I am working (loose term) on a project (idea of a project, really) with working title "Daggerfall Expanded". This should be a mod which vastly expands features of classic Daggerfall game, which obviously is a great foundation to build upon. True in spirit to Daggerfall and the lore of known TES games, this mod is aimed to be sort of “Daggerfall 2.0”, a better and a recommended version to play. Of course, classic is classic, and it should always be available as a mode for historical reasons, but this game can be so much more than it was!
Very important features for this mod are things that had appearance in other TES games and make sense to be in Iliac Bay at the time of the game. So no Dragons, Oblivion Gates or Dark Anchors, because they are confined to their own events and games. Also, no “new” monsters which haven’t been encountered in TES, because there is enough in the plate now. Same with features which haven’t been implemented in other TES games, however cool they may be, these things are better to be in their own mods.
Noticeable exception: features that never were implemented in TES, but obviously were tried to be implemented in Daggerfall, scrapped because of the lack of time, are going in.
I already published my ideas in several threads, such as:
Equipment Rebalance, long read in 6 parts, including materials overhaul and recolor, rebalancing of weapon types making almost everything useful, introduction of the Cloth armor and (obvious) suggestion of Leather and Chain tiered armors, plus Armor skill. Everything worked out in numbers.
Division of hair and faces, completed artwork, need to be coded into the game as a mod or feature.
House and Estate.
Blessings of Julianos, idea of making the School of Julianos an interesting and comparable alternative to the Mages Guild, while keeping these organizations different and not clones of each other.
Stats for supposed Arena creatures pack.
So if you like any of these ideas and can help to implement some of these into the game — please do! If you got something to add or to argue about — you're welcome! Let's make Iliac Bay great again and all that.
Same sentiment is applied to this new work.
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Racial Rebalance
The reasons for this rebalance are to make some races more “viable”, shall we say, to make all of them more fun and to fit them better to the wider TES lore.
All races should gain several special lore-friendly traits which each race more defined. Attribute modifiers are streamlined: a race-gender combinations either gains 2 bonus, 1 malus or 3 bonuses, 2 maluses. Males more often get 3-2, while females tend to get more conservative 2-1, but not always. In some cases Attribute distribution went to completely different direction compared to Daggerfall classic, because it feels more interesting and/or friendly to the wider TES lore.
If a race gains a bonus to something, then it should be cheaper in Advantage Points to increase that. For example, if you are playing as a High Elf, who have 1.5x INT in Spell Points, you can take 3x INT in Spell Points, and it will be cheaper, because your 1.5 will be “refunded”. You also can take less Spell Points, like 0.75, and gain some Advantage Points for that. Same is with, say, Nords, who have a Resistance to Cold. You can take a cheap Immunity to Cold.
If you are converting an innate Immunity or another power to a Weakness, then current Daggerfall Unity algorithm is already perfect for that. So, a High Elf with Weakness to Paralysis will still enjoy some resistance to that, because of his innate Immunity.
Each race should get a bonus modifier to relations with NPCs of the same race. This works as a nice bonus to Bretons and, to less extent, Redguards.
Argonian
Male Argonian character modifiers:
— Default
+10 Agility
+10 Speed
-10 Endurance
— Suggested
+10 Endurance — Penalty does not feels right, they are hardy creatures.
+10 Agility
+10 Speed
-10 Willpower — They do not strike as the strongest mages.
-10 Personality — Because of prejudice and xenophobia.
Female Argonian character modifiers:
— Default
+10 Strength
-10 Endurance
— Suggested
+10 Endurance — Same as males.
+10 Personality — Changed Strength to Personality, because of certain memetic Maid.
-10 Willpower
Argonian Special Advantages:
Reduced Fatigue loss while swimming.
Constant Water Breathing. — It is just more convenient and not game-breaking.
Immunity to Poison. — Their physiology is different and common toxins may just not work on them. This is good advantage, probably the best they have, others are mostly for fluff.
Resistance to Disease 50%. — Same, different physiology, so common pathogens are not that effective on them.
//
Classic Argonians have only swimming shtick. Their lowered Endurance works badly with their Agility, Speed or Strength bonuses.
Suggested Argonians are better balanced warriors, baseline wizards (willpower penalty is not that heavy and can be worked around), with great trait of Immunity to Poison. They are not a joke anymore.
Breton
Male Breton character modifiers:
— Default
+10 Intelligence
+10 Willpower
-10 Strength — Returned Strength to males and Endurance to females. Females are supposed to have more stamina than males, while males are generally stronger.
-10 Endurance
— Suggested
+10 Intelligence
+10 Willpower
-10 Endurance
Female Breton character modifiers:
— Default
+10 Intelligence
+10 Willpower
-10 Strength
-10 Endurance — Returned Endurance to females and Strength to males. Females are supposed to have more stamina than males, while males are generally stronger.
