SkyUI 3 MCM compatability

Howdy, y'all.

I'm sorry for not releasing a new version during the past couple of months. I have been far too busy with school and work to make an update. I have not forgotten about this mod, though. If at some point I have more free time to work on it, then I will. I am not ignoring the complaints and bug reports that y'all give; rather, I simply haven't had the time to respond to you or to fix them.

That being said, with the announcement of the Mod Configuration Menu for SkyUI 3, I am going to try to take out some time from my busy schedule the next few weeks to make an MCM menu for Way of the Monk. One of the biggest complaints about this mod is the menus. They're crap. I know. Not only are they annoying to you, but they are annoying to me. To make the menus of the sort that WoM uses now often requires over 1000 lines of code, and many hours. I spent probably 100-200 hours working on the menus alone. The MCM is not only easier for the player to use, but supposedly it reduces the scripting time to a couple of hours max. Not only that, but it allows checkboxes, drop-down menus, option highlighting, sliders, and many other useful features. It is still in alpha phase, so it might change over time and y'all might not have downloaded it yet. However, once I learn the system and have taken the time to script it, I will hopefully have made Way of the Monk MCM compatable.

What does that mean for y'all? Well, first, the menus won't be so annoying. You will be able to press 'escape' to access them, rather than casting a spell or power. You will also be given more options. I will try to code into the menus new options including leveling speed. This will allow you to change how quickly you raise your Monk skills. I am not sure what the menu restriictions are, but I *might* (I stress *might*) even be able to create a menu for choosing perks. I hate the current menu system that this mod is using. It's awful. Especially when choosing perks. Many peoples' complaint is that they don't want to have to use those awful menus, and they want the process of choosing new perks to be easier. So far, that has not been possible without replacing an existing skill tree in the main leveling menu. MCM may allow me to do that.

I'm not sure exactly when I will create this menu. Likely, it will be an incremental process that may take a week or two, as I learn the MCM system and code when I get the opportunity. I may also need to wait a while for MCM to get out of alpha stage, to ensure that I don't have to rewrite part of the code. Supposedly, Gopher is going to make a tutorial on creating MCM menus, which I am also waiting for. The one downside of this is that the MCM menu will not be available for Steam Workshop users. I am going to add an optional download here on the Nexus for it. Also, I may have to change Way of the Monk to an ESM, which would make it incompatible with the Workshop.

Becoming A Master

...or at least a master file.

So, over the past version or two I have slowly been considering the possibility of changing my mod from an .esp to an .esm. Or, more understandably, from a plugin to a master file. The difference between plugin and master files are as follows.

Plugin File (.esp): The standard format for mods. They modify or add content within master files while they are loaded. Their changes are not permanent and will not actually modify the .esm file. Instead, Skyrim reads their information and makes the changes inside of the game. Every .esp has a list of master files that are required for it to run. Most of them only require the Skyrim.esm Master File. However, if one were to require Dawnguard, for instance, then it would require both Skyrim.esm and Dawnguard.esm. When you make a mod with the Creation Kit, they are the format that it saves your changes in. They can be uploaded to the Steam Workshop.

Master File (.esm): Skyrim.esm is the main master file. They are what hold all of the main files which the game uses. They have higher priority than any .esp files in the load order. You can make an .esp that modifies and .esm, but you cannot make an .esm that modifies an .esp. They are the star of the solar system and all of the little .esps orbit around them. They can only be created by using modder-made tools to convert a .esp to an .esm, and they cannot be uploaded to the Steam Workshop.

So, why the extended monologue about the difference between the two? Mainly because I am currently giving a significant amount of thought to changing my mod to an .esm. This has a number of pros and cons, but I think that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

Pros:

+ Modules. I would finally be able to make all of those optional modules that people have been asking for. Some people just want the overhaul without the weapons. Some want the skills to be in the vanilla perk trees. Others want quests. Some want small optionals like a Fists of Steel perk for Light armor. Others might want a Chi system. The list goes on. Making Way of the Monk a Master File mod would allow me to make those modules. You would download the master file with the whole shebang. Then, if you wanted certain aspects changed you could either download a module (.esp) for yourself, or even make your own to use.

+ Compatibility. Compatibility issues would be much easier to solve. Instead of having to change large parts of my system to work with another mod or have them do the same thing, I (or someone else) could just build an .esp that bridges the gap between the two mods and makes them compatible. It would be totally optional and the compatibility patches would be much easier to create.

+ Teamwork. If, at some point, someone else wanted to join me on the project and help me out, then a Master File would be a LOT easier to work with. Say, for instance, that someone wanted to help me build a questline for the mod. We could 1) work together on the SAME file at the SAME time using a program made by SureAI, allowing us to simultaneously build the questline together. Or 2) one of us could make an .esp plugin for the .esm that adds a questline that is totally optional. That way you could get the main mod without having to worry about all of the issues that come with quest mods.

Con:

+ No Steam Workshop. Unfortunately, the Steam Workshop does not allow modders to upload .esm Master Files. At all. And even if it did, it has a filesize limit of 100mb. While just the overhaul would not likely meet that size limit, the modules might. Especially if they included new meshes, textures, or sounds. The normal mod has already reached a size of 72 mb. Simply adding full dialog for two characters might raise the size past the 100mb limit on the Steam Workshop. If I turned Way of the Monk into a master file, then Steam users would not be able to download the latest versions from the Workshop. I would not delete the mod, so they would still be able to get whatever version existed before the change to .esm. However, to get any later versions they would *have* to use the Nexus.

Conclusions:

So, what do y'all think?

Personally, I think that it is worth the risk. As the creator, I want to grow this mod as much as I can without being limited by the Workshop's capabilities. However, I do not want to alienate players unless I have to. Please feel free to give me your input on the choice.

Poll: What Feature Do You Want?

If you've been following the comments on the Skyrim Nexus page for Way of the Monk, then you probably read me talking about a poll for new features. The gist of that discussion is this: Because I only have a limited amount of time to focus on modding, and because I want to please as many of my players as possible, I have been gathering a list of requested features to be added to the next version. Feel free to continue suggesting additions. Each of you get 3 votes for what you want to see in the next version. You can spend all of those votes on one feature, or spread them out. Post below in the comments with your 3 votes, along with any areas that you want me to work on (they will be added to the list).

• Chi system (needs a minimum of 20 votes) [4 votes]
• Improved aesthetics
• More perks [3 votes]
• More enchantments
• Perk transparency/improvement (making it easier for you to know the requirements) [2 votes]
• Improve unarmed stealth combat [3 votes]
• Food/alchemicy buffs for unarmed combat
• More armor (only I only have spellweaver armor approved so far)

The five features with the most votes will be added to the next version of the mod, as long a they have a minimum of 2 votes each. Feel free to suggest more!

Suggestions can include having specific mods incorporated into this one, but you MUST have gained permission from the mod author beforehand. I won't add a mod unless I have permission from the author.

Skyrim Monk Let's Play #1 - Intro

I have uploaded a new video for the Way of the Monk mod to Youtube. This video describes how the mod works, and introduces my upcoming Let's Play series for it.

If you'd like to be notified when I post more videos, then feel free to subscribe to the channel.

Tutorial: Creating A Skill

Object: To create a new skill using Papyrus scritps

Difficulty: Very complicated and difficult

Time Needed: A great deal. If you are an unexperienced modder, it will take you even longer. For experienced modders, while actually writing the scripts might not take much time, designing the system, implementing it, and perfecting it until it plays well can still take a long time.

