Adventurers: Oblivion

From Oblivion Mod Wiki

Author:	Adam2
Thread(s):	Author's site, Official Forums (v1.0)
Version:	1.0
Last Updated:	August 4th, 2006
Download(s):	Author's site

[edit] Description

The "Adventurers' project is a complete makeover for Oblivion. It attempts to "balance" all aspects of gameplay to maximise fun and minimize frustration. Almost all items, NPCs, creatures, and leveled lists have been altered for maximum fun. No quests have been changed, though.

Extensive changes have been made throughout the game, so I can't guarantee compatibility with other plugins. I recommend starting a new game for the best experience. Check the readme file and included charts file for more details. Happy adventuring!

[edit] COMPLETE LIST OF CHANGES

Game Settings:

Some of the birthsigns have been changed to make them more interesting choices.
NPCs now have more health per level (FNPCAttributeHealthMult from 0.5 to 0.65). This doesn't have as large an impact as it appears; it's about 10% extra HP.
Your character has less HP (fPCBaseHealthMult 2.0 to 1.8).
Can carry a bit more weight (fActorStrengthEncumbranceMult 5 to 5.5).
Increased amount of experience needed to gain a level in any skill (FSkillUseExp 1.5 to 1.55).
Training costs are higher (FTrainingCostMult 10-15)
Changed sneak damage bonus to encourage more backstabbing at higher levels (Novice: bow1.5x stab3x, Apprendice 2x 4x, Journeyman 2.5x 5x, Expert 3x 6.5x, Master 3.5x 8x)
Firing arrows requires more stamina (fMarksmanFatigueBurnPerShot 5 to 25)
Light armor expert perk reduced from 100% to 70%. (fPerkLightArmorExpertSpeedMult)
Light armor master perk reduced from 50% to 30%. (fPerkLightArmorMasterRatingMult)
Heavy armor expert and master perks reduced by half. (fPerkHeavyArmorMasterSpeedMult)
NPCs wait a little longer between their own conversations (FAItalktoNPCtimer and FAItalktoNPCtimer doubled)

Item Changes:

Armor and weapon values COMPLETELY redone. See charts.
Convenient 'Storage Chests' in most Barracks, Fighters' and Mages' guilds, so your loot won't disappear later (look for containers with the name 'Storage Chest')
Healing potions will be more common (in shops and dungeons) and slightly less expensive.
New 'Elixir' is a powerful instant healing potion. It will be expensive and rare. 'Tonic' is a slow, cheap 25-HP healing potion that will be very common.
Arrow speed +40% (fArrowSpeedMult 1500 to 2100)
Arrows weight more but cause more damage, and bows have less health.
Better arrows are more rare in dungeons and less plentiful in stores.
New set of 'Assassin' arrows, with either a 30-second poison or paralyzing effect. All archers have a chance to have one, and the arrows will be found sometimes in boss chests and in tiny quantities on some vendors.
All bows operate more slowly; some faster than others (bow speed 1.0 to 0.6 on average).
More likely to retrieve arrows from victims (iArrowInventoryChance 50 to 60)
Merchants offer slightly less for your stuff (FBarterSellBase -20 to -30)
The better alchemical equipment weighs less.
Summon and Bound Item scrolls have longer durations.
At Blades headquarters, only the items in the armory are available to grab.
Most expensive items in guilds are only available to higher ranking members.
Precious stones, silver housewares, and animal pelts are more expensive (2-5X)
Almost all shops have at least one rare item on display and available for sale now, as high as Orcish and Elven.
The armor and weapon shops in Imperial City are more specialized now. For example, the shield merchant has mostly shields, the sword shop mostly swords, etc.
A new set of enchanted rings and robes is available in stores and randomly on NPCs and in some chests.

Actor Changes:

Less aggressive versions of bears and boars will be encountered from level 1
Animals don't carry gold or lockpicks, but sometimes more ingredients.
There are now small, harmless 'Field Rats' in addition to normal rats and 'Giant Rats'.
There are now 'Giant' mud crabs and normal, passive versions.
'Wild Trolls' are a new, easier variant of troll with a lower health regen rate. Normal trolls are now a bit tougher, but appear at higher levels.
Many friendly NPCs wear a more interesting variety of armor and weapons. No more level 40 NPCs wearing iron and burlap pants.
Adventurers hang out in some of the shops in Imperial City during open hours, and then head off to the pubs at night. They should help make shoplifting a bit more difficult.

