About this mod
A race overhaul mod inspired by other race overhauls while making each race unique in how they play and feel in a lore-friendly way.
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
Formerly called "Races of the Elder Scrolls," this is a race overhaul mod I made to try my hand at making a bigger mod and thought to share with others whom might be interested. I always found myself making tweaks to height, unarmed damage and carry weight within different race mods to enhance them being more diverse. I also liked a lot of passives from different race mods and wanted some effects from past games, so I made all those changes in one mod. These are all personal changes inspired by older Elder Scrolls games and by other race mods like Aetherius, Morningstar, Phylogeny, and Ekoataly. This was also inspired by Classic Classes and Birthsigns (Reimagined) as I use some of the used and unused abilities from that mod for the races. NPCs will benefit from these racial passives too through Spell Perk Item Distributor if you use that. These are all the changes I made:
Skill Bonuses
Each race will have a +10 in their major skill and +5 in their 5 minor skills like vanilla skyrim. Some of the skill bonuses for races are inspired by the mods mentioned as well as my own personal tastes. Each race increases their major skill 10% faster and minor skills 5% faster via a Talent ability that will be talked about further down below in the abilities section.
Carry weight
Carry weights now makes it matter which race you play when it comes to being a hoarder. No way a little Bosmer man should be able to carry as many burdens as strong Nord women like Lydia and Olfina Gray-Mane. There are plenty of mods that add things to boost carry weight anyway so carry weight will be a little less out of control when using those mods depending on your race.
Unarmed Damage
The different damage values will now give a different feel when it comes to unarmed damage between different races. Now it will makes sense why Njada Stonearm always beats Athis in that fight when you enter Jorrvaskr for the first time. That Orc who wants to sell you Skooma might be a problem now. Good luck being a Bosmer trying to scrap with Uthgerd in the beginning of the game.
Abilities
Each race will have a total of 3 passives, them being 2 active passives and a Talent ability. Each race's Talent ability will make their starting skill bonuses level faster than normal to show that race really has a natural talent for those skills. This way for those who "legendary" those certain skills, will always re-level them faster than normal due to naturally having a talent in those skills. The only power that remain is the Khajiit's Night Eye power. The other 2 passives will include about 2 to 3 different effects that are hidden from the active effects menu.
Design Notes
If you want to get some insight and idea as to why I made the changes that I made, check out my design notes here.
Races
Altmer (High Elves)
Major Skill (+10): Illusion
Minor Skills (+5): Alchemy, Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Enchanting
Carry Weight: 150
Unarmed Damage: 4
Abilities
• Altmer Talent: Illusion increases 10% faster. Alchemy, Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, and Enchanting increases 5% faster.
• Aldmeri Attunement: Altmer are born with 75% faster magicka regen and the enchantments on armor and weapons are 10% more stronger. But they are 25% weaker to magic.
• Highborn: Your Highborn blood gifts you with 75 extra magicka and a 50% resistance to disease.
Argonian (Saxhleel)
Major Skill (+10): Alchemy
Minor Skills (+5): Alteration, Illusion, Lockpicking, One-Handed, Sneak
Carry Weight: 200
Unarmed Damage: 10
Abilities
• Argonian Talent: Alchemy increases 10% faster. Alteration, Illusion, Lockpicking, One-Handed, and Sneak increases 5% faster.
• Histskin: Your connection to the Hist grants you 50% faster health regen and makes potion effects last 25% longer.
• Saxhleel Folk: Argonians are naturally 75% resistant to poison and 50% resistant to disease. They can also breathe underwater and swim 100% faster.
Bosmer (Wood Elves)
Major Skill (+10): Archery
Minor Skills (+5): Alchemy, Alteration, Light Armor, Pickpocket, Sneak
Carry Weight: 150
Unarmed Damage: 4
Abilities
• Bosmer Talent: Archery increases 10% faster. Alchemy, Alteration, Light Armor, Pickpocket, and Sneak increases 5% faster.
• Boiche Folk: Bosmer are naturally 50% resistant to disease and take 50% less fall damage. They also move 10% faster.