An extended version of this tutorial, along with a fully-functional example woodcutting skill mod are available on the Skyrim Nexus for free.

Things you will need:

• Creation Kit.
• A plan for how the skill will work mathematically
• Scripting and general Skyrim modding experience

Note: You cannot create a new skill that uses the vanilla interface without editing most of the base code of the game. This tutorial explains a workaround tactic for create a system of scripts that let you track the how much the player does a certain item so that you can add perks, quests, or other features that depend on the player reaching a certain level in that skill. This tutorial is not going to follow the normal format (a list of buttons that you need to click and actions that you need to do). Rather, it is going to explain the concept of the skill workaround, and how to design/implement it. The actual implementation and the specific equations will be left to you to develop. In this tutorial, we will be using a Woodcutting skill as an example.

Setting up the XP: You first need to plan out the math of your skill. How you gain XP, how much XP you need to level, whether each level requires more XP, what higher levels give you, etc. These decisions will decide how the skill actually works mathematically and are extremely subject to change. I can't tell you how many times I have tweaked and changed my Unarmed leveling system in Way of the Monk. Once you being testing the skill you will inevitably find ways in which it can be improved or tweaked. What sounds good  in theory may not play well in the real game.

The first thing that you need to determine is the XP system. Even though Skyrim tries to take away the numbers as much as possible so that the game feels more immersive, it does actually use XP. Every time you use one of the skills (by casting a spell, hitting an enemy with a weapon, creating a potion, etc.) your XP is raised by a certain amount. Once it hits a cap, the skill level is then increased and the amount of XP needed to reach the next level is raised. You can study the XP system in Skyrim on the UESP wiki. I would highly recomend that you study the vanilla skills to gain a grasp of how they work. In the Woodcutting skill that I will be using as an example I used the following Papyrus Code:

if WoodcuttingXP.GetValue() >= 100
    WoodcuttingLevel.SetValue()WoodcuttingLevel.GetValue() + 1)
    WoodcuttingXP.SetValue(WoodcuttingXP - 100)
endif

Each time you activate the Woodcutting block, your XP will be raised. In the above code, the IF statement determines that when your XP reaches 100, your skill level is raised by one and your XP is reset.

If you want to have the amount of XP required to level increased every time, then you can do one of two things. 1) Instead of increasing the XP by a set amount every time the Woodcutting Block is activated, you should use a variable that can be decreased every time you level. So, say the variable starts out at a value of 10 and you must use the Woodcutting block 10 times to reach level 2. You should add to the above code a line that decreases that variable from 10 to (for instance) 8. Next time, it will take 12.5 (rounded to 13) uses of the Woodcutting Block to raise your level to 3. You can continue that process as long as you want to make it harder to level each time. Keep in mind, though, that if you simply subtract from the variable each time then the variable will eventually hit 0 and the level will never increase. So I would advise you to either write an IF statement to make sure that it never hits 0, or make sure that it hits 0 at just the right time if you want to have a level cap.

2) The other possibility is to have the amount of XP required to level set as a variable and increase it each time you gain a level. So, say at level 1 you gain 10 XP each time you use the Woodcutting Block and must acquire 100 XP to reach level 2. You can write the code so that when you hit level 2, the amount required to level is raised to (for example) 130. That way, it will take 13 uses of the Woodcutting Block to reach Level 3.

So, which of those methods should you use? It's really up to you. The second method is much more natural and runs much smoother than the first. But the first one makes it easier to modify the speed at which you raise your level with perks/abilities, and can be set up so that it stops level progression after a while.

Rewards: A skill is useless without rewards. You can give the player as fancy of an XP system as you want, but if it doesn't change the gameplay for them, then there is no point in downloading your mod. The vanilla game uses a perk system and a scaling system to reward the player for using a skill. The manner of your rewards depends entirely upon the skill that you are creating. For a Woodcutting Skill, the player might expect to be able to get a perk that increases the amount of firewood that they get each time they use the Woodcutting Block. Another good reward might be the ability to create items with your wood (arrows, bows, Forsworn items, etc.). Decide what type of reward you would like to give to the player.

Perks are the standard method of rewarding the player for raising their level. They are also an incredibly versatile way of giving bonuses to the player. I won't discuss perks in detail, since that's another discussion for another time. I will add, though, that one of the conditions that you can add to perks and their effects is the GetGlobalValue condition. This condition is extremely useful when using a skill system based upon Global Variables. If (for example), you want to specify that a Perk Entry only works when your Woodcutting Level is over 10, you can choose the S GetGlobalValue(WoodcuttingLevel) >= 10 condition information. This condition can also be used on Magic Effects in Spells.

Perk points are a good way of giving the player a choice in how they level. There is a reason why the game developers of Skyrim gave the player the choice of choosing their perks, rather than making the perk rewards mandatory like in Oblivion. It adds replay value and makes the player feel more invested in their character. If you're going to give the player that option, you will most likely end up having to create more perks so that they have some to choose from. While that means more work, it also means a more enjoyable playing experience.

The other type of reward that I mentioned was scaling. Scaling is when your ability to use the skill is improved as your level is increased. In the case of weapons, it means that your damage is increases when your level in that type of weapon is raised. The best way to set this up is to use an equation or perk that includes the skill level divided by a certain amount (e.g. effectiveness = 1 + Level*.01). You can also increase the effectiveness by a finite amount each time you level.

Example, using the equation:

        WoodcuttingEffectiveness.SetValue(1 + (WoodcuttingLevel.GetValue()*0.01))

OR by increasing it by a finite amount:

      WoodcuttingEffectiveness.SetValueInt(WoodCuttingEffectiveness.GetVaueInt() + 1)

This can be done with perks or by code in the leveling script. In the case of the example Woodcutting skill, the player can gain perks that increase the amount of wood that you gain each time you chop at the Chopping Block.

Another standard way of rewarding the player for raising their level is with new abilities or spells. New powers can be hard to make if you are trying to create a new type of effect that suits your skill, but they are a great way of making the player feel like they have accomplished something.

The other standard way of rewarding the player is with items. If you are a 3d artist, know someone who is, or have the permission of a mod author to use their models, you can add new items to reward the player with. Otherwise, you can add new enchantments or allow the crafting of vanilla items that you previously could not craft. Now, to fit the rest of the game, you probably don't want to simply add the item to their inventory once they reach a certain skill level. That breaks immersion and seems totally unnatural or special. It is best to either have a quest or a leveled list to give the item to the player. You can either make a quest for them to find it that you can only start once your skill reaches a certain level, or you can create a leveled list that has a chance to give you the item determined by a global variable. You can learn more about using globals in leveled lists by reading the "Chance None" entry on the wiki page, or by studying the Golden Touch perk in the Creation Kit.

The Coding Process: Now that you have finished the planning process, you need to actually write the code.

First, you need to find an Event that will run the code. This can actually be more challenging than it sounds. In my Way of the Monk mod, the Unarmed leveling script actually used the OnEffectStart Event because it was implemented as a script on a Magic Effect. Why? Because it was the only way to make sure that the script ran when the player successfully hit the enemy. Finding the right event can be tricky, and will likely take some testing. The Event that you use is totally dependent upon the nature of your skill, and it will probably take a lot of testing and inventive designing to find the right one.

