If anything with regards to hypothermia I'd say


reduced vision (possible)

reduced Stamina regeneration (possible)

Reduced movement speed (possible)

reduced Rection/swinging time (possible)

More energy required to fighe (possible)

for swimming? sorry I have no idea, you can't fight or even "sprint swim" under water, you dont even use Stam when swimming, so..


where Metal armors would not help you in that weather, Fur would with Hide being a close second (the fully decked out kind, not the G man straps ;D)

For swimming (Cramps, which are more likely with Hypothermia than not because muscle use involves chemical processes and Cramps are usually Knots/when the process doesn't occur in certain pattern/uniform manner) you could just effect movement speed or trigger stagger effects, also just because you don't need Stamina to swim doesn't mean affecting stamina wouldn't cause other issues [especially if you mod it so it does]. The lack of Attributes in Skyrim isn't an impairment to modding, its actually quite liberating since you can make your own and just concentrate on those altering the Effects of the Actions/Results/Base Stats.

I don't need a mod for this myself; I always manage this issue on my own. I carry a spare set of fur armour and/or hides when traveling in cold regions. I never equip them, but I pretend my character is wearing them under or over their other armour.

I like this concept, even if daily needs mods are a pointless nuisance to me. Especially if it can detect weather and also hit you with a multiplier after coming out of water, a little environmental danger puts more significance into exploring.

Argonians... are kinda open to interpretation, their physiology isn't very well known. Maybe they have a more variable body temperature to begin with, so a little cold won't hurt them, but as they get colder and colder the negatives ramp up faster.

The negatives themselves should also be something you can't pop a potion and ignore, -stats would send players running for cover faster than -stamina or -hp. Blackouts, stumbles, and random direction changes would add a nice touch of terror, especially if you overestimate your limits and have to look for shelter in a blizzard.

The only snag I see is that it's hard to believe your character has cold problems when any little nook can be turned into a roaring furnace by chucking fireballs into one spot.

This is a great idea. I agree completely. Especially in the north, around Winterhold and Dawnstar. I mean, all that constantly blizzarding snow and the icebergs in the water? Brrr!! I live in the Great Lakes region in the US and it gets VERY cold and VERY snowy in the winter, and I wouldn't even think of spending more than an hour outside without a coat or gloves.

Magicka Generation could/should be affected by it since thats apparently some sort of Focus stat - being able to manipulate magic/what-not to a degree, not necessarily the capacity for it. Using Magic should probably be an option to overcome it as well. Though I imagine most would find it easier and probably healthier (especially if you can damage yourself with your own spells) to deal with it more 'naturally'. Keeping active is a typical counter to cold (generate heat from Stamina usage).

Magicka it my understanding is a literal supply of energy, but if you want to model a disrupted focus limiting casting increasing the cost of spells by a percentage would do the trick. I imagine that throwing fire spells around could provide some temporary relief, and resist cold spells would work even better.

The problem with the keeping active method of staying warm is that you have to keep it up. You start sweating and then stop with the activity and no place to escape the cold and you have a serious problem.

Yeah, maybe this mod could punish you if you dress your girl up in "armor" that includes a miniskirt and a backless vest.

But more seriously, I keep expecting frost damage when I jump in the water. In spite of knowing the previous games didn't do that. Frost damage just for being in the snow might be a problem, but what about something specifically for swimming? That would freeze you real fast, even if you're actually clothed.

Balance wise I don't think I would make any region dangerous on a bright sunny day. I would base it off of the weather and the region you are in. Worse weather means a higher chance of suffering hypothermia, which probably means blizzard conditions in most of Skyrim.

As has been discussed before being in ice water isn't nearly as bad being in very cold air. It is getting out of the water and being wet in the cold that kills. Though come to think of it Salt water freezes at lower temperatures than fresh water, so the Sea north of Skyrim would be a pretty bad place to fall into.

Actually that means Salt Water is less dangerous than Fresh Water because you would need lower temperatures to actually freeze, anyhow a person would probably die of hypothermia before actually freezing.

The point is that the temperature of the water is already lower if it has ice floating in ti, so it will sap the heat from your body faster and continue to do so longer if you can't get dry.

In morrowind you did suffer frost damage from Blizzards and Water around Solsthiem.

But of course alot of things from Morrowind didn't make a come back.

The beauty of it is I don't, nor never have, given a rats ass about what people think of my ideas. If they like it, great. If not, great. Its not my place to tell people what they should and should not like, which is why I am glad Bethesda did not include, IMHO, silly micromanagement things like this in the game.

To me, this idea sounds like it means another item to carry, and something pointless to worry about. "Oh no, I'm in the cold. let me stop the game so i can put on my coat."

If it were a select few dungeons that had a chilling effect, and there was an item to counter it, or potion, or whatever. Sure, I can live with that. But as an overall game mechanic throughout the whole world? No thanks.

But again, since its a mod idea, sure, go ahead. That way I wont have to use it.

