It’s here! It’s here! The mod tools have FINALLY been released! Commence the celebration! All hail Bethesda! All hail Valve! All hail Skyrim!

Alright, now that I got the excitement-induced cheer out of my system, let’s get down to business.

Yes, the mod tools were released, and yes, the workshop is now open for your mod download and rating pleasure. What does this mean for us exactly? Well, to be very frank, it means we can download any mod that anyone makes and uploads to the workshop, as well as rate and subscribe to it, so we’ll always have the latest version as it is released. Really nifty stuff.

So now that it’s out, I’m going to look at my top three mods from the workshop. Note that these aren’t the three top-rated mods on the workshop right now, because that would be boring and anyone could just go look at them and be done with it. These are my personal top three right now on Steam.

#3 Dynamic Merchants

Vanilla Skyrim had a problem with the original merchants, albeit not a very huge one. They were rigid and unrealistic, and eight times out of ten they wouldn’t have enough gold to offer you for the items you plucked off of the fresh corpses littering the various caves and forts around Skyrim. This problem was alleviated a little bit by upping your speech skill with every level; but for us dumb barbarian warrior-types who have no time for mingling and pansy elven magic, we suffered by having thinner coin pouches than the rest of the players.

This mod changes things up a little bit, by allowing some of the merchants be a tad more dynamic and fluid compared to their vanilla counterparts. With this mod enabled, as you continue to use a merchant’s services, their gold supply will increase the next time you come around town. What does this do for you?

Well, let’s say you drop off some really expensive elven boots or some sick axe you plucked off a raider near Windholm, or purchase a huge stock of potions and reagents for an upcoming attack on Stormcloak territory. Now that merchant’s gold supply will continue to increase. It’s worth the download because it gives all that stockpiled trash loot you have in your houses a place to go now – rather than having to wait for merchants to get their gold restocked.

Many thanks to Steam user Atomatic for the mod. You can check here for it’s spot in the Workshop.

Back when I played Oblivion, and modded the bejesus out of it, I usually skipped over the cheat mods. They were always not really that interesting, and considering the game was never super difficult to begin with, they always just helped clutter up my inventory or spell book. But this… This is different. Considering the mod tools have just been released, and I’m waiting for the mod pump to be primed within the next few weeks, I downloaded this out of pure fascination. What does this mod do? Exactly what it says.

It adds a staff that will turn your enemies into sweet rolls. Yes, even giants. I know I’ll get flack for this but it made me laugh, and it’s kind of amusing actually. Check it out here, and thanks to Neibor for the laughs.

#1 Midas Magic – Spells for Skyrim

Mod author Xilverbullet is a legend in the Elder Scrolls modding scene, contributing to Oblivion possibly the best mod out there. It was called “Midas Magic Spells of Aurum”. And just like this mod, it added new spells and ways to cast them that were so awesome — and so innovative — that it blew you away. It had spells like Acid Cloud, Comet, Death Ray, Nova Storm, Polymorph, and Astral Combat (which teleported you and the target to a different dimension to fight it out mano-a-mano). It was insane.

When Skyrim came out, we lost that great mod, but now it’s back. Thats right, Midas Magic is back thanks to Xilverbullet, with spells and graphics updated to fit the Skyrim standard. Although it’s small right now, Midas Magic adds 60+ new spells to the game, all of which have a new way to acquire. Bringing ingredients to a special “Aurum reactor” (placed all around the land) will allow you to craft the spell and add it to your arsenal.

As an Elder Scrolls fanatic and modding junkie, I highly suggest you subscribe to this mod. You will NOT be disappointed, I guarantee you. Check it out here on Steam, here for it’s page on the Elder Scrolls Nexus, and once again, thank you Xilver.

Also, check out this video that demonstrates the greatness of this mod:

A big shout-out to all you mod makers out there. Thanks for your hard work over the years, and we look forward to seeing more content in the coming weeks now that the tools are finally ours. As always, check Steam Addicts for more on Skyrim and the very best of mods!