— Suggested
+10 Intelligence
+10 Willpower
-10 Strength
Breton Special Advantages:
Resistance to Magic 50%. — 30% is kinda weak, won’t really help against most spell attacks.
Increased Magery INT in Spell Points. — They are one of the magical races. Even if you are playing as a non-mage, being a Breton allows you to use more magic than most.
//
Classic Bretons were good.
Suggested Bretons have more pronounced magic abilities and have a bit more potential as warriors.
Dark Elf
Male Dark Elf character modifiers:
— Default
+10 Strength — Removed, they are not that strong.
+10 Intelligence — Removed, most of them are not book-smart.
-10 Willpower — Changed to bonus, because they are kinda talented mages.
-10 Personality — They are not that bad, only Morrowind Dark Elves are raging xenophobes.
— Suggested
+10 Willpower — Magic aptitude.
+10 Agility — Warrior aptitude.
-10 Luck — Curse of Azura mostly, but the whole Dark Elf grim history manifests that way.
Female Dark Elf character modifiers:
— Default
+10 Intelligence
-10 Willpower — Removed to fit overall balance.
— Suggested
+10 Intelligence
+10 Speed — Useful for fighters and thieves.
-10 Luck — Curse of Azura mostly, but the whole Dark Elf grim history manifests that way.
Dark Elf Special Advantages:
Bonus Damage and Chance To Hit = Level / 4.
Increased Magery INT in Spell Points. — They are definitely a magical-inclined race.
//
Classic Dark Elves were kinda strange.
Suggested Dark Elves are good fit for a Spellsword/Battlemage character, or even a Nightblade. They are fine warriors and competent mages, not the best in one or another, but better than most in everything.
High Elf
Male High Elf character modifiers:
— Default
+10 Intelligence
+10 Willpower
-10 Strength — Removed to fit overall balance.
-10 Endurance
— Suggested
+10 Intelligence
+10 Willpower
-10 Endurance
Female High Elf character modifiers:
— Default
+10 Intelligence
+10 Personality
-10 Strength
-10 Endurance
— Suggested
+10 Intelligence
+10 Willpower — Added to fit overall balance.
+10 Personality — High Elf females are hot, everybody knows that.
-10 Strength
-10 Endurance
High Elf Special Advantages:
Immunity to Paralysis.
Increased Magery 1.5x INT in Spell Points. — The most magical race.
//
Classic High Elves were very powerful, but mostly due to Critical Weakness to Paralysis exploit. This is balanced in Daggerfall Unity, but they remain a good magic race.
Suggested High Elves are the greatest magic race in the game, as they should be according to lore. But their abilities, on the other hand, are very interesting for some sort of a fearless Crusader, who can’t be stopped by Paralysis, got impressive amount of Spell Points by default and may throw majority of his training into combat prowess.
Khajiit
Male Khajiit character modifiers:
— Default
+10 Endurance — They are not that tough, usually tend to be agile and fast.
-10 Willpower
-10 Agility — What? Khajiits with lowered Agility? No.
— Suggested
+10 Agility — Obviously.
+10 Speed — Why not, great fit.
+10 Luck — Blessed by Azura and lucky bastards in general.
-10 Intelligence — Not dumb per se, just uneducated probably.
-10 Willpower — Got skooma?
Female Khajiit character modifiers:
— Default
+10 Luck
— Suggested
+10 Agility — Obviously.
+10 Luck
-10 Willpower — Got skooma?
Khajiit Special Advantages:
+30 to Climbing checks.
Expertise in Hand-to-Hand. — They got claws!
Expertise in Short Blades. — Thieving archetype.
//
Classic Khajiits are not really fit to wider TES lore, and they don’t have good special advantages. Sure, hardcore burglars may find Climbing bonus pretty useful, but it is very situational and, to be honest, weak and unnecessary.
Suggested Khajiits are better balanced for being fast, agile warrior-thief, completely keeping all their basic features.
Nord
Male Nord character modifiers:
— Default
+10 Strength
+10 Endurance
-10 Intelligence — Removed, they are not that stupid.
-10 Willpower — “You are part of a tall and fair-skinned people, strong, willful, and hardy.”
-10 Agility — Removed, bad for warrior archetype.
— Suggested
+10 Strength
+10 Endurance
-10 Speed — Nords are big and heavy, not fast.
Female Nord character modifiers:
— Default
+10 Luck — Removed, doesn’t fit.
-10 Intelligence — Removed, they are not that stupid.
— Suggested
+10 Endurance — All Nords are tough.
+10 Agility — While males are strong, females are agile. Works good.
-10 Speed — Nords are big and heavy, not fast.
Nord Special Advantages:
Resistance to Frost 50%. — 30% is kinda weak, won’t really help against most spell attacks.
Expertise in Axes. — Traditional weapon choice for brutish types.
Expertise in Blunt Weapons. — Another traditional weapon choice for brutish types.