Very good and valid idea!! It would be a very good emmersion adder. Perfectly suited for an ''not dumbdowned'' RPG imho. This kind of ''survival aspect'' is what is missing from most RPGs. I would'nt even mind adding the need for food and sleep to the equation. After all, these factors had to be delt with in classical pen and paper RPGs. Let it be optional, but put it in for the hardcoe roleplayers out there.

I like many other was quite surprised when i got up north and was walking on pack ice and then dove into the water where the ice stopped and realized i wasn't freezing, and living next to the atlantic ocean for 13 years in St. John's Nfld, i'm well aware that you can die literally in seconds in near freezing water. So i found it odd not to be taking damage.

lotro takes the approach that only the cold water will damage your health, they don't do damage just for being outside, i think skyrim at the very least needs this implemented and maybe even taking damage just out in the open if it gets very windy, although some people think whne its windy with snow its colder but when it snows it actually gets signifigantly warmer, but it would be hard to tell if theres cold wind without snow to be a hint. i also think it would be good(again like lotro) is that if things like fur armor gave you protection, and maybe a racial bonus for nords

I don't even really care about the immersion aspect of. It's the battle against the elements, the fight to survive against an enemy you can't bash in with your sword or blow up with a spell. It's a story that doesn't get told in RPG's out of highly scripted and planned sequences. Skyrim is uniquely adapted to tell this kind of story, not just technologically, but the setting itself is exactly where you would expect this kind of story to be told.

Skyrim also tells the story of a character that can grow to transcend the limitations of cold weather, with shouts that can clear the weather, and spells and enchantments that can make your resistant or even immune to the cold.

Ideally I would like to see a mod with different levels applied for gamers more or less interested in it. And I would go for the one the has situations so extreme that sometimes, no matter how much cold weather gear you have you will need to run, find some shelter, and start a fire.

Well, we have well rested and I would like to see a well heated counterpart. You name the buffs. These buffs can be increased to be attractive. And just attack regeneration rates and stamina please for any penalty from weather, elevation and cold water. Stopping regeneration and depleting stamina until being heated near a fire source would do wanders.

Different stamina reduction rates for different conditions and regeneration penalty when stamina reaches zero. For example, jumping to cold water quickly reducing stamina makes you race to land immediately. Or in cold weather, a slower reduction in stamina making you plan your way like "I have time to reach my destination" or "I should seek shelter immediately."

I would like to see people get in a fight or sprint in these conditions.

That would be a light mod which I would like to use for survival aspects.

Also traps must be deadlier.

I've thought about altitude sickness, but the times it would come up are generally the worst possible time to have it. Plus it doesn't actually have the potential to create an interesting story the same way hypothermia does so goes largely in the negative pile unless you are a hardcoe realist.

Altitude sickness is a good idea I think, but we don't have the athletics skill or endurance attribute any more. If we still had those(and we could add them in for a mod like this), I would set it up like so:

Track the PC's elevation for a while, then use the average to set an "acclimation" range, where your stamina level is set to normal. If you go down to sea level, you will get an endurance/athletics bonus, if you go to the highest elevations, you will suffer penalties. Just like real life. If the PC moves to spend all of his time at lower elevations for a while, his "acclimation zone" would move down, and the PC would then suffer worse penalties at high elevations, etc. Basically simulating the real life effect, scaled down to video game time/elevation.

I think it would be a cool idea, for a more dynamic game experience. The highest peaks would be more dangerous and foreboding, knowing the added challenge of high altitude atmosphere.

I've experienced this in real life, having lived in a house at 9000 feet in the Colorado rocky mountains for a year. I did a lot of hiking during my time there, and experienced a lot of elevation change, between climbing the "fourteeners" (Mountains that are 14,000ft tall or higher) in Colorado and sometimes visiting other parts of the US near sea level. Being acclimated to higher altitude does make a huge difference in cardiovascular endurance and stamina, I can vouch for that.

PS: This would be moving a bit more off topic, but with hardcoe hydration/food mods, taking elevation into account would be huge. The rate at which you dehydrate is much faster at high elevations.

Agreed, there's something not quite right about swimming around in freezing waters, and running around in a blizzard with just a mage robe on.

As I said, Altitude sickness is great for a realism pack, but I don't proposed Hypothermia simply for the realism. I propose it because the hunt for shelter to survive extreme cold weather can lead to an interesting story.

Because anyplace you might experience Altitude sickness in Skyrim almost garentees a Dragon fight or fight with some other boss level enemy, and doesn't force any kind of action to survive, simply makes life harder, I don't consider Altitude Sickness to be desirable for this. However, my proposed Cold Weather and Hypothermia mod could easily be incorporated into a realism mod that does use Altitude sickness.

This will of course be added to Skyrim. Just like eating, drinking, sleeping, etc. I can guarantee it, heh.

There's a difference?

So basically we just need Imp of Perverse to come into Skyrim. The author of http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=37254 and http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=37983, two of the most complex mods for FO3 and FNV and of course author of http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=34814.

I guess the devs considered that since Nords are pretty much resistant to cold, and also the fact that everyone has magic abillities and can easilly cast any number of fire spells, they simply didn't want to go back and have two-three sets of every type of armor (though they should've) But never mind that, I still think your idea is pure brilliance!