• Predator: Your predator nature makes you 25% resistant to animal damage and helps you fire a bow 20% faster.
Breton (Manmer)
Major Skill (+10): Conjuration
Minor Skills (+5): Alchemy, Alteration, Illusion, Restoration, Speech
Carry Weight: 175
Unarmed Damage: 5
Abilities
• Breton Talent: Conjuration increases 10% faster. Alchemy, Alteration, Illusion, Restoration, and Speech increases 5% faster.
• Dragonskin: Your Manmer blood grants you 25% resistance to magic and a 25% chance to absorb spells when magicka is below 25%.
• Communing Manmer: Bretons are born with 25 extra magicka and have a 50% bonus duration to summoned and reanimated beings.
*Applies to Afflicted NPC's too since they are all Bretons.*
Dunmer (Dark Elves)
Major Skill (+10): Destruction
Minor Skills (+5): Archery, Conjuration, Illusion, Light Armor, One-Handed
Carry Weight: 200
Unarmed Damage: 5
Abilities
• Dunmer Talent: Destruction increases 10% faster. Archery, Conjuration, Illusion, Light Armor, and One-Handed increases 5% faster.
• Ancestor's Wrath: Your Ancestors empower you with 25% faster magicka regen and 10% more damage dealt with destruction spells.
• Ashlander's Guardian: Dunmer are naturally 50% resistant to fire and have a 5% chance to avoid incoming melee damage.
Imperial (Cyrodiils)
Major Skill (+10): Speech
Minor Skills (+5): Block, Enchanting, Heavy Armor, One-Handed, Restoration
Carry Weight: 200
Unarmed Damage: 6
Abilities
• Imperial Talent: Speech increases 10% faster. Block, Enchanting, Heavy Armor, One-Handed, and Restoration increases 5% faster.
• Cyrodilic Star: Imperials naturally block 10% more damage and have a 5% chance to land a critical hit.
• Voice of the Emperor: Your Cyrodilic charm makes bartering 15% better and your illusion spells 10% more effective.
Khajiit (Cathay)
Major Skill (+10): Sneak
Minor Skills (+5): Light Armor, Lockpicking, One-Handed, Pickpocket, Speech
Carry Weight: 175
Unarmed Damage: 15
Abilities
• Khajiit Talent: Sneak increases 10% faster. Light Armor, Lockpicking, One-Handed, Pickpocket, and Speech increases 5% faster.
• Cathay Breed: Cathay Khajiits take 75% less fall damage and move 50% more quietly.
• Lunar Ambush: Your cat-like reflexes allows you to sneak 40% faster and your sneak attacks deal 15% more damage.
• Night Eye: Improved night vision for 60 seconds.
Nord (Atmorans)
Major Skill (+10): Two-Handed
Minor Skills (+5): Block, Heavy Armor, One-Handed, Smithing, Speech
Carry Weight: 250
Unarmed Damage: 8
Abilities
• Nord Talent: Two-Handed increases 10% faster. Block, Heavy Armor, One-Handed, Smithing, and Speech increases 5% faster.
• Atmoran Ancestry: Nords are naturally 75% resistant to frost and 25% resistant to shock.
• Woad: Your Nordic hardiness gives you a 25% chance to resist stagger and a 10% resistance to physical damage.
*Also applies to Miraak.*
Orc (Orsimer or Pariah Folk)
Major Skill (+10): Heavy Armor
Minor Skills (+5): Archery, Block, Enchanting, Smithing, Two-Handed
Carry Weight: 250
Unarmed Damage: 9
Abilities
• Orc Talent: Heavy Armor increases 10% faster. Archery, Block, Enchanting, Smithing, and Two-Handed increases 5% faster.
• Berserker Rage: Your Orcish rage increases your melee damage and resistance by up to 30% below half health.
• Pariah Folk: Orcs are naturally 10% resistant to magic and all weapons and armor they temper are 10% stronger.
