You are free to include this work, modified or not, in your work as long as you offer others the same freedom by including this statement in your work’s license without any modifications or restrictions.
File credits
Credits are detailed in the description.
Many thanks to ceejay2k2 for providing the ESF Companions patch for MA Many thanks to Munch Universe for helping and suggesting ideas throughout the Trevas Watch overhaul and the Thalmor Embassy tweak. Many thanks to Ogerboss for reviewing all entries and suggesting fixes and improvements. Many thanks to DragonChalice for playtesting the Forsworn and posting a YouTube video.
Many thanks to Axonis for making such excellent mods and sharing them with the Skyrim and Requiem modding community.
Donation Points system
This mod is opted-in to receive Donation Points
Changelogs
Version 3.65
8/25/2019:
Rebuilt to no longer need the Reqtificator for functionality to allow compatibility with pre-Reqtificator versions of Requiem.
USLEEP compatibility is built into the main mod file so that it doesn't require a separate USLEEP patch.
Forsworn no longer summon Dremora or Storm Atronachs.
Version 2.73
7/6/2019:
For Requiem 3.1.0
Fixes an infinite loop from DLC1DunRuunvaldVolk in RMA_VigilantLooks_Males when running the 3.1.0 Reqtificator. Thanks to Ogerboss for the detailed bug report.
Fixes a couple of AI settings in REQ_Conjuration_GhostlyTrollActor. Thanks to SUNNY333456 for the detailed bug report.
Version 2.72
3/31/2019:
Backed up and reimplemented deprecated Vigilant weapon records and leveled lists that were part of Minor Arcana and that were removed in recent versions of Requiem. Vigilants have weapon diversity again. This is also fixed in 2.69b for 2.0.X
Version 2.71
3/12/2019:
Fixed deprecated perk from Old Orc, thanks to Atardecer.
Fine tuned Healing Poultice records.
Fine tuned Forsworn damage resistance to be slightly less than before.
Removed Weapon Mastery 2 Perk, Weapon Mastery 1 Perk, Powerful Charge Perk, Flurry 1 Perk, Flurry 2 Perk, Storm of Steel Perk, as they are identical in function to Requiem 3.0.0.
Version 2.69
7/13/18:
Armor \ 00012E49 <ArmorIronCuirass>
- propagated Requiem.esp Object Bounds into Minor Arcana
Removed MA records duplicated by Requiem.esp:
Magic Effect \ 0007E5D2 <REQ_Effect_Conjuration_FlameThrall>
Magic Effect \ 0007E5D3 <REQ_Effect_Conjuration_FrostThrall>
Magic Effect \ 000CDECF <REQ_Effect_Conjuration_FlameThrall_Potent>
Magic Effect \ 000CDED0 <REQ_Effect_Conjuration_FrostThrall_Potent>
Thanks to rickard for the bug report.
Version 2.68
5/10/2018:
Removed the following Requiem or USLEEP 2.0.1 ITM record from MA:
Ammunition: Bound Arrow
Cell: 0001A69F DanicaPureSpringREF, 000E67D7 T03DanicaSceneMarker, 000E67D8 T03MauriceSceneMarker, 0001C606 P T03Maurice REF, 0001CB7F T03TempleEntranceTrigger, 000165A7 WhiterunTempleofKynareth, 0190000E GalmarCoffinREF, 00016786 WindhelmHalloftheDead, 0008228F Navigation Mesh, 00081DEC BrittleShinPass01, 0004DCDE Navigation Mesh
Conflict fix for dialog mods such as RDO:
Changed Dialog topics: 000BF20C and 0200E89A Subtypes to "Hello"
Updated several Editor IDs and Names of Magic Effect records to match Requiem 2.0.1 format
Thanks to MEsk90 for the recommendations.