//
Classic Nords have really hard penalties to stats, which feels uncalled for. Sure, males are strong, but heavily gimped as mages, and also got agility penalty, which sucks for warrior. Females are plain weird. In general, classic Nords do not have traits which support their archetype.
Suggested Nords are what they need to be: tough, either strong (males) or agile (females) warriors, kinda sluggish, with great resistance to Frost and really good with certain brute force weapons. It may be fun to play some kind of Nord spellcaster, obviously penalty to Intelligence and Willpower hurts, but may be dealt with. If you’ll upgrade your Frost Resistance to Immunity, it would be even better. And it is great both to be able to use mage’s Staff efficiently and to be able to change to a Warhammer in a pinch.
Redguard
Male Redguard character modifiers:
— Default
+10 Agility
+10 Luck — Removed, does not feel right.
-10 Intelligence
-10 Willpower
-10 Endurance — Right, the most specialized warrior race with lowered Endurance?
— Suggested
+10 Strength — They kinda need that to be the best.
+10 Endurance — Again, they need that.
+10 Agility
-10 Intelligence
-10 Willpower
Female Redguard character modifiers:
— Default
+10 Speed — They are not Khajiits, and while it’s a good stat, it is removed.
+10 Luck — Again, not Khajiits.
-10 Strength — What.
-10 Intelligence
-10 Willpower
-10 Endurance — No.
— Suggested
+10 Strength — The only female with bonus Strength, and it feels right.
+10 Agility — A Redguard without Agility is not a Redguard.
-10 Intelligence
Redguard Special Advantages:
Bonus Damage and Chance To Hit = Level / 3.
Athleticism. — Look below.
Adrenaline Rush. — This and an Athleticism work fine for a warrior. They are often used as a part of default warrior class packages, but: 1) so are Spell Point bonus, and these feel great with magical races; 2) default classes (and general list of Traits) should probably be reworked anyway, at some time in the future.
//
Classic Redguards are supposed to be great warriors. And they mostly are, because of their Bonus Damage and Chance To Hit = Level / 3, which equals to Expertise in all weapon types. But their attributes were far from logical and not really lore-friendly.
Suggested Redguards are the ultimate choice for pure fighter. If you want some wiggle option, then you may be better with a Nord, Khajiit, Wood Elf or even Argonian. But if you don’t care and just want a straight slaughter machine, then pick a Redguard.
Wood Elf
Male Wood Elf character modifiers:
— Default
+10 Agility
+10 Speed
-10 Endurance — Removed, they are forest dwellers, should be tough.
-10 Luck — Removed, no particular reason to have it.
— Suggested
+10 Endurance — Again, they are forest dwellers.
+10 Agility
+10 Speed
-10 Strength — They are small.
-10 Intelligence — They are kinda simple people.
Female Wood Elf character modifiers:
— Default
None. — Feels like an oversight. Why exactly Wood Elf females are the most “balanced”?
— Suggested
+10 Agility — All Wood Elves should have it.
+10 Speed — Same.
-10 Strength — Small size.
Wood Elf Special Advantages:
Expertise in Archery.
Bonus to hit Animals. — Obvious from their lore.
Resistance to Poison 50%. — Protected by Jephre? Hardened physique? Feels right.
//
Classic Wood Elves are great archers, especially males. But their stat distribution is not really fit the wider TES lore. Females feel unfinished.
Suggested Wood Elves are still wonderful archers, but because of the Bonus to hit Animals, they can be something more than one-trick ponies. Resistance to Poison, especially if upgraded to complete Immunity, is obviously a great feature.
Imperial
New race for Daggerfall, but not new for TES. Should either use the body for Bretons/Nords or have a new body, darker than that one but not as dark as a Redguard. Faces skin tone should be setup accordingly.
Male Imperial character modifiers:
— Suggested
+10 Strength — They are a warrior race, being descendants of the Nords.
+10 Personality — As it is known in other games, Imperials are charismatic diplomats.
+10 Luck — Why not, it is great to be born as a member of the winning stock.
-10 Willpower — They are a bit relaxed.
-10 Agility — Lore-wise, they rely upon heavy armor more than agility. Mechanically, this does not works at the moment, but the combat will probably be reworked in the future.
Female Imperial character modifiers:
— Suggested
+10 Intelligence — While males serve as legionnaires, females work as support, often taking a spellcasting role.
+10 Personality — Charismatic diplomats.
+10 Luck — Winners by birthright.
-10 Endurance — A bit too refined.
-10 Agility — City-dwellers, not used to dodge wild bears or something.
Imperial Special Advantages:
Expertise in Long Blade. — Legionnaires anyone?
Bonus to hit Humanoids. — They need to keep everyone else in obedience, and it helps.
//
Imperials are great agents of the Emperor. They are able warriors, females are potentially good mages, and they can persuade other people like few can do.