LE Get Rid of Different Weapon Tiers

[Omny]

One thing that slightly bugged me about the weapons and armor in Skyrim is how the amount of damage they deal/deflect is based on their materials, with Iron and Steel being the weakest and Daedric and Dragonbone being the strongest. I know that sounds kind of weird, but consider the Iron Armor- it's practically the mascot of Skyrim. It's featured on the boxart, the trailers, and almost all Skyrim merchandise, and it's among the first armor you find in the game. When you see that helmet with its distinct curved horns, you immediately think "Skyrim". But once you actually play the game, in little time at all the Iron Armor rapidly becomes outclassed by all other armor you come across both in terms of weight and protection, and falls to the wayside never to be picked up again, not even as something to sell for a quick Septim. It seems strangely ironic that the most iconic outfit in the game is among the most useless.

 

Plus, oftentimes I find find it works against some of the roleplaying aspects of the game. Like, what if my character decides they only trust Skyforge Steel? Or they're an elf who strictly adheres to elvish weapons and armor? Or someone who just likes the look of Dwarven swords over all others? Speaking of dwarven weapons, in almost every playthough I myself have done, I find Dwarven weapons/armor to be useless deadweight because by the time I'm at a high enough level to tackle Dwarven ruins reasonably well, I have already found a nice Elvish blade or something similar that reduces dwarven stuff to mere merchant fodder, which makes me sad because I like Dwarven armor and weapons. They have such an inelegant yet practical look to them that I really enjoy. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this problem is largely an aesthetic one. Still, I have an idea that I think might change things up a bit more, for better or worse.

 

My idea involves getting rid of the damage tier, having each class deal/deflect more or less the same amount of damage, (depending on material but in a more sensible way). Then, give each class of weapon/armor its own unique passive effect, similar to enchantments but inherit to their class, similar to how crossbows automatically ignore half of enemies' armor. This way each class would be unique in terms other than damage and appearance, and offer different advantages to one another.

 

Here are a few ideas:

 

Iron- "base" class. cheapest/easiest to upgrade.

 

Elven- Lightweight, swings slightly faster than others. Armor allows slightly faster movement.

 

Falmer- Deals small amount of poison damage, or poisons are slightly more potent when applied.

 

Forsworn- Deals more damage to animals and unarmored targets, or Nords.

 

Ancient Nord- resists frost, deals more damage to elves.

 

Dwarven- heavy, deals more bashing damage.

 

Orcish- deals slightly more damage, but swings slower.

 

 

...and so on. Those are just a few ideas off the top of my head. All comments, suggestions and critiques are welcome.

[tx12001]

how about make it so all weapons deal 0 damage but all weapons will have a 40% chance to kill on each strike?

[Omny]

That's an interesting concept- making every hit against you that you don't block potentially deadly would raise the stakes a lot more. But I have a feeling that'd be more frustrating than innovative, plus it'd make daggers the single most useful weapon in the game since they have the fastest swing speed.

[tx12001]

Yeah but daggers have terrible range. maybe give a higher chance depending on the weapon type.

 

Daggers have the quickest swing speed so will have a 25% chance to kill where as Warhammers will have a 70% chance to kill on each strike, it would certainly make the game a lot more hardcore.

[Omny]

No, that just seems like it's replacing the current damage tier with another, slightly different tier that'd just end up being frustrating, not to mention it would make poisons and smithing useless.

 

What I'm proposing is a way to make the various weapons and armor all have more or less the same amount of damage/protection so that you can wear any kind of armor you like at any level, but each one has different bonuses that make them unique in a way that's different from "this weapon kills things faster" or "this armor gets you killed slower". Like, maybe one class deflects bladed weapons better, or holds enchantments longer, or swings faster, or blocks better, or reloads arrows faster... things that can suit different tastes or needs for different players. They can still be upgraded through smithing and enchanting to make them more powerful of course, but the underlying effects would always be there.

[trancespotter]

This mod could prolly be made by just modifying some weapon attributes in TES5Edit and adding Armour and Weapon Types Matter ( http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/62577/? ).