For the Woodcutting example skill, finding the event was a bit difficult. I tried creating a unique script that ran on the OnActivate Event, but that ended up only running it whenever the player pressed 'e', rather than each time that they chopped wood. It would also run whenever NPCs used the Chop Block. So, instead, I edited the woodchoppingscript (not the vanilla script for the process) and added in my calculations as a function that ran when the played chopped a piece of wood.

        if WoodCuttingLevel.GetValueInt() <= 3
                WoodcuttingXP.SetValueInt(WoodcuttingXP.GetValueInt() + 1)
                if WoodcuttingXP.GetValueInt() >= 10
                        WoodcuttingLevel.SetValueInt(WoodcuttingLevel.GetValueInt() + 1)               
                        WoodcuttingXP.SetValueInt(WoodcuttingXP.GetValueInt() - 10)        
                        Debug.Notification("Your Woodcutting level has been raised to " + WoodcuttingLevel.GetValueInt())
                        PerkPointsAvailable.SetValueInt(PerkPointsAvailable.GetValueInt() + 1)
                        PerkPointsEarned.SetValueInt(PerkPointsSpent.GetValueInt() + PerkPointsAvailable.GetValueInt())
                endif
        endif

 After this, I created some perks, created a power to let you choose your perks and check your stats, and some notifications to let the player know that they are leveling as they use the Chop Block.

After you have found the Event to use, and have implemented the code, you need to test your mod. Creating the code is the easy part. Refining it takes time. I would highly suggest finding a group of modders to beta-test your skill once you have finished it. A system that seems to work well in the code and in your own testing might not work as pleasantly when others are using it.

Testing: After you have finished your planning, your coding, and your implementation, you must test your mod. I would highly suggest gathering a group of beta testers. You can do this by uploading your mod as a BETA version online. Let players know that what they are downloading is still in beta-mode, and give them an invitation to report any bugs or areas which could be improved.


Example: If you want to see an example of this tutorial in action, then feel free to download the Woodcutting Skill mod. You can also download an extended tutorial for creating a skill in PDF format.

Video Updates

If you've been reading the comment sections of either the Steam Workshop page or the Nexus page, you might have noticed me posting about video updates.

In fact, I have created a new Youtube channel for my modding projects. So far, I have created three videos to provide you with news. These videos will be coming out fairly regularly. I expect to be making at least one a week, and will also upload them whenever I have important information to give to ya'll.

The latest one can be watched below, which talks about the damage bug with the Unarmed weapon. In it, I also talk about how to fix the issue and discuss what will be in the next update. Feel free to subscribe to the channel if you would like to recieve notifications when I post modding updates and the occasional gameplay footage of Skyrim or other games that I run across.

Version 1.3 Changelog

I have completed most of the work on the next update and will post the final version as soon as I can on the Nexus and the Workshop. I am also going to release a temporary beta version tonight for those aching to play it. That way, some of ya'll get to go ahead and play it, and the others get to play a more polished version when it is released tomorrow or the day after.

As for the changes, there are quite a lot. Most of these changes required numerous other changes to code and systems that I do not even mention. If I make any more for found bugs by beta-testers, or if I add something new, then I will add that work to the list below. The most important changes are listed in the Highlights section.

Highlights:

• Savegame bloat issue has been eliminated. It might still bloat a little more than without any mods, but no more than is expected. I have not done extensive testing on this, but it appears that you might even be able to use a character from a bloated save. Load the save with the new version and create a new save when you are done playing. Basic testing seemed to indicate that the fix eliminated or at least reduced existing bloat.
• A level cap of 100 on both skills has been added
• A large set of ingame help and troubleshooting files has been added to the Pillar of the Way
• You can now disable either of the skills at the Pillar of Rewalking
• Many of the menus have been either improved or mostly recreated to be easier to use and less buggy
• The perks have been rebalanced so that you can specialize in using the "Unarmed" weapon or using the monk weapons (more details to come in a blog post)

Efficiency/Coding-improvements:

• Removed some calculations from leveling scripts to improve speed
• Changed a number of debug notifications to use message notifications with flags to insert variables
• Perk Points Earned is only calculated when neccesary to reduce the amount of math on each Event, changed the Pillars' scripts to account for that
• Changed some variables to integers rather than floats
• Changed the way that the Level progress is calculated to use integers and be more efficient
• Eliminated some redundant Objects that are not used by the mod, but were added during creation
• Eliminated Unarmored scaling script (got rid of the savegame bloating)
• Eliminated the non-functioning Unarmed scaling scripts
• Elemental perks are now removed when you choose a new Path
• Corrected the conditions for a number of perks and messages that were not working

Gameplay:

• A level cap of 100 has been added to both skills
• Both skills take more time to level
• The teleportation ability and a number of spell have been removed from Apostate Elders
• Savegame bloat issue has been eliminated
• Removed Unarmed and Unarmored scaling scripts. They weren't working properly and were causing the bloat

Menus:

• Help menus added to the Pillar of the Way for the Pillars, Monk weapons, Leveling system, equipment, and Player Guides
• Troubleshooting menus added to the Pillar of the Way
• A 'Give Unarmed' Button has been added to the Pillar of the Way so that you can get another "Unarmed" weapon if you need one
• A Settings menu has been added to the Pillar of Rewalking that lets you disable either of the skills
• The 'Update' option has been removed from the menus
• The Stats menu has been improved and the Level Progress is now displayed as a whole number
• Changed the perk system so that the categories are broken down into branches
• Eradicated the bug where clicking 'Ok' when there were not perks available would take you to a message for a perk
• Added some 'Return' and 'Close' buttons to various menus for navigation ease
• Cleaned up the text for some menus to improve their appearance and readability
• Changed the content of a number of menus to be updated to the current system and be more informative

Perks:

• Damage bonus for The Shadow Pillar now properly works and adds an extra 20% chance to crit when sneaking and using either the "Unarmed" weapon or the
• Perk names now follow a format. Those with "Fists" in the name work for the "Unarmed" weapon. Those with "Strikes" in the name work for the Monk weapon. And those with "Blows" in the name work for both.
• Bleeding Hands renamed to Rending Strikes
• Renamed Quick Blows to Rapid Fists
• Renamed Tiring Blows to Draining Fists
• Renamed Critical Blows to Iron Fists
• Renamed Weak Points to Penetrating Blows
• Renamed Vitals Shot to Critical Blows
• Renamed Fist Stabber to Puncturing Strikes
• Changed weapon requirement of Rapid Fists to only work with the "Unarmed" weapon
• Rending Strikes now only works on Monk weapons and the effect does not stack
• Fixed the conditions of Critical Blows so that it now works properly
• Draining Fists now only works with "Unarmed" weapon
• Unencumbered perks do not stack
• Puncturing Strikes no only works on Monk weapons
• Changes Unarmored Stance so that you need at least the second level of one of the previous perks, rather than the final level

Thanks to Kibaken on the Nexus for helping me rebalance the perks!

Savegame bloat is gone!

Preliminary tests show that the save bloat has been eliminated! Testing results below:

I was trying a playthrough of my mod with Mojarq the kitty a while back. I compared the times and file sizes of that save with a new test character.

Mojarq the Kitty:

Save 1 - Time: 00.42.50 Filesize: 4209 KB
Save 2 - Time: 01.00.34 Filesize: 4847 KB

Test character:

Save 1 - Time: 00.37.37 Filesize: 3165 KB
Save 2 - Time: 01.03.57 Filesize: 3347 KB

I will continue to test it, but it looks like the problem has been eradicated. Or, at least, hugely reduced. Huzzah! :-D

If test results hold steady, then this fix will be included in the next update along with many other improvements.

Plans for the Chi System - Help Decide!

Due to popular demand, I am planning on adding a Chi system to Way of the Monk. Below are the possible plans for the system that I am seeking input on. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to post them.