Version 2.67
Changelog 4/29/2018:
Removed the following Requiem 2.0.1 deprecated record from MA:
Perk: Stabilized Binding
Thanks to ultskyreq for the bug report
Version 2.66
Changelog 4/26/2018:
Removed the following Requiem duplicate/deprecated records in MA:
Perks: Pyromancy, Cryomancy, Electromancy
NPC: Spirit Steed
Corrected < Error: Could not be resolved > bug in NPC: MudcrabGiant
Thanks to BelmontBoy for the error report
Version 2.65
snbcj Changelog 4/26/2018:
Corrected a bug in MA LeveledLists created by deleting ITMs. Those ITMs are now present in MA again, and the Reqtificator works again as intended.
Version 2.64
FollkenSama Changelog 2/13/2018:
-Forwarded the changes to Targe of the blooded for the effect to be applicable by followers. Made the bashing sound light to better reflect the fact that Minor Arcana makes it a light shield.
-Forwarded the arrow resistance perk to the Ancient Nord armor set
-Forwarded the Treasure Hunter's Note changes
-Forwarded the armor penetration perk from 2.0 to civil war actors
-Forwarded the Skooma dealer faction being friends with the bandit faction
-Forwarded the changes to the Conjure Atronachs magic effects
-Gave various unique NPCs the 15% armor pen perk from 2.0 and gave Irileth the 3x physical damage perk
-Forwarded the 25% armor pen perk for the cave and snow variants of bears from 2.0. That perk was already there in Minor Arcana for the regular bear but was missing for their cousins. Same thing for sabre cats and snowy sabre cats.
-Forwarded the bonus arrow resistance for Frost (which makes it the same as Shadowmere now)
-Removed a few perks that became ITMs to Requiem 2.0
-Removed a few spells (Mage armor, Conjure Atronachs) that became ITMs to Requiem 2.0
snbcj Changelog 4/26/2018:
Integrates the USLEEP patch into "Requiem - Minor Arcana.esp" so there's no longer a need for both .esp files in the load order, as Requiem 2.0.x requires all DLCs.
Requiem 2.0.x integrates/duplicates several records from Minor Arcana. The following ITMs or deprecated records are removed from MA:
- Duplicate Book: "Recipe: Cleansing" notes
- Duplicate/deprecated Cells: Placed Object in Helgen Keep (Requiem 2.0.1 has a more fleshed out Easter Egg in the identical location)
- Duplicate Faction Records: Bandits, Bears, Charus, Creature, Forsworn, Foxes, Predators, Prey, Sabre Cats, Skeevers, Spiders, Trolls, Wolves
- Duplicate Game Settings: fHUDCompassLocationMaxDist, iMapMarkerFadeStartDistance
- Duplicate Magic Effects: All Mage Armor records, Summon Spectral Archer, Summon Spirit Bear, Summon Spirit Mudcrab, Summon Spirit Sabrecat, Summon Spirit Troll, Summon Spectral Warrior, Summon Spirit Werewolf, Summon Ice Spirit, Summon Spectral Warhound
- Duplicate/deprecated NPC records: Ghostly Dragonpriest, Spectral Archer, Spectral Warrior, Ice Spirit, Taron Dreth, Frost/Flame/Storm Thralls
- Duplicate/deprecated Perks: Improved Healing, Fire/Frost/Lightning Mastery
- Duplicate Quests: All Treasure Hunter Objectives, Dead Treasure Hunter with Instructions
- Duplicate/deprecated Spells: Summon Spectral Warhound
Forwarded changes from Requiem 2.0.1 (not present in 1.9.4.1) to:
- Leveled Item: WE100LvlItemList
- NPCs: Spirit Bear/Mudcrab/Sabre Cat/Steed/Troll/Werewolf
- Corrected an error where the Magic Effect "Mage Shield (Rank III)" was incorrectly labeled
All MA Civil War, Vigilant, and Forsworn NPCs and records have been checked for compatibility with Requiem 2.0.1.
There were several records with the following kinds of missing data references: "[0302901D] < Error: Could not be resolved >" left in MA when used with Requiem 2.0.x as a Master, which could potentially be gamebreaking. All of those records should now be fixed.
