» Fri Nov 15, 2013 8:23 am Yes, it's another "help me mod my Skyrim" thread. Seems like most of these threads wind up here vs. General, so it got created here.
Anyway, a brief introduction to my situation is in order. I've been out of the Skyrim loop for nearly 2 years (consider the age of the game, and you get the picture), and I thought I'd give it a (heavily modded) second chance. Now, I'm not into challenge mods, hardcoe survival mods, or easy mode mods. Skyrim was generally too easy (with specific broken hard instances) on Adept as-is. So I'd like to slow progress down a bit, tone down the difficulty spikes, increase the general (and especially low-end) difficulty slightly, and eliminate excessively hard instances (the ice spike mages that are deadlier than Ancient Dragons come to mind) in favor of merely "appropriately challenging". However, being away for so long, I'm completely lost on what mods are out there, current, maintained, and will meet my perceived needs. That's why I need help 
You don't need to tell me about BOSS, TES5Edit, or how to get/install mods, since I'm not NEW at this. My character, however, will be. It solves so many issues. I'm just "not current", and I'm looking for a mechanical revamping of, well, a lot of things. And I'll try to be detailed.
So what am I looking for and why? Most critically, I'm looking for a skill/perk rebalance for every skill. For example, One-handed has 5 levels of a base perk that double your damage. I'd like that largely folded into the skill, but that does create balance issues (specifically, you have 5 extra perk points) that should be resolved. I don't want to put too many conditions on how a mod does that, though. Likewise, magic and lockpicking have that central 5 perk trunk that essentially does the same thing, and I would like to see trees that fold the magic bonuses back into the skill. Lockpicking is most flexible, I never used the perks. Essentially, the underlying skill can be left alone and the main axis replaced without balance issues. I'd prefer modular overhauls, but that's not necessarily realistic.
Crafting in Skyrim, as I recall, was substantially unbalanced and broken to me. I'm looking to affect Cooking as well as the three skill-based crafting options. For cooking, I'd like to see some unique effects to make it useful vs. alchemy, but mostly just a matter of adding recipes (preferably ones I need to go out and LEARN). Alchemy and enchanting, I really don't know what I need, aside from breaking the Fortify Skill loops you can make and the whole "make skill matter relative to perks" issue I have in general. Well, I hope any enchanting overhaul rebalances mage-oriented enchants. The whole 0-cost spell thing was broken.
Smithing is a whole different boat. I definitely want an overhaul, but there's just so many to evaluate. I definitely like the Dragon Runes concept of Crafting 300: Armoury of Tamriel (don't ask me why I can't make this a link, but you can see why I like the idea: http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1330369-the-smithing-skill-tree/page-3#entry20673455 ). I'd give that up, though, to have a generally superior and better balanced smithing system. So do I want C300, Complete Crafting Overhaul, or a different collection of mods? I'm looking for a system that reduces the potency of improvement, does away with both Bethesda's original leveling (too fast) and the second try (because what does resale value really have to do with the skill required to make something?). Still, I'm largely OK with reimagining the perk tree and how improvement works, if it results in a solid, practical system.
Magic Overhaul: The major problem with player magic (aside from OP enchantments) is the tiered nature of the existing system and the lack of diversity in effects. The major problem with NPCs is the OP enchantments coupled with rapid-fire casting (faster than what the player can possibly do), and the utter futility of low-level mages by comparison. I'm not really a magic lover... but I'd like more reason to try... and to have a little fear of Novice mages, while making the high level mages less of a burst threat, while giving them a staying power that their lessers lack.
Enemy rebalance: Basically, I can't use Deadly Dragons (DLC required), but dragons and some other enemies aren't terribly balanced against each other. If possible, I'd like to see a holistic approach, rather than simply adding HP and damage to some enemies. Also, Ice Spike mages are a bit OP when they can overwhelm spellbreaker in under a second. (Not even Elder Dragons could manage that). There's also a bit of a scaling quirk around the mid-20s. I can play around it, but if you know of a mod that smooths it out, I'd be happy.
slower leveling: I may already be covered by ACE BYOG. If not, I'd like about 1/3 speed, and skills tuned to be about equal.
And the less-important ones:
NPC changes: Already running (or trying to) Interesting NPCs, and the filler NPC mod that it inspired. Basically, anything that makes NPCs seem less shallow.
UI mods: Already have SkyUI and a replacement font. If someone offered skins for SkyUI, that'd be heaven. Otherwise, I'd like something to replace the map icons with something that feels more organic than digital. You know, something that looks hand-drawn, or hand-painted, or like it was made with a wooden stamp. Like an actual Skyrim adventurer might have done.
Next, what's currently installed (per BOSS):
SKSE Version: 0.1.6.16
SKSE_Elys_Uncapper.dll Version: 1.15.1.1
Recognised Plugins
Skyrim.esm Active
Update.esm Active
Unofficial Skyrim Patch.esp Active
SPIKE.esm Active
HighResTexturePack01.esp Active
HighResTexturePack02.esp Active
HighResTexturePack03.esp Active
Unofficial High Resolution Patch.esp Active
Disease Descriptions.esp Active
ktxcompleteskyforge.esp Active
LFox Alchemists Have Potions and Poisons.esp Active
spellbreaker_material_fix.esp Active
Character Creation Overhaul.esp Active
Footprints.esp Active
SkyUI.esp Active
Inconsequential NPCs.esp Active
Run For Your Lives.esp Active
AchieveThat.esp Active
BetterQuestObjectives.esp Active
CCO - Permanent Birthsigns.esp Active
DescaledUniques.esp Active
DiversePriests.esp Active
Guard Dialogue Overhaul.esp Active
Lightweight Scrolls.esp Active
RealisticHumanoidMovementSpeed.esp Active
Thieves Guild Requirements.esp Active
Realistic crime report radius.esp Active
Killmove Control.esp Active
ACE BYOG.esp Active
CCO - Dynamic Skill Progression.esp Active
moveit.esp Active
CCO - Diverse Races And Genders.esp Active
Unrecognised Plugins
nag text removal.esp Active
Spells Scale with Skill.esp Active
As you can see, I've not been idle at addressing other issues (such as excessive killcams).
For some reason, it looks like I forgot to install Interesting NPCs, so NMM is trying to do that for me now.
I'm not sure Character Creator Overhaul has a viable alternative, but from what I've seen, it's probably just about what I want.
Killmove Control is negotiable, as long as "off" is an option. That's all I really want, but added flexibility is always nice.
The unrecognized plugins... the first is not negotiable (although it may be superceded), as it stops Skyrim from spamming reminders that I can level up, and the second would probably be replaced when I decide on a magic overhaul.
I appreciate all the help I can get, since I've been away too long to know what's what, or what mods I really want.
