WARNING, WORK IN PROGRESS

Rework of the vanilla Standing Stones to scale with the character, somehow.
Featuring all the standing stones. Debug and balance in progress.
This is my first mod, a training ground, what I wish to do is different from what I can do. And what I do and work properly is even more different. So many good ideas were discarded until I can make them work as intended.
The first releases will be quite similar to vanilla, but as my experience with the Creation Kit grows I will do something different and more funny. This means that this mod will change often and deeply. What a Stone is today can be totally changed in the next release (both effects and magnitude).
I am not at a major release yet. Most in-game messages are not rewritten (because the effects change very often; it is a waste of time until I debug them properly and the effects are fixed) and most stones may not work as intended. Debug will take time because the perks interact with almost everything.


Vanilla's standing stone are badly balanced. Too weak (Apprentice) or too strong (Atronach), fixed bonus (all). I want to change that to reward playstile, character growth and gameplay decisions.

There are many ways to achieve that.
The first is adding conditions to the spells/abilities.
The next is scaling with character skills or perks.
Last but not least, give early access to a powerful perk (like the Atronach stone did in Vanilla) but with some side effects.

Standing stones should not be only a bonus, just an aptitude.
So every bonus should be tempered by a (balanced) malus.
To make things more interesting I will change daily powers to at-will powers, but reducing their effects and adding conditions.
This way they can be used more often but only in specific circumstances.

You can read a lore book about the Constellations on UESP, or the Astronomy article.

What follow is a description of each stone with season, flavor text, vanilla effects, modded effects actually implemented, brainstorming area for future developments/theorycraft.

Check the Theorycraft article for updated effects and the reasoning behind them.


(no new scripts involved, yet)

[The Warrior]
Last Seed
The Warrior is the first Guardian Constellation and he protects his charges during their Seasons. The Warrior's own season is Last Seed when his Strength is needed for the harvest. His Charges are the Lady, the Steed, and the Lord. Those born under the sign of the Warrior are skilled with weapons of all kinds, but prone to short tempers.

[Vanilla]
Learn combat skills 20% faster

[Modded]
Mod Power Attack Damage: power attacks do 20% more damage
Mod Power Attack Stamina: power attacks cost 20% less stamina
Mod Spell Cost: spells cost 20% more magicka
Mod Spell Magnitude: 20% reduced spell magnitude
Mod Percent Blocked: parry 20% more damage
Mod Armor Weight: equipped armor weight 20% less
Mod Detection Movement: 50% easier to be spotted while moving (since the reduced armor weight is a sneak bonus, this malus should be bigger)


[The Lady]
Heartfire
The Lady is one of the Warrior's Charges and her Season is Heartfire. Those born under the sign of the Lady are kind and tolerant.

[Vanilla]
Regenerate Stamina 25% faster, Regenerate Health 25% faster

[Modded]
Regenerate 1 point of health per second for each missing 20% health but lose 1 point of stamina per second (min 0, max 4).
Regenerate 1 point of stamina per second for each missing 20% stamina but lose one point of magicka per second (min 0, max 4).



[The Steed]
Mid Year
The Steed is one of the Warrior's Charges, and her Season is Mid Year. Those born under the sign of the Steed are impatient and always hurrying from one place to another.

[Vanilla]
Wearing armor does not affect speed, Carry Weight +100, Equipped armor is weightless

[Modded]
Decrease armor weight, increase maximum carry weight, sprint don't cost stamina. The bonus are active only during sprinting, and only at health>=80%.


[The Lord]
First Seed
The Lord's Season is First Seed and he oversees all of Tamriel during the planting. Those born under the sign of the Lord are stronger and healthier than those born under other signs.

[Vanilla]
Armor Rating +50pts, Resist Magic 25%

[Modded]
Gain 40 points of Armor and 5% magic resistance for each missing 20% health (min 0/0%, max 160/20%)



[The Mage]
Rain’s Hand
The Mage is a Guardian Constellation whose Season is Rain's Hand when magicka was first used by men. His Charges are the Apprentice, the Golem, and the Ritual. Those born under the Mage have more magicka and talent for all kinds of spellcasting, but are often arrogant and absent-minded.
As the Dwemer didn't believe in magic, they knew this constellation as "The Mechanist" . This constellation contains the Planet Julianos, which is also called the Eye of the Sage.

[Vanilla]
Learn magic skills 20% faster

[Modded]
Increase spell cost, duration, range and magnitude by 20%.



[The Apprentice]
Sun’s Heigh
The Apprentice's Season is Sun's Height. Those born under the sign of the apprentice have a special affinity for magick of all kinds, but are more vulnerable to magick as well.

[Vanilla]
Regenerate Magicka +100%, Weakness to Magic +100%

[Modded]
regenerate 1 point of magicka per second and another one every missing 20% magicka
-20% magic resist and another -20% every every missing 20% magicka
Min: +1 magicka regeneration/s, -20% magic resist at magicka 100%
Max: +5 magicka regeneration/s, -100% magic resist at magicka <=20%
The regeneration is a fixed value and works even while concentrating or casting spells!


[The Atronach]
Sun’s Dusk
The Atronach (often called the Golem) is one of the Mage's Charges. Its season is Sun's Dusk. Those born under this sign are natural sorcerers with deep reserves of magicka, but they cannot generate magicka of their own.

