Thematic Loot
by Tiny Lampe

Requirements: Skyrim 1.9, Dawnguard, Dragonborn.

1. Motivation behind this mod
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Once I opened a dwemer chest. I was expecting to find something representative of the dwemer and its culture. Like, I don't know...dwemer weapons and armor? dwemer coins? Potions from millenia ago? Instead I got an iron sword, some gold coins and a freshly-baked potion like those you can find at Belathor's. WHAT THE...?!

Once I opened a falmer chest. I was expecting to find something representative of the falmer and its culture. Like, I don't know...poisonous ingredients? human remains? pieces of their tribal armors? Instead I got some gold coins, a health potion and a lockpick. A lockpick! WHAT THE...?!

Once I opened a mage chest. I was expecting to find something useful for rougue spellcasters. Like, I don't know...jewelry enchanted with fortify destruction or conjuration? scrolls? alchemy recipes? Instead I got some gold coins, a health potion, and an iron warhammer. An iron warhammer! What the...?!

I could continue but I'm sure you get the picture. In Skyrim, the loot you find in chests is very generic. It doesn't matter if you loot a dwemer chest or a draugr chest; you are very likely to find the exact same things. This bothered me. Shouldn't chests better represent the people that presumably filled them with items? I think so, and this is precisely what this mod attempts to do.


2. Short Description
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This mod changes the loot that can be found in certain chests. Chests owned by the Dwemer, the Falmer, mages, draugrs, vampires and giants are affected. The purpose behind the changes is to make each chest more representative of the individuals who filled it with items.


3. Exhaustive list of the changes
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Dwemer chests may ONLY contain: 1) dwemer weapons and armor, 2) Soul Gems, 3) Potions, 4) Scrolls, 5) Gems, ingots and dwemer coins.

Neat things about dwemer chests:

1. To increase the variety of dwemer weapons, dwemer staves (same model as the 'Spider Control Rod') and eastern dwemer weapons (modeled by Insanity Sorrow) were included.
2. Potion bottles are not vanilla and instead look like Morrowind potions (models by Insanity Sorrow). Plus, their contents have spoiled after so long and now can be used as poisons!
3. Small dwemer chests may only contain small weapons (one handed) and small armor pieces (gauntlets, boots and helmets).
4. Staves and scrolls always fall under the schools of conjuration (for soul trapping and banish daedra), alteration (flesh spells, paralysis) and restoration (healing).
5. 'Imperial luck' also allows you to find more dwemer coins.
6. Dwemer chests don't respawn since there is nobody to refill them (automatons are just guardians).

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Falmer chests may ONLY contain: 1) falmer weapons and armor, 2) poisonous ingredients, 3) soul gems, 4) ore, 5) spoils from surface raids (see below)

Neat things about falmer chests:

1. Surface raids give falmer the opportunity to obtain unusual gear. These includes weapons (only 1H, staves and bows because that's what they use), armor (only shields) and enchanted jewelry.

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Mage chests may ONLY contain: 1) atronach forge recipes, 2) alchemical recipes, 3) enchanted robes, 4) enchanted jewelry 5) enchanted daggers, 6) spell tomes, 7) staves, 8) scrolls, 9) soul gems, 10) potions and poisons

Neat things about mage chests:

1. All potions, poisons and enchantments cater to mage characters. Don't expect any fortify onehanded potions or fortify stamina enchantments.
2. Non-master scrolls have been added. You can now find scrolls of fire rune, of conjure ice atronach etc.

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Draugr chests may ONLY contain: 1)
draugr armor, 2) dragur, ebony and 'ancient weapons' (see below), 3) enchanted nordic amulets (see below), 4) soul gems, 5) gems and nordic coins

Neat things about draugr chests:

1. 'Ancient Weapons' are iron, steel and ebony weapons modeled by Insanity Sorrow. Their designs are inspired by weapons from previous TES games. Since nordic ruins are supposed to be old, finding weapons from previous eras could be possible. They are not craftable!
2. 'Nordic amulets' use existing vanilla models (see Gauldur Amulet for an example). Enchantments in those amulets cater to warriors (so don't expect any fortify conjuration!)
3. Enchanted versions of the draugr armor can now be found. The enchantments again cater to warrior types.
4. 'Nordic coins' not only replace vanilla gold coins in chests but also in urns and draugr bodies.
5. Draugr chests don't respawn since there is nobody to refill them.

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Vampire chests may ONLY contain: 1) one-handed swords and waraxes, 2) robes and light armor, 3) enchanted jewelry, 4) potions, 5) scrolls, staves and spell tomes, 6) gold, gems, and unenchanted jewelry.

Neat things about vampire chests:

1. Vampires in Skyrim only use one-handed swords and waraxes as melee weapons. Hence any other type was removed from their chests.
2. The vampire armor added by Dawnguard (together with its enchanted variants) can of course be found in vampire chests.
3. Vampires hate fire so any fire scrolls, staves, spell tomes and weapon enchantments have been excluded from their chests.
4. Vampries hate silver so any jewelry enchanted or otherwise that is made of silver has been removed from their chests.

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Giant chests may only contain: 1) animal pelts, 2) alchemical ingredients.

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4. And what about the probabilities?
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Above I described the items that can spawn in chests but, how likely are they to spawn? Will I receive so much loot after opening a couple of chests that I will need a carryig capacity of over 9000?

Answer: on average, you should receive less loot than in vanilla Skyrim. Also, loot should also be more varied even though my chests have clearly defined themes. This is because each chest includes many different leveled lists (the ones described above) but with very high probabilities of spawning no item (75-85%).


5. Installation and uninstallation
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No scripts so it's save to install and uninstall at any point. Do consider that if you install it midgame only the dungeons you have not visited yet will receive my changes. The others will eventually receive them too, but only after the cell resets (31 game days).

To install copy the meshes and texture folders together with the .esp file inside your data folder. Then active the mod. Remove the files to uninstall.


6. Credits
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Insanity Sorrow for granting me permission to use their excellent models. Dwemer and draugr chests would be so much more bland without them. List of Insanity's mod that were used in this project:

'Lore Weapon Expansion' http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/44179/?
'Insanitys Dwemer Coin' http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/33812/?
'Insanitys Celtic Coin' http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/15513/?
'Insanitys Morrowind Potions' http://tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/files/file/1400-insanitys-morrowind-potions/