Acolyte transforms worship of the nine divines from a set of bland buffs into a progressive-yet-unobtrusive role-playing experience in which the player can grow from a lowly convert to an inspiring champion.

• Shrines and amulets allow the player to accept a "divine covenant" - an agreement between the player and the divine in which the player earns rewards through their devotion.
• Devotion accumulates through daily prayer, and yields rewards including abilities, spells and powers.
• There are no forbidden acts, so players can do as they please, although some rewards gain strength through pious acts, like giving to the poor.
• At low devotion, the covenant is costly to the player, providing an obstacle to work through as proof of your faith.
• At high devotion, the covenant is extremely beneficial with five powerful gifts for each divine.
  

Covenants
Activating a shrine or equipping an amulet gives you the option of accepting the covenant of that divine; a bundle of abilities, spells and lesser powers themed around the divine's role in the pantheon. At first, the covenant is costly to the player, providing a single, negative, passive ability. However, as your relationship with the divine strengthens you reap the rewards, gaining new effects and improving existing ones. At maximum devotion, you have five beneficial and extremely powerful effects.

Devotion and prayer
When you accept a covenant you gain the ability to pray to that divine using the lesser power "prayer". Praying increases your devotion and you may do so once every 20 in-game hours*. As your devotion increases you progress through the following ranks: Convert (0), Adherent (25), Acolyte (50), Disciple (75) and Champion (100). The amount by which prayer increases devotion is configurable in the MCM, by default it is 1 meaning it takes 100 in-game days of prayer to become a Champion.

Amulets and Shrines
Amulets have no direct effects, but must be worn to pray to a divine. If you remove the amulet, your devotion slowly decays (the rate is configurable in the MCM, by default it is 0.04% per hour). Shrine blessings cure diseases and fortify your devotion for seven in-game days, increasing the devotion gain from prayer by 50% and preventing devotion decay even while not wearing the amulet. Thus amulets are an integral part of religious practice, while shrines are useful to maximize your devotion gain, or if you want to wear a different necklace without losing devotion.

Pious acts
Five of the divines provide an ability that is strengthened by the player living according to the Divine's will. As such, to maximize your benefits you should lead a virtuous life. Nonetheless, to avoid arduous or boring gameplay loops, the rewarded actions are all simple and cannot be spammed to quickly gain power. There are also no forbidden actions that decrease your devotion so the player retains a large degree of freedom. The five divines and their pious acts are: Julianos - reading skill books; Mara - having children; Stendarr - giving to the poor; Dibella - sleeping with your spouse; and Zenithar - crafting items. The other four divines don't make use of this mechanic. 

Multiple deities
You can accept the covenants of multiple divines. However, you can only pray to one divine each day, so gaining favor with multiple divines takes a lot of time. In addition, you can only wear one amulet at a time, so your devotion to other divines will decay unless fortified by visiting a shrine.

Rejecting covenants
Activating a shrine while not wearing the amulet, or removing the amulet from your inventory, gives you the option to reject the covenant. If you choose to do so you lose all effects of the covenant, your devotion will be set to 0 and the amulet returns to an inert trinket.

*This is at the default vanilla timescale. If you slow down time progression in the game you can pray more times per day, but each day takes longer. It approximates praying about once per real-world hour, but waiting and fast travel skips ahead.





Akatosh, the Dragon God of Time, whose sphere is endurance, invincibility and eternal legitimacy. He challenges converts to weather assaults, but rewards devotees with the ability to outlast any foe and to control time itself.

Convert
Covenant of Akatosh - Ability, lose 50 armor rating.

Adherent
Covenant of Akatosh - Ability, lose 25 armor rating.
Endure - Restoration spell that restores 5 health and stamina per second, but costs nothing outside of combat.

Acolyte
Covenant of Akatosh - Ability, no effect on armor rating.
Endure - Restoration spell that restores 10 health and stamina per second, but costs nothing outside of combat.
Indomitability - Ability, gain 10 Health, Magicka and Stamina.

Disciple
Covenant of Akatosh - Ability, gain 50 armor rating.
Endure - Restoration spell that restores 15 health and stamina per second, but costs nothing outside of combat.
Indomitability - Ability, gain 20 Health, Magicka and Stamina.
Eternal resolve - Lesser power that increases armor rating by 50 and magic resistance by 20 for 60 seconds.

Champion
Covenant of Akatosh - Ability, gain 100 armor rating.
Endure - Restoration spell that restores 20 health and stamina per second, but costs nothing outside of combat.
Indomitability - Ability, gain 30 Health, Magicka and Stamina.
Eternal resolve - Lesser power that increases armor rating by 100 and magic resistance by 40 for 60 seconds.
Halt time - Alteration concentration spell that dramatically slows time.