Magic Changes:

Lowering the base rate of Magicka regeneration (FMagickaReturnBase 0.75 to 0.23), but raising the multiplier (FMagickaReturnMult 0.02 to 0.04). So characters who don't specialize in magic (those with low willpower) will have a slower regen and should have to rely more on potions. But mages should quickly see an increase as they work on their willpower stat.
The best version of some spells will have a more interesting name, like 'Ondusi's Unhinging' instead of a snoozer like 'Open Hard Lock'.
Speed of magic projectiles +60% (fMagicProjectileBaseSpeed 1000 to 1600)
Increased amount of magicka by 25% (fPCBaseMagickaMult)
Base restore health spell (renamed 'Basic Heal') is less efficient and cannot be rapidly cast to heal yourself quickly. The better heal spells require at least a 25 restoration skill.
The Restoration skill improves at almost double the previous rate.
Increased the duration (and lowered base mag. costs) for summoned monsters and bound items.
Light spells are less expensive to cast/create (0.051-0.035)
Default light spell 'Starlight' is more effective, has greater range.
Destruction spells are less expensive to cast (about 15% less).
Drain Health effect removed for spellmaking or enchanting because it's an easy exploit. For example with a 1-second drain of 100 health, it is a cheap Death spell (their health all returns immediately unless you bring it to 0). However, we're adding custom Death spells that can be bought from powerful mages ('Word of Death' for 65HP or approx. level 6 NPC, and 'Death' for 130HP or about level 11 NPC).

Leveled List Changes:

More difficult enemies can be found from the start in 'difficult' areas, like near Oblivion and certain shrines (The leveled creature lists for those areas have a small chance of spawning a more powerful creature right from level 1, and the odds go up from there)
Most leveled lists for NPCs and creatures will be more focused in scope. For example, instead of having wolves range from level 1 to level 20!, they should stay around level 4-8 the entire game. That way there is more of a sense of progression while leveling up. See charts.
I'm changing the way NPC levels are determined by adjusting their Offset, CalcMin and CalcMax values. So for instance a bandit boss may have 6-1-13 which would limit them to levels 7-13. Weaker NPCs and creatures would be limited to lower level of course.
In some areas you might encounter 2 instead of 1 of the following creature types: skeleton, zombie, goblin, imp, scamp and clannfear.
More changes to leveled item lists. For example: arena fighters won't be wearing all Daedric at higher levels but instead it will range from iron and leather to Mithril and Dwarven; Skeleton archers will max out with silver bows; same for Goblins, bandits, etc.
the leveled opponents in the Arena are now mostly fixed as far as level, so they should gradually get tougher. Also their equipment won't vary by much; mostly steel and chain.
Some bosses and rare treasure will be guarded by an extra enemy or two. Check out Vilverin for an example. May extend this to other locations based on feedback.

Rare items are more difficult to obtain:

The most powerful armors and weapons are now harder to find. Normal enemies like bandits for example will mostly wear normal stuff even at higher levels. Bosses, Oblivion and quests are the main source of better stuff.
Most valuable loot, such as gold, gems and rare items, will be found in the 'boss' containers. Other containers will mostly have mundane, yet useful stuff like potions, scrolls, lockpicks, hammers, and so forth.

Better selection of stuff from the start:

Shopkeepers randomly carry better stuff from the start (some steel and leather), and better stuff becomes available sooner at lower levels.

Note that rare items like Elven, Glass or Daedric will generally not be sold even at higher levels; you have to go out and find those.

Each armor and weapon shop in Imperial City (later the entire province) has a new rare item for sale.

More rewards for exploring and fighting:

Some ingredients are more expensive (2x - 10x) and flowers and seeds now weigh less
The random amounts of gold and treasure in dungeon containers are more stable throughout the game
Many enemies carry more gold (randomly)
Boss characters are more likely to have rare weapons and armor (they'll use them against you first of course).
Arena combatants are now leveled according to NPC chart, and they use a different leveled lists for weapons and armor. Cash awards are appropriately larger now.
No more leveled rewards! Only one possible reward item at all levels, and 3 or 4 possible gold amounts.
Elven stuff is now mainly found in Ayleid ruins; Ebony, Dremora and Daedric primarily in Oblivion.
Vilverin is now the official 'beginner dungeon'. The bosses and enemies have been given more attention so as to provide a decent challenge to a level 2 or 3 character.