[Vanilla]
Magicka +50pts, Spell Absorption 50%, Regenerate Magicka 50% slower

[Modded]
+50 magicka, -50% magicka regeneration, 10% spell Absorption; magicka degeneration and absorption grow with missing magicka
Min: +50 magicka, -50% magicka regeneration, 10% spell Absorption at magicka 100%
Max: +50 magicka, -250% magicka regeneration, 50% spell Absorption at magicka <=20%



[The Ritual]
Morning Star
The Ritual is one of the Mage's Charges and its Season is Morning Star. Those born under this sign have a variety of abilities depending on the aspects of the moons and the Divines.

[Vanilla]
Raise all dead to fight for you once a day for 200 seconds

[Modded]
You can summon one more creature, but the health of the caster is constantly drained by 50.



[The Thief]
Evening Star
The Thief is the last Guardian Constellation, and her Season is the darkest month of Evening Star. Her Charges are the Lover, the Shadow, and the Tower. Those born under the sign of the Thief are not typically thieves, though they take risks more often and only rarely come to harm. They will run out of luck eventually, however, and rarely live as long as those born under other signs.

[Vanilla]
Learn stealth skills 20% faster

[Modded]
Increase the gold and items found in chests (like the Golden Touch and Treasure Hunter perks)



[The Lover]
Sun’s Dawn
The Lover is one of the Thief's Charges and her season is Sun's Dawn. Those born under the sign of the Lover are graceful and passionate.

[Vanilla]
Learn all skills 15% faster

[Modded]
The usual +15% xp bonus but you cannot gain other xp bonus (rested, well rested, etc...).
If you have the blessing of Dibella (amulet, blessing or quest reward) you get another 15% bonus.
If you have the blessing of Mara (amulet, blessing or quest reward) you get another 15% bonus.
Spells and weapons do 35% less damage.



[The Shadow]
Second Seed
The Shadow's Season is Second Seed. The Shadow grants those born under her sign the ability to hide in shadows.

[Vanilla]
Become invisible for 60 seconds once a day

[Modded]
The power is at will. During the power the player gain 10% muffle for each 10 points in the sneak skill, but lose 10 carry weight. Start at +10%/-10 at sneaking <=10 and max at +100%/-100 at sneaking >=90 (but you already have 100% muffle with the silence perk).



[The Tower]
Frost Fall
The Tower is one of the Thief's Charges and its Season is Frostfall. Those born under the sign of the Tower have a knack for finding gold and can open locks of all kinds.

[Vanilla]
Unlock any Expert or lower level lock instead of picking it once a day

[Modded]
Lockpicks never break.



[The Serpent]
no season
The Serpent wanders about in the sky and has no Season, though its motions are predictable to a degree. No characteristics are common to all who are born under the sign of the Serpent. Those born under this sign are the most blessed and the most cursed.

[Vanilla]
Paralyze target for 5s and Damage Health of target 25pts

[Modded]
Lesser power (at will, a few seconds cooldown). Paralyze for 5 seconds, but deal no damage. Can be used only on targets out of combat.








I tried to write in the changelog what I created and what I changed; any mod that do the same thing to the same ID will overwrite mine or (or vice versa). I left the vanilla scripts untouched, if another mod change them there could be unexpected behaviour. For example during the first test I had the patch of Requiem still active, so I could not change from the Mage to the Warrior stone (because Requiem lock the groups). Depending on the load order it could still work, even if partially overwritten by another mod or partially overwriting another mod.


For those who like to see numbers and understand what they mean.

The magicka threshold depends on current magicka vs maximum magicka. They are:

T1: current magicka between 100% and 81% maximum magicka
T2: current magicka between 80% and 61% maximum magicka
T3: current magicka between 60% and 41% maximum magicka
T4: current magicka between 40% and 21% maximum magicka
T5: current magicka between 20% and 0% maximum magicka

Each tier stack with the previous (hopefully).


Use a new character, this mod can still mess your beloved alter ego.
Install and/or use Alternate Start - Live Another Life by Arthmoor (we don't want to spend half an hour in Helgen every time, are we?) and pick the "Camping in the Wood" or "Patron at an inn (Sleeping Giant Inn, Riverwood)".
Also install and/or use All Standing Stones Are Guardian Stones by icanisbeme, this way you will have access to all standing stones where there are normally only the three guardian stone.

To check the actor values of your character you can use:
STATUS by MannyGT int the MCM (you will need SkyUI too for it...)
SkyTweak by Grimy Bunyip (MCM menu here too)
Mfg Console by kapaer (open the console, usually `, and pick the player)

At last, install my mod and try it. Do some quests, level up, check thresholds, messages, effective bonus, strange behavior (like apples that heal 50 health). Remember, this mod could corrupt your character any time, don't use it on old save or at least do some backup.
If you upgrade the mod to a newer version you need to change stone before you can see the update effects, the game will not update it itself.

The most common bugs are:
* Descriptions not updated (stone message, active magic effects, spell/powers menu)
* Bonus magnitude different from what intended (check above to see the intended value)
* Bonus apply where they should not (like food empowered by spell magnitude)
* Bonus are permanent, they stay after the stone is removed