Combat Proficiency - A Morrowind mod

Axe fighters can use maces! Warriors used to chainmail can use leather armor!

WHY? (motivation)


situation 1: Your Orc Knight player character has been fighting with his axe in one hand and his shield in the other for all his life. On a dungeon crawl he finds a wonderous mace. Too bad, he can't use it at all and doesn't connect a single hit with it.

situation 2: As a loyal servant in the Imperial Legion you fight with Medium Armor (because that's the Legion's armor). While advancing in ranks, you're suddenly granted superior heavy armor. Too bad you can't use it at all. Another thing to stuff away in that chest in your home.


What does this do exactly? (explanation)

This mod adds skill bonuses to all armor and some weapon skills, depending on the difference between your good skills and your bad skills. So you don't have to worry about grinding your skills when finding a new piece of armor or a new weapon, you can just continue to play the game.

For example (according to the situations above):
- With Axe 50 and Blunt Weapon 5, you get +20 Blunt Weapon for your proficiency in Axe.
- With Medium Armor 40 and Heavy Armor 5, you get +6 Heavy Armor for your proficiency in Medium Armor.

This mod adds Abilities with "Fortify Skill" effects. Due to this, I suggest that you use the Morrowind Code Patch, to keep the bonuses when the skills are drained temporarily.
(Or use OpenMW)

Bonuses range from 5 to 25 (skills are quite comparable) or from 2 to 10 (skills are a little comparable) or there is no bonus at all. The comparability can be set up in a configuration menu, the following values are just my personal setting and the default. You can open the configuration menu with the console command
<< startscript "CP_config" >>

You can check the numbers in the data sheet in the picture section. They were selected with playability and realism in mind. If you don't like them, you can change them of course via the ingame configuration menu.
BUT: Not every connection has been included. So there is no way to set up a bonus Short Blade --> Spear for example. Everything marked red hasn't been implemented (exeption Long Blade <-> Axe exist and are configurable in the menu, but are set to 0 by default.)


Is this cool? (justification)


I don't like playing warriors in Morrowind. I did it in some time since the release, to check out the quest lines, but most of the time I play mages or thieves. The main reason for this is that I want to feel like achieving something when going on a dungeon crawl. But when I find a new weapon, it's mostly useless to me, because I just can't hit with it.
There are some mods that give every character +1000 Attack, so that every hit connects (just like in Skyrim), but I don't like this approach. Not only renders it sanctuary useless, it also kills an inherent and important feeling in Morrowind. So I wanted another approach.
The bonuses granted are not OP. The highest possible bonus is 25 at a skill level difference of 50 and a comparability set to "high". You're a really good fighter with maces, Blunt Weapon 55? I think a buff of your Axe skill from 5 to 30 is alright in that case.

Sometimes, when you gain a skill level with a buffed skill, you'll realise that you actually just LOST some skill levels, because the bonus granted by this mod was lowered or removed at all.
Breaks immersion? I don't see it that way: Imagine you're a great sword fighter, temporarily using an axe. Thanks to your swordfighting skills you're not a complete newb in a fight, you know how to grip tight to a weapon and how to aim to the vulnerable parts of your enemy. In short: He is proficient in combat, hence the name of the mod. So it is justified, that you start with a bonus in Axe.
As you fight several times with your axe you eventually reach a point, where you can't progress any further just by using your swordfighting techniques. You have to change your technique. By doing this you raise the cap for your axefighting proficiency, BUT while you shift your techniques, you are in the beginning actually worse than before. Once you mastered the new techniques, nothing will stop you, nonetheless.
So it is justified, that you lose the bonuses at several stages when raising a skill that you started of as a substitution in the beginning.

tl;dr: bonuses are given with fixed values, not smoothly -> less script lag



Can I use this? (compatibility)



This mod works is compatible to a lot. I personally use the Madd Leveler and it works great. I tested it with GCD and it gave the right results as well.
I mostly play Morrowind with openMW. The mod works there as well.

Installation is the usual: Put the esp in your data folder. Activate it. Do whatever you want with the readme.

If you for some reason want to temporarily disable this mod (debugging), you can set the minimum skill level to 9999 in the configuration menu.



Answers to questions unasked:



Q: I don't like your math. Can I change the values?
A: Yes, open the console ingame and type << startscript "CP_config" >>. You can set up a lot frome here.

Q: Does this require an expansion?
A: Yes, because i need the "startscript" function introduces with Tribunal.

Q: What about the same system, but for magic?
A: I don't think that casting Mysticism spells and casting Mlteration spells should have anything in common. Sorry Skyrim.

Epilog:

I used the Dodge Mod script by kid1293 as a template for my script, so thanks to him. Thanks to Dragon32 and hollaajith as well to help me to improve my scripting skills.

I cleaned the ESP with the Enchanted Editor.


Changelog:

1.2
- configuration menu added
- I added several bonuses, so the script eventually became too long, so I changed it to several scripts now.
- added bonuses to block

1.1
- fixed the script at several points (var34...)
- set Global "CP_MinSkillLevel" for easy customization
- should work now in normal Morrowind (aka. not-openMW)

1.0
- initial release