There are three types of systems that I am considering as becoming the one implemented for the the Chi powers. The Chi powers are (for the most part) going to be temporary buffs or powers, rather than magical super-attacks. I may add a few cool effects such as a Falcon Punch sort of power that throws the enemy back, but those will be high-level.

The current idea for the gaining of the powers is through achievements and quests. For Part 2 I will only include Radiant Quests, but for Part 3 I hope to add a questline. That will give me many more chances for unique rewards of items and powers. Completing these quests will open up training options from your mentor that will give you access to new Focus powers as well as perks, items, etc. Players will also receive achievements for accomplishing certain feats. Achievements will vary in nature, but will include such deeds such as finding all of the Pillars, defeating 100 Apostates, reaching level 100 in one or both of the skills, etc. When the player completes a quest or an achievement they will be able to choose new Focus powers. In your opinion, would it be better to have a specific power given for a specific quest, or let the accomplishments act like leveling and let the player choose their new reward? Also, do you think that they should be given the power immediately, or have to train/speak with their mentor, read a book, use a special crystal, or do something else special.

Now for the Focus Points: Focus Points (FP) will be required to use the Focus Powers. I plan on doing this so that the player is not overpowered and so that the powers themselves become much more valuable to the player. There would also be a cap for the FP so that they cannot have too many points. They would be able to increase that cap through various methods. I have ideas for three possible systems. Let me know which one sounds best to you. Feel free to suggest any changes to my ideas, as well as suggesting a system of your own.

System 1: The player gains FP through defeating enemies. This would be the hardest system to implement scripting-wise, but it seems like the most interesting to me. I might even be able to set it up so that the player gets more points if the enemy's level is higher. This would require a higher FP cap than the others, and Focus powers would consume a relatively high amount of FP in the expectation that they will be using that power to gain more FP soon.

System 2: The player gains FP through consuming Focus Crystals. Focus Crystals would be a retextured versions of the Soul Gems. They could also gain FP through casting certain Restoration Spells. In other words, and entirely consumable-item based system. This system may or may not use a FP cap at all, but each power would use a lot of FP.

System 3: The player only gains FP through quests and achievements. I honestly don't like this one very much, but I thought I'd give it to ya'll in case you have some ideas about it. There would be no FP cap and powers would use a relatively moderate amount of FP.

System 4-ish: The powers don't use FP at all, but use Magicka. I don't really like this one at all. For one, it would require the player to specialize in Magicka when leveling up. Also, the powers would not seem nearly as valuable, and I would have to greatly limit their effects to not overpower the player.

There would also be another dimensions: Focus Crystals. Focus Crystals (as stated above) would be retextured Soul Gems to give them some color and a sort of magical glow to differentiate them from the originals. There would be two types of Focus Crystals. There would be those that simply restore or temporarily buff the cap of your FP. These would be included in all three systems, but would be dramatically enhanced in the second one. There could also be unique equipped Focus Crystals that give you constant effect bonuses against certain types of enemies or situations. They would have their own lore and quests. Do you think that the unique Focus Crystals are a good idea?

These, overall are my ideas for the way the system will work. I haven't gotten too much into what the specific powers will be yet, since I haven't even decided the basics yet. Feel free to suggest actual effects, though.

So, comments? Suggestions? Ideas? Criticism? I value outside input, so feel free to give me your thoughts.

Way of the Monk - Part 1.2: Update Changes

If you've been reading my comments on the Steam and Nexus pages, then you know that I've been redoing a lot of my code. Much of my code was slow, over-complicated, and bloated the savefile. Because of that, I have been spending my time studying Papyrus and rewriting my code, rather than add new features. These changes will be compiled in the next update that will be uploaded later today or tomorrow if I find more changes that need to be made. The list of changes may be edited if I make more modifications between now and the time I upload the update.

List:

• Levels and perk points are now displayed as whole numbers without a ton of 0's trailing after the first digit
• Fixed and improved the leveling system and the way that it calculated perks
• The Pillar of the Way now includes some information about the managing powers that are given to you
• Adding an "update" function to the Pillar of Rewalking that updates your perk points to the new, improved system
• Added the update function to the Choice power
• Increased Burning Fists basedamage from 12 to 14
• Burning Fists can now be smithed
• Fire Atronach claws can now be smithed
• Modified the Pillar of the Choice to warn the player that they should update their stats
• Added 'Return' option to many of the menus for improved navigation
• Fixed Burning, Freezing, and Electric robes so that they now work properly
• Cheating with the Pillar of Rewalking now changes the speed at which you level as if you had leveled normally
• A warning message is shown when trying to reset your perks so that you do not reset them accidentally
• Added warnings about the 'no perk bug' to the Pillar of the Choice
• If no perks appear when choosing a new one, but you click 'Ok' and the description for a perk appears, you will not be able to add the perk if you already have it. This is to avoid accidentally using up your perk points. The 'no perk bug' will be fixed in Part 2
• Savefile bloat has been reduced
• Menus should load faster
• Simplified the scripts for the Pillars without changing the way they work

EDIT: Update has been uploaded to the Nexus! I am working on getting it uploaded to the Workshop.

Way of the Monk: Chi system

If you've been following my updates and plans, you might have seen some talk of a Chi system. No longer talk, it is now on my list of planned features.

Name: The system and powers will not be called "Chi" because Skyrim is not Chinese. Instead, they will be called "Focus".

How you will get them: You will be able to acquire them through a number of achievements and quests. If, for example, you completed a quest to find all of the Pillars, you would receive a power. Or, if you, got an achievement for acquiring all of the Monk perks possible, you would be given a new Focus ability.

How they will work: Now, for the most part I do not plan to create a system like the Grandmaster mod that casts spells when you attack with unarmed. I may add a few of that sort, but they will mostly be lesser powers that either give you a temporary effect. One power might, for example, temporarily make all of your Monk attacks paralyze your enemy. Another might slow time so that you can avoid or block a blow. Some of these powers will cast spell when you attack, though. A Focus ability could, for instance, cast a lightening bolt when you power attack. Whatever the effect, though, they will vary and will hopefully be unique to my mod.

How you can help: Suggest powers in the comments. Please don't overload me with a hundred suggestions, but I do want you input. After all, I can only think of a limited amount. And those that I think of will be related to how I usually play the game. So feel free to suggest new magical powers that will effect unarmed, unarmored, and fist-weapons.

Way of the Monk on Steam!

Previously, I could not upload Way of the Monk to the Workshop because of the file size limit. Today, however, when I manually created the .BSA archive that stores all of the new files, I told the program to compress the archive. In normal people speak: The mod takes up less space on your computer. Thus, the Workshop is now willing to be friendly. Hurrah!

Download link: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=70846921

Way of the Monk - Part 1 Updated!

My Way of the Monk Skyrim mod has been updated to version 1b. The 'b' does not mean that it is a beta, but that it is the updated, second version. I'm sorry for the long wait, guys. I've been pretty busy and haven't had as much time as I'd like to mod.

