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About this mod
Use the Atronach Forge to change the armor and weapon class of artifact items.
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
Artifacts are among the strongest pieces of equipment in Skyrim, but if your character's build doesn't use a particular item's armor or weapon class, they are significantly less useful. For example, the Spellbreaker is among the most powerful shields in the game, but characters specializing in Light Armor cannot benefit from their skill to improve its armor value. Meanwhile Dragon Priest masks like Morokei and Nahkriin force spellcasters to give up their Mage Armor bonuses in exchange for a small amount of armor.
Other mods have addressed this issue by altering the items themselves, such as by making all Dragon Priest masks count as clothing. That is a simple but heavy-handed solution. Instead, this mod aims to give players perfect freedom by allowing them to convert artifacts into any armor or weapon class they want.
This mod uses the Atronach Forge located beneath the College of Winterhold to convert artifacts. Simply place the artifact you wish to convert into the offering box along with a piece of generic armor or weapon and press the lever to summon your new item. The Sigil Stone is not required.
The item you will use depends on the weapon or armor class of artifact you desire. To convert to Heavy Armor, use a piece of Iron Armor of the corresponding slot. To get Light Armor, use a piece of Leather Armor (unless it's a shield, in which case use Hide since there are no Leather Shields). For Clothing, use a circlet of any type regardless of slot. For Weapons, use a one or two-handed Iron weapon of the corresponding type, e.g. an Iron Greatsword converts a one-handed sword to a two-handed Sword.
For example, to convert Konahrik to Light Armor, place it in the offering box along with a Leather Helmet. To convert it to clothing, place either the light or heavy variant in the box with a circlet. To convert it back to heavy, use either the light or clothing variant with an Iron Helmet.
Another example: to convert the Spellbreaker to Light Armor, combine it with a Hide Shield (as there are no Leather Shields). To convert it back, combine it with an Iron Shield. There are no "clothing" variants of shields, so combining it with a circlet will have no effect.
For a weapon, you can convert a one-handed sword (such as Dawnbreaker) to Two-Handed by combining it with an Iron Greatsword. For an axe or mace, you would use an Iron Battleaxe or Warhammer, respectively.
As of version 1.0, the items that can be converted are:
All masks and the Miraak items can be converted into Heavy Armor, Light Armor, and clothing, while the shields can only be converted between Light and Heavy Armor. Weapons can be converted between One-Handed and Two-Handed.
This mod for the most part accomplishes its function without altering vanilla item records. There is one notable exception to this rule: the Dragon Priest mask Morokei has been changed to zero-armor clothing by default, instead of Light Armor with a base armor value of 5. Light and Heavy variants of Morokei can be created with this mod, and they will have armor values consistent with the other Dragon Priest masks. Additionally, Morokei and its variants have been changed to use the unique Morokei enchantment which reduces Shout cooldown as well as doubling Magicka regen (this feature is consistent with the Unofficial Skyrim Patch).
Check out the readme for a complete list of armor/damage values for the new weapons, and some other quirks they have.
This mod also adds a book outlining the mod's features, along with an anvil and non-respawning chest next to the Atronach Forge in the Midden.
There are a handful of things users of this mod should take note of.
Q: How are the alternate versions of the armor and weapons balanced?
A: Generally, by "tiers." For instance, in vanilla, the Dawnbreaker has 12 base damage, which is equal to that of a Glass Sword. Therefore, the Two-Handed version of the Dawnbreaker has 21 damage, which is equal to that of a Glass Greatsword. Armor values and weights are approached in the same way. There is one exception: Miraak's mask has the same armor and weight values as both Heavy and Light armor; that's because both versions are included in Vanilla and I didn't want to alter the Light version's record if I didn't have to.
Q: If I have a mod that changes the stats of one of these items, will the new versions inherit those changes?