Notes





Arkay, Lord of the Wheel of Life, whose sphere is birth, death and the seasons. He challenges converts to walk close to death, but rewards devotees with the ability to manipulate life forces.

Convert
Covenant of Arkay - Ability, lose 25 Health.

Adherent
Covenant of Arkay - Ability, lose 10 Health.
Atrophy - Destruction spell, target moves 10% slower and loses 5 Stamina per second for 30 seconds.

Acolyte
Covenant of Arkay - Ability, no effect on Health.
Atrophy - Destruction spell, target moves 20% slower and loses 10 Stamina per second for 30 seconds.
Decay - Restoration concentration/cloak spell, deals 5 disease damage to nearby enemies.

Disciple
Covenant of Arkay - Ability, gain 25 Health.
Atrophy - Destruction spell, target moves 30% slower and loses 15 Stamina per second for 30 seconds.
Decay - Restoration concentration/cloak spell, deals 10 disease damage to nearby enemies.
Arkay's Judgment - Lesser power, nearby undead take 50 unresistable damage (60 second cooldown).

Champion
Covenant of Arkay - Ability, gain 50 Health.
Atrophy - Destruction spell, target moves 40% slower and loses 20 Stamina per second for 30 seconds.
Decay - Restoration concentration/cloak spell, deals 15 disease damage to nearby enemies.
Arkay's Judgment - Lesser power, nearby undead take 100 unresistable damage (60 second cooldown).
Regeneration - Ability, killing anything restores 10 Health, Magicka and Stamina.

Notes





Dibella, our Blessed Lady, whose sphere is beauty, love and affection. She challenges converts to live as social outcasts, but rewards devotees with a life of charm and grace.

Convert
Covenant of Dibella - Ability, lose 20 speech.

Adherent
Covenant of Dibella - Ability, lose 10 speech.
Lover's Embrace - Ability, sleeping with your spouse permanently increases the regeneration of all stats by 1%, up to a maximum of 5%.

Acolyte
Covenant of Dibella - Ability, no effect on speech.
Lover's Embrace - Ability, sleeping with your spouse permanently increases the regeneration of all stats by 1%, up to a maximum of 10%.
Summon Divine Companion - Lesser power, summons a level 10 companion that illuminates its surroundings and slowly heals nearby allies.

Disciple
Covenant of Dibella - Ability, gain 20 speech.
Lover's Embrace - Ability, sleeping with your spouse permanently increases the regeneration of all stats by 1%, up to a maximum of 15%.
Summon Divine Companion - Lesser power, summons a level 20 companion that illuminates its surroundings and slowly heals nearby allies.
Elegance - Ability, spells are 10% more powerful while wearing fine clothes.

Champion
Covenant of Dibella - Ability, gain 40 speech.
Lover's Embrace - Ability, sleeping with your spouse permanently increases the regeneration of all stats by 1%, up to a maximum of 20%.
Summon Divine Companion - Lesser power, summons a level 30 companion that illuminates its surroundings and slowly heals nearby allies.
Elegance - Ability, spells are 20% more powerful while wearing fine clothes.
Divine Grace - Lesser power, spells cost 50% less for 30 seconds (120 second cooldown).

Notes





Julianos, the God of Wisdom and Logic, whose sphere is literature, scholarship, and contradiction. He challenges converts to transcend the limits of their mind, while rewarding devotees with near-limitless magical capacities.

Convert
Covenant of Julianos - Ability, lose 40 magicka.

Adherent
Covenant of Julianos - Ability, lose 20 magicka.
Scholar - Ability, gain 0.25 Magicka for each skill book you have read.

Acolyte
Covenant of Julianos - Ability, no effect on magicka.
Scholar - Ability, gain 0.5 Magicka for each skill book you have read.
Bottomless Well - Lesser power, converts Stamina regeneration into Magicka regeneration at 33% efficiency for 60 seconds, but stunts Stamina regeneration for an additional 60 seconds.

Disciple
Covenant of Julianos - Ability, gain 40 magicka.
Scholar - Ability, gain 0.75 Magicka for each skill book you have read.
Bottomless Well - Lesser power, converts Stamina regeneration into Magicka regeneration at 67% efficiency for 60 seconds, but stunts Stamina regeneration for an additional 60 seconds.
Mage Skin - Alteration spell, increases spell absorption by 25% for 60 seconds.

