LE Archery Perks Overhaul

[Trochannah]

Archery is my favorite play style I've delved into thus far in Skyrim, but I also feel the play style can be improved upon by altering perks within the Archery skill tree. I feel these changes would help balance the Archery tree, and I'd love to see these ideas implemented into a future mod some day.

 

Critical Shot: Arrows have a 5/10/15% chance of critically hitting their target, dealing extra damage. This chance is increased by an additional 5/10/15% for each successive shot made, resetting after a critical hit is dealt.

 

This change would promote Archers being more accurate and precise with their shots. The chance of critically hitting a target increases with each successive shot (landing multiple arrows into an enemy without missing), so players are rewarded with bonus critical damage if they reliably hit their mark. Missing will reset this critical strike chance back down to its original amount, so aim carefully!

 

Crippling Injury: Arrows will ensnare all but the largest targets, reducing their movement speed by 25/50% for 3 seconds.

 

This would replace the Power Shot perk, and for good reasoning behind it. The Power Shot perk is flawed because you can easily end up defeating a target by simply spamming arrows into them while they're locked in a stagger until dead, which leads to less compelling and fun gameplay. On the other hand, that stagger is very important when it comes to kiting fast-moving or melee opponents, such as a bear, or interrupting a cast made by a mage character. This change will allow the Archer to reliably kite targets without relying on a random factor deciding whether they live or die. The stagger issue will be resolved with a later perk.

 

Lethal Trade: Bundles of arrows can now be crafted and improved through Smithing, enchanted through Enchanting or poisoned through Alchemy.

 

The Hunter's Discipline perk really isn't what I'd consider "fun" or "engaging", so I felt removing the perk and making the effect baseline was ultimately necessary. In replacement, this perk will give Archery improved synergy with the three professional skills, allowing them to create and improve arrows as a Smith, enchant Arrows with offensive enchants as an Enchanter, or to poison arrows through Alchemy. This will allow Archery to also have a more specialized role regarding which play style one chooses; mages can enchant their arrows and use a conjured bow, warriors can craft and sharpen arrows for greater power, or thieves can poison their arrows for additional ambush-based damage.

 

Aerodynamic: Your arrows travel 50/100% farther and faster.

 

Arrows travel too slow in vanilla Skyrim, in my opinion, which makes it especially hard to land long range shots when also anticipating the random, sometimes-buggy movements an opponent may make in the distance. To save one the trouble of using a mod, I feel making a perk in the Archery tree that increases arrow speed and distance is a must. This perk would also replace Quick Shot, a perk I didn't really like because it defied the "slower but stronger" bow play style designed for Skyrim and downgraded the play style back to the "fast and spammy" style from Oblivion, which I wasn't a big fan of whatsoever. I will say, however, the baseline bow draw speed is a bit too far on the slow side, so increasing the draw speed by 15% baseline would be justifiable, making it faster than the baseline speed but not as fast as the normal Quick Shot perk.

 

Stopping Power: Arrows will stagger all but the largest targets whom are casting or using a power attack.

 

This would replace Bullseye as the final perk in the Archery tree, and it would allow Archers to consistently interrupt the casting and power attacks that would be their bane. With this perk, your arrows will only stagger a target if they're casting a spell (such as a mage using a destruction spell on you) or using a power attack (such as a charging warrior ready to slam their warhammer down on you), which promotes players to time their bow shots for when they would be the most meaningful. Shooting an enemy at close range could be a gamble since an opponent could immediately power attack you or cast upon you afterwards, meaning you may be inclined to wait for them to open themselves up for attack before you yourself go on the offensive. This perk will help cover the glaring weakness that removing Power Shot would've left open as an Archer, which is a plus in my book.

 

Make drawing an arrow consume fatigue, and moving with a drawn bow also consume fatigue.

 

There are only two mechanics as an Archer that requires fatigue as a resource; sprinting and zooming. Sprinting is important to all play styles and thus I don't consider it as a stand-alone fatigue dump for Archers, and zooming does not consume enough fatigue for me to consider it (fatigue) a precious resource, unlike playing as a melee where power attacks or bashing with a shield regularly consume large amounts of fatigue. Making the draw of an arrow consume fatigue would both help make fatigue more important to Archers while also making sense from a realistic standpoint; the constant pulling of a long bow's tight band can be quite tiring after a while. Moving while your bow is drawn will also consume fatigue, meaning your ability to kite will be directly linked to how well you're able to position yourself (so movement isn't as necessary from the get-go), how well your shots are placed (missing means you spend more time shooting extra, unnecessary arrows while your target is not slowed) and how much downtime you're able to afford in order to regenerate your fatigue back (if your target isn't near you, you can afford to stand still and thus play more efficiently regarding fatigue). With fatigue becoming a much more important resource for Archers, I feel it would ultimately improve the fun factor and skill of the play style dramatically.

 

Any feedback would be much appreciated, and thank you for any modders out there who will take my ideas shared here into consideration.