http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/17010-1-1336956208.jpg



!!!!!!!!!!!!!!NOTICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If nothing else, read the Instructions section for post-activation procedure.




Author: MadCat221 (MadCat221@gmail.com)

Version: 1.0.1

May 13, 2012

1. Introduction
2: List of Alterations
3: Installation and Setup Instructions
4. Version History

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1. INTRODUCTION
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Shouts... are kinda lackluster. A lot of them are outright obviated by magic effects, or just plain become useless once the level thresholds are passed. Also... why don't you ever get *better*? The only skill advancement you get is more shouts and shout tiers.

Dragonborn Ascendant aims to correct this, and make the Thu'um something truly powerful: Leveled shouts, more practical cooldowns, even a couple outright replaced in function.


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2. LIST OF ALTERATIONS
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* Added special ability spell "Dragonborn Ascendant", which will give a Dragonsoul Boost, giving 3% shout cooldown reduction for every 5 dragon souls you absorb, up to 50 souls (meaning 30% reduction).
Why not more? Because it can stack with the two vanilla cooldown reduction sources (Amulet or Blessing of Talos) for a total of 70%. If you want to belt off shouts every half-second, break your game balance on your own.
* Fire and Frost Breath shouts now have 25/35/45 second cooldowns.
* Ice Form also has shorter cooldowns, at 40/50/60.
* Fire and frost breath now have tiered damage increments every 10 levels, starting at level 20. Each shout word level has a tiered damage. Additionally, Destruction special perk effects (burn panic, paralysis) are applied.
* Unrelenting Force, at full power, can stagger a dragon.
* Dismay has a similar leveled-tiered system as Fire/Frost Breath. At all three words of power and at level 50+, you can scare *anything*.
* Disarm also has a level-tiered system. At level 50+, you can disarm *anything* with all three words.
* Become Ethereal is now also tiered as well.
* Animal Allegiance now, instead of calling for animals that may or may not be there and may or may not arrive on time to be of any use, now instead summons spectral animals. Tier 1 is a wolf, tier 2 a sabrecat, tier 3 a http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EverythingsWorseWithBears.

Draugr shouts are now completely separated, keeping only the Dragonborn's shouts empowered by this mod. This may cause conflicts, as I had to alter the draugr actor forms to implement the change.

Reasonings and musings: Fire/Frost Breath were so badly outclassed by the Destruction Adept AoE spells it was pointless to use them. Now, they're very useful burst damage attacks. Not something to rely on as a mainstay damage dealer still. At higher levels, they actually are useful against boss encounters!
Full-power Unrelenting Force can knock a Drac upside the head now, but Dragonrend is still a far better dragon attack disruptor. It's basically there for early game time. Also... it won't work on Alduin.

More changes will happen as I figure out how to keep them balanced.

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3: INSTALLATION AND SETUP INSTRUCTIONS
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This module isn't quite plug and play. Because I'm a lazy bum (and because Papyrus still kinda scares me >_> ), the Dragonsoul Boost ability is not automatically applied.


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ONCE THE MODULE IS ACTIVE, FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS PROVIDED IN THE IMAGE "DragonsoulBoostInstructionImage.jpg".
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4. VERSION HISTORY
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v1:
Initial Release.

v1.0.1 (May 17, 2012):
Added Ice Form cooldown shortening to the list. Forgot to mention it before, it was still present in 1.0.
Added a note to the instruction image that the Dragonsoul Boost power won't appear int he magic effect list until you have at least 5 dragonsouls.
Fixed the Draugr shouts inadvertently getting added to the Player list. If you accidentally had either added, use the console command "player.removeshout xx002596" for Frost Breath and "player.removeshout xx00259c" (where the xx is the load order prefix of the mod, which you can find again with the Dragonsoul Boost instructions).


IMAGES

http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/17010-1-1337272323.jpg

http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/17010-3-1336956211.jpg

http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/17010-4-1336956211.jpg


http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=17010 from Skyrim Nexus

Any plans on introducing new shouts?

