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About this mod
Rebalances the Mage Armor perk to work with non-torso armor, like helmets.
Includes Ordinator perks.
- Permissions and credits
This mod makes the Mage Armor perk apply as long as your torso slot is unarmored, so you can wear armors in your other slots and still gain the perk benefit.
There is a version for Ordinator, which also includes similar changes to the Robe of the Magi, Geomancer and Energy Shield perks. I made this for Ordinator originally and split the changes so non-Ordinator users have a version for the vanilla Mage Armor and armor spells.
Why use this? Is this balanced?
Debatable... but it's more balanced than vanilla.
Here's some arguments why:
So what changes?
Without this mod, if you use robes in your torso slot and ANY armored extras (notably Masque of Clavicus Vile, Dragon Priest masks) then you're in a lose-lose situation because the +armor from ebonyflesh WITHOUT Mage Armor is equivalent (at best) or worse than what you'll get from just wearing a chest armor, except now you don't gain most of the light/heavy armor perk bonuses. If you're using Ordinator, you don't get those 'no armor' mage perk bonuses either. You get nothing, just the armor value of the item and whatever enchantments it has.
With this mod, there's no reason to NOT use armored extras outside of your torso slot because you still get your perks. The ebonyflesh +armor bonus WITH Mage Armor is equivalent or better than a tempered chest armor. You won't get the Heavy/Light Armor perk bonuses obviously, but if you're using Ordinator you'll get its 'robes only' mage perks too, which boosts your damage and damage reduction.
Either a fully unarmored mage has to be stronger than a partially armored mage, or vice-versa, because it can't be both.
I made this mod because partially armored feels more balanced, especially on higher difficulties. Your mileage may vary.
In short:pick your poison balance your own game.
Technical specifics:
This works by changing the vanilla *flesh armor spells to look for the ClothingBody keyword criteria instead of the Light/HeavyArmor keywords, because this is where the conditionals for the Mage Armor perk are. The Mage Armor perk itself isn't actually edited at all.
If you're using the Ordinator version, it DOES change the conditionals in the aforementioned perks.
Troubleshooting / compatibility:
This will be incompatible with anything that changes the vanilla *flesh armor spells or the Ordinator perks.
Otherwise, the ClothingBody keyword should only apply to clothing items worn in the torso slot, so this check should work in virtually all cases as long as the items are tagged correctly.
Naked but Mage Armor bonus doesn't apply?
Wearing robes/clothes on torso but Mage Armor bonus doesn't apply?
Wearing armor on torso and Mage Armor still applies when it shouldn't?
Something else?
There is a version for Ordinator, which also includes similar changes to the Robe of the Magi, Geomancer and Energy Shield perks. I made this for Ordinator originally and split the changes so non-Ordinator users have a version for the vanilla Mage Armor and armor spells.
Why use this? Is this balanced?
Debatable... but it's more balanced than vanilla.
Here's some arguments why:
- you still need to spend those perk points in Alteration (which you probably wouldn't otherwise)
- it's still less effective than a full heavy/light armor user who hits armor cap and has extra defensive perks on top
- the glass cannon dichotomy doesn't exist in Skyrim, warriors can be just as damaging as mages so it's fairer if mages are tankier
- unique loot that isn't armor barely exists and when it does it's not stronger than the armored version
- if you can put robe enchantments on daedric armor then what are robes even for?
So what changes?
Without this mod, if you use robes in your torso slot and ANY armored extras (notably Masque of Clavicus Vile, Dragon Priest masks) then you're in a lose-lose situation because the +armor from ebonyflesh WITHOUT Mage Armor is equivalent (at best) or worse than what you'll get from just wearing a chest armor, except now you don't gain most of the light/heavy armor perk bonuses. If you're using Ordinator, you don't get those 'no armor' mage perk bonuses either. You get nothing, just the armor value of the item and whatever enchantments it has.
With this mod, there's no reason to NOT use armored extras outside of your torso slot because you still get your perks. The ebonyflesh +armor bonus WITH Mage Armor is equivalent or better than a tempered chest armor. You won't get the Heavy/Light Armor perk bonuses obviously, but if you're using Ordinator you'll get its 'robes only' mage perks too, which boosts your damage and damage reduction.
Either a fully unarmored mage has to be stronger than a partially armored mage, or vice-versa, because it can't be both.
I made this mod because partially armored feels more balanced, especially on higher difficulties. Your mileage may vary.
In short:
Technical specifics:
This works by changing the vanilla *flesh armor spells to look for the ClothingBody keyword criteria instead of the Light/HeavyArmor keywords, because this is where the conditionals for the Mage Armor perk are. The Mage Armor perk itself isn't actually edited at all.
If you're using the Ordinator version, it DOES change the conditionals in the aforementioned perks.
Troubleshooting / compatibility:
This will be incompatible with anything that changes the vanilla *flesh armor spells or the Ordinator perks.
Otherwise, the ClothingBody keyword should only apply to clothing items worn in the torso slot, so this check should work in virtually all cases as long as the items are tagged correctly.
Naked but Mage Armor bonus doesn't apply?
- This is by design. There is no ClothingBody keyword to look for, because you aren't wearing anything.
- If enough people decide they really need naked torso slot and working mage armor then I might change this, but otherwise it's consistent with how Ordinator's robe perks work, so I kept it.
Wearing robes/clothes on torso but Mage Armor bonus doesn't apply?
- The ClothingBody keyword is missing from the item. If this is a mod item, contact the mod author. If it's vanilla then consider using a mod that fixes these keywords (like USLEEP or WAFR).
- Alternatively, you have a mod loaded after this one that changes the vanilla *flesh spells or the altered perks in some way. Make your own patch, or load this after.
Wearing armor on torso and Mage Armor still applies when it shouldn't?
- You have an item incorrectly tagged with ClothingBody equipped somewhere in a different slot. This is probably jewelry or cloaks or some-such. Unequip everything but the torso armor until you figure out what item it is. This is almost certainly a mod item, contact the mod author. If it's vanilla then consider using a mod that fixes these keywords (like USLEEP or WAFR).
Something else?
- Leave a bug report.