This is an idea I've had for a little while now and I'm curious to see what others think. Remember that this is still very much an idea - though I do intend to make this mod if I can (unless there's such a mod that already exists and meets my taste) - and I'm just looking for some outside thoughts.

I'd like to make a mod where instead of leveling up and earning perk points, you gain perks through actions. This would have a few effects:

• You could still acquire every perk in the game if you wanted (and it'd potentially be a lot less grindy)
• You would actually have to meet requirements to gain the benefits of a perk (you couldn't just kill a bunch of mud crabs and become an expert fighter)
• Immersion? I think it would be much more immersive to actually see yourself progressing in skill through actions rather than filling up a stat bar - maybe not everyone does though.
• Skill level would no longer stop you from getting a perk depending on what you're required to do to get it.

Potential problem areas:

• Leveling up would no longer grant perks, perhaps something else should be given to compensate for this? (Extra value added to stamina/health/magicka?)
• The legendary stuff, maybe resetting a skill should make you have to earn the perks again or maybe they should stay? (Need to investigate further, I'm not sure what all the legendary mechanic adds)
• If I do make resetting a skill reset all the perks then none of the ways to earn a perk should be unique (such as completing a certain quest or the likes)
• Balance. I don't want to make it tedious to get a perk, but I don't want to make it really easy to get them either.
• I have no idea if this is all possible to create easily. Need to investigate things further - I could make it as a mod that requires the community uncapper to remove the perks on level up and potentially other things too (currently the easiest way of achieving what I'd like which I can see).

Misc:

1. Add MCM support for certain options (e.g. keeping perks with a legendary skill reset)?

That's all of my thoughts thrown down for now Give me your thoughts - and it's early days but feel free to suggest what should be required of the player to achieve certain perks.

I think there should be trainers for perks. Not like, talk to this dude and buy a perk. More like pay for training lessons and he then actually teaches you. You then have to successfully complete the training, like blocking or deflecting or hitting a bullseye or something a certain number of times, before you earn the perk. And each perk would be unique and relevant to the perk you are trying to advance. For perks that do basically the same thing with different levels they could change the difficulty as you get to the higher level perks. Like for the stealth bonus you could need to sneak through a randomly generated room and reach a goal or steal an item or assassinate a dude and it would get harder and harder each time you gain the perk, like the first time it could be a dark room with lots of corners to hide in but for the last one it could be a brightly lit room with few corners and you need to watch and be patient and have precise timing to get around without being caught. The randomly generated rooms would be so that you're not just going through the motions but actually learning the skill.