Champion
Covenant of Julianos - Ability, gain 80 magicka.
Scholar - Ability, gain 1 Magicka for each skill book you have read.
Bottomless Well - Lesser power, converts Stamina regeneration into Magicka regeneration at 100% efficiency for 60 seconds, but stunts Stamina regeneration for an additional 60 seconds.
Mage Skin - Alteration spell, increases spell absorption by 50% for 60 seconds.
Eruption - Lesser power, explosion centered on the caster that deals magic damage equal to your total magicka pool. Can only be cast at full magicka and fully drains your magicka.

Notes





Kynareth, Goddess of the Heavens and Winds, whose sphere is the elements, wilderness, and the spirits who reside there. She challenges converts to keep going in the face of exhaustion, but rewards devotees with tirelessness and control over the wind.

Convert
Covenant of Kynareth - Ability, lose 50 Stamina.

Adherent
Covenant of Kynareth - Ability, lose 25 Stamina.
Mountaineer - Ability, jump 25% higher and take 25% less fall damage.

Acolyte
Covenant of Kynareth - Ability, no effect on Stamina.
Mountaineer - Ability, jump 50% higher and take 50% less fall damage.
Tailwind - Lesser power, you move 10% faster for 60 seconds (120 second cooldown).

Disciple
Covenant of Kynareth - Ability, gain 50 Stamina.
Mountaineer - Ability, jump 75% higher and take 75% less fall damage.
Tailwind - Lesser power, you move 20% faster for 60 seconds (120 second cooldown).
Headwind - Lesser power, nearby enemies are slowed by 20% for 60 seconds (120 second cooldown, shared with Tailwind).

Champion
Covenant of Kynareth - Ability, gain 100 Stamina.
Mountaineer - Ability, jump 100% higher and take 100% less fall damage.
Tailwind - Lesser power, you move 30% faster for 60 seconds (120 second cooldown).
Headwind - Lesser power, nearby enemies are slowed by 40% for 60 seconds (120 second cooldown, shared with Tailwind).
Gale Blast - Lesser power, blows nearby enemies away (60 second cooldown, shared with Tailwind and Headwind).

Notes




Mara, the Divine Mother, whose sphere is fertility, agriculture and the home. She challenges converts to remain calm in the face of adversity, but rewards devotees with the ability to soothe themselves and others.

Convert
Covenant of Mara - Ability, Magicka regenerates 50% slower.

Adherent
Covenant of Mara - Ability, Magicka regenerates 25% slower.
Homemaker - Ability, staying at home with children permanently increases all stats by 1, up to a maximum of 5.

Acolyte
Covenant of Mara - Ability, Magicka regeneration is unchanged.
Homemaker - Ability, staying at home with children permanently increases all stats by 1, up to a maximum of 10.
Soothe - Lesser power, restores 1 Health per second for 60 seconds (120 second cooldown).

Disciple
Covenant of Mara - Ability, Magicka regenerates 50% faster.
Homemaker - Ability, staying at home with children permanently increases all stats by 1, up to a maximum of 15.
Soothe - Lesser power, restores 2 Health per second for 60 seconds (120 second cooldown).
Way of Peace - Ability, Restoration and Alteration spells are 10% more powerful.

Champion
Covenant of Mara - Ability, Magicka regenerates 100% faster.
Homemaker - Ability, staying at home with children permanently increases all stats by 1, up to a maximum of 20.
Soothe - Lesser power, restores 3 Health per second for 60 seconds (120 second cooldown).
Way of Peace - Ability, Restoration and Alteration spells are 20% more powerful.
Radiance - Restoration concentration/cloak spell, enemies up to level 30 within melee range are calmed.

Notes





Stendarr, God of Compassion and Righteous Rule, whose sphere is mercy, charity and well-earned luck. He challenges Converts to rely on the care of others, but empowers devotees as agents of his might.

Convert
Covenant of Stendarr - Ability, healing spells are 50% less effective.

Adherent
Covenant of Stendarr - Ability, healing spells are 25% less effective.
Alm's Giver - Ability, giving to the poor permanently increases a random stat by 1, can be performed up to 20 times.

Acolyte
Covenant of Stendarr - Ability, healing spells are no more effective.
Alm's Giver - Ability, giving to the poor permanently increases a random stat by 1, can be performed up to 40 times.
Stendarr's Judgment - Alteration spell, reduces the target's armor rating by 100 for 60 seconds.

Disciple
Covenant of Stendarr - Ability, healing spells are 50% more effective.
Alm's Giver - Ability, giving to the poor permanently increases a random stat by 1, can be performed up to 60 times.
Stendarr's Judgment - Alteration spell, reduces the target's armor rating by 200 for 60 seconds.
Righteous Lance - Lesser power, for 30 seconds melee attacks deal 25 sun damage.

