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The Companions of Skyrim - No Facelifts

This version of The Companions of Skyrim is identical to the other one I have posted, except for one difference: I did not change their appearance at all, just their armor. For those who have not seen my other one though, I will go into detail on that this mod does.

First off the giant. Why, oh why, is he so bloody weak?!?!?! You can almost never catch him in time to help unless you do console commands for stamina potions, and then it's STILL usually a miss. So I fixed that. He went from 200 to 1400 HP, and I was able to make it at lvl 1 with no potions necessary. Still used the sprint whenever it was full, but hey he was up and at plenty of health when I got there.

Another beef I had was the weakness of the wolf armor. These guys are the best warriors in Skyrim! Their armor is Skyforge Steel crafted for crying out loud!! Why is it equal to general steel, especially when it requires the Advanced Armors perk to be upgraded?!?! So I beefed it up. It's now equal to orcish quality, which I did because their is literally only 3 points difference between steel plate and orcish, and orc armor only looks good on an orc. I also added a craftable circlet to the steel smithing tree for those who are more circlet inclined. It requires 3 regular sapphires and a steel ingot. However like the wolf armor itself, it does require the Advance Armors perk to be fully upgraded. My most recent update should have placed it in the steel armor category of the smithing menu.

And then there's Eorlund Gray-Mane. Why is a blacksmith working bare-chested next to molten metal?! Seems downright insane to me, so I made him put on a blacksmith's apron instead. Safety first people! Plus I fleshed out the skyforge with a smelter, workbench, and tanning rack. No more running to Warmaiden's and back.

Now for the companions themselves. All have had their skills and perks redesigned to go with their actual class and abilities. All have also been beefed up considerably in the area of leveling. I also added the Light Foot perk to all to prevent them triggering traps like they always seem to do. Here is a listing of what I actually did per member.

Aela: Made her a custom ancient nord armor set that's identical in looks to her default gear, just light armor instead of heavy so it uses her skills while still keeping her look. She also has a Nord Hero's Bow and steel arrows now. Her skills have been balanced more towards her archery abilities and she has perks to reflect her armor and battle skills. She can level with you to 80.

Vilkas: For some reason, despite having a skyforge steel greatsword to weild in battle it wasn't actually in his inventory. I found that bizarre, so now he actually has one. I also moved his skills around so he;s more devoted to two handed (as a master trainer he should be) and heavy armor, with perks to match, but I did also add a couple perks for one handed, since that is how you first meet him. Didn't seem right not to. He can level with you to 80.

Farkas: He is almost exactly the same as Vilkas only with more heavy armor skill befitting his place as a master trainer. I did up his two handed cuz it was laughable for his combat style. And he now wears full wolf armor just like his brother. He can level with you to 80.

Skjor: Didn't do too much, considering his fate and you never actually get to use him as a follower. Mostly just added a couple perks just because I didn't feel right leaving him out.

Ria: She now wears full Imperial plate because, well, she's an imperial. She has a steel shield now instead of iron and has perks in block, heavy armor, and one handed. She can level with you to 60.

Athis: Our resident dunmer now has full steel armor complete with shield and has had his one handed totally beefed up so he's not so wimpy in the field. Perks reflect his gear and abilities as an expert one handed trainer. He can level with you to 60.

Torvar: He now has a steel shield and his skills and perks now reflect his use of light armor and his weapons, with a block perk to round it out. He can level with you to 60.

Njada Stonearm: She now wears a full scale set and has a steel shield over the crappytastic iron one. Her skills have been moved around to put more emphasis on her one handed and most importantly her block. She's an expert block trainer and she now has the skills and perks to prove it. She can level with you to 60.

I have tested all the features out and they do seem to be in proper working order. The only compatability issue I have found is with other mods that alter the appearance of the companions. They will work and will not crash, however if your appearance mod does not give them armor, teir armor will revert to whatever the appearance mod does. My advice? Place this at the end of your load order in reference to your Companions mods. That should fix thie issue. The only other bug I know of with the mod itself is one I have encountered many times with as many Companions mods. A character or two will show up naked, in this case it appears to be Skjor and Torvar. I've seen every one of them have this issue at one time. I just call it free eye candy now lol. This is really easy to fix though. Just open the console command (~ key) click on the offending character, and then type disable, press enter, and type enable. That usually fixes it.