Smithing Perks Overhaul – Remade and Updated
Allows smithing perks to apply more consistently to all armor and weapon types, and provides a more balanced smithing experience.
This mod started out with the intention to simply change the smithing perks to apply more consistently to all armor and weapon types. However, with the addition of the new perk trees and perk arrangements, I feel that this mod succeeds in providing a much more balanced smithing experience with better perk choices and more logical perk progression.
FEATURES
Provides a more balanced smithing experience
Allows smithing perks to apply more consistently to all armor and weapon types
Attempts to remain true to the style and intent of the vanilla game
Five perk tree options available to fit different preferences
REQUIREMENTS
The official 1.9 update or higher is required for all versions.
In order for this mod to function correctly, you also need to install Weapons & Armor Fixes Remade and Complete Crafting Overhaul Remade.
INSTALLATION
Download the all-in-one installer and follow the installation options to select the perk tree you want.
Load Smithing Perks Overhaul AFTER Weapons & Armor Fixes, Complete Crafting Overhaul, aMidianBorn Content Addon, and Immersive Armors.
It is recommended that you install this mod on a new game, especially if you choose one of the New Perk Tree options.
If you choose to install one of the New Perk Tree versions on an existing game, then upon first loading your game, any current smithing perks (except Basic Smithing and Arcane Blacksmith) will be removed and you will be given the equivalent number of perk points to redistribute as you see fit. You must have SKSE installed for this to work. If you don’t have SKSE installed, then you will have to use the console to add/remove perks.
COMPATIBILITY
This mod will be incompatible with any mod that alters the Smithing Perk tree.
This mod should be fully compatible with mods that add new weapons or armors.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
This mod does not make corrections to weapons & armor or add missing crafting recipes. This mod simply alters the perk trees to improve the balance
and consistency of the perks as they are applied in the game. Please use Weapons & Armor Fixes Remade to correct any bugs in the “MaterialType” keywords used on weapons and armor. Complete Crafting Overhaul Remade can be used to add the missing crafting and tempering recipes.
PERK TREE OPTIONS
There are 5 different perk tree options for you to choose from. Simply choose whichever one you prefer.
VANILLA PERK TREES
The first two perk tree options stick with the light/heavy division of the vanilla smithing tree, but they attempt to make the perks apply more consistently to items in the game. Both trees also adjust the shape of the perk tree to better fit the shape of the constellation.
IMPROVED VANILLA TREE – Orcish Smithing has been renamed “Advanced Heavy Smithing” and will now allow you to further improve Steel Plate armor, Honed Draugr weapons, Blades armor and weapons, Nordic armor and weapons, and Chitin Heavy armor. In the vanilla game, these items were instead affected by the Advanced Smithing perk on the light side of the tree.
MODIFIED VANILLA TREE – Includes the changes from the Improved Vanilla Tree, but also removes the Daedric Smithing perk from the heavy branch of the tree and instead adds it as a branch off of the Arcane Blacksmith perk. Daedric Smithing now requires having both the Arcane Smithing and Ebony Smithing perk. This resolves the inconsistency in the perk progression from daedric to dragon and allows the player, if they wish, to pursue only one of these high level perks. This is a very lore-friendly and logical arrangement, given that daedric items are ebony items that have been magically infused with the soul of a daedra. This arrangement can also help to enhance roleplaying options for “good” characters who might wish to avoid all association with daedric items.
NEW PERK TREES
I never felt that the light/heavy division of the vanilla perk tree worked very well. Weapons don’t follow the light/heavy divide, and light armored characters are forced to invest perks in both sides of the tree in order to craft many of the better weapons. Of course, as discussed above, the vanilla game and DLCs also mess up this division so it isn’t even applied consistently. Why is Steel Plate armor, Nordic armor, and Chitin Heavy armor all on the light side of the tree while Stalhrim Light armor is on the heavy side? This sort of flip-flopping and inconsistency leads to confusion and makes it hard to maximize the effectiveness of the perk points that are invested in Smithing.
The second major problem with the way the vanilla smithing perks work is that they tend to create imbalances among different grades of equipment. So lower-leveled weapons and armor will often be better than higher-leveled items until you take additional perks and can further improve the higher-leveled items.
To address these issues I’ve done away with the light/heavy divide in the perks and instead divided the perk tree between Crafting and Improving. Crafting perks allow you to create new types of weapons and armors, but they won’t alter the amount to which you can improve those items. Improvement perks apply to all items and will gradually scale your ability to improve items with each additional perk. This also eliminates the guess-work involved in trying to figure out which perks allow you to temper your unique items and artifacts. Now they’ll simply use the same scaled improvement perks as every other item. This makes crafting and improving items much more consistent than the vanilla perk structure.
The New Perk Tree comes in three varieties:
NEW PERK TREE #1 – Has 10 perks (the same number as the vanilla perk tree). In this version, the final “Master Smith” perk has combined benefits, but it requires that you complete both branches of the perk tree to fully unlock both parts of the perk.
NEW PERK TREE #2 – Has 11 perks (one more than the vanilla perk tree). This version splits the Master perk into both a crafting (Mythic Smithing) and an improvement perk (Master Smith).
NEW PERK TREE #3 – Has the same number and arrangement of perks that is featured in New Perk Tree #2. However, the way the improvement perks work has been altered. The fractional (less than 100%) improvement bonuses used by the new perk trees can create a situation where the player takes a perk but still doesn’t have the skill level necessary to reach a higher quality rank, and therefore they don’t see any immediate benefit from having taken the improvement perk.
Rather than having set percentage bonuses, the improvement perks in New Perk Tree #3 have values that have been calculated to correspond to the quality tiers. So taking Superior Improvement will mean that you will be able to improve items to superior quality (assuming you don’t have any other smithing debuffs or modifiers in effect). The perks aren’t required to achieve the higher quality tiers; however, like the original perks, they will lower the skill level required to reach the higher quality ranks.
