Nock to Tip
An Archery Overhaul
The Basics:
At it’s core, this mod is designed to make the archery skill free from the smithing skill. I always thought it was flawed, that to have a reliable
supply of high end arrows, your character was forced into grinding the smithing tree. So I implemented a lore friendly fix: Arrow Fletching.
This lead to the flip side of the coin….tempering. Why/how does an archer improve his bow, with a grindstone? And why does he have to be a master
smith to do so? The answer here: Re-Stringing. Take your existing bow, and add a higher draw weight string. From here I added more and more changes, to almost every aspect of archery. Trying to keep things as balanced as possible, almost every part of the mod is level/skill based. But more on that later, let’s get into things a little deeper.
Arrows:
Every arrow in the game has been remodeled (except arrows which should have crappy designs Forsworn/Falmer)
All other arrows now have actual nocks built into their meshes.
The arrows are now longer, and extend past the hand during draw.
Arrows also now spin during flight, just as a real arrow does.
Arrows fly much faster, and further too. Long (extreme) range sniping is now possible.
Every arrow penetrates deeper into the targets. No more just breaking the skin, some of these things go almost all
the way through the body. Different arrows penetrate at different levels.
Quivers, some of the more “less practical” designs have been re-modeled (orcish,glass,ect)
they still look the same, the proportions are just better.
All quivers, also have more arrow meshes in them. These will decrease when fired just like vanilla, there’s just more in there.
Some really wild arrow have been redesigned to look less…well..stupid. (Ebony, Dragonbone)
Crafting/Tempering:
As I said before, the goal here was remove the class dependence on the smithing skill. What I’ve done here is simple. To be an effective archer,
you no longer have to be a master smithy. You CAN focus on both skills if you wish, just as you did before.
Smiths can craft vanilla bows and arrows just as they always did, with no changes to their stats (except global stuff…speed, range ect).
Smiths CANNOT temper bows at sharpening wheels anymore however. All bow tempering has been moved to a new workbench, the
Re-Stringing bench (more on this in a sec).
Pure Archer characters, can now craft “Flecthed Arrows” without smithing perks. Fletched arrows are slightly less powerfull than smithed arrows, but are cheaper to craft, than buying smithed arrows of the same material. To craft fletched arrows, you will be to buy/loot the needed materials:
Nocks
Shafts
Twine
Feathers
Arrow Heads
You can find these items for sale at vendors (mainly in Drunken Hntsmen/Solitude Fletcher), or loot them off bandits. Remember though items have been leveled to keep you from crafting Daedric Arrows at level 1. As you level increases, you can find/buy better class arrow heads.
Fletching Arrows also levels you archery skill, how much depends on your overall level, and the type of arrow fletched.
Arrow fletching is also done, at the new crafting station.
The New Workbench:
The workbench is actually two crafting stations in one. They can be found in a few locations, but the main ones are in
WhiteRun Drunken Huntsmen
Solitude Fletcher.
The right side of the bench with the vise, is the Re-stringing station. Here you can improve your bows with new draw strings, to increase their damage. The draw strings are high level items (due to the damage increase they provide) and can be purchased/looted, once you level is high enough.
Draw strings come in two tiers;
80lb draw
120lb draw
Using the bow you wish to improve, and a draw string, you can create higher damage versions of each bow at the Re-Stringer
For Example:
Glass bow base damage=15
Glass bow 80lb pull damage=19
Glass bow 120lb pull=25
To balance this increase, higher tension strings, will cause the bow to be harder to pull (slower draw time)
Further balance is achieved by an archery skill check. The bows have been divided into three tiers, low, medium, high, to craft an 80lb low tier bow, you archery must be at 35, for a low tier 120lb bow, it must be 50. The medium tier levels are 45/60 and the high tiers 60/75. To keep menu clutter low, the tempering options will not appear on at the table unless you meet the skill check, and have the required items.
Crossbows can be improved in two ways, using High Speed strings, and High Tension strings
High Speed, decreases draw time, and cost damage…but allows you to put more bolts on target faster.
High Tension, increases draw times alot, and provides a large damage boost, for more of a “oneshot” feel (don’t miss)
Both modifications are made at the Re-Stringer, and same checks as bows apply
The left side of the bench with the sack of feathers, is the fletching station. Here you craft your arrows and bolts from the materials you have
bought/looted. This is somewhat opposite of the Re-Stringer, here you can craft all arrows at any level, provied you have the arrow heads,
and all possible options are visible at all times (except HIGH level special arrows..more on that in a bit).
Also new in this version, I’ve added an optional lesser power called “Fletching Skills” this allows you to craft arrows at any time, anywhere in Skyrim, provided you have the materials needs. This is completely optional, you won’t even learn this skill unless you want to. If you do, there’s a book in Drunken Huntsmen on the Re-Stringer.
Perks:
I’ve also added a few perks to enhance the usefullness of the tree.
Crowd Control;
Bashing with bows now knocks you oppent off thier feet, this is to prevent having to swap weapons everytime you’re rushed by enemies.
Arcane Archer
Enchanted bows are not affected by the new tempering system. (It make sence…. if you go removing enchanted parts from an enchanted weapon….you’re bound to screw something up.) This perk has two levels which increase the damage dealt by enchanted bows., (not the magic, just the base damage)
Note on compatiblity:
These changes alter the marksman perk tree, if you use perk overhaul mods,
such as SKYRE, SPERG, or Requiem, there will be conflicts.
However, the latest version offers a fix for these mods.
In your load order, place Nock2Tip ABOVE your perk mod.
This will overwrite my perk tree edits, and allow you to keep your other mod’s
perk tree. To keep from losing my new perks completely, I’ve added perk books to the lvl lists,
if you still want the new perks added bu this mod. These will (appear once you lvl is high enough)
for sale at the arrow vendors.
Animation:
The vanilla animation for bashing with a bow, is rather weak. I’ve added a replacer for this animation, which works very well with
the new crowd control perk.
Now bashing will be a forcefull back-hand spin, bashing your enemy with a sweeping attack. This works really well, and looks nice in-game.
Vindskjær weapons:
This mod also adds custom matching weapons to the game;
Vindskjær Bow,
The Vindskjær Bow, is a high level weapon, it features a double frame, with a triple string. It has a high damage base, and a very slow draw. Also features new lore-friendly bow sights. These actually work very well, and look great in game.
Vindskjær Crossbow,
The Vindskjær Crossbow, is pretty much the same as the bow, sharing similar looks, and stats.
I added these in as collectibles, they cannot be purchased or crafted, they are one-of-a-kind.
If you got the patients, just keep an eye out for them, or if you want a little help finding them, check the screenshots for map locations.
Special Arrows:
These are high damage arrows, put in mainly for fun, you can craft them once your skill is very high.
Trickshot Arrows;
Fire 3 arrows at the same time, looks great, and is a alot of fun.
Black Arrows;
Dragon killers, high damage explosive arrow with a custom mesh, again very fun to use.
This mods contains scripts by SarthesArai, and Chesko used with permission
“Faction Crossbows” textures used with permission.
