ElPopeAdventures

Several things in one mod, each of which can be switched off on its own:

• The Mage class. Play a mage from day one in the Meadows. You get a mana pool, and a new staff in every biome: frost first, then fire, then arcane. Mage armour covers the biomes before vanilla's Eitr-weave. Mana cocktails are brewed from each biome's fruit.
• The Rogue class. Sneak and stab from day one: stealth and dagger bonuses, and dual daggers for every biome up to the Plains, with a Shadowstep special attack.
• Twinblades and greatswords. Dual swords that cross on your back when put away, and greatswords from the Black Forest on, for anyone.
• New enemies and mini-bosses. Tougher, faster-fighting creatures and roaming mini-bosses in the Meadows, Black Forest and Plains, with combos and moves vanilla creatures never use.
• Companions. Rare wandering companions in every biome from the Meadows to the Plains. Befriend one with an offering (one companion at a time), and if it falls, raise it again at a Companion Cairn.
• Masterwork gear. Anything upgraded to its maximum level glows and gets a bonus.
• Inventory quality of life. Bigger stacks, a sort key, quick stack to nearby chests, crafting/building from nearby chests, and a search that finds items by name in your inventory and nearby chests.
• Free build camera. Detach the camera while building and fly it around, so you can place pieces from any angle.

Everything is crafted in game. No cheats or console commands are needed.

Installation

Use r2modman or the Thunderstore Mod Manager, search for ElPopeAdventures, and click install. BepInExPack_Valheim is installed with it automatically. Then start the game from the mod manager (Start modded).

For a manual install, install BepInExPack_Valheim first, then copy ElPopeAdventures.dll into Valheim/BepInEx/plugins/ElPopeAdventures/.

Multiplayer: every player needs the mod with the same config. Installing it on the dedicated server too is recommended.

The Mage class

1. Craft a Mage Tome at the workbench and read it (eat it). Your character becomes a Mage and gains 50 mana, plus 20 more for every boss defeated. Mana is the game's eitr (the purple bar), so eitr food adds to it as well. This choice is saved on your character.
2. Craft a staff. Staff recipes only appear once you're a Mage, and only a Mage can cast with them. Staffs cast the vanilla staff spells, scaled to their biome. They train Elemental Magic and upgrade like vanilla weapons.
3. Wear mage armour for faster mana regeneration and Elemental Magic.
4. Drink cocktails to refill mana instantly.

Staffs

From the Mistlands on, each staff matches the damage and mana cost of the vanilla staffs.

Secondary spells

Every mage staff also casts a spell with the secondary attack button: middle mouse on keyboard, or RB on a controller with the default layout. Sneak first (Left Ctrl, or click the left stick) to cast Mana Shield with a frost staff.

Both use vanilla cast animations and effects: Frost Nova uses the vanilla frost orb staff's cast, and Mana Shield uses the Staff of Protection cast and bubble. The exact numbers for each staff are written to the BepInEx log, and everything can be tuned in [Mage - Secondary spells].

Mage armour

Vanilla mage armour (Eitr-weave) only arrives in the Mistlands, so the mod adds a hood, robe and trousers for each earlier biome. All are made at the workbench (level 2) and upgrade like vanilla armour. Like Eitr-weave, they trade armour for mana regeneration: each piece has about half the armour of that biome's heavy armour. Wearing all three pieces of a set raises your Elemental Magic skill. Only a Mage can see the recipes, but anyone can wear the armour. Each set is the Eitr-weave design in its own colours, in the world and in the inventory: Apprentice in undyed tan, Mossweave in moss green, Mirewitch in plum, Frostbound in ice blue and Sunweave in gold, before vanilla Eitr-weave's red.

For comparison, vanilla Eitr-weave has 16 armour per piece and +20% / +40% / +40% regeneration. The Frostbound robe's frost resistance keeps you from freezing on the mountain, like the wolf armour chest.

Cocktails and the tome

A recipe appears once you have picked up each of its ingredients, like vanilla recipes. For example, the Mage Tome shows up at the workbench after you've picked up a dandelion (the small yellow Meadows flower). Every recipe can be changed in the config.

The Rogue class

1. Craft a Rogue's Shadowstone at the workbench (4 Leather scraps, 6 Flint, 3 Mushrooms) and use it from your inventory. Your character becomes a Rogue. This is saved on your character, and you can be a Rogue and a Mage at the same time.
2. Rogues always have the Rogue effect (shown with your status effects):
   • +10% damage with every knife and dagger, vanilla knives included.
   • Sneak attacks with knives deal +50% on top of the knife's own sneak attack bonus.
   • Sneaking costs half the stamina.
   • You are 25% quieter and 25% harder to spot.
3. Craft dual daggers. Their recipes only appear once you're a Rogue, and only a Rogue can fight with them. They use the Knives skill, the vanilla Skoll and Hati dual-knife moves, and upgrade like vanilla weapons.