A: It depends on how the changes are implemented. If you have a mod that, say, increases the Dawnbreaker's melee damage, that won't affect the Two-Handed version because they're different records; there would be no conflict but they would be inconsistent. If your mod altered the Dawnbreaker's enchantment to do more damage, that would affec the Two-Handed version because it draws from the same enchantment record.
Again, there is one exception: to appropriately scale Dragonbane's sparks visual effect to the two-handed version, I had to make new enchantment records. Every other item uses the same enchantment record as its vanilla counterpart.
Q: If I have a mod that changes the appearance of these items, will the new versions inherit those changes?
A: Probably. All of the armor pieces use vanilla assets, so if your mod replaces the file path to those assets, they will change too. The weapons added by this mod use custom models but vanilla textures. The bottom line is that if your appearance mod doesn't require an .esp than this mod will inherit its changes.
Q: Will you be making any patches for this mod?
A: Not if I can help it. If there's some real interest, maybe. The only major conflict this mod can have is if another mod adds Atronach Forge recipes, but as best as I can tell very few of those mods exist. A patch would be easy to whip up in Xedit.
Armor:
Definitely at the very least The Ebony Mail and the Savior's Hide, once I get better at modeling.
The Bloodskal Blade:
Those of you who've messed with this one in the CK know it's pretty much the weirdest thing ever. I couldn't get it to work as a one-handed version so I decided to upload without it. I'll keep looking for a work-around, but it may just not be in the cards. Believe me, there's no one more disappointed about that then me.
Windshear:
I honestly didn't think about this one until I started typing this up. Not sure if I can make it look good as a two-hander.
Upgrading leveled items:
I was thinking about maybe requiring a Dynamo Core, a Daedra Heart, and a Flawless Diamond; I don't want it to be easy. This one isn't included mostly out of laziness because it will require a lot of new formlists. I may just make it so that you can only upgrade to the highest leveled version.
And Probably Not Coming Soon:
Keening:
I just don't think it would look very good as a greatsword.
Blade of Woe:
See above.
The Nightingale Blade:
Mostly because I hate this weapon. It sucks so bad as a one-handed weapon, who would want it as a two-handed weapon, especially when you get Chillrend from the same questline? Maybe if it had only one record I'd include it for completions' sake but it has five leveled versions! Screw this weapon.
If anyone really wants to see any other items added to this mod, leave a comment and I'll consider it.
Install with NMM or extract to your data folder and activate the ESP.
This mod is intended to work alongside the Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch and some of the USSEP's changes are integrated into this mod. The USSEP is not strictly required, but not using it will result in discrepancies such as missing tempering recipes and inconsistent item descriptions. For example, the one-handed Ebony Blade added by this mod can be tempered, but the tempering recipe for the vanilla two-handed Ebony Blade is added by USSEP. This mod should be loaded after USSEP.
A handful of vanilla records had to be altered to make this mod work. For example, Wuuthrad's bonus damage against Elves is accomplished with a perk, which needs to be updated to work with this mod. Others are largely cosmetic, such as the chatter quests that cause unique guard dialogue if the player is holding Volendrung, for example. I don't expect may users to have serious conflicts, but those that do should easily be settled in Xedit.
I'm reasonably confident that the mod is stable and everything is working as intended. Please leave bug reports if something doesn't work.
Other mods have addressed this issue by altering the items themselves, such as by making all Dragon Priest masks count as clothing. That is a simple but heavy-handed solution. Instead, this mod aims to give players perfect freedom by allowing them to convert artifacts into any armor or weapon class they want.
How to Convert Artifacts
This mod uses the Atronach Forge located beneath the College of Winterhold to convert artifacts. Simply place the artifact you wish to convert into the offering box along with a piece of generic armor or weapon and press the lever to summon your new item. The Sigil Stone is not required.
The item you will use depends on the weapon or armor class of artifact you desire. To convert to Heavy Armor, use a piece of Iron Armor of the corresponding slot. To get Light Armor, use a piece of Leather Armor (unless it's a shield, in which case use Hide since there are no Leather Shields). For Clothing, use a circlet of any type regardless of slot. For Weapons, use a one or two-handed Iron weapon of the corresponding type, e.g. an Iron Greatsword converts a one-handed sword to a two-handed Sword.