The full list of changes is below:

• Fix Unarmed leveling so that the skill is only raised when you are using Monk Weapons
• Seer Pillar now gives you the Seer power rather than the Dimensions one
• Fixed spelling and grammatical errors in "The Pillars" book
• Add a riddle for the Elemental Pillar
• Changed the Magic Resistance buff for the Elemental Pillar to 10 for balancing
• Added Progress on the Way lesser power that lets you check your stats while adventuring
• Added Choice Upon the Way lesser power that lets you choose new perks while adventuring
• Shadow Pillar now gives you the Shadow bonuses like it should
• Activating the Pillar of the Way now gives you the Progress and Choice lesser powers
• Changed Soft Resistance perks so that the Armor Rating bonus is visible in your inventory
• Changed Evasion robes to use normal brown and yellow monk robes to add color variety
• Changed IDs for areas with Pillars so that they can be coc'd to with the console
• Added a one second delay to the Unarmored leveling script so that you do not level at an insane speed when hit by a concentration spell
• Raised default attack speed for Unarmed weapon to 1.1.
• Leveled the Burning, Freezing, and Electrical robes so that they do not all deal the same amount of damage
• Fixed the Choice Pillar so that it now shows you the Unarmored perks when you meet the proper requirements. 

So far, I have not found a way to restrict Unarmored leveling to when you are not wearing armor. I am going to contact some people on various forums for help. Hopefully that issue should be fixed in an upcoming update or version.

Player Guide: Specialization

Even though the Way of the Monk's primary purpose is to provide a new playstyle, I have incorporated several ways to specialize your character.

1. Classic Monk


There is, of course, the classic fantasy-genre monk that wields no weapons, wears no armor, and heals his fellow warriors. Either the Pillar of the Healer or the Pillar of Aptitude are for you. The Pillar of the Healer's power automatically heals nearby allies by 3 points per second. Used with a follower-enhancement mod such as UFO, this will be especially useful. The Pillar of Aptitude does not give you any special powers, but instead increases the speed at which your Monk skills level. This classic character-type would use both of my new skills, as well as take advantage of the new weapons. To raise your player level and to survive for the first few levels, I would also suggest taking the time to improve your Restoration and Aleration skills.

2. Strangle 'em!


Want to sneak through the shadows and surprise your enemies with a stranglehold? With the latest patch from Bethesda, a ton of new Unarmed killcams have been added, including a number of which are specific to stealthily killing someone from behind. Just adds another level to your awesomeness. Finding the Pillar of the Shadow Monk would be my first deed. Read "the Pillars" at the Pillars of the Way for a riddle to find its location. The Pillar gives you a Backstab-like effect that multiplies your sneak-attack damage by 6 with Monk weapons. For you Unarmored assassins, it also fortifies your Sneak by 10 when you are not wearing armor. If you are going to play the part of a blade-less shadow killer, you might want to consider playing a Khajiit to get their Unarmed Damage and Sneak bonuses.

3. Magical Monk


One of the uniquenesses of this mod is its Unarmored features. In the vanilla game you must rely on your spells or talent in avoiding attacks to survive blows from your opponents. But with Way of the Monk, you can use the Unarmored perks to raise your chances of survival, and the Unarmed perks to fight in close combat. The Pillar of the Elemental Monk would be the most beneficial for such a character, since it gives you a resistance to magic when unarmored and lets you deal elemental damage to enemies with your attacks. Use whatever magic skills you desire in combination with my own new skills.

4. Tough Pugilist


Perhaps you just want to be a metal-encased warrior that beats his enemies into submission with his fists rather than a warhammer? Go for it! There is no specific pillar for a heavy-armor or light-armor monk, but I might suggest using the Pillar of the Wielder that multiplies the speed of your Monk attacks by 3 once a day. Use either of the vanilla armor skills that you want. I would suggest getting the Fists of Steel perk if you are a heavily armored Dovahkin.

Way of the Monk patch coming next week

As players of Way of the Monk might have noticed there are a number of bugs within the first release. Despite beta-testing, these bugs still found their way in. I did not expect it to be bug-free, however, and have started work on the first patch. I finished quite a fair amount of the work a couple of weeks ago, but because I moved and had finals, I was delayed. But I took my last final that requires studying and so work has begun again!

Expect the patch to come out some time next week. I'm not entirely sure what part of next week it will come out in, but it should be uploaded soon. I have to do some rethinking of my scripts, as well as some minor tweaking and rebalancing of the skills. Once I have completed the tweaks and modifications, I will test it and upload the final version to the Nexus along with a list of changes.

Way of the Monk: Part 1 - List of additions

This list is for the use of those who want to test my Way of the Monk mod, cheat ( :-P ), or just want to read about all of the additions. Each addition is categorized by type and listed with its name and description.

When I say "Monk weapons" I mean both the "Unarmed" weapon the new fist weapons.

For any item, perk, or spell simply type help "item name" 4 into the console but replace "item name" with the name while keeping the quotes. This should give you the code for the it.


Pillars:


Managing Pillars:

Pillar of the Way: Adds perks that run the leveling scripts in case the player does not have them for some reason. Also gives the player the "Unarmed" weapon.
Pillar of Progress: Lets you see a list of your stats that includes levels, leveling progress, and amount of perk points. Also lets you see what perks you already have and read descriptions of them.
Pillar of Choice: Lets you choose new perks if you meet the requirements. Also lets you check how many perk points you have.
Pillar of Rewalking: Allows you to reset your perks. It takes all of your perks away and gives you back all of the perk points that you have gained. Warning: You can only do this once.

Power Pillars:

Pillar of Aptitude: Increases the speed at which your Monk skills level by 20%.
Pillar of the Elements: You gain a spell that lets you choose whether to deal shock, fire, or cold damage. Whichever one you pick will be applied to enemies when you attack them with the Unarmed weapon or with any of the new fist weapons. You also gain a 20 bonus to Magic Resistance when Unarmored. (May decrease this amount for Update 1 for balancing)
Pillar of Dimensions: Adds a lesser power that lets you teleport randomly around the battle to avoid damage. Warning: it's a bit buggy. Every now and then you end up inside a wall. I will fix this for Part 2.
Pillar of the Healer: You automatically heal allies within ten feet by 3 points per second.
Pillar of the Seer: Gives you a lesser power that partially blinds you, but allows you to see both living and undead in the vicinity.
Pillar of the Shadows: Adds perk that multiplies sneak-attack damage by 6 for Monk weapons.
Pillar of the Whirlwind: Adds daily power that temporarily multiplies attack speed of Monk weapons by 3.

Locations:

So far I have only added locations for the Pillars. All of these locations have map markers. Not all of them can be traveled to with the console, though. I will fix that for Update 1 and post the codes.

Pillars of the Way: Can be found slightly up the hill from the Guardian Stones. Includes the Way, Progress, Choice, and Rewalking Pillars.
Guardian Stones (modified): Added the Pillar of Aptitude to the circle of Guardian Stones.
Pillar of the Elements: Atop the hill on the island in Lake Geir.
Pillar of Dimensions: Island in south-east branch of Karth River. Follow the river and you should find it.
Pillar of the Healer: Hill-crest north-east of Sleeping Tree Camp.
Pillar of the Seer: Lake Yorgrim.
Pillar of the Shadows: Near the Shadow Stone. I may find a more inventive place for it later.
Pillar of the Whirlwind: Reachwind Eyrie

Perks:

Some of these perks have multiple levels. In such cases I will give the amount of levels. I will also provide the ID. In the IDs, x stands for the level of the perk.