From the Mistlands on, vanilla Skoll and Hati (45 + 45) takes over.

Shadowstep

The dual daggers' secondary attack (middle mouse, or RB on a controller) is Shadowstep. You vanish in a puff of smoke, reappear behind the enemy closest to where you're looking (up to 10 m away), and strike it from behind for 2.5x the daggers' damage. It costs stamina: 12 with Flint Fangs, rising to 36 with Blackmetal Fangs.

Shadowstep needs a clear line to the enemy and room to stand behind it. If there's no enemy in reach, you get a message and no stamina is spent. Range and damage are set in [Rogue - Shadowstep].

Twinblades and greatswords

Anyone can craft these at the forge; no class is needed. Both use the Swords skill, take both hands (no shield), and upgrade like vanilla weapons.

Twinblades are a pair of swords, one in each hand, using the Berserkir axes' dual-weapon moves and their secondary attack. Each pair is two of the vanilla swords of its metal, so they look like the swords you know. When you put them away, they cross in an X on your back.

Greatswords use vanilla Krom's moves and model, in the colours of their metal. Vanilla only has greatswords from the Mistlands on (Krom, then Slayer), so these lead up to Krom.

New enemies and mini-bosses

Each biome from the Meadows to the Plains gets a new enemy and a roaming mini-boss. They are bigger, recoloured versions of vanilla creatures with their own stats and loot, and they fight differently: their attacks are faster, they chain attacks into combos, and some use moves their kind never does in vanilla. Mini-bosses have a boss health bar, and at half health they call for help, once.

The ordinary enemies can spawn with stars, like vanilla creatures. Mini-bosses are rare: each new area of their biome you enter has a small chance to hold one, and there's never more than one close by. Type elpope_creatures in the console (F5) to list them. To meet one straight away, enable devcommands and use the spawn name it shows, for example spawn ElPopeCreatures_TrollChieftain.

Companions

Somewhere in each biome from the Meadows to the Plains, a companion wanders on its own. They are rare: each new area you enter has a small chance to hold one. They are friendly from the start and fight the monsters around them, but they won't follow anyone until they're given what they want. Look at one to see its offering, then press E with the offering in your inventory. From then on it's your companion and works like a tamed animal: press E to make it follow you or stay, and Shift+E to rename it.

Some are found with stars and are stronger. Companions don't damage your buildings and drop no loot.

When a companion falls, it isn't lost. It is remembered by your character, in every world you play. Build a Companion Cairn with the hammer (Misc tab, needs a workbench: 20 Stone, 5 Wood, 5 Resin). Look at it to see your fallen companions, press Shift+E to pick one and E to lay the offering. It rises beside the cairn with its name, stars and bond, and follows you again.

You have one companion at a time. Befriending or raising another while you have one asks first: press E again within a few seconds to confirm. Your current companion then goes to rest at the cairn, keeping its name, stars and bond. It leaves the world the next time you're near it. Resting companions are listed at any Companion Cairn and come back for free (no offering), swapping places with the companion you have then. If you already had several companions from an earlier version, the first one you meet stays with you and the others go to rest. Tamed vanilla animals don't count toward the limit.

Healing. A companion heals on its own at the game's normal creature rate (an hour from nothing to full), but only out of combat: once it has gone 10 seconds without taking damage and has nothing to fight. Unlike vanilla tamed animals, it heals even when hungry. To heal it faster, feed it. Look at it and press the hotbar number of any food (cooked meat, berries, stews…). It eats one, and over the next 10 seconds heals three times that food's health value, even mid-fight. Look at a hurt companion to see its health.

Travelling together

A companion that is following you goes where you go:

• Boats: board a ship and it climbs aboard after you, takes a free spot on the deck and sits still there (the Cragling settles into its dormant pose; the others stand quietly) until you step off, then jumps off beside you. Spots are kept clear of the helm, the benches and the players aboard, and in multiplayer every player's companions get their own spot and are seen in the same place by everyone. Players walk through seated companions instead of bumping into them. If you leave the ship and swim or walk off more than 20 m, your companion waits aboard for you.
• Portals: step through a portal and every companion following you within 30 m comes through with you.

A companion told to stay (press E on it) stays behind. Both can be turned off under Companions - Travel in the config.

Bond

Companions grow with you. Look at one to see its bond and how far it is from the next rank. Bond comes from:

• Fighting: its own kills (a tenth of the victim's health, double for bosses), and a third of that for your kills while it fights within 20 m.
• Time together: 2 for every minute it follows you within 30 m.
• Petting: 15 the first time you press E on it each day.
• Feeding: 10 when it eats while hungry (companions that eat, like the Meadow Hound).