Updates to R-MAR are listed in the expandable Changelogs tab above.
Though newer version of Requiem integrate some details from Requiem - Minor Arcana, if you want to experience more immersive Civil War NPCs, have more fleshed out Vigilants of Stendarr, or have Forsworn truly act like they worship the old gods, among many other improvements listed below, R-MAR makes all of that available for several versions of Requiem - The Oldschool Roleplaying Overhaul.
R-MAR integrates the USLEEP patch into "Requiem_Minor_Arcana.esp", as Requiem now requires all DLCs anyway. For this reason, you will not find -or need- "Requiem - Minor Arcana - USLEEP patch.esp" included in your download of R-MAR.
Below is the original Requiem - Minor Arcana description (with updates marked with an * ):
“What I’m getting here is a phenomenon called the killer campaign, something that even a GM with the best of intentions can precipitate if he is not careful and does not have a strong sense of the scope and spirit of the game. In this kind of activity the GM thinks nothing of putting unbeatable foes and insurmountable obstacles before the Player Characters at every turn. The result, of course, is that the PCs are killed or so severely incapacitated that they are no longer viable. But this is of no import to the “killer GM” or to the players who meekly or ignorantly tolerate his methods; after all, new PCs are a dime of a dozen aren’t then ?
No, they are not. The killer campaign basically defeats the principal reason for becoming involved in RPG activity for it eliminates the vehicle via which participants gain ongoing satisfaction -- their PCs which are created and which exist so that they can be developed and nurtured.”
-- Gary Gygax, Role Playing Mastery
I’ve made this mod to deal with annoyances in my Requiem-based game. These are usually vanilla problems but they become more pronounced in Requiem’s unforgiving world. Here’s an example of what I consider annoying:
You are a level 4 warrior and after helping some Companions defeat a giant outside of Whiterun, you’ve decided they are the right group for you to join. Vilkas tested your sword arm and said that you’re allright. It seems they have accepted you. Farkas leads you to the chamber of the whelps while giving you a warm welcome. “The rest are eager to meet you” he says, and then clears his throat: “By the way, if you’re looking for something to do, there’s trouble nearby. Vampires. Blood suckers. You need to kill every last one of them”.
This is obviously unacceptable from a role playing point of view, but in Requiem it’s also unacceptable from a game play point of view. The Companions would never send a newcomer to certain death and in Requiem this ~is~ certain death. Of course you can reload the game until you get a meaningful assignment, but these reloads, in my opinion, eventually kill the sense of “being there”.
True role playing games have been dealing with this problem in a much better way since the first AD&D adventure modules were published. Adding a minimum level requirement for difficult enemies in such Companion jobs prevents Farkas from sending a newcomer to clean up vampires, just as any dungeon master worth their salt would do. And this is the kind of stuff you’ll find here.
* If you are using Requiem - Immersive Divine Blessings (R-IDB), Behind the Curtain (if updated for the current version of Requiem), AZ Tweaks (when updated for the current version of Requiem), or any other mod that change Aedric blessings or conditions, set it after Minor Arcana in your load order so that you can retain the respective mods perspective on the Blessing of Talos.
Most of the quest-related changes will apply only if you install the mod before you start a new game.
* There is no longer a separate file required for USLEEP. USLEEP changes have been integrated directly into Requiem - Minor Arcana.esp.
For bug reports, please use the bugs section. I would prefer that you post any other type of comments at the dedicated Requiem subreddit which I like very much, but you can use the comments section here if you wish.
Unstoppable charge is really unstoppable. The perk now combines the original vanilla method with Requiem’s constraints, allowing players to perform a true unstoppable charge when sprinting with their shield raised. The effect starts when the first enemy is hit after 2 seconds of sprinting while blocking with a shield, and lasts for 7 seconds. During this time, non-gigantic enemies are hit by both Requiem’s Bullrush effect and also by the Unstoppable Charge system. After that, the effect goes through a cooldown period, during which only Requiem’s bullrush effect can be applied. The period is close to 1 hour game time but it has been designed to be non-cheatable and somewhat random, to deter bean-counting. A big advantage of this addition is that NPCs can now use shield charge and this is particularly important for Hadvar who is supposed to use this ability during the Helgen escape.
