Spellblade adds:
- over 100 unique enchantments that evolve with mastery in enchanting and your other skills, becoming stronger and gaining new effects!

- a modular Aura System, that lets you cast Auras on yourself which give All of the Spellblade enchantments new abilities and can be swapped on the fly, making YOUR enchantments unique and matching YOUR playstyle!

- a crafting system to create these enchantments, giving you new goals to shoot for!

- OVER 22 unique artifact/legendary level enchantments that more than rival any other, including Evolving Armor Enchantments that grow as you complete certain "milestones" as a character!

- A hardcore post-endgame dungeon designed for characters above level 50, complete with an entrance that can serve as a player home if you choose!

- Well over 30 custom weapons and Armor sets, many Hi-Res, some with completely new models

- Many new spells and powers as rewards for those who brave the dungeon and come out alive! (With MANY more to come)

- The ability to combine or break down soul gems into higher/lower quality gems through crafting!

- Special artifacts which can be used as re-useable black soul gems! No more wishing you had more than one Black/Azura's Star!

- and much MUCH more!



1.2 is UP!

IMPORTANT: The entire dungeon has been Overhauled, meaning more and deadlier traps, changes to some of the layout and custom textures! As such, Remove all of your items (and yourself) from the Sanctuary before you update your file! A clean save/new game MAY be required due to the scope of the changes made, so if you have an issue even after doing the above, then that is my suggestion to fix the problem.

Truthfully, the changes are all in the main dungeon anyway, so playing through it again is more than worthwhile!

There will be no smaller update .esp download. There is far too much added to separate it.


Jlizard has continued his great work and created Add-on patches for 3jiou's successor to his excellent Dynamic Loot Mod: Xtended Loot. You can get the Add-ons right here!

It's a truly great mod and I use and highly recommend it! With the
Spellblade patch it will place the non-legendary enchantments into the
game world on weapons and items from your favorite mods!

Dynamic loot is no longer supported so I will not link to it here, and implore you to go get the new and improved Xtended Loot instead.






As always: if you enjoy the mod, please endorse! I always appreciate your support!

-Updates!-


Again, if you are updating from any version prior to v1.1, you need to download the full file. You cannot just update the .esp.



"What's New in v1.2?"

Well, a lot. Let's do this with bullets.

• All three floors of the main dungeon have been overhauled. 
  

Meaning:

• Stronger traps + more traps. A LOT more. Almost certainly an Instant death in many cases, for all but the heartiest adventurers.
• Added a lot of custom texture work to the dungeon
• Added some new meshes from Modders Resources
• Improved some old textures
• Many Redesigned Layouts
• Some doors changed to levers instead of keys
• Added a new optional area with 2 "mini"-bosses
• Changed location of Dominus, making it both easier and more difficult to access. Much easier to find now.
  

Secondly:

• Bosses have had their effects un-hidden in the UI, meaning that you can now see what effects their weapons hit you with. I tried to keep their lengths to a minimum so as not to make the compound descriptions too small to read, but it may still occur.
  

• Some Bosses have gained new attack effects, Dynamic ones that work in line with their theme.
  

• Dominus has been completely retooled to be more feasible (and Shadow Damage was too similar in effect), and works with the Major Auras now. It also changes bonuses based on whether or not you are using a one or two-handed weapon
  

• Fixed the Shadow Enchantments to properly display their effect discriptions.
  

All-in-all, the dungeon itself has been "Reborn" and deserves a new delving for those who have already traversed it, and new entrants will get to experience it in all of it's new glory!


So, for newcomers, Let me explain to you one of the most UNIQUE features of the mod:


The AURA System!


"But, what is it?"

Simply put, the Aura system is something i've added to all of the craftable weapon enchantments in my mod that allows them to have additional effects that you can change on the fly, making all craftable Spellblade enchantments modular. These extra effects are highly based on play styles and grant effects accordingly, falling into two categories:


Blade/Power (Main)
- Spellblade: Augments a traditional Spellblade playing style, enhancing spellcasting through various means.

- Shadowblade: Compliments a more aggressive yet cautious playstyle, typically using the power of enemies against themselves. Also can create "Shadow Arenas", bolstering certain attacks while the enemy is kept within.

- To come in later major updates: Soulblade, Ætherblade, etc.


Arcane/Cunning (Secondary)
- Arcane Swordsman (Counters, Cross-Counters and general disposal of 'gutter-trash')

- Arcane Tactician (Rewards efficent use of resources, mainly stamina)

- To come in later major updates: Arcane Executioner, Arcane Duelist , etc.