For example, to convert Konahrik to Light Armor, place it in the offering box along with a Leather Helmet. To convert it to clothing, place either the light or heavy variant in the box with a circlet. To convert it back to heavy, use either the light or clothing variant with an Iron Helmet.
Another example: to convert the Spellbreaker to Light Armor, combine it with a Hide Shield (as there are no Leather Shields). To convert it back, combine it with an Iron Shield. There are no "clothing" variants of shields, so combining it with a circlet will have no effect.
For a weapon, you can convert a one-handed sword (such as Dawnbreaker) to Two-Handed by combining it with an Iron Greatsword. For an axe or mace, you would use an Iron Battleaxe or Warhammer, respectively.
Features
As of version 1.0, the items that can be converted are:
- all Dragon Priest masks (including those in the Dragonborn DLC)
- Miraak's Boots
- Miraak's Gloves
- The Targe of the Blooded
- The Spellbreaker
- The Aetherial Shield
- The Dawnguard Rune Shield
- Auriel's Shield
- The Shield of Ysgramor
- The Masque of Clavicus Vile
- Chillrend
- Dawnbreaker
- Dawnguard Rune Axe
- Dawnguard Rune Hamer
- Dragonbane
- Ebony Blade
- Harkon's Sword
- Mace of Molag Bal
- Mehrunes' Razor
- Rueful Axe
- Volendrung
- Wuuthrad
- Miraak Sword
- Champion's Cudgel
All masks and the Miraak items can be converted into Heavy Armor, Light Armor, and clothing, while the shields can only be converted between Light and Heavy Armor. Weapons can be converted between One-Handed and Two-Handed.
This mod for the most part accomplishes its function without altering vanilla item records. There is one notable exception to this rule: the Dragon Priest mask Morokei has been changed to zero-armor clothing by default, instead of Light Armor with a base armor value of 5. Light and Heavy variants of Morokei can be created with this mod, and they will have armor values consistent with the other Dragon Priest masks. Additionally, Morokei and its variants have been changed to use the unique Morokei enchantment which reduces Shout cooldown as well as doubling Magicka regen (this feature is consistent with the Unofficial Skyrim Patch).
Check out the readme for a complete list of armor/damage values for the new weapons, and some other quirks they have.
This mod also adds a book outlining the mod's features, along with an anvil and non-respawning chest next to the Atronach Forge in the Midden.
Issues and Notes
There are a handful of things users of this mod should take note of.
- This mod does not alter item "drops" or quest rewards. This would be complicated to alter and would open the mod up to more potential conflicts. Miraak's mask will drop as either heavy or light depending on which of the player's skills are higher, as this functionality is part of the base game. All other item variants, including the clothing version of Miraak's mask, must be created at the Atronach Forge.
- Because of the way the Atronach Forge works, tempering bonuses will not carry over between conversions.
- As of now (version 1.0) only the default versions of the Dragon Priest masks can be placed on the pedestals in Bromjunaar Sanctuary (and, if I had to guess, any similar pedestals added by house mods and the like). I'm looking into a possible fix; until then, Dragon Priest masks must be converted back to their default form in order to acquire Konahrik. By default all the masks are Heavy Armor except for Volsung and Krosis, which are Light, and Morokei, which this mod makes clothing. Alternately, refer to this article, but remember that this mod changes Morokei to be clothing.
- Leveled items can be converted, but not between levels. It is possible that some function for converting items between levels will be added at some future date; until then, you'll just have to cheat (I won't tell).
- Any other mods that add or edit recipes for the Atronach Forge will be totally incompatible. It is relatively easy to patch the conflict, and I can make some if there's interest.
FAQ
Q: How are the alternate versions of the armor and weapons balanced?
