It is also important to distinguish Katakans, Ekimmaras, and Bloodfiends from Werebats. Bloodfiends are weak-minded vampires who have succumbed to the weight of vampirism and transformed into feral, mindless beasts. The intermediate stage of degradation between a normal vampire and a Bloodfiend is known as Feral Vampire, while vampires with the blessing of the Werebat transformation are completely rational and sentient.
Katakans have many bat-like characteristics, although they are slightly larger and monstrous than Werebats. They are actually a transformation that vampire blood can cause in some vampires when they delve deep into the most bestial side of the vampiric human, forgetting rational interests and focusing only on satisfying their most primitive animalistic instincts. Despite being profoundly mutated by this transformation, they retain their intelligence and ability to speak. Some of them are even able to disguise themselves using some sort of illusion or alteration magic, thus appearing as normal humans. They differ from Werebats in that the latter are vampires granted by Hircine with the beastman's blessing, which combined with vampire blood produces the Werebat transformation. They are both vampires focused on bestial instincts, but while the Katakans seem to fully embrace the bestial side of their curse, the vampires granted the werebeast transformation were vampires focused primarily and specifically on the bloodlust of hunting. This thirst for hunting was the reason why Hircine turned them in the first place into his followers and beastmen, recognizing their value as hunters.
Ekimmaras are basically what happens if a not very powerful vampire dives deep into the same beast side of vampirism like Katakans do, fully embracing its meanings, but not having a strong enough mind to deal with it properly. They eventually lose their conscious mind and ability to speak, and begin to act and think like common vampiric beasts. They are smaller than Katakans, and while they fight similarly, they have less power and use fewer draining abilities."
by Beastmaster Mihail *
(*Who is Beastmaster Mihail? He is my avatar/persona within the universe composed of all my mods. He is the ingame author who writes the texts that are usually presented as descriptions for my mods. A former monster hunter, now a dedicated scholar, he is planned to be released as an NPC in late 2022/early 2023, doing the same job in-game as my descriptions do on Nexus.)
(A FINAL NOTE: ESO adds Giant Bats, a relatively humanoid bat, and then uses the same model for a new enemy type called the Werebat. ESO regularly applies this trend of reusing models for more than one creature, so we shouldn't take it literally, as their intention is for Werebats to be creatures linked to Oblivion, specifically Molag Bal, and appearing alongside vampires. Furthermore, in Legends, they are specifically cataloged as werebeasts, even having a card (Twilight Werebat card) for their human form. Legends however is also unfortunately quite inconsistent, presenting two completely distinct forms for Werebats. So I chose one closer to the Moonlight Werebat card, but I removed the tail and reduced the wing membrane on the arms, to distinguish it more from the ESO's Giant Bat that will be released later. The Blighted Werebat card, on the other hand, doesn't look like a Giant Bat, neither to what I decided to create as a Werebat (inspired on the previously mentioned Moonlight Werebat card), so for now I have no plans for that design.)
- 1 new creature, Werebat, in (common) Werebat and Alpha Werebat variants; (check image above)
- 3 new locations: Cave (1), Cave (2), Cave (3), where you can encounter Werebat clans;
- Although there is a difference between the common Gargoyles and the Brute and Sentinel variants, in terms of the formation of the head and horns, the latter two are the same in shape, differing only in color. With this mod, each variant has its own skeleton linked separately. The smaller ones (green), which are the most common, have the original skeleton attributed by the vanilla game, while the Brutes have longer wing tips, slightly larger heads, in addition to vanilla anatomical differences and color, and are slightly larger also in size. The Sentinel variant, in addition to the vanilla differences, now has wings not only larger at the ends, but also at its base, having a larger back, with a more accentuated hump, in addition to a more prominent head. Its forearms are longer and its nails sharper. Furthermore, it is the largest among the three variants; (check image above)
- The Sentinel variant was very overpowered compared to the regular variant and the Brute. Now, even though it's still stronger than these, it's more closer in terms of damage, and its levels are a little lower too in comparison to vanilla, so it doesn't get so overpowered compared to the others;
- A very problematic version of a 4th type of vanilla Gargoyle, boss-like, not implemented in the final version of the game, has been rescued from the files of the dawnguard dlc, fixed in its texture and model issues, and implemented, now as Ancient Gargoyle, much larger, with color close to that of the common variant, but in a darker hue, with larger wings, horns and head, and spikes covering the whole body. I also added some extra changes to their arms and claws, making them bigger. Naturally it is the most powerful version, above the 3 of the final release of the vanilla game. This version as an enemy found in the world, except for the summons that I will mention later, is very rare, being found only in very remote and specific places where vampires plot against humanity; (check image above)