Only one of each may be active at a time and the advantage they grant is sizable, so you're going to have to earn them. The books to learn them can be crafted at any Crystal Anvil and the require Mystic Inkwells which will imbue a ruined book with the required magics to teach adventures these Auras/Stances



"But how do they work?"

Simply, you select the one you want on, and cast it on yourself (Also gaining a small buff in the process). If you have both Power Auras, casting Shadowblade, then Spellblade will overwrite Shadowblade, leaving you with Spellblade. Same with the Cunning Auras. The bookshelf in the Arcane Workshop has books that further lay out the effects that the Auras have and on which enchantments. While the aura is active, Crystal Anvil enchantments gain bonus abilities.



"So, do they work on the "Legendary" enchantments? (The Seven, SIN, Entropy, Order, Chaos, Dominus)"

No. Not yet. The weapons that those enchantments come on (Except for Order and Chaos) have received a boost: When using the weapons listed in their original form, their effects are more powerful and they do not require charges to use. You cannot replicate this effect, so you make the decision to disenchant them. There are ways to claim them again, however...



"Cool, is there a level requirement for these?"

Nope. Making an Inkwell involves Dragon Parts and Daedra Hearts (For now, look for this to change soon) so it is a substantial effort to make one. It takes 3 of these items to make one Tome for a Power Aura and 2 for a Cunning Aura



"So, you mean you added something new and I have to work for it again?"

I truly debated whether or not to give the materials to give a free Aura Tome, but I decided against it because, even though they are not locked from certain skill levels and are not broken in terms of power (far as I can tell), giving them to a player at lower levels would make the game MUCH easier. I do think i'll place an inkwell in a container in the workshop though with the first patch, making getting the first aura one easier.



Older Fixes (That remain posted to pre-emptively answer questions):

Fixed enchantments of the 'persistent' sub-type so that they don't default to using more than one charge. This is an unfortunate limitation of the game, but any enchantments that you learn and use will always use the effect cost of its magic effects. This only effects enchantments you create.

Fixed the 1-way doors in the workshops that lead back to the different floors of the dungeon. Now they will work properly, but in order to unlock them in the workshop, you need the key, conveniently placed next to them in a strongbox.


(As of Aug 28th, 2015)

Below is the original description, and the mod now holds much more enchantments than just listed here. I hope to update this soon, just know that it takes a bit less precedence to further improving the mod. If it is in larger type, then I have modified it.




The journey through Skyrim has been a long and arduous one for the Dragonborn. Eventually, a warrior of such power will find less difficulty in fighting his battle as he will finding one worthy of his skills. He will become accustomed to his way of fighting, finding little in the way of innovation.

The dungeon known as the 'Gauntlet of Sin' presents both a new challenge for the seasoned adventurer as well as a new avenue for enchanters of any level. The dungeon houses a workshop at it's entrance which is safe to use without battles spilling over into the area. You will still have to be truly exited from combat to use them, but no enemies will set foot into the Arcane Workshop. The main location has a map marker, but it is one that you must find on your own. The other entrances have no such convenience but with a little exploration should be easy enough to find. Ultimately, you must do what an adventurer does and adventure to find it on your own! To begin your search, a unique book can be found for sale at Belethor's in Whiterun which should will shed light on at least two, less remote locations from which you can access this dungeon. The book will also increase your skill in enchanting. (If you are so inclined and don't feel like wandering, check the picture gallery or the jpg in the file for the location of the main entrance.)



Levels in enchanting used to mean simply perks, more charges and just higher numbers on the same enchantments as before. In addition to this, all but a few of these enchantments automatically get bonuses and extra effects when you reach mastery (level 100) in Enchanting, making every enchantment unique and useful no matter how strong you become.
The list of bonuses these enchantments get is too long to list here but is available in-game in books which are on a shelf nearby the first Crystal Anvil you will encounter.

There are over 14 Legendary/Artifact level enchantments either held by The Seven themselves, or sealed and hidden within the dungeon. Each of these enchantments are powerful enough to turn any adventure's gear into powerful relics.

-Legendary Enchantments-
Weapons:
Lust: Desire
Lust: Passion
Envy
Sloth
Greed
Gluttony
Pride: Hubris
Pride: Vanity
SIN
Entropy
Dominus


Armor:
Will of Lust
Will of Envy
Will of Sloth
Will of Greed
Will of Gluttony
Will of Wrath
Will of Pride
Will of SIN



All of the enchantments this mod adds are learnable. In the case of the new enchantments made available within the prison of 'The Seven', your skill level in enchanting increases the amount of disenchantable shards you can create making the additional power granted by this mod available to even beginning adventurers.