As those require voice work, in all likelihood no. I'll continue to tinker with buffing existing shouts though, if anyone has suggestions. The caveat is that they have to not be OP'd. Well, at least not until Level 50, then all bets are off.

Couldn't you re-use the existing voice assets as long as you just create new combinations of existing words instead of shouts with new words entirely?

Thanks..
I been looking for a mod like this..
downloading...

Great, I was just asking about this today! D/Ling now.

I agree on this can't it be done without VO? I think deadly dragons does it.

Nice cover image

Grerat to see this released! Can't wait to try it out! Finally an incentive to use the shouts! Maybe a silly question, but still, can this be used with an existing character who already knows some of the modified shouts? Will the changes be applied automatically even to the shouts he already uses? Just asking to be sure.

They should be applied automatically.

...Except the dragonsoul boost. Just follow the instruction image for that. After that's added to your char, it'll calculate automatically.

Thought so, but thanks a lot for confirming . Good luck with this project!

Some upcoming plans:

Dragonrend on Daedra: Since the whole effect of Dragonrend is to inflcit the concept of mortality onto an immortal mind, this should apply to daedra too. The daedra will be staggered, slowed, and will also suffer a significant weakening of their armor.

Marked for Death: This will also get a tiered upgrade, and probably also will have the armor loss effect magnified in general. 75 armor loss at max power is honestly a drop in the bucket.

maybe make a new one with the same vocals, Daedrarend?

A while back I had a discussion with a guy who had a nice idea regarding shouts; instead of entirely utilizing cooldowns, use a magicka/health/stamina penalty (determined by the shout in question) that's applied to you when you use a shout. Thus, high level shouts (such as the time slow) will cost actual health, lower level ones may cost just magicka and stamina, but may have a lower cooldown than before. I guess the idea's a bit moot when you consider instant use potions.. but that's another subject on its own.

A suggestion for Marked for Death: if I understand you correctly, it is currently just a penalty of 75 armor rating (as opposed to 75% of armor)? I think it should reduce armor by a percentage; shouts aren't limited by level like weapons and spells, so a shout be useful at level 1 AND at level 50 (which is largely a purpose of this mod ). A good way to do this in the case of Marked for Death I think would be something like -25/35/50% armor rating instead of just a flat penalty.

It's actually to inscribe a sense of fear and despair associated with mortality on one that doesn't understand it, thus causing disorientation. However, the Daedra are already familiar with those feelings (and in some cases specifically trained to overcome it):
http://imperial-library.info/content/spirit-daedra

What they don't understand is why mortality doesn't cause despair in mortals, not that they don't know what those feelings are and don't experience it (unlike dragons). This is also not even mentioning how Dragonrend was created by mortals specifically for their hatred of dragons, not general immortal creatures. I would say, if you're trying to be lore friendly, don't make Dragonrend affect Daedra. Bethesda didn't do it, and there's good reason to believe it shouldn't work.

I had forgotten all about that text.

Just as well... it was causing message spam about resistances.

Finally... A mod that will keep bandits in fur armor from shrugging off full powered shouts as if they were rocks.

Hi, I am having a bit of a problem with the mod. I tried to add the spell via console (I did this stuffbefore, so I guess I did it more or less right ). But if I type th command, I get a response that:" Dragonborn ascendant not added to *player name*". And it is true as I cannot find the spell in any part of the spell list (where should it be, BTW). Do you have any idea what might be wrong? Thanks.

How many dragon souls do you have?

If you get it, you will find it under the active effects section of the magic/spell screen.

About two, maybe three. Does that matter? Did I miss anything in the install guidelines?


Thanks.

That's not enough to trigger it. You need at least five, as the notes say, to get any sort of cooldown reduction from it.

If it's still not showing up after getting your fifth, then something's up.

I did not notice that, sorry. The thing that surprised me is that I did not get the spell at all. Off to kill some dragons then. I'll drop by when i have 5+ souls to report. Thanks for the reply.

Just posted a bugfix. Read the OP for details.