This mod initially started because I found that the game itself had some problems for older players. It seemed incredibly easy to make money and have good equipment early on, leaving low level equipment to be unusable for anything other than roleplay purposes. There are a lot of ideas I've tried to implement into the game that I personally like, and I hope other people do as well. I apologize for not making different features in separate plugins, but this was my first mod I decided to make public. A brief, but also not complete rundown is as follows:

All NPCs have higher health, some have higher magic. These tweaks were based off of their class and level, balanced against the damage output of the player character. Some quest specific NPC's may have better gear. Creatures in game are also much stronger, making venturing into the world a scarier sensation, which I have done to remind myself of what it was like to play Morrowind when it came out. Being a child I was terrified of the game, and I hope to spread that terror a little bit. Each creature typically has a special ability, be it absorbing life, paralyzing, poisoning etc. Some basic creatures are faster as well. Many creatures in the game may have tweaked immunities and resistances.  strong to cold, poison, magic etc. as well as they may be weak to certain spells. This forces the player to try new options as a mage, in order to get the best results. Also it should be noted that some level lists have been tweaked so that harder enemies spawn at earlier levels.

With that being said, potions such as resistance potions have been buffed immensely. Resistance to disease potions now last for a veeeery long time, and have a boosted % effect and duration but cheaper price. Other resistance potions are likewise cheaper, and also weigh less, meaning it is more economic for an adventurer to carry them around when going into territories they may need them. (Note that resist poison potions last longer than other resist elemental spells). Rather than simply buying restore health, it becomes a job of the player to figure out what they should buy to prepare themselves for their adventures. This adds another level to the strategy players use to achieve their goals.

Armor in game has been reduced significantly in its durability. Only specific display models will have the old durability values. However, just as in real life, having good armor will make the player very hard to kill with physical attacks, and NPC's likewise will be hard to kill. The prices, durability and armor values have all been adjusted to make the lower tier armors more likely to be what you will have until you level up a bit. A fight between heavily armored opponents will lead to both of them destroying each others armor pieces from their blows to make damaging each other easier. I got this idea from kingdom come: deliverance. Likewise damage armor spells have an increased base cost.

Weapons I haven't adjusted much although I plan to in the future. For now they have realistic range values so that daggers are only good up close, spears at longer ranges etc.  

Cost of all services is increased, this includes training, travel and repair. All merchants have very high mercantile making characters without this skill rely more on performing quests. This gives the player a reason to actually do side quests for money rather than just make infinite money using the many ways in game of doing so. Creeper and mudcrab merchant no longer exist. Most NPC merchants have less gold as well.

Stat changes in game have been made to balance them better. Acrobatics no longer as powerful as before, this way athletics is a viable option as you can now level faster with it and run faster as well. A high acrobatics will still be helpful, but not leagues better than running. Sneak is now better as a skill, and levels up faster, as does security. Open spells are more costly and harder to perform, as is chameleon, charm etc.. This means that thieves will be a far more viable class, more focused on sneaking, making money from stealing, and running away from their fights just as much as they engage in them. Since security was only good for one thing, and so was sneak, whereas alteration, mysticism and illusion have so many good uses, I decided that thieves needed a buff. I suggest the MCP tweak on pickpocketing as well. alchemy also is now a skill that cannot be used to make money or fortify intelligence potions. Homebrew potions cannot be sold at all, and will have the utility of their effect. Other stat changes include higher block success chance, making non-two handed weapon tanks more viable and the skill level faster. 

Cell changes have been made to either fix some bugs or to reduce the amount of free weapons and armor there is to be found. This way the player might be more inclined to work for his equipment rather than simply steal it from a guard tower. One big cell change to mention would be Dagoth Ur's boss arena and his fight. Now he is a proper boss fight, you cant just levitate down and destroy the heart to kill him when he runs on the bridge. After the fight is over you will have to run back up and fight the weakened god. 

The main quest has been tweaked a bit. Now their are locked doors in Dagoth Ur that will need magic keys to open. These will be held by the Ash Vampires in his citadels. Some will have some Buoyant Armigers waiting there to help you take them down, making your assault on Dagoth Ur feel more like a series of raids than just a solo mission. I may expand this more in the future with some ashlanders and great house followers. For now expect the final fights to be more challenging to mirror how powerful the player is late game. The expansions will also reflect this. Prepare to get your butt kicked in that regard. The original game intended for the blight to spread across vvardenfell and actually wipe out cities. I didn't want to go that far, however, the longer the player ignores the main quest, the more ash creatures will spread to further regions than red mountain. They will be added to the leveled lists around the map to create this effect so it may not be compatable with all mods. Around 85 days into the game you should start seeing this effect. When Dagoth Ur is killed this effect will be reversed.

Race changes have been made, as well as changes to the star signs in game. They are very minor changes but they help balance the signs as well as races a bit better than the original. As an example now there are now there are no completely immune to frost nords, just very close to that. 

Since I wasnt certain if the patch for purists etc. would work properly with my mod, I tried to patch out any bug I found on the UESP. However im sure some remain. 

A minor change of note is that having moon sugar on you (or skooma) when getting service refusal will add some wanted level to the player.

As far as difficulty goes, this mod was designed for standard normal difficulty. If you adjust the slider high it will be a serious challenge, especially for non magic builds, as the slider doesn't effect magic damage.

This mod is not really worth it without the expansion delay mod so if you dont have that, the balance will not be proper. I'd also suggest graphic herbalism.This mod was meant to be a challenging version of the original game, and the balance will be broken if you play with mods like tamriel rebuilt etc. 

This mod should be played with Ashfall & Pursuit Enhanced if more difficulty is desired.




Note: This mod originally started as "Calebs Creatures".. I dont care to change the name. So I'll keep it as this.