These come on top of its stars. On ranking up it heals fully and you're told what changed. Bond is kept when a fallen companion is raised at a cairn. To try the ranks out, enable devcommands and use elpope_bond 700 near your companion. Rates, bonuses, growth and the glow are in the config under Companions - Bond.

In multiplayer, a companion is remembered by the player who befriended it, as long as that player is in the game when it falls. To meet a companion straight away, enable devcommands and use spawn ElPopeCreatures_MeadowHound (the other names are listed by elpope_creatures).

Masterwork gear

Any weapon, shield or armour piece upgraded to its maximum level (usually level 4) becomes masterwork. This covers vanilla gear and this mod's gear alike. Its tooltip gets a Masterwork line, including when you preview the final upgrade at a crafting station.

The glow is the game's own upgrade glow, which vanilla only shows on gear pushed past level 4 with the Upgrader. Here it starts at the maximum level. Other players with the mod see it too, and it shows on your back and on the ground. The game doesn't share armour upgrade levels with other players, so armour doesn't glow. All bonuses can be tuned in [Masterwork].

Inventory quality of life

Only chests you are allowed to open are used: never someone else's private chest, never a chest in a ward that you aren't permitted in, and never a chest another player has open.

Free build camera

With the hammer, hoe or cultivator out, press Y (controller: hold the right stick in for half a second) to detach the camera from your character. Your character stands still while the camera flies, so you can look at a roof from above, reach the far side of a wall, or line up a beam from below.

Pieces are placed where the camera is looking, up to 20 m past the camera's 30 m range from your character. The camera can't go below the ground. It switches off by itself if you put the hammer away, sit, or die. Resources are still used, and building still needs a workbench nearby, as usual. Keys, range and speed are set in [Build camera].

Config

The file is BepInEx/config/ElPope.ElPopeAdventures.cfg. It is created the first time you start the game, and you can also edit it from r2modman's Config editor.

• [General]: EnableMage, EnableRogue, EnableBlades, EnableCreatures, EnableMasterwork, EnableInventory and EnableBuildCamera switch each part on or off (takes effect after restarting the game).
• [Mage - Class], [Mage - Spells], [Mage - Secondary spells], [Mage - Cocktails] and [Mage - Recipes] set base mana, mana per boss, damage and mana cost multipliers, Frost Nova and Mana Shield strength, cocktail strength and cooldown, and every recipe.
• [Rogue - Class], [Rogue - Shadowstep] and [Rogue - Recipes] set whether dual daggers need the Rogue class, the Rogue's bonuses, Shadowstep range and damage, and every recipe.
• [Blades - Recipes] sets the recipe of every twinblades pair and greatsword.
• [Creatures - Spawns] switches natural spawning of each new creature on or off, and SpawnChanceMultiplier makes them all (companions included) rarer or more common.
• [Companions - Spawns] switches each wandering companion on or off, and [Companions - Offerings] sets each companion's offering, its raising cost, and the cairn's recipe.
• [Companions - Travel] turns riding on ships and following through portals on or off.
• [Companions - Healing] sets how long a companion must be out of combat before it heals on its own, and how much food heals it (0 turns feeding off).
• [Companions - Bond] turns bond on or off, and sets how fast it's gained, the health, damage and size each rank adds, and whether high ranks glow.
• [Masterwork] sets the glow and each masterwork bonus (set a bonus to 0 to turn it off).
• [Inventory - Stacks], [Inventory - Sort], [Inventory - Store materials], [Inventory - Store consumables], [Inventory - Quick stack], [Inventory - Craft from chests] and [Inventory - Search] set the stack multiplier, keyboard keys and controller buttons (set either to None to turn it off), ranges, and hotbar handling.
• [Build camera] sets the build camera's key and controller button, how far it can fly from you, and its speed.

Removing the mod

Removing the mod is safe for your world. Vanilla items and chests are unaffected. This mod's items (staffs, mage armour, tomes, cocktails, dual daggers, shadowstones, twinblades, greatswords) are deleted by the game if you load a character or open a chest holding them without the mod, so don't play without the mod while carrying them. The new creatures, companions and Companion Cairns disappear from the world without the mod; creature loot is all vanilla and stays, and your fallen companions are still remembered when you add the mod back. If you lower the stack multiplier, stacks that are already bigger than the new limit stay as they are until you split or use them.

Troubleshooting

Messages appear in BepInEx/LogOutput.log, tagged ElPopeAdventures.Mage, ElPopeAdventures.Rogue, ElPopeAdventures.Blades, ElPopeAdventures.Masterwork, ElPopeAdventures.Inventory or ElPopeAdventures.Building. If a game update breaks something the mod relies on, it logs what went missing and switches only that feature off. The rest of the game keeps working.