Redguard (Yokudans)
Major Skill (+10): One-Handed
Minor Skills (+5): Archery, Block, Heavy Armor, Light Armor, Two-Handed
Carry Weight: 225
Unarmed Damage: 7
Abilities
• Redguard Talent: One-Handed increases 10% faster. Archery, Block, Heavy Armor, Light Armor, and Two-Handed increases 5% faster.
• Adrenaline Rush: Your Redguard adrenaline increases your stamina regen by 50% and makes your melee weapons swing 10% faster.
• Yokudan Heritage: Redguards are naturally 50% resistant to poison and disease. They can also sprint 30% faster.
FK's Racial Diverse Skeleton Heights
These are tweaked heights for those who use FK Racial Diverse Skeletons. The heights in that mod are set to the same heights as the ones in Morrowind. Now while some of these heights may look really weird, I have a reason behind this. The thing I noticed in FKRDS was that due to how some of the skeletons were tweaked, some races and genders appeared shorter or taller than the actual scaled height they were set to be. For example, Orc and Argonian males though set at 1.05 and 1.03 respectfully, were taller than Nord males and females at 1.06. Dunmer males at 1.00 were shorter than Imperial and Breton males who were also set at 1.00 So these heights are more in line to be closer to what their actual scale was suppose to be, based off of the heights from Morrowind. I used the Racemenu and swapped multiple times between races and genders to gauge their heights and adjusted accordingly. Maybe if there is an update for FKRDS that changes or rectifies that, then I'll revert the height changes to be the way they were in that mod.
Altmer - M (1.10), F (1.10)
Nord - M (1.06), F (1.06)
Orc - M (1.035), F (1.05)
Argonian - M (1.00), F (1.01)
Redguard - M (1.03), F (0.99)
Dunmer - M (1.015), F (1.00)
Imperial - M (1.005), F (1.00)
Khajiit - M (1.00), F (0.95)
Breton - M (0.99), F (0.95)
Bosmer - M (0.90), F (1.00)
Compatibility
Other race overhauls will obviously NOT be compatible. Vampire mods like Better Vampires, Sacrosanct, Scion will be fine as I use vampire overhauls myself. I will only make patches if needed for other mods I happen to use like FK Racial Diverse Skeletons. I don't use survival mode or creation club so I won't be making any patches for it if this somehow conflicts with them. Maybe Skyrim 10 (aka Anniversary edition) will change my mind, maybe. HIGHLY recommend downloading a weapon speed bug fix mod like Weapons Speed Effect Fix so Redguards don't swing weapons look like some anime samurai character when getting the dual flurry perks and using the elemental fury shout, unless you actually want that. Also you should download Archery Quick Shot Perk Bug Fix for Bosmer firing arrows faster so their arrows won't be weak and in general is just a good fix. You won't need it if you use Archery Gameplay Overhaul and the archery fix is also included in the newest version of Scrambled bugs.
Closing Notes
I struggled for a while choosing between race mods mods I mentioned earlier. Now with this mod you get to have a little bit of each of those mods in one package. My goal was also to make each race feel and play differently. I literally looked through just about every race overhaul mod for Skyrim SSE on the Nexus and took ideas from them, from the least popular mods to the most popular mods. For those interested in the mod I'm using for my character models in the pictures for the race descriptions, its Cathedral Player and NPC Overhaul. I only mentioned this because on the older version of this mod, people were interested in how they looked.
I use other mods like Vokrii, Andromeda, Experience, Wintersun, Apocalypse, Odin, Smilodon, Skill Uncapper, Sacrilege, Growl, Morrowloot Ultimate, Ultimate Combat, Campfire, Sunhelm and so many other mods, just to give you an idea on how I like to play modded Skyrim and how I considered my mod playing alongside these. This is my first big mod and I hope it turns out good. Please let me if there are any bugs caused directly by this mod alone and don't misreport an incompatibility with other mod as a bug because that's not a real bug. Also let me know if there's any questions about the mod. I appreciate the feedback as it allows me to know what needs to be worked on and/or improved. I definitely want to know if some of these abilities or changes seem under or overpowered and want them to be as balanced as possible.