~Overview~

Follower and Hero Enrichment Project is a project to enrich your followers and Skyrim's various heroes. "Enrich" means "to improve the quality of something by adding something else" or "to increase the level of a particular isotope in an element in order to make it more powerful or make it explode more powerfully". Rather than making Lydia explode, I used the former definition.

Follower and Hero Enrichment Project uses powerofthree's Spell Perk Item Distributor to give every follower in the game a set of perks for their main combat skills, making them strong enough to tackle the Old Kingdom's more dangerous inhabitants alongside you while not simply leaving you in the dust. About a hundred jarls, guild members and generally interesting people are given perks of their own, suited to their strengths or lack thereof. Some magic users get a wider range of useful spells, and can unlock expert- and even master-level spells when their skills are high enough. In addition, Follower and Hero Enrichment Project gives unique outfits and enchanted equipment to a handful of lucky people.

Two versions of the mod are available. The Heroic Edition is the full package, whereas the Followic Edition only covers Skyrim's followers and temporary quest followers. I do recommend the Heroic Edition; I prefer having the College of Winterhold's faculty more powerful than their apprentices, for example, and for housecarls to have enough perks to hold their own in battle. If you'd prefer a simple mod which only touches followers, though, the Followic Edition should be right for you.

~Examples~

Aela the Huntress gets Stormcloak officer armour and boots, a light set that fits her glamorous punk warrior fashion sense and works properly with her build. Follower and Hero Enrichment Project also gives her a Nordic bow and the following archery perks:

⦁    Overdraw rank 1
⦁    Critical Shot rank 1
⦁    Quick Shot
⦁    Bullseye

Which is enough to put her among the deadliest archers in Skyrim. We also give Aela a smaller number of perks in one-handed, light armour, block and sneak, all the skills she relies on.

Annekke Crag-Jumper is a retired adventurer. Follower and Heri Enrichment Project gives her an elven mace with a minor shock enchantment, a memento from her youth, and a hide helmet, which she probably wears in the mine in case something falls on her head. We give her this modest set of perks as well:

⦁    Armsman rank 1
⦁    Savage Strike

⦁    Agile Defender rank 1
⦁    Custom Fit

⦁    Overdraw rank 1
⦁    Ranger
⦁    Quick Shot

Not enough for a legendary warrior, but enough for her to stand up against a bear or two. "Borrowing" her mace is an option for the pragmatic Dragonborn.

J'zargo is mostly a Destruction mage, so Follower and Hero Enrichment Project gives him Apprentice Robes of Destruction instead of the Conjuraion robes he has by default. On top of some perks, he gets these extra spells:

⦁    Fireball
⦁    Chain Lightning
⦁    Ice Storm
⦁    Thunderbolt
⦁    Wall of Storms

Thunderbolt and Wall of Storms are locked until J'zargo's Destruction skill gets to level 60. Thus J'zargo shouldn't be able to disintegrate everything in Saarthal while you're still whapping the draugr with an iron mace, but he will eventually learn how to spark dragons out of the sky.

Legate Rikke is a long-time Legionnaire and General Tullius's right-hand woman, so Follower and Hero Enrichment Project gives her the perks to match. We also give her the power of the Thu'um, mainly so you get to see the look on Ulfric's face when she breathes fire:

⦁    Armsman rank 1
⦁    Fighting Stance
⦁    Savage Strike

⦁    Fire Breath
⦁    Kyne's Peace
⦁    Battle Fury

Phinis Gestor is a master of Conjuration magic. He isn't a follower, so the Heroic Edition gives him masterhood over Conjuration magic. Discount Conjuration is a custom perk that halves the cost of Conjuration magic, basically rolling Novice Conjuration, Apprentice Conjuration, Adept Conjuration, Expert Conjuration and Master Conjuration into one convenient space-saving perk. We give most mages their relevant Discount perk(s), and Phinis all of the following:

⦁    Discount Conjuration
⦁    Atromancy
⦁    Elemental Potency
⦁    Mystic Binding

⦁    Bound Battleaxe
⦁    Conjure Storm Atronach
⦁    Expel Daedra

For a run-down of what's added to each character, see the Readme file bundled with the mod or in the Docs tab.

~Compatibility~

There are no vanilla record edits in Follower and Hero Enrichment Project, so it should work alongside almost anything. Mods that change vanilla perks and spells could change things up a little, since those perks and spells are still distributed to the characters, but a sensible mod like Adamant, MISTI or Vokrii shouldn't have deleterious effects. If a mod overwrites a vanilla perk or spell with something completely different, however, you may find strange effects.

Other mods which use SPID to give NPCs outfits may conflict with Follower and Hero Enrichment Project, as only one outfit can be added per NPC. There will be some overlap if you use "NPCs Learn Skills and Spells", but probably a harmless overlap.

SPID can only add items, not remove them from NPCs, so everyone who is given a new weapon (Benor, for example) will still have their usual one. Think of it as a spare weapon in case the snazzy enchanted one runs out of battery power. Follower and Hero Enrichment Project will overlap with mods such as Royal Armory which give different signature items to the same characters.

Follower and Hero Enrichment Project has built-in compatibility with Tough Cookie Serana; her powerful weapons or hand-to-hand proxy items from that mod will take precedence. Don't bother with the No Necromancy patch, though.

~Installation~

Install either version of Follower and Hero Enrichment Project with your mod manager of choice. For a manual installation, download and unzip the mod, then place FollowerEnrichmentProject.esp and FollowerEnrichmentProject_DISTR.esp in your data folder. In either case, make sure you have SPID and its dependencies installed as well, or nothing will work.