Hi folks,

I realize there are a number of Bound Weapon mods out there, but to me they were either too "intrusive" or didn't work properly.

The idea behind this one (the base mod, at least) is to make bound weapons a feasible option on Master difficulty, with as little fuss or mechanic-changing as possible.

In short, the main perk, Focused Binding (which replaces Mystic Binding), makes bound weapon damage scale passively with Conjuration skill. Unlike other mods I've seen do this, it scales up BASE damage, meaning you get the full benefit of enchants and perks that enhance physical damage - just as you would using Smithing on regular weapons.

The other two extensions implement additional benefits (e.g., enchantments), but they still don't make huge changes to the Perk trees or spells. The overall idea was to keep things simple and clean.

This is my first public mod, so any constructive feedback is appreciated.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/36860/?

Mod short description:

Modifies the BASE damage of bound weapons to scale with Conjuration skill, so that scaling benefits properly from enchantments and weapon damage perks. Includes optional versions to add enchantments based on Enchanting skill. Intended for use on Master difficulty, to obviate the need for Smithing for armor-free melee casters.

Long description on Nexus:

Empowered Bound Weapons - ALPHA

This mod is intended to make bound weapons "viable" on Master difficulty as simply as possible. Unlike other "scaling" mods, damage increments with Conjuration skill by increasing BASE damage, so that weapon skills, weapon damage perks, and damage enchantments will work properly, as they do when improving physical weapons with Smithing.

There are three versions:
EmpoweredBoundWeapons_1.esp: Main mod - Replaces Mystic Binding with Focused Binding
EmpoweredBoundWeapons_2.esp: Enchant mod - Includes everything in EmpoweredBoundWeapons_1.esp and replaces Soul Stealer with Shadow Binding
EmpoweredBoundWeapons_3.esp: Extra Enchant mod - Includes everything in EmpoweredBoundWeapons_2.esp and replaces Oblivion Binding with Spectral Binding

ALL of the mods greatly decrease the cast time of bound weapons (sorry, there doesn't appear to be a way to link this to a perk). The modified perks are described below:

Focused Binding
Replaces Mystic Binding. Bound weapons have increased damage and attack speed and last twice as long.

Specifically, attack speed for all bound weapons is increased by approximately 20%. In addition, this perk changes base Sword/Battleaxe/Bow damage to 15/24/18 and increases it by 3% per point of Conjuration.

At 100 weapon skill, the in-game damage figures for Sword/Battleaxe/Bow are below (note: Bow damage includes a constant +24 Bound Arrow damage, which is not modified by any perks, gear, or enchants):
Base game (vanilla Skyrim, no mods or perks): 14/26/51
Focused Binding, 20 Conjuration: 24/38/53
Focused Binding, 100 Conjuration: 60/96/96
FB, 100 Conjuration, 5/5 weapon damage perks: 120/192/168
FB, 100 Conj, 5/5 perks, +160% damage enchants: 312/499/398

Without weapon skill potions, the maximum possible physical damage for Daedric weapons is about 520/650/560. So you can still get better damage from "real" weapons, if you really want to.

Shadow Binding
Replaces Soul Stealer. Bound weapons are cast silently. Bound melee weapons absorb Health, with magnitude depending on Enchanting skill.

This perk simply allows casting bound weapons without breaking Sneak and adds 4 Absorb Health per 20 levels of Enchanting. Intended for stealthy characters, obviously. At 100 Enchanting, it absorbs 20 health - the same amount as a fully-perked Absorb Health enchant with a Grand Soul (and no +Enchanting potions).

The Absorb effect does not apply to Bound Bow.

Spectral Binding
Replaces Oblivion Binding. Bound weapons banish summoned creatures and inflict powerful elemental effects based on Enchanting skill.

This is for people who want more fireworks (see screenshots) and don't mind if bound weapons end up just a TAD overpowered. Spectral Binding adds the following abilities at each Enchanting skill level:

20: 5 Fire damage
30: 5 Shock damage
40: 5 Frost damage
50: Fire damage has a 30% chance to Ignite the target, causing 10 Fire damage per second for 3 seconds.
60: Shock damage has a 20% chance to Stagger the target.
70: Frost damage has a 10% chance to Paralyze the target.
80: 10 Fire damage. Melee weapons also inflict 5 Fire damage to hostiles in a small area.
90: 10 Shock damage. Melee weapons also inflict 5 Shock damage to hostiles in a small area.
100: 10 Frost damage. Melee weapons also inflict 5 Frost damage to hostiles in a small area.

The effects are cumulative - i.e., they stack, rather than replacing each other.

INSTALLATION/UNINSTALLATION:
Just drop the .esp of your choice into your \Skyrim\Data folder. USE ONLY ONE .ESP FILE. Do NOT activate more than one at a time!

Required Mods:
None.

Recommended Mods:
This mod was designed and tested with sushisquid's Better Magic mod:
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/4374//?
and with tejon's Simple Skyrim Spell Scaling Solution:
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/2585//?
It was intended for use with both of these mods. I highly recommend installing both of them. They are both lightweight, elegant solutions to the horrible underpoweredness of magic in this game.

Compatibility Issues:
Conflicts with any mod that modifies Mystic Binding, Soul Stealer, or Oblivion Binding. There may be other compatibility issues - please report them if you find any!

[Edit: Text coloring]