[edit] Latest Changes (ver. 1.0):

Some of the birthsigns have been changed to make them more interesting choices.
Fixed errors with some item names.
Misc. errors found and fixed.

[edit] Latest Changes (ver. 0.9):

New set of 'Assassin' arrows, with either a 30-second poison or paralyzing effect. All archers have a chance to have one, and the arrows will be found sometimes in boss chests and in tiny quantities on some vendors.
Less likely to retrieve arrows from victims (iArrowInventoryChance 75 to 60)
Bow health increased.
Completely new set of Sigil stones.
A new set of enchanted rings and robes is available in stores and randomly on NPCs and in some chests.
More changes to leveled lists, especially with the balance of boss equipment.
Highel level goblins have more HP.
Number of simultaneous potion effects is determined by alchemy skill. Novice can have 3 potion effects at once, Appr. and Journ. have 4, and Expert and Master can do 5 potions at once. (iMagicMaxPotions)
Healing potions tweaked AGAIN. See charts for details.
New 'Elixir' is a powerful instant healing potion. It will be expensive and rare. 'Tonic' is a slow, cheap 25-HP healing potion that will be very common.
Misc. errors found and fixed.

[edit] (ver. 0.85):

Fixed: The normal Daedroth were accidentally labeled 'Daedroth Lords'. I hope that nobody messed themselves when they appeared at lower levels.
Fixed: Weapon values didn't take into account that the game automatically increases prices based on the enchantment. So in the editor both a normal and an enchanted version of the same weapon should have the same value.
Vilverin is now the official 'beginner dungeon'. The bosses and enemies have been given more attention so as to provide a decent challenge to a level 2 or 3 character.
Healing potions are a bit less expensive.
Almost all normal NPC enemies now carry at least some loot.
Normal chests contain more stuff on the average.
Better arrows are more rare in dungeons and less plentiful in stores.
All bows operate more slowly; some faster than others (bow speed 1.0 to 0.7 on average).
Summon and Bound Item scrolls have longer durations.
The Restoration skill improves at almost double the previous rate.
The best version of some spells will have a more interesting name, like 'Ondusi's Unhinging' instead of a snoozer like 'Open Hard Lock'.
Healing spells are a bit more effective and faster-acting at higher levels.
'Wild Trolls' are a new, easier variant of troll with a lower health regen rate. Normal trolls are now a bit tougher, but appear at higher levels.
More changes to spells and spell names. Fire spells cause more damage but burn over a few seconds.
Misc. errors found and fixed.

[edit] (ver. 0.81):

Fixed leveled lists that left some chests empty most of the time.
Less aggressive creatures along main roads, but more in the mountains and swamps.
More changes to creature values. New 'Lesser Xivilai' and 'Daedroth Lord' creatures added to leveled lists.
Fixed leveled lists that were leaving jewelry that was too valuable at low levels.
Changed balance of enemy types found in Oblivion gates. Now there's a more gradual increase in the chances of encountering tougher creatures as you gain levels.
Lots of other small changes to leveled lists for creatures and loot.

[edit] (ver. 0.8):

Healing potions will be more common (in shops and dungeons) and slightly less expensive.
In an effort to make archery a more interesting and yet viable battle skill, the following changes will be applied: Arrows will weigh more (up to 0.35), will cause approximately 60% more damage, and bows will have far less health. The fMarksmanFatigueBurnPerShot value will be raised, from 5 to 25. Check the charts for the latest weapon values.
NPC enemies should use more effective spells.
Most valuable loot, such as gold, gems and rare items, will be found in the 'boss' containers. Other containers will mostly have mundane, yet useful stuff like potions, scrolls, lockpicks, hammers, and so forth.
More powerful scrolls are available at lower levels. You should find scrolls worth noticing and using now.
Many quest rewards are too valuable or powerful for the level at which they are usually awarded. Let me know what you come across.
Many friendly NPCs wear a more interesting variety of armor and weapons. No more level 40 NPCs wearing iron and burlap pants.
Almost all shops have at least one rare item on display and available for sale now, as high as Orcish and Elven.
Boss NPCs will start out with a mixture of Iron and Steel, or Leather and Chain, instead of all Steel or Chain.
Lowering the base rate of Magicka regeneration even more (FMagickaReturnBase 0.75 to 0.23), but raising the multiplier (FMagickaReturnMult 0.02 to 0.04).
Adventurers hang out in some of the shops in Imperial City during open hours, and then head off to the pubs at night. They should help make shoplifting a bit more difficult. Depending on the response, I can add more to other cities.
There are now 'Giant' mud crabs and normal, passive versions.
Misc. errors found and fixed.