Champion
Covenant of Stendarr - Ability, healing spells are 100% more effective.
Alm's Giver - Ability, giving to the poor permanently increases a random stat by 1, can be performed up to 80 times.
Stendarr's Judgment - Alteration spell, reduces the target's armor rating by 300 for 60 seconds.
Righteous Lance - Lesser power, for 30 seconds melee attacks deal 50 sun damage.
Stendarr's Shield - Alteration spell, nearby non-hostile NPCs gain 200 armor and 40 magic resistance for 60 seconds.

Notes





Talos, the Dragon of the North, whose sphere is heroism, ambition and the achievements of mankind. He challenges converts to live without greatness, but rewards devotees with the power to become legendary warriors.

Convert
Covenant of Talos - Ability, shout cooldown is increased by 20%.

Adherent
Covenant of Talos - Ability, shout cooldown is increased by 10%.
Ambition - Ability, deal 5% more damage to enemies above your level.

Acolyte
Covenant of Talos - Ability, shout cooldown is unchanged.
Ambition - Ability, deal 10% more damage to enemies above your level.
Overcome - Lesser power, for 30 seconds, power attacks cost 33% less stamina (120 second cooldown).

Disciple
Covenant of Talos - Ability, shout cooldown is reduced by 20%.
Ambition - Ability, deal 15% more damage to enemies above your level.
Overcome - Lesser power, for 30 seconds, power attacks cost 67% less stamina (120 second cooldown).
Charge Voice - Lesser power, for 60 seconds, shouts are 25% more powerful.

Champion
Covenant of Talos - Ability, shout cooldown is reduced by 40%.
Ambition - Ability, deal 20% more damage to enemies above your level.
Overcome - Lesser power, for 30 seconds, power attacks cost 100% less stamina (120 second cooldown).
Charge Voice - Lesser power, for 60 seconds, shouts are 50% more powerful (120 second cooldown, shared with Overcome).
Heart of Fire - Lesser power, for 30 seconds, enemies that strike you take 50 fire damage (120 second cooldown, shared with Charge Voice and Overcome).

Notes





Zenithar, Provider of our Ease, whose sphere is wealth, labor and commerce. He challenges converts to prosper in the face of hardship, but rewards devotees with legendary talent and the ability to draw life from gold.

Convert
Covenant of Zenithar - Ability, bartering is 20% worse.

Adherent
Covenant of Zenithar - Ability, bartering is 10% worse.
Artisan - Crafting weapons/armors, enchanted items, and potions/poisons increases Health, Magicka and Stamina respectively. Up to a maximum of 20 across all three stats.

Acolyte
Covenant of Zenithar - Ability, bartering is unchanged.
Artisan - Crafting weapons/armors, enchanted items, and potions/poisons increases Health, Magicka and Stamina respectively. Up to a maximum of 40 across all three stats.
Transmute Soul Gems - Alteration spell, merge two empty soul gems to make a better one, up to common soul gems.

Disciple
Covenant of Zenithar - Ability, bartering is 20% better.
Artisan - Crafting weapons/armors, enchanted items, and potions/poisons increases Health, Magicka and Stamina respectively. Up to a maximum of 60 across all three stats.
Transmute Soul Gems - Alteration spell, merge two empty soul gems to make a better one, up to greater soul gems.
Artificer - Tempering, enchanting or alchemy is 25% better (choose which one).

Champion
Covenant of Zenithar - Ability, bartering is 40% better.
Artisan - Crafting weapons/armors, enchanted items, and potions/poisons increases Health, Magicka and Stamina respectively. Up to a maximum of 80 across all three stats.
Transmute Soul Gems - Alteration spell, merge two empty soul gems to make a better one, up to grand soul gems.
Artificer - Tempering, enchanting or alchemy is 50% better (whichever you chose).
Bounty - Lesser power, restores missing health for 10 times the cost in gold.

Notes





In addition to showing your current devotion to all divines, two parameters are exposed via the MCM:

1. The increase in devotion from prayer (default = 1). This controls how fast you ascend through the ranks to champion. The default value suits long playthroughs, taking about 100 days to reach champion and with about 25 days at each rank. For faster ascendancy increase the value: a value of 2 suits moderate playthroughs (about 50 days to champion) and a value of 4 suits quick playthroughs (about 1 week at each rank).

2. The rate at which devotion decays (default = 0.04% per hour). Note, wearing the amulet or visiting a shrine prevents decay.

