Getting an NPC to attack Creature with a Staff

[AndalayBay]

I suspect I know the answer to this already, but just to confirm: is there any way to get an NPC to attack a creature with a staff? Basically we have an NPC that's supposed to zap his pet cat wtih his staff (he's crazy and it's just a little zap ). I think the only option is to fake it, but I can't think of a way to fake it when it comes to using a staff.

Thanks in advance.

[Lanceor]

I'd probably remove all weapons from the NPC and force-equip a staff on him. After that, use the StartCombat ActorID function to make him start fighting the cat. Note that he may dodge around for a bit instead of firing straight away.

Instead of shooting real fireballs and whatnot, the staff should have a scripted effect that stops combat as soon as the cat has been hit. And as a failsafe, I'd script the stopcombat to occur automatically 10 seconds after the fight starts, just in case the NPC does something stupid like picking up and equipping a sword or fleeing from the cat .

That's one way I can think of, there may be others.

[AndalayBay]

Hmmm, those are great ideas! Thank you - I will look into that.