Huge Witcher 3 mod offering custom characters with new combat styles and quests predates CD Projekt's own modding tools

A huge new Witcher 3 mod lets you create custom characters with all-new combat systems and questlines, but it's actually been in the works since long before CD Projekt released its official modding tools.

Earlier this year, CD Projekt released REDkit for The Witcher 3, official modding tools allowing for players to create new characters, animations, items, entire questlines, and much more. You'd think this would naturally open the floodgates for many new, impressive mods for The Witcher 3, which is nearing a decade old at this point, but still going strong.

You'd be mistaken for assuming that's the case with 'Custom Player Characters,' a brand new mod released last week for The Witcher 3 (via VG247). This mod lets you create your very own protagonist from scratch, switching out Geralt for the likes of a sorceress with their very own questlines, but it's actually been in the works for over two and a half years.

"I spent 2.5+ years on making this mod, there were a bunch of tools which I used, including some which I had to write myself," the mod's creator, nikich340, writes on NexusMods. They might not have used REDkit from scratch, but the modder adds that "Redkit was helpful in fixing some animation bugs on last development stages," so it was still made good use of.

So what is the huge new mod capable of? Besides from creating your own protagonist from scratch, you can choose whether they're a Witcher, giving them Geralt's gear and quests, or a sorceress, providing new voice acting, items, weapons, spells, and a full questline in the process. It's "made on the edge of modding possibilities," nikich340 claims, and I'm not about to challenge them on that.

You can see a complete introductory trailer for Custom Player Characters just below, in which existing characters like Eskel and Philippa Eilhart are made playable, as well as brand new characters using the creation tools the mod has set up. There's also a demonstration of the new spell-based combat system for sorceresses, which looks nothing short of sublime.

The Witcher 3 "Custom Player Characters" Mod - YouTube

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Unfortunately, an optional part of the mod - called 'Custom Player Characters - Female Voices for Geralt' - uses AI to generate new voices for protagonists by combining Geralt's voice with that of Ciri, Triss, and Yen. The mod's creator has disabled donations via this mod, because they don't want to be accused of monetization of actor's voices.

Voice actors have spent years speaking out against the dangers of utilizing AI technology to generate voice lines. Earlier this year, actors from Baldur's Gate 3, The Witcher 3, and Final Fantasy 16 spoke out against AI stealing the voices of actors, and the studio behind Smite walked back a contract that would let it replicate the voices of deceased actors after a strong public outcry. 

Another Witcher 3 mod adds cut content back into the RPG, and this time it's boat races that have been lurking in the game files for nearly 10 years.