[edit] (ver. 0.7)

NPCs now have more health per level (FNPCAttributeHealthMult from 0.5 to 0.65). This doesn't have as large an impact as it appears; it's about 10% extra HP.
Your character has less HP (fPCBaseHealthMult 2.0 to 1.8).
Lowering the base rate of Magicka regeneration (FMagickaReturnBase 0.75 to 0.3), but raising the multiplier (FMagickaReturnMult 0.02 to 0.035). So characters who don't specialize in magic (those with low willpower) will have a slower regen and should have to rely more on potions. But mages should quickly see an increase as they work on their willpower stat.
Base restore health spell (renamed 'Basic Heal') is less efficient and cannot be rapidly cast to heal yourself quickly. The better heal spells require at least a 25 restoration skill.
Lowered amount of experience needed to gain a level in any skill to 1.55 from 1.8. Previous change (from 1.5) was too extreme.
Increased the duration (and lowered base mag. costs) for summoned monsters and bound items.
Made chart for static creature HP instead of creature leveling.
Some of the Vilverin bandits and the boss didn't have their levels adjusted last time; fixed.
Basic bandits have a small chance to have some small trinket or gem.
In some areas you might encounter 2 instead of 1 of the following creature types: skeleton, zombie, goblin, scamp and clannfear.
Some bosses and rare treasure will be guarded by an extra enemy or two. Check out Vilverin for an example. May extend this to other locations based on feedback.
Many ingredients have higher values. For example hunting deer and selling the meat can be slightly profitable. Also, Nirnroots have a retail value of $55 a pop now, just in case you don't feel like doing the quest.
Removed changes to leveled Zombie list that were interfering with a mage's guild quest.
All weapon damage raised by 20%.
Light armor weighs 40% more and heavy armor 30% more.
Fur and iron armors provide slightly more protection than before.
Dremora weapons now weigh more, do slightly less damage, and sell for less.
Added a rare item to each of the armor and weapon shops in Imperial City. I plan to extend this to most shops later.
The armor and weapon shops in Imperial City are more specialized now. For example, the shield merchant has mostly shields, the sword shop mostly swords, etc.
Added more interesting armor to fighters in Chorrol fighters guild. Why are all of these level 20 and 40 NPCs wearing iron? Again, I plan to extend this to some other NPCs later.
Misc. errors found and fixed.

[edit] (ver. 0.61)

Removed Timescale change.
Whoops, forgot to actually change FSkillUseExp from 1.5 to 1.8 last time.
The damage and speed on two-handed weapons has been lowered a bit.
Silver weapons are now only cause slightly more damage than fine steel, since their advantage is that they harm creatures that are immune to normal weapons.
For the boss NPCs: completely new leveled weapon lists! Weapons with better materials will be more rare until higher levels, but magical weapons will be more common.
Elven stuff is now mainly found in Ayleid ruins; Ebony, Dremora and Daedric primarily in Oblivion.

[edit] (ver. 0.6)

Increased amount of experience needed to gain a level in any skill (FSkillUseExp 1.5 to 1.8).
Training costs are higher (FTrainingCostMult 10-15)
Destruction spells are less expensive to cast (about 15% less).
Increased amount of magicka by 25% (fPCBaseMagickaMult)
Light armor expert perk reduced from 100% to 70%. (fPerkLightArmorExpertSpeedMult)
Light armor master perk reduced from 50% to 30%. (fPerkLightArmorMasterRatingMult)
Heavy armor expert and master perks reduced by half. (fPerkHeavyArmorMasterSpeedMult)
Redoing completely the weapon stats. Under the current system for example, 2-handed weapons like claymores and battle axes are too similar to longswords and war axes. Now 2-handed weapons are slower but pack a LOT more punch. Also lengths are more accurate. Better arrows do more damage than before. See chart below.
'Ebony Blade' renamed to 'Ebony Katana'
Reduced values ($) of armor types steel, chain and better.
Boots, greaves and shields weigh a bit more.
Fixed value of pearl, topaz, venison, and pelts.
Merchants offer slightly less for your stuff (FBarterSellBase -20 to -25)
Fixed new Death spells to cast on touch instead of self (duh!)
Examine non-leveled NPCs and vary their equipment. Especially the ones who fight alongside you; they should generally be tougher.
Animals don't carry gold or lockpicks, but sometimes more ingredients
At Blades headquarters, only the items in the armory are available to grab. The rest require a higher rank.
The better alchemical equipment weighs less.
The Silver longsword 'Spellbreaker" has no script and no enchantments. Is this right? I'm going to leave it for now.
Changed sneak damage bonus again to reflect more gradual improvement (Novice: bow1.5x stab3x, Apprendice 2x 4x, Journeyman 2.5x 5x, Expert 3x 6.5x, Master 3.5x 8x)
Arena combatants are now leveled according to NPC chart, and they use a different leveled lists for weapons and armor. Cash awards are appropriately larger now.
No more leveled rewards! Only one possible reward item at all levels, and 3 or 4 possible gold amounts.
Misc. errors found and fixed.