What if I want to start off as an acolyte, disciple, champion?
This cannot currently be done through the MCM, but is easy to do via the console. First, give yourself the amulet; use help "amulet of <divine>" to find the formid of the amulet, then player.additem <formid of amulet> 1 to get the amulet. Put it on and accept the covenant. Then use set aco_<divine>_devotion to <value> to immediately set your devotion to the desired level (at least 100 for champion, 75 for disciple, 50 for acolyte and 25 for adherent).





Requirements
SKSE - for lots of stuff
SkyUI - for the MCM
SPID - for the Arkay ability regeneration.
Po3's tweaks - for the Kynareth ability Mountaineer.
Address Library - for SPID.

Installation
Download and install through your mod manager of choice. It is safe to install on an existing save.

Updating
Check the update notes. Updates that change script properties will require a new game.

Uninstallation
Reject any covenants. At this point the mod is having no effect, but additionally disabling the mod is fine too.

Performance impact
None. Acolyte has a number of scripts, but all are simple and none fire often.

Compatibility
Acolyte edits the records pertaining to the vanilla amulets and shrines. Any other mods that edit these records will conflict with Acolyte, though texture and mesh replacers should be fine. Because the edits that Acolyte makes are essential for it's core functionality, I suggest loading Acolyte late in your load order. Acolyte does not edit any other vanilla records, so no other conflicts should be possible.

If you want Acolyte for the nine divines, but another religion mod for the other deities, you should be able to install both at the same time, but let Acolyte override the other mod.





In vanilla, religion serves to enhance the player's character through minor buffs - just like perks, racial bonuses, standing stones and so on. Almost all builds will benefit from at least one blessing and only those role-playing as evil or heretical would actively avoid them, but to retain balance the effects of shrines and amulets are quite bland. Acolyte takes a different approach: rather than immediately bringing benefits, divine covenants initially penalize the player, but offer large rewards down the line. The steady progression from convert to champion allows exotic late-game effects without imbalancing the game and adds an element of role-playing without a list of required or forbidden acts.

Among other mods, both Trua and Pilgrim stick closer to the vanilla philosophy of (somewhat) readily available but modest effects. Wintersun and Religion, like Acolyte, ask the player to build a relationship with their chosen divinity, but they involve much more role-playing with deities dispositions being affected by many different player actions and choices. Thus Acolyte falls in-between the minimalism of Trua and Pilgrim and the maximalism of Wintersun and Religion. Unlike other mods, Acolyte offers more effects per deity (5, as opposed to 1-3), and more dramatic effects, at the cost of fewer deities being available to worship. Acolyte is also unique in that the covenant is costly at first, with benefits coming later.





Building Your Character - diverse and fun builds with strengths and weaknesses
Master of One - A perk overhaul that transforms perks from generic character progression into a means to craft unique and specialized builds.
Curse of the Firmament - A standing stones overhaul that emphasizes tough choices.
Legacy - A race overhaul that bring strengths and weaknesses to each race.
Acolyte - A progressive-yet-unobtrusive religion overhaul with a long path to divinity.

Enemies and Combat - challenging, varied and fair combat
Know Your Enemy (armor module, patcher version) - A resistance and weakness overhaul for enemies and armors.
Know Your Enemy 2 (armor module, integration patch) - An upgraded resistance overhaul: more damage types, more configuration, more polish.
NPC Stat Rescaler - A patcher that adjusts player and NPC stats for faster, fairer, and less spongy combat.
Enemy Releveler - A patcher that adjusts NPC levels to truly delevel the world.

Stats and stat growth - drawing out character growth to stave off premature godhood
Exhaustion - Incremental Fatigue - An ultra-lightweight injury/fatigue system.
Exercise - Incremental Growth - An add-on for Exhaustion that converts fatigue into stat growth.
Geometric Stat Growth - Stats grow by a configurable percentage on level up, instead of a fixed value.

Miscellanea
Challenging Spell Learning - Spell Tomes trigger a costly ritual you must pass to learn spells.
Trainers Galore - An expansion of the training system designed for "training only" leveling.
Pick Your Poison - An alchemical handbook to support strategic foraging.
Configurable Perks Per Level - An MCM to edit how many perk points you get on level up.
XP Editor - A patcher that adjusts xp gain and leveling.
Sightseer - Standing Stones - Guidebooks for the standing stones, collectibles to find, and a hidden quest to unite them.

Mod Lists
Thoughtful Skyrim - A small, gameplay-focussed modlist that rewards preparation and planning.





Thanks to r/skyrimmods for feedback on mod design and for being a supportive community more generally.