Attack perks: (uses Unarmed skill)
Quick Blows: 3 levels. Your Monk weapon damage increases by 10%, 20%, 30%. ID: WoMPerkAx
Bleeding Hands: 3 levels. Your Monk weapons cause bleeding damage. ID: WoMPerkGx
Vitals Shot: 3 levels. Your Monk weapons have a 10%, 20%, 30% chance of dealing critical damage. ID: WoMPerkCx
Weak Points: 1 level. Your unarmed attacks ignore 10% of armor. ID: WoMPerkAA

Unarmored perks: (uses Unarmored skill, will add more perks in future for balancing)
Soft Resistance: 3 levels. Your Armor Rating increases by 20, 40, 60  when unarmored. (Bonus does not appear in your inventory, but it does exist. Will try to fix this.) ID: WoMPerkUx
Unencumbered: 3 levels. Your speed increases by 10%, 20%, 30% when unarmored. ID: WoMPerkUSx
Softened Blows: 3 levels. Damage from enemies using Monk Weapons is reduced by 10%, 20%, 30% when unarmored. (May replace in future version to add more interesting/helpful effects). ID: WoMPerkUEx
Unarmored Stance: 1 level.  Power attacks use 10% less stamina when you are unarmored. ID: WoMPerkPA

Damage perks: (uses Unarmed skill)
Deadly Blows: 3 levels. Your Monk weapon damage increases by 25, 50, 75%. ID: WoMPerkDx
Tiring Blows: 3 levels. Your Monk attacks drain your enemy's stamina by 10, 20, 30 points. ID: WoMPerkDSx
Critical Blows: 3 levels. When power-attacking your Monk weapons deal double, triple, four-times critical damage. ID: WoMPerkDFx
Fist Stabber: 1 level. Fist weapons (not normal unarmed attacks) do 20% more damage. ID: WoMPerkDH


Items:


All of the weapons can be found in the QAS testing room. Type coc QASmoke to get there. You will see a table in front of you with wooden ladles. On the other side are the containers that hold the Way of the Monk items.


Weapons:
See tom 349's mod. All of them are added. See BloodySunday's mod to see how the weapons will look with his retexture.

Clothing:
I've added a number of monk robes that were in the CK but not in the actual game. They were created by Bethesda but never added them to the world. You can see the colors in the screenshot tab of the mod's Nexus page.

Enchantments:


Some of these are adjustments or new variants of normal enchantments. The Robe enchantments will be scaled in the future for balancing.

Effects:
Bleed: Weapons with this enchantment deal bleeding damage.
Burning Robes: Flame cloak for 5 damage with 10% weakness to fire.
Electric Robes: Shock cloak for 5 damage with 10% weakness to shock.
Freezing Robes: Cold cloak for 5 damage with 10% weakness to cold.
Disarm: Weapons with this enchantment have a 20% chance to disarm. (will balance)
Escape: All incoming damage is reduced by 20%. (for robes)
Evade: All incoming damage is reduced by 10% (for robes)
Robes of the Way: Fortify Armor Rating by 20, fortifies unarmed damage by 10.
Stagger (Weapon): Weapons with this enchantment have a 20% chance to stagger.
Stagger (Clothing): 15% chance that weapons will stagger.

Item variants:
Bleeding Weapons: Deadric claws, Dwarven Ulak, Ebony Ulak, Elven Glaive, Elven talons, Iron Claws, Katar, Orcish Claws, Steel Punch Dagger
Stagger (weapon): Dwarven Ulak, Ebony Ulak, Glass perferators, Nord Ulak
Disarm: Dwarven Ulak, Ebony Ulak, Glass Perferator, Nordic Ulak
Absorb Health: Elven Glaive, Steel Punch Dagger
Absorb Stamina: Elven Glaive, Steel Punch Dagger
Soul Trap: Elven Glaive, Katar
Paralysis: Elven Talons, Iron Claws, Orcish Claws, Steel Punch Dagger
Burning Robes: Hood brown robes, brown robes
Electric Robes: Hooded red robes, red robes
Freezing Robes: Hooded grey robes, grey robes
Escape: Hooded green robes, green robes
Evasion: Hooded grey robes, grey robes (will change to default monk robes to add color variety)
Fortify Unarmed: Ring of Punching, Spiked Gauntlets (uses stormcloak officer model and stats)
Stagger (clothing): Ring of Staggering

NPCs:
Apostate: Melee version: Nord and Imperial; Magic version: Nord and Imperial
Apostate Apprentice: Melee version: Nord and Imperial; Magic version: Nord and Imperial
Apostate Master: Melee version: Nord and Imperial; Magic version: Nord and Imperial
Apostate Elder: Fire version: Nord and Imperial. (Will add shock and cold versions)

Way Of The Monk - Part 1 Released!

Part 1 of the Way Of The Monk Skyrim mod has been released on the Nexus! You can visit this page to download. If you enjoy it, please feel free to endorse or spread the word if you enjoy it. :-)

Unfortunately I was not able to upload the mod to the Workshop. The Workshop has a file size that my mod exceeded and would not allow me to upload it.

Way of the Monk Lore: The Pillars

In an effort to fit my mod into the game lore, I have written three books that will explain the history and organization of the Cult of the Way, a group of people that specialize in unarmed combat. This book explains the history, uses, and locations of the Pillars. The Pillars are like the Standing Stones and let you gain unique powers to aid you in combat. This book can also be used as a player guide in finding the Pillars. The locations are hidden in riddles. They are not too hard to figure out, and give you a hint as to their location.

The Pillars

A Pilgrims guide to the holy Pillars of our Way

By Gurnjad Shormirisson

Wanderer of the Way

Praise be to our Master, and to the Teachings of the Way.

Hail, Pilgrim! It is to your honor that you seek to learn of the Pillars. They are the guides along the Way, and their sites are holy to our Cult.

Let us speak first of those called the Pillars of the Way:

They are called thus because of their importance. They were the first established by our Master, and they guide us in all that we do.

By seeking the counsel of the Pillar of the Way, you begin your journey.

By seeking the counsel of the Pillar of the Progress, you may learn of your progression upon the Way. By consulting it you can understand your distance, and reflect upon all the choices you have made

By seeking the counsel of the Pillar of the Choice, you may choose how you will progress upon the Way. The powers that we gain upon our Path must be determined and decided upon by us and us alone.

By seeking the counsel of the Pillar of Rewalking, we may choose to Rewalk the Way. We are relieved of our previous choices, and may make our decisions anew. Be wise, though, because Talos gives us only one chance to Rewalk our Path.

Let us now turn our attention to the holy sites of the Pillars of Power. These Pillars are unique places of importance, where great judgement of justice was once made. The significance and power of these sites influenced the Master and the Cult to erect Pillars in honor of them. These Pillars bestow upon the Pilgrims and Wanderers a unique power to aid them in their pursuit of justice. 

Pillar of the Shadows

The Pillar of Shadows is the site of a great battle between a Wanderer and a Bandit camp that took place after nightfall. The Wanderer Hod's heart was weighed upon in compassion for the locals who had suffered under the tyranny of the bandit chief. The Orc chief forced a tax upon the village that he had taken by force. He controlled the movements of everyone in the area, keeping them from alerting nearby villages. Their village was small, as well, and could not resist his warband. The blood of many of their sons already soaked the ground from the initial battle. Hod, however, encountered one of their men as he ran from the clutches of three bandits. Hod assaulted the criminals and dashed their brains upon the rocks. Filled with gratitude, the young man told the whole tale to Hod with his dying breath. Hod traveled to the surrounding villages and raised a band of his own to match the chief's force. At nightfall he and his men crept through the shadows and attacked the invaders. All of villagers  were brutally slain by the heroes. The Orc chief himself was slain in his bed as he forced himself upon a local maiden. Justice was served.

