This is an idea I have had floating around in my head for a long time. Like in real life we cannot be master of all and often when we focus in some areas of our life, skills we were good at before become rusty or even forgotten. Also like in life, sometimes we realize that the path we are walking in our skills base isn't really us anymore and so we will seek out a better feel for ourselves discarding what we no longer feel is who we are and focusing else where. So I am proposing to make a mod, once the creation kit has been released that will address this need of mine. This I hope will also mean that any future mods, DLC etc will still be challenging for our favorite created characters, rather than them being master of all, and not really enjoyable anymore.

I will not be touching any spells or how perks work... as there are so many talented others here that really do take my breathe away with their inventiveness. I will however or at least I hope to find how to add perk points as I will explain.

> Depending on how developed a skill is, will also govern how it depletes without use. For example novice skills without use will deplete quicker than expert without use. Being a master means no depletion as the level suggests

> If a skill depletes below required perk level then that perk will be removed and (hopefully) the player will recoup that perk point to use where they see fit. Thus in my thinking everything is that is written in the stars is open to interpretation. Also means you can respec your build through playing a different way.

> Skill groups Magic, Combat and Stealth will adversely effect each other, meaning you'll have to work harder to become good in more than one skill group. So as a skill increases a point in one Group skills from other groups lose some of their experience. Skills such as one handed/two handed, light/heavy armour though I propose will also act as though from a different group but less experience loss.

> Your actual level will not be changed due to any depletion so any foes you encounter if they are dependent on what level you are will still be and if you have weakened yourself then such is life.

> I'm also tinkering with the idea of capping the amount of skills that can be mastered to 3 if from different groups and 4 if only skills from one group. all other skills will stay on 99 if those limits are reached. Thus for instance mastering Smithing, Alchemy and Enchanting means you will not be able to master any other skill.

> Smithing, Alchemy and Enchanting are skills that you do at a work place and therefor I've imagined you can have notes for recipes and procedures so they will have a slower depletion and longer span of time before depletion starts.

> Depleting skills will only happen after a period of non use in the games world time, unless as stated above. Time frame will start after a day since last used and depletion will increase the longer you don't use a skill.

> Adding a NPC to Throat of the World who will only speak to you after certain conditions are met will be able to (I hope) remove all your perks and give you all perk points back. This could be seen as a cheat though I realize. Location being the highest peak and closest to the stars to influence them. My way of thinking about this is, often playing a certain way just feels wrong or some-one comes out with a must have mod that changes how you want to play the game, but the thought of restarting when so much effort has been put into your character and feel deflated at the thought of starting again, I feel this will be atleast some way of continuing, changing your perks build and remaining immersive.



Well these are my thoughts about the skill system and what I'll be working towards on release of the creation kit, I thank you for reading and I'm open to suggestions or comments as long as at the heart of reply is a passion to make Skyrim a better experience.

I think that this is quite a good idea which adds lots of immersion - but maybe it's also quite hard to implement in some way. On the other side you could also add a little optical feature. A warrior who relies on his physical strength has normally more muscles - so maybe there's a way to actually rise the slider from skinny to bulky with advancing skills in weapons, hence there are no attributes anymore to raise. But that would require even more thoughts about the skills.

So, to sum up - I like your idea, even though I'm curious if it would actually work in a way that the game is still able to be solved by the player.

That is quite an inventive approach to skills.

What about having the skill diminish only as low as what you could consider a 'milestone' achievement in that particular skill. each skill could have its own unique 'milestones'. As a basic example, skill levels 20, 50, 80 and 100. If your skill reaches at least say 50, then your depletion for not using the skill can not go lower than 50. But you can still lose perk benefits below the 50 if you continue to not use the skill...

In addition, i would suggest that the depletion DOES affect the player level to an extent. Reason for this is because if my character level is 30 then i have 30 perks and my skills are at various levels (assuming you need 5 skill level advances to increase a level then at lvl 30 you have increased 150 skill levels in total across all skills). If one skill starts to deplete because i am no longer using it then i am losing the experience that it originally gave me. So by the time i max out my player level i will be short changed skill levels. I hope you follow what im saying... to counter this i would suggest a skill can only deplete as much as your current player level. Allow me to try and break that down further...

Let us assume you need 100 XP to increase a skill level (whether it be experience points or usage -swings of a sword or whatever)... Now lets assume the player level requires a total of 5 skill levels to increase. If my players lvl is currently 3/5 of the way top the next level (about the midway point) then i can lose a total of 3 skill levels which brings my player level back to the start of that level. But i can not deplete LOWER than my actual level. Otherwise im being short changed skill levels. Keep in mind, your character will always gain experience in some skill. So your experience is always increasing. But it is only when a skill level increases does it then affect your player level progress... You could still have 70 xp in a particular skill, and it could deplete to 0, lowering the player level of 3/5 to 2/5, and that particular skill is now at 100 of the previous skill level. If you use that skill again it will level up, if you continue to not use it it will deplete down to 0 at which point lowering the players level of 2/5 to 1/5... but it can NEVER lower the players level below 0/5.

Did that make sense

I quite like your idea as it adds a whole new dimension to character development and it makes the player think twice about skills he uses. And doesnt use!