The Vigilants of Stendarr are now real daedra hunters instead of being daedra food. Using actor variations, tempered equipment and a perk-set that is well focused on their specialization, they can sometimes beat even the toughest daedra. They are not too effective against vampires though for lore-based compatibility with Dawnguard.
The Thalmor Embassy quest cannot be finished in the way it was designed in vanilla which is a major drawback for a quest so well set and performed by the voice actors. This is fixed and, while the sneak experience requirements are still high, the soldiers and especially Rulindil won’t automatically detect the player character. A game-based darkness mod, such as my Requiem - Realistic Darkness mod, is highly recommended for successful completion of this quest in a proper manner. Big thanks to Munch Universe for his help during the development and playtesting of this seemingly small but tough and important tweak!
Trevas Watch has been “reqtified” with all major actors receiving better AI, outfits and perks. The original owner won’t immediately try to storm the keep with his two surviving bodyguards and the quest activator has been relocated to prevent cheating which also breaks the quest. Brurid, the bandit boss, is edited according to relevant dialogue lines as a real battlemage instead of a random trickster. Beware!
Borgakh, Ghorbash, Uthgerd, Golldir, Illia and Aranea are updated with better AI, perks, stats and spells. These followers are really worth it, but they are not easy to get. For example, trying to convince Borgakh with “They’ll understand. Trust me.” is rather futile unless you have reached mastery in fast talk or you’re an an Orc yourself and possess some average speech skill. Another example is Uthgerd. She’s rather easy to beat in Requiem, but with Minor Arcana her pumped stats and perks will effectively prevent low level characters of doing so.
These followers will level with no limits, so you may choose to keep them throughout your entire player character’s game life. Aranea is also marriageable because I like her.
All Civil War related actors are updated with perks, tempered equipment, classes and combat styles to stop falling like flies. Those edits have been imported, and improved, from my Civil War Overhaul patch which has been playtested for more than a year. These aren’t just NPC edits, but a complete and comprehensive Civil War overhaul for Requiem.
Example 1: In a Civil War quest that involves Draugr crypt exploration, all faction archers are now equipped with silver arrows.
Example 2: In the beginning of the game, General Tulius is heard shouting: “Someone get the battlemages out here!”. A string of issues were causing those battlemages to never actually look or act like battlemages, despite Requiem presenting the concept with the dead battlemage next to Gunjar in the Helgen Keep entrance. All of these issues have been dealt with and you’ll now see real battlemages not only in Helgen but, occasionally, in Imperial patrols as well.
Example 3: Upon joining a faction, the player character will receive a high grade tempered outfit. Furthermore, all civil war soldiers, including the player once she joins up, make better use of their armor due to training, enjoying a bonus for any faction item they wear, as long as they are wearing their faction cuirass. For Stormcloaks, iron boots, gauntlets and basic shields are included in the bonus. Combined with the low level armor weight reductions, this additional protection should allow you to retain your beautifully designed faction armor as a viable option without sacrificing too much “roll-playing”.
Example 4: Ralof and Hadvar in Requiem have a modified outfit in order to survive Helgen and actively help the player. This is not necessary in Minor Arcana since they much stronger and therefore these outfits can be safely removed; they were not well received by lore-sensitive players who often requested them removed. I personally couldn't accept that Hadvar would receive orders from an Imperial Captain that looks as if she's lower rank, and even more, later in the game Hadvar is promoted to wear heavy imperial armor, but in Requiem that would like a demotion.