To make the crafting list neater, the shard daggers themselves fall under different materials based on the level of enchanting needed to craft it. They do not require the ingot/ore of the category they fall under however. They also are unique to the Crystal Anvils are can only be created at one. Nothing from this mod will appear while using a normal forge/anvil.

(NOTE: This list is SEVERELY Outdated and there are significantly more enchantments (roughly 20~30 more) now compared to what are listed here!)

-9 Novice Level Enchantments (Steel)-
Smoldering
Frostbite
Static
Poison Damage
Persistent Flames
Persistent Frost
Persistent Shock
Persistent Poison
Persistent Venom

-10 Apprentice Level Enchantments (Dwarven)-
Leech Health
Leech Stamina
Leech Magicka
Persistent Absorb Health
Persistent Absorb Stamina
Persistent Absorb Magicka
Prolonged Smolder
Prolonged Frostbite
Prolonged Static
Prolonged Poison


-21 Adept Level Enchantments (Glass)-
Blightning
Tempest
Frostfire
Dual Mode Blightning
Dual Mode Tempest
Dual Mode Frostfire
Enduring Blightning
Enduring Tempest
Enduring Frostfire
Prolonged Leech Health
Prolonged Leech Stamina
Prolonged Leech Magicka
Lingering Smolder
Lingering Frostbite
Lingering Static
Lingering Poison
Freezing Soul Trap
Shocking Soul Trap
Venomous Soul Trap
Vampiric Soul Trap
Slowing Venom

-6 Expert Level enchantments (Ebony)-
Prolonged Blightning
Prolonged Tempest
Prolonged Frostfire
Lingering Leech Health
Lingering Leech Stamina
Lingering Leech Magicka

-6 Master Level enchantments (Daedric)-
Lingering Blightning
Lingering Tempest
Lingering Frostfire
Evolving Toxin
Order
Chaos

Yes, this means that you have to have the appropriate skill level in enchanting in order for these enchantments to appear on the crafting list.

Also within the dungeon are several other unique enchantments, held by minions of The Seven:

Lust: Consume Essence
Lust: Ignite Essence
Execute
Nemesis Venom
Apathy
Unarmed Mastery


There are also additional utilities available through this crafting system, such as combining soul gems of a lower quality into one of a higher quality and back down as well. Black soul gems can also be created at the anvil, with the recipes for everything readily available in the form of books in the beginning area.

The enchantments seek to help fill the void in options and diversity that players had through creating their own enchantments in Oblivion. There are also many new concepts such as: effects having a chance to occur, enchantments that have reduced effect but use no charges, enchantments that grow in power with the user even after they've been placed on the piece of equipment and enchantments that have additional/different effects on power attacks and normal attacks to name a few.

Within the dungeon are many new weapons, all with stats comparable to their Daedric counterparts. Some are modified and lose some power but gain increased attack speed and so on.



But it's not all fun and games. These legendary enchantments are not going to be simply given to you willingly. The Gauntlet of Sin is filled with powerful enemies, with minions starting at level 45 and with over 1000 health. Bosses range from levels 60-75+ and average well over 8000 health. All of them have unique abilities along with wielding their legendary enchanted weapons. Defeating Gatekeepers in the dungeon will allow you to craft any armors and weapons used by the underlings of that boss. After defeating the vassal (mid-boss) of the leader of the area, you will be able to craft any unique items that they wielded as well as in some cases learn unique powers. Upon defeating the boss of the area, they will drop their unique weapon, which will be able to be disenchanted to learn it's unique enchantment. You will also be able to create unenchanted versions of the weapon after defeating it's owner.

Be warned, the bosses in the dungeon were not made with easy progress in mind. The bosses are designed to present a true challenge for players who have already dominated all of the other challenges in the game.



The Gauntlet has claimed every adventurer thus far that has braved its halls and has a great deal of history, very little of which is laid out in the open for you. There are many sources of information within the dungeon but none of them are made obvious for you to find. Many things will have to be pieced together, if you choose to do so. There is no requirement for you to discover the mysteries of the dungeon to proceed forward, however, not only will you miss out on discovering the hidden secrets of the dungeon, you will likely miss some of it's most significant and powerful treasures.

There is a riddle book shedding some light on the secrets of the dungeon which can be found in the workshop at the entrance. The rest is up to you.





