Shields of Light

Short Description:
This mod adds a number of shields to the game with special capabilities. Among other things, most of them have the ability to shine light when needed, hence the name of the mod.
More importantly than simply shining light some of the shield have special powers which enables a particular type of game-play or character concept.

Framework for the mod:

For a long time I've wanted to have shields in the game where I could simply hold Block to make my shield emit light. It's the ultimate dungeon delver's shield. No more fiddling with a torch in the darkness or being forced to cast a long duration Light spell when you're trying to sneak up on enemies and need the light to go away. Just a quick beam of light so I can see where I'm going and then I can proceed to sneak along the corridor.
That's where this mod started but wait there is more.

With the help from 2 modders (RomanR and Pellape of the Nexus Forums) I finally got my shields working how I wanted it. In fact a great deal better than I had imagined. And when I say I got help I mean, RomanR created from scratch all the scripts used in this mod, since I can't script my way out of a wet paper bag. Needles to say I'm extremely grateful for the scripts.

After some testing, I realized that effects other than just Light could have some rather excellent uses and I've ended up with 11 special shields apart from the much of simpler Light emitting shields.


Three tiers of shields:

The simplest shields can only do one thing: Shine light. However they are very cheap and can be purchased by a complete beginner at dungeon delving. They are not enchanted and since they have scripts attached to them they also cannot be enchanted later on since that would strip the script from the shield.
They shine light by pressing the ight mouse button (RMB) and note that you do not need to have your weapon unsheathed to activate the light. The light will last for 3 seconds after pressing RMB, which means that when fighting in a dark cave the light won't go out every time you take a swing with your weapon.

The next tier of shields are enchanted versions of the simple Shields of Light. These shields all come enchanted with 15 points of Shield and 30 points of Feather effects, which makes them way more viable as you level up. With these you don't miss out on the enchantment slot and Shield and Feather effects are always going to be useful.

They have two magnitudes of Light as well: Soft light for most of the time and exploration light when the caves open up and you need to be able to see further.
By holding RMB the shield shine extra Light for as long as you hold RMB. After letting go of RMB the light switches to soft light which stays until you unequip your shield or sheath your weapon. The delayed Light effect lasts for 5 seconds instead of 3 with the tier 2 shields.

The third tier shields are much more interesting and powerful and all have different abilities. Most of them have the same dual light magnitude as the enchanted Shields of Light apart from their unique abilities.
Note that to activate the special ability for some of the shields you have to hold block and for other it is enough to tap RMB without even having a weapon unsheathed. Check your Active Effects tab to see when the special abilities are active.
Rather than writing out every ability of each shield here and spoil it for those who like me prefer finding out for my self, I have provided a spoiler document in the download named "Shields of Light Spoilers" which describes it all.

There is however some in-game information available that you can obtain by buying the book Shields of Light from Phintias at the First Edition in the Imperial City. The book will provide the background lore for the Shields of Light and will give additional information on at which level each of the 11 special shields can be bought and where they are located. You will most likely not get access to the third tier shields without the directions in the book.

In the Image section, for each shield type the one on the left is what the tier 1 & 2 looks like and the one on the right is what the unique tier 3 look like.


Where to purchase the shields:

The first two tiers of Shield of Light were produced in fairly high amounts and can be purchased from the local smith in each city.
Bravil being the exception here since it doesn't have a real smith. Visit instead Tadrose Helas of the Bravil Fighters Guild.
These shield are leveled and parallels the level requirement of vanilla Oblivion. Here are the levels they become available for purchase:

Iron - Level 1
Steel - Level 3
Chainmail, Dwarven - Level 6
Mithril, Orcish - Level 10
Elven, Ebony - Level 15
Glass, Daedric - Level 20

The third tier shields are unique and has to be bought from the current owners. These wealthy and important people, many of noble birth, have no time to be idling all of the day away, so you'll only have a brief window of time to meet with them which is for all of them between 2 pm and 5 pm.
Refer to the book Shields of Light for more information on the shield owners and their whereabouts.

To reduce the hassle for the player of having to track down each shield owner though rumors and such I finally decided on just flat out providing the information in the book. It isn't the most immersive way of obtaining this information but I find this method the most agreeable compromise between immersion and reducing hassle. This extra information is presented in [brackets] in the book.
Also note that 2 of the shield owners own more than 1 shield.

Lastly, one of the 3rd tier Shields called Shield of Forbiddance was a failed experiment. The two Nord brothers who crafted it made a mistake and almost didn't sell the shield because of its treacherous magic. They eventually sold it to an unknown person and went tight-lipped when the topic arose. It is also known among some as The Cursed Shield.
This shield is overpowered so I had to make give it drawbacks.  The only information about this shield in the book is the [bracketed] level requirement and location info.


Version 1.1:
- In the spoiler document I had accidentally only shown the half of the Abilities & Enchantments. This has been corrected.
- I realized that many enchanted shields have formidable defensive Enchantments on them which makes some of the highest tier of my Shields of Light look a bit weak, therefore I have buffed them with a Shield +10 and Magic Resist +10.
- New unique icons for all shields.
- Additional information added to the book (such as if the shield is Light or Heavy Armor). 
- I really like the look of the Shield of the Traveler so I have added a non-enchanted version of it for those who also like and want to enchant it themselves. There is a 15% chance it will be available from any of the smiths/merchants who sells the Shield of Light.

Version 1.2:
- I found that at higher levels the smiths ends up with quite a few Shields of Light which clutters up their inventory. I've changed it so there are a lot less shields available. The ones available now are both levelled and randomized so that you can always get the highest level type of shield while also being able to still acquire the shields from lower levels.
- Hid some secret doors that weren't meant to be seen.
- Only for loot version: Increased chance to find the shields in loot. They can now be found from level 1 but up till level 13 they are levelled. From level 14 and onwards the shields are more randomized.


Recommended mods:
One of the rather silly things in the vanilla game is that you can sneak up on someone with a torch out or Light effect if they don't have line of site of you. I've been using the 2 mods below at different times to fix this oddity and they are both good. Use only one.
Greed Vision (AoG) by lubronbrons -> https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/48244
Sneak Penalties by Phitt -> https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/35792


Known bug and workaround:
During my testing I would swap between different shield and not wait for the Light effect to wear off and sometimes the Light effect would stop working.
Easily avoided though; wait for the Light effect to wear off before swapping to a different Shield of Light.


Credits:
RomanR (all scripts used in this mod). Without RomanR's help this mod would not exist.
Pellape (ideas and input)
metz/Gervas for a few of the shields from Magic Shields mod resource. Free to use with credits.
jordin for his Hide shield mod. Free to use.
Background image from www.freepik.com. Free to use with attribution:
<a href="https://www.freepik.com/vectors/abstract">Abstract vector created by 0melapics - www.freepik.com</a>


Enjoy!