The Forsworn are overhauled to be the fearsome guerrillas everyone in the Reach is talking about. Trained to endure hardships while wearing only animal hides, they develop an intrinsic damage resistance and their magics are related to Hircine and the rest of “the old gods”. Better combat tactics, tempered equipment, improved perks and variable looks will make the Forsworn an enjoyable high level enemy. Just don’t try to confront them as you would a bandit. The Forsworn overhaul is also affecting the Cidhna Mine prisoners who no longer require extensive manual edits.
Introduced advanced SkyTEST animal AI behavior to make animals appear more realistic and fun. Animals now have schedules and walk/run around to search for food or return back to their nests to rest. This is real food searching. Rabbits for example will eat flower ingredients (hopefully you aren’t going to kill the poor bunnies for that!), while wolves will hunt rabbits for their meat. Only forms from the lightweight versions are used; if you want the full SkyTEST experience, you need to use the full SkyTEST mod instead.
The “Old Orc” is now a unique encounter. He’ll no longer respawn after you kill him, and his appearance and dialogue should convince you to leave him alone if you aren’t ready for the task. “Malacath has given me a vision of a glorious death” now makes sense.
The “Treasure Hunter” random encounter is overhauled with better treasure, fixed challenge and non-sticking notes which you can actually drop. No more iron daggers of embers guarded by ebony vampire lords!
The “Scavenger” and the “Thief” random encounters are improved with better perks and AI. Inexperienced adventurers should steer clear of scavengers’ loot and they should consider paying up to highwaymen. Scavengers are a nice example of how mostly basic perks and equipment can create a lethal enemy in Requiem, as long as the AI is tweaked to support them.
The “Necromancer duo” random encounter is set to run only after they have a good reason to do so. This is a particularly nasty encounter and although the player can simply choose to retreat, their movement package can cause them to get near towns which they can wipe out.
Purchasable horses are rebalanced. In Requiem, some horses are clearly better options than others. Minor Arcana increases health for all horses and modifies speed, carry weight, stamina, armor rating and arrow resistance according to their armors. As you can see, all purchasable horses have both strong and weak points:
The unarmored Whiterun horse for example, is very fast, can carry a lot of weight and gallop great distances but it’s only protected by its natural hard skin. The Solitude warhorse is outfitted with a heavy and tiresome ebony barding but it can withstand a lot of hits from normal weapons and arrows.
All potential follower Companions have been perked and properly outfitted according to their roles, their dialogue and Requiem changes. For example, Requiem imposes penalties which make heavy armor incompatible with two of Aela’s primary attributes. So, aside from giving her the right Evasion and Sneak perks, her armor needs to be modified. But I didn’t wish to modify Aela’s unique appearance, so I’ve changed her armor attributes instead. But then, Eorlund is supposed to be making a “new shield for Aela” and this couldn’t be a steel shield of course! It has to be changed to a light shield, yet good enough to have been made by the best blacksmith in Skyrim.
Altmer have been almost eliminated from bandit lists because they don’t fit for several lore-based reasons evident by the fact that they have no dialogue lines. At the same time, high level bandit tricksters can now cast basic spells. Not anything game changing, but still nice to see a boss trickster cast some icewinds or a firebolt.
Giant slaughterfish are modified to fix the flying fish glitch and fit their environment. In places where amphibious life seems to be thriving, there can be no predator that deals 10000000 damage and there’s plenty of literature to support escaping after being “swallowed whole”. And generally, in regards to those 10000000 damage points, the introductory Gary Gygax axiom has been proven true in any role playing game I have participated to.
Barbas is no longer the “Cheater’s Best Friend”. Not only is the quest modified to run later, but the following package of Barbas is modified so that he will only follow you in the wilderness or in quest related locations. So, if you move in an unrelated dungeon, Barbas will start walking back to Clavicus’ statue. Once you return outside, Barbas will resume his following package. Waiting for an hour will immediately get him back to you. You should seriously rethink your strategy if most of your game was relying on an invincible decoy.
Hired thugs will be sent after the player more often and only when the stealing is witnessed by the owner. An additional bonus from these edits is that you’ll be receiving comments from citizens more often when you’re rummaging through garbage barrels. Credits to mrjentipede and thanks!