There is little to go by in both finding the dungeon and information made readily available to adventurers who make their way through the Gauntlet. More directly, there are many unforgiving traps that will end your adventure quickly. Tread carefully.




There should be zero problems with compatibility or conflicts. The only conflict you should run into is if you use my old mod, “Way of the Spellblade” alongside this one. It is unnecessary to do so as this mod already contains all of the content of Way of the Spellblade.




“Is this compatable with X?”

Read above. This mod is sequestered into it's own little hole, so it touches nothing. If something from my mod is seen outside of the dungeon without you putting it there, it is a another mod doing it.


"I thought you said every enchantment was learnable, what about <Insert item here>"

The bosses carry rings that hold their armor enchantments. They are weak rings and will give you the full enchantment after disenchanting them. There are 2 artifact level weapons (Dominus and Entropy) that you cannot disenchant initially, however, after you defeat Sin, you can create the shards that hold these enchantments, as well as un-enchanted versions of the weapons.


“But most of those enchantments look like they are the same thing over and over again!”

All of the enchantments (Except Boss enchants) gain new abilities once the user reaches 100 enchanting, AND react differently to Auras. The enchantments of different durations all have vastly different bonuses for reaching 100 in enchanting, making them all unique. This is doubly so if you use the Aura system. Many of these effects are completely unique to each spell, making each enchantment, unique, useful and relevant even after newer ones are learned.


“But I don't have <insert DLC here>!”

That's fine, this mod doesn't use any of it. Vanilla Skyrim is all that's needed to run this mod.


“Can you add your armor <insert name of a retexture work i've done>?”

The short answer is yes, but it is not highly likely any time soon.

The long answer is this mod already contains my Hi-Res Stone Dwarven armor featured in Tytanis' Mod as well as a darker variant of my Red and Black Dragon Plate featured in the same mod. There is also a variant of one of my Dragonscale armors, a Gray with flames. I already made my Black and Red with Flame Overlay that is in Deadly Dragons a stand-alone mod as well. I spent a long time getting these armors straight and it's annoying assigning full sets of armor.

So, eventually, but not right now. I am always open to requests though and if I get enough i'm likely to do it.


“When is the next version coming out?”

(Updated Aug 28th, 2015)
This Q&A answer is new, seeing I just released 1.2. I am still actively modding. I even fell off the face of the nexus for a month and about a week later: MAJOR update. It really depends on a few things:

• Real Life (which is mainly not that turblent for me, luckily)
• What games have come out recently (Metal Gear V, i'm looking at you, and Azura help us all when Fallout 4 drops)
• Modder's Block. I have over 5k hours in this mod in all of it's forms and it has mainly been a solo affair. Those hours are through the CK ( +falling asleep at the helm), Photoshop, Nifskope, etc. It's only reasonable that i'm going to get stuck sometimes.
  

"Spoon feed me, where do I go for <blank>?”

No. You're an adventurer, go adventure. I left some inconveniences in parts of the dungeon on purpose.


“<Boss name> is too hard! They're impossible to beat!”

No. There are hints if you look about enough. The great thing about this mod is in it's predecessor, Way of the Spellblade, people defeated every boss, so I know it's possible. Bear in mind though, that Envy is likely stronger in this then Pride was in the original. You don't even want to know what Sin's level is.


"Where are all the pictures of all of the Weapons and Armor?"

6 sets of the armor are shown on the main picture and some of the weapons are in that same picture as well. I uploaded a few pictures of weaponry, but this merely scratches the surface. I want players to have to explore and discover on their own.




-jlizard- for previously creating the Dynamic Loot patch for Spellblade and now the Xtended Loot Patch

-Issa 5- for helping me with the lore, boss and enchantment concepts.

-PrivateEye- for use of assets from his Heavy Weaponry mod as well as his BiPolar blade mod.

-ff7legend- for QA/beta-testing and listening to me rant.

-Mabius25- for hooking me up with people to help, pitching me ideas and helping keep me motivated.

-Oaristys & Tony67- For their modder's resource packs!

-RefurbMadness- For his Cherrywood and (rich) Mahogany Enchanting and Alchemy Tables!

-SolSeptem- For cleaning up the technical books and making them easier to read!

-zeralesaar- For writing some amazing lore!

-AoG- for listening to me rant and giving me ideas for some of the very first enchants I made, such as the very first iteration of Wrath, as well as some of the later ones, namely Dominus in its first form. Some genius dungeon ideas too.


And most of all:

-Members on the Nexus- Support from people asking about the mod, making suggestions and letting me know when there were bugs. Even just one person asking when I was going to finish drives me to work harder every time.