[edit] Latest changes (ver. 0.5)

Toned down slightly the amount of high-level Daedra encountered at early levels.
Whoops, I found more leveled lists that I had missed. Some NPCs had more powerful armor and weapons than they should've, but not now.
More fur and iron (randomly) will be found in the game, leather and steel will still be common but not as much.
The levels of most guards have been changed with new max and min levels (see chart).
Changed sneak damage bonus to encourage more backstabbing at higher levels (Novice: bow2X stab4X, Apprentice 2X 5X, Journeyman 3X 6X, Expert 3X 7X, Master 3.5X 8X)
Can carry a bit more weight (fActorStrengthEncumbranceMult 5 to 5.5).
NPCs wait a little longer between their own conversations (FAItalktoNPCtimer and FAItalktoNPCtimer doubled)
Speed of magic projectiles +60% (fMagicProjectileBaseSpeed 1000 to 1600)
More likely to retrieve arrows from victims (iArrowInventoryChance 50 to 75)
Error with Umbra's armor (lack of) fixed.
Misc. errors found and fixed.

[edit] Latest changes version 0.4

Drain Health effect removed for spellmaking or enchanting because it's an easy exploit. For example with a 1-second drain of 100 health, it is a cheap Death spell (their health all returns immediately unless you bring it to 0). However, we're adding custom Death spells that can be bought from powerful mages ('Word of Death' for 65HP or approx. level 6 NPC, and 'Death' for 130HP or about level 11 NPC).
Default light spell 'Starlight' is more effective, has greater range.
Fixed leveled lists for NPC level, NPC loot, and loot, found some places I had missed.
Misc errors found and fixed

[edit] Latest changes ver. 0.3

Most leveled lists for NPCs and creatures will be more focused in scope. For example, instead of having wolves range from level 1 to level 20!, they should stay around level 4-8 the entire game. That way there is more of a sense of progression while leveling up.
I'm changing the way NPC levels are determined by adjusting their Offset, CalcMin and CalcMax values. So for instance a bandit boss may have 6-1-13 which would limit them to levels 7-13. Weaker NPCs and creatures would be limited to lower level of course.
More changes to leveled item lists. For example: arena fighters won't be wearing all daedric at higher levels but instead it will range from iron and leather to Mithril and Dwarven; Skeleton archers will max out with silver bows; same for Goblins, bandits, etc.
Bows are slightly more powerful
Better arrows usually weigh less
Light spells are less expensive to cast/create (0.051-0.035)

[edit] Latest changes version 0.2

Bows are slightly more powerful
More leveled item fixes to fix the 'bandits in full Daedric' problem at higher levels.
Bosses will have better equipment on the average.
Armor values redone to make them more expensive and effective overall.
Can use armor to 45% of potential from start instead of 35%, and the maximum effectiveness (based on your armor skill) will be 110% from 100%.
Misc mistakes I found and corrected

[edit] Latest changes version 0.1

Length of day doubled (Global: TimeScale 30 to 15)
Speed of magic projectiles +40% (fMagicProjectileBaseSpeed 1000 to 1400)
Arrow speed +40% (Setting: fArrowSpeedMult 1500 to 2100)
Convenient 'Storage Chests' in most Barracks, Fighters and Mages guilds, so your loot won't disappear later (look for containers with the name 'Storage Chest')
Less aggressive versions of bears and boars will be encountered from level 1