Find ye the stone of Shadows

There you will find the Pillar of night

Pillar of the Elements

Avoid the Apostates! For once there was another cult; a cult of Apostates. They were vile and conniving in their deeds, and they turned every thought towards personal gain. Because of their evil, they tempered their powers and became masters of both magic and the Moth combat form. Eventually their masters learned to even combine the styles to form a new mode of fighting. But despite their power, their greed destroyed the new cult. When the temple heard of their apostasy, Master Shormir led a force of Wanderers and Elders to their tower and destroyed every one of their hideous followers. In memory of their downfall, and to warn future generations from following the Apostate Path, the Master established a Pillar that bestows the cult's elemental skill upon Wanderers and followers of the True Way. Justice was served.

Pillar of Dimensions

Vanquish the Dark Brotherhood! As with all men of valor, our Master has encountered assassins from that vile association. Once, upon traveling to Dragon Bridge from Riverwood, he stayed the night in a camp on the shore of the shorter branch of the River Karth. He awoke in the night with blade at his throat. But the wretched assassin was not prepared for our Master's skill. Instead of Shormir's blood upon the ground, he was surprised to find his own when our master stole the blade from his hand. But the evildoer was crafty. Through some arcane sorcery he vanished from the tent. Our Master ran into the night and discovered the man upon a rock, laughing at his own power. "You can not catch a man who is not there," he mocked. But justice is not to be derided. Our master struck the evil man down and learned his power. Now he grants the ability to all who follow him. But beware, for such power is not to be abused. The power is not reliable, and could take you to your grave within the ground. Justice was vindicated.

Pillar of Aptitude

The Pillar of Aptitude was the first Pillar to be established by our Master, and is visited by Pilgrims  more than any other. When our Master first built the Pillars of the Way, he also built the Pillar of Aptitude to guide them upon their way and to speed their progress upon the Path. Justice can be learned.

To reach the Pillar of Aptitude, you need only to find the Guardian Stones.

Pillar of the Healer

The Pillar of the Healer is the most recently established Pillar. During the beginning of the conflict between the Empire and the Stormcloaks, a caravan of Pilgrims was caught between two opposing forces. In desperation, the Wanderer in charge of the caravan called upon his knowledge of the arcane to protect his men and heal them while the battle raged around him. Though arrows flew through the air, and lightening bolts seared ground, not one of the Pilgrims fell dead upon the ground. Finally, as the battle drew to a close, the Wanderer collapsed in fatigue. The noble man sacrificed his life's force to protect the Pilgrims, and in his great honor to the Master build this Pillar. Justice was protected.

Venture ye to the valley of the Sleeping Tree

Look ye then to the rise of the sun,

And to lights of the frozen lands.

Follow the path of their merging,

And the Healer's Pillar will be discovered.

Pillar of the Whirlwind

Honor our Master! For there is no equal of his in the art of the Way form. When he strikes an enemy, the vile wretch is vanquished. When he casts an Apostate down, they are crushed beneath his blows. No rival has he in Cultist combat. Whether with the bare fist, or with the Implements designed by his skill, all who come before his might are destroyed. Fear him in battle, and respect him in debate. For not a Dragonborn could defeat him in war. In mercy and in honor did he establish the Whirlwind Pillar. For he wisely saw that his power must be shared if his followers were to bring the light of justice into this dark world. To meet that end did he build this Pillar. Once a day, Pilgrims of this Pillar are granted his skill and power to pummel their enemies beneath many blows. Justice enlightens the world.

Behold the tower of the Dwemer!

Like a sentinel it reaches to the sky from the Reach,

And now it has another ward to guard

The Pillar which our Master bestowed.

Pillar of the Seer

Not long after the formation of the Cult of the Way, an elderly man came from Cyrodil to visit our Master at the new Temple. He was a Cultist of the Ancestor Moths, our father Cult. Though our Master had once been banished from their brethren, they saw that he had now become a great man, despite their initial dispute. Thus, he offered our Master a chance to return to the Ancestor Moths, and forsake the Way. Gently, and wisely, our Master declined. With grace, the elder accepted his decision, and left our Master with a gift. The gift was the knowledge of Seeing. For centuries the Ancestor Moth cultists have read the Elder Scrolls to decipher their meaning. But to do so leaves them blind and nearly mad. To aid in the service of Justice, the elder granted our Master and his followers the ability of prescience vision. Though the user is partially blinded for a short while, they are allowed to see the presence of all creatures in the region, whether dead or alive. Justice was honored.

The Pillar of Shadows was not established nearby,

But seek ye out the city of Wind,

Follow the waters west to the frozen lake,

and there will you gain the power of the Seer.

Way Of The Monk Release Details & Plans

Details:

Skills:

Way of the Monk includes many new features. The most important is the addition of two new skills: Unarmed and Unarmored. Unlike other mods, these skills do not replace existing skills, and do not even use the same system. Thus, these new skills will also not conflict with other Unarmed mods. 

These new skills will also level as you use them. As you fight with your bare fists or the new weapons, then your Unarmed will be raised. When you are hit while not wearing armor, your Unarmored will be raised. 

Along with these skills come three perk trees: Damage, Attacks, and Unarmored. The Damage perk tree contains perks related to increasing your damage and offensive abilities, the Attacks tree contains perks that affect how you fight, and the Unarmored tree lets you choose perks that (obviously) enhance your Unarmored usage. There are 9 perks for the Damage and Attacks perk trees, and 10 for the Unarmored perk tree, respectively. The Damage and Attacks perk trees use your Unarmed skill, while the Unarmored perk tree uses your Unarmored skill.

Yes, the Unarmored skill could use some more perks. I know. More will be added in later versions. The perks from both skills compliment each other, though, so it shouldn't feel too neglected. 

Right now, the first bit of gameplay forces you to choose the first perk from each tree before you can choose the second one. Not because there are actual restrictions, but because you get perk points before you get the chance to choose a new perk. This is because I have not yet created a perk to go between the first one and the second one. Doing so will help eliminate the stall in progress. Expect such an addition in a later patch or version.

The Skills are all managed at the Pillars of the Way, which are just up the road from the Guardian Stones. The Pillar of the Way introduces you to the mod. The Pillar of Choice allows you to choose new perks. The Pillar of Progress allows you to check your current stats. The Pillar of Rewalking allows you to reset your perks and choose new ones (can only be done once). In a future edition, these Pillars will be replaced with an NPC that lets you do all of this through dialog. For now, though, you have to manage your stats by using these Pillars.

Every five levels of either of the new Monk skills, you are given a perk point. These perk points can be used at the Pillar of Choice to gain new perks. The same perk points are used for both skills, so you can choose an Unarmored perk even if you got the point by advancing your Unarmed skill.

Unfortunately these are not the same perk points that are used in the normal leveling system. The scripting language for the Construction Kit does not have any way for me to use them. I have pinned hopes on the SKSE team, though, and hope that they will add that functionality. If they do, then I may be able to add more advanced leveling options.

Weapons and Clothing:

There is a plethora of new weapons and clothing. They all fit the customary monk-character, and can be crafted like normal items. There are new enchantments, as well, to enhance the Monk combat system. 

The new weapons are all from tom349's mod, with BloodySunday's enhanced textures. I gained their permission before using their creations. They can all be crafted, improved, and enchanted like normal weapons. While traveling throughout the world you may find them as loot, see enemies wielding them, or buy them from stores. 

The new clothing is a set of monk clothes that were actually created by Bethesda and can be found in the Creation Kit. Despite making them, however, they did not add them to the game. Luck for me! So, you get to see some new robes, while also being able to find specially-enchanted versions of them with my new effects. They have also been added to stores and leveled lists. They are craftable at the forge with linen wrap.

