Hi KaptainCnucklz, thank you for this mod. :) Do I need the original and this ESP both active? If I am using the Oblivion Character Overhaul version 2 patch here, does this patch go after your install AND the original by Dahyka?
Yes, you'll need both ESPs. As for load order of the OCO2 patch, it shouldn't matter, since it's for the race records and I only edited the records of spells and birthsigns.
Please excuse my ignorance but how are these tweaks implemented? Are they some behind the scenes changes that cant be viewed in-game (like in the magic active effects page for example)? Are they supposed to be a once a day spell you can cast?.. I had this enabled when starting a new game but I dont know if its working or not/if its active. I can see in character sheet that atronach sign gives me 200 (not 150) bonus magic, the same spell absorption, and not seeing anything to indicate the bonus endurance
The explanations and bonuses doesn't add up, like Steed says 15 speed and athletcis, but it gives 10 speed and 20 athletics etc... Checked with tes4edit and they are like that in your esp. What gives? o.0
Yes, a lot of what's in the mod's description doesn't accurately change what actually happens in-game. I had to go into TES4Edit and manually change multiple values myself.
If you can list me all the specifics, I can probably go through and fix the description's inconsistencies for you guys. I haven't messed with this file in a long time so I don't remember what parts of the description I forgot to update.
Thank you for this mod! I was looking for a good race/birthsign mod, and Dahyka's came closest, but there were still a bunch of changes I disliked, and then I saw that your mod fixed almost all of them.
A few suggestions: - Can you fix some of the minor grammar issues in Dahyka's original? The 'Birthsigns' seems to have a number of lower-case 'magicka' and 'fatigue' etc. that should all be capitalized. Likewise for any attributes and skills. EDIT: I also noticed a number of semi-colons still remain in the text description.
- I really appreciate your change to Bretons, so at least they have more magic resistance than Orcs. However, my impression from the Lore is that Orcs actually don't have much magic resistance at all, that their strength is physical resilience instead. Would you consider changing the Orc racial bonus to something like 15% (or 25%) resist normal weapons instead? Possibly with a small flat increase to HP, so their maximum health caps out at higher than every other race's even if you reach 100 Endurance.
- I love Dahyka's original change for the Imperial 'Voice of the Emperor' to turn it into a lesser power -- despite their name, greater powers are borderline useless. However, I do agree with one of the comments on that mod, that an infinitely reusable +30 Charm is more than a little OP. Would you consider a small change keeping it as a lesser power but decreasing it to +20 Charm -- still significant, still reusable, but a bit less overwhelming?
EDIT: one other suggestion. Would you consider adding the actual details of the bonuses to the in-game description when you're choosing a race? This is the default entry for Altmer/High Elf:
Natives of the civilized, cosmopolitan province of Cyrodiil, they have proved to be shrewd diplomats and traders. They are skilled with heavy armor and in the social skills and tend to favor the warrior classes.
An entry like this would be a lot more helpful when picking a new character's race:
?Natives of the civilized, cosmopolitan province of Cyrodiil, they have a higher Personality (+10) along with more Fatigue and Health (+25 each) than other races. Imperials are also shrewd diplomats and traders, to a 'Voice of the Emperor' lesser power that gives +30 Charm for 30 seconds.
I was hesitant to use the original mod because of some of the changes but your tweaks balance out the parts of it I didn't like. Nice job. I don't know if it's needed but Bash Tags could prevent the original mod from overwriting this one when using a Bashed Patch.
Mage & Atronach: Give +15 INT to Atronach and give +15 Will to Mage. As it stands, Willpower is worthless to Atronach since they can't magicka regen anyways unless they really need that extra fatigue (or was the nerf that it gets extra fatigue instead of even more magicka?)
Lover: Personality is a waste. I would personally say it should have the Lover's Kiss back. Then it would make the birthsign versatile. If the reason was because it was either overpowered to you or because it's a greater spell, a lesser charm spell would do. For personality, every 4 gives +1 in disposition so +15 is only giving +3.
