LE Skills Must Be Learned

[KillerHappyFace]

I really enjoy Skyrim, but one thing really gets me about the character generation. The player starts the game as a master of all arts; every single skill, no matter how difficult it's supposed to be, is available to the character from the very start! Nords are supposed to shun magic, but a brand new Nord player can cast Destruction spells almost as well as a master wizard!

 

Here's a rough outline of changes that I think would fix this issue. These additions would bring back quite a bit of RPG to this mostly-adventure game.

 

-Aggressive scaling curves for skills. Weapons that you haven't practiced in are terrible, unfamiliar schools of magic cost additional mana and may fizzle, alchemy is less effective for non-alchemists, people not used to heavy armor incur additional movement penalties, etc.

 

-Each race starts with a few skills at the point where penalties from scaling disappear (something like 20-40), everything else at 0. Additionally the player can choose a few more skills to start with. All items can be used untrained, but as explained above, the player sucks at them. Schools of magic must be trained by a master (or 'tagged' by the player/race) to use without risking a fizzle. A bit harsh, but maybe a non-mage player will need to train in a school of magic before being able to use magic at all, maybe the same for alchemy and enchanting too.

 

-Maybe for RP purposes, additional tagged skills on top of your racials could have player backstory attached.

 

-To reflect the addition of skill scaling curves, +damage and -mana/stamina perks should be removed and replaced with something else. Novice/apprentice/master magic perks instead allow you to learn spells of that magnitude.

 

-Blacksmithing should be changed so the perks teach merely how to work a material, not how to make that set of equipment. Instead, set schematics must be learned from master blacksmiths around the world.

 

-Since the player is so bad at certain skills from the start, there should be additional ways to train/practice skills. As methods of committing crime, certain rogue skills should still have rare training locations/methods.