SSE Rebalanced standing stones and/or birthsigns

[psycros]

I don't disagree completely with Bethsoft's decision to simplify the standing stone experience in Skyrim, but I think they went too far. I suppose that things like runestones and heaven stones might only found in Cyrodiil so I can accept that. I also don't object to not being able to pick up a second birthsign power - that actually makes sense. However, eliminating birthsigns altogether is a retconn I really didn't appreciate. The lore seems clear that birthsigns are common to all races across Tamriel although being able to permenantly change my "birthsign" at will is a bit silly. Worse, they still didn't get the balance right on a few of them..as they are now nobody ever takes once-per-day ability signs like The Serpent. I would love to see a birthsign/standing stone mod that does the following:

 

* A birthsign is chosen at character creation. If character later uses a standing stone of a different birthsign it temporarily alters your birthsign for six hours (somewhat like Oblivion did). Reasoning: this gives someone a chance to grind up skills they might otherwise have trouble advancing. Say you get to level 15 or so and realize that your lack of melee ability is really hurting you. Head to the Warrior stone and get that combat skill advancement bonus for a while and go pound every mudcrab and wolf in sight. If you really, really needed to use a limited birthsign power this would also be a way to do that assuming that you could travel to the stone and then to wherever you wanted to use its power within the time limit.

 

* Ideally, there would be a countdown timer shown next to your temporary birthsign's effect. When the six hours were up your actual birthsign would be restored.

 

* Obtaining a temporary birthsign has a 24 hour cooldown to prevent abuse and also to prevent offending the higher powers. Example: you were born under the Mage sign but really want to be better at sneaking. You activate the Thief stone and proceed to sneak halfway across Skyrim. After six hours your Mage sign reasserts itself and you can't use another standing stone for 18 hours, with one exception: if you use the stone of your chosen birthsign while a temporary one is active it immediately switches you back to your chosen sign. The standing stone cooldown still applies, however.

 

I've taken inspiration from existing birthsign/standing stone mods as well as Oblivion's birthsigns. The goal would be to make every sign viable regardless of what playstyle you go with, allowing for both well-rounded and very specialized builds depending on race + birthsign combos. This is what I would suggest:

 

The Warrior | Deal 10% increased base damage with weapons (i.e. before other effects factored in) including unarmed; +15% skill advancement for combat skills (one-handed, two-handed, block and heavy armor);
The Lady | Fortify Health 25 pts; Stamina and Magicka regenerate 20% faster
The Lord | Restore 75 Health over 15 seconds once every twelve hours; Fortify Speech 10 pts; Take 20% more damage from fire
The Steed | Move 20% faster; Fortify Stamina 20 pts
The Thief | 20 additional Armor Rating as long as no heavy armor is worn; All stealth skills advance 15% faster
The Lover | Once per day, you can paralyze a foe for 10 seconds; Resist Paralysis 20 pts. NOTE: Resist Paralysis might need added to game, therefore might not be possible Alternative: Resist Magic 20%
The Shadow |Once per day, turn invisible for 60 seconds; Fortify Sneak 10 pts
The Tower |10% reflect damage; Fortify Lockpick 10 pts
The Mage | 30 bonus Magicka; all magic skills advance 15% faster
The Apprentice | 50 bonus Magicka; Magicka regenerates 15% faster; 50% weakness to magic
The Atronach | 100 bonus Magicka, Magicka does not regenerate, 50% chance to absorb spells
The Ritual | Once per day, heal yourself for 100 Health; Once per day, cast Mass Turn Undead; Fortify Conjuration 10 pts
The Serpent |Once per day, potent poison at up to 20 ft range (60 damage over 10 seconds). Resist Poison 10 pts; +10% damage from cold

 

Some of these might not work out as well as I'm hoping, particularly if someone is using mods that modify racial abilities. Therefore I am totally open to changes (particularly by anyone seriously thinking of trying to build this little mod) . In any case, I still think its a significant improvement over vanilla and more balanced than other mods of this kind I've seen. I only wish I could figure out mod editing and do this myself but I've tried and it seems completely over my head. I've done some basic scripting and even model editing in a few games over the years but TES tools are incomprehensible to me. Also, something I was wondering: is it possible to add birthsign/standing stone effects beyond the original 13? If so that could make for some really cool options like different effects based on time of day standing stone is activated.

Edited April 11, 2019 by psycros