A note on the weapon animations: Unfortunately, the new weapons do not use the hand-to-hand animations and killcams. Why? Because the animation that Bethesda created was not designed to be used by actual weapons. Thus, when I try to add a model to weapon that uses it, the model either does not appear or appears obnoxiously between the player's feet. So, not my fault. :-( If anyone can find a way to fix this, however, I would be glad to do so.

Perks and Enchantments:

ALL of the new perks have been created by me. A number of them have entirely new effects that were scripted and design by myself, as well. The enchantments are the same way, though some of the weapons that you find will be enchanted with default enchantments. In total, there are 45-50 new perks, and around ten new enchantments that have been created entirely by me. That number of perks includes all of the different levels of perks, as well as those that are added for Pillars and items. Some of these perks give you powers and abilities that are entirely new to the game, built from scratch to enhance this mod. Others are unique twists of already-existing perks. Either way, they will all add unique aspects to your playing experience.

NPCs:

(Part 1)

To compliment the addition of all these new features, an enemy faction called the Apostates has been created. The Apostates are a group of Monks that use their power for personal gain. They are usually not organized into groups, but instead mix with the bandits and lowlifes of Skyrim. There are melee versions and magic versions. The melee versions focus on using the new weapons and close-combat perks that are added to the game, while the magic versions mix magic with unarmed. Both versions wear the new clothing and use the new items, providing an excellent way of finding the new weapons and clothing. 

They are also leveled so that you will not encounter ones that are two easy or difficult. There are the basic "Apostates" that are level 1, the "Apostate Apprentices" that are level 10, the "Apostate Masters that are level 20, and the "Apostate Elders" that are level 40. The Apostate Elders are the most powerful and will only be encountered at high high levels. Bring all that you've got, though, because they are powerful!

In addition to using the new items, they also take advantage of the Monk perks. Don't be surprised if they use some of the same tactics that you do! 

(Part 2 and 3)

Read the Plans for information on new NPCs and factions that I hope to add.

Plans:

My plans are somewhat tenuous, but are outlined below. Some of the features that I want to add may prove either impossible or too difficult. For now, though, they are what I desire to give you. 

Also, new enchantments, perks, and items will be added as I think of them or am supplied with new material, so they are not included in the list. Assume that I will add them whenever I get the chance.

Part 1: (current)

• New Unarmed and Unarmored skills
• New melee weapons
• New monk robes
• New perks
• New enchantments
• New enemies

Part 2:

• Monk follower(s)
• Joinable Apostate and Cult of the Way factions
• Radiant quests for both factions
• A mentor that lets you manage your stats, tells you the backstory, and can train you
• New scaling options to balance my leveling system with Bethesda's default system (may be impossible)
• New combat animations (I will contact the owner of the Marital Arts mod)

Part 3:

• Bases for the new factions
• Faction questlines (possibly hundreds of hours of work)
• More backstory in books
• Unique NPCs with quests

I can not specify exact dates, unfortunately. They will simply be released as they are completed. Part 3 will likely take the most amount of time, if I am even able to complete it. Hopefully, since summer is coming up, I will have a ton of time to mod. Real life gets in the way, though, so I can not know for sure what will happen.

Way of the Monk beta-testing begins now!

Beta-testing has begun!

The beta version of  Way of the Monk has been completed and is ready for testing. Please read the rules and advice below to learn how you may become a beta-tester, how to report bugs, and what is new in the mod. Please read the whole post before applying to become a beta-tester. It is fairly long, I know, but you need to know this information before testing the game for me.

Since this is a beta version, there will most likely be bugs. Please be patient with me as I work to fix them. 

Applying:

To apply to become a beta-tester, simply contact Woverdude and request beta-testing privileges. I will e-mail you the .zip folder that contains the .esp plugin file and the .bsa archive. Export those into your Data folder and you should be able to load the mod. I had some trouble getting the .bsa created, so if you have trouble with the models and scripts, then e-mail me and I will recreate the .bsa.

How to report bugs/make suggestions:

I have created the two forms for reporting bugs or making suggestions. I will send them to you in my e-mail. Fill them out when you find a bug or want to make a suggestion and your input will be added to a database.

Please keep your suggestions related to the content that I have already added, rather than suggestion a new kind of content. For instance, instead of suggestion several new perks, you can suggest a way to improve current perks. If you want to suggest new ideas, please post on the WIP thread.

What to test for:

Primarily what I need to know is whether the new items, enchantments, leveling system, and perks work.

You can either choose to test each item and perk individually, or you can run a playthrough as a Monk and see how it all fits together. Either way works and helps me out. :-)

What is in the Mod:

First, there are a ton of new items, all of which are craftable. These new items can be found in stores, crafted, looted from enemies, or found in dungeons.

There are around 10-15 new fist-weapons, and many enchanted variations of each of those. A few of the new weapons are not found in the game as loot, but will be used in later versions to create unique items for quests or bosses. The weapons can be crafted and improved normally. The animations are a bit wonky, but that is not my fault. Bethesda designed their handtohand animation strangely, so when weapons use it they do become invisible on the right hand. Their issue, not mine...

There are also new enchantments with new effects. These enchantments can be found on the new weapons and clothing.

There are also a new set of robes. These are monk robes that I found in the Creation Kit, but were not used in the vanilla game. Which was quite lucky for me. You can find them or craft them. They use 1 linen wrap to craft and are in the Misc. category.

New enemies. There is a new enemy faction called "The Apostates". They are a breakoff of the Cult of the Way that will be expanded on in later versions. They can be found in encounters and use the new fist weapons. They have a unique combat style, as well, that mixes magic and unarmed combat. They are very lightly armored (if at all), but are very quick. There are different types and levels of these new enemies.

New Unarmed and Unarmored skills. The Unarmed skill is raised by using any of the new weapons or by fighting without a weapon equipped. The Unarmored skill is raised by taking hits while not wearing armor. These skills do NOT replace existing skills, but are instead entirely new and operate through a series of scripts that run in the background. They also include new perks.

Perks. The perks can be gained as you level your Monk skills. You choose and manage your perks at the new Pillars.

Pillars. The Pillars are like the Standing Stones, in the way that they give you new abilities. There are two types of Pillars. There are the Pillars of the Way that allow you to manage your stats, and there are the Pillars found around Skyrim that give you unique powers. The Pillars of the Way are where you manage your stats and are probably the first place that you want to go. Here is a screenshot of their location:

They are just up the hill from the Guardian Stones, marked by a stone archway. Between the Pillars will be three books that explain some of the lore and provide you beta testers with the locations of all of the Pillars.

All of the new items can all be found in the QASmoke testing room. To get there type coc QASmoke into the console and press enter. When the game is finished loading, you will see a table in front of you. The containers with them are on the other side of the table and all have the prefix "WoM".

Legality/Use-restrictions:

Skyrim and all of its component are owned by Bethesda. All of the Way of the Monk work is reserved be used by me and those that I give permission to. Do not send the beta version to anyone without my permission. Do not upload the files to any website. Do not claim the files to be your own. Doing any such things will result in the loss of your beta-testing privileges and you will be reported for piracy to any website that you have illegally uploaded the files to.

Have fun!

Though my post seems pretty serious, I want you to have as much fun as you can with my mod. Go thou therefore, and have fun! :-) Though you may not pirate the files, feel free to make videos, or write posts/reviews about my mod as long as you mention that the mod is still in beta and give a link to this blog. Have fun!

Feel free to e-mail me with any questions!