General Description:

I find that the way the vanilla game handles racials and birthsigns, especially when it comes to the magical arts to be, well... broken. The Breton is infamous for it's staggering 50% resistance to all outside magical effects while, comparatively to Breton, The Altmer's handling of weaknesses to the elements nest to it's fortify magicka bonus is a little silly. This isn't even mentioning the imbalance of those classes for being pure spellcasters when compared to the other races. Because of this I decided to pick up the Construction Set myself for the first time and do some minor doctoring. My intentions with these changes are fairly simple; Bring Breton and Altmer more in line with other races whilst also liberating the magically inclined playstyles from those characters by redistributing the total magicka bonuses into the caster-oriented birthsigns instead of races, all with as little mud-tracking on the carpet as possible. I've also touched up a racial bonuses in general, all whilst trying to keep as close to vanilla as possible.

In-Depth: Racial Bonuses
(Abilities, powers and races not mentioned remain untouched)

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The Breton (Manmer)
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-Breton Magic Resistance bonus reduced from 50% to 15%
Reasoning: Lets face it: this is the reason why most race retooling mods exist. Ignoring 50% of all negative magical effects in a racial bonus is ludicrous. 15% in addition to a minor magicka bonus seems more reasonable.

-Breton Enhanced Magicka bonus reduced from +50 to +20
Reasoning: The added magicka for this class has been reduced and distributed to the caster Birthsigns to improve racial balancing. It's fairly small, but when added to from a caster birthsign the Breton's total magicka will be approx. the same or better than before, and still higher than most.

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The Altmer (High Elf)
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-High Elf Enhanced Magicka bonus reduced from +100 to +40
Reasoning: The added magicka for this class has been reduced and distributed to the caster Birthsigns to improve racial balancing. The Altmer's magicka bonus is still the highest and still half decent to compensate for it having one of the few negative racial passives in game.

-High Elf Elemental Weakness penalty reduced from 25% weakness to each element to 10% to each element
Reasoning: A slight buff to coincide more resonably with the improved apprentice birthsign. Not too high, but neither is your magicka bonus. I think this change is a bit more reasonable.

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The Argonian (Saxhleel)
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-Argonian Poison Immunity has had it's name changed to Argonian Poison Resistance, and it's bonus has been reduced from 100% to 50%
Reasoning: Being immune to all poisons is pretty strong for a racial, especially with the additions I've made to this race. 50% seems more reasonable all things considered.

-New Passive Ability: Argonian Enhanced Spirit, +20 to total magicka, +25 to total Fatigue.
Reasoning: Both In lore and statistics Argonian Boys are seen as capable warriors, and Argonian Ladies are seen as capable casters. I've added this passive to reflect that.

-Argonian Starting Security reduced from +10 to +5
-Argonian Starting Mysticism increased from +5 to +10
Reasoning: A minor change to reflect my Argonian's slight push from utility into more 'offensive neutrality'. I think the add to Mysticism also ties in well with their tribal roots.

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Orc (Orsimer, Pariah Folk)
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-Orc Magic Resistance has had it's name changed to Orc Resilience, it's Magicka Resistance has been reduced from 25% to 15% and gained a bonus of +10% Shield
Reasoning: I felt I needed to reconsider the Orc's Magic resist after talking about it in relation with the Breton. Like the Breton, the magick resistance has been reduced. The addition of some shielding to such a hardy race seems appropriate, I think.

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Imperial (Cyrodiils)
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-The Voice of the Emperor greater power is now a lesser power with no cooldown on touch (from on target), still +30 charm for 30 secs
Reasoning: This should be a bit more handy of a tool for the so-called 'Diplomats of Cyrodiil'.

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Bosmer (Wood Elf)
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-The Beast Tongue greater power has become a lesser power and been buffed significantly, now effecting creatures up to level 25 (max level) for 180 secs (three minutes) at a cost of 60 Magicka and Damage Fatigue 60
Reasoning: As the only Bosmer racial besides stock elf disease resist I feel this deserves some kid gloves and much needed effectiveness. Have fun!

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Dunmer (Dark Elf)
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-Dark Elf Fire Resistance has been renamed to Dark Elf Battle Readiness, its fire resist reduced from +75% to +45% with an added +5% Shield effect
Reasoning: As the designated spellsword and/or 'jack of all trades' I felt this passive could be tweaked to make the fire resist a little less dumb and add some hardiness to a character who'd likely see some melee combat. This seemed like a reasonable changed.

In-Depth: Caster Birthsign Changes

Reasoning: As previously stated I've bumped quite a bit of Magicka out of the designated caster classes and poured it into the caster Birthsigns (using the original version of the Altmer to decide the bonuses) to make being a caster for any other class a lot less painful. As a result:

-The Mage Birthsign has had its Magicka bonus increased from +50 to +125
Reasoning: A standard, safe choice for any character who wants to be a pure caster, even if they don't have 50 to 50+ Extra magicka as a starting line.

-The Apprentice Birthsign has had its Magicka bonus increased from 100 to 200, and its Magicka Weakness penalty has been reduced from 100% to 30%
Reasoning: The original amount of Weakness to Magicka on this Birthsign was absolutely crazy, especially when considering that it would probably be favored by squishy caster classes. 30% seems like a much more reasonable penalty, especially when compared with the improved Mage Birthsign. Caster Bretons and Orcs will feel much less pain from this, and Altmers will have their fairly minor weakness to most damage-dealing magic intensified to more dangerous but manageable level.

-The Atronach Birthsign has had it's Magicka bonus increased from 150 to 200
Reasoning: See above.



Final Thoughts:
Welp, here it is, my first Nexus Mod. I've made a list and checked it twice, but if I've slipped up anywhere please feel free to tell me (and use nice, small words so I can understand) and I'll fix it asap. Until then, I hope this mod improves your Oblivion Experience.