- Living up to its origin and essence, and putting an end to the lack of logic in removing minerals and gems from an organic corpse, now when they die, gargoyles explode into petrified pieces, leaving an ash pile on the ground (check image above), which can be looted for gems, but not anymore for specific ores, as they don't make much sense beyond a lazy way of denoting that they are made of stone, and now they also drop a vampire dust sample and a new item, mentioned in the topic below;
- It is now possible to loot a petrified Gargoyle Head Piece (or a larger Ancient Gargoyle Head Piece), after killing a gargoyle and making it explodes into pieces. The item has no use other than decoration, and can be sold; (check image above)
- It is no longer possible to capture the soul of a Gargoyle, as these are soulless golems animated by simple magic, in the case of this type, vampire magic, and it is no longer possible to reanimate them by the simple fact that they now explode when killed;
- Some vampires now summon gargoyles, of all 3 types in the vanilla game. What allows that even at higher levels the simplest variants continue to appear as well, since in the vanilla game, due to leveling done in an artificial and silly way, from a certain level foward the common variant becomes scarce;
- These vampires drop spell tomes that teach you how to summon gargoyles as well, so now you can conjure gargoyles even if you're not transformed into a Vampire Lord, or a vampire at all;
- To keep the Vampire Lord's powers at a higher status, now when using the Amulet of the Gargoyle when transformed, you summon an Ancient Gargoyle and no longer a Gargoyle of common variant. In turn, it is possible for the Ancient Gargoyle to summon a common Gargoyle to help it in combat;
- In his boss battle, Harkon now also summons an Ancient Gargoyle, instead of an ordinary Gargoyle.
A final note regarding the new features: - You might notice that this mod has files in common with other mods of mine, don't worry, they're just shared files. In this case, a small fix created long ago to prevent creatures that use the gargoyle animation as a base from getting sounds very characteristic of these. Let me explain: some sounds are built into animations and are impossible to remove unless they are removed from all creatures that share that animation. The most common are the scream of the gargoyle and the roar the werewolf. In this case, this fix gets around the problem of other creatures making the gargoyle scream sound, by removing the idle taunt-scream sound they do in middle of combat, replacing it with a roar that still matches but is more generic, therefore applicable to a larger number of creatures, and ingeniously puts the original very specific gargoyle scream directly in the process of the gargoyle engaging in combat, via script. Still, when a gargoyle statue breaks its petrified form and comes to life the sound remains as it has a different path in the folder. Unfortunately it is not possible to remove the scream that any creature using the gargoyle animations gives when summoned (only the one they use as taunt in mid-combat), without removing it also from the gargoyle breaking out the statue, so this one remained untouched. But having removed it from that middle combat situation is already positive, and having found a way to still keep it just for the specific gargoyles, it's already excellent. In resume, the taunt sounds of the the gargoyle in middle battle are not lost, they are still present where they matter and for the creatures that must have it (gargoyles), but this fix improves the immersion when it comes to other creatures. In doubt, you can test them and see for yourself, and you will see that everything works the same as always for the gargoyles. Never delete any sound files from my mods, as each one has a very well thought out reason for being there, and in this case, this mod offers an improved version of this fix, since instead of modifying certain things in the looping sound, it modifies them directly via script input, allowing a more organic sound production.
The mod is not compatible with other mods that modify the textures, models, skeleton, attributes, etc., of vanilla Gargoyles. If you have one installed, or think you might have one, put this mod below it/them in your load order. If you are asked about files overwriting those of other mods, press "Yes to all".
If you use my "Vampire Beasts" mod, or the bundle "Vampire Lords and Beasts",
this mod must be allways placed bellow those mods on your load order.
(OBS- If by chance when installing several of Mihail's mods at the same time you are asked about files overwriting those of other Mihail mods or other authors mods, don't worry because they are just the same files shared between mods. I recommend that on these occasions always give preference to the files contained in my mods, and among mine always give preference to the mod you are installing last.)
The Mihail Monsters and Animals series aims to create and make available to the community the most complete set of creatures for TES 5: Skyrim, implemented in an immersive and unique way, with respect to the pillars of lore. Instead of pathetically just throwing models and textures in the game reusing 100% vanilla mechanics, the creatures made by Mihail have uniqueness and extreme zeal in their idealization and implementation, which will provide you with an experience that you have never had before in this area.
Author: Mihail- Werebat model, textures, sounds and animations; new caves; Ancient Gargoyle model and texture fixing, Gargoyle skeletons edits, magic effects, spells, loot, game implementation