The New Belrand SE  (by Beans & me)
 

Belrand is probably one of the least respected and used hirelings in Skyrim, although he has quite some potential. As most of us, I didn't like his vanilla appearance and was looking for a better looking replacer. I found it in form of the more than 10 year old mod The New Belrand by Beans and converted it for SE.
But I also didn't like his vanilla integration into the game and had the idea to make him a much more interesting but still lore-friendly and close to vanilla follower. I edited his stats by keeping many of his original values, spells and perks, but made him a restoration and alteration specialist, which is quite uncommon. I also created two new spells for him, making him more useful, but for sure not overpowered. He levels with the player up to level 55. I think at higher levels his limited abilities are of not much use anyway. I think, with his perks and spells he should be of use for warrior style players as well as for mages and archers.

Some background as I imagine it:
Belrand is a spellsword who accomplished his studies at the college of Winterhold some years ago. For sure he was not the best student, probably because he doesn't have a very high appreciation for magic, as most of his nord friends. However, he was curios enough to apply at the college and believed magic is a good and easy way to help his people since he showed some talent already as a child. So he specialized mainly in Restoration and Alteration and wanted to use magic in a rather defensive way. One the other hand he also enjoyed the basic conjuration classes as they allowed him to get an animal friend who could accompany him on his travels. The advanced conjuration courses were much too dark and definitely not his cup of tea. Since his magical abilities are limited he also got some training with sword and axe to be able to hold his own in the Skyrim wilds. There he protects travelers and merchants from bandits and occasionally escorts adventurers on their trips to caves and old ruins. Once this almost cost him his life when a draugr surprised him from behind.
Few months ago he came to Solitude looking for wealthy new customers. He settled in the Winking Skeever and soon became friends with Corpulus and his little daughter. He likes to help out in the inn if needed and gets some discount on the room in return. If not hired he does his daily fighting and magic training and takes care for his armor and weapons. In the evening he likes to have a beer and read some good books. After making some money he plans to buy some property and find his inner peace.  

Race:  Nord
Class: Spellsword  (One-Handed (3), Light Armor (2), Restoration (2), Alteration (2), Conjuration (1))
Alignment: Neutral Good
Perks:
Armsman I
Bladesman I
Hack and Slash
Agile Defender
Custom Fit
Restoration + Alteration + Conjuration Novice
Restoration Apprentice
Recovery I
Spells:  
Lesser Ward
Turn Lesser Undead / Turn Undead / Turn Greater Undead
Fast Healing
Oakflesh
Force Spike (NEW! see below)
Conjure Familiar / Conjure Greater Familiar (NEW! see below)
Level: 1-55
can be married, doesn't affect stealth


New Spells:

Conjure Greater Familiar (Conjuration Apprentice):
Same as Familiar but with an Ice Wolf (level 6). Should be between Familiar and Feline Familar (from ODIN).
Belrand will start to use this spell at level 13. That's a bit late, but I didn't want to give him more Conjuration skill points.

Force Spike (Alteration Novice)
This is the tiny version of the Unrelenting Force shout. It fires a short burst of energy staggering the opponent and doing some (very little) damage. The ODIN Mod adds a similar but more powerful adept alteration spell. If you like the idea I could add a stronger apprentice spell of the same kind to fill the gap.
Staggering does not work on dragons and on blocking opponents. If well used it can keep an opponent away from you while you or your follower can attack him.

The new Spell tomes can be bought at the Skyrim merchants.


Issues?

This is my first NPC/follower mod. I tested everything for many hours with my setup without any problems. So hopefully there are no issues. However, if you find some issues just contact me here. I'll see what I can do.

While testing on a different setup Belrand appeared naked (I have no idea why). This problem can be resolved by resetting the NPC by using the console:
Open console and click on Belrand. A number should appear on the top of the console. This is Belrand's "ID number".
Then enter the following commands to the console:
prid   followed by Belrand's ID number
disable   (Belrand should disappear)
recycleactor
enable    (Belrand should reappear, hopefully not naked)

I think, the problem will also be resolved when the cell is reset, which happens automatically every 10 days in game.


Installation

Copy all files to the data folder, overwriting existing files.
Or better use a mod manager to do this.
Place the mod close to the end of the load order since many mods add small changes to Belrand (I don't know why). You see if he is properly installed if his appearance changed. The mod should be loaded after Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch, Unofficial Skyrim Modders Patch, Cutting Room Floor, Heights of Skyrim and Patches of these mods. Best you put him close to the end of your mod list.
In order to get his skills as intended you have to use a new game or at least a savegame in which you didn't visit Solitude yet. The character's skill values will be calculated and set when you first enter his cell. That means, if you already visited Solitude before, Belrand will have his new look and use the new NPC behavior, but his skills will be different and he will level differently. This can have happened a long time ago. To be exact, he will level in Destruction (but he has no destruction spells) and he will not level in Conjuration and Alteration and will probably not be able to use his new upgraded Familiar spell.  

Note on the ESL version: Please don't use the ESL version as direct replacer for the non-ESL version if you already use parts of the mod, i.e. if you already learned the new spells or if Belrand already is your follower. Some of the form IDs are changed. This might cause CTD. Best use the ESL version with a new game or a game which doesn't use the mod.


Compatibility

The mod should be compatible with most mods. He may look somewhat differnet if you use different skins and so on.
I noticed ODIN Spells for NPCs/Spellcasters will give him additional spells. In my case the new offensive ODIN Restoration spell Viperbolt was given to him, which destroys his intended "defensive" magical behavior.


Thanks

Thanks go to Bethesda for creating Skyrim and all modders who keep Skyrim alive, to Beans for his original work and to the guys who created SSEEdit.


My Mods

Harvest Ivy
Simple Leather Tanning Fix
Rabbits drop Rabbit Fur SE
The New Belrand SE
Skyrim's got Balls
Glass Bottle Recycling SE
Glass Bottle Recycling SE for Beyond Skyrim - Bruma
Even More Vanilla Rings
Even More Vanilla Rings for Beyond Skyrim - Bruma