A: Generally, by "tiers." For instance, in vanilla, the Dawnbreaker has 12 base damage, which is equal to that of a Glass Sword. Therefore, the Two-Handed version of the Dawnbreaker has 21 damage, which is equal to that of a Glass Greatsword. Armor values and weights are approached in the same way. There is one exception: Miraak's mask has the same armor and weight values as both Heavy and Light armor; that's because both versions are included in Vanilla and I didn't want to alter the Light version's record if I didn't have to.
Q: If I have a mod that changes the stats of one of these items, will the new versions inherit those changes?
A: It depends on how the changes are implemented. If you have a mod that, say, increases the Dawnbreaker's melee damage, that won't affect the Two-Handed version because they're different records; there would be no conflict but they would be inconsistent. If your mod altered the Dawnbreaker's enchantment to do more damage, that would affec the Two-Handed version because it draws from the same enchantment record.
Again, there is one exception: to appropriately scale Dragonbane's sparks visual effect to the two-handed version, I had to make new enchantment records. Every other item uses the same enchantment record as its vanilla counterpart.
Q: If I have a mod that changes the appearance of these items, will the new versions inherit those changes?
A: Probably. All of the armor pieces use vanilla assets, so if your mod replaces the file path to those assets, they will change too. The weapons added by this mod use custom models but vanilla textures. The bottom line is that if your appearance mod doesn't require an .esp than this mod will inherit its changes.
Q: Will you be making any patches for this mod?
A: Not if I can help it. If there's some real interest, maybe. The only major conflict this mod can have is if another mod adds Atronach Forge recipes, but as best as I can tell very few of those mods exist. A patch would be easy to whip up in Xedit.
Coming Soon (maybe)
Armor:
Definitely at the very least The Ebony Mail and the Savior's Hide, once I get better at modeling.
The Bloodskal Blade:
Those of you who've messed with this one in the CK know it's pretty much the weirdest thing ever. I couldn't get it to work as a one-handed version so I decided to upload without it. I'll keep looking for a work-around, but it may just not be in the cards. Believe me, there's no one more disappointed about that then me.
Windshear:
I honestly didn't think about this one until I started typing this up. Not sure if I can make it look good as a two-hander.
Upgrading leveled items:
I was thinking about maybe requiring a Dynamo Core, a Daedra Heart, and a Flawless Diamond; I don't want it to be easy. This one isn't included mostly out of laziness because it will require a lot of new formlists. I may just make it so that you can only upgrade to the highest leveled version.
And Probably Not Coming Soon:
Keening:
I just don't think it would look very good as a greatsword.
Blade of Woe:
See above.
The Nightingale Blade:
Mostly because I hate this weapon. It sucks so bad as a one-handed weapon, who would want it as a two-handed weapon, especially when you get Chillrend from the same questline? Maybe if it had only one record I'd include it for completions' sake but it has five leveled versions! Screw this weapon.
If anyone really wants to see any other items added to this mod, leave a comment and I'll consider it.
Installation & Conflicts
Install with NMM or extract to your data folder and activate the ESP.
This mod is intended to work alongside the Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch and some of the USSEP's changes are integrated into this mod. The USSEP is not strictly required, but not using it will result in discrepancies such as missing tempering recipes and inconsistent item descriptions. For example, the one-handed Ebony Blade added by this mod can be tempered, but the tempering recipe for the vanilla two-handed Ebony Blade is added by USSEP. This mod should be loaded after USSEP.
A handful of vanilla records had to be altered to make this mod work. For example, Wuuthrad's bonus damage against Elves is accomplished with a perk, which needs to be updated to work with this mod. Others are largely cosmetic, such as the chatter quests that cause unique guard dialogue if the player is holding Volendrung, for example. I don't expect may users to have serious conflicts, but those that do should easily be settled in Xedit.
I'm reasonably confident that the mod is stable and everything is working as intended. Please leave bug reports if something doesn't work.