Undiscovered locations on the compass don’t make sense, and quest pointers are seriously cluttering the compass. Thanks to Sensible Hardcore Compass, these are now removed. Quest pointers are still displayed on the map and the Clairvoyance spell is a great “organic” substitute if you need guidance for where to go.
The player-set pointer on the map and compass and the floating quest markers at the game screen are not affected by these changes and will show normally. For additional compass options, check out Sensible Hardcore Compass.
* If you don't want the aforementioned compass change, use the optional loose files provided on this mod page. After unzipping the loose files, delete the R-MAR loose file folder named "Interface", including its contents (a folder named "Exported", which contains a file named "hudmenu.gfx"). Drop the remaining loose file folders onto the same folder you keep R-MAR, and delete the archive file "Requiem_Minor_Arcana.bsa" (don't delete "Requiem_Minor_Arcana.esp").
Vampire dust no longers instakillls players characters with less than 350 hit points. It instead has a small chance to induce Sanguinare Vampiris which slowly drains health and negates natural healing and Restoration power. These effects stop once you become a vampire, but you can no longer wait or sleep for this to happen.
These changes practically lock away vampirism from low level characters. They have to find several piles of dust to get a good chance and even if they do, they won’t be able to afford all the healing potions required for the 3 day ordeal. Cleansing themselves by praying at a shrine or quaffing an appropriate potion should deal with the problem organically without killing them for having carelessly clicked on the wrong ingredient.
The same logic is applied to Daedra Hearts which no longer kill alchemists attempting to sample them. Thanks to vram1974 for pointing this out!
The Missing in Action quest is very well scripted and playacted, but it’s simply too difficult for new characters, especially in Requiem. So, instead of urging them to wipe out a Thalmor stronghold when they can’t, or forcing them to ignore the issue and let Fralia’s son keep getting “questioned” by the Thalmor, we can simply set the scene between Fralia and the Battleborns to run later. Both the scene and the note will now appear when the player character has joined a civil war faction which, in Requiem terms, means that they have reached a good level of experience.
Unarmed combat has been overhauled so that most one-handed perks also affect boxing. The Boxing perk is modified to drastically decrease stamina costs for unarmed and the Powerful Charge animation has been improved to support the punching. Once you get the perk, sprint towards some bandit and hit attack for some “happy slapping”:
As you can see from the table, unarmed is not meant to replace your weapons, but it’s still an OK substitute if you lose your main weapon or if you get low on stamina.
These modifications also affect Powerful Charge which is also fixed to become a bit more potent. I have also discovered that this leaping punch works even better (at least against trolls) with Pamposzek’s Weapon Range Fix, so let this be a public endorsement from a Requiem developer.
The weight of low level heavy armor items has been reduced to make them useful to low level characters. For example, an Iron Cuirass in Requiem/vanilla weights much more than a Stormcloak Cuirass, while offering almost the same protection. By reducing the weight of the former and rebalancing the latter, we can make both armors appealing to low level playing styles. The advanced and more massive sets will still be the right choices once the player has acquired high level heavy armor perks.
The tweak affects Stormcloak, Imperial, Iron, Banded and basic Steel sets and is particularly effective for shields which for some reason were heavier or as heavy as Dwarven and Orcish shields. Keep in mind however that it affects your enemies too, especially bandits. Some of them will be faster due to their armor being lighter.
Trap damage is reduced for many traps, mostly to prevent cheats where the player leads enemies through fallen boulders. Enemies are killed immediately because fallen boulders were set to cause a huge amount of damage on touch. The player is obviously smart enough to avoid running on them.
A few traps have become more dangerous. Beware of poison blooms, especially if you have low poison resistance.
Orc Shield and Weapons Match by Spartan VI For some reason the Orcish shield has much more green hues than the rest of the Orcish armor. This mod reduces the green hues so that the Orc shield matches the rest of the armor set.