Warrior: I don't play this birthsign often but +40 HP is a nerf compared to +10 END. Was that intended? Now, if you want to go deeper, there is a way to specifically buff the ATK of a weapon instead of STR which would make the ability good for late-game as well (and would give the warrior class a needed boost if you add silence). If you have Oblivion Magic Extender mod, just duplicate something like Fortify Strength in Magic Effects and replace Strength with Attack Bonus. In my honest opinion, this is what the warrior birthsign needs since fortify STR does nothing more once its 100+ except higher carry weight.
I think Lady Birthsign should be added to the list.
Races: They all seem fine to me. Hurts my bretonian soul to see the Bretons nerfed, but I understand why people think they should. I always thought the apprentice's +100% weakness was too detrimental, but they probably did it solely because of Bretons lol (though that didn't stop them from creating the Mundane Ring so idk what they were thinking).
Good. Although the menu remains the damage to the enemy's speed, not his magic. But for me it's even better.It is difficult to imagine poison acting on magic. And the rest of the changes seemed to be made for me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Should be fixed in v1.1 along with other description tweaks and rebalancing. See the description for more info. I may or may not remember everything I've changed in this update, so grain of salt with my changelog, but the description has all the current changes from Dahyka's original.
20 comments
Do I need the original and this ESP both active?
If I am using the Oblivion Character Overhaul version 2 patch here, does this patch go after your install AND the original by Dahyka?
A few suggestions:
- Can you fix some of the minor grammar issues in Dahyka's original? The 'Birthsigns' seems to have a number of lower-case 'magicka' and 'fatigue' etc. that should all be capitalized. Likewise for any attributes and skills. EDIT: I also noticed a number of semi-colons still remain in the text description.
- I really appreciate your change to Bretons, so at least they have more magic resistance than Orcs. However, my impression from the Lore is that Orcs actually don't have much magic resistance at all, that their strength is physical resilience instead. Would you consider changing the Orc racial bonus to something like 15% (or 25%) resist normal weapons instead? Possibly with a small flat increase to HP, so their maximum health caps out at higher than every other race's even if you reach 100 Endurance.
- I love Dahyka's original change for the Imperial 'Voice of the Emperor' to turn it into a lesser power -- despite their name, greater powers are borderline useless. However, I do agree with one of the comments on that mod, that an infinitely reusable +30 Charm is more than a little OP. Would you consider a small change keeping it as a lesser power but decreasing it to +20 Charm -- still significant, still reusable, but a bit less overwhelming?
EDIT: one other suggestion. Would you consider adding the actual details of the bonuses to the in-game description when you're choosing a race? This is the default entry for Altmer/High Elf:
An entry like this would be a lot more helpful when picking a new character's race:
Lover: Personality is a waste. I would personally say it should have the Lover's Kiss back. Then it would make the birthsign versatile. If the reason was because it was either overpowered to you or because it's a greater spell, a lesser charm spell would do. For personality, every 4 gives +1 in disposition so +15 is only giving +3.
Warrior: I don't play this birthsign often but +40 HP is a nerf compared to +10 END. Was that intended?
Now, if you want to go deeper, there is a way to specifically buff the ATK of a weapon instead of STR which would make the ability good for late-game as well (and would give the warrior class a needed boost if you add silence). If you have Oblivion Magic Extender mod, just duplicate something like Fortify Strength in Magic Effects and replace Strength with Attack Bonus. In my honest opinion, this is what the warrior birthsign needs since fortify STR does nothing more once its 100+ except higher carry weight.
I think Lady Birthsign should be added to the list.
Races: They all seem fine to me. Hurts my bretonian soul to see the Bretons nerfed, but I understand why people think they should. I always thought the apprentice's +100% weakness was too detrimental, but they probably did it solely because of Bretons lol (though that didn't stop them from creating the Mundane Ring so idk what they were thinking).