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- // A quick preface: I've played Skyrim a ton but one of the things that's always bothered me about
- // the game is that the perk trees seem to be pretty lazily designed and don't really allow for a lot
- // of actual variance in character builds/playstyles. I think it would be a cool project to rework
- // all of the perk trees in order to fix this, and I've decided to start what is in my opinion part of
- // the game that is most lacking in diversity, melee combat. For now, I've focused on the one-handed skill.
- One-Handed Perk Tree Rework Ideas
- // In the vanilla game, one-handed is a pretty boring skill. The different weapon types all have the same
- // playstyle, the only real differences being attack speed, and the precise method with which they deliver
- // their damage (armor pen vs. crits vs. bleed).
- //
- // Bethesda seems to have been rather careless in balancing even these small differences,
- // as swords have both the highest attack speed (which allows for better maneauvrability,
- // and more effective use of enchantments) as well as the only type of extra damage that works on every enemy (crits).
- //
- // The focus of my rework is to give the 3 different types of weapon each a distinct set of strengths,
- // and also a distinct playstyle.
- //
- // Swords are relatively vanilla, but have an emphasis on speed.
- // Axes focus on damage, reliable DPS through bleed and high burst through power attacks.
- // Maces focus on each blow having impact and interrupting the enemy. I feel this matches well with their low speed.
- //
- // Whether this provides good balance is hard to say, I think it's more important
- // to provide interesting playstyles so players can create more unique character builds.
- //
- // In addition to diversifying the weapon types, I also want to make the different playstyles that
- // the dual wielding system allows more viable. Namely one-handed + magic, and wielding only a single
- // one-handed weapon without a shield. The latter should mostly be governed by the block skill though.
- //
- // My general philosophy is that I want the vast majority of perks to change how you play (or can play)
- // the game in some way, and each perk should provide a noticeable benefit. As a general rule I dislike
- // having multiple levels of the same perk, as that just ends up wasting perk points.
- //
- // The listed perks are merely the ideas I've come up with so far, some of which more thought has gone into than others.
- // They may get expanded on, changed or scrapped in the future, and I may come up with more ideas.
- All one-handed weapons
- Spellsword
- // The spellsword playstyle makes dual casting or otherwise combining spells impossible.
- // This perk aims to make the playstyle more viable by increasing the potency of magic.
- // I'm not sure if this perk should even have multiple levels, but since it improves magic
- // it doesn't make much sense to lock it behind other one-handed perks which would be the other
- // method of preventing the player from gaining access to the more powerful benefits too quickly.
- lvl 1: 10% spell magnitude when wielding magic + one handed weapon
- lvl 2: 20% spell magnitude, 50% spell duration when wielding magic + one handed weapon
- Unhindered
- // Using just a single one-handed weapon is incredibly weak in the vanilla game.
- // This aims to make that a more viable option. From an immersion perspective, it makes sense
- // to be more deft when you're not holding something in addition to your weapon.
- Attack speed +20% when left hand is empty
- Southpaw
- // Left handed attacks are innately 10% slower than right handed attacks.
- // This perk gives incentive to use the left hand more while dual wielding.
- Left handed attacks are 20% stronger
- Synergy
- // This is a neat concept but may be annoying to implement, and with the lacking weapon
- // variety in Skyrim it might not end up being that much more interesting than
- // a straight up damage increase while dual wielding.
- Deal half of the weapon in the other hand's base damage as bonus damage when dual wielding
- Master of Arms
- (Requires every weapon specific perk)
- // This is here to provide more incentive to invest in multiple weapon types,
- // as it gives a decent payoff for completing all 3 perk trees.
- Damage +50%, attack speed +20% and crit chance +10% with all one-handed weapons
- Swords
- Sword Skill
- // Basic increased damage perk. All 3 weapons types have this. not very interesting,
- // but a lot more worthwhile than the vanilla perks that only give 20% damage per perk point.
- // I think I want these to require 1 or 2 of the other weapon specific perks so that
- // the more unique aspects of each weapon type get prioritized when going down the perk tree.
- Attacks with swords deal 50% more damage
- Dancing Blade
- // I don't want swords to get any special effects on their power attacks to maintain their vanilla feel,
- // so simply making them faster is a good way to make them feel different and provide a unique niche.
- Power attacks with swords are twice as fast
- Pinpoint Strike
- // Swords get this in vanilla, so I figured I'd just reduce it down to 1 perk point and keep it.
- +20% chance to critical strike with swords
- Swordmaster
- // I thought it would be fun to give each weapon type their own dual wielding perk.
- // This is basically the vanilla dual flurry perk, but it only works when wielding 2 swords.
- // It fits in with the swords = vanilla philosophy, and reinforces that swords emphasize speed.
- Wielding 2 swords increases attack speed by 35%
- Axes
- Axe Aptitude
- Attacks with axes deal 50% more damage
- Lacerator
- // Once again this is a holdover from vanilla, only reduced to one perk point.
- // I feel it fits axes thematically, and it's a decently interesting way to increase DPS.
- // I may tweak the values a little depending on whether I think it's necessary for balance.
- Attacks with axes cause bleeding damage
- Killer Axe
- // I think power attacks are very underutilized as a gameplay mechanic in the vanilla game.
- // Giving the different weapon types different effects on their power attacks is a fun way to
- // kind of give them their own 'special attacks' that you can't just spam (unless you abuse some
- // other game mechanics, but I won't worry myself with that).
- // This perk cements axes as the 'burst damage' weapon type, giving power attacks the chance
- // of dealing massive damage to a single target.
- Power attacks with axes have a 30% to deal a critical strike for quadruple damage
- Berserker
- // From a balance perspective this might become a little silly when combined with Killer Axe,
- // so the numbers are probably going to be changed. I do like the idea of axes being more
- // volatile than swords, which relatively high odds of dealing large amounts of damage,
- // counteracted by their slower attack speed.
- Wielding 2 axes grants 25% to deal a critical strike with increased damage
- Maces
- Mace Mastery
- Attacks with maces deal 50% more damage
- Bludgeon
- // A mace is basically just a heavy weight on a stick, so it makes sense to me that mace hits
- // have a large impact on opponents. As such they are given the chance to mildly stagger opponents
- // even on regular hits. The low speed of maces means this won't get procced super often, but
- // when it does it negates the negative effects of the slow attack speed as your opponent will not
- // be able to retaliate, and it combines well with magic as it gives you an opening to cast a spell.
- // This is a nice coincidence as priest builds tend to use maces, and it's a nice bit of immersion.
- Attacks with maces have a 15% chance to interrupt opponent
- Inertia
- // To expand upon the 'heavy hit' idea, I wanted power attacks to do something even more special.
- // Since regular attacks are given the ability to stagger, why not escalate that and give
- // power attacks the ability to completely knock enemies off their feet? 35% may be a bit much
- // given how powerful knocking down opponents is, but I don't like super unreliable abilities
- // and especially against multiple opponents, having the ability to somewhat reliably take one
- // of them out of the picture for a bit is very cool imo.
- Power attacks with maces deal 50% extra damage and have a 35% chance of knocking opponents down
- Macerator
- // Combining this with Inertia makes dual wielding maces extremely powerful. This move takes a while
- // to pull off and costs a lot of stamina, but since it hits 3 times it's very likely to
- // knock the opponent down and it will deal a lot of damage. An alternative idea I had for this perk
- // is to allow the dual wielding power attack to hit multiple opponents, but I feel like the
- // chance to literally floor every enemy around you is probably a bit too strong.
- Wielding 2 maces doubles dual wielding power attack damage
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