Switchblade – unique perks for thieves and their daggers.   

This simple, immersive perk mod enables a new play style for back-alley knife fighters, robbers and pickpockets.

*** Updated main file highly recommended: fixes the vampire perk tree CTD bug, reduces the power of dagger attack damage perks, and adds more pickpocket chance bonuses to existing perks for closer alignment to vanilla. ***

Who is the Switchblade?   

A Switchblade is a rogue who has learned to fight on the streets.  She is stealthy when stealth is advantageous, but is equally vicious in open-air hand-to-hand combat.  In such situations, she fights dirty, fights hard, and uses superior dexterity to outwit army-trained oafs in steel suits.  She does not rely on heavy arms and armor, but merely on her daggers and experience.  The Switchblade is usually a villain, but doesn’t have to be: their lack of honor on the battlefield may not extend into all spheres of life.  Examples of the Switchblade are Karl Tanner from Game of Thrones and The Butcher from Gangs of New York.   

Overview   

Let’s face it: in vanilla Skyrim, daggers are rubbish: “What are you killing? Butterflies?”

To rectify this (and few other things) Switchblade introduces several new perks into Skyrim, and modifies others to make them more immersive and desirable.  With them, you will be able to hold your ground against dangerous foes, even if you like to spend most of your time thieving.  Pickpocketing, Lockpicking and Speechcraft levels will now directly impact your ability to fight with daggers and evade attacks.  You will therefore be able to develop a more rounded thief character, in the knowledge that you are bringing all of your experience along the Path of Shadow into play whenever you fight. Perks in the One-handed tree will no longer have any effect on daggers.  These fall along the Path of Might, and in that context they’re just inferior swords.  Their use will still level up One-handed, but the effects of this increase will be minimal.  Although many perks have not been modified, their names have been changed to make them more immersive.

(If you are playing a stealthy character, you will notice the Switchblade damage perks have the knock-on effect of making the vanilla Assassin's Blade perk wildly powerful; essentially an insta-kill effect. I am sticking to my guns on this one, because when you land a sneak attack with a dagger, as the killmove animation shows, you are slitting your opponent's throat- a wound from which few could recover!  Exploit or avoid this mechanic at your own discretion.)

Comments and suggestions welcome.   

Content    

All info below is for the UPDATED version of the mod. Unaltered vanilla perks are not listed.

   Lockpicking:   

Locksmith’s Apprentice – no requirements – Novice and Apprentice locks are much easier to pick. (XX0012C7)
Burglar – 20 Lockpicking - Pick locks without being noticed. (XX0012C9)
Green Eyes – 40 Lockpicking - Find more gold in chests. (XX0012CC)
Collector’s Mania – 60 Lockpicking - 50% greater chance of finding special treasure. (XX0012CD)
Seasoned Intruder – 50 Lockpicking - Adept and Expert locks are much easier to pick. (XX0012C8)
Nimble Twist – 60/80/100 Lockpicking - Add 20/40/60% of your lockpicking level to attack damage with daggers when wearing no gauntlets or gloves. (XX0012D3/XX001D98/XX001D99)
Arterial Strike – 70 Lockpicking - Attacks with daggers now apply extra bleeding damage. (XX0012D1)
Master Cracksman – 90 Lockpicking - Master locks are much easier to pick. (XX0012CB)
Nocturnal’s Hand – 100 Lockpicking – Your lockpicks never break. (XX0012CA)    

   Pickpocketing:   

Light Fingers – no requirements - Pickpocketing bonus of 25%. (XX0022FE)
Mugger’s Knife – 30 Pickpocketing - Add 30% of your pickpocket level to your attack damage with daggers. (XX002306)
Silent Hand – 40 Pickpocketing - Place poisons in others' pockets. Gain an additional 10% Pickpocketing bonus across all targets. (XX0022FD)
Incubus – 30 Pickpocketing – 30% Pickpocketing bonus if the target is asleep. (XX002302)
Cutpurse – 50 Pickpocketing - Pickpocketing gold and keys is 50% easier. (XX0022FF)
Deep Pockets – 50 Pickpocketing - Carrying capacity is increased by 100. (XX0022FC)
Ruthless Cutthroat – 70 Pickpocketing - Power attacks with daggers now cost 50% less stamina. (XX002307)
Slippery Silk – 60/80/100 Pickpocketing - 25/50/75% chance of avoiding all damage from a melee attack while wearing only unarmoured clothing: body, feet required; hands, head optional. Incompatible with mage armor effects, such as Stoneflesh. (XX002303/XX002304/XX002305)
Strip Bare – 90 Pickpocketing – Pickpocket equipped weapons and items. Gain an additional 30% Pickpocketing bonus across all targets. (XX002300)    

   Speechcraft:   

Flirtation – 30 Speechcraft - Obtain 10% better prices with the opposite sex. (XX00286A)
Junkmonger – 50 Speechcraft - Sell any type of item to any kind of merchant. (XX002301)
Thespian – 50 Speechcraft - Persuasion is 30% easier. Intimidations are twice as likely to succeed. (XX0012C6)
Sibilant Taunt – 70 Speechcraft – Attacks with daggers ignore 50% of armor. (XX0012C5)    

   Alchemy:   

Lingering Blight – 60 Alchemy – Poisons applied to daggers last a number of hits equal to 10% of your alchemy level.  Poisons applied to other weapons last two hits. (XX000D62)

Installation   

Download with Nexus Mods Manager (NMM) and activate, or download manually and drop the .esp file into your skyrim/data folder. It is possible to use this mod with an existing savegame, but if you already possessed perks on an altered tree you may have to manually replace them with the console.

Requires SKSE.

Uninstallation   

Deactivate and remove with NMM, or find the